Bass info

[Swagger]

Over the past few weeks I have found a new bass fishing spot that to me I dont think is known to many people. I remember the first trip there was on midday when it was about 37 degrees, the first five casts nailed 4 legal bass and between myself, my brother and our friend we caught about 50 bass that day and id say 40 of them were legal, biggest reaching 37cm. The next 3 trips in the week yielded close to the same results, at all hours of the day.

The following week in one trip we only caught about 5, biggest reaching 41cm and a tarpon in the mix too. then next 5 trips not one single bite, conditions weather wise were nearly identical, stinking hot and humid (ideal). All of this happened roughly about two weeks before xmas week.

Today i went there in the morning and only managed one fish of 31cm, no other bites, this time it was raining, water level higher and still humid. Between the 3 of us we have kept about 10 fish out of the id say 80 bass caught in those weeks. We all used hardbodys, varying depths and colours.

Just find it really odd as to why they have gone off the bite completely, its like a trawler went through the creek and cleaned every fish up. There is a lot of surface action, heaps of mullet so its healthy and the water is clear and deep with more structure in the water than a forest!

Would it be something to do with the moon? or are bass smart enough to recognise my lures every trip :laugh: :laugh:

[elops]

80-10=70

70-10=60

60-10=50

and so on til 0

Steve

[rumrunner]

sounds like someone may have found your spot?

or maybe they do recognise your lures and they all only eat shrip now? lol :laugh:

ian.

[ryanyoung]

Maybe they have just moved to a different spot on the body of water where you have been getting them? It sounds like you hit them pretty hard in that one spot, it is possible they have learnt their lesson and moved! I know I would .

[Feral]

The school would have moved on.

[Swagger]

elops wrote:

80-10=70

70-10=60

60-10=50

and so on til 0

Steve

Read my post mate, a TOTAL of 10 fish were kept in the 3 weeks, and why assume I will keep 10 fish every time?

[Swagger]

Feral wrote:

The school would have moved on.

The stretch I fish is about 100 to 150 metres in length. I know further down a few hundred metres the creek is not even 5cm deep and upstream a kilometre at one section it is the same, so you could say they are holding up in that section until it floods a little. Its just bewildering as to why they have gone off the bite.

Im mainly a catch and release person, I do keep some for the table as im entitled to and am well aware of the limits. In this area the water is very clear, even now during the increased water level during the rain. With this many quality fish I know how good the area is just by looking at the health of the fish so nearly all fish get returned, its more satisfaction sustaining a fishery for the future

[faulked]

i think he means youve stuck a hook in so many that they dont want to bite anymore

[Swagger]

ryanyoung wrote:

Maybe they have just moved to a different spot on the body of water where you have been getting them? It sounds like you hit them pretty hard in that one spot, it is possible they have learnt their lesson and moved! I know I would .

That could be it :laugh: Its all heavily structured at the bank, so you have to sneek in between sections to force a cast out and since im on foot not all areas are reachable, the bush gets very thick. If I had a yak i'd be able to search up and downstream and get much better casts in snaggy areas. I've seen carp in excess of 5 kilos just cruising that section aswell

[wesfish]

bass in that size range are migrating bass , they will continue their push up the rivers over this time of year. is it north, south or westside ?

[jeff f]

what was the barometer doing?

probably rising when you caught them and falling when you didn't

[Swagger]

wesfish wrote:

bass in that size range are migrating bass , they will continue their push up the rivers over this time of year. is it north, south or westside ?

Probably would fall as south

[Swagger]

jeff f wrote:

what was the barometer doing?

probably rising when you caught them and falling when you didn't

Unfortunately I didnt read into that, It was just that week when temps were 33+ and no rain or storms but the humidity was there, weather nearly identical visually when I did and didn't catch them, so couldve been the barometer and I was think maybe the moon phase

[Davo_Dinkum]

all a bit technical for me .

i reckon sometimes the fish bite ,sometimes they don't.

sounds like u hit them hard the first week and then the fishing dropped off the over the next week an so on .

maybe they got shy after that first week of getting hammered.

if the fish want to move on they will get through 5 cm of water no problem .

that would be a site to see ,watching them go up river in 5 cm of water .

also fish are not as dumb as people think they are .

i used to trick one of my fish in one of my tanks to bite my finger on the surface ,as he thought it was food .

he only did this about 20 times ,before he stopped .

he now recognize my finger and will not hit it ,even after a year he still remembers .

[Joel Eadie]

it is possible someone netted your spot, as someone did with mine or someone is taking 2 buckets full home everyday if you saw my other post

but also i am convinced that bass dont bite as well during the full moon and new moon, that is my experience maybe other people would dissagree.

also another option to possibly try is shrimp or fresh water yabbies if they are there there is no way they can resist a live shrimp

[ryanyoung]

Joel Eadie wrote:

it is possible someone netted your spot, as someone did with mine or someone is taking 2 buckets full home everyday if you saw my other post

but also i am convinced that bass dont bite as well during the full moon and new moon, that is my experience maybe other people would dissagree.

also another option to possibly try is shrimp or fresh water yabbies if they are there there is no way they can resist a live shrimp

I have had plenty of hits on the full moon. It is the best time to use poppers I have found, when they are clearly silhouetted with the moonlight, exciting stuff! If the fish are shutting down in your area, try going on first and/or last light, the transition period seems to be a winner. As soon as you hear the crickets and cicadas begin to buzz, throw out a popper or shallow diver and the hits will come (my experience anyway lol).

