The next few months are some of my favourite months to fish for bass. Bass seem to get more aggressive in the next few months as they start forming schools for the swim down into the brackish waters to spawn.
While not all bass make the big trip, those that will be covering the k’s to get to the spawning grounds will be feeding up. When you think where some of these fish will be swimming from, it will require a lot of energy to get to the brackish waters in the Sackville to Wisemans Ferry area where future generations of lovely bass will begin life.
With the increased aggression of bass in the next few months, most lures will be taken with more ferocity than what you may have expected from similar sized fish since the start of spring. This increased aggression is what is so memorable at this time of the year.
Andrew Folan caught this nice 341mm bass up Webbs Creek on the Saturday of the HNBAA Interclub 2006 weekend. This fish was taken on a Taylormade nugget in silver and red.
As some of the larger fish leave their rugged headwaters, catching some of the larger specimens will leave you with your knees knocking together and your heart pounding.
Soft plastics and deep water fly are two of the most successful ways of catching these bass, but they will take a wide variety of lures at this time of the year. You’ll need to get you presentations into deeper water this month, and file gelspun lines are ideal, as they provide strength for thinner diameter than monofilament. Thicker line is more resistant in water and does not get lures down to their correct running depths.
Look for eddies and backwaters near corners which show a drop off on the sounder. To get you started, find a good topographical map of the section of the river you plan to fish, and look for sharp bends in the river and look for a major deviation in the bank. A straight section of river bank, that shows a major deviation is the type of spots you are looking for.
You’ll often find fish schooling in these areas and holding in deeper water, but they will be holding deeper than you might expect. In one particular favourite hole, it’s around eighteen to nineteen metres with the fish often off the bottom and holding at around twelves metres or less. To get down to these fish, try a spinnerbait or plastic in the 1/4 ounce or more weight. I try and go for something that is heavy enough to combat the current. Again, this is where thin diameter lines come into their own. A thicker line gets caught more easily by the current and restricts its ability to help the lure get down to where it should be.
Once, I’ve found the fish, I cast out as far as possible and work the lure through the school. It’s important to know the sink rate of your spinnerbaits and plastics in the conditions in which you fish, and count the lure down and work in back. In order to keep the lure in the zone for longer, I make three or retrieves, and then allow the lure to sink back into the zone before continuing the retrieve. Simply continuing to retrieve only keeps the lure in the zone for a short time and reduces your chances.
To make longer casts, using longer rods really makes a difference. Rods in the 6’6” to 7’ range are good choices, especially in the one to three kilo range. Fine lines again make long casts a lot easier that thicker ones.
Sadly, Nitro spinnerbaits and Whiz Bangers are not in production for the time being, but these are excellent at this time of the year. Heavier Betts Spins and spinnerbaits should work well, with red and black spinnerbaits being an overall favourite from those I speak with.
Surface lures that have should produce good catches this month will be Taylor Made Fizz Bangers and Heddons Torpedoes, but there’s a lot of other surface lures which still produce. Kokoda Bugger Chugs, Rebel Crickhopper Poppers and Daiwa circadas are also long term favourites.
EP’s Provide the Yippee’s!
Kris Cameron of Windsor Bait and Tackle caught this 450mm on the Tuesday after the HNBAA Interclub 2006 weekend. This fish was taken on a New Jackall Chubby. Speak to Kris for colour details.
While bass are without doubt, the heaviest targeted fish in local waters, the estuary perch are increasing in popularity. You’ll find them in the deeper water, and caught using similar methods to those being used to catch bass. Estuary Perch are often caught in the same areas where bass are found, but EP’s will be wider out than bass, which tend to sit in close to cover. Look further our for EP’s and down stream from a snag or bend in the river.
EP often school up in large numbers so if you have showing of fish on you sounder, work the area really thoroughly.
My favourite plastic for EP’s is a 3” slider Bass with three ribs trimmed from the front. Work the bottom with a slow lift and drop and a gentle retrieve. Again, three or four retrieves and let the plastic fall to the bottom. I find a threadline best for this, but it’s all personal preference. Any slight tap felt through the line, and I stop the retrieve, where an EP will often take the Slider. The ideal retrieve is to work it slow with a lift and drop. Low speed reels make this a lot easier, especially when most anglers tend to wind fasting than they should in the first place. If you have a favourite reel that has a high retrieve ratio, keep this in mind while you fish, and retrieve it SLOW!
Colo Mayhem
One of my favourite rivers, the Colo is a great place to fish this month. It’s got ever concieveable type of bass heaven you could imagine. There’s stacks of rocks where bass feed on the crabs that inhabit the crevaces. Cast along the rock walls and under the undercut ledges with lures cast right in tight under them. I find darker bulkier lures work exceptionally well in these areas.
Weed beds are everywhere in the Colo, which while holding various food for bass, also provide protection for the bass as well. There’s the usual weedbed tactics to employ here, with lipless crankers, plastics and spinnerbaits all doing very well. One lure that should always be considered is the suspending lure. Worked across the face of weed beds and in larger pockets of weed, these lures can get a strike when other presentations aren’t working as well.
Halco Sneaky Scorpions (I pay for mine like you do!) have been around for a while now, and these are perfect. Bass will cover some distance to slam them when they are worked in a stop/start manner. The beauty of these types of lures is that they can be cranked down to their designated depth and kept in front of a bass, and be made to flick and dance in front of them, simulating a baitfish that is unaware of danger or that is injured.
These lures are very sensitive to changes in weight, so adding a speed clip or something similar can alter the performance of these lures. I find a loop knot is best, as it doesn’t interfere with the lures action.
Overhanging vegetation is plentiful in the Colo as well, and the really dark holes between overhanging trees will fish well off the surface all day. Just be ready for solid strikes in this type of area, as it can be really hands on trying to extract bass from here.
Upper Nepean Explodes
The upper reaches of the Nepean has been firing really well, with plenty of good size fish being caught. This month, the big fish will continue as the big bass make their move downstream.
Similar tactics will work for these fish as was mentioned earlier. Reduce the amount of handling you subject any fish caught to. These fish are your fishing future and should be released in as good a condition as possible.
There are some bankside areas to fish in this area, but the best option is to use a kayak or canoe. Launching them is fairly straight forward in many locations, with no need for boatramps for entry into some great bass fishing.
Other Species On The Chomp
Other species continue to take mostly baits, especially in the Wisemans Ferry and Lower Portland region. Baitsoakers have been taking good number of bream and jewfish, with flathead also being caught in good numbers.
Grant Pelley caught this nice 530mm Flathead in a river no where near the Hawkesbury, but because he is the web administrator, he took poetic license. This fish was taken on a Squidy 2" Pumpkinseed softplastic on a TT 1/12 jighead.
The jewies are still reducing the tackle supplies of some anglers with the usual bustoffs happening mostly to bankside anglers.
Best bait for the bream has been Hawkesbury prawns, especially live ones and fresh fish baits for the jewies. With the fish baits, it’s a good idea to make a few cuts in the bait to help disperse the bait juices and get the trail happening for the jewies to locate it.
