Ringing the Changes.

I spoke to my friend and fellow BASS member Steven Neely the other day and told him I was getting a bit bored of chasing Bass, I think he thought I was mad as he said "I never thought I'd hear a man say that." Truth is though, I do find targeting the same species over and over a bit boring and with that in mind I decided to camp up the peninsula and target Pollock for a couple of days.

It wasn't the only reason I went, sometimes a person just needs some time out and to get some head space. So armed with more lures than I really needed, off I went for a little solo fish and camp.

The fish over the two days were not of any great size but they certainly kept me on my toes. In order to keep catching I had to keep changing style and technique.

On my first mark it was dropshot Gulp sandworm that was doing the trick.

I had a few of these, but I did not really want to catch such tiny fish, so I moved along the rocks a bit and clipped on a 40g Fiiish Black minnow. I think it was on my second cast that my rod hooped and I had a fish on!

It doesn't look all that big in the photo, but it was a good bit larger than the ones I had on the drop shot rig. I did have some smaller ones afterwards and I was actually surprised how quite small fish would take the 120mm lure, greedy little fellas!

The fish then seemed to switch off, so I changed to a Carolina type rig, using a 40g drilled bullet as the sinker. I used a number of lures on the rig , but by far the most popular was the OSP Dolive stick in Bluegill.

I next tried some metal jigs and actually I think the metals accounted for more fish over all. Heres a picture on one taken on a cheap jig that I purchased on eBay.

The only down side to using metals is you do tend to foul hook a few fish and so I did, one Pollock right through the head and the biggest Launce I have ever seen, through the tail.

I must admit to being tempted to freeline it on a chinu hook!

After a bit I fancied another move and decided on a sheltered spot just around the corner.

At first I regretted my move as there didn't seem to be any fish, that is until I changed to a Jika rigged Dolive stick and caught the biggest fish of the couple of days!

Must work on these timer shots!

Before I left that night, I noticed some bait fish flipping on the surface of the sea and knew what that meant - Mackerel!

With that I clipped on my Megabass Bubble header and had some fun with those guys for a bit.

Although I had considered fishing in into darkness, I decided it wasn't the wisest idea, being both alone and tired. I did enjoy a dramatic looking sunset before I left for my tent.

Today I only ended up fishing for a few hours, but it was more of the same really. I started catching from my first cast on a Tronix Pro jig in Mackerel pattern.

Then the Megabass Bubbleheader.

Lastly; dropshotted senkos.

All in all an enjoyable and varied couple of sessions!

I hope you enjoyed the report :)

Tight lines.

Kit employed;

Rod : Sakura Mazzera 742MH
Reel: Shimano Rarenium 4000FA
Braid: Suffix Performance 20lb
Leader: Triplefish Fluorocarbon
Lures: Metal jigs by Tronix, Megabass, Tackle House, also unknown brands, Senko's by agmdiscountfishing, OSP Dolive sticks, Fiiish Black Minnow 120's and many other lures.

Schoolies out for Summer!

There are two things I have been wanting to do for a while now, one was to do a sunrise session and the other to get a 50+ cm Bass for my Lure Forum team. I figured the two could go hand in hand realistically as my best Bass have always come at or just after Sunrise on 4-5m tides.

With that in mind I left my house at 1:45 last night and arrived at my mark just after 3:00. It's the first time I have fished this mark early morning and it was strange how different it looked under the light conditions, almost scary.

I left my light game gear at home this time and took my regular Bassing gear in the hope of landing a bigger fish. I started off fishing using a Megabass Cutter 90 and could occasionally feel Bass sucking at it on the retrieve, yet no hook ups. I chopped and changed lures often and varied my retrieves, with no success. This is not how the session went in my mind before hand!

In fact the sun was well risen when I had my second take on my ZipBaits Fakie Dog, I had barely started to retrieve when a little schoolie hit it.

It wasn't quite what I was after but, at least I had beat the blank and broke in a new lure!

It really wasn't long before I came to terms with the fact I wasn't going to get my fish for the team. With the fish being small again, I switched to my trusty jigs and landed another four Bass.

The largest was 46cm and actually put up quite a fight, in fact as small as they all were, they were all  quite aggressive.

The fishing died off so I took the opportunity for a bite to eat and a couple of hours sleep on the shore. Having not slept and walking a few miles I was absolutely beat.

When I woke from my slumber  the tide had started to retreat and so I fished a little more. I caught another small Bass and a Garfish.

I did fish on for another hour or so and despite being able to see Bass, I could not get them to take my lures. I put it down to the bright conditions. 

I do hope I am able to get a decent fish for my team soon.

All in all though I am quite pleased with the Bass season so far, especially in comparison to 2012!

There's plenty of time yet and there are a few large girls coming out around our shores, lets just hope I can be in the right place at the right time.

Thanks for reading and tight lines!