Freshwater

TOOWOOMBA Jason Ehrlich

fishability1@bigpond.com It’s not your usual start to the spring months. I never thought I’d whinge about rain but it has made the impoundment fishing ridiculously tough this year. The bass should be schooled up and firing but it isn’t the case on most lakes. Edge fishing has played a big role this year as dirtier water has kept the fish shallower. The golden perch and barra will start to wake up with the longer and warmer days, and this gives us something to look forward to.

It has been sad to see the loss of fish over the winter months. Bass have escaped

our lakes, and barra have died due to the severe cold snaps. It really makes you appreciate the tireless work of our stocking groups who keep at it regardless of the setbacks. Without them, we wouldn’t have our magnificent fisheries so support them where you can.

Until next month, buckled rods from the Colonel.

CRESSBROOK

CLOSEST TOWN:

CROWS NEST

The fish have been hard to find at Cressbrook but this is the time of year to have a crack at them. They should be schooled together, and if you can find these wellhidden schools you are in for some fun.

With so much more water to explore, the fish are a lot harder to track down this year. Often they would be out in deep water but this year the slightly coloured water should keep them a bit shallower. Try your luck in around 7-11m. The flats out in front of the shallow boat ramp and across to the buoyline are a hot spot at all dam levels. The major points will be your next port of call. Be sure to explore them well and search different depths on each one. Cressy fish are sometimes very fussy about the depth they favour. If you are a metre out in depth, you could miss them. Bigger bass are likely to sit a little shallower than the smaller fish, which will even suspend in deeper water at times.

If you are lucky enough to find these fish, it will be hard to beat the Raptor Jig or Gang Banger spoon. Mix it up by working the lures with hops and winds. The bass will let you know which lure size they prefer.

If schools are too hard to find, you will need to settle for a different approach just to produce a fish or two. Working the edges of the dam with lures should get a few bites, but they are often few and far between. Lure choices would include blade baits, silent TN60 Jackalls or other similarly weight lipless crankbaits, standard crankbaits and Spectre Vibration Jigs. If you are on the water early, a suspending jerkbait might get a look in. • Fish’n’Bits in Toowoomba has all the gear and tips on how to chase the Cressy fish. They are an excellent store specialising in all freshwater lures and tackle. The dam is on longer hours for the rest of the year so the gates will be open from 6am to 8pm. SOMERSET

CLOSEST TOWNS:

ESK, KILCOY

Somerset has been fishing quite well. It’s not your usual double-figure days or cricket scores coming out of the lake, but there’s enough to keep it interesting. The deep water schooling bass just haven’t happened this year. Blade baits have been effective in the dirtier water. They pump out heaps of vibration and flash, and fool plenty of bass and golden perch.

Constant rain and inflows have kept the dam dirty. At the time of writing, the dam has about 70cm visibility at The Spit,

40cm at Pelican Point and about 60cm at the start of the Kirkleagh 6-knot zone in the timber. The coloured water may be what is keeping the fish away from their usual habitat. Schooling fish in 8-15m of water are the norm for this time of year but I can only imagine the dirty water is preventing sufficient light from penetrating to these depths.

The fish have remained quite scattered throughout the dam. A lot are patrolling the lake’s edges, with only a few scattered fish out deeper on the flats or suspending in the middle. This means that anyone willing to have a crack at them stands a chance. Even without prior knowledge of the lake you are in with a good shot due to the bass being so spread out from one end to the other. There are still some more productive spots which take a bit of finding, but they all seem to have some key features in common. Water weed, timber laydowns, rocks and a medium taper to the bank have all been present when I have caught multiple fish from an area.

Last month lipless crankbaits (like the TN60), 3/8oz blades (Little Max), suspending jerkbaits (Halco TB55 and Jackall Squirrel 67) and 3m diving crankbaits accounted for most of the fish. I would expect these lures to keep producing, but you may need to fish a little deeper if the water clears up more. Morning and afternoon sessions will see the fish up shallower, but as it heats up they will move deeper. Keep an eye on the sounder because once they retreat from the edges they will be easier to see. Once they push out to deeper water, casting spinnerbaits and Spectre Vibration Jigs will get the bites. Trolling 3-5m diving lures around the shoreline will also be a good option. If you are working this zone, expect bass but also quite a few golden perch, as they will be starting to fire up with the warming water.

If the rain and inflows stop for long enough I imagine the schools will reform in places like Pelican Point, Queen Street Flats and Kirkleagh Flats. Schools can be targeted with blade baits, 20g spoons and tail spinners.

