# Kirkleigh/Lake Somerset 03 dec 06



## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Well it had been two weeks since I last wet the kayak and I was bloody keen to get a solid fish on the deck, and after a very productive chat with one of the locals I got a few tips on an area I had had no success in last time I visited. 
Kirkleigh is in the upper reaches of the lake and so out of the ski zone, woohoo, no idiots! In fact I only saw one boat at close range all morning! 
I had heard rumours of thick timber within easy paddling distance of the ramp, so got the good oil on it's location and how to get there, called to get my early access code for the boom gate,set the alarm for 3am, and after a good sleep, jumped out of bed ready to bring home some fish.  
Arrived at Kirkleigh shortly after 4am as a few campers were starting to stir to the pre dawn glow. Quick visit to the lav and off to the ramp. 
I went fully prepared this time, esky with frozen water, juice, soft drink, cold pizza, sweeeeet. 8) 
I put the little pakrat (not so secret weapon) out for a troll, heading for the river bed, bumped over some shallow stuff, so wound in and paddled on full steam to the deep water. 
Out went the pakrat, and shortly after got a strike, after a quick tossle, in came a healthy little bass, about 30cm, sweet, good start to the day.  
Continued on trolling, came to a series of exposed tree stumps, this was a land mark discussed in the previous day's directions, whoohoo, I was on the right track. bump bump zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Another little bass amongst the snags, this one a bit smaller, about 25cms, both of these fish were not photographed, wanted to get them back to the water asap. 
I had also been told about a little bay on the northern bank that held good fish, and as I was releasing the second bass I was overtaken by a couple of guys in a stink boat, who headed straight for the little bay I had spotted and started casting poppers. 
I paddled over to the mouth of the bay and cast a popper of my own for a few casts, but no takers. Out went the pakrat again and I continued on, then noticed another bay, this one much larger and clearly the one mentioned in the directions. 
As I headed into the bay the pakrat hit bottom so I pulled it in and swapped it for a spinnerbait that I had added a stinger hook to the day before, and shortly after entering the bay I thought it had snagged, but when I picked up the rod I felt it move, what ever it was it had some real weight to it and as it shook it's head the line was moving a long way back and forth. I had the fish just below the surface when the line I tied the stinger on with snapped. :x 
Retied the stinger and paddled off again, did a few laps of the bay for no more joy, had a quick rest with juice and cold pizza,and headed off in search of the timber. 
All up it was about 3Kms from ramp to first real timber in the old Stanley River bed, and as soon as I headed into the wood, bang! off went the drag. I could feel the line hit sticks a few times, but a slight increase in pressure pulled the fish out of the snag each time, phew! 
A few good runs and a bit of a work out for the left arm, up came a nice 46cm Yella! My first yella on a spinnerbait, first fish on a spinnerbait period, and first yella from somerset, big smiles!  
There was a lot of bait action up in the sticks, so I continued trolling the spinner up into the gloom. It was quite an eerie scene, heavy low cloud, dead trees all around and hardly a breath of wind, see pics. 
After a few snags and no more bites, I decided to head back, feeling happy with the result and a bit keen for a rest.
Along the bank there were ocasional stands of half a dozen huge dead trees which I stayed as close to as I could. As I approached the bay I went past one of these stands of dead trees and as I got past the last tree... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ my little okuma went balistic! and I struggled to get the rod out of the holder and almost lost the rod over the side. 
After some sizzling runs this big girl floated to the surface, a monster yellow belly, 55cms. A new PB.  
I would have liked to weigh her, but prefer to clean fish at the tables provided at the dam, so can only guess at about 3Kg. 
Had another quick rest on the bank after stowing the fish in the front hatch. 
While I was on the bank I had a look around and found the little turtle shell in the pic. 
Happy days.


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## Freak (Mar 25, 2006)

thats one hell of a trip and some fantastic fish. any good on the table?


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Freak said:


> thats one hell of a trip and some fantastic fish. any good on the table?


Hey Freak, I just noticed you have a scupper pro, nice yak!  
I reckon the yellas go pretty good on the chew, quite firm flesh, almost a bit rubbery in texture, but very tasty as long as you remove all the fat, which neither of these fish had any of. I also believe a soaking in a salty brine helps to enhance the flavour of the fish. 
What the hell, here's a few more pics.


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

lol @ Secret weapon, guess that was aimed at me. :?

Great fish and report, photos too.

Well done...


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

YakAtak said:


> A few good runs and a bit of a work out for the left arm, up came a nice 46cm Yella! My first yella on a spinnerbait, first fish on a spinnerbait period, and first yella from somerset, big smiles!
> 
> After some sizzling runs this big girl floated to the surface, a monster yellow belly, 55cms. A new PB.


Karl

What a great outcome mate and congrats on the new yella PB a magnificent fish and hope he goes as good on the table.

On the subject of spinnerbaits, I took the Cressbrook 'secret weapon' down to Hinze and showed the fellas what had caused all the interest at Cb and all noted how easy it would be to knock one up using a Betts Spin as base


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## wongus (Feb 12, 2006)

Karl,

Great result mate.. very nice yellas indeed.

Yes, I've yet to catch a fish on a spinner bait too but I guess they do work after seeing all the fish caught at Cressbrook almost to the exclusion of all else on them...

Unfortunately couldn't get away this weekend but dropping the family off at the airport 7am next Saturday then have the following 2 weekends free to fish and yak.. **Yippee**


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Well done on the yellas Karl. Great report too


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Hmm, could have sworn I posted another reply here, anyway. :roll:

Paffoh, I've noted you lads down there having some success with the Pakrats, great little lures.  You must have every colour available by the sounds too.

Richo, I'll know how the fish goes on the plate after tonights dinner. 

Danny, 2 weeks of fishing, woohoo, hope to see some good reports now that your drought has been broken. 8)

Thanks Dave, I was going to say sorry for writing a novel, but I haven't posted a decent report for a while and it really was a great morning. 

I forgot to add that on the way back I lost the spinner bait, my sacrifice to the fishing gods, well worth it, and I'll be getting some more spinnerbaits for sure.


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Karl , great fishing and as usual top photos, must be great to fish in country like that, that new yak is certainly looking after you


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Cool


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

g'day YakAtak, bloody awesome looking yella's... well done mate.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Cheers Smurfy. 
Skinned the fillets, chopped into managable chunks, soaked in salt brine for a few hours, then coated in egg and bread crumbs, then deep fried, very nice indeed. Mum reckons you would be hard pressed to beat it with any fish, but I think she just likes to say that when I bring home fish.  
Having said that, it went down a bloody treat with chips and salad. 
After a bit of discussion on the ausfish forum, I'm deeply concerned that my poorly attached stinger hook cost me my first ever fresh water cod.  
The weight was huge, the fish didn't take off like a rocked, but the thing that really stuck in my mind was the way the line moved from side to side so much as he came near the surface. Oooh it hurts. :x


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

great work karl, 
thats some sorta yella mate (55cm)

looks like a pretty place hey, might have to get up there to have a fish with ya soon mate.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

absolutely Ben, PM me anytime, I'm always keen, especially now that I know where that dam cod lives!


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2006)

Great results Karl 

So when are you heading back?

Also what size/depth Pakrats are you using?

cheers


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Cheers Sel, the pakrat's I have had success with are the little blokes, 45mm? something like that, and I think they dive to about 3m, the bass I got were only little ones and in quite shallow water. 
I'll be back up there as soon as I can get some more bloody spinnerbaits! Not a shop in town with a single decent lure, all cheap shit at top dollar prices, it's a joke, gonna have to order some off lureworld. :wink:


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