Lake GLENBAWN, (Hunter River)

[Brad]

I'll be making a trip up to Lake Glenbawn around 13 - 17/9/01.
The aim is to try lure fishing, which I've never done in fresh
water before.
Any advice or info on the best areas in the dam,
and technics to use would be most appreciated.
(We will be taking a boat).
.
I also intent on picking up a light lure cast rod before I go,
any idea's on the best value gear would also be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brad Milne
(I'll advise on our success upon return)

[Muzza]

G,day Brad,
Beautiful spot mate,
Glenbawn is a great place. I assume you know how to get there, so I’ll just give you a rundown on the dam and camping area. There is a park located near the entrance, but this puts you a few clicks from the actual water. There is several km’s of waterfont where you can camp right on the waters edge. All facilities are there, toilets/showers/BBQ’s plus a good shop with live bait/fuel/gas and hire tinny’s, plus firewood. There are a several separate bays a skiing club shed and the last bay has the Scone fishing club shed. The fishing should be starting to fire about then. Bass , Yellowbelly, the odd silver perch, catfish are available.
The dam itself is 22 km’s long and is over 100% full so there is a lot of water to cover in the search for fish. The dam wall is worth a troll for yellowbelly on dawn or dusk, but shuts down during the day, there is a spot where baitfishers sit under trees at the wall end which sometimes produces into the daylight hours. The banks consist of a lot of snaggy trees and trolling close to these will produce bass and there are a lot of submerged points that will hold bass along the edge of the weedbeds. Again early and late are the prime times, but with the weather warming up the daylight hours should improve. At the top of the dam is the sunken forest a large area of trees that holds good bass, you can try trolling thru here or tie up and jig or cast for fish. Gundy bay on the port side about half way up is always worth a look, there is a large house on the top of the hill. A bit further up there is a grassy point with weed beds that we picked up bass on last trip,trolling the edges with bright chrome lures.(late morning). Navigation is easy if you stay in the middle of the dam(300 foot plus in areas) but there is the odd tree on submerged points so a lookout is good sense. As for lures the fish seem to be caught in 10-30 feet of water, so spot them on the sounder and work accordingly, early we find 12-15 foot and then later in the day deep divers in 30 feet of water . Purple and dark coloured lures always seem to be first on my lines, but as we discovered last trip, the chrome, silver and gold was the attraction. I change lures a lot, even though I don’t have that many. Experiment is the key. Plastics and spinnerbaits are starting to prove their worth as well.
Boat harbour on the left not far from camp is a good spot early as is the first few bays on the starboard side just past the cemetary. Email me if you need more info, I may be up there around then.
Hope this helps. Watch the black clouds over the dam side mountains, brings quick awesome storms and winds, hug the bank and wait em out.
Cheers
Muzza

Cheers

Muzza