Redclaw crayfish will be on the move and in good numbers this season. Opera house pots baited with rockmelon, part boiled potato or cat food will lure them in. Be sure to mark your pots and floats as per the Fisheries standards. Working different depths and frequent moves will help you locate the best areas for redclaw. They are not a fast-moving creature, so move the pots to them and check every few hours. MAROON

CLOSEST TOWNS: BOONAH,

RATHDOWNEY

I have a feeling Marron will be a red hot spot this month. The bass were schooling really well through winter but remained tight lipped for the majority of the time. They were in excellent numbers and the water looks clean and healthy. Weed beds had died back a bit but the warming weather and longer days will see them reform quickly. The healthy weed edges will hold good numbers of fish, especially early and late in the day. This would be the time to throw some surface lures and suspending jerkbaits. As the sun brightens, fish a bit deeper with beetle spins, small spinnerbaits and Spectre vibration jigs. The deeper weed edges may still hold fish but some will move out into deeper water until the weed really thickens up.

Bait fishers using live shrimp can have a lot of fun on the schooling bass. Take the time to find the fish on the sounder and you will have a ball. The most productive depth to find them will be around the 5-7m range. • The lads at Charltons Fishing at Redbank are all over the fish activity at Maroon and Moogerah. Call in and grab your supplies and hit them up for tips on where the fish are biting.

Niki Sticklen loves catching Somerset’s big bass. This year has been very different, with most fish coming from the lake’s edges. This one ate a TN60 Jackall.

COOBY

CLOSEST TOWNS:

HIGHFIELDS,

TOOWOOMBA

Cooby had a quiet period at the end of winter and start of spring. This is pretty common for this lake and it doesn’t really fire right up until November or December. In the meantime, the

golden perch will still be catchable but don’t expect big numbers. A mixture of trolling, casting and jigging lures will get the bites. If you are able to pinpoint fish on the sounder and jig blades or slow wind Jackalls, you are likely to have much better success. Live baiting with shrimp is almost guaranteed to

AWOONGA

CLOSEST TOWNS: BENARABY, GLADSTONE

We started to see reasonable numbers of barramundi caught last month, which is a good sign after the fish kill over the winter months. Don’t let the sad news about some fish dying due to the cold put you off a trip to the lake. There are plenty of fish left, and the warmer weather is now much more suited to catching them. Barra aren’t as easy to catch when there are a lot of rain events around, and the rest of this year sounds like we will see some.

It could very well be a repeat of last year’s patterns. At the start of spring, the fish can be a bit easier to find as they warm up and leave the shallows. Anglers find them patrolling the edges and they will frequent the windblown points after dark. This pattern was quick to change last year, however, and the fish headed for deeper water. Fishing points that are close to the main river is a good way to hedge your bets. You are still able to roll your lures off the weed edges but can then monitor the deep water to see if that’s where the fish are actually cruising out deeper. As the fish get bigger, they may start to stay in the weed longer throughout the warmer parts of the year. It would be good to see the days of Awoonga frogging sessions back. The best way to work the fish out is with time on the water and experimentation. I like to string a few days together when I do a trip, and almost write the first one off as an experimental day to work out what they want and where I need to be.

If you are headed to the lake consider tossing some weedless plastics over the weed or weighted plastics around the weed edges during the day. Suspending hardbodies are worth a shot around any areas with staging within the next month or two. It would be worth packing some gear for the lake’s golden perch just in case the barra are too hard to find and tempt.

produce the goods. Try dropping them in around 6-8m of water.

The weed beds will probably start to flourish over spring and summer. Once these have nicely defined edges in around 4m, the golden perch will return to them and hide in the deeper weed. Finding deeper patches where the weed is starting to grow on the bottom before forming

fish or fish passing through. Swimbaits and soft plastics should produce in dirty water bays of an afternoon and windy points at night. • Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing (0429 223 550) and Lake Awoonga Barra Charters (0404 151 844) run guided trips on the lake. Both cater to the needs of the angler and can do fly or conventional tackle trips to target the lake’s barramundi. It is hard to beat time on the water and a guided trip is a great way to learn more about this lake and its fish.

Mark from Awoonga Gateway Lodge always has a few productive secret spots to share. The Gateway lodge is on the way in to the dam after turning off at Benaraby. The accommodation is great with plenty of boat parking space right beside the comfortable air-conditioned, selfcontained cabins each with its own veranda. To book in a stay give Mark or Lyn a call on (07) 49750033. big towers can also be a good spot to try your luck.

Murray cod have been slow, with only the occasional one being caught. You never know when one will turn up so I always like to fish with slightly heavier leader just in case. LESLIE CLOSEST

TOWN: WARWICK

Leslie Dam golden perch should start to fire up now the water is getting warmer. Trolling around the 4-6m mark will put you in the zone. Bibbed hardbodies will catch a few but the goldens will probably prefer a slow trolled TN60 Jackall being towed with electric power. The fish are still a bit lazy so the slower approach seems to produce better results. Jigging ZX40 blades or 95mm soft vibes should also lure a few fish. The vertical hop seems to do well with the blades, while the soft vibes can be cast out and hopped back. • The local blokes at Warwick Outdoor and Sport in Palmerin Street can point in you in the right direction and hook you up with the good gear and bait to catch the fish at Leslie.

