Way out west

I have been trying to get back out west after a tough trip to Nelson a few weeks back so I caught up with mate Quy Bok Choi Van who is a resident of the western suburb of Warnambool and a handy fisho.

I woke nice and early for the 3 hour drive from Cranbourne in search of some Bream and Perch, I have caught a lot of Bream and Perch in my life but have not done a great deal in the west it has always been in Gippsland and some a little closer to home so it was good to catch up with a native (local) who had fished this water before.

Now I am not going to go into detail on the stretch of water we were fishing as I consider it to be quite fragile and not used to high traffic and exploitation, all I can say is it is a very picturesque waterway and one that I enjoyed fishing very much - yes I will be back.

We started in the lower reaches fishing the deep edges, with the deep water I started fishing with a DRESS Drepan Mini vibe, a perfect choice in the conditions. Well it would have been if we did not get plagued by small Australian Salmon keen to smash lures on every cast. Quy was worse off, he was using a Daiwa double clutch and the Salmon were all over him as he was not as deep in the water column. As it was getting tough to get past the Salmon we made a move upstream a little where I changed my lure to a Norries Laydown minnow, not much changed the pesky little salmon were everywhere. Quy managed a nice keeper Bream but it went very quiet except for the Salmon that were busting our chops on what ever we threw out.

Time for a change upstream a little. The whole landscape changed in an instant and the snag lined banks lit up with growth. It was like I had died and gone to Bream heaven. This is a very beautiful part of the world and I knew we would find fish there no matter what. We did find fish - nothing huge but plenty of fun for all.

I was fishing very very light with a PE 0.1 GOSEN Mebarin main line and 3lb leader, silly string for the structure we were fishing and I soon found out that it was probably not the best line choice for this area, this was loaded onto a Stella C2500HGS on a Gan Craft Custom Blue Series Cross Eye Rod. Suffice to say the loss of a few lures was imminent. Good bye to the Norries Laydown minnow, good bye to a couple of Jackson Trout Tunes and good bye to a couple of Dress DREPAN Mini's.

Darkness had started to fall so a quick trip back to the ramp was in order I thought I would get my phone out and film a bit of the water, I should have payed a bit more attention. Many fallen logs in skinny water and outboard will always result in a loud thump and a stalling motor.

Off the water on dark I had an awesome day out and will be back again soon enough. Massive thanks to Quy Bok Choi Van for a great day out in his neck of the woods.