CCFR Club Bass Outing
18-19thAugust 2017, Lake St Clare, Singleton NSW
by Steve Bunney
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| Col with one of many for the trip. |
As with all our usual club outings the weather Gods didn’t look like they were in a good mood and boy they didn’t disappoint. The forecast was for howling winds and “brass monkey “temperatures. But the fluff chucker’s of the central coast are made of sterner stuff and a date is a date as they say.
Some of the keener members arrived early Friday afternoon, on what was probably the worst day for any type of fly fishing, with the weather bureau predicting 80k winds, and icy temperatures , not your typical weather for throwing a “Craig’s Nightime” or whatever the fly of choice may be.
I arrived mid Saturday at the chosen camp ground of “Greg’s Corner” to be greeted by Col, Ken, Max, Jeff, Murray ,Josh, Richie , Richard, Mick, Mac (not paddy wack lol)and Brownie.
As with all greetings, the first question from my lips was “so who’s been catching” and with outstretched hand, and beaming smile, Jeff pipes up with “Have a guess who had a double hook up with bass at 50cm and 40 cm, now for those that fish for bass on fly, getting two on the same cast is pretty good going but to get two stonkers in that size range is awesome going.
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| Two for the price of one – Jeff Medhurst with two great bass. |
After setting up camp it was down to the water just on dark to see what was biting, on with a tandem rig of Craigs Nightimes and with the sun dipping over the hills it wasn’t long until I hear, to my right, the sound all fishermen love to hear “ I’m on” Richie Teague being the first of many that night to land a decent bass in the high 30,s quickly followed by myself with a new PB of 39cm, not massive but very, very fat, and extremely strong, after a long tussle in the weeds was quickly unhooked and released to fight another day.
The weather Gods, must have had a change of heart tonight as the lake glassed out and every rise was visible as the caddis started to hatch, the only downside was the numb hands due to the low temperatures.
Bass fishing in winter can be a short lived experience as the window of opportunity is very small, half an hour after sunset and it’s all over for the night.
Flies used were, mainly Bushy horrors, CN’s, and Woolly buggers, on rods ranging from 4 to 7wt, with the chosen lines all being intermediates.
Sitting around the camp fire is always my favourite time of any trip, where grown men talk of tales of big fish caught and bigger fish lost, trust me this lot would shame Pinocchio, but with beer flowing and the camp fire warming our souls it’s become synonymous with what this great club has to offer, good old fun, great conversation and a feast that would befit any royalty.
The chat went long into the night and the laughs and chuckles could be heard from afar which is typical of the outings, when the fishing is hard going, the company more than makes up for it.
Sunday morning sees the camp rise early only to find that Mac, Richard and a few others have ventured out at first light to try and temp another few bass to the net, Richard and Mac bagged a brace for their efforts, and reports of Richard’s Silver perch more than made up for the early start.
The customary BBQ was fired up for Sunday breakfast, and it wasn’t long before hot bacon and egg rolls were being passed around ,always a welcome sight on any frosty morning, courtesy of Mac and Brownie.
Even though the weather wasn’t as favorable as we would have liked everyone present caught fish, which is always a bonus, most notable was Max breaking his bass duck with a 40cm specimen, great effort mate and well done.
We look forward to another date circled on the calendar when we can do it all again come rain, wind or shine.