Fishing
Fishing for Australian bass is a summertime affair, undertaken during the warmer months in the freshwater reaches of the rivers they inhabitat. Australian bass are keenly fished for as they are an outstanding sportsfish, extraordinarily fast and powerful for their size. Their extraordinary speed and power is probably due to their significant, strenuous annual migrations for spawning and a life-style that is migratory in general. Australian bass in their natural river habitats are not to be underestimated; they head straight for the nearest snags (sunken timber) when hooked and light but powerful tackle and stiff drag settings are needed to stop them.
As mentioned above, during the day Australian bass generally remain close to or in cover (e.g. snags, overhanging trees), and small plug lures and flies cast close to such cover are used. In recent years fly fishing for Australian bass using surface flies imitating cicadas has proven to be extremely effective. At night Australian bass are a roaming pelagic feeder and surface lures (which waddle or fizz across the surface of the water) are used. The large and sudden explosion a good Australian bass makes when taking a surface lure is guaranteed to the give the fisherman a fright!
Some of the best Australian bass fishing is coastal rivers and tributaries where access is difficult. Fishing these more remote locations can be extremely rewarding both for the fishing and the scenery. Fishing the more remote bass water is therefore usually the domain of the hardened backpacking fisherman or the dedicated kayak fisherman willing to drag his kayak over numerous logs and other obstacles.
It pays for fishermen to remember that wild Australian bass are still a highly migratory when in the freshwater reaches of rivers, and can also be an extremely wary fish in these habitats, much more so than exotic trout species.
Australian bass fishermen almost exclusively practice catch and release, which is necessary for the preservation of wild Australian bass stocks. The use of barbless hooks (which can be created by crushing the barbs flat with a pair of needle-nosed pliers) is essential as Australian bass hit lures with great ferocity and are consequently almost impossible to unhook on barbed hooks. Conversely, Australian bass are swiftly and easily released if barbless hooks are used.
Responsible fishermen now avoid fishing for wild Australian bass in estuaries in winter, so that this increasingly pressured native fish can spawn in peace. In late July 2007 the NSW Fisheries Department announced a new closed season for Australian bass and estuary perch, from 1 June to 31 August.
Read more about this topic: Australian Bass
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