queensland Weekend At Bjelke Petersen Dam

[squeak6969]

Wow what a weekend i just had. Left 8.45 friday headed on a boys weekend. After aa week working hard to get my boat ready we were off. Got up there around lunch time and after setting up and a couple.of beers it was time to hit the water. I did nothing but research fishing freshwater for a week but woth the heatwave all that research was wasted as everything was deeper. Took a mate out and found a spot that looked promising for some yellas but after 2 hours working the spot some other boat comes over and pulls up a monster yella within a couple of seconds. Needless to say im annoyed but i change lure and on my second cast BANG! My bail arm flicks over my line snaps and my lure is gone. Having had enough. I do a quick check of my red claw post for nothing and head back in for the night. Woke up on dawn the following morning check the pots and find nothing in them so i changed bait and spots and drop them again. While i was out i went for a troll along a bank with a blade and what do you know withing a few minutes im on to my first bass running 25cm. Some may say its not that big a deal but having never xaught 1 before i was stoked. Released him and kept trolling and not long after that i was on again.ths time i came up with a 34cm model. I havemt had a smile on my face that big in a long time.

I rushed back to camp and it was bass for breakfast. It was scorching heat so i decided to chill in camp till late afternoon when it cooled down again and i was out. Working the same bank i caught another 4 smaller models ranging 15cm to 27cm. Fishing was great and then i saw some mates heading over on their boat after they saw me catching. Wow what timing they came over just in time to see me pull in a 37cm bass. They were happy and upset with me at the same time as they had been out for hours without a bite. I told them i had been trolling the same bank and found the bass to be in 5 to 7 meters of water woth the bigger ones about 5 meters. So they started trolling the same bank and i trolled behind them.  My luck just kept increasing and i was pulling in 1 after another after another and they were getting nothing.  They after releasing 1 i was to deep so i started trolling back into the shallower water and my line went nuts. I could see my friends looking on in dosbeloef as i played and struggled to get in my first yellowbelly ever running in at 41cm.

 

Well that was dinner sorted. Everyone was jealous and i was grinning ear to ear. My forst ever freshwater trip was great and i still had 1 morning to go. Last morning and i took a mate out. Working the same bank it was 1 after another after another. I couldnt go more than 2 meters without pulling another 1 in. I could see my mate getting frustrated so i asked to look at his setup. He had a similar lure to me but he tied the braid straight to the lure. I setup his rod with some 6lb flurocarbon leader and before he knew it he finally caught his first bass. It was only 25cm but he was happy he didnt go home with a donught. I proceded to drop a 40+cm right next to the boat wgich i was spewing about but backed it up with another 34cm which i took home for my wife. My mate caught another smaller bass but was happy nonethe less. We checked my redclaw pots on yhe way back on and came up with 25 redclaw.  So all in all i had a great trip. Learnt alot about freshwater fishing, made my mates jealous and got the trifecta i wanted with bass, yellowbelly and redclaw. Hope you enjoyed the read

[Angus]

Awesome camping trip mate. Yet another dam I have not been to!

Angus

[squeak6969]

Just now, Angus said:

Awesome camping trip mate. Yet another dam I have not been to!

Angus

The only other dam ive been to is moogerah. But after this weekend im looking at visiting alot more

[Binder]

Well done! Sort of addictive fresh water fishing isnt it!

[kmcrosby78]

Great report mate, successful and fun trip. Mind if I ask what the successful and unsuccessful redclaw baits were for interests sake?

[Cmaltby]

Moogerah is hard to fish, 

pawpaw works as great bait for both redclaw and crabs 

@kmcrosby78

[squeak6969]

15 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Great report mate, successful and fun trip. Mind if I ask what the successful and unsuccessful redclaw baits were for interests sake?

Watermelon was a flop but i used some old stinky squid that got the results. They are deeper atm with the hot weather, much like the fish

[squeak6969]

45 minutes ago, Binder said:

Well done! Sort of addictive fresh water fishing isnt it!

Yeah it is. I gotta find some places cliser to home though. Think i might try somerset when its a bit cooler

[kmcrosby78]

15 minutes ago, Cmaltby said:

pawpaw works as great bait for both redclaw and crabs 

Crabs? Saltwater ones presumably?

[Cmaltby]

well not the ones in your pants haha. We got a few up here recently with pawpaw. Dunno what it is for some reason redclaw like rockmelon also. 

[Luvit]

Well written, we could definitely get the excitement you felt through your words. It is so enjoyable when you hear of others enjoying their passion like we all do.

[squeak6969]

10 hours ago, Luvit said:

Well written, we could definitely get the excitement you felt through your words. It is so enjoyable when you hear of others enjoying their passion like we all do.

Thanks i think i was reliving every moment when writing this lol