Hi Everyone,
For those who attended the talk on soft plastics last night at the Panthers Leagues Club attached are diagrams of the two knots that we use when fishing with soft plastics.
Loop Knot
Albright Special
http://www.netknots.com/html/albright_special.html
The actual knot is showed you last night qwas the improved albright which made the 10 turns down the line, not back up the line as domenstarted in this link i have supplied, but apart from that everything else is the exact the same process. If you have any issues tying these knots just let me know.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Fillet & Release???
Recently the recreational fishing sector has come under intense scrutiny from a number of areas. While we often fight against irrational policy making, lack of funding, the commercial sector and other lobbyists, the number one opposition to our passionate pastime are the dreaded greenies. No surprises there!
Apart from critical issues such as locking us out of our valuable waterways, a recent arguement has raised a fair bit of public commentary. Is it ethical to catch & release fish purely for sport??? On face value the question seems almost illogical, yet on further inspection probably commands some further thought.
Firstly, most fishermen consider themselves to be envirnmentalists. We usually all have a love of the outdoors and do our best to keep it in prime condition. Most adhere to the stringent regulations palced on us and follow the generous bag limits imposed. There are also another band of keen anglers who purely catch fish for the sport. They release everything they catch to help protect our dwindling fish stocks for future generations of fishermen. This band of conservation-minded fishos are growing rapidly. This trend has gained momentum from the catch and release tournamnet scene flourishing across Australia.
The arguement by the 'others' is quite basic. It is cruel to catch fish purely for the sport. It is inhumane to subject fish to pain and stress purely for our enjoyment. It matters little if the philosophy of catch and release actually aides their overall outcome of increased fish biomass, simple fact is they dont want anyone fishing.
Their retort to this actually contradicts what they stand for. They would prefer we keep everything we catch, as it it more ethical to fish for consumption than sustainability. Now, what they would prefer is to abolish catch and release in favour of a more dignified approach...fillet and release!
Apart from critical issues such as locking us out of our valuable waterways, a recent arguement has raised a fair bit of public commentary. Is it ethical to catch & release fish purely for sport??? On face value the question seems almost illogical, yet on further inspection probably commands some further thought.
Firstly, most fishermen consider themselves to be envirnmentalists. We usually all have a love of the outdoors and do our best to keep it in prime condition. Most adhere to the stringent regulations palced on us and follow the generous bag limits imposed. There are also another band of keen anglers who purely catch fish for the sport. They release everything they catch to help protect our dwindling fish stocks for future generations of fishermen. This band of conservation-minded fishos are growing rapidly. This trend has gained momentum from the catch and release tournamnet scene flourishing across Australia.
The arguement by the 'others' is quite basic. It is cruel to catch fish purely for the sport. It is inhumane to subject fish to pain and stress purely for our enjoyment. It matters little if the philosophy of catch and release actually aides their overall outcome of increased fish biomass, simple fact is they dont want anyone fishing.
Their retort to this actually contradicts what they stand for. They would prefer we keep everything we catch, as it it more ethical to fish for consumption than sustainability. Now, what they would prefer is to abolish catch and release in favour of a more dignified approach...fillet and release!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Old school with new tricks
I have had the pleasure over the past 4 or 5 seasons to open the eyes of some very important people in my life to the allure of soft lures. These important people were the cornerstone to my whole outlook on fishing. They fuelled the fire in my infancy, taught me the basics, helped me develop the patience,and gave me the appreciation of comraderie and mateship, beyond what is known outside the sphere recreational fishing.
My dad and grandfather