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Finally caught my first wild Bass, read on folks...
Left Canberra after securing new AT ( All Terrain tyres ) on my Forester at around 1:00pm, bound for Craigs popper extreme secret hideout. He looked bushed after a big morning at Durras but was eager to guide me to some of my first wild river Bass. Weather was still iffy but we arrived around 4:30pm to a mostly calm, super secret location ( Shallow Crossing, Clyde River ). Pushed upstream for little surface activity but a few missed explosions. Some few pools deep Craig secured a new PB of 43cm Australian Bass which I know he felt good happy about... He is kind of a one up PB man.
Got the bejesus scared out of me on a surface striking fish who missed the first cast, exploded but missed the second, flipped the third and hooked up on the fourth. Big mouth and small hooks dont mix and even though unsighted was a corker of a Bass. Moved deeper again to the further pools and on the way I caught a small model, around 20cm's of pure Bass delight. Craig got done over 2 or three times, losing Spinnerbaits galore all still with a wry smile on his face ( I guess losing a bunch of expensive lures is ok if its to a big Bass, big Flathead, big Salmon etc etc ).
After 3 hours of throwing surface lures for not much I took Craig's unoffered advice and switched to a little Kokoda Kingspin Spinnerbait and hooked up on the fourth cast, bit of a grand tussle and an inspection / verification / photo from Craig showed a new PB of 42cm prime healthy Bass was in my net ( Eclipsing my Bass PB by a mere 1cm ). Pretty sure Craig got done again when darkness set in so we retreated back to the cars for a crash, anticipating a hectic morning on the super bronze fishies... Dinner consisted of servo sambos, beef jerky and some spicy ass chips!
Rising Sunday morning at 5:00am was easy, fishing till 10:00am solidly in the pouring rain was not. Insect activity lacked and while I missed a few strikes early on the Sammy. the Bevy Fizzer rattled a few undersized Bass which promptly would self release upon retrieval. Moved down to the previous days mega pool to find the action tough, a decent Bass held the skirt of my Spinnerbait long enough for me to ready myself or the impending tail beat shower but he let go. Perhaps he prefered monstering Craigs offerings, some bloody Bass did as he was done over again and lost his last Spinnerbait. Plenty of bling bling fish in Shallow Crossing at the moment, guess its lucky they were all 1/8 oz. not 1/4. oz in weight.
I threw some thoughtfull and uninspiring sage advice Craig's way ( Perhaps its time to change leader Brands? ) as his tally loss of lures for the weekend was well over $100.00 and counting. We headed back Sunday fishless but happy with Saturday evenings effort, bashing our all terrain way back down towards the Old Princess Highway without a hint of a few unsaid Lyrebird incidents. Didnt get many photos of Sunday due to extreme rain and bad light, really need to get a new camera or risk using it without the waterproof housing.
Still takes good images but low light kills many otherwise great shots by adding noise, alternatives are not available for the low end DSLR and I keep spending my dosh on my car...
Left Canberra after securing new AT ( All Terrain tyres ) on my Forester at around 1:00pm, bound for Craigs popper extreme secret hideout. He looked bushed after a big morning at Durras but was eager to guide me to some of my first wild river Bass. Weather was still iffy but we arrived around 4:30pm to a mostly calm, super secret location ( Shallow Crossing, Clyde River ). Pushed upstream for little surface activity but a few missed explosions. Some few pools deep Craig secured a new PB of 43cm Australian Bass which I know he felt good happy about... He is kind of a one up PB man.
Got the bejesus scared out of me on a surface striking fish who missed the first cast, exploded but missed the second, flipped the third and hooked up on the fourth. Big mouth and small hooks dont mix and even though unsighted was a corker of a Bass. Moved deeper again to the further pools and on the way I caught a small model, around 20cm's of pure Bass delight. Craig got done over 2 or three times, losing Spinnerbaits galore all still with a wry smile on his face ( I guess losing a bunch of expensive lures is ok if its to a big Bass, big Flathead, big Salmon etc etc ).
After 3 hours of throwing surface lures for not much I took Craig's unoffered advice and switched to a little Kokoda Kingspin Spinnerbait and hooked up on the fourth cast, bit of a grand tussle and an inspection / verification / photo from Craig showed a new PB of 42cm prime healthy Bass was in my net ( Eclipsing my Bass PB by a mere 1cm ). Pretty sure Craig got done again when darkness set in so we retreated back to the cars for a crash, anticipating a hectic morning on the super bronze fishies... Dinner consisted of servo sambos, beef jerky and some spicy ass chips!
Rising Sunday morning at 5:00am was easy, fishing till 10:00am solidly in the pouring rain was not. Insect activity lacked and while I missed a few strikes early on the Sammy. the Bevy Fizzer rattled a few undersized Bass which promptly would self release upon retrieval. Moved down to the previous days mega pool to find the action tough, a decent Bass held the skirt of my Spinnerbait long enough for me to ready myself or the impending tail beat shower but he let go. Perhaps he prefered monstering Craigs offerings, some bloody Bass did as he was done over again and lost his last Spinnerbait. Plenty of bling bling fish in Shallow Crossing at the moment, guess its lucky they were all 1/8 oz. not 1/4. oz in weight.
I threw some thoughtfull and uninspiring sage advice Craig's way ( Perhaps its time to change leader Brands? ) as his tally loss of lures for the weekend was well over $100.00 and counting. We headed back Sunday fishless but happy with Saturday evenings effort, bashing our all terrain way back down towards the Old Princess Highway without a hint of a few unsaid Lyrebird incidents. Didnt get many photos of Sunday due to extreme rain and bad light, really need to get a new camera or risk using it without the waterproof housing.
Still takes good images but low light kills many otherwise great shots by adding noise, alternatives are not available for the low end DSLR and I keep spending my dosh on my car...
