WayneD
11-18-2011, 05:18 PM
Hi guys here's a report and a few pics of a great session I just had in the Brisbane River here in Queensland, Australia. Some of you might remember the big floods we had in January this year that devasted the town and it's neighbouring communities. Well the overflow they let of of Lake Wivenhoe filled the usually timid Brisbane River and made it a flooded mess. It was a terrible time for all who were affected including my work which had 6ft of water through it. But anyway back to the fishing....
The only good thing that came out of it all was that some of the big fat bass that were stocked in the dam were now in the creek in amongst the snags, which makes for exciting fishing. Wivenhoe is well known for it's big fat bass with many bass tournaments being held on it. After the floods in January we didn't fish the river until about May because it just wasn't viable but once we got on there even though the water was a dark coffee colour the bass were hungry and smashing our spinnerbaits. The river has only just cleared up about a month or two ago and now in preparation for a rainy summer they are releasing a bit more water out. Which is a shame as the river will suffer for a few months but it will bring more big bass over the wall. Anyway here's how I went on the Coosa maiden voyage with two mates.
Finished work at 3pm and headed straight for the Brissy River to get in a fish before they open the flood gates to let out some water in preparation for our super wet Summer, apparently…. When I got there Dave was just dragging his yak out of the van and Wes was going to be a late arrival. Dave had a quick look at the Coosa as I was setting it up and in no time it was getting it’s first scratches as I dragged it down Heart Attack Hill.
To start the session I had the seat in the low position just until I could get the feel of it. The yak is super stable but I resisted the urge to stand in it straight away. I had a bit of a play and then got stuck into the fishing, after all I did have to blood it. It was quiet to start with and probably took me a good hour until a little bass jumped on the end of my line. Not quite the monster I was hoping for but I would take it. After releasing the little tacker I decided to go for a troll to try and find some fish.
I trolled up to my turn around point with no interest in the spinnerbait. Did a U-turn and headed back to find Dave. About half way back my reel started to sing the song we love so much. After a sluggish fight the fish came to the yak and then decided to wake up. Taking multiple dives for the bottom trying to find cover. Eventually a nice 50ish cm yellowbelly was glided into the net. Not bad 2 fish, 2 species on the new yak.
I decided to try the high seating position on the Coosa so I pulled over and changed the seat. Wow, I am high. Continued on my trolling until I reached Dave and saw that Wes had made it to the river. I continued on past Dave to catch up with Wes and see how he was going. After saying hello I was surprised to see him tying on a spinnerbait. I’ve only ever seen him fish with timber lures. Lets see how these spinnerbaits work he says as he cast it out. He lets it sink, has a few turns of the handle and zzzzzzz, he turns to me and says, yep there OK. I didn’t end up seeing how big the fish was because while he was playing it I cast out into the middle of the creek and my spinnerbait was smashed by a monster.
It ran so fast on the first run I thought it was going to jump like a barra, it headed straight for the top. Then it turned and chugged it out down deep. My little 1-4kg Heartland was having trouble lifting it. When it finally broke the surface I said, my golly gosh that’s big (or words to the effect). I called Wes over for a photo and to borrow his measuring mat. 55cm, my biggest bass for the season. It had taken the spinnerbait so far down that not even the head of the spinnerbait was outside of it’s mouth. The wire was all bent and needed some surgery also. I swam this big girl for a bit as she was bleeding a little, once she gave some good kicks in the net I was glad to see her swim off strongly.
Now that I had some confidence up in the yak I decided to try and stand up. Easy, a little rocky, but very easy. I could only look forward though, otherwise my balance was compromised. This should improve in time. Had a few casts and was joking that I would fall over if I hooked up to a bass. A couple of casts later I hooked into a 45cm bass and was standing up for the whole fight until I had to net it. Certainly was an experience standing up and fighting a fish. I managed to do it again a little later on a bigger 53cm specimen.
