As you may have noticed, March has very much been Kayaking month and I've been hitting Enoggera Reservoir hard to hone my lure fishing skills and work out what the buzz about fishing for Australian Bass is all about.

The sessions haven't exactly been prolific... But after six or so outings on the water I've gradually been getting the hang of things, learning to spot the likely areas, get my casting accuracy on point and along the way I've been lucky enough to get a number of bites and fish per session (apart from the previous blank which we won't talk about!).

Today was no exception, the going was hard and the fish very twitchy - maybe due to the windy conditions? I'd headed to a likely looking spot I'd fished on previous visits which although hadn't produced a fish, had resulted in a solid knock on the last session and just screamed that it should do a bite...

And luckily for me it did! This fish was at least twice the size of anything I've caught to date and gave me a really good run around in the kayak - the bite was like steam train! The other great thing was this was on a lure I'd not caught on before, namely the Rapala Rap-V Blade 'Bud'.

Luckily I'd recently picked up a landing net otherwise I think it would've been a struggle to get it safely in the kayak... I've no idea on the weight/length but it was a solid chunky fish, defo larger than legal size (although of course it went back, strictly catch-and-release for these fish so someone else can enjoy catching them).

Apart a couple of missed bites, the rest of the session past without any more fish - but I think you'd agree this 'beast' more than made up for it?!

As you'll have seen from most of my blog posts and videos my main lure of choice has been the excellent Rapala Rap-V blade which has served me well at both Lake Kurwongbah and Enoggera Reservoir. But on recent sessions I had a feeling it wasn't getting down deep enough to where the fish were sitting. After a chat to the chaps at BCF about deep water fishing for bass, they suggested a much heavier lure in the form of the amusingly named 'Gangbanger G2', to be specific the 'Hot Bite Gangbanger G2 Jig Lure 20g Lickety Split'.​

Far out, this thing looks weird! But according to the blurb, it's:

• Ideal for fishing in impoundments
• Mimics a Bony Bream with its unique swimming action
• Rear weighted to improve casting distance and balance
• Bottom treble hook and top twin assist hooks to dig in
• Ideal for slow retrieve

All of those criteria matched exactly what I was after: according to the sounder, the fish were shoaled up in deeper open water and if I was going to have a chance in catching them I needed to get something down in front of them that had a slow enough retrieve that it had time to grab their attention.

A quick visit to Jason Ehrlich's YouTube channel to watch the aptly named 'How to use Gang Banger G2 Spoons to Catch Bass' and I was good to go.

As usual, it was a slow start... The lake was very calm with only one other kayaker on the water but it wasn't until I reached 'Toga Point' that I eventually found a group of fish. A worm bite quickly came and then out of the blue, I hooked a fish on the new lure! That was a bit of a result, both fish were smallish but it was a start.

And then the dreaded Kurwongbah wind got up... Pretty soon, there were white tips and ripples galore on the water which made keeping in the same spot virtually impossible. To add to my frustration, I somehow managed to completely lose sight of one of the H-Blocks I'd thrown out to mark my spot. It took me what seemed like an age to find it and if it hadn't have been for the eagles hovering and swooping on it I think I'd still be out there looking for it...

So I decided to move on up the lake and see if I could find a calm spot. The weed in 'Shed Bay' is still crazy thick and although some of the weed has receded in 'Kangaroo Point', both spots are still virtually unfishable. So I opted to head straight for the only reliable spot I've had in recent weeks, the margin towards the entrance to 'Motorsport Bay'. It wasn't easy, but I managed a couple of fish, two on the worms and another on the new lure. Again, pretty small but it was fish in the kayak which cheered me up.

And then from nowhere the wind got worse and dark clouds started to roll down the lake... Rain?! It wasn't forecast but then again, neither was the wind! It was time to beat a hasty retreet for home but luckily for me I spied a big group of fish just off the point at 'kangaroo Point' on my way and decided to have a few casts, keeping the lure close to the kayak and letting it rise and fall on the retrieve and... bang! Fish of the session! I've not got a measuring tape on the paddle at the moment, but I gave it a guesstimation of around 38cm. A top quality winter bass to wrap the day up.

By the time I got back to the launching area it was blowing a gale and I was soaked from a rain shower - but I'd caught fish in tough conditions using a new lure which put a big 'ol smile on my face! Fingers crossed the weather will hold for next week and I can give it another go.

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.

So first up I'd like to give full credit to Peter Jung at @PTPFishing for teaching me this set up. He has an excellent video linked below where he talks about how he sets up his lures for weedless fishing from his kayak.

If you're looking for info on fishing from a kayak around the Brisbane area, his YouTube channel is well worth checking out. He's given me loads of advice and really helped me catch my first Australian Bass from Enoggera Reservoir.

So first things first, you're going to need some Rapala Rap-V Blade Fishing Lures. The best source I've found so far is the HookedOnline fishing store, either on eBay or via their website. The lures are currently $14.95 a pop including free shipping which is a bargain. The store is located at Jacobs Well so postage was super quick, I had my lures in a couple of days.

The good news is that they also sell the other kit you need, namely some size 4 circle hooks, some size 6 circle hooks and some size 2 split rings. Another item that's worth it's weight in gold is some split ring pliers, I picked some Jarvis Walker Pro Series ones from Anaconda​ for all of $10.

Once you've got all your kit, it's a case of removing the double and treble hooks that come with the lure, fitting the split rings the top and base and then threading on the hooks.

The advice from Peter is to use a size 4 for the front hook and a size 6 for the back, reason being that the the front hook is the one that generally picks up the fish so it's worth upping the size.

The end result looks great! And it works too, it fishes really well when casting tight to the lily pads (I've lost count of the amount of times I thought I'd get snagged up and the lure just pulls through) and the hook up rate I've had when I've got a bite has been 100%.

After the success of my previous session where I landed my first Australian Bass (and lost a bloody monster!) I wasted no time and pretty much headed straight to the latest 'hot spot'. And it didn't disappoint, after half an hour of casting around I had my first bite and a plump Enoggera Bass was in the kayak. Having had one, I figured it couldn't hurt to keep casting and after working the shore line for another 20 minutes I had my second strike of the afternoon. Pretty stunning, I really wasn't expecting to have two in such a short space of time. Sadly the fish jumped from my hand before I managed to get a picture - so you'll just have to believe me on that one!

However at the point the bites dried up. The weather however didn't dry up... There'd been some rumblings of thunder over my shoulder and when I spun the kayak around to check out the sky I was greeted with boiling black clouds.

Time to beat it for home! As I paddled hard down the reservoir the first drops of rain had begun to fall and by the time I'd made it back to the car all hell had let loose. Luckily I managed to get the kayak loaded before the deluge started...

So not bad! A couple of hours on the water, a couple of fish and some more well spent time in the kayak - happy days!