Hunter Valley

Enjoying the edge bite

HUNTER VALLEY Nick Price

For the last eight weeks or so the fishing at Glenbawn has been extremely tough. We have not had the usual by the time this goes to print the temperature will have cooled and the bass will be back on the chew.

In contrast, Lake St Clair has been fishing well on both plastics and jerkbaits, the usual favourite form of fishing.

The fish will start to school in deeper water. They can be seen on the sounder, and if a big enough school is found it will fill the whole screen. When fishing these school fish,

The author with a typical plastics-caught bass.

amount of frosts in the Upper Hunter, and the water temperature has not been stable. Hopefully winter bite. This should be occurring in Glenbawn shortly. The winter jerkbait and plastics edge bite is my use a small 2-3” paddletail plastic. It is worth trying different colours because the fish will sometimes

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(surface paddler) that seem to go lethargic in the winter months, however there are plenty of lures that will work and I can assure you I always have a few options including a good swimbait of choice in my tacklebox.

Just a reminder that trout season is officially closed in NSW from the June long weekend gone to October long weekend and fishing for these species is prohibited during the spawning months.

Good luck to everyone braving the cold this month, and tight lines. A Glenbawn carp caught on a plastic.

be very picky as to colour. Present the plastics either vertically or horizontally. Again, the fish may only bite with a certain presentation. This is why some anglers go out and catch cricket

Ice jigs and blades also work on these school fish. If you’re using an ice jig, you can fish it vertically while watching on your sounder, and work the ice jig in the middle of the bottom, and when you raise your rod to hop the blade you’ll discover you’re on.

There are many styles of blades, and some work much better than others. Like most lures I find it

Plastics, such as these, work well in the winter months.

score amounts of fish while others seem to struggle. Vary the presentation and colour until you find what the fish are after.

If these school fish are at a certain depth make sure you fish your plastic at this depth. Remember to count your jighead down and fish through the school. Often these bites are very subtle so it’s worth spending the money on a sensitive rod and using light braid and leader so you can feel the bites. When the fish bite you often will feel a tap-tap. Do not strike, just keep winding slowly and the fish should load up. If the fish stops biting, stop your retrieve and often the fish will hit the plastic as it starts to drop. school. Another approach is to hop the ice jig up and down off the bottom. The disturbance in mud and the ice jig jumping around can often stimulate the bass to react. We stock plenty of ice jigs, so if you’re passing through Aberdeen please drop in and we’ll help you with what style and colour is working at the time.

Blades can be fished vertically exactly the same as an ice jig, or can be fished horizontally. When fishing horizontally I like to cast the blade out and then hop back to the boat. Make sure that between each hop the blade is given time to settle on the bottom. Often the bass will pick the blade up off the better to have a few good ones than a tackle box full of lures that were cheap but don’t work.

By far my favourite type of winter fishing is the edge plastic and jerkbait bite. Lake St Clair has many weed beds and fishing these is great fun, with lots of fish on offer to be caught. I like fishing weedless when fishing the edge.

Next month I will focus on fishing the edge, both using jigheads and fishing plastics weedless. I will also look at the variety of jerkbaits currently available and what works when.

If you are heading out before then, drop in and speak to Liz or myself at Aberdeen and we can help you catch fish.