Anyway I've rambled on enough. Here are some conversions so you can measure them against the size of fish you guys catch over there.
56cm = 20 inches and I have only ever seen one or two caught that were bigger than this. They would have weighed around 3kgs which is about 6lb 9oz.
The only good thing that came out of it all was that some of the big fat bass that were stocked in the dam were now in the creek in amongst the snags, which makes for exciting fishing. Wivenhoe is well known for it's big fat bass with many bass tournaments being held on it. After the floods in January we didn't fish the river until about May because it just wasn't viable but once we got on there even though the water was a dark coffee colour the bass were hungry and smashing our spinnerbaits. The river has only just cleared up about a month or two ago and now in preparation for a rainy summer they are releasing a bit more water out. Which is a shame as the river will suffer for a few months but it will bring more big bass over the wall. Anyway here's how I went on the Coosa maiden voyage with two mates.
Finished work at 3pm and headed straight for the Brissy River to get in a fish before they open the flood gates to let out some water in preparation for our super wet Summer, apparently…. When I got there Dave was just dragging his yak out of the van and Wes was going to be a late arrival. Dave had a quick look at the Coosa as I was setting it up and in no time it was getting it’s first scratches as I dragged it down Heart Attack Hill.
To start the session I had the seat in the low position just until I could get the feel of it. The yak is super stable but I resisted the urge to stand in it straight away. I had a bit of a play and then got stuck into the fishing, after all I did have to blood it. It was quiet to start with and probably took me a good hour until a little bass jumped on the end of my line. Not quite the monster I was hoping for but I would take it. After releasing the little tacker I decided to go for a troll to try and find some fish.
I trolled up to my turn around point with no interest in the spinnerbait. Did a U-turn and headed back to find Dave. About half way back my reel started to sing the song we love so much. After a sluggish fight the fish came to the yak and then decided to wake up. Taking multiple dives for the bottom trying to find cover. Eventually a nice 50ish cm yellowbelly was glided into the net. Not bad 2 fish, 2 species on the new yak.
I decided to try the high seating position on the Coosa so I pulled over and changed the seat. Wow, I am high. Continued on my trolling until I reached Dave and saw that Wes had made it to the river. I continued on past Dave to catch up with Wes and see how he was going. After saying hello I was surprised to see him tying on a spinnerbait. I’ve only ever seen him fish with timber lures. Lets see how these spinnerbaits work he says as he cast it out. He lets it sink, has a few turns of the handle and zzzzzzz, he turns to me and says, yep there OK. I didn’t end up seeing how big the fish was because while he was playing it I cast out into the middle of the creek and my spinnerbait was smashed by a monster.
It ran so fast on the first run I thought it was going to jump like a barra, it headed straight for the top. Then it turned and chugged it out down deep. My little 1-4kg Heartland was having trouble lifting it. When it finally broke the surface I said, my golly gosh that’s big (or words to the effect). I called Wes over for a photo and to borrow his measuring mat. 55cm, my biggest bass for the season. It had taken the spinnerbait so far down that not even the head of the spinnerbait was outside of it’s mouth. The wire was all bent and needed some surgery also. I swam this big girl for a bit as she was bleeding a little, once she gave some good kicks in the net I was glad to see her swim off strongly.
Now that I had some confidence up in the yak I decided to try and stand up. Easy, a little rocky, but very easy. I could only look forward though, otherwise my balance was compromised. This should improve in time. Had a few casts and was joking that I would fall over if I hooked up to a bass. A couple of casts later I hooked into a 45cm bass and was standing up for the whole fight until I had to net it. Certainly was an experience standing up and fighting a fish. I managed to do it again a little later on a bigger 53cm specimen.
Anyway I've rambled on enough. Here are some conversions so you can measure them against the size of fish you guys catch over there.
56cm = 20 inches and I have only ever seen one or two caught that were bigger than this. They would have weighed around 3kgs which is about 6lb 9oz.