OLD
Take your spring pick TOOWOOMBA
Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com
There are so many great places and fish to catch this month.
Bass are still chewing and golden perch have fired up. The impoundment Murray cod are winding up their breeding season and the barra are a lot easier to target for the average angler.
SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST Some quality bass have been caught at Cressbrook over the last month. As a distinct thermocline develops, the deeper holding fish will move shallower and concentrate at a comfortable depth. You would think all the fish holding at one depth would make them easier to find but it can still be tricky. Unless they are actively roaming around, the bass love to sit tight to the bottom on drop offs.
You can pass through an area known to hold fish and miss them if you don’t look in the correct depth. These bottom hugging fish are harder to catch and ideally they should be at least a metre off the bottom for best success. Spoons and metal jigs are likely to be the best offerings when lure casting. Trolling will be steady until next month when it will pick up. Bait fishers using live shrimps will fare well if the position themselves right on top of the fish. • Fish’n’Bits in Toowoomba has all the gear and tips on
In this crazy world we live in, fishing and being on the water is a great way to forget about life’s worries. Enjoy it when you can. Until next month, buckled rods from The Colonel. how to chase the Cressy fish. They are an excellent store specialising in all freshwater lures and tackle. If you want an early or late session, don’t forget the longer open hours are to 6am to 8pm. SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY Somerset should continue to fish well but the fish will start to move around and undergo a few changes. The big schools at Kirkleigh will continue to hold in the area but could move about to new ledges. Some will start making their way to the south and find new homes in the lake’s middle reaches.
Using side image to locate schooling bass has cut the search time a lot. When the fish are holding this wide away from the boat they generally chew pretty good. Schooling fish were holding around Red Rock and Bay of Plenty last month. These fish are very mobile and move around a lot during the course of the day. If you were able to track these movement, cricket score catches could be enjoyed. Unfortunately as the thermocline gets stronger, these deeper holding fish will lift up in the water column and start to hold around flats and ledges of the old riverbed drop off. They will be a bit less nomadic and their feeding will slow down after last month’s feeding frenzies. I expect the fish to hold wide on Pelican Point on some of the higher humps and along the riverbed drop off. Another good portion of fish is likely to hold around the southern side of The Spit. A mix of lures will tempt them this month. Spoons and metal jigs will continue to
score reasonable numbers along with 5/8oz rigged soft plastics. Small blades and the Spectre Vibration Jig will also start to attract the bites more as the fish spend more time holding closer to the bottom. • Somerset Fishing has their store based at the area above the day use boat ramp. The store is open over holidays and otherwise from Thursday to Sunday. Orders can also be made online via the website www. somersetfishing.com.au . They have an excellent range of gear suited to fishing for bass and golden perch. WIVENHOE CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, LOWOOD Wivenhoe has been a bit hit and miss. When the bass schools are found, they seem quite willing to chew. Morning and afternoon will be the prime times and the fish will be quite mobile.
Fishing through the middle of the day can be a lot slower, especially when lure casting. The fish schools tend to break up making them more catchable when trolling lures. You will need to sound around on the flats near Billies Bay to find them. Trolling deep diving hard bodies is an effective search method. Both bass and goldens can be caught in this area. If chasing golden perch you can try some of the steeper banks that border the dam or even better still are steep structure laden drop offs, which are submerged. Boats can be launched at the ramps at Billies Bay and Logans Inlet. There is a 6 knot speed limit and if you are petrol powered, you need to have a 4 stroke or low emissions outboard and travel at 6 knots in all areas when on this lake.
The big fat bass will slow down a bit this month. They start to lose condition but they’ll still be angry and pull hard.
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OCTOBER 2021
Themoclines will be re-established and will dictate bass behaviour and drive their movements this month.
