Happy new year from Austin Texas!

[username_taken]

Hey friends! Long time since I last popped in here.   It's been a wild ride this last year in Texas, and I'm not expecting much relief from the crazy any time soon.  Thankfully I've kept safe and the fish are still biting.

 

I'm still slaying on the Custom Rod I won back at a Hinze dam camp/comp probably 15 years ago, although my old hobie finally cracked at the pedal drive and I just got a new lightning kayak (hobie knockoff made in minnesota).

 

I also finally taught myself to cast with a baitcaster, and I've been enjoying chasing large mouth bass, freshwater drum, and crappie in the rivers and lakes (which are really just damned rivers) around Austin.

 

Here's a couple of LMB from my first fish of 2021.

[Brodie_S]

Couple of nice large mouths you got there .this is a Australian fishing forum if you didn’t know never the less though I can’t wait to see more reports 

[ellicat]

Wow, good to hear from you after all this time. Happy New Year.

How well do the bass there fight compared to Aussie bass ?

[username_taken]

8 minutes ago, Breaming with bro said:

Couple of nice large mouths you got there .this is a Australian fishing forum if you didn’t know never the less though I can’t wait to see more reports 

Oh my bad! Y'all speak pretty good english for Austrians tho.

[username_taken]

11 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Wow, good to hear from you after all this time. Happy New Year.

How well do the bass there fight compared to Aussie bass ?

Thanks buddy!  It's been a hot minute, feeling pretty homesick lately.

 

[ellicat]

Can't imagine why. haha

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey @username_taken

Welcome back! I’ve read lots of old trips from you. Some nice fish there too. I love my two baitcasters, I certainly prefer them to spin reels for lure fishing. 

If you’ve caught them, what gods harder? Aussie Bass or American ones?

Keep staying safe and it’d be pretty hectic with the virus where you are.

Cheers Hamish

[username_taken]

1 minute ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hey @username_taken

Welcome back! I’ve read lots of old trips from you. Some nice fish there too. I love my two baitcasters, I certainly prefer them to spin reels for lure fishing. 

If you’ve caught them, what gods harder? Aussie Bass or American ones?

Keep staying safe and it’d be pretty hectic with the virus where you are.

Cheers Hamish

Oh that's a great question!  It's been a long time since I last caught an Aussie bass.  But I would say pound for pound Aussie fish fight harder. The ones here get pretty huge, tho.  A 5lbs (2.5kg) lm bass peels line off.  I've seen ppl catch 10+ lbs.   

 

This fella was just over 5lbs and 21 inches (on the old alvey foldable ruler with a inches sticker on it).

[username_taken]

Here's a 10 pound freshwater drum caught in the same spot. I was targetting panfish on light (6 lbs mono) gear so he was hella fun.

 

Oh the bass above was caught on a close to 20 year old E.T. lipless crank bait I found in the bottom of an old tackle box.

[kmcrosby78]

Good to hear about fishing in a different part of the world mate and some very nice fish at that - keep the reports coming  

[benno573]

Mate, I remember that hinze comp... I think owing to a serious storm situation you ended up bunking in my tent?  

good to hear from you mate, looks like you are having a ball over there. Enjoying the Texas BBQ scene I hope?

 

[username_taken]

16 hours ago, benno573 said:

Mate, I remember that hinze comp... I think owing to a serious storm situation you ended up bunking in my tent?  

good to hear from you mate, looks like you are having a ball over there. Enjoying the Texas BBQ scene I hope?

 

Ohh yeah I think it was actually that I did something really dumb like forgot my tent poles.

 

Def enjoying the bbq scene here, although not so much this year because sadly there's a lot of crossover with bbq folks and idiots who think covid is a myth and masks are infringing on our freedoms.

[GregOug]

On 02/01/2021 at 1:11 PM, username_taken said:

Oh my bad! Y'all speak pretty good english for Austrians tho.

Hi mate. Welcome. By the way, we are Australians down here. The Austrians live further north.

[benno573]

8 hours ago, username_taken said:

Ohh yeah I think it was actually that I did something really dumb like forgot my tent poles.

 

Def enjoying the bbq scene here, although not so much this year because sadly there's a lot of crossover with bbq folks and idiots who think covid is a myth and masks are infringing on our freedoms.

What do you mean they think it is a myth? I’ve done lots of research on various social media sites and I KNOW it’s all a conspiracy and just a rouse to get people to take the vaccine that DEFINITELY will allow the government to track your every move.

why does AFO not have the sarcasm font??

 

in all seriousness though, doesn’t sound ideal at all mate, hope you stay safe over there. I found it very easy to socially distance yourself on a kayak.

[kmcrosby78]

12 hours ago, GregOug said:

Hi mate. Welcome. By the way, we are Australians down here. The Austrians live further north.

You don't miss much Greg, I didn't even notice that the first time I read it ...... . It's like the tourist t-shirt in Austria - 'no kangaroos in Austria' ........ 

[Do$tylz]

Hey UNT! Good to hear from you mate Good to hear you are keeping sane and safe from the crazies that seem to be over there.

How do you find the australian/japanese style fishing techniques compared to the US ones? Seems like the lures, rigging and even rods are a bit different to what we do over here.