Lizardboy Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 I had a few very rewarding sessions over the New year's period exploring the brackish and small pockets of fresh in some northern sydney creeks. NEW YEAR'S EVE.... We used the big morning tides to push right up one of the creeks that I'd been meaning to explore for some time, hoping there may be a bass or two around. We took the canoe up as far as we could and continued on foot. I'd had a few casts in one of the tiny pools, then moved on but Pete persevered and eventually this bass darted out from under a log and inhaled his little daiwa presso cicada. Same fish as above, ready for release. As you can see by its fins, it's wasn't in the best condition, so we minimised its time out of the water. I could be wrong, but I really don't think there'd be many bass at all in this particular creek as it ended so abruptly. I was even thinking that this fella may have migrated back up the wrong creek after its winter spawning. The water was quite salty, although this was probably more a result of the king tides. The Celebration....we started drinking pretty early new years eve[] NEW YEARS DAY... Pete's smallwater Bass had inspired me and at about 6:30pm New years day, when the temperature was finally becoming bearable I grabbed my rod, a handful of lures and loaded the canoe onto the car. I headed up one of the creeks that feed my local lake. I'd heard there was the odd bass in the upper reaches of the lake, but frustratingly I'd never been able to prove it. I kept focused and paddled a long way upstream, resisting the urge to cast surface lures for bream. Once in the upper reaches, I started casting at the fallen timber and was concentrating on paddling softly and being as quiet as possible, but when I passed a group of paddlers on their way back dowstream I lost confidence. Soon after I found a little backwater with a nice fallen log, it was seperated from the main creek by a few sparse reeds. From a distance I slung a cast over the reeds and the little cicada fizzer was nailed on the first bloop, I wasn't taking any chances and went hard on the fish early, luckily I was able to stay in control and guide it away from the timber and through the reeds to the more open water and i soon had him canoe side[] 345mm Lake Bass I got a few more surface hits, but didn't get any more bass, just this little EP! ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER CREEK TO EXPLORE... A few days later Pete and I went to explore another creek a bit further a field. We motored upstream as far as we could and then continued on foot. We moved from pool to pool, It was really tight water and bow 'n' arrow casting was used to good effect. over a couple of hours we managed 10 or so bass each. They were mostly little tackers, but good fun none the less particularly as most were taken on surface lures. Some of the pools were more like puddles ....but they still held fish[] Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Fantastic effort Lizardboy and great pics as well 'Burke and Wills' would have been proud of you !! Cheers Swordfisherman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest madsmc Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 Great report there Gus. Whenever I read one of your reports it always makes me want to go out and buy a canoe! What do you think caused the poor conditioning of that first bass? Would the exposure to the salt play a part in it? Shane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizardboy Posted January 16, 2006 Author Share Posted January 16, 2006 Great report there Gus. Whenever I read one of your reports it always makes me want to go out and buy a canoe! What do you think caused the poor conditioning of that first bass? Would the exposure to the salt play a part in it? Shane Yep, Canoe's are pretty wicked, theres so many places that only canoes and kayaks can get into The seats, sounder and electric are a bit of a luxury, but well worth it As for the 1st bass i really can't say with any cetainty what caused its condition, they can obviously tolerate salt water when they breed, but perhaps they can't sustain themselves in it, i'm really just guessing. The narra bass was much more healthy, other than a small scar. The only bad thing about the final trip was that i managed to crack the LCD screen on my camera, so no more photos for a while Cheers Swordfisherman, Burke' my middle name Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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