Bevan, Dave, Don and Frank gathered at Grady’s Retreat on the Shoalhaven River approximately 20 kms west of Nowra to try their skills at catching a few bass.
This follows a similar outing in February of this year when good sized bass were caught by Bevan and Don.
Unfortunately the previous week had significant rainfall and a substantial flow of beer-coloured fresh water was coming down the river. Whilst the river still rose and fell with the tides, at no time could any salt be tasted in the water. This contrasted with February when the flow of fresh water was almost nil.
The first days fishing produced no fish at all, and no sign of any fish. The usual fishing spots were noticeably more difficult to fish because of the faster flows. On the second day, the river had cleared and dropped a bit, but still no sign of fish.
Due to an unfortunate omission of underpants on one persons trip-list, a visit was made to McCallums fishing store in Nowra (it is suspected that the underway foray to Grace Bros was really an excuse to visit the tackle shop). The tackle shop advised that bass were normally around in that part of the river from October to March, and that the only chance of finding fish, if any, was to fish deep with a sinking line. This still didn’t produce any fish.
On the third day the group decided to go to Shoalhaven Heads (about 15 kms east of Nowra) and try fishing the estuary for flathead. Again the estuary, normally very salty, was estimated to be about 98% beer coloured fresh water, and no fish were caught. The estuarine area also appeared totally devoid of baitfish or any other fish life. There was a report of a large flathead being caught in one of the deeper channels, which led to the following theory: Salt water being more dense than fresh, at times of substantial freshwater flow, the fish retreat to the portions of salt water that come in with the tide and push in under the less dense fresh water. This fits in with the “fish deep for bass” advice.
Notwithstanding the poor fishing, some nice wines were consumed in convivial company, being supported by fine crisp autumn weather. Grady’s lived up to its name as a peaceful semi-bushland retreat and was very pleasant.
Dave Vale