Upper Colo

[Berleyguts]

My son and I joined a mate and his son and two other dads with their younger kids at the Upper Colo for an overnight camp on Saturday. The intention was to do a bit of canoeing with our kids, sit around the campfire, tell tall stories etc. My son wanted to fish, so I threw a couple of rods in and a handful of bass lures. The water was very shallow, ankle to knee deep in most places. I thought it was far too shallow for any decent bass and told my son as much. However, I told him we could hit the river bank just before dark and I'd show him how and where to cast to and there might just be a chance of picking up a baby bass, even though I hadn't spotted any all day.

I tied on a coach-dog Jitterbug (I must have had this lure for 30 years) and said "I'll just flick this lure in under that tree on the opposite bank there". There was a slightly deeper section against that bank... less than a metre deep and about the same wide. "This is the type of spot you'd look for but you really need a lot more water. Most of the fish will be up or downstream where there are bigger, deeper pools".

I haven't fished for bass for a few years and I was pleased with my first cast... it landed with a soft plop a few inches from the bank. I closed the bail arm and twitched the rod slightly once. Wham! A wonderful surface strike! I nonchalantly handed the rod to Ben and said, "There you go mate. This one's yours." The young, fit bass put up a good fight. Ben said, "Wow! You're a gun!" (or something to that effect). The bass was young, 10 or 11 inches, and released, of course, but only after my son ran back up to camp, coaxing everyone to scramble down the bank in the dark to have a look!

A photo was taken and I'll post it when it is emailed to me.

Of course, Ben expects me to put him onto a fish with the first cast every time now! The few times he has fished with me, I seem to be able to arrange this somehow!

I caught a juvenile bass not much bigger then the Jitterbug and when I hung the lure in a tree, I called it a night and left it there for retrieval on Sunday.

I woke up about 5.30 and hit the river again. The river had dropped a few more inches. I tied on a Crazy Crawler and caught a small bass (about 6 inches) on the 2nd cast. I got a few strikes from even smaller bass but that was about it. I didn't feel like going for a swim so Ben retrieved my Jitterbug for me just before lunch.

Not much fish action but it was nice to be on bass water again. My friend and I will have to canoe the deeper sections of the Colo and find suitable camping and give it a serious bash, soon!

Cheers,

Baz

[johnv]

well done sounds like a good overnight adventure had by all

cheers john

[tide'n'knots]

well done on introducing your young fellow to bass fishing!

Its amazing how shallow the water can be at times as long as there is a 3or 4 feet around a snag it sometimes holds half decent bass. I once took a mate bass fishing years ago and we caught about a dozen or so in a couple of hours - this guy wasnt much of a fisherman prior to this, and within a couple of months he had more gear and a better boat than me! got him absolutely hooked! Lets hope the same thing happens with your boy!

t'n'k.

[slinkymalinky]

Any fishing you do with your kids is gold Baz. Great report mate.

Cheers, Slinky

[bluedog]

well done mate