Macleay River Bass

[TK01]

Just got home from a few days west of Kempsey fishing with a few good mates and my brothers.  The weather was great and the river was fishing well.  Such a beautiful part of the world I almost forgot about the fishing at times and just admired the scenery.

I did however manage to land 47 bass including my new PB wild bass @ 48.5cm.  A few minutes after landing it I caught a 46cm fish! There were heaps of fish in the 40-45cm range too.  We’ve been making annual trips to the Macleay for the last 10 years or so. I had been a little worried this time what the fishing would be like as there was a large fish kill just after the bush fires last year, but I'm pleased to see the river is looking very healthy with an abundance of life.  Didn't see as many platypus as we usually would though.

[Rebel]

Looks like you had a good time. Great report. Super photos.

[Yowie]

Very nice fish. Looks a great place to visit, peace and quiet away from the lunatics.

[LuckyFil]

Congrats on the pb a good looking fish. Sounds like a great trip with plenty of fish. The pics look like the stretch around Willawarin or Bellbrook.

Were they taking surface lures yet?

cheers

Fil

[TK01]

Thanks guys

Yes Fil we were in the Willawarrin area.  There were a few taken on surface in the low light hours although I don't think they were hitting them with great enthusiasm at this stage.  Small divers around 50mm, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits were all very effective.  

[Brendan Monks]

Nice work & pictures @TK01! Congratulations on the PB, I also got my PB Bass (52cm) in the Macleay on a mates property a bit further upstream of the Bass Lodge last year. Heard about the fish kill as well (From all the ash apparently) Keen to get back up if they are still around, beautiful part of the country!! 😁🤙

[TK01]

Nice one! I would love to get one over 50!

[Blackfish]

Great report TK and it sounds like the river has bounced back.

In January this year I drove up to Bellbrook with a senior Kempsey local who's fished the river all his life and he was shocked on how little water was in it.

[TK01]

Yeah it was very low when we were there last November.  Almost no flow and we had to drag kayaks between pools, it was a lot of work when you do a 5km run downstream and drag a kayak for probably 3km of that.  So different this year.  It was actually flooded the week before we arrived and was on the way down.  Only section I had to portage the whole weekend was about 20metres downstream to avoid a rapid that went under low hanging trees.  Much more enjoyable.