Bay and Basin Sportsfishing.com.au: May 2011

It's been a while I know but the fishing has been top notch most days, and with the weather being pretty kind to us so I have been on the water most days the past few months. As I write this it's now May and it's freezing outside thanks to a cold snap. The Basin will now see some patchy days now but the good news is big tailor are present and they love the cooler water.I've now got tailor rigs at the ready which consist of 6lb braid with 80lb flourocarbon leader, and small minnow style spinners.The bay has continued to be productive although the past month has been a bream fest on the Basin so I've left the bay alone with the southerlies. The bream returned in massive numbers post spawn around the weekend of the Squidgey Southern Bream Series and went on the chew for 3-4 weeks solid. Every fish coming to the boat was shitting cockles and nippers and in really good condition to boot. In fact the bream were so prolific that was all we could catch for nearly two weeks. During this period I managed my first kids tour where we didn't use bait so that says it all. I love when you drift past a few boats dangling bait and catching nothing and the kids are whacking them left right and centre. I recently filmed a segment with Dave Buttfield which will be aired on pay TV in the next few weeks. You guessed it, bream. The segment was filmed on the new artificial reef which was layed down before xmas, check the screen saver shot!

The screen shot you want to see. Wall to wall bream.

Luke Jakovic with a cracking c&r 46cm Basin Bream on a camo Gulp craw.

Speaking of all thing TV and promotional. The "Big E" weaved his Basin magic with Paul Worstling from Ifish recently. They managed a 92cm "Croc" which took 20mins to get to the boat and had them calling it for a jewie or a big red. It will be amazing to see the footage. Yours truly turned blackfish expert for the day and Paul, myself, and good mate Dave "layback" Johnson managed a few luderick from the stones which was a nice distraction from the boat for a day. I used to do a lot from the stones and I plan to do a bit more over winter chasing blackfish and pigs.

I also had the privelege of guiding the enigmatic french lure designer Patrick Sebile recently. Mr Sebile has had a career as a guide, fishing lodge owner, lure designer having sold in excess of 4 million lures world wide which he has personally caught over 664 species world wide. The guy has fished in 54 lodges around the globe and we managed to get him a world record Australian Salmon. We'll let it sit for a bit before we smash that one, but seriously, it was an inspirational day to say the least.

Patrick Sebile with his record 60cm salmon. In 5 trips to Australia this was his first one! We're stoked.

The BCF presentations went down well and it was great to meet some Sydney siders who are now more tuned in to catching fish, particularly on lures. Check out this testimonial. This is why I enjoy guiding so much.

"Hi Greg,

I was at the talk at BCF Auburn you did with Garry Brown. I was Very unsure on the how where and why of blade lures but from some using the feed back was good. So on that night I brought 2 blades to try both around 6 grams. I had talked to my mate about a lure only day and thought this a good enough reason to have a go. He told me they were getting some fish at Long Reef so to Long Reef we go. After finding a good looking spot on the sounder we tried the soft plastics and with many touches we only managed some small Snapper. Not setting the world on fire but showing promise. We decided to move and I changed lures to the little Strike Pro in an olive holograph finish. First cast I let the lure sink ant then gave the rod the lift to feel the vibration I let the lure sink and gave the rod a second lift, BANG! A fright train had just taken possession of my lure. Line was absolutely screaming off the reel. We were fishing over rubble in about 30' of water I was praying not to get bricked by this fish. I was using 10lb fire line with a 12lb trace to achieve the more natural presentation you stressed. So the battle was on what would give in first line, leader, hooks, or the fish. I would get line back the fish would take it, I'd get it close enough to see shape but no colour. This fish was taking me all round to boat. Finally after a fight of between 5 and 7 minutes a nice Sampson fish of around 3kg was boated. To say I was excited was an understatement my fishing partner just stood there looking at the fish laughing. It had been hooked with both sets of trebels but had straightened one set out and nearly done the same to the second set. My fishing partner said I was lucky to not have lost the fish because the lure I was using was for use on bream and bass not these brutes.

I reformed the hooks on my lure and my mate changed to a blade. After a couple of small Snapper and having fun with a school of Bonito the wind got up and we left. We didn't get any more Sampsons but I know I'll be giving the Blades another go. That is after first upgrading the hooks.

So thanks for your input and advise It is appreciated.

Thanks"

Iain Mckay

Don't forget that winter in my humble opinion is one of the best times to be on the water. There's very minimal boat traffic and it was July last year that got me the cover shot for NSW Fishing Monthly with a 72cm snapper from very shallow water in the bay. Check out my monthly reports in NSW FM as Greg Finney has decided to call it a day and Tony Zahn has roped me in to report on matters piscatorial for the Illawarra. Happy days.