My First 50 cm for the Winter, Wivenhoe Dam, June 2010
The forecast was brilliant, light winds all day. I slept in and made it
out there for launch at 10.45 am from the Sailing Club. I headed
straight up to the Horse Paddock where I was fishing last year with
huge success. I had been up there during previous trips and had found
nothing, it was much the same today, no schools to be found or even a
bait fish school. I made my way from the Horse Paddock back towards
Brads Point. Last year when traveling from the Horse Paddock to Brads I
would always pick up fish on the troll.
I was paddling over scattered fish and then I would come up on a small school, nothing massive but something worthwhile to fish. This is where I use a buoy, this is something every serious bass impoundment fisherman should have. Its easy to mark the spot on you GPS but its hard to navigate back or even know where the school is at glance. A buoy gives you instant visual contact to where the school of fish is holding. The forecast today was for 4 - 5 knots but the wind was stronger than that so I only had a small window of opportunity to fish it each time as I would drift quickly. So I would paddle up to the school, drop over a blade and work it fast. I was dropping it down, hopping it and then burning it up to the mid water. I was having trouble getting it to sound properly so I brought up the blade and moved the clip back to the furthest attachment towards the back of the blade. This was perfect as the blade was diving down quickly, I felt a bump on the line and I thought it was a catfish as they often tap on the lure before hitting it so I burnt the blade vertically fast, instantly I had a massive hit. The blade would have been almost halfway up the water column along way from the sounding, I almost lost the rod it hit so hard. I knew it had to be a bass, as I know a catfish won't swim fast to get to a lure.
I had forgotten how these fish fight, this fish had several hard runs and when I would gain line it would take it back. I had a lost a massive bass the last time I was out here due to me working the rod too severe so I took my time as I knew by the way it was fighting it had to be a bass. Sure enough it hit the surface after me taking my time and loosen the drag several times to let it tire. I was careful not to give it any slack as I reach back for the net, I swam it into the net and I had to short handle the net to lift it in as it was very heavy. It was like a football, absolutely massive and thick, it was like it had been on steroids, there must be some good bait out there to chew on.I put it on the ruler and the hinge broke and the second half of the ruler took a swim, so I took a mark on the base plate and measured it here at home, it was a perfect 50cm long.
I took the usual photos and let it go, I swam it beside the kayak and it an instant it awoke and took off splashing me all over in the process. I made the mistake of releasing the fish back on the school and after that the fish shut down. Whatever I tried, they just weren't interested. As it turned out this was to be the only fish for the day, disappointing as I thought it was a start of a good session. The wind was annoying at times and it was hard to find fish anywhere, it seems as the dam is full the fish are well and truly spread. I made my way over to where Toni had caught here giant and no fish were over there either. Anyway it was a great day on the water, I paddled 10.5 kms and spent 4 hours looking around collecting information for next time. Its not the biggest bass I have caught out there but I was happy for my efforts today.
I was paddling over scattered fish and then I would come up on a small school, nothing massive but something worthwhile to fish. This is where I use a buoy, this is something every serious bass impoundment fisherman should have. Its easy to mark the spot on you GPS but its hard to navigate back or even know where the school is at glance. A buoy gives you instant visual contact to where the school of fish is holding. The forecast today was for 4 - 5 knots but the wind was stronger than that so I only had a small window of opportunity to fish it each time as I would drift quickly. So I would paddle up to the school, drop over a blade and work it fast. I was dropping it down, hopping it and then burning it up to the mid water. I was having trouble getting it to sound properly so I brought up the blade and moved the clip back to the furthest attachment towards the back of the blade. This was perfect as the blade was diving down quickly, I felt a bump on the line and I thought it was a catfish as they often tap on the lure before hitting it so I burnt the blade vertically fast, instantly I had a massive hit. The blade would have been almost halfway up the water column along way from the sounding, I almost lost the rod it hit so hard. I knew it had to be a bass, as I know a catfish won't swim fast to get to a lure.
I had forgotten how these fish fight, this fish had several hard runs and when I would gain line it would take it back. I had a lost a massive bass the last time I was out here due to me working the rod too severe so I took my time as I knew by the way it was fighting it had to be a bass. Sure enough it hit the surface after me taking my time and loosen the drag several times to let it tire. I was careful not to give it any slack as I reach back for the net, I swam it into the net and I had to short handle the net to lift it in as it was very heavy. It was like a football, absolutely massive and thick, it was like it had been on steroids, there must be some good bait out there to chew on.I put it on the ruler and the hinge broke and the second half of the ruler took a swim, so I took a mark on the base plate and measured it here at home, it was a perfect 50cm long.
I took the usual photos and let it go, I swam it beside the kayak and it an instant it awoke and took off splashing me all over in the process. I made the mistake of releasing the fish back on the school and after that the fish shut down. Whatever I tried, they just weren't interested. As it turned out this was to be the only fish for the day, disappointing as I thought it was a start of a good session. The wind was annoying at times and it was hard to find fish anywhere, it seems as the dam is full the fish are well and truly spread. I made my way over to where Toni had caught here giant and no fish were over there either. Anyway it was a great day on the water, I paddled 10.5 kms and spent 4 hours looking around collecting information for next time. Its not the biggest bass I have caught out there but I was happy for my efforts today.
