NOT Kayak Fishing
An occasional moment of weakness results in a kayak fisher slipping towards the dark side and fishing from a boat! In spite of this obvious lapse of judgement, it does give the opportunity to scout an area for future kayak trips.
| Where: | Somerset Dam |
| Date: | 23rd August 2004 |
| Time: | 6:30am - 12:30pm |
| Tide: | N/A |
| Launch site: | The Spit Boat Ramp |
| Water temperature: | 15 - 17°C |
| Lures/baits used: | Bass Jackle, Soft Plastics, Spinner baits |
| Report: | Today for the first time I fished Somerset Dam with my mate Carl and his partner Sam. It was an early start as I had to meet Carl at a pre-designated location on the way to Somerset that was a 45min drive from my own home. We met up at 05:30 and started our journey down to the dam which is a little more than an hour's drive north-east of Toowoomba in an area known as "The Valley Of Lakes". |
| Now before I begin I have to apologize and say that the day's fishing was conducted out of Carl's boat, a fully decked out Stessl Edge Tracker, not my beloved kayak, (yes I know this is a kayak site, but this is a good report that had to be shared and an opportunity not to be missed). | |
| Upon arrival the scene had been set for a beautiful days fishing, glassy water without a ripple, crisp air without the wind, and water birds of all sorts lazily drifting around conducting their morning routines. We launched the boat full of eagerness and cunning of three piscatorial assassins. Carl "arced up" his two sounders, a Humminbird Matrix 37X on the front casting deck and a Humminbird Matrix 97X in the cockpit, both outstanding sounders although I believe the 97X screen may be a bit to big for mounting in a kayak. Within minutes, and about 200 metres of the boat ramp Carl detected a large swarm of schooling bass about 37ft below us and we quickly set up with the new super lure, the "Bass-Jackle". Now I previously have reported how deadly this lure is in my Cressbrook report, and wasn't sure if it would have the same effect in a different impoundment, though today's partner in crime assured me it would -- he was the same person to recommend it to me for Cressbrook. Sure enough, not long after the first casts Sam was into a fish. As I prepared the camera for some action shots, Carl hooked up as well -- unbelievable! How good is this? A double hook up. After the battle was won and some photos taken, the two very fat and healthy Bass were released unharmed back to the depths of Somerset. What seemed like only minutes later, Sam was into another fish which turned out to be of similar proportions to the first and in as good condition. This was unreal, I had never seen Bass of this size in real life, and here we were catching them one after the other. This game went on between the couple for quite a while before I actually caught my first fish, a healthy aquatic warrior of about 46cm and a gut the size of a small beer keg. This school kept us entertained for some time before they seemed to disappear and we decided to go in search of another. | |
| We found another school laying dormant in the end of Jewie Bay which took a little coaxing but once the action started it really fired up. We had many hits and caught a few more each, with Carl catching one in excess of 50cm with two beer kegs in its stomach. These fish are so big and fat that it has to be seen to be believed. My company for the day explained that it is the large numbers of Bony Bream that thrive in this lake that keeps the bass this way. They seem to just stuff themselves silly, and literally pack on the pounds. I was shown a swarm of these baitfish on the sounder that was so big that the sounder actually mistook it for the lake's bed. One fish that was caught by my fishing friends was a giant deformed Bass that had a huge humped back not unlike that of those gigantic Golden Perch, it was the strangest looking Bass I have ever seen. This school eventually went off the bite as did the first so we decided to go and throw some spinnerbaits along the rocky edges in search of some famous Somerset Yellowbelly. | |
| The 75 horses transported us a little quicker than my "Gemini" to the rocky edges that we could see in the distance ready for our assault on the lakes giant Golden Perch, the reason for our visit (as I have never caught one). Unfortunately there is not much to write about this mission as it was over as quick as the time it took to get there. Carl had one hit and there was a boat tied up to a dead tree with a couple trying to kill their limit not limit their kill so we ventured back to where we found the first school, (the benefits of GPS). | |
| Despite finding the school again, these fish were not as willing as what they were earlier in the day. With a few more large Bass caught we decided to call it a day. With Carl suggesting 'last cast', I changed my retrieve in hope of some dodgey fluke going in my favour. Now as stupid as it sounds (and I had been exposed to a lot of sun today) I decided that instead of winding the handle that I would hold it steady and wind the rod, emphasising on the rod tip going down, just for something different. Well by whatever chance of magic or by blessing of the fishing gods, I hooked up to one of the largest fish of the day, and as those famous last casts sometimes go, Sam hooked on to one of similar proportions simultaneously. The only problem was (surprise surprise) that the batteries in my digital camera went flat earlier on so I can't show you the pictures of these two fish with this report. They will however be shown at a later date when Carl gets his shots developed and I will scan them and submit them to the gallery for all to view. | |
| After a perfect finish to a perfect day, we packed up with smiles on our faces and photos to look back on in years to come. I strongly recommend anyone to take a trip to Somerset Dam, and if you purchase one of those waterproof fishing maps released by AFN (Fishing Map 19) you can easily follow the path we took today, and it is achievable by kayak. Although I would not recommend chasing schooling Bass without a sounder, there are plenty of rocky banks to cast to in hope of the Yellowbelly that I struck out on. | |
| Wishing you all tight lines and screaming drags... | |
| Submitted by: | James D. |
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