On the weekend of February 17/18 2018 , the club will be holding one of two annual Hawkesbury/Nepean bass catches. More information can be found here - link including how to register and what type of event it is. Also details on who to contact for information.
This time we intend to camp at Bents Basin, this may change depending on river conditions and so on,closer to the event.
The club is in it's 30th year of Bass Catch, thousands of fish from many locations in the river have had their lengths recorded in October and February each year. In that time there have been marked changes in the river in terms of how fish spread, with the introduction and maintenance of fish ladders in various parts of the system.
It isn't just for research purposes, it serves as a pure fishing experience and a place for like minded fishermen to gather and tell stories, some of them even true! For me personally, my first experiences of bass fishing came at a bass catch where I met many people that helped me on my fishing journey. 5 years down the track, I am almost starting to feel like I have a handle on how to find and catch the bronze battler.
The lower reaches can be fished from a boat and accessed from Windsor, as can the section upstream from the Tench Reserve at Jamisontown. The rest of the river is really a kayak only proposition with many different stretches to choose from, like the Camden stretch upstream or the Yarramundi stretch downstream, the Penrith stretch below the weir and the area around Yellowmundee.
You start to realise the size of the river and the value of it when you start to paddle it. You start to value it and then you want to take care of it, tell stories about it and make it important, in this way the club is about real conservation. Ordinary people wanting to make a difference to the environment and acting on it.
So come and join us in the 30th year of the Hawkesbury/Nepean bass catch. Feel free to join the club if you wish and help look after the Australian Bass the bronze battler.
Matt McHugh
VP Bass Sydney
