super snatcher
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This final report has me fishing up at Lake St Clair,about a 3 hours drive north of Sydney. This is an annual "lads weekend" which has been happening for years now and I was kindly invited along. The main target was freshwater bass.
One of my ozzie fishing mentors,Frank picked me up at my daughters place in Frenchs Forest at 10am in the morning. In total there would be 7 anglers and 4 boats. When we arrived just after noon there were just two more anglers to turn up. We pitched up our tent and then helped erect the sunshade - it was screaming hot !!!!
What a beutiful place this was and was quite busy as it was a bank holiday weekend. There were a lot of families camped around the lake and most of them had canoes/boats/paddle boards. All of the kids were wearing life jackets when out on the water which was good to see.
One of the lads,Steve,had been there since the Wednesday and had 3 bass in his onboard fish tank. He showed them to me before releasing them. It was suggested that Steve took me out on the Thursday evening to try and get me my first bass. I jumped at the chance. I have since found out that Steve is one of the top bass anglers in NSW.
We set out about an hour before dusk and Steve rigged me up with a threadline spinning outfit and a small surface splasher. The line was 6lb braid !!!! Steve switched on his small electric engine and slowly moved us along parallel to the shore. He said that the bass would be close in toward the bank hiding in the various structures. He said cast as close to the bank as you can and slowly tweak the lure in with frequent pauses.
We just had to wait about 5 minutes before Steve got his first take which did not hook up. He just left his lure be as he said that if the bass did not feel the hooks it may come back for a second go - exactly what I do in Luce Bay. Anyhow that fish did not come back but he did hook up a few minutes later and what a great scrap on light gear.
Dusk had now fallen and we were just casting by the light of the moon. I did manage to put the lure onto the bank a few times but luckily it came off each time. Eventually I did manage to hook up and here is my first Australian bass.
A quick picture and back it went. At the end of our session Steve had caught and released 3 bass and missed about 7 or 8 fish. I had taken the one and missed two. By the time we had got back to camp there was a good log fire going,grub was being cooked and the other two blokes had arrived. I was introduced as Snatcher or the pommy ******* - ha ha the craic was good. It was all good natured **** taking and the ozzies had me creased up at times.
By tradition we all got canny full on the beer and wine on that first night - apart from Steve who said he was going out again before sunrise. By the time we got out of our scratchers Steve had been out,caught two more bass and was starting the breakfast. Kangaroo,bangers and eggs. Very tasty. These lads were well organised and had brought along a couple of generators and fridges.
It was far too hot to fish through the day so we just sat under the shade and told fishing tales to each other. We all tried a couple of more evening session but no more bass were taken - they had went off the feed for some reason. Picture of me fishing in Franks boat.
I could tell that the main purpose of this trip was just to have an annual meet and have a laugh. Any fishing was a bonus to this crew.
On the Saturday night one of the boys cooked us some damper on the fire. It is traditional ozzie camping tucker and very nice it was too.
We broke camp on the Sunday morning and the bass total for the 4 days was Steve 8/9 bass and Snatcher one bass. Nobody else managed to get one to the boat.
Here is a final picture of 5 of the mottley crew.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my ozzie reports from this year. As it happens there could well be more later on this year as we are planning on heading back over in October for a couple of months.
Hopefully you should get a few reports from me over the summer from the Mull of Galloway.
John
One of my ozzie fishing mentors,Frank picked me up at my daughters place in Frenchs Forest at 10am in the morning. In total there would be 7 anglers and 4 boats. When we arrived just after noon there were just two more anglers to turn up. We pitched up our tent and then helped erect the sunshade - it was screaming hot !!!!
What a beutiful place this was and was quite busy as it was a bank holiday weekend. There were a lot of families camped around the lake and most of them had canoes/boats/paddle boards. All of the kids were wearing life jackets when out on the water which was good to see.
One of the lads,Steve,had been there since the Wednesday and had 3 bass in his onboard fish tank. He showed them to me before releasing them. It was suggested that Steve took me out on the Thursday evening to try and get me my first bass. I jumped at the chance. I have since found out that Steve is one of the top bass anglers in NSW.
We set out about an hour before dusk and Steve rigged me up with a threadline spinning outfit and a small surface splasher. The line was 6lb braid !!!! Steve switched on his small electric engine and slowly moved us along parallel to the shore. He said that the bass would be close in toward the bank hiding in the various structures. He said cast as close to the bank as you can and slowly tweak the lure in with frequent pauses.
We just had to wait about 5 minutes before Steve got his first take which did not hook up. He just left his lure be as he said that if the bass did not feel the hooks it may come back for a second go - exactly what I do in Luce Bay. Anyhow that fish did not come back but he did hook up a few minutes later and what a great scrap on light gear.
Dusk had now fallen and we were just casting by the light of the moon. I did manage to put the lure onto the bank a few times but luckily it came off each time. Eventually I did manage to hook up and here is my first Australian bass.
A quick picture and back it went. At the end of our session Steve had caught and released 3 bass and missed about 7 or 8 fish. I had taken the one and missed two. By the time we had got back to camp there was a good log fire going,grub was being cooked and the other two blokes had arrived. I was introduced as Snatcher or the pommy ******* - ha ha the craic was good. It was all good natured **** taking and the ozzies had me creased up at times.
By tradition we all got canny full on the beer and wine on that first night - apart from Steve who said he was going out again before sunrise. By the time we got out of our scratchers Steve had been out,caught two more bass and was starting the breakfast. Kangaroo,bangers and eggs. Very tasty. These lads were well organised and had brought along a couple of generators and fridges.
It was far too hot to fish through the day so we just sat under the shade and told fishing tales to each other. We all tried a couple of more evening session but no more bass were taken - they had went off the feed for some reason. Picture of me fishing in Franks boat.
I could tell that the main purpose of this trip was just to have an annual meet and have a laugh. Any fishing was a bonus to this crew.
On the Saturday night one of the boys cooked us some damper on the fire. It is traditional ozzie camping tucker and very nice it was too.
We broke camp on the Sunday morning and the bass total for the 4 days was Steve 8/9 bass and Snatcher one bass. Nobody else managed to get one to the boat.
Here is a final picture of 5 of the mottley crew.
Well I hope you have enjoyed my ozzie reports from this year. As it happens there could well be more later on this year as we are planning on heading back over in October for a couple of months.
Hopefully you should get a few reports from me over the summer from the Mull of Galloway.
John