Dirty water bays are barra hunting grounds in the afternoons at Awoonga Dam. The wind stirs up lake edges and creates the perfect ambush scenario for big predators.

CALLIDE

CLOSEST TOWN: BILOELA

Callide suffered a pretty big barra kill over the cold winter months. It will be some time before the dam recovers. Warming water temperatures will see the remaining barra more active, and we can hopefully gauge how well the dam will fish

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Wetlands reduce the impacts of floods, filter toxins and improve water quality, as well as being home for a wide variety of native animals, fish and plants.

Your challenge is to capture your local wetlands in a new light. This could be by heading down at a certain time of day, to a lesser-known spot or perhaps capturing a special moment up-close with wildlife – let your creativity be your guide.

By entering the photo competition, you’ll be contributing to conservation efforts by increasing awareness of the diversity and abundance of native flora and fauna who call the wetlands home, bringing the natural glory of our wetlands to people who may not have had (or will never have) the chance to see them with their own eyes. You’ll also have the chance to flex your photography muscles, gain national exposure for your work and win one of the following excellent prizes: a Fujifilm Instax mini 40 Instant Camera (Youth prize), GoPro HERO8 valued at $450 (adult amateur prize), a nd GoPro HERO8 valued at $450 (adult professional prize).

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“Right on Awoonga’s doorstep. All set up for fishos, with tranquil surroundings.“

Daiwa has released a host of new products this year, and the following is a snapshot of some of the innovative products that have been launched in 2022. Infeet Spike 44SP MR/EXDR

The Spike legend continues to grow, with the release of the smaller Spike 44. The ultimate shad size crankbait, the Spike 44 features an impressive swimming action, even at the slowest of speeds. This is an essential element for when the fishing gets tough, and the fish are timid and lure shy.

Available in two sizes, a MR (6 feet) and EXDR (12 feet) version, the Spike 44 has you covered for all depth ranges. Careful internal weight placement and a slender shape ensures the Spike 44 flies straight and true, and it’s tuned for maximum casting distance and performance.

Bib design is equally considered and optimised, with its blunt nose lip design aiding in deflection, and maximising lure action to convert follows into bites. Fitted with high-quality split rings and BKK hooks, the Spike 44 is ready to fish straight from the package. TD Sol MQ

The TD Sol reputation continues to grow with the release of the TD Sol MQ. A fan favourite for over a decade, the newest reel to carry the famous Sol name has received the Monocoque Body treatment to elevate it to a new level of design, performance, and strength.

The orange Sol has never looked or performed so good, with its new Monocoque Body (MQ) technology delivering all the benefits that anglers have enjoyed in higher-end reels such as Exist, Certate and Saltiga.

Monocoque Body (MQ) is the single biggest revolution in spinning reel design from Daiwa, eliminating the traditional two-piece body construction. MQ design allows the use of larger internal gearing and eliminates the use of side plates and features a screwless body design eliminating potential entry points for water and grime, and significantly enhancing overall body strength and rigidity.

Partnering the TD Sol’s new body design is a new body material. Daiwa’s high carbon composite Zaion V material results in a reel body that is incredibly strong and rigid, and impervious to corrosion from the harsh saltwater angling environment.

Rotor and bail arm design takes a leap forward as well, with a Zaion Air Rotor and seamless one-piece Airbail construction usually reserved for reels like Exist and Certate, now elevating the TD Sol’s strength and performance.

The TD Sol MQ’s rollcall of features doesn’t end there, and includes Magseal Body and Line Roller, Tough Digigear, Longcast ABS spool, ATD, CRBB, Finesse Drag, and Twistbuster II.

If you’re looking for a feature-packed small spinning reel capable of tussling with a host of fresh and saltwater predators, look no further than the eye-catching TD Sol MQ.

J-Thread FC X-Link

Daiwa introduces a leap forward in leader material design and performance with the release of the new J-Thread FC X-Link (Cross Link).

Made in Japan, J-Thread FC X-Link is a revolutionary fluorocarbon line developed exclusively by Daiwa, and is made with a process that alters the molecular structure of the line itself and bonds individual particles on a chemical level.

This change in the chemical composition results in a line that is significantly stronger for its given diameter, and is incredibly limp and supple, resulting in a more manageable line with higher knot strength and performance.

J-Thread FC X-Link sets a new benchmark for leader material in Australia, and is available in 4-20lb breaking strains in 70m and 50m spools.

For more information on these and other new releases from Daiwa, visit www. daiwafishing.com.au. - SG