we made arragements to meet at 5.30 am...but unfortunatly at 3.30 am i just couldnt sleep so i waited patiently until 4 am and woke rory up.
we had a box of samples from rolfe to try out...we decided to leave the takle box at home and only used the sample lures.
we started the day at kens cliffs...rory was into fish within a couple of casts using a small crankbait...i tried a top water lure which has an adjustable lip...but had no joy...we tried a few spots in the middle of the dam.
we made our way up the river fishing various spots which had produced fish in the past...rory managed to get fish at most of the spots on the same crankbait.
by 10 am i had only caught one fish and was very tempted to just use my my standard tackle...we only had one of the cranks rory was catching fish with...i decided to put more effort into working out what the fish were doing and where they would be rather than the lure i was using...it took a while but around lunch time the wind had picked up.
we moved down to cabbage patch and started fishing shallow water...i took out a suspending jerkbait and cast right to the side and retrieved with short jerk jerk pause...when i got close to a stump i would pause a little longer and thats where we found the bigger fish...the fun began...nailing fish after fish...i noticed the fish seemd to be positioned in bays or coves no matter how small...if there was a stump or any form of structure you would see the flash of the fish coming up and turning...lots of the fish didnt commit but the ones that did made the fishing exciting...it was almost as much fun as frog fishing.
we also noticed a lot of fish following the lure right back to the boat then as they we could see them they would turn away.
we moved around the dam looking for places where the wind was blowing onto the banks...and caught pletty of fish.
later in the afternoon i stopped using the jerkbait and tried out some of the different cranks...i mangaged to catch fish using all the ones i set aside...the only lure i didnt catch fish with was a swimbait which i really thought would be the most productive...but never even got a hit...maybe i need to learn how to retrieve it properly or just slow down...i also found the swimbait rolled when i cast it...which makes it difficult to cast far.
when i tried out the frog earlier...i could only get it to work while retrieving it at a fast pace but as i spent more time using it i managed to figue out how to get a good action retrieving it slowly and only then did i start getting fish...it has a similar action to the crazy crawler...the frog produced the biggest fish the day...what i like about the frog was the hook success rate...which is a challenge when using a zoom frog...the frog has a steel plate in it and only one owner hook...if the fish committed to the lure i landed it...it also fills up with water which makes it heavier so you can cast far even in windy conditions...now that i think about it maybe thats why i could get it to swim properly...because earlier in the day i kept squeezing the water out...with the weight of the water it sits lower in the water creating the action at slow speed.
out of all the sample lures given to us to try out...i found these 4 the most productive...
brown frog
silver and green suspending jerkbait
big jerkbait which rolls when retrieved slowly...this lure has caught the the biggest fish seen in other threads
small fat crank
ii dont have the details of the lures or pics yet...will post pics and more details about the lures once i have spoken to rolfe and rory sends me the pics.
what started off as a tough day on the water turned out to be a very productive day...and what i also found...was some of my old spots i used to fish...which havent produced fish in a long time proved to be the most productive of all the places we fished.
one thing i have noticed was most fisherman go back to the same spots over and over and wonder why they never become successfull fisherman...when you drive around the dam whether it be a comp or normal social dam the same spots get hammered by the same fishermen...weekend after weekend.
a tip when fishing for fun try out new spots...randomly pick a spot and work it...also try different lures...different colours......and vary your retrieve...you might be pleasantly suprised...just remeber the fish dont read all he books and website threads that we do they just look for food.
we had a box of samples from rolfe to try out...we decided to leave the takle box at home and only used the sample lures.
we started the day at kens cliffs...rory was into fish within a couple of casts using a small crankbait...i tried a top water lure which has an adjustable lip...but had no joy...we tried a few spots in the middle of the dam.
we made our way up the river fishing various spots which had produced fish in the past...rory managed to get fish at most of the spots on the same crankbait.
by 10 am i had only caught one fish and was very tempted to just use my my standard tackle...we only had one of the cranks rory was catching fish with...i decided to put more effort into working out what the fish were doing and where they would be rather than the lure i was using...it took a while but around lunch time the wind had picked up.
we moved down to cabbage patch and started fishing shallow water...i took out a suspending jerkbait and cast right to the side and retrieved with short jerk jerk pause...when i got close to a stump i would pause a little longer and thats where we found the bigger fish...the fun began...nailing fish after fish...i noticed the fish seemd to be positioned in bays or coves no matter how small...if there was a stump or any form of structure you would see the flash of the fish coming up and turning...lots of the fish didnt commit but the ones that did made the fishing exciting...it was almost as much fun as frog fishing.
we also noticed a lot of fish following the lure right back to the boat then as they we could see them they would turn away.
we moved around the dam looking for places where the wind was blowing onto the banks...and caught pletty of fish.
later in the afternoon i stopped using the jerkbait and tried out some of the different cranks...i mangaged to catch fish using all the ones i set aside...the only lure i didnt catch fish with was a swimbait which i really thought would be the most productive...but never even got a hit...maybe i need to learn how to retrieve it properly or just slow down...i also found the swimbait rolled when i cast it...which makes it difficult to cast far.
when i tried out the frog earlier...i could only get it to work while retrieving it at a fast pace but as i spent more time using it i managed to figue out how to get a good action retrieving it slowly and only then did i start getting fish...it has a similar action to the crazy crawler...the frog produced the biggest fish the day...what i like about the frog was the hook success rate...which is a challenge when using a zoom frog...the frog has a steel plate in it and only one owner hook...if the fish committed to the lure i landed it...it also fills up with water which makes it heavier so you can cast far even in windy conditions...now that i think about it maybe thats why i could get it to swim properly...because earlier in the day i kept squeezing the water out...with the weight of the water it sits lower in the water creating the action at slow speed.
out of all the sample lures given to us to try out...i found these 4 the most productive...
brown frog
silver and green suspending jerkbait
big jerkbait which rolls when retrieved slowly...this lure has caught the the biggest fish seen in other threads
small fat crank
ii dont have the details of the lures or pics yet...will post pics and more details about the lures once i have spoken to rolfe and rory sends me the pics.
what started off as a tough day on the water turned out to be a very productive day...and what i also found...was some of my old spots i used to fish...which havent produced fish in a long time proved to be the most productive of all the places we fished.
one thing i have noticed was most fisherman go back to the same spots over and over and wonder why they never become successfull fisherman...when you drive around the dam whether it be a comp or normal social dam the same spots get hammered by the same fishermen...weekend after weekend.
a tip when fishing for fun try out new spots...randomly pick a spot and work it...also try different lures...different colours......and vary your retrieve...you might be pleasantly suprised...just remeber the fish dont read all he books and website threads that we do they just look for food.