Downsizing for Big Bass

Sometimes fish just don't want to play the game. No matter how hard you try your tested and proven offerings they fail. This was the case at Somerset Dam recently. I had located bass and tried all the proven techniques on these deep schooling fish but they just weren't cooperating. The most successful lure for the morning had been an ice jig. The tiny lure was gaining plenty of attention but in most cases the fish were failing to hook up. I thought about it for a while and reached into my tackle box for the answer. 


The new Powerbait MF40 soft vibes were just what the bass were after. Being a small profile lure loaded with super-sharp trebles, hookups wouldn’t be a problem provided I could get the bites. I fished these lures vertically to schooled fish as well as casting out and then hopping along the bottom back to the boat. Both retrieves were similar in that each time I would lift the lure 1-2 foot off the bottom. During these lifts, the lure could be felt vibrating through the 4lb Fireline. Most hits happened as the lure was sinking back to the bottom or dead-sticked at the bottom of the drop. 
After racking up numbers of smaller bass during the morning, I was confident to give the MF40 a run when the action picked up late in the afternoon.

I was hopping the lure down a ledge that dropped from 27 to 50 feet when the tiny offering was crunched. This was a big bass and I had to keep my cool and let it run to prevent pulling the tiny hooks. All went to plan and I netted my biggest bass taken on an MF40 so far. The fish weighed 2.6 kg and was as fat as a football. I know the next time the going is tough and bass are chasing smaller offerings, the MF40 will be one of my go to baits










Cheers Jason

MF50 and MF60 Update by Matt Fraser

To follow on from the success of the MF40, I’ve been working on two larger models, the MF50 and MF60.

It has taken many hours in the workshop, to perfect the swim and dive action of these lures. A couple of weeks ago, I finally had a handful of both the MF 50 and 60s swimming and ready for field testing. I still hadn’t quite settled on the exact weight for each lure, so I had four MF 50 prototypes varied from 10 – 11g, and four MF60s that weighed from 15.5 to 18.8g. Although they all swam and dived well in the pool, the final test would be how they fared in action.

I also send two of each to Trevor Burgess who was fishing with Callum Munroe as team Berkley in the Bass tastic grandfinal at Borumba Dam over the weekend.

I arrived at Somerset Dam early, with fog rising off the lake and a fine forecast. I’d had a tip-off from the Ausfish crew that the bass had really started biting well in the last few days, and were schooled up in an area of Bay 13. So I headed straight there and met up with a few of the guys that I’d previously chatted with.



I set up two light spin outfits, with an MF50 and 60 and set to work. Fish were showing up pretty well on the sounder, and within minutes I was onto my first bass. Only about 35cm, but it was a nice start. As I sounded across the flats the MFs were proving to be great searching lures. The weights allowed long casts, and their sink rate was about 2 feet per second, getting them down quick. I picked up another couple of bass, before I came across a good school directly below me. Then it was just a matter of dropping the MF into the school and they were onto it. If I didn’t get hit on the way down, it was just a matter of doing small hops just off the bottom to entice a strike.

There were two boats from the Ausfish crew also there, Shaun, Daryl and Dean. They were also getting good bass on ice jigs and blades.

The bass were holding in 30 – 35 feet of water, and there was plenty of variety in the sizes from 20 cm rats up to 50cm plus. I landed a 47cm, followed quickly by a beautifully conditioned 50cm bass. I dropped him in the livewell and motored over to Daryl and asked if he could take a photo for me, which he kindly did. I then had a bit of a chat and asked the guys if they wanted to help me out and give the lures a swim as well.

They were keen, and tied them on. Within minutes of this, I hooked onto a beast of a fish on a MF50 that didn’t want to come up. I was only using my bream gear, with 3lb Stren microfuse and 10lb vanish leader, but eventually the big bass surfaced and I got it in the net. On the brag mat it went 52cm fork and I reckon it would have been pushing the 3kg mark. I looked over and Shaun was onto his second on the MF 60, his first was his biggest for the morning at 46cm, and when he landed the second one it went over 50cm. Daryl also hooked and landed a big bass on the MF 60 as well.

Needless to say, the boys were pretty impressed! We fished on for the morning, and kept on racking up good bass. Daryl and Dean headed in around lunchtime, but Shaun and myself stayed on till around 3pm, enjoying some great fishing.

The schools dispersed as the day continued, and we didn’t get anymore massive bass, but I was more than happy with the results from the MFs on their first outing on impoundment bass. There are some slight modifications and refinements to be done, and more field testing. But we are hoping that these lures will hit the shops well before Christmas.

Cheers,

Matt

Tassy Trout Opening.

Trout season opening 2009.

The first weekend in August marks the start of the brown trout season in Tasmania. Most lakes and rivers are open to anglers for the first time since the start of May, with hungry trout waiting the opening is always highly anticipated.

I headed up to the central highlands for the weekend with a plan to fish both Great Lake and Arthur’s Lake. The weather was hardly kind to us with strong winds, rain and sub zero temperatures. Surprisingly the fishing was actually a little slower than expected

I had managed to get a hold of some yet to be released GULP Banana Prawn 3” minnows and 3” minnow grubs. This colour has been hugely successful in the 2” Shrimp and will no doubt prove itself as a standout once release in other popular styles. Both the of these caught fish and will be a hit all around the country I’m sure once they hit the shelves later in the year. The 3” Fry will account for stacks of Tassie bream I’m sure!

