Nth Pine Dam Surface Lures

[shayned]

I'm out to 7 late afternnon trips using surface lures without any success, has anyone else managed to make them work at this spot?

[shayned]

There is my question answered I think! :)

[BrandonH]

We should have been there yesterday arvo mate :'( I reckon they would have been going right off just before that storm came through ;) maybe next time :)

Cheers
Brandon...

[shayned]

I know mate :(, the thing that really hurts is all the work I stayed back to put in was lost and the end result is I could have went and ended up in the same position of an early start but got on to fish as well. >:( Hope you and Jason go well tonight.

[Obi___Wan]

G'Day Shayne

I meant to reply to your post last night but i was distracted and ended up logging off before i did, any way here's my two bobs worth.

Several years ago i used to go out to the stretch of the Pine below the dam wall, late in the afternoon quite often. When i got there i would sit down and watch the other fishermen, bait fishing and tossing lures of all types around, usually for no result. One afternoon one of these guys noticed the little Crazy Crawler i had already tied on, he said what do you catch with that? i said Bass, but i wait until just on dark before i start. He said he might stay back a while and watch, he did and on about my fifth cast i hooked and landed a fifty odd centimeter bass. The next afternoon he was back with a Crazy Crawler of his own but he fell into the same trap as most others do when fishing surface lures for bass, that is he was retrieving the lure at a rate that one would use to catch Tuna, big mistake!!
I have caught water dragons and had kingfisher birds attacking my Crazy Crawler, the answer is with the retrieve, you can't bring it back to slow, it's impossible or you would never get your lure back in. So slowly does it, stop, bob it enough to send out ripples, a short wind stop, get the idea. When you first cast out let it just lay there, for a couple of minutes, light up a smoke or what ever, couple of bobs.
I prefer lures that are black and have done very well on them, this colour was rammed home to me years ago when i had bought my late wife a ride in a hot air balloon. We were waiting at the Balloon base and they had to choose a point of departure, this obviously dictated where they would take off and where they would land, to find this, they had to find out where the wind was comming from, to get this they filled a BLACK BALLOON with helium and let it go into the night sky. Now you would have to see it to believe just how long we could see that balloon.
My choice of surface lures for bass are in order of preference are. Crazy Crawler, Jitterbug (Arbogast), and a Torpedo type with a little propeller on the back, 2 to 3 inches long like Crazy Fizzer or Ski Turbo. But remember you have to work them very slowly and be ready to change your under daks as they hit with a ferocious strike and it dosen't matter how many you catch it still frightens the s*** out of you.
You never know we might run into each other one day and i'll show you how i fish those lures.
Cheers,
OBI_WAN

[Rainbowrunner]

gday mate,

I dont believe you would catch much at all on the open dam, there are no overhanging snags, not many insects around at the moment due to the drought too, below the wall would be a better option for surface lures.
I like the pearl white mac slugs there, you can cover alot of ground with them and they work.
Ill back up obiwans comment too for poppers, even he probably fishes that crawler too quick, heheh. ;) a bit of black spray paint works wonders too.

cheers

[nuggstar]

love it, i love it. i'm learning heaps guys, keep up the topwater hints and tips. so i can hear more of them beautiful "boof" or choop noises a fish makes when it smashes the surface ;D


..................chooop.......................... .......................snuup........snap.......... ...................choooouup...................... ................................"BOOOOF"........... :) ;D :) ;) i love that sound ;D :) ;)

[shayned]

Obi and Rainbow,
Thanks for the reply, it will be very helpful and of course the chance to wet a line with you at some stage would be appreciated. I read an article in bush n beach last night that stated as a rule of thumb surface lures work best on dams that don't have big schools of bony bream present. Any thoughts on that at all?

As to retrieves I've tried everything I can think of short of stripping off naked, tying the leader to my old fella, diving in and swimming the lure across the surface of the dam. To be honest I'd have a crack at it if I didn't think the fish would be to busy pissing themselves laughing to attack the lure.

To be fair I have been stopping just after the sun drops below the horizon so I've got enough twilight left to see my way back up the track, the trip I missed with Brandon the other arvo was going to see us running later into the night. Maybe next trip will see a chance to try that facet out.

Again thanks for the shared knowledge.
Shayne

[The_Walrus]

Night trampsing through the bush around the dam is good fun :o Don't like using a torch too much as it give you away.

Sounds like we should organise a suntset/evening trip. Any takers?

This weekend is no good for me as I'll be in Townsville and no fishing >:(

I'm on hols a of today and did my first trip this morning. Fairly quiet with only 5 fish landed all on poppers. At this time of year, 4am starts are great especially in my canoe on the Pine. :) :)

Luc

[shayned]

Yeh quit bragging ya mongrel and spare a thought for us poor buggers at work ;) ;D, maybe the weekend after give me a pm if youre keen, mate.

[shayned]

Success!!!! ;)

[bearclaw]

Success??? Shayne we need proof, where is the pic.

[shayned]

Didn't want to risk the camera jinx, will a witness do? ;D
Eight trips and about 3 million casts but for a brief few shiny minutes it was all worth it, even if it was only a small bass. ;D ;D ;D ;D

[bearclaw]

Now fish smaller than the lure don't count.

[shayned]

It wasn't foul hooked so I'm counting it!! :D

[Obi___Wan]

Well Done Shayne ;)

Hope it's the first of many 8-) 8-)

It is certainly a fantastic way to catch Bass :) :)

Cheers,

OBI_WAN

[were-trout]

Headed up the river last night to give the poppers a try.

As the sun started to go down the kookaburras and the cicadas started up and fish started to show on the surface ... things were looking good

about five minutes later the storm hit. ::)

spent the next half hour sitting in the kayak under a tree until I decided it wasn't going to stop

needless to say billy bass and his mates had made themselves scarce when the downpour started

paddled back to the car in time to watch a ute actually drive into the river and start heading upstream to the dam wall >:(

seasoned fishing experts will be able to predict what happened next... it stopped raining just as I finished putting the yak on the roof rack ;D

Ben

[shayned]

Ben,
Great minds huh? I got as far as putting the yak on the car, looked at the sky and decided to check BOM site. Nearly caught up with you for that paddle.

[The_Walrus]

Shayned,

Interested in a night fish this weekend?

It's been a hard first week on my hols, I mean getting up at 4am to go and play with the bass ;D

Luc