An early start was in order as the reservoir gets crazy busy at the weekend, so I was up before sunrise leaving the house at 5.30am and getting on the water by 6am - just in time for the sun to pop up over the dam wall and treat me to a glorious yellow glow across the water.
As predicted, it was busy with the lower car parks already bustling with other kayakers and stand-up-paddleboarders. I also bumped into two other angers... but more on that later...
As it was already busy around the landing stage and main drag down to the dam wall I decided to paddle hard and make my way right to the other end of the water. It was at this point that I had my first mishap of the day in the shape of forgetting to put the scupper plugs in the rear storage section of the kayak... Luckily I hadn't sunk but I had drowned my bag, my shoes, my food... Lesson learned, don't always be in such a rush!
Sadly 5 minutes after that, I had my second mishap - I'd made a few casts to get my eye in and was going well when the line went slack when chucking to a set of lily pads. Weird I thought, I wonder if I'd hooked something behind me or forgot to tighten the clutch when 'sposh' the lure landed a couple of metres in front of the kayak. I've no idea how but the knot had slipped and the leader had completely unraveled from the mainline! What the hell?!?! That was a brand new lure, it's first outing on the water and it just whistled over my head into oblivion. Second lesson learnt, always check your knots - not just when you tie them but after you've cast them as once they're wet they may let you down.
I tried a few more spots along the way down the lake but it was hard to resist the temptation of hitting the 'hot spot' from the previous couple of sessions early on to see if there were any fish around. But on this occasion, there weren't - I gave it a good half an hour, probably longer than I should've but with no takers I decided to head directly across the water to another spot we'd checked out last weekend.
Luckily for me, this new spot produced my first bite of the day! By no means a monster, but very welcome. The bite came from casting tight to one of the rafts of lily pads in the area and I really thought that once I'd hooked one, there'd be more waiting. But no dice. After a good 30 minutes of casting around to every likely spot I decided to head to some much needed shade, rest up for a moment and eat my now soggy breakfast...
I figured then it'd be worth moving onto the next spot which is pretty much as far as I've paddled down the lake and again, casting to the rafts of lily pads produced the second bite of the day! As with the previous fish, I really thought it would kick off with at least one more bite but after another solid half hour of casting around with nothing to show for my efforts it was time to move on again.
This end of the lake had given me a clear view along the length of the water and I'd noticed the other two anglers I'd met at the landing stage making their way along the far side. As they were so close, I figured it would only be polite to check in on how they were getting on but sadly they too were struggling and hadn't managed to snag a fish.
From what I can tell, Enoggera can be a very tough water!
By this time the sun was high in the sky, the temperature had shot up and a steady wind was blowing down the water making it hard to keep the kayak from drifting. So I decided to call it a day and make my way back to the landing stage. By this time, there were loads of people on the water including an incredibly noisy group of 10 or so girls on paddle boards. As they were next to another one of the 'hot spots' near the point opposite the dam wall I almost considered not bothering having a cast... But I was really surprised when I had a couple of missed bites! I think the noise and commotion on the water may have made the bass wary and they were only really nipping at the lure but it was interesting that it hadn't pushed them completely out of the area.
So there you go, another enjoyable morning up at Enoggera Reservoir with a couple of fish to show for it. There's defo some bigger fish in there and from what I've been told, they may start showing themselves once the weather and the water starts to cool down a bit. But for now, I'm simply loving being regularly fishing again and to be that close to the water on a kayak is just excellent.