MAY is usually a good time to hit the dams and catch plenty of fish. You do find sometimes that they can be in a transition from their summer homes to winter hangouts, however, so they may be neither here nor there just yet – depending on water temperature.

At this time of the year they’re usually very eager to chew on something. Whether it’s reaction baits or plastics, there is usually something that will tempt them. Be prepared to have a few rods rigged with different styles of lures and alternate your casts until you find what they prefer to bite. Being able to fish different techniques properly is just like a golfer being able to get out of sand bunkers as well as being good at putting. It’s no good going to the dam and throwing plastics all day – if that’s what you’re good at – if the fish are eating spinnerbaits!

Peter Keidge recently won an BASS electric competition on Lenthalls Dam by burning Jackall lipless crankbaits across shallow flats. He also won the last comp there using spinnerbaits hard against the weedbeds and in the channels.

So why would he be so good there when he never fishes it at any other time? Because Lenthalls is very similar to his home dam, Maroon, where you quickly learn that if you can’t master all our learnt techniques you’ll miss out on catching fish on certain days. There is also that knowledge of how the fish like a certain lure presented, the time of day, colour, profile, vibration level and so on. Most of this information comes with experience on the water, even if someone else gives you a few clues to get started.

Be prepared to experiment in Maroon and Moogerah this month, because if the dams don’t get a decent inflow of water the fish aren’t going to be hard to find in the small area that’s left. If the water stays dirty in Moogerah, spinnerbaits are probably going to work most of the time. If the water clears it might be worth trying plastics if things are quiet.

Be aware that the area where people are launching and retrieving their boats at both dams can become very slippery after rain.

If you’d like more information about a charter on the dams, visit my website at www.greenfish.com.au or give me a call on (07) 5463 4096 or 0407 596 814.