We left home early, on what appeared to be a nice, sunny and almost breezeless day on the Central Coast. Boat on the back we set out for our first ever trip to Glenbawn Dam near Scone in NSW. About half way up the F3 freeway heading towards Hexham, I noticed the new strap I bought to secure the boat to the trailer had worked it's way loose. A quick stop to tighten it and we were under way again.
We got through Maitland and then the strap worked it's way loose once more. Another quick stop to tighten it and away we went. Shortly after Singleton, the strap was once more loose. Bugger it, I thought and proceeded to take it off and swap it with my spare strap. Lucky I had it! No more problems. We arrived at the dam at about 09:30am and proceeded to our accommodation. Glenbawn Holiday Village Cabins. We unpacked our things and headed for the boat ramp some 3 kms from the cabins. On our way, we noticed the breeze had sprung up. A crisp southerly was now blowing. We proceeded to the Glenbawn Kiosk to by some bait (worms) in case the lures weren't having the desired affect.
We got to the ramp and there was a bit of a breeze blowing from the dam wall up the lake, and a small swell was being pushed up with it. No big deal, and as enthusiastic as ever we pushed the hornet into the drink and headed off for our first ever freshwater sojourn.
It was getting pretty lumpy out in the middle so we looked for some bays that would protect us from the breeze. It wasn't long before we had lures in the water, casting at sunken trees, the edge of weed beds, and whatever else looked like it might hold fish. Nothing..... we were getting blown all over the place and the wind kept switching direction. Time for a change of tactics.
We headed for the boat harbour, in search of protection from the wind. It was little more protected, and we decided to try trolling the Tilsan Bass lures for a while. We went around following the contour of the rocky shoreline, with a nil result. Headed over to a group of sunken trees and trolled through them. I threw the black Tilsan Bass in, got into the middle of the timber and whack. The lure was hammered and whatever hammered it took it straight down into the timber! No lure, no fish!
Lunchtime approached and we anchored up to a tree and threw some live worms onto the hooks, and soaked 'em while we ate. A few bites, and I soon had a catfish (my favourite, NOT!) weighing about 2kgs on the end of my line. Out came the pliers and a quick pull of the hook saw the big bugger heading back to the depths.
No more joy on the lures in the boat harbour so we headed back out into
the main dam, which by now looked more like Sydney heads with white caps
and all, than an inland dam. Got a little wet, but headed up stream, in
search of protection from the wind. We rounded a bend and found a spot
where the wind was a little less punishing.
The banks were lined with weedbeds and the odd sunken tree. We dropped
the lures over the side and trolled the Tilsans as well as a Deception
Nipper along the edge of the weedbeds. It didn't take long and we got our
first ever Australian Bass. Not huge, but a bass none the less. During
that session we picked up about 12 bass, all between 15 and 25cm in length.
They hit hard for little critters, and I was imagining what a 40+cm one
would be like! Unfortunately we weren't to find out that day.
We headed back to the ramp, through what was now a pretty big swell. Bouncing off the tops of waves, and coming clear out of the water on a couple of occasions. Be warned this place can get rough in a stiff breeze. This I found out first hand.
Next day we hit the water early. Right on dawn in fact. Kangaroos everywhere on the way to the ramp, which isn't a bad way to start a day fishing. We got the boat in the water and the show on the road. The dam was totally different from the day before. Not a breath of wind, nor a ripple to be seen on the surface. It was like being in a totally different spot.
First call was the dam wall for a troll. The wall has a good reputation for turning up some big fish at first light. But not today. the lures came back into the boat unscathed, not a scared look on any of them! O.k. plan B.
We did the 20+km run up the dam to what is referred to as the sunken forest. As the name suggests it's a forest of sunken trees with just their tops protruding from the water world they now find themselves engulfed in. This is another popular spot for bass, perch etc. Another warning... after strong winds, look out for floating branches and even logs. I passed a log that was almost as big as the boat!!!
We pulled up amongst the sticks and started tossing lures into the tangled
mass of branches. This we did for about 30 minutes with no hits. O.k......
time to bring out the spinnerbaits. Tied them on and threw these buggers
for another 20 minutes without a look.
Trolling time. I used the electric motor to move the boat through the trees, whilst we trolled our lures for a while. It didn't take long for our first hit. A silver perch had engulfed a Tilsan Bass in the silver perch pattern. Cannibal! It was quickly despatched back to the bushes, to fight another day. We continued trolling through the forest and got numerous hits, and lost a few fish during the fight.
Time was starting to run out, as we had to head back home at about lunchtime. So we pulled the lures back into the boat and headed back to the ramp, 22 km downstream.
We certainly didn't break any records for the size or volumes of fish, but we certainly learnt something both about the dam and the fish that we were chasing. A good example is the fact that the darker lures, black, purples etc. did well. We also know to look at the weather forecast a bit closer, including the forecast for Scone!, and not to take the swell in the dam too lightly. A good experience, and one that will come in handy for my next trip to the dam.
I also learnt not to try new straps on a long trip!