Qld - 10/02/11 - Upgrade Bass!

[irongustavius]

After being bitten by the bass bug last week, I had another crack at a secretly scouted spot I had ideas might hold bass.

The day previously I had walked alongside the creek, noticing several surface bust ups, and thought of coming back with a few surface lures.

Standing on the causeway and casting, my second cast landed right next to a promising snag. I was using a Baby Rover 50 and let it sit and sit until the ripples were gone. A twitch, then a boof as a bass erupted from underneath it and smashed the lure. He gave me some curry on the 4lb braid until he was landed and I was a happy lad.

Sorry to those who are offended by the bass hanging from the lure - it was a very quick snap and the bass was released and swam away strongly.

I then put on a Rover 75 and worked it for about 45 minutes, covering a fair bit of water, until I had a very peculiar strike. The cast was average and I let the lure sit before twitching. I noticed that the lure would sit down in the water and needed about 3 feet of movement before it would come back to the surface. Anyway, as the lure was sitting beneath the water, I noticed a bow wave coming towards the lure. As I started to retrieve it I felt a weight, then the weight started kicking, and line started pouring off my reel.

That's the bass next to my size 12 clodhoppers - calling it for a high 30s, possibly a 40cm bass. Notice the fact that you can't see the lure - the bass swallowed it right down. Not having pliers I was pretty nervous for the fish but managed to get the lure out fairly quickly. The fish was released and swam away strongly.

All up it was a pretty good afternoon session - I upgraded twice in about an hour and a half. The things that people write about bass surface strikes are true - I was pretty excited and would call myself close to addicted.

[Rafinx]

it seems interesting, it may be something ill look into the future with, next step is still garfish tho.

[mccmark]

Nice fish Mate, I had a day a few years ago where the fish wouldn't smack the sammy 65. So I let the lure sit for up to a minute and the fish would take it from under water with out even breaking the water surface. Sometimes all you would see is the lure disappearing ,or the wake of the fishes back like you said!

Cheers Mark

[irongustavius]

Nice fish Mate, I had a day a few years ago where the fish wouldn't smack the sammy 65. So I let the lure sit for up to a minute and the fish would take it from under water with out even breaking the water surface. Sometimes all you would see is the lure disappearing ,or the wake of the fishes back like you said!

Cheers Mark

Yeah it was unusual - the first fish smacked the sh!t out of the baby rover 50, but the second didn't even break the surface.

Still, exciting stuff, I think he would have fought harder if he didn't have a lure all the way down his throat blocking off the oxygen.

[paul.kenny]

Great wild bass mate and good onya for releasing them. Obviously the recent flooding hasn't effected the bass fishery too much.

[irongustavius]

Great wild bass mate and good onya for releasing them. Obviously the recent flooding hasn't effected the bass fishery too much.

Yeah I don't usually keep fish I catch, especially in fresh water. Unless it's a tasty trout and I am camping . . .

I think the flooding has had mixed results for the bass. Not being a native Queenslander (I'm just up during the week for work) I'm not too sure about how the fishing was before the flooding, but by all accounts the water up and flowing over the dam walls has really livened up the fishing in the rivers.

I would guess that impoundment bass are being washed over and into the rivers, shaking up the scene and bringing the anglers to the fore. I'm flying back up on Monday so am checking google earth for some more fishing downstream of the dams. Wish me luck . . .