Bassin on the First

[Nativeman]

Like most bass fishermen I had been waiting for the first of September to click over so we could all target Bass in rivers and creeks again.

I had planned to hit a spot but was swayed by a friend to visit another area. So of I ventured there , an early morning launch was on the cards and we both arrived on the water just as the sun was coming up. Toni caught a bass within minutes snagging it very close to structure on the surface under a tree branch.  The first pool we fished was very short and soon we were walking up river over some very slippery river rocks.

We discovered the river was much lower than we anticipated and there would be alot of walking during this morning session, setting onto our kayaks and fishing each pool along the way. Two or three pools upstream I scored my first Bass for the season, I was amazed to catch it as the water was less than two feet deep and the cast had been a bad one with the lure landing a long way away from the edge of the bank.

The bass was a very small one and I was alarmed to see that it had a hole in one side of its gill plates. Also it was missing some fins on top as well, almost for sure this bass had suffered some of this damage while escaping over a wall from a dam much further upstream. The hole on the side of the fish makes me think it may have suffered from some disease.

We both pushed on and came upon a large long pool of water. We both thought this may be the spot we score some bass but it was not to be, many surface casts close to structure, in shaded areas and out in the open bought no sign of life. Even casting shallow and deep divers brought no action, oh well that's one happens sometimes.

So we turned around and headed back to the launch spot trying the same pools on the way home. Once back at the launch spot I called some friends to see how they were going and they were nearing the end of their journey on the area they had chosen. So we agreed to all meet at a second launch spot and try our lock there.

So for Toni and I it was back to the car, pack up, load the kayaks on and drive another hour to the second spot.

On arriving the other guys were sent up and away we went. It was almost lunch time and the sun was very high in the sky, this meant there would be no more surface fishing for us so we all went deeper. I tied on several lures at first to try and work out what they liked. Wayne was onto them early using a Damiki MU45 Lure casting to the shadows and working it slowly back to the kayak.

Steven had tied on a spinnerbait and was having success in the full sun areas and Toni was using a shallow diver as well with some success.  I finally settled on a mid depth diver from Jonesy Lures and I eventually caught two more bass for the day.

Soon we were all growing weary as we had all had early starts to the day and most of us had to work the following day so we called it quits mid afternoon and headed for home.

I only ended up with three bass for the day from two different locations, not a huge tally, but it certainly beats working......
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[estuary girl]

Thanks for joining me Sel on the first day of the season.Shame the Bass didn't turn their calendar over as well.
I've come to the conclusion with this spot that it fires in the afternoon more so than in the morning.That's two early morning sessions that have produced diddly-squat!
But the arvo sessions are tops!
Even though we didn't get a good number for the first day of the season I think the coming summer will be a cracker.
So many places I have researched over winter yet to try.
It was great to catch up with Wayne and Steven in some gorgeous surroundings.
Shall be back again down there soon over the coming weeks.

Cheers.