Walk in bass fish from the bank mid October 15th and 23rd

Looking down into a snag that produced three fish on a previous trip fishing from the opposite bank

Remnant sub tropical rainforest hugs the bank in parts

A flathead "lie" at the tip of a sand bank pointing into the incoming tide (my size 9 footprint beside)

The carapace of a shrimp - one of the bass's food source

This corner screams bass on a better tide

The lay down log that a fish rocketted out from under to hit the surface walker lure right by the rootball on the left

The corner the fish below came from

The prey minnow - closest thing I had to a mullet

The walk in from the north side 15/10/2011

A local river that produced one of my first wild bass this season beckons to be explored further with access only across private property in use to raise beef cattle. One day I may get the kayak in there but as I don't own a 4wd this would entail a long drag in to reach the water. Surface luring is by far the preferred method but only worth the effort if you get in early so after the peak morning "bite" blades and diving hard bodied minnows like Ecogear SX48 and the similar lures in the 40 to 60 mm range are the preferred choice. The river has tonnes of likely structure to cast at with many laydown logs across and in the water. Prime spots are snags in or near bends in the river or whereever bait moving up or down the river (most likely mullet) get concentrated and have to pass close to the structure. This upper section of the river although totally fresh is still tidally affected with the tide reaching this region roughly 1 3/4 hours after the mouth tide. I think the incoming is best with tides above 1.65 metres preferred otherwise the snags don't have enough water over them and the bass retreat deeper in less accessible positions. My visit on the 15th coincided with a 1.65 tide at the mouth at 9.45 am and after heading in at 5.30 am I was fishing by 6.30 at this stage the tide was just starting to push up unfortunately bringing alot of surface crap in the form of leaves making using surface walking lures like the Scumdog a bit of a pain. I set up the video camera in a tree over looking the snag and proceeded to raise one sizable fish twice flashing on the lure then another fish taking the lure but pulled the hooks on what must have been lightly hooked. By now I think they wised up as I had hung up three lures on the snag making it an expensive morning and discounted the idea of swimming downstream from a likely entry point to retrieve them after being told about the bull sharks in there !!!! I moved downstream to a spot Adam and myself had fished last time and dropped some half hearted hits on the lures. Things were promising as mullet were everywhere and every no and then erupted on the surface obviously being chased by bass. I decided to tie on a diving minnow close to the mullet profile and plug the thin sticky snags on the opposite bank in the corner of the river. Two casts in and I'm on to a nice bass. The lure just fell out as I picked the fish up so was a bit lucky. A couple of casts later and I lose the lure to the sticks. On goes an Ecogear SX48 and successfully lose that to the sticks on the other side of the "hole" DAMN !!! I then lose another lure that's 6 this morning AAARRRGGHHHH !!!! I move further downstream and come across this great looking lay down log and on the 2nd pass over the log with the Gladiator Kozami 60 top walker it gets mauled by a bass at least 40 cm long that rockets up from under the near side of the log pulling the lure down loading the rod then all went limp - up came the lure -How the hell he didn't feel the two trebles I'll never know. Being a bit peeved not hooking the fish and losing the lures I decide to head back to the 2nd spot and retrieve my lures by going swimming. I set the video camera up after stripping down to my jocks and start to walk in the water -  ankle deep I guto out and decide being chewed by a bully not worth the lures - convenient excuse I admit. #########A follow up walkin trip from the other side open up alot more castable spots but unfortunately the tide was nearing the bottom of the outgoing and most snags were all exposed. It was a good recon mission though showing how much potential water there was. The yak has to get in here at the top of the tide coinciding with the early morning. On the to do list. Cheers PAT.

In search of new Bass water pt lll late September.

Coastal creek serenity

Ox Eyed Herring on a brown Mongrel Scumdog surface lure

Another forum member with extensive fresh water experience twigged to Adam and my enthusiasm for searching for new water and offered to take use to a special creek that required a 4wd to get into. Dave Brace turned out to be a great guy with heaps of enthusiasm for bassin' especially in wild creeks from a kayak. We all meet at 4.45am on the edge of a forest and loaded the gear onto Dave's 4b for the drive in. The launch site was a near vertical sand shute of about 4-5m leading into the clear creek. The creek had so much structure on the edges and under water with lots of signs of flood erosion in the form of massive slides of bank into the water. We all had surface walking lures on with Adam getting his first strike but no hook up. The guys were ahead so I let them get some distance to give any fish that were disturbed a chance to settle down. I wasn't having any lookers on the 60 mm walker so changed down to a 48 mm scum dog (mongrel colour) and immediately got onto an Ox Eyed Herring (Tarpon) that jumped a couple of times. Paddling around the corner just in time to see Adams lure get smashed but not hook up. One of the hooks on a treble was broken off and the other squashed. Next couple of casts and he lands a 35 cm model. Dave got one right up in the skinny water that we didn't see. This is an awesome place and should really fire on the surface when the weather hots up. I hooked another Tarpon but it threw the blade yakside. Dave you are awesome and many thanks for sharing this spot and your passion for bassin'. We'll be back. PAT

Adam gets his first bass

makeshift mozzie protection

Adams first Bass 37-38 cm on a pink Berkley Scumdog surface walker lure

Action moment

The first fish of three out of the one snag

A fellow forum member Nugget (Adam) was keen to get onto his first bass so I offered to help him and search for some new water at the same time. I suggested we do a walk in to a local river to see if there were any wild residents to be caught. A 5.30 am meet was organised and after a brief intro we crossed the flood plain to the river in the distance. Most of the best access seemed to be on the opposite bank but we did manage to find some fish with Adam scoring a cracker on his second cast at a snag that I pulled a smaller fish out of on the previous cast. Adam hooked his fish on a pink scumdog lure after his first cast was smashed but didn't connect. I hooked another fish in there but it spat the blade at the bottom of the bank before it could be lifted up. Several other brief hook ups were had but didn't stay connected. Next time we will walk in from the other side and maybe take the fly rod. PAT