Sports Tuition

During summer, if you're planning to fish Hinze Dam, make sure you're on the water at the right time. You'll find that the bass will completely shut down in the middle of the day and it's not that pleasant being out there in extreme heat. You're best placed to fish early morning or late in the afternoon when the bass are actively feeding. Surface poppers will entice bass during these key times and it's definitely an exhilarating experience to catch bass as they rise and smash surface lures.

Hinze Dam is a fairly large body of water. Its storage capacity is 161, 070 million litres, covering a surface area of 972 hectares. The capacity of the dam at the moment is 87.4%. The Hinze Dam Alliance is proceeding with the Stage 3 raising of the dam wall which will see a further 15 metres added by late 2010. This will provide an additional 309, 700 million litres of additional water storage capacity. And with an increase in storage capacity the Hinze Dam Fish Advisory Committee will be able to allocate more finglings to the stocking program each year. So basically, more water, more fish, and when the project is completed, and the dam's not at full capacity, I'm predicting some awesome fishing times ahead.
In such a large body of water, you've got to locate the fish and at Hinze the predominant species is Australian bass. I find Humminbird sounders to be very reliable, but for those who don't own one and are keen to explore the dam, I'm going to give you some key locations to try. Maps of the dam are available when you purchase your permit. There are a few locations where you can purchase permits. They are Nerang Disposals Camping & Outdoor Store, Miami Bait & Tackle, Doug Burt's Tackle World and Southport Fishing & Dive Centre.

Sports Tuition recently conducted a father and son fishing weekend, and by tracking the movements of this group and stating where the fish were caught, it may help others planning a trip to utilise their time on the water.

Hinze Dam is an electric motor only fishery, so bear that in mind when travelling times are mentioned. And obviously it depends on the size of the electric motor being used and the type of craft. The Sports Tuition fleet consists of Rosco Canoes which are powered by 40lb Minn Kota electric motors and Quintrex 370 Travellers which are powered by 55lb Minn Kota electric motors. The streamline canoes move much quicker through the water, but since most anglers use boats, I'll use those travelling times as a guide.

Launching from the Numinbah Valley, the group headed into the main body of the dam. At the moment it's not worthwhile fishing the very far upper reaches as there just simply haven't been that many fish caught in this region of late. The first stop was roughly 20 minutes into dam and it was productive. These far upper regions of the dam aren't named on the map, but it is the second right hand bend of the dam, and working this grassy stretch of bank produced quite a few bass which have been schooling here for the past couple of months. The bass have been holding close to this bank. So the boats where positioned only 5-7m from the edge.

Moving farther into the dam, the next point of call was a further 15 minute boat trip and it was the steep rocky wall of Roy's Run which has fished pretty well over the past couple of months, however, only one good bass was caught in this location, so the group moved on pretty quickly. Moving across directly opposite from Roy's Run happened to produced quite a few bass.

The next point of call was Ian's Island. Fishing behind this Island regularly produces some good size bass, but on this occasion it produced nothing, so the group motored 10 minutes back across to the eastern side of the dam and fished the inlets of Banjo's Bay. These two small inlets produced some solid bass. Bass were caught throughout these inlets with some being caught off the points, some in the centre and some right up close to the bank in shallow, shaded areas.

From this location, the group started heading back towards the ramp, fishing some points in the far upper reaches along the way. Battery power is always a key issue covering this much distance and I would recommend two good batteries to ensure you arrive back at the ramp without having to paddle.

The group managed to catch mainly bass over the course of their journey. There was one eel tailed cat fish and one silver perch, but no yellowbelly or saratoga on this occasion. The yellows have been hanging around the steep rocky ledges like Roy's Run, but the group just didn't catch any on this particular trip. Hinze Dam bass have a very clean, white fillet and are a great eating fish. The group were on a weekend trip, so bass were kept and prepared for dinner.

Hinze Dam is daylight fishing hours only, so bear that in mind when you're planning a trip. If you work the key times and locations, a half day on the water is plenty and it will ensure you avoid the heat of the day. There is a wide array to techniques you can use to entice bass. Surface poppers, hard bodied diving lures, lipless crank baits, spinner baits, blades, soft plastics, fly, and if all else fails, use live bait such as shrimp, freshwater yabbies or worms.


Kiah caught plenty of bass like this one.


Henry was happy with his bass that would later become his dinner.


Robbert picked up this bass off a point opposite Roy's Run.


The author with a 38cm bass that was caught close to the bank in the shade of Banjo's Bay.


Thomas enjoyed catching three bass in a row off a point in the far upper reaches. Bass do school up and where you get one, you're more than likely going to get a few.


Back at the campsite James took the opportunity to get some fish filleting instruction from Brad, a Sports Tuition staff member.


After the filleting, it was up to some of the boys to breadcrumb the fillets.