More Bassing [Brisbane River Session #201]

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi all

This morning my Dad and I decided to go and suss out a couple of new spots on the river fishing for bass - the first of which we planned to fish landbased then the second of which we planned to kayak at and maybe have a quick cast as well. We arrived at our chosen location at about 5:00AM, but annoyingly due to some roadwork and not having a good knowledge of the area we didn't find the access track and start fishing until about 5:45AM (left kayak on car roof while we were here). 

The sun was hardly peaking out from the sky as I flicked my Cicada surface lure across the narrow stretch of water at the first flat bit of the access track. Low and behold, about half way through my retrieve, something came and smacked the lure off the top of the water making a nice splash. It was only little, but I pulled in my first bass on surface, and for that matter, my first fish on a surface lure too! Nice. 

About 26cm. 

We continued moving downstream, and my Dad was flicking around a decent size hardbody first up which was quickly changed to a plastic with a jig spinner after we found out that it wasn't swimming very well. We met another angler who had also just started fishing for the morning, and he gave us a couple little tips about a general area to fish. We continued walking, and after going for the best part of fifteen minutes found a rather large pool where we started casting. It wasn't long before the surface lure worked again, this time for a bass that was only about 8CM long.

Little guy

My Dad and I kept casting in this pool for about another 25 minutes, and apart from a giant carp leaping out (at least 70CM) there was no other action. We decided to continue to walk back up towards the car, where we found a couple more access points, but after about 40 minutes of casting and fishing we were not successful so we headed back downstream towards the area we had seen some others before. After a bit of a scramble around and plenty of lure changes, we were at the spot. I was flicking a Halco RMG and my Dad was still using the soft plastic with a jig spinner. A few casts around the snags and I was on - but it was only another 8CM bass. After a bad tangle in my braid forcing me to retie a knot in the braid (not ideal but will do I thought), we continued downstream past a local guy who was helpful in giving us some tips. Based on his advice, my dad switched back to the Cicada and I stuck with the RMG (advice was to fish the banks really close with cicada lures). It wasn't long before he put his tips into action, and had a little bass on the bank. My Dad and I continued flicking though, and I eventually caught a small bass, but the biggest of the day thus far (maybe 27CM). 

I think I got another one in the following casts after this, before overshooting my lure straight into a tree on the other side of the bank. After I attempted to walk around to get it (but failed), my Dad, who had still not caught a fish at this point, went and got it. As he chucked the lure in, I focused as hard as I could, and sure enough, hooked up to another bass on the retrieve. After releasing that one, I got a slightly larger one, maybe 28CM, as he was walking back around. I didn't bother getting photos of any of these as I didn't have my phone. 

I gave the RMG rod to my Dad and after a couple casts in ideal position he went for a third cast. It landed centimeters away from the rocky bank and he started to retrieve the RMG past a submerged log. Sure enough, he hooked up to a slightly better fish than what I had been catching so far, and after a few feisty headshakes we had brought a solid (for us) 32CM bass onto the bank. After getting the hooks out and taking a photo, we released it back into the river.

Dad's bass

We fished for about 20 minutes after this but could not manage any more fish, so began to make our way back to the car. I can see how some people manage to catch 20+ bass in a session landbased around there, because they were pretty aggressive at one point hooking up nearly every second cast! Also, I dropped a good fish too, which felt a lot heavier than the ones I was catching before I snagged my lure in the tree. We made our way back into the car and walked up a new track which was quicker than going back on the rocks and along the river, pleased with our morning so far.

We decided that we wouldn't go kayaking as it was too late by the time we got to Kholo Bridge to have a look to launch the kayak and go fishing. It looks like a promising launch point, though the bridge itself was disgusting with food and rubbish chucked all over it. Next time we go to this spot, I think we will start off with surface cicadas and as the sun comes out switch to Halco RMG's, which seem to be a good lure!

Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I'm on school camp this week so this will probably be my last session for a little while. Hopefully I can get some more bass or get back into thready fishing soon!

Cheers Hamish

Stats of Trip:

Lures Used: Standout lures were Jackall Pompadour Cicada lure, Halco RMG lure - other lures used were sugarpen knockoff, soft plastics, soft plastics with jig spinners, small 40mm hardbodies, larger hardbodies. 

Gear Used: My Dad used a Stradic 3000 on a 4-7KG Shimano Raider with 15 pound braid and leader, I used an Abu Garcia Veritas 2-4KG with a 2500 Diawa Tierra with 8 pound braid and ten pound leader. 

Location: Kholo Bridge, around Mount Crosby

Fish Caught: About 7 bass

Notes: Lighter gear and smaller lures seemed to work better than larger spinners or divers. Was quite chilly first up but ended up being pretty hot. Next time start off with cicadas and switch to Halco RMG's as sun comes up. Kholo Bridge good launch spot though bad parking as the dirt track is very uneven (only 4wd could go around). 

Overall Success Rate: 80% - fun session

[ellicat]

That sounded like a top session, even though the fish were a bit on the small side. It would have been fun getting them on surface.

[Bretto77]

Thanks for breaking the drought Hamish . It seems like ages (a few days ) since anyone has posted trip/ catch information. 

You got some attention from fish so it was a worthy session. Well done

[charlie.hans.fishing]

Sounds fun Hamish! Hopefully you get onto some bigger ones soon 

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

15 hours ago, ellicat said:

That sounded like a top session, even though the fish were a bit on the small side. It would have been fun getting them on surface.

Thanks Brian. 

13 hours ago, Bretto77 said:

Thanks for breaking the drought Hamish . It seems like ages (a few days ) since anyone has posted trip/ catch information. 

You got some attention from fish so it was a worthy session. Well done

Cheers Brett, it was good to catch some. 

13 hours ago, TheCharliefisho said:

Sounds fun Hamish! Hopefully you get onto some bigger ones soon 

 

Thanks Charlie. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Got some new lures today from BCF, they didn’t have any RMG’s though so I might buy some online. Also caught some shrimp in the river this morning.

What’s everyone’s favourite top water lure at the moment? 

[ellicat]

My current favourite topwater is the new Squidtrex with a superfast retrieve. Start winding before it hits the water. Just kidding, obviously.

[Old Scaley]

I was at Tackle Warehouse at Coorparoo the other day. They have stacks of RMGs if you can talk your dad into a bit of a drive.