Fly River Season Opener 2018!

To start our 2018 season off, we were joined by 5 of our bluewater regulars from Japan, who decided to give black bass a go. From Brisbane Australia, we had Brad aka Bundy Bear and his mate Bryce.

We started off in one of our spots which was about a 10 hour steam from the airstrip where we picked up the guests. 1st day of fishing went off! I had Bryce and Brad in the boat with me, with Bryce being a bass virgin, it didn't take long to break him in as he was able to land a smashing 28lb bass in the first troll of the day. Pretty amazing achievement for a bloke that is blind.

Each boat was producing fish, with Mea and Kinai nosing up to the breakthroughs on the oxbows and casting in, and getting demolished by some very big bass. Every time I saw Moli with Kazu and Natsumi, they were driving out from a snag with a bass in tow. Big Fikai was doing his own thing down the river in his "secret" spot producing the goods for Daiki and Miki. At the end of the day, spirits were high and the beers were flowing.

Myself and Moli decided to not push our luck at the first spot, so we decided to steam up to the Herbert where there are always good numbers and good sized bass. After a 130NM steam up river, we were met with less than ideal conditions.

We surveyed our normal spots and found some good sized bass that belted the hell out of the boys. We ended up with 30 odd bass and a few barra by midday but that was all off the only spot that was fishable in the whole river, so we decided to push back down the river and head back up the fly to a swamp that sits 300NM from the mouth of Fly River. The decision ended up being the right one with bass and barra being landed left right and center.

Steaming in between spots, we see Fikai and Kinai pulled up on the long grass in one of the gutters waving their arms around lake mad men. I'm thinking, oh shit, Fikai has broken down. As we get closer I see the tail of a monster barra that Fikai has over the side of the boat attached to the bogas. The fish measured in at 127 cm and weighed 58lbs. Straight after releasing the horse, he landed another that went 102cm.

The next few days we kept a steady pace, with reasonable sized bass coming in and a hell lot of barra. The barra were that thick, we ended up speeding up our trolls and retrieves so the bass could have a chance at the lure. On the last day, in tru Moli tin ass style, he decided to show the rest of us up by boating 43 bass and barra in the afternoon session. All in all, it was a great trip with great weather and a great bunch of guys that I can't wait to get back on board.