[Swagger]

ryanyoung wrote:

Joel Eadie wrote:

it is possible someone netted your spot, as someone did with mine or someone is taking 2 buckets full home everyday if you saw my other post

but also i am convinced that bass dont bite as well during the full moon and new moon, that is my experience maybe other people would dissagree.

also another option to possibly try is shrimp or fresh water yabbies if they are there there is no way they can resist a live shrimp

I have had plenty of hits on the full moon. It is the best time to use poppers I have found, when they are clearly silhouetted with the moonlight, exciting stuff! If the fish are shutting down in your area, try going on first and/or last light, the transition period seems to be a winner. As soon as you hear the crickets and cicadas begin to buzz, throw out a popper or shallow diver and the hits will come (my experience anyway lol).

I have also heard when the cicadas go nuts, thats the perfect time. This place is full of them and still nothing happened :laugh: At least its more challenging now, I have tried the early morning, late arvo sessions to no avail.

What type of surface poppers have you tried? I have a cicada one and the nightcrawler i think its called. Might have to break them out

[elops]

bravoboy wrote:

elops wrote:

80-10=70

70-10=60

60-10=50

and so on til 0

Steve

Read my post mate, a TOTAL of 10 fish were kept in the 3 weeks, and why assume I will keep 10 fish every time?

I was not assuming you would keep any number of fish do you think you are the only person fishing and keeping fish? I doubt it.

[shayned]

Have to agree with him Bravoboy, I just watched another spot get systematically wiped out by people just keeping the bag limit and some who didn't. Suprisingly didn't take very long, but then again maybe not so suprisingly considering they where trapped in a relatively small body of water. Just as well you got your share though.

[fenelious]

True that, Shayned. The bag limits are only there to try and stop absolute f*wits who have no care or consideration for anything other than themselves and take buckets of fish at a time. But even if every person who fishes a spot takes home/kills even one fish then the fish are still going to be gone in no time. So people that think along the lines of the bag limit and "I'm only taking what I'm entitled to take" should also realise that the fish don't notice the difference beween one idiot taking 20 fish home or 20 'considerate' fishermen taking one fish each. The result is still the same to the fish population.

I'm not saying you've done anything wrong Bravo or that you're inconsiderate, not at all, I mean we've all taken fish home at some time so you're a bit of a scape goat here. We're probably getting off the track of your original post a bit, but if you and your mates have taken 10 fish outa there in the last few weeks, and someone else has taken a few, and someone else has taken a few etc. etc.... before we know it the fish seem real hard to catch in that spot cos they've been caught and taken. Trouble is, everyone thinks they are doing the right thing by only taking one or two here and there, but they don't look at the big picture that everyone is thinking the same way.

In my opinion, and that's all it is; if you're fishing an area that is known to other people and anywhere near a populated area you should catch and release everything if you care about the fish and other keen fishos. Obviously that doesn't include noxious species like Carp. The exception to that would be if the fish are breeding as fast as they are being taken, or if they are being regularly stocked to keep up with the fishing rate, e.g. Nth Pine Dam. I think places on rivers where the fish are locked in for most of the year and can't breed you should not take any fish from. This philosophy just makes the fishing so much better and more fun for everyone. But that's just me.

Limit your kill, don't kill your limit.

-Steve.

[Feral]

From a catching fish point of view (not the conservation of your fish stocks view) its fairly academic, fish learn pretty quick and get hard to hook with much fishing pressure. So whilst your absolutely correct about managing the fishery, you will still end up finding it hard to catch a fish.

[Dusky]

In one of your previous posts you mention Carp, did you notice the carp more when the fishing was slow??

I have noticed in my local creek if the carp are on the prowl the bass shut down completely !!

Just a thought.

Cheers

[Dinodadog]

I never take home any fish when I creek fish, but on rare occasions I'll take some from the dam. Creek fish move up and down the creek to breed and to find food, if they stayed in the same spot they would starve. Give that spot a spell and try another, you can always come back in a few weeks. Also as mentioned creek fish get lure shy very quickly so you have to find fresh fish.

[Joel Eadie]

ryanyoung wrote:

Joel Eadie wrote:

it is possible someone netted your spot, as someone did with mine or someone is taking 2 buckets full home everyday if you saw my other post

but also i am convinced that bass dont bite as well during the full moon and new moon, that is my experience maybe other people would dissagree.

also another option to possibly try is shrimp or fresh water yabbies if they are there there is no way they can resist a live shrimp

I have had plenty of hits on the full moon. It is the best time to use poppers I have found, when they are clearly silhouetted with the moonlight, exciting stuff! If the fish are shutting down in your area, try going on first and/or last light, the transition period seems to be a winner. As soon as you hear the crickets and cicadas begin to buzz, throw out a popper or shallow diver and the hits will come (my experience anyway lol).

maybe you just have more skill then me ryan