The standout for the weekend for me was the MF40 vibes. These newly released lures continue to rack up some impressive results. On Saturday they accounted for over 90% of the fish boated including a cracking Rainbow that smashed a Midnight Tiger coloured one as it fell after a sharp hop off the bottom.

The retrieve I use is a simple soft plastic style retrieve however you can slow roll them, crank them fast or whatever suits the fish on the day.

Now to wait for the MF50 to be released……..

Pat Sullivan

Big Eye Blading

Fishing deep is one of the most reliable tournament methods to consistently fill the live well during the cold winter months, especially in Victoria. When I first started fishing bream tournaments, casting light weight plastics in either a worm or minnow patterns was the way to catch fish. During social sessions catching fish amongst the snags was the most enjoyable and the thought of fishing with heavy jigheads in the middle of nowhere was very unappealing and was considered by some to be less skilful. In fact, in my first full year of tournament fishing in 2007 I refused to fish deep because I thought it would be too boring and the challenge of making centimetre perfect casts just wasn’t there. Well I nearly quit tournament fishing that year a couple of times, in 4 tournaments throughout the cold winter months I only boated 2 legal fish. Needless to say I didn’t enjoy my fishing and my stubborn ways of only fishing the edge had to change if I was to become a consistence/more rounded angler. More importantly if I was going to enjoy my fishing I had to learn to catch fish in the deep!

Luckily for me two things happen at the end of 2007. The first was that I got a side imaging sounder and the second was that blades were introduced to bream fishing. I quickly learned that fishing deep was just as exciting and rewarding as fishing the edge. Making accurate cast was still important however instead of keeping my eyes on the bank looking for the next pocket to cast at, my eyes were firmly fixed on the sounder. Every time I noticed a change in bottom depth or structure I would add this to my mental map. This map, would determine where I would place the next cast. Every time the lure hit the bottom, every time I bumped over a snag, pulled up a piece of weed or caught a fish I would learn some vital information about the water I was fishing.

Blades have hit the Australian shores in all shapes and sizes since 2007. The Berkley Big Eye blade has two features that I find very appealing; its size and its internal rattle. At 35mm the Big Eye blade is definitely a bite size snack for any southern black bream. The internal rattle gives the fish the opportunity to use an extra sense, so now the fish can see, feel and hear the blade. This rattle sets the Big Eye blade apart from the rest. At 1/6 ounce you can punch it into a gale force wind or fish it in a strong current. Alternatively I have cast them into 4 feet of water and have had good success, however my preferred water depth is between 8-14 feet.

I’m a fairly aggressive fisherman and I work my lures accordingly. I like to give the blade a shape lift and drop, only pausing it long enough to reach the bottom. I’ll often mix up the distance that I lift the blade off the bottom and in the case of blading I have found that less is more. By this I mean the fish seem to respond better to very small lifts of less than 30cm as opposed to long lifts. I have played around with a variety of set ups when fishing blades and have found that a fairly soft tip rod allows for a better hook up rate. My preferred tackle to use is the Berkley Pro Tactic 6010 2-4kg rod with 2-3lb Crystal Fireline and 4lb Trilene leader.

I love the ease at which you can fish a blade in a range of environments and that it catches fish. Feeling the vibration on every lift of the rod and then the solid weight of a fish has got me well and truly hooked. I have learned that fishing blades in the deep is a skill and one that you’ll need in your breaming bag of tricks. I often rely on the Big Eye blade to catch me a fish when the conditions get tough, just like they do every winter in southern Victoria. For an on water look at Big Eye Blading check out Pure Fishing TV. Hodgey.

footnote, look for the all new 46mm Big Eye Blade, coming soon. Dinger.

Gulp Prawn Farm is here - Almost!

For regular readers of the blog, you will know that we are constantly pushing the US to develop new and unique colour mixes that better suit our Australian species, techniques and conditions.

To that end, almost half of our Gulp baits range colours are unique to Australia and not available anywhere else in the world. Things like the "Chicken" jerkshads, Banana and Pepper prawn to name a few of the more successful baits so far.

Well, get ready to add to your collection the following. These new colours proved to be a huge challenge as Berkley in the USA had never been succsessful with pastel and semi transparent baits. We kept pushing and finally some breakthrough technology allowed us to produce these new and we think exciting colours.

The first release will be in 2" and 3" Gulp Shrimp pattern with more shapes to follow in the new year.

From the top - Garlic Prawn, Jelly Prawn, Green Prawn, Cocktail Prawn, Punk Prawn, Disco Prawn, Vader Prawn.











































The Vader Prawn glows in the dark!





Othe colour extension worth looking for are Banana Prawn now in 3" minnow, 3" fry, 2" and 3" minnow grubs and 5" jerkshads in both Banana Prawn and Orange Tiger, with a new Pilchard colour coming shortly.

Expect them to be in stores by the end of August.

Tight lines,
Dinger.