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
Clarrie Hall is Good for the Soul
I have fished many impoundments on the east coast of Australia but perhaps none as beautiful as Clarrie Hall Dam. I find it necessary to be on the water at sunrise to achieve the best results. At that time of day, as the rising sun slowly dissipates the mist covering the dam, the true beauty of this wetland materializes from the early morning haze. Lush green lily pads, purple and yellow lotus flowers come to light as the lake margins are revealed. The calls of water fowl echo and the popping sounds of Bass feeding are all part of the morning symphony as this ecosystem begins another day. Finally when the fog lifts, Mt Warning watches over the lake.
This particular morning I fished a tan coloured Dahlberg Diver, blooping it across the surface like a frog or insect of some type. Initially upon touch down I let the fly sit there for a while then gave as little action to the fly as possible. If that drew no response I would make short ‘bloops’ back to the boat. I had about 5 hits and boated 2 fish of around 33cm. About average for this dam. Once the sun rose higher I changed tactics, pulled out the spin rod and flicked out a small diving jerk bait. I immediately got smashed but the fished shot into the snags and spit the lure.
All in all not a bad 3 hours of fishing. If I had managed to convert a few more hits into fish landed then I could have had 5 Bass in the live well. Clarrie Hall is my local impoundment and I have fished it numerous times. The Bass are of modest size and I rarely come home with cricket score card numbers of fish, but the place is just so incredibly scenic. I will be back!
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.
