Perfect Storm

[lastworm]

I booked myself in for another Bass fish on Sunday after a pretty ordinary and mishap prone last session a couple of weeks ago. I knew I wouldn’t be able to head out again until we’ll into December so wanted to make this one count.

So I knew Sunday was going to be hot, muggy and overcast and that we were due to to get a storm rolling in that evening which was perfectly aligned to the last couple of hours of my session.

Session started well with two fish over 30cm fork length boated in the first hour, nothing to write home about but solid fish that fought hard.

Fished for another hour or so for another couple of fish around the same size. Decided to try some frogs on surface and messed around with Zman frogz and Daiwa kicker curleys with various weighted and unweighted hook setups. Had one big hit and got bricked pretty much immediately.

The sky was getting dark and what I was hoping would be peak bite period was kicking off. Went back to a deep diver and started absolutely belting them, getting hit on every second or third cast, I was catching fish in the mid 30s one after the other to the point where I wasn’t even stopping for photos the fishing was that good. Got smoked a few times, lost lures, bent trebles. The fish were hitting so hard and fighting so hard my hands were sore from fighting. I wasn’t even landing casts close to snags anymore, 1 metre from the bank the lure was getting annihilated.

Finished up with 15 fish for a 4 hour session with 10 coming in the last hour, and I lost plenty more. Biggest fish was 36cm fork length (1cm short of my PB for this system), but the fight on these buggers was insane, and I’ve caught barra up north!

Honestly one of those sessions where it all just comes together, I’ve never experienced anything like it.

Few pics I did take amongst the chaos;

Photo taken with fish on my shoulder for scale (big gorilla hands make the fish look small)
The carnage, this was from one fish!

 

 

Edited November 18 by lastworm

[Little_Flatty]

I had a feeling Sunday was bassy!

Well done on some nice fish.

[Ryder]

Sounds like an incredible session. Well done.
I’m thinking the barometric pressure had an influence?

[thatdan1000]

Nice 34, 35 and 38cm bass! (measure the whole fish, fork length means nothing) 🤣 

That's by far my biggest pet peeve with fisho's in our country, we measure the whole fish for literally every other species but for some reason some people decide to measure bass to the fork and it makes no sense, you're only selling yourself short by a few cm! Hahaha

Good fish and solid session! Sorry to air out my peeve on your post 😅

Edited November 19 by thatdan1000
Inappropriate language

[lastworm]

9 hours ago, thatdan1000 said:

Nice 34, 35 and 38cm bass! (measure the whole fish, fork length means nothing) 🤣 

That's by far my biggest pet peeve with fisho's in our country, we measure the whole fish for literally every other species but for some reason some people decide to measure bass to the fork and it makes no sense, you're only selling yourself short by a few cm! Hahaha

Good fish and solid session! Sorry to air out my peeve on your post 😅

So funny you say that, my pet peeve is people that measure bass to the tip! 😂 

I guess I’m old school and I like to challenge myself. I also choose to fish silly string (6lb) in crazy snaggy conditions. 
I’ll take your “inflated” measurements as a compliment and agree to disagree on this one 😝.
 

[Pickles]

Great report @lastworm, thanks for sharing.  remember a similar session quite a few years back - just as you described. I was fishing solo out of a canoe on the Derrubbin (Hawkesbury for white fellas) when a huge low was predicted and a southerly approached - a hot / humid day with “cool change” in the late afternoon. Just before the southerly hit, the Bass went absolutely nuts and every cast was a fish. Like your report, it was a memorable and unforgettable session. I remember the lures I was using. A “Little S” in silver, “crawdad” in orange and the old ubiquitous “Floppy” in dark green. I still have these lures and still catch bass on them , except the Floppy, which is on the shelf in the trophy cabinet - it will hurt when they eventually go where all favourite bass lures go (up a tree out of reach or snagged on a log).

[bessell1955]

Those storms bring on a frenzy with Bass.

[thatdan1000]

11 hours ago, lastworm said:

So funny you say that, my pet peeve is people that measure bass to the tip! 😂 

I guess I’m old school and I like to challenge myself. I also choose to fish silly string (6lb) in crazy snaggy conditions. 
I’ll take your “inflated” measurements as a compliment and agree to disagree on this one 😝.
 

Hahah all good! 

Do you measure all fish to the fork, or just bass? If you're consistent across species I can at least respect that, it's the people that just do it for the one species that make my brain hurt 🤣

[LuckyFil]

Jealous doesn’t quite cover it!!

You went with your instincts (and perseverance 4 hour session!) and got the rewards.

Im always a bit wary of hanging around with a carbon fibre lightning rod in my hand if a storm is on the way, but that’s clearly when the bass go nuts.

[lastworm]

On 11/20/2024 at 8:55 AM, thatdan1000 said:

Hahah all good! 

Do you measure all fish to the fork, or just bass? If you're consistent across species I can at least respect that, it's the people that just do it for the one species that make my brain hurt 🤣

I’m one of those annoying inconsistent people. But for the past few years I’ve only fished for bass so let’s call it a loophole!? 😉

[big Neil]

I think you will find that an approaching thunderstorm is a trigger for many species to go crazy...at least that is my experience. One of the best sessions on Murray Cod saw me catch 27 in 1.5 hrs as a storm heading up the Murrumbidgee...hectic, crazy, and has happened several times. Sure, I got soaked but it was the height of Summer, and couldn't put a damper on the day.

Well done,    bn

[thatdan1000]

Same thing just after a storm Neil, I was working down Mulwala last week after the big storms and the school group I was taking fishing caught some giant carp and half a dozen beautiful cod, with some dropped fish too!