Bring It On!
I’ve been writing my column for Fishing Monthly for the past five years this month, and while I try hard not to repeat myself too much, this is one thing that I enjoy saying every April. April is one of my favourite times to fish locally, with bass in particular being noticeably more aggressive.
With some bass making ready to move into the brackish sections of the Hawkesbury to spawn, part of their preparation is to feed up for the big swim, and it seems that most lures you put in front of them is fair game. Bass strikes are often savage and any carelessly tied knots will bring the hapless angler grief.
Bass should have started to school up for the migration to the brackish waters, and can be located in deeper water as the water cools. Using the sounder in your boat, you’ll find bass often near drop offs, eddies and on the edge of the eddies and the main body of water in the river. This is where the river flow will be moving in the opposite direction to water in the eddies.
Once you locate them, getting your presentations down to their depth is required, be it soft plastics or sinking flies. While spinnerbaits seem to have fallen out of favour with some local anglers, they are still productive, especially in the red/black colours in quarter ounce. My love for my Nitro Whiz Bangers is well known and they’re excellent for bass in deeper water.
Betts Spins are similar to the Nitro Whiz Bangers, but have a pivoting arrangement near the jog head, unlike the Whiz Bangers fixed head. With Whiz Bangers not being presently manufactured, any Whiz Bangers in your tackle box should be treated like gold.
Matt Fraser of Dam Hot DVD fame, as well as a successful bream and bass competitor, is the creator of Nitro products. As well as running the Nitro company, Matt’s lovely wife May has recently given birth to their second child. Despite the busy business and family life, there is a possibility of Whiz Bangers coming back into production later this year. Here’s hoping!!!!
Taking bass off the surface is a great way of nailing bass. Heddons Torpedoes have been around a long time and come in a variety of colours. The black ones seem to be high on the all time favourites list, but I’ve found that when bass are quiet, the clear Torpedo will get results as the fish have trouble working out what is creating the disturbance. It some pretty close to resembling the prawns you skipping about on the Hawkesbury too, which helps improve your chances.
Heddon’s Hula Poppers, which come in a variety of sizes, are another facourite of mine, especially in black. They can be made to boop across the surface or jiggled to create enticing ripples without any noise at all.
Colours Are Up the Mast!
Recently the creators of Taylor Made lures were kind enough to send me some samples of some of their surface lures to try. I have been using other Taylor Mades such as their Baby Nuggets and Fiz Bangers for a while now. The samples sent included Basscadas and some Fat Bangers. Despite being familiar with the Taylor Mades, I started experimenting with the new lures with an open mind. The results have been very impressive and the sample lures have pushed some of my older surface lures out of the tackle box and into my tackle museum downstairs.
These lures touch down quietly and really stand up to the success that anglers expect from Taylor Made products. They are popular with many of the anglers that I know locally and account for plenty of local bass.
While some might suggest I’m giving a free plug in some “lures for comment” scandal after receiving some free lures, regular readers and those that know me personally, know where I stand where it comes to mentioning products in my column. If I use equipment I’ll mention it happily. If it’s been given to me as a sample to test or review, you’ll be told, and finally, if I don’t use something but other anglers do, I’ll mention what other anglers find succesful. I’m upfront about what I mention to help avoid any critisim.
Plenty About This Month
I’ve had a little bit of friendly jousting from mates who think it’s strange I mention carp as a targetable species. These mud suckers, while they definitely deserve to be hated, can offer a very real test for the skills of any angler. What they lack in credit for a number of reasons, they certainly use their bulk and power to maximum effect when hooked.
Pugh’s Lagoon at Richmond, Penrith Lakes, Werrington Lake and a host of land locked water offer plenty off opportunities to test your abilities. Check with the management of Penrith Lakes before fishing there.
As for carp rigs, you’ll need strong hooks and a variety of bait which migh include bread, corn, ham, cheese, maggots or even jelly beans. Fished under a float or on the bottom, a little bit of berley and you should get some interest from the scavenging carp.
Carp found in local creeks and rivers aren’t given much attention by anglers locally, as there are many more popular species to give attention to, but the same techniques can be used here.
There’s some monster mullet about too this month and those who have managed to catch these speedsters will find them a challenge to contain once hooked.
You’ll need small hooks for the mullet as well as some light floats. Berley them up with some bread, but don’t over do it. Small bits of bread will create a nice trail that will bring them to your bait, which should consist of a small ball of bread on hook or dough mixed with cotton wool. Cotton wool will help keep the dough on your hook. To make up the dough, mix flour with water until a thick pasty goo is made and then add the cotton wool.
For those that like the hand to hand combat of catching fish with the fly rod, small bread flies are perfect. These can be of foam or small pieces of washed sheeps fleece. The probably look more realistic when you add your fly to the berley trail.
Tailor and bream are about in reasonable numbers, and along with flathead are often by catches of those chasing estuary perch and bass.
I’ve heard of reports of some sizeable jewfish in the Wisemans Ferry area of around thirty kilo’s which would explain while the tackle shops have been selling more line to the jewie anglers in recent months. Express trains have made short work of those not expecting the larger species.
Another Successful Inter Club!
The Hawkesbury Nepean Bass Anglers Associations Inter Club was held in the last weekend in February, and as usual was a terrific event. Clubs every year are invited to challenge the host club in a friendly social competition. This year eighty one people attended, to take on the bass that proved a little difficult again this year.
Clubs including Southern Bass, Panthers, St George Sportsfishing Club and Breakaway Bass provided stiff competition for the Hawkesbury guys and girls, who ended up taking out the Champion Club title.
The biggest bass was a surprising 342 millimetres, just one millimetre longer than yours truly and fellow club member Elise Hardimen 341 millimetre fish. Any chance of a re measure were obviously out of the question, as all fish were immediately released once measured.
Congralutions to the HNBAA committee and club members for another great weekend. Bring on the 2007 Inter Club!
