Clear Island Waters, Gold Coast, September 2009
Well two days after the Wivenhoe
Kayak convention I was not keen for a paddle but I received a message
from a friend to say this would be her last fish before she returned
home to Forster in NSW.
I was also keen to go down to Clear Island Waters for a fish as the Bass open season had begun and Clear Island Waters is part of a wild bass area so the fishing should be good here after being closed for the breeding season. I left home and made my way down the Gold Coast arriving at eight o'clock where I met Roberta, Denis and Toni at the launch spot.
Our Kayaks were rigged and one by one we set off to check out the fishing at Clear Island Waters. Denis has fished the area quite regularly and knows where the bass are to be found so through out the morning we stuck close to him. I found a lot of small schools of bass on the sounder and tried casting to them with blades and mask vibes but no luck. In the end I decided to troll the area as I was pretty tired from the weekend so I just set myself up for two rods with one trolling from each side. I trolled at a slow pace and I found it very relaxing after a rigorous weekend of paddling Wivenhoe dam in the fishing Competition.
I rigged a Jonesy Lure on each rod, on one I had a Jonesy Elle and the other Rod I had a Jonesy Busy Boy. The water depth was around fifteen to twenty five feet deep and the Busy Boy which trolls at roughly twenty two feet was at its prime working depth. Where as the Elle lure which dives to over thirty feet was very close to the bottom if not dragging, but I was paddling very slow to try and stop it dragging. The Jonesy Busy Boy ended up being the lure of the day and I caught about a dozen bass using this lure in the Elton John color. Later I decided to replace my Elle lure with a Jackall Mask Vibe and hooked up on to a larger bass at around the mid thirties.
Clear Island Waters bass are almost always tiny but there are a few large ones amongst them, but today was not to be that day as I was only scoring small models. Hey but it was still fun! Soon the wind picked up from the north and the area we were fishing in became very uncomfortable so i decided to call it a day and I was off the water by twelve thirty, Denis followed not long after. We had lost Roberta and after a quick phone call we soon found her, she arrived with her largest bass of the day in tow, Toni came in to bid us farewell but decided to go back out to test her new Pacific Action Sail which she has fitted to her Prowler 13.
We all packed up and said our good byes to Roberta and we all on our way, a great day at Clear Island Waters, not big bass at all but like I said earlier still some fun!
I was also keen to go down to Clear Island Waters for a fish as the Bass open season had begun and Clear Island Waters is part of a wild bass area so the fishing should be good here after being closed for the breeding season. I left home and made my way down the Gold Coast arriving at eight o'clock where I met Roberta, Denis and Toni at the launch spot.
Our Kayaks were rigged and one by one we set off to check out the fishing at Clear Island Waters. Denis has fished the area quite regularly and knows where the bass are to be found so through out the morning we stuck close to him. I found a lot of small schools of bass on the sounder and tried casting to them with blades and mask vibes but no luck. In the end I decided to troll the area as I was pretty tired from the weekend so I just set myself up for two rods with one trolling from each side. I trolled at a slow pace and I found it very relaxing after a rigorous weekend of paddling Wivenhoe dam in the fishing Competition.
I rigged a Jonesy Lure on each rod, on one I had a Jonesy Elle and the other Rod I had a Jonesy Busy Boy. The water depth was around fifteen to twenty five feet deep and the Busy Boy which trolls at roughly twenty two feet was at its prime working depth. Where as the Elle lure which dives to over thirty feet was very close to the bottom if not dragging, but I was paddling very slow to try and stop it dragging. The Jonesy Busy Boy ended up being the lure of the day and I caught about a dozen bass using this lure in the Elton John color. Later I decided to replace my Elle lure with a Jackall Mask Vibe and hooked up on to a larger bass at around the mid thirties.
Clear Island Waters bass are almost always tiny but there are a few large ones amongst them, but today was not to be that day as I was only scoring small models. Hey but it was still fun! Soon the wind picked up from the north and the area we were fishing in became very uncomfortable so i decided to call it a day and I was off the water by twelve thirty, Denis followed not long after. We had lost Roberta and after a quick phone call we soon found her, she arrived with her largest bass of the day in tow, Toni came in to bid us farewell but decided to go back out to test her new Pacific Action Sail which she has fitted to her Prowler 13.
We all packed up and said our good byes to Roberta and we all on our way, a great day at Clear Island Waters, not big bass at all but like I said earlier still some fun!
