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Good Times With HBs and SP Pt4

Dan23

By Dan23
in Saltwater

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Dan23

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Well after spending the week at the Sunny Coast I got back Saturday Morning but didn’t have to be back at work till Tuesday. No prizes for guessing where I spent my last few days off. I called up Dad and asked him how it looked down there after the rain. He said it was pretty bad. No fish around at all and the water was very dark and murky. There’s another really fresh body of water just beyond my usual strip that gets no tidal flow and becomes stagnant. A lot of it had run down in the rain and pushed all the fish out.

So Dad went and checked out a spot he found on the map that he thought might have bass in it. He said it was getting a good run of fresh through it and we could put the kayak in.

So 5am QLD time we put the yak in and headed off with no idea if this stream had ever seen a Bass but we were shure going to find out.

Within minutes we began to see surface strikes and started musing as to what they could be from. The anticipation and excitement levels rose with every splash. As the pictures will show the stream is covered by thick foliage and a canopy. Making for not only a shady fishing hole but on littered with bugs and lizards and all sorts of thing constantly tumbling down into the water. It was a no brainer that we should start with surface lures. Dad tied on a River 2 Sea soft plastic Cicada and I prepped my trusty Bubble Pop of the same brand. Dad was getting strikes almost straight away but no hook ups but I was getting no interest at all. After not long we decided to experiment. I tried plastics, Spinnerbait and diving minnows but no luck.

We soon came to a deeper hole, only about 5 foot but for this stream it was considerably deeper. I had read the night before our esteemed member Neil Shultz’s article in the Bream, Bass and Barra Digest on the virtues of using lures with red heads. Realising I had a dodgy but serviceable popper of such a description I rigged it up and put my faith in someone who I figured knew a little more than myself. Within a few casts I was working my popper back when I noticed a sizable eddy appear 10cm from my lure. At this stage we hadn’t actually seen a Bass and were still unsure whether they even existed in this system. Unable to control myself I blurted out, “there’s something there, near my lure, HOLY C%&P!â€Â. Seconds past and I was completely dumafounded as to what to do so I gently walked the lure a few centre meters then Whammo!! Drag screamed and my little 4lb spinning outfit strained. Not long after I had landed my first ever bass and it was in a wild stream! Words cannot describe how awesome it was. The combination of unexplored territory, not knowing what would be there, never having caught a bass (my first try though if you don’t count my ill fated NPD trips) and the fact that it was on a Popper all added up to possibly my greatest fishing trip ever. Thankfully I had replaced the dodgy hooks on that popper with a single size 14 owner treble because the fish was only barely hooked through a tiny piece of skin on its lip.

That night I was too pumped to sleep so I went down to the fisherman’s Co Op. First cast of a wriggler and got a little Trever. They were feeding hard and smashing the surface regularly. I couldn’t get them to take a popper though but I hooked a really nice specimen on an SX40 right up under the wharf.. I thought my lure was gone for shure but somehow I reefed him out past the barnacle ridden pilons. Trevelley fight the hardest of any fish I’ve caught. I rate them above everything including Jacks and Coral Trout.

The next morning we headed out to the break wall. We were casting big lures around by the tide was too strong and we couldn’t get our lures down so we gave it away. I had a flick at a nearby beach and picked up a legal sized flattie on a wriggler, my favourite plastic at the moment. We then headed over to the Co Op. I wasn’t expecting much as it was getting on in the day and the tide was low. I had 8lb leader on and dad had 4lb. I figured because the water was still stained by the fresh I’d be fine, WRONG. Dad got two bream and I got not a touch with the same 3†GULP Minnow in Moldy Cheese.

Being outfished for the first time in ages I called it a day after that and headed home. Awesome way to end my holiday.

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Dan23 Newbie

Dan23

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Cowfish13 wrote:

Trevally are awesome fun. I scored one down at the Cleveland mariners and he fought way harder than any other fish for that day. And he was only 23cm or something:D.

That one was 33cm so you can imagine how hard it pulled on 4lb line up against oyster covered pilons. It was a fluke I landed it really.

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Dan23

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faulked wrote:

ooh boy that spot is totally beutifull what a great day

Best thing is it's only 15mins from my parent's place. There's no way I'll publish where but for any long time AFO members who I know will keep it a secret and practice catch and release I might tell them where in private ;)

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Cowfish13

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Here's my little guy. He was on 6lb braid so it was still a good fight. On a Halco Scorpion 35. I really want to get a 40cm one or something like that soon. That would be awesome fun. [img size=375]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/Trevally_AFO-30818a6e078854a11ac30ff70e50ffbb.jpg

Lol. It was only 21cm. Still a fun fight.

post-320-144598433149_thumb.jpg

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Dan23

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Cowfish13 wrote:

Mine was an 80cm GT from Vanuatu. Was a good fight, but it was on a Tiagra 50W or something (we were going for massive Wahoo, Marlin, etc), so it ended pretty quick. Caught in probably 600-900m of water:laugh: (continental shelf)

Sweet, when I fished off Vanuatu I only caught small reefies.

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Dan23

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STU wrote:

sweet looking river mate try spinnerbaits there next time bass love them.

I did try but I think it is too shallow. Deepest spot was 5 feet. I think early morning and late arvo with top water stuff is the way to go. Dad hooked a fish that he dropped on a bright pink lively lure minnow. He also hook a bream on it but dropped it at his feet. It was weird having bream and bass all living together. It's 100% fresh there too.

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