Bass search - Sydney

[brendong]

Coyote and I headed out early on Sunday morning in search of some Sydney sweetwater fishing up a remote arm in Southern Sydney. After convincing one of the wives to drop us off at 5.30 am and the other wife to pick us up at 1pm we figured we'd already had a win no matter how the day turned out. The place we fished doesn't allow any parking within cooee of the river hence drop off and pickup is essential.

I tied on a tiemco softshell cicada and 3rd cast of the morning this hard fighting 35cm brute smashed it off the surface. (Coyote was dirty as he hadn't even tied his lure on yet and I had one in the net). Released to fight another day of course.

Wow that was easy we thought. We both managed a couple of micro's on surface as we bush bashed and rock hopped our way up the river.

It took a little while before another reasonable unit was netted again from an aggressive surface strike.

Coyote played second fiddle for the early part of the morning but then returned serve with a 33 cm on a spinner bait as the sun began to hit the water and the shadows dissipated. Gave it a bit of a swim and off he went. Water clarity was quite good as you can see.

Not long before the end of our session another deadly cast by Coyote on spinner bait deep into a snag and he pulled a 35cm unit which gave him curry and and tested him all the way back to the bank.

Stumbled upon some fresh water yabbies too on the walk. Managed to get one in the net and grab a quick pic of him before releasing. He was an angry little bugger.

In the end he got me 4 bass to 3 before we had to turn back and walk out which took about 1.5 hours. And greeting us at the pickup point was my missus with a smiling face and the air conditioning. All fish caught on 4lb braid/8lb leader. All released of course.

I know why I only do these walks in summer, A) because surface fishing for bass is so much fun but because when flicking banks, big pools, runs and eddies you end up going for several swims to retrieve your misguided flicks that end up in a tree, on a log or in the reeds. But as they say if your not getting hung up your not getting in the zone. It's so true, every one of our fish came from a cracking cast and it was rare to entice a strike you flick was short of the mark or wayward.

My legs are shredded from the bush bashing and going up and down a few stairs at work today felt like agony but I'd do it again in a heart beat just to see those surface strikes. Remote creeks and big adventures don't occur enough for me with a youngish family and busy work schedule. And as much as I love my boat, there is something special about nailing some Aussie natives up a remote creek that rarely gets fished. Yep I'm a bass addict, don't get to target them very often but love every minute of it when I'm able to find the time.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Poddy Trapper

[paul.kenny]

Brendon,

Wow - it is amazing the quality of Bass we are getting Sydney at the moment and to think they are being caught on the surface as well. Thanks for sharing your adventure and I can't wait to get onto the Bass when I get home again.

PK

[pmak]

Where do I hit the 'Like' button on this post? Looks like really clean water and great wild bass. I'm too scared of snakes and creepy crawlies to do a trip like this methinks ...

pmak

[diesel]

Well done lads, I've been stopping of everyday after work for 30 min of flick time it becomes addictive managed one on a popper going 38 and the rest on fat dog shallow divers they ranged from 10 to 30 cm, not seeing much surface action ATM but it's awesome when they hit surface lures you sure know your on

[arpie]

Well done, PT & Coyote ..... an awesome river side session!! Aren't those Tiemco cicadas amazing?? I was chucking around sigletts on Sunday & they just weren't getting hits! Put on a tiemco - WHAM!!

Just watch out for snakes down there! Lots of blacks & browns in the bushes around here when wandering along creeks!

Great report & pics

Roberta

[brendong]

Thanks guys. Yep we kept an eye out for any sticks that were moving or sunning themselves. Fortunately none did, that we saw anyway.

[bassboy888]

Nice work poddy, I have been doing some exploring myself but none of that quality. In the past 2 weeks I have seen 4 red bellies, this bust bashing is not for the feint hearted!

Don't the bass love those soft shells. My all time favorite surface lure for bass, they also make some great hard cicadas and small pencil lures that are worth lookin at.

Keep up the hard bush bashing work!

[Robinsoi]

Excellent stuff guys!

As you say by arranging the drop off at dawn and pick up you you both already had a win.

Well done on some handsome looking quality fish and great photos too.

Keep up the magnificent work

Ian

[Devil Ray]

Great post mate, since moving to the central coast from penrith i have missed having a good bush bash and a flick for bass. I think this post has given me the motivation to dust off the spinner baits and have a crack

[Dave_]

Top fish mate. I do all my Bass Fishing from the bank so I can appreciate when the effort pays off. Heaps of fish around my way at the moment too and the Tiemco SSC is definitely the go to lure for me as well (at least until I lost my black one on Monday, I'm still in morning). Ah well there's always the Basscada/Surface breaker!

Nice work and as had been said, watch the snakes.