Fish of course! Despite feeling like absolute garbage when I woke up at 5am on Friday there was absolutely no question - I've been stuck at home for the best part of two weeks, I need some outside time, I need to go fishing.

Kurwongbah was the easy choice, I really needed a water way that didn't require a lot of brain power (I was experiencing the COVID fog...) and to be completely honest, everywhere is fishing so badly at the moment it seemed kinda pointless to put myself through a long drive somewhere new.

Despite BOM's prediction of 'light winds by mid morning' it was freezing cold and blowing a gale when I arrived at the late. Another bloody kick in the pants, I've literally been up every morning this week gazing at clear blue skies and completely still trees... But hey, what can you do?!

As with all the sessions over the last couple of months, it was incredibly tough going. The weed has receded a lot from it's absolutely crazy takeover but there's still a lot about which makes finding fishable water a challenge. I kept a keen eye on the sounder but it didn't reveal any fish until I got much further up the lake. Not surprisingly, the windy conditions weren't really ideal for worm fishing and the 5 bass I managed to scrape were all caught on the gangbanger g2 or the Rapala Rap-V Blade 'Halloween'. I only had one fish on the worms, an absolutely blistering take completely out of the blue along the bay near the dam wall.

I decided to call it a day around 2pm feeling pretty sorry for myself - 5 fish from around 6 hours of fishing is a pretty poor result! But it does give you an idea just how tough it is at the moment... And despite the wind it was glorious to be out on the water, it really lifted my spirits after the misery of the last month.

But I'm home now, still testing positive for COVID, still feeling like crap, still can't talk... Good golly, I hope this is over soon!

I guess it's a combination of the terrible weather we've been having since Christmas in Southeast Queensland followed by the recent drop in temperature as we've begun moving into winter. Either way, the edge bites have pretty much dried up and that can mean only one thing: worms! Last year they proved to be an absolute blank saver and this year appears to be no different.

As today wasn't going to be a long session I headed straight up the lake to 'motorsport bay', pretty much the only location on the lake I've had semi consistent action in the last couple of sessions. There seems to be a channel in the weed that's been carved out by the ski boats and although it's only around 10 metres long and 3 metres wide, the fish seem to be happy to school up there.

This is were the sounder is an invaluable bit of kit as it allows you to 'see' were the weed starts and finishes along with showing the schools of fish. It didn't take long to find them, hugging the bottom in around 10 metres of water and true to form them were on the worms in seconds. The takes are blistering, the drop shot paternoster rig giving the most amazing hook holds in the top lip - it really is the best presentation for fishing directly down from the kayak.

As long as I could get a worm around the fish, my cheap-as-chips AliExpress bargain $40 telescopic rod and reel combo was screaming away with each fish buckling the rod right over (the tip is crazy soft, perfect for having a 'sleeper' rod out as it really absorbs the initial run).

What really surprised me though was I actually managed a couple of fish on a black soft plastic grub that I was casting around while waiting for the worm rod to roar off! It's the first time I've got fish on plastics at Kurwongbah so it was a bit of a bonus.

I left once the wind got up having had 7 or so fish with a couple lost which wasn't a bad result considering the conditions.

I was on the water by 6am and as I had to be off by 11am so I wasted no time heading up the lake and around the corner to a productive spot. The first thing I remembered was how accurate you need to be with casting! Kurwongbah is pretty forgiving but Enoggera requires you to get that lure right on the edge if not in the lily pads to stand a chance of tempting a bass to come out and strike...

My first chance came surprisingly early with a fish grabbing at the lure as it hit the edges which sadly didn't result in a hook up. But it was a couple of casts later that I got my first decent hit. And what a fish it turned out to be, I've never seen a bass like this before - it was a deep as it was long and the tummy on it!

As usual with Enoggera, the spot went dead after that one fish so I began moving down the margin. This side of the lake has been by far the most productive to date and true to form I managed to pick off a number of fish including yet another weird one. This guy looked like he'd ran into a wall, defo a face only a mother could love!

Working down the margin continued to produce fish but the wind that had been gently blowing me along began to pick up and with limited time I decided to head over the lily pad rafts at the far end of the lake for a go. This are is great if the wind has got up as you can anchor yourself in a set of pads and cast around to the others with minimum disturbance. I swear that 9 times out of 10 you get a bass from under where the lily pads you're sat on rather than the ones you're casting too...

I managed to picked one more off from my favourite margin on the way back up the lake before calling it a day. So not a bad session! The fella right at the beginning was defo 'fish of the day' and it still puts a smile on my face when I think about him, just the weirdest looking bass ever!

If you're after some tips about how to fish Enoggera, check out the videos from PTPFishing on YouTube - Peter is a bit of a guru when it comes to this place, I wouldn't have caught half the fish if it wasn't for his advice!

Amazingly, despite it being the King's birthday long weekend I pretty much had the entire lake to myself! I guess with so many sporting activities going on, everyone was either otherwise engaged or (more likely!) had blistering hangovers... Lucky for for me the only sport I'm interested in is fishing!

With sunrise at 6.30am it wasn't a crazy early start and as predicted it was a nice sunny warm morning. It didn't take long to find some fish, good old 'Toga Point' producing a number of small bass pretty quickly. Interestingly no takers on the worm rod but that may have been explained by the amount of surface activity, the water was alive with all sorts of things jumping and showing.

Once the bites dried up, I headed onto 'Fence Bay' and again was rewarded with a small bass but sadly I have a feeling a couple of cormorants patrolling the water had put the fish on edge... So I didn't hang around and headed over the way to 'Stag Bay' where again it didn't take long to find some fish. Again, nothing big which was no bad thing as somehow my landing net had fallen out of the kayak when I paddled out of 'Fence Bay'.... Far out, lucky for me I'd put segments of pool noodle on the hoop so it was floating and easy to find again.

By this time the 'Kurwongbah wind' had kicked and my flat calm morning was gone. The fishing did improve though as I made my way along the bank, picking off a number of decent fish. I sometimes wonder if a bit of water movement and noise gets the fish fired up?

The other change was the appearance of a water ski boat... The wake from the boat coupled with the waves generated by the wind was making things a little harder so it was on again to my favourite spot, 'Kangaroo Point'. The fish were defo getting bigger and despite the wind increasingly getting on my nerves I was having a ball.

I stuck it out for a while longer before making my way back down the lake, stopping in at 'Toga Point' for a couple of fish before calling it a day in 'White Tree Bay', even managing to pick up a couple of fish during the outro for the video.

Time was marching on by now and as it was already 2pm I decided to call it a day. Such a cracking time on the water, it was interesting to see how the conditions changed the fishing and how things are changing with the seasons. Gotta love a good session at Kurwongbah!

Unusually for me, this was going to be an afternoon session at Lake Kurwongbah and with only 3 hours on my hands before sunset, I wasted no time paddling up the lake. A quick stop at 'Toga Point' didn't yield any fish so I quickly moved onto 'Fence Bay' and was rewarded with a cracking bass on the 1st cast! Luckily for me, there were a number of fish around including a quality 34cm bass.

All in all I picked off 5 decent fish in 6 casts, which was a bit of a result. I was fully expecting to pick up some more on my way back to the landing station but sadly there were no more takers, despite the conditions looking bang on. Perhaps Kurwongbah bass are morning rather than evening biters?! It was great to see the sun go down over the lake (makes a change from seeing it come up!) and I headed home a happy angler.