Nelson report

[Broomstick]

G'day guys,
A few of you might have read in another thread that I drove up to Adelaide for a conference last week, and the plan was to pop in to Nelson on the way home. Well as they often do, my plans changed and I had to drive home straight after the conference on the Thursday. On Friday night after everything had been sorted at home, I was sitting on the couch dreaming of the monster bream, perch and mulloway that I might have been catching at Nelson and I thought screw it, I'm driving there anyway! So I chucked my dog Louie in the car and off I went.

I was still a little unsure of my hasty decision as I cruised down the western highway, but as the sun broke through the clouds illuminating the road to Nelson, I knew I'd made the right choice:



Louie was a little less inspired though:



So 5 and a half hours later we arrived at our destination and I had no idea where to go! I decided to find a quiet spot on the river to sleep the night and I couldn't resist having a quick flick despite the sub-zero temperatures. But all I managed was this little bridled goby who took a liking to a cranka vibe:

[Broomstick]

When I lost feeling in my fingers I decided it was time to hit the hay so I crawled into my cosy bed:



And was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. After sleeping like a rock I was up with the sun the next morning and it was bloody freezing! 2 degrees according to the car:



And it felt even colder. But as the steam lifted from the river I could tell it was going to be a ripper of a day!

[Broomstick]

I decided to have a flick in the same spot as the night before and after I didn't get a sniff on plastics, vibes, blades or cranks I thought it was time to move. So I headed down river towards the mouth and found a spot that looked fishy:



I tied on a trusty 80mm bloodworm wriggler and second cast I was on!



To a beautiful little perch. I was stoked! I chucked him back with a massive grin on my face and what do ya know, next cast I was on again!

[Broomstick]

To an even bigger perch! It's hard to tell from the pics but this guy was a really nice fish (I didn't get a measure but easily the biggest perch I'd ever caught). This pic gives a bit of perspective on size - that's a size 12 shoe:



I couldn't believe my luck, I'd hit the jackpot. After releasing this big beauty I flicked a cast in the exact same spot and the wriggler hadn't even hit the bottom before I was on again!



Another beautiful perch. Three fish in three casts! I couldn't believe it. By now the long drive was a distant memory and I was having an absolute ball. The dog didn't quite understand my excitement though:

[Broomstick]

The fish seemed to wizen up to my plastic after this and in the next 45mins or so I only got one more perch, so I decided it was time to change tactics and tie on a blade. And sure enough, third cast I was on:




Another awesome perch. I caught one more perch on a blade before the bite shut down completely, but by now I was one happy camper. If I didn't catch another fish for the whole weekend I could leave satisfied, but I was pumped and couldn't wait to explore a new area. So I jumped in the car, had a bite to eat, and headed up river to see what I could find. I quickly found out why everyone says it's hard to fish the glenelg without a boat - thick bush and steep banks made it very difficult to get access to the river in the fishier looking spots. But after a solid couple of hours exploring (and after passing a monster male emu with a group of chicks - so cool) I finally found a spot that looked the goods:

[Broomstick]

Well I threw everyone I had at this spot: plastics, blades, vibes, shads, cranks, crabs, but all I could rustle up were two tiny bream on a zx30:




But I wasn't fazed, it was a beautiful place and I still loved every minute of it. I decided it was time to explore a new spot so I made my way back to the car and headed to the mouth of the river:

[Broomstick]

This was a beautiful spot. I couldn't get over the colour of the water:



Is it always this saphire blue? The dog sure loved it:

[Broomstick]

For some unknown reason I decided to leave the rod in the car while I explored the mouth, and ended up just going on a long walk on the beach with the dog - it really is a beautiful part of the world. I um'd and ah'd about whether to head back to car and grab my rod or head back to the perch spot for the last of the light, and in the end the pull of the perch won out. So I headed back up river and sure enough first cast with a wriggler at the perch spot and I was on again:



This place was unreal. I decided to throw a few different lures and got a couple of fish on a dunk:

[Broomstick]

And as the sun disappeared I got a couple of fish on a bent minnow, which I was stoked about as they were my first perch on a surface lure:




I had a few casts with a popper without any luck and despite perch boofing the surface everywhere, I decided it was time for bed. So I jumped into my sleeping bag and immediately fell into a very satisfied sleep. I woke up the next morning to another beautiful sunrise:

[Broomstick]

But I was in a dilemma: should I hit the perch spot again, or head to the mouth? In the end the allure of perch on surface lures won out and I headed back to the perch spot. But 2 hours later without a hit and I was beginning to regret my decision. The fish had gone off the chew completely! I was ready to move spots when I decided to have a few casts with a cranka crab (after seeing a few crabs crawling amongst the rocks) and second cast I was snagged. I was spewing as this was my last olive crab and as I started flicking the rod to dislodge it, it started moving! Straight towards a snag. I couldn't believe it - I wasn't sure if the fish had taken me into the snag initially, or if it had eaten it off the snag, but either way this was a big fish! After some fancy rod work and more than a few nervous moments a beautiful perch surfaced:




I'm not sure if he was the biggest of the weekend, but he sure put up the biggest fight! And he came out of a nasty snag: