Easter Sunday at Clarrie Hall Dam
It’s Easter already and the average daily temperatures have dropped now that summer is over. But that hasn’t stopped the bass from feeding on the surface of Clarrie Hall Dam. There are still plenty of dragonflies doing their business and laying their eggs in the water. I have seen dragonflies hovering just above the surface, dipping their tails in as they go. I am not exactly sure what they are doing but I notice they often choose a gap between the lily pads to perform this strange dance. In any case the bass notice it too and use these gaps to wait in ambush. These are perfect little windows to cast your surface lure. Low light conditions that occur at the book ends of the day are best, as are overcast days. However today I still managed a few fish on surface lures in the middle of a bright sunny day. Fishing the lily pads that were in the shade of the bank side vegetation was the key. The cover provided by the lily pads and the shade cast from the trees was all that was needed to give bass the confidence to feed at the surface.
Australia Day 2015
Fishing for natives in our impoundments can be tough. It takes a lot of planning, preparation, checking weather forecasts, organizing time off work, preparing tackle etc. But if the fish aren’t willing to play all the best laid plans go to waste. I am happy to say this was not the case with my recent trip to Clarrie Hall. One of the most beautiful dams in Australia.
It was an extremely hot and humid day and shortly after I put the boat on the water I had to seek shade for an hour or so. This gave me some time to collect some underwater footage and do a little research as to the bass’ potential food source. There was certainly plenty of bait fish swimming amongst the lilly pads. Probably Firetail Gudgeon and Gambusia. So I made a mental note to collect some next time for identification.
The other thing I noticed is there appeared to be more weed than usual. There has always been a thick perimeter of lilly pads around the edge of the lake with another rim of feathery submerged weed, I identified as Ambulia, leading into deeper water. I think this ambulia has spread since last I visited the dam and it is my theory that the extra cover provided by the weed has drawn the bass out of from under the lily pads thus making them more susceptible to angling. In any case the fishing was great!
I worked the edges of the ambulia with hard bodies, jerk baits, soft plastic frogs and dahlberg diver flies. I caught fish on all my presentations and finished the trip with about 12 bass. Watching the bass crash tackle the surface flies is always a highlight! As usual the bass aren’t huge in Clarrie Hall but they are a robust and hard fighting population with a very respectable average size of around 35cm. I also managed my personal best for Clarrie Hall dam landing a fish of 38.5cm.
Fitzy
Australian Native Fish in the Northern Rivers of NSW
Last summer I was able to dedicate some quality time to fishing. Chasing Australian native fish in my local creeks, rivers and dams I was lucky enough to tempt many fish on both lure and fly. By-catch included some very nice eastern cod that can be a real test on light bass gear.
A couple of valuable lessons were had during these fishing trips. On overcast days, fishing the surface is an excellent proposition even in the middle of the day. On some of my local dams, it is difficult to raise a fish at the best of times. However, tying on a surface lure in any low light conditions, be it dawn, dusk or during overcast day light hours can produce great results.
As an added benefit I found that often the larger fish are the most eager to scoff a well presented surface lure or fly. During a recent trip in the canoe down the skinniest of creeks I managed a 42cm bass on a cicada surface lure. I was amazed at the size of this fish inhabiting such a small creek. Upon closer inspection I noticed a small water dragon protruding from the bass’ mouth! What a guts! He had obviously just eaten the dragon and then decided to have a go at my lure too. No wonder he was so big.
On a different trip I was using the same cicada lure, again targeting Bass. This time a nice 65cm eastern cod snaffled my offering. The loud implosion when he smashed the lure at the surface nearly caused me to wet my pants. The fish then proceeded to put up an excellent tussle on my 6lb outfit.
Our Australian native fish species often appear to react to a lure out of instinct. ‘Reaction strikes’ can be triggered if a surface lure sounds just right when it hits the water. If the lure or fly touches down with the same sound as an insect such as a cicada, a bass for example, will smash the lure in a split second without a second thought. Similarly a jungle perch will follow a lure as it is cast through the air across the river with tremendous speed and crash tackle the offering as soon as it touches down. If not in the mood for food a cod will simply chase away any intruding lure from its territory. However if you can provoke the cod by landing the lure in it’s face, the fish will smash the lure in an instant. In these cases the strikes are lightening quick. There was no time elapsed for contemplation.
The challenge of catching our natives lies within figuring out how to trigger a reaction strike on any given day. Ya just gotta love fishing for Australian natives!
Simon Fitzpatrick (Fitzy)
Catching Bass Under Lily Pads
When catching bass under lily pads it is hard to go past fly fishing. A fly such as a Dahlsberg Diver can be presented again and again without having to wind the lure back in each time as you would with conventional tackle. This can be very effective with fish such as Australian Bass who often prefer to strike a lure or fly as soon as it hits the water. As mentioned in my previous article, if you can mimic the sound and sight of an insect splashing down, a reaction strike can result. Furthermore the fish aren’t always willing to chase a surface lure as it is being retrieved.
However if you snap your fly rod trying to contend with yet another snagged fly on a lily pad like I did, then its time to pull out the trusty old spin or bait casting outfit. After doing just that, I discovered an absolute ripper of a surface lure that is virtually snag proof whilst retaining an exceptional hook up rate. Not only that they cast a country mile and you can hop them across the lilly pads all day long with very few snag ups. Further more, Bass go nuts for them. These hollow belly frog style lures impressed me so much they deserve a style all to there own……It’s not fly fishing, not lure fishing, but frog fishing!!!
When you fish them you become the frog. Hopping from lilly pad to lilly pad, sending out little hopping vibrations down the lilly stems, telegraphing that it’s dinner time to all the hungry Bass below. Finally when you jump off the last pad and out into the open the Bass are already waiting and BLAMMO, your history!
Watch this video for some tips on how to catch Australian bass under lily pads using hollow belly frogs and rev head jig spins.
