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Well it had been two weeks since I last wet the kayak and I was bloody keen to get a solid fish on the deck, and after a very productive chat with one of the locals I got a few tips on an area I had had no success in last time I visited.
Kirkleigh is in the upper reaches of the lake and so out of the ski zone, woohoo, no idiots! In fact I only saw one boat at close range all morning!
I had heard rumours of thick timber within easy paddling distance of the ramp, so got the good oil on it's location and how to get there, called to get my early access code for the boom gate,set the alarm for 3am, and after a good sleep, jumped out of bed ready to bring home some fish.
Arrived at Kirkleigh shortly after 4am as a few campers were starting to stir to the pre dawn glow. Quick visit to the lav and off to the ramp.
I went fully prepared this time, esky with frozen water, juice, soft drink, cold pizza, sweeeeet. 8)
I put the little pakrat (not so secret weapon) out for a troll, heading for the river bed, bumped over some shallow stuff, so wound in and paddled on full steam to the deep water.
Out went the pakrat, and shortly after got a strike, after a quick tossle, in came a healthy little bass, about 30cm, sweet, good start to the day.
Continued on trolling, came to a series of exposed tree stumps, this was a land mark discussed in the previous day's directions, whoohoo, I was on the right track. bump bump zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Another little bass amongst the snags, this one a bit smaller, about 25cms, both of these fish were not photographed, wanted to get them back to the water asap.
I had also been told about a little bay on the northern bank that held good fish, and as I was releasing the second bass I was overtaken by a couple of guys in a stink boat, who headed straight for the little bay I had spotted and started casting poppers.
I paddled over to the mouth of the bay and cast a popper of my own for a few casts, but no takers. Out went the pakrat again and I continued on, then noticed another bay, this one much larger and clearly the one mentioned in the directions.
As I headed into the bay the pakrat hit bottom so I pulled it in and swapped it for a spinnerbait that I had added a stinger hook to the day before, and shortly after entering the bay I thought it had snagged, but when I picked up the rod I felt it move, what ever it was it had some real weight to it and as it shook it's head the line was moving a long way back and forth. I had the fish just below the surface when the line I tied the stinger on with snapped. :x
Retied the stinger and paddled off again, did a few laps of the bay for no more joy, had a quick rest with juice and cold pizza,and headed off in search of the timber.
All up it was about 3Kms from ramp to first real timber in the old Stanley River bed, and as soon as I headed into the wood, bang! off went the drag. I could feel the line hit sticks a few times, but a slight increase in pressure pulled the fish out of the snag each time, phew!
A few good runs and a bit of a work out for the left arm, up came a nice 46cm Yella! My first yella on a spinnerbait, first fish on a spinnerbait period, and first yella from somerset, big smiles!
There was a lot of bait action up in the sticks, so I continued trolling the spinner up into the gloom. It was quite an eerie scene, heavy low cloud, dead trees all around and hardly a breath of wind, see pics.
After a few snags and no more bites, I decided to head back, feeling happy with the result and a bit keen for a rest.
Along the bank there were ocasional stands of half a dozen huge dead trees which I stayed as close to as I could. As I approached the bay I went past one of these stands of dead trees and as I got past the last tree... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ my little okuma went balistic! and I struggled to get the rod out of the holder and almost lost the rod over the side.
After some sizzling runs this big girl floated to the surface, a monster yellow belly, 55cms. A new PB.
I would have liked to weigh her, but prefer to clean fish at the tables provided at the dam, so can only guess at about 3Kg.
Had another quick rest on the bank after stowing the fish in the front hatch.
While I was on the bank I had a look around and found the little turtle shell in the pic.
Happy days.
Kirkleigh is in the upper reaches of the lake and so out of the ski zone, woohoo, no idiots! In fact I only saw one boat at close range all morning!
I had heard rumours of thick timber within easy paddling distance of the ramp, so got the good oil on it's location and how to get there, called to get my early access code for the boom gate,set the alarm for 3am, and after a good sleep, jumped out of bed ready to bring home some fish.
Arrived at Kirkleigh shortly after 4am as a few campers were starting to stir to the pre dawn glow. Quick visit to the lav and off to the ramp.
I went fully prepared this time, esky with frozen water, juice, soft drink, cold pizza, sweeeeet. 8)
I put the little pakrat (not so secret weapon) out for a troll, heading for the river bed, bumped over some shallow stuff, so wound in and paddled on full steam to the deep water.
Out went the pakrat, and shortly after got a strike, after a quick tossle, in came a healthy little bass, about 30cm, sweet, good start to the day.
Continued on trolling, came to a series of exposed tree stumps, this was a land mark discussed in the previous day's directions, whoohoo, I was on the right track. bump bump zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Another little bass amongst the snags, this one a bit smaller, about 25cms, both of these fish were not photographed, wanted to get them back to the water asap.
I had also been told about a little bay on the northern bank that held good fish, and as I was releasing the second bass I was overtaken by a couple of guys in a stink boat, who headed straight for the little bay I had spotted and started casting poppers.
I paddled over to the mouth of the bay and cast a popper of my own for a few casts, but no takers. Out went the pakrat again and I continued on, then noticed another bay, this one much larger and clearly the one mentioned in the directions.
As I headed into the bay the pakrat hit bottom so I pulled it in and swapped it for a spinnerbait that I had added a stinger hook to the day before, and shortly after entering the bay I thought it had snagged, but when I picked up the rod I felt it move, what ever it was it had some real weight to it and as it shook it's head the line was moving a long way back and forth. I had the fish just below the surface when the line I tied the stinger on with snapped. :x
Retied the stinger and paddled off again, did a few laps of the bay for no more joy, had a quick rest with juice and cold pizza,and headed off in search of the timber.
All up it was about 3Kms from ramp to first real timber in the old Stanley River bed, and as soon as I headed into the wood, bang! off went the drag. I could feel the line hit sticks a few times, but a slight increase in pressure pulled the fish out of the snag each time, phew!
A few good runs and a bit of a work out for the left arm, up came a nice 46cm Yella! My first yella on a spinnerbait, first fish on a spinnerbait period, and first yella from somerset, big smiles!
There was a lot of bait action up in the sticks, so I continued trolling the spinner up into the gloom. It was quite an eerie scene, heavy low cloud, dead trees all around and hardly a breath of wind, see pics.
After a few snags and no more bites, I decided to head back, feeling happy with the result and a bit keen for a rest.
Along the bank there were ocasional stands of half a dozen huge dead trees which I stayed as close to as I could. As I approached the bay I went past one of these stands of dead trees and as I got past the last tree... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ my little okuma went balistic! and I struggled to get the rod out of the holder and almost lost the rod over the side.
After some sizzling runs this big girl floated to the surface, a monster yellow belly, 55cms. A new PB.
I would have liked to weigh her, but prefer to clean fish at the tables provided at the dam, so can only guess at about 3Kg.
Had another quick rest on the bank after stowing the fish in the front hatch.
While I was on the bank I had a look around and found the little turtle shell in the pic.
Happy days.
