Having a ball on Lake Borumba

I’VE had one hell of a month fishing Lake Borumba with multiple clients.

At this time of year we experience some of the best fishing you can experience at the lake. The bass move into the deep water to school, just as they would in saltwater estuaries. But because they can’t get to salt water, all they do is school up. The main basin has been the best place to target these fish, in anything from 7.5-15m of water.

As you drive up the lake, look for big points or flats and this is where they’ll be holding.  The best baits for this time of year are heavy lures such as 1/2oz blades, Berkley Gulps rigged on 5/8oz jig heads and Smak Ice Jigs. The key is to always keep the lure right on the bottom because this is where the fish will be.

I’ll give you a run-down on a charter I did mid-July where we caught 48 fish for the session. I took father and son Myles and Teddy Conroy out to Lake Borumba after picking them up from Noosa.  This is part of the service I provide at Untapped Fishing Expeditions. The boys were blown away by the scenery on the drive out to the dam and we even stopped into the Imbil Bakery for a jam doughnut.

When we arrived at Borumba, we headed up the dam looking over various spots with my Humminbird sounder.  It took us about 20 minutes to find the fish schooling big time. The first lures I gave the boys to use were Smak Ice Jigs. These lures are fish-catching machines, especially at this time of year. It was quite funny as the boys dropped their lures and Myles’s lure didn’t actually get to the bottom before being smashed.

He was thinking ‘how easy is this?’ This fish was only small but still a great way to get started. The fish slowed after that but it was great to see the boys on the board. We headed up the dam a little further looking over a few flats and points before finding a decent school of fish in the junction of the timber. The boys continued using Smak Ice Jigs, getting used to how the lure worked, and they managed to catch a few more fish.

These fish were pretty decent, measuring around the 40cm mark. This school soon started to go a bit quiet, so we hopped up for a move. It was only 2pm by this stage and this is when the fishing started to get really good. We found a point the main creek channel wrapped around and it was the perfect depth of 7.5-9m. We used the same lures and it was a fish a drop for half an hour.

The boys went from 10 fish on the board to 30 fish in no time at all. Teddy even hooked an absolute cracker that went 50cm. It was a huge fish and you should have seen the smile on his face – it was absolutely priceless. The boys were pumped and we still had ages to go.

We cast a few blades around and managed quite a few more fish but nowhere near as many as we caught with the Smak Ice Jigs. These fish slowed right down after landing around 20 of them, so we headed to another spot not too far away. As soon as we sounded over the spot, all you could see was bulk bass. It was pretty much a repeat of before, with the boys landing another 18 fish including about 10 golden perch. I haven’t caught that many of them in a long time, so it was awesome to experience.

Lake Borumba is one of the best places in southeast Queensland to fish through winter, so if you’re in the area and wanting to fish the lake, jump over to untappedfishing.com.au or call 0412 887 651. Don’t miss this chance to have the session of a lifetime. You will learn so much about this amazing fishery.

Until next month, tight lines!