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
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.
