First Bass

[ashisnothereman]

Hi Raiders,

Was down in the Kangaroo Valley this weekend for uni fieldwork doing sampling along the Kangaroo River, so me and a few mates decided what better time to do some sneaky freshwater fishing. My mate drove and was there the night before me and managed to go down to the river during early morning and was keeping me updated via text, about 10 minutes later I had a picture message with him holding a decent bass.

I arrived about lunch and we had to proceed with our main priority of uni work, which was frustrating as all I could think about was hooking a bass.

The next morning we were up at quarter to six and headed down the the river and began flicking our lures from the banks. My mate had an orange hard body minnow (no idea on make) and I was using a cheapy Gillies Stump Jumper 3.0 in green/gold.

We were strapped for time and half an hour in we began chatting about if we should head back or another last cast. I was retrieving my lure and it dove under a submerged tree close to the bank, I stopped my retrieve and saw an olive flash come up behind my lure. I say to my mate "I'm pretty sure I saw one but it's probably my mind playing tricks on me". Second cast was the same deal except this time I knew there was a bass under this log and third time lucky he smashed the lure getting some hang time out of the water and then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, I tighten my drag and played the fish for about 10 seconds and then I had him up on shore. Took some photos and got a good look at this beautiful fish and threw him back.

First ever bass, first ever lure caught fish. This fish will be burnt into my brain forever.

Another very interesting aspect of this system is the Tallowa Dam fish elevator. In order to give migrating fish species some sort of chance there is an interesting contraption that conveys a enclosure of water over the dam and onto the other side. It's very interesting so have a google.

Edited September 9, 2012 by ashisnothereman

[brendong]

Congrats mate got to love getting your first bass. They prob haven't seen too many lures down there of late given the closed season.

[bassboy888]

Nice first bass mate, not a bad sized fish either! You will remember that for a long long time.

[ashisnothereman]

Congrats mate got to love getting your first bass. They prob haven't seen too many lures down there of late given the closed season.

Thanks mate. Yes, we were fishing in a fairly secluded area which involved a hefty bush bash. Was a victim to surprise wombat holes, stinging nettle and electric fences but it was so worth it.

Nice first bass mate, not a bad sized fish either! You will remember that for a long long time.

Cheers mate, yea I was stoked on his size. He gave my 4kg outfit a good bend. However my mates fish was much bigger. I'd guestimate about 45cms! Mine was just under 30cms I'd say.

[paul.kenny]

Great little bronze battler......be careful you will quickly become addicted, I know I have