A few months ago, I had the first bass photo sent in to me that I have seen since the stocking of blue rock bass commenced.

Since this article was released, I have been sent even more photos of bass and heard many more reports as well.

The bass stocking commenced in late 2002/early 2003 and around 20-25,000 were released into Blue Rock Dam. A 5-year stocking regime has now been approved whereby Blue Rock will be stocked for 5 years straight with Australian bass. We are now into our second year of this strategy and a review will take place at the end of the 5 years to see whether or not it is viable to continue the stocking program.

It looks promising, as we have recently heard of many bass reports coming from the dam. For the last couple of years I had only heard of anecdotal evidence of bass captures but now we are getting the proof.

Most of the bass seem to be around the same size, which is between 37-41cm, so one would think these are fish from the first stock class that went in around 2003. Bass have been caught mostly from the top end of the lake. This is perfect bass country because of all the timber in this area. In saying this, there are plenty of bays down low full of trees as well and there is quite a bit of structure down at the wall, so hopefully the bass are widespread throughout the lake.

To get to the top end of the lake, you basically need access with a boat, which is easier said than done due to the ridiculous restrictions that are enforced at Blue Rock. The current restrictions say that you cannot put a boat on the lake that has a motor exceeding 9.9hp. This is the stupidest rule I have ever heard as a speed limit would be a much smarter idea.

Plenty of bass lakes in NSW and QLD simply have speed limits but don’t restrict the size of engine a vessel has. Also, in the green world that we now live in, how does it make sense to let an angler on the water with a 30-year 9hp motor that has loads of emissions and spits out oil into the water, but a state of the art 90hp that has almost zero emissions can’t be put onto the lake and simply run at no more than 5 knots.

This just doesn’t make sense!

If we want to get this bass fishery up and running and promote tourism for the area, we need to let modern boats and motors of all size allowed on the water!

The best methods of catching bass here is a humble bunch of worms fished on a running sinker rig. Most of the bass reports I have heard have been caught via this method, but at least a couple of bass have been caught on hardbodied lures.

Now, the lake is very deep, but most of the bass seem to getting caught near the edges in the shallower water, so perhaps these are the areas to target with the lures. It is quite tough, as Blue Rock is huge and there are many areas to explore, so it stands the reason that it is going to take time for anglers to work out this water and for more reports to come in.

Either way it’s a good start and it’s definitely worth a look for any keen anglers that want to get a Blue Rock Bass under their belt.

For more information, contact Will at Allways Angling in Traralgon on 51748544. You will get expert advice and some great deals on fishing bait and tackle.

Jacob Hermit caught this genuine Blue Rock Australian bass last month with a bunch of worms. It measured approx 38cm and weighed 2.5lb in the old scale.