The first day-and-a-half proved why it is the premier yellow belly dam within NSW, with multiple trophy yellow nelly hitting the deck of the boat. But as most good things, they must come to an end.

Day two started the same as the others, with calm waters and plenty of fish lining the bank in 10 to 30 feet of water. We were all on the board quickly. 

But the weather caught up with us, and a westerly change started to roll in. This produced winds up to 30km/h and in a dam that predominantly is open land to the west, it gave us no reprieve.

Holding the bank with the electric or attempting to drift along with the wind was proving a little too difficult, and we all spent more time focusing on the boat movements rather than if we were connected to a fish or our lures.

With at least one trick left up our sleeve, we moved to the trees and began employing a tactic that is well known in the yellow belly tournament scene, affectionately known as rolling gulp.

Aching to the old bobbing Yabbie technique of bait fisherman, rolling gulp (or any plastic for that matter) is as simple as it sounds. 

Taking a quarter of an ounce of jig head with a black Berkley gulp plastic, you drop the bait to the bottom whilst tied up to the tree, and then simply slowly wind it up to the surface. If you receive a bite stop the lure, open your bail arm and let the lure drop for four to five seconds. Re-engage the reel and repeat the slow wind back past the area you received the hit. This will imitate a small shrimp or fish being stunned by the fish hitting it. And the next time you happen to drag it past their nose it may just result in the fish devouring the lure rather than playing with it. Lastly, move trees every 15-20 minutes if multiple drops come back untouched.

Rolling plastics in the trees is not only a great time killer while the wind is blowing or the edge bite is slow, but a simple, effective way to catch yellow belly that even young children can enjoy. Give it a go next time you’re on the water.

More to come from my trip in the next article.