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St Georges Basin is quite a system, both from a size health perspective. Its one of those places that can kick you in the arse if you’re not careful (Think wind gusts) but continue to deliver the goods time and time again. When my good friend Tim Allard (Canadian Fishing Journalist) started frothing over another trip to the salt I knew only one destination could really supply the goods. You see, our recent Durras trip was hit and miss (Some fish, mainly small and scattered) and the Clyde spectacularly bombed out (No fish, except massive random Long Tom), there was no way I was just venturing just down the mountain.
Extra distance would be worth the effort (Given the forecast) which involved an early start and a jaunt down Nerriga Road to Basin View. I haven’t travelled this road for many years (Since my childhood) and only remember parts like forests and dirt. Was good to see nothing much has changed, although from the township of Nerriga onwards it was quite a pleasurable experience ($80 Million dollar road upgrades will do that). My Forester, towing the kayak trailer, hates round marbled surfaces so slow and steady got us there bang on 7:45am (Easy two hours +).
Conditions were almost perfect for fishing, albeit a little drizzly. The 5% chance of rain predicted eventuated on arrival and hung around most of the morning. As usual I was unprepared for the weather (No spray jacket) but Tim was a little smarter. It was the first time Tim had been in the Hobie Quest so there was more than a little change from the mighty Pro Angler. Its worth mentioning that he has fished from a paddle kayak before, just not whilst on Australian soil (Vanuatu does not count Tim). He relished the opportunity and grabbed it with both hands (Paddle that is).
Launching from Basin View was the best option as I knew the chance of possible action was a lot closer than say a Palm Beach posting. As we paddled over we noticed a good drop off just out from the entrance of Wandanian Creek, an area that we began working with hard bodies (Both surface and sub). Flathead was the target from the table and Bream for the mercy release, anything else would just be a celebrated by catch. I have to say it was great fishing the Basin outside of a tournament and weekend situation, a few boats may have been in attendance but we literally had the place to ourselves.
The fish came on a little slow, only to pick up the pace and the turn of the tide. Flathead after Flathead, Tailor after Tailor, it didn’t really matter what we threw. Blades worked well with both Tim and I collecting fish on Berkley Big Eyes and an Ecogear VX (Both gold patterns). Bream weren’t responding to the surface until the receding water pushed the bait into venerable positions. Tim caught a couple on a blade (Including his first Bream, a cracker too) while I slugged it out with a few decent specimens on ultra finesse gear in a foot of water (Heart in mouth stuff).
A couple of interesting occurrences happened, mainly with Leatherjackets finning in the shallows and kamikaze Tailor going bezerk. I gave up looking for the Bream and started doing battle with these silver soldiers. A Hat trick of surface casts, some major lure carnage and a few tackle losses summed up my experience, I had an absolute blast and kept a few for the table. Time ran short like on all good days so we had to turn tail and run for the hills. Whilst packing up at the boat ramp and speaking to another Hobie addict a Ute pulled up with two guys who immediately asked how we went. “Want a Kingfish? Kingy in the back mate, it’s yours. “
Well I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and went over to check the fish out. It was legal, well looked after and ready to rock and roll back to Canberra. Thanks to the kindness of strangers we returned home with a great haul of Flathead, Tailor and ofcourse Kingfish. Tim had a smile on his face the whole way home, and the images taken on both our cameras will capture those great moments forever. Glad you had a blast Tim, especially on the faithful Quest ‘Mary Jane’, a great steed worthy of a fish or two. I’m really looking forward to returning to the Basin for the SSBS and the ABT tournaments, and if I get half the chance I will return even earlier.
