I have been watching Windguru for the last week, and it was clear that this morning was going to be a pearler. I had committed myself to a family lunch, but decided the morning looked so good that I would get up early and do a quick few hours on a nearby estuary, and at least get to enjoy the perfect conditions on the water.
Also I received my package of new lures that I ordered from Bass Pro shops recently, and was dying to give some of them a test drive. There is no test more stern for an estuary lure than to use it during the winter months, when the action is much slower. I actually relish these tough days, because it makes me think harder, and push the boundaries, and that is where the learning curve gets steeper.
My mate Cliff brought his fly gear and we headed off out of his driveway at 4.30am. At 6am we were on the water and motoring up to the headwaters of the river. The water was glassy and perfect, but very little sign of fish movement, apart from the odd lethargic mullet cruising just below the surface. None of the usual visible chases and splashes that seem to be so common at this time of day. The water was fairly cool and very clean, as spring high had been at about 4am and there is the lag up river, before the tide really changes up there.
I tried some surface lures to start (as always) just in case there was some surface potential, and was rewarded with a small kingie eating my brand new Mirro Minnow, but the hooks pulled after about five seconds and then no more action on the top.
I then moved on to my brand new Mirrodine Mini, which is a slow sinking, subsurface lipless twitchbait. An awesome looking little lure that I was dying to try for the stubborn perch. Sure enough I got a little perch quickly, by working the lure with a slow injured twitch near some rocks.
I was delighted to catch something on my brand new lure, and especially when things were tough!
Not long after that it was followed by a bigger fatter perch, which I actually saw coming up and gently inhaling the lure as I twitched it over the structure where he lived.
On 8lb braid and very light tackle, these little guys give a great account of themselves!
I then decided to try out a DOA shrimp that I have been waiting for ages to try, so tied it on and cast it out. I was working it very slowly, allowing it plenty of time to slow sink and dead drift between twitches, when it was gobbled up by a very greedy, but tiny Bigeye Kingfish. It was great to know that the lure was working, and even if it was a tiny kingfish, it was a fish when fish were not showing themselves.
Note how the little kingie left nothing to chance and gobbled the lure right down the hatch! Luckily the lure has just one single hook on it and it was easy to get it out and release the kingie to grow and fight another day. By the way, has anybody noticed the fashionable shirt that I am wearing yet?
I persevered with the DOA Shrimp some more and just before I had to call it a day and rush home for lunch I got my best pull of the morning. I was slow drifting the shrimp over some submerged rocks, with just the occasional small twich, when the line flickered and went briefly tight, then slack again. I cast back at the spot and did the same again, and sure enough same result, but too quick to strike and set the hook. A third cast at the same spot, and I was thinking, on a slow day will a fish really be fooled 3 times by the same lure when the line went tight and I set the hook, ON! The fish really wanted that shrimp!!! It was a little river snapper, that did its best to get amongst the barnacles, but wasn't big enough to take control. A lekker fight, and a lekker fish to end what had been a really pleasant morning!
My new lures had proven themselves to be up to the task, and I look forward to giving them a proper swim when the water warms up in summer!
