Breaking In New Tackle

[Jewhunter]

G'day all.

It was a pretty crappy, cold & windy w/end up this way.

Hanging for a fish & to also get my hands on a couple of new Lox rods that Slinky was holding for me was a great excuse to organise a Bass session up river.

We didn't manage to get out of the wind but we did find a few nice fish.

Launched the little tinny at the ungodly hour of 11.30am.

I was hoping to find some fish schooled up but it wasn't to be.

We worked our way down river for nothing before we came to one of my fave snags. The 'lone tree in the paddock' that sits in the middle of the river.

My doubting mate mocked me again as we didn't pull a fish off it last time, which is the only time! He had his doubts after his 1st cast. I then told him the secret of having to cast into the middle of the fork. He does this, hops his little spinnerbait over the log & gets smashed. After a lazy sort of a fight Slinky has christened his new ABU 1500 baitcaster with his new p.b bass of 42cm's.

There was no more crap about my shit snag after that!!!!

We worked down to the weir for zip & then snag bashed our way back. The conditions changed when the wind died off & the bass fired up a little.

The takes were strange. Either short hits or swallowed on the drop. The fish were in poor,skinny condition. River fish are usually a bit skinny but Slinkys' 2nd fish of 37cm's looked like an Olsen twin. Must have lost it's weight while it hit my lure 4 times until Slinky dropped his on it's nose & hooked it!

I then managed a couple of fish at 38 & 37cms.

Slinky then missed a really good fish that pulled drag on the strike but failed to connect. He then lost a couple that did him in the snags but if you saw where he hooked them you would know why!

We had quite a few short takes & missed fished but couldn't add to the tally.

All fish released as per usual.

A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday arvo with a mate. I broke in the new 1-3kg Lox & Slinky nailed his p.b on his new reel. Nice!

Well done on the p.b mate!

Cheers,

Grant.

[FlyFanatic]

G'day all.

It was a pretty crappy, cold & windy w/end up this way.

Hanging for a fish & to also get my hands on a couple of new Lox rods that Slinky was holding for me was a great excuse to organise a Bass session up river.

We didn't manage to get out of the wind but we did find a few nice fish.

Launched the little tinny at the ungodly hour of 11.30am.

I was hoping to find some fish schooled up but it wasn't to be.

We worked our way down river for nothing before we came to one of my fave snags. The 'lone tree in the paddock' that sits in the middle of the river.

My doubting mate mocked me again as we didn't pull a fish off it last time, which is the only time! He had his doubts after his 1st cast. I then told him the secret of having to cast into the middle of the fork. He does this, hops his little spinnerbait over the log & gets smashed. After a lazy sort of a fight Slinky has christened his new ABU 1500 baitcaster with his new p.b bass of 42cm's.

There was no more crap about my shit snag after that!!!!

We worked down to the weir for zip & then snag bashed our way back. The conditions changed when the wind died off & the bass fired up a little.

The takes were strange. Either short hits or swallowed on the drop. The fish were in poor,skinny condition. River fish are usually a bit skinny but Slinkys' 2nd fish of 37cm's looked like an Olsen twin. Must have lost it's weight while it hit my lure 4 times until Slinky dropped his on it's nose & hooked it!

I then managed a couple of fish at 38 & 37cms.

Slinky then missed a really good fish that pulled drag on the strike but failed to connect. He then lost a couple that did him in the snags but if you saw where he hooked them you would know why!

We had quite a few short takes & missed fished but couldn't add to the tally.

All fish released as per usual.

A very pleasant way to spend a Sunday arvo with a mate. I broke in the new 1-3kg Lox & Slinky nailed his p.b on his new reel. Nice!

Well done on the p.b mate!

Cheers,

Grant.

Nice Fish, Well Done Guys.

What time of year do you guys stop catching Bass up that way? Is their a defined end to the season when they stop biting?

I've fished the Bellinger River a few times but no further North than that, and after Easter Bass fishing the Bellinger is pretty much all over from my limited experience.

Certainly I wouldn't expect to catch bass around Sydney at this time of year. Certainly happy to be corrected though.

Well done on the PB.

Cheers,

Trav

[Guest rzep]

Well done on getting out there and for the pb Slinky

Been a while since I have had a bass session and this has made me itchy

[slinkymalinky]

Thanks for the great arvo out in the SS Bathtub, JH.

The stretch of river we fished is one of Jewhunter's favourite spots... he's pretty spoiled for choice as far as Bass water is concerned.

The snags where we pulled fish might as well have had signs on them saying 'FISH RIGHT HERE'. They looked that good. Big tangles of fallen trees in 12-15' of water with lots of horizontal logs and branches. It's a pretty wild way to fish and with the little Jazz spinnerbaits we were using we could throw the lures right into the gnarliest, ugliest parts of the snags and nearly always bounce them back out again. Getting hooked fish out of there though wasn't always so easy.

To be honest, I was undergunned in the rod department. The little Abu with its carbon drag was up to the task but with any kind of serious drag or thumb pressure, the 1-3 Traverse X totally pancaked. Considering that as a rod it was a top quality mid-priced stick in its day, rod technology has come a long way. It was too short too... even though we were throwing lures that only weighed 1/8oz I would have liked to be able to get another 5 or so metres when casting and more importantly, had a bit more ability to direct fish where I wanted them once hooked.

Absolutely stoked about my pb and very glad JH came good and pulled a couple of nice fish after I started to remind him that including last trip, I was something like 5/0 up on him

Magic spot. (particularly when you don't try to fish it in board shorts in winter)

Cheers, Slinky

[slinkymalinky]

I meant to add a little note. Around the time that I was giving Jewhunter heaps for having blanked while I already had 2 for the day, he adopted a particularly innovative approach to tackling each snag. Here's a photos of his technique for approaching snags...

Note the relative positioning of the Bass-rich snags, boat, guide and Slinky. As a guide I think it may leave a little to be desired as I did struggle to get a cast in for a little while. I'm sure it was unintentional.

Cheers, Slinky

[mrsswordfisherman]

I meant to add a little note. Around the time that I was giving Jewhunter heaps for having blanked while I already had 2 for the day, he adopted a particularly innovative approach to tackling each snag. Here's a photos of his technique for approaching snags...

Note the relative positioning of the Bass-rich snags, boat, guide and Slinky. As a guide I think it may leave a little to be desired as I did struggle to get a cast in for a little while. I'm sure it was unintentional.

Cheers, Slinky

Yes, I have been experiencing this phenomena for many years Slinky. I never get to sit in "Stewyland" either. Grant learned that technique off swordie of course

Hey Slinky sometimes you can score a traversing bass if you are lucky

[arpie]

Congrats on your PB Bass, Slinky!!! Well done! Sounds like you had heaps of fun out there with Grant!

Glad you enjoyed blooding the new Lox Rods, Grant- I have joined the exclusive LOX club, with the 1-3kg 7ft 2" Bream Stick & can't wait to test it in the racks! I reckon, given that terrific pulling power, those pesky bream shouldn't be able to get back into the snags!!

Hope to hit the water some time this week!! It's been too long between casts!!

Cheerio

Roberta

[Guest]

Yes, I have been experiencing this phenomena for many years Slinky. I never get to sit in "Stewyland" either. Grant learned that technique off swordie of course

Hey Slinky sometimes you can score a traversing bass if you are lucky

Hey !!! I resemble that remark

Nice fish boys and Slinky I think Grant is getting soft even allowing you one cast at the good spots.

Grant you need to come back to the School of Hard Casting Techniques and have a refresher course mate

Cheers Stewy

[Hodgey]

I meant to add a little note. Around the time that I was giving Jewhunter heaps for having blanked while I already had 2 for the day, he adopted a particularly innovative approach to tackling each snag. Here's a photos of his technique for approaching snags...

Note the relative positioning of the Bass-rich snags, boat, guide and Slinky. As a guide I think it may leave a little to be desired as I did struggle to get a cast in for a little while. I'm sure it was unintentional.

Cheers, Slinky

LMAO! Congrats on a great session, fellas. Great to see those sneaky little spinnerbaits are still accounting for some quality bass I promise when you come down Slinky, I will allow you at least a GLIMPSE of the fish-holding snags

Cheers

Skip

[Daniel Frost]

Slinky next time you go fishing with Grant take an Aerator so you can keep his fish alive and use them as livies for your big ones

Grant I would have been putting myself in the good casting spots all day , it's your right as the boat owner , stuff the dekkie , they are lucky to be invited along , and if they catch a bigger fish then you they should be spending their time making you a sambo or giving you a Foot rub and praising your efforts as a Guide !!

.

Well done gentlemen

Good report

Bubba

[brendong]

How good is it when you finally 'get some bass on your ass!' Welldone boys!!! And congrats on the PB doubting Thomas....also how good is boat banter/slander/putdowns call it what you will...I reckon it makes a truly great fishing session...

Edited July 6, 2010 by Poddy Trapper