Bass Kingfish and Salmon

November 11, 2019

Hi downrigger shop I was just wondering if lake parramatta was any good lure fishing, what species of fish do you catch there.

Good timing! I was out there a week ago, for my first bass session of the season. Not a big lake:

But that’s a good thing, because with all the twists and turns there’s always a place to get out of the wind. The key factor is that this lake has been heavily stocked, by NSW Fisheries:

Took my little black kayak, which is so short it fits inside the station wagon. Fitted with an old cheap sounder that does the job just fine, in shallow water. Gear used was our $115 Light Spin Combo. Here’s a 20 second compilation of the first three bass caught:

What a great afternoon it was. Most of the fish small, but caught 14 in a little over an hour. My best for the arvo 33 cm:

If you’re going, take our Light Spin Combo and a couple of small black diving hard bodies? And if you order, remind me to tell you about a secret spot near Lake Parramatta which has lower numbers of bass – but far bigger fish:

 

Back on the water on Friday, this time in the upper Harbour. A helpful client on Facebook told me topwater school kingfish were around. That was very good advice! This time I was fishing out of the little Atomix 420:

And once again using the light 602 outfit - with our 10 gram jigs. Those are almost exactly the same length and depth as the baitfish the kings are feeding on. Second cast:

You’d be mad not to take some of these 10 gram jigs along, if you’re fishing the Harbour. Because they look so much like the pelagics’ food source they work on everything from frigate mackerel, to kingfish. And they cast like bullets, which is especially helpful when it’s windy:

 And here’s how it all ended up:

 

Check out the jig that did the damage. $55 for ten - including delivery - not a big ask:

 

Last run for the week was on Sunday, yesterday. Super excited to be invited to go for a run on a friend’s big beautiful Wellcraft 25:

It was a windy afternoon with insane boat traffic on the Harbour. Fishing inside was out of the question, the boat wakes had put everything down. The only realistic option in the short time window we had was salmon, around North Head. But would they be there? Thankfully, yes:

Once again I had packed two 602 combos. We started out with the 10 gram jigs. But hooked fish boatside coughed up bait a little shorter and slimmer than even the tiny 10 gram jigs. It was time to break out the secret weapon:

The bubble float and fly set up. The big pluses with this system are:
You can cast a tiny lure – we were using flies - a long way
You don’t retrieve. Just let the float stay in the strike zone
The float keeps the fly in the top foot of the water – where the fish are
Just deadly

What a fantastic afternoon. What a fantastic week! Best of luck to any of our readers heading out and please call anytime if you need a report before going? Thanks for reading,

Andrew Hestelow
Managing Director
http://www.downriggershop.com
Tel. 0402075000

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