South Coast Top Water Trip

[brendong]

Coyote and I love our top water estuary action, so we set ourselves a challenge to head down to Lake Conjola equipped with just top water gear and then in the arvo come back up to Graddy’s for a late arvo Bass sesh.

We were a little nervous as we weren’t too sure how receptive the fish in Lake Conjola would be to poppers but figured if the water temp was warm enough we’d be in with a chance.

Head hit the pillow @ 1 am at Lake Conjola and the alarm sounded @ 5 am so we dragged our weary bodies out of bed to make the most of the still conditions.

Launched and thought the water temp was ok but not quite as warm as we’d have liked on the last of the run out tide. Tied on the Sugapens and started chucking over the flats and weed beds. Second cast and you’d swear a Barra tried to inhale my Sugapen but he must of missed it....we figure it must have been a sizable flathead, but I’ve never seen one attack a top water lure with such force.....incredible.....

Stuck with the plan on the surface and with early interest figured we were in for an awesome day, but alas it was rather tough going. We worked heaps of flats, from the front of the system to the back, over ‘The Steps’ then up toward Fisho’s and did raise a couple of tailor and small breambo’s.

Headed out to Berringer and trolled the Sugapens on the way out, just giving a little flick to impart some action and Coyote says ‘gee’s I’d love to smack some Whiting’....no sooner had he said that and his reel starts screaming and he lands a great whiting which went really hard in the about 1 foot of water. It went 33cm quick pic and back she went.

We hung around the flats and I managed a small undersized flathead which was a first for me off the surface and Josh pulled a nice Long Tom. The whiting were there but the run in tide from the ocean had knocked the water temp back at least 2-3 degree’s and made it a little tough.....plenty of follows and slashes but they weren’t really committed.

We tried one last spot and noticed some big mullet getting harassed by something......never one to die wondering I hurled out the popper and got some red hot follows from some monster bream. Next cast I got smashed by this fella who dived into the weed to make life very difficult. But before long slid the nice 36 cm Breambo into the net. Quick snap, swim and off she went.

Hooked a couple more breambo’s but the hooks pulled close to the boat so they earned their freedom.

With that leg of the adventure over, we pulled the boat out and headed for Graddy’s....the guy there told us the water was nice and warm and the bass were on the surface so our hopes were high.

Turned out the water wasn't that warm, the wind was pretty strong and ski boats were out in force. I manage 3 little bronze battlers (not photo worthy) in the shallows again sticking with the top water gear. Coyote nailed a couple of bream. We both lost a couple of nice ones to the weed but we were both fishing very light setups, so we couldn’t really crank up the drag too much but I guess you can’t win them all.

What did we learn....

- Fishing the run out tide in the smaller estuaries will definitely mean the water is warmer than the run in from the ocean and probably more conducive to top water fishing, particularly early in the popper season

- Had we gone any earlier in the season, we probably would have struggled on the top

- Long Tom’s and Tailor make a mess of your Sugapens

- 7 cm top water lures do attract sizeable fish, when you’d probably assume they are too big

I’m heading back down to Conjola for the Christmas break and certainly have a few places in mind and with any luck the water should have warmed up but I’d reckon late Jan to early Feb would be awesome as there are some cracking fish in the system and massive amounts of skinny water for top water lovers.

Tight lines.

[The Iceman]

Surface is always fun

You may have done better at St Georges Basin where the tidal influence is not as great and Ive heard the surface fishing there has been pretty good

Sugapens may be a little too big this early in the season Try Jaz zappas

Ive had some large flatties boof surface lures and your not wrong about them sounding like barra but there aim is pretty poor

Im looking forward to getting down to the Basin at Xmas time for some good surface fishing myself

[GregL]

With the whitting use a popper instead of a stickbait. They also like a fast rip retrieve. Poppers with a bit of tail on the rear trebble seem to get more bite to.

G

[Hodgey]

Ah, Coyote and PT up to mischief again! Great report Brendon. You pair of buggers always seem to have a great time on the water. Great stuff fellas ... keep 'em comin'! The top-water action is starting to kick off here too

Cheers

Ian

[jenno64]

Great report and some top fish. I like the look of those lures but I've just spent up big on some others!