How to Catch Saratoga and Bass on Lake Borumba

LAST month, good mate Ryan Speare and I ventured inland from Brisbane to see if we could get amongst some freshwater action.

Lake Borumba was our destination and is located about two hours’ drive northwest of Brisbane, making it an ideal spot for a weekend away. The campground at Lake Borumba is beautiful. Lush green grass surrounded by towering trees makes for a cool and tranquil spot. It has power, amenities and a small shop for basic needs.

Imbil is a 15-minute drive from the lake and features a pub, Friendly Grocer and cafes, meaning you are able to easily access more supplies. A warning that there is basically no phone reception around here.

We arrived at Lake Borumba on a Wednesday afternoon, and after setting up camp we drove up the hill to launch the boat. The lake was a lot bigger than we had imagined, with trees, lily pads and weed edges making it hard to choose where to start. Quite a lot of people were fishing the deep edges and drop-offs with soft plastics and vibes but I have never had any success with those techniques, so instead stuck with what I knew.

I usually fish tidal areas for bass, targeting where they hide around structure, so at Borumba I initially went to a bay that had snags absolutely everywhere. We were there for about 30 minutes and didn’t get a touch, so I sat down for a minute and thought about what we were doing.

With the sun still fairly high, I knew the fish would be seeking shade. And as a southeasterly wind was blowing, I knew from fishing Lake Monduran that baitfish get pushed with the wind and the predatory fish follow. So I found an edge that had a big lily pad bed all the way along it. The wind was pushing right onto the lily pads and I felt a lot more confident about this location.

Within five casts, Ryan landed his first saratoga, and not long after, we each had a bass hit the deck, which filled us both with confidence. It is definitely worthwhile stopping for a moment and thinking about why you are fishing a particular area. You need to consider the weather, boat traffic, water depth, water temperature and all other factors influencing where the fish will be. We were able to land fish almost instantly just by moving to a bank with a large amount of shade under the lily pads and the wind pushing onto it.

Another hugely important factor to consider is your lure type. When freshwater fishing in the upper Pine Rivers I use a soft plastic with a jig spinner attached, and I normally use a small white paddle tail because this best imitates the mullet that live in the same area. However, at Borumba I noticed a lot of shrimp, bony bream and garfish swimming around on the surface, so we used soft plastics to match.

Ryan used a brown curly tail to imitate a shrimp and I tied on a green and white paddle tail to imitate the bony bream and garfish. Well, the predatory fish smashed both presentations.

Another important factor to consider when fishing a new area is the time. Ryan and I were extremely excited to fish surface right on dark, but in a new area you need to be extremely cautious because fishing the evening bite means you will get back to the boat ramp after dark. I have a built-in GPS in my sounder, so I was confident in getting back safely, but this certainly needs to be considered, especially at Lake Borumba where timber comes out of the water everywhere.

If you are struggling when fishing a new area, it is good to talk to people at the local boat ramp. On Friday afternoon a beautiful Skeeter pulled in. It was decked out with stickers everywhere, advertising sponsorship from Humminbird and so on.