Lake Samsonvale Bass

[caught-ya]

We left Pine River about 0630 this morning and went out and had a look out the front of Redcliffe. We didn’t get a nibble nor a livie so we decided to go home. On our way home stopped by some marker buoys and saw some giant schools of hardy heads and started to throw lures at them. My dad (rainbowrunner) put on a waitless lure and got chased by long tom. I put on a Mack slug and got hit several times by a little trevally, on our way back to the mouth of the Pine River we saw some freshwater meeting the saltwater. In the mouth of the river we didn’t get anything.. About 0500 this afternoon we went down of the bank at Lake Samsonvale and chased some bass. We got one in on a Mack slug. We got a another bass but drop it against the shore. The water was erupting with little baitfish and when the sun went down we didn’t catch anything else so we went home.


Caught-ya

Here is the pic of the bass,

[land_based]

Great report mate. Good to see there is some sort of action in the pine, and nice bass too!!

[Az]

good report mate, where abouts at lake samsonvale were you fishing from?

[Rainbowrunner]

Gdday fellas

We were fishing at the main car park area.

We used to fish it in the boat with success, but we will have to keep at it land based too now ;D

[Az]

the main car park area, is that bullocks rest or whateve its called, not over the otherside near the cemetery?

[The_Walrus]

From the photo, it's the area near the workshed located between the dam wall and Bullocky's Rest.

Park you car there early mornings or evenings and walk the bank casting shallow runners or poppers.

Luc

[black_sheep]

Up to a few months ago we fished lake sampsonvale extremely successfully from a steep shoreline (no longer accessible) and caught up to 60 bass in a session. This was the best bass fishing I've ever experienced even compared to the Clarence Gorge trips we use to do. Nowhere near as scenic though.
Anyway, we caught fish from 25cms to 55cms+. My best went 56cms but a couple of the boys got a 60 and 61cm - no shirt! One trip we caught about 60 bass in an hour between 3 of us - just about every cast. One trip I got a catty, 2 silvers, 1 golden (63cms) and about 12 bass up to 55cms. Not saying that we didn't have some bad sessions with only 1 or 2 fish landed but the average was usually 8 fish per person in a couple of hours with a few lost.

Unfortunately, since the closer of that area, we haven't been out to the dam and I only just did an exploration trip last week to sus out some other potential spots. Over the next few weeks, this is on the priority list.

I won't be making another post soon as I'll be on leave fishing Awoonga but if anyone was going to ask for any advice on how we fished the lake....

As bassamundi said, try and find the schools of baitfish, mainly bonies. If this is in deep water close to the shoreline, even better. Fish lures according to the water depth. Bibbed lures, poppers etc are good for shallow banks but if you find really deep water, the bass will school up on the drop off. The best lures are by far are "Jackalls" but expensive at $25 a pop and the dam does have quite a few snags. We've probably lost about $500 worth of Jackalls alone. Any sinking lure will work though and it's a matter of experimenting as it will depend on conditions. Rattlin spots of any sort work including kokoda's, Shimano, River to Sea etc. As bassamundi found out, slugs work great and are cheap. They also tell you how deep the water you fishing is as they sink vertically and quickly. The fishing however shuts down very very quickly and we found that the "frenzy" period was just prior to sunrise and just prior to sunset - keep in mind that the dam is only open between sunrise and sunset - the ranger up there can get a bit narky. You will still catch fish throughout the day be we experinced our better fishing early and late in the day.

This dam has some huge fish in it and we have been done by ones that are unstoppable - it's just a matter of putting the time in and being prepared to try different areas until you find where the fish are holding - once you do, get ready for some swore arms.

Hope this helps and tight lines.