Posts
A great day on the water, considering how hot it got and how bright it was...
Boiling Redfin, Yellowbelly schooling and monster Cod shadowing it was a sight of firsts at Googong (For me anyway). Left my Redfin skills in the car and concentrated on Golden Perch, only got the one smoking hit which was lost once rod was removed from its holder (Three seconds of hell, enternity of hatred). Everytime I would get a decent trolling run sorted around the very thick weeds (Sounder batteries went flat) I would get the call indicating Jason was on again. The man can do no wrong at the moment, barely an excuse needed to pedal over as a new camera was sitting in my lap most of the morning (Canon 450D, 17-85mm IS lens). Got some good shots and then saw the biggest fish of the day take two swipes at my Daiwa Provibe and then swim away (Murray Cod estimated 90cm +).
I still hate Googong and I now hate Jason (Here is what the loser had to say:)
"Koich, Paffoh and myself hit the 'gong first thing this morning, to try and have an early fish to beat the heat. It was a gorgeous warm morning with a very light zephyr ruffling the surface - after a bit of trolling and working the weed beds, it was clear that the redfin were strangley absent. That is until we spotted some surface action reminscent of salmon or tailor in the salt, gambusia being smashed by what turned out to be a big school of sub-10cm redfin. The water level in the lake is fantastic at the moment and there are a lot of shallow weed beds around."
"We worked our way down the bank, and I picked up a reasonable redfin on a suspending hardbody. Reaching a previously very reliable redfin spot, we jigged our hearts out. I was trying something different, a 1/4 oz TT bladed jighead with a dirty 2" gulp shrimp - working this for a while, I got a few little taps, then a solid hit and line started peeling out. Solid headshakes suggested golden perch, and soon a lovely specimen surfaced. I was stoked to have finally landed my first native from googong, and also my first golden on a soft plastic. I kept working away with the 2" shrimp and landed a decent redfin from way down near the bottom in about 16m of water."
"I kept with the bladed jighead, and tried a few different plastics. But I didn't get any hits until I went back to gulp, this time a 3" minnow in pearl watermelon. I had just changed plastics when a school of BIG goldens appeared right under the kayak and just milled around. Dropping the plastic in the middle of school provoked a lot of interest from a lot of fish, but just little taps and short takes - eventually one of the smaller fish commited and I was on again. After a quick photo session Paff and I kept trying to tempt the fish, it was very bizarre almost sight fishing for them in very deep water, when the fish were holding in the top 2-3m. Eventually the school dissappeared and we started drifting back towards the launch site."
"Drifting parallell to the bank, I was throwing a little suspending hardbody over the weedbeds, twitching it back erratically when it got smashed in quite shallow water and the reel screamed again. It was difficult to put much pressure on the fish with the light gear I was using, but after a few nervous moments around the weeds I had another golden in the net. It was awesome morning's fishing, and I am totally gobsmacked at the crazy run of Movember luck I'm riding at the moment."
Boiling Redfin, Yellowbelly schooling and monster Cod shadowing it was a sight of firsts at Googong (For me anyway). Left my Redfin skills in the car and concentrated on Golden Perch, only got the one smoking hit which was lost once rod was removed from its holder (Three seconds of hell, enternity of hatred). Everytime I would get a decent trolling run sorted around the very thick weeds (Sounder batteries went flat) I would get the call indicating Jason was on again. The man can do no wrong at the moment, barely an excuse needed to pedal over as a new camera was sitting in my lap most of the morning (Canon 450D, 17-85mm IS lens). Got some good shots and then saw the biggest fish of the day take two swipes at my Daiwa Provibe and then swim away (Murray Cod estimated 90cm +).
I still hate Googong and I now hate Jason (Here is what the loser had to say:)
"Koich, Paffoh and myself hit the 'gong first thing this morning, to try and have an early fish to beat the heat. It was a gorgeous warm morning with a very light zephyr ruffling the surface - after a bit of trolling and working the weed beds, it was clear that the redfin were strangley absent. That is until we spotted some surface action reminscent of salmon or tailor in the salt, gambusia being smashed by what turned out to be a big school of sub-10cm redfin. The water level in the lake is fantastic at the moment and there are a lot of shallow weed beds around."
"We worked our way down the bank, and I picked up a reasonable redfin on a suspending hardbody. Reaching a previously very reliable redfin spot, we jigged our hearts out. I was trying something different, a 1/4 oz TT bladed jighead with a dirty 2" gulp shrimp - working this for a while, I got a few little taps, then a solid hit and line started peeling out. Solid headshakes suggested golden perch, and soon a lovely specimen surfaced. I was stoked to have finally landed my first native from googong, and also my first golden on a soft plastic. I kept working away with the 2" shrimp and landed a decent redfin from way down near the bottom in about 16m of water."
"I kept with the bladed jighead, and tried a few different plastics. But I didn't get any hits until I went back to gulp, this time a 3" minnow in pearl watermelon. I had just changed plastics when a school of BIG goldens appeared right under the kayak and just milled around. Dropping the plastic in the middle of school provoked a lot of interest from a lot of fish, but just little taps and short takes - eventually one of the smaller fish commited and I was on again. After a quick photo session Paff and I kept trying to tempt the fish, it was very bizarre almost sight fishing for them in very deep water, when the fish were holding in the top 2-3m. Eventually the school dissappeared and we started drifting back towards the launch site."
"Drifting parallell to the bank, I was throwing a little suspending hardbody over the weedbeds, twitching it back erratically when it got smashed in quite shallow water and the reel screamed again. It was difficult to put much pressure on the fish with the light gear I was using, but after a few nervous moments around the weeds I had another golden in the net. It was awesome morning's fishing, and I am totally gobsmacked at the crazy run of Movember luck I'm riding at the moment."
