Well after seeing the weather improve finally after weeks of the duldrums, I thought it was about time to hook the boat onto the back of the Navara and head on up the Gillies Range. I can tell you, the only reason I bother with that winding road is that it gets me on the water quicker, especially when you know that Tinaroo can absoloutely fire, so I appreciate as much time on the water as possible.

A good friend and I decided that we would fish "gentleman's hours" so we left for Tinaroo at 7am. Taking about an hour to get onto the water, the trip was filled with much discussion of the days strategies and what has worked previously for us. We had decided that we would solely fish the banks that the light breeze was blowing onto, using soft plastics and suspending minnows, keeping the lure in the zone for as long as possible.

When we arrived at the Tinarurra ramp we ran the boat down and I jumped out with my immediate reaction being a few unmentionable words at the temperature of the water. A quick look on the sounder confirmed 18oC. But with such stunner of a day we were still positive.

After a few hours of no prospects, we moved up into the Severin arm to make the most of the calm weather and also to hit an area where I have had quite a bit of success in the past. Almost right on cue 1200 came, there was a slight increase in water temp to 20oC and we had a meterey follow my slow rolling soft plastic all the way to the boat. I can tell you I have seen that before many times but still makes me get jelly legs. We kept firing lures in all directions around the boat hoping in anticipation that it would be close by. We had no action until about 3pm.

I went back to the original game plan (which I had diverted from) and started firing some Gold Squidgies 130mm right into the bank amongst the lily pads and whammo!!! The big submarine hit the lure, but spat it just as quick and gave me a long lasting side flash just to show what I had missed. That sort of stuff gets your heart moving, especially after a few hours of an almost mind numbing casting session. We had to leave straight after that as I had to get back to pick up mummy dear from the airport. It was tempting to call a mate to pick her up so I could have "one more cast"...

If the weather stays like this we will be heading up again to Tinaroo this weekend to get the old girl who gave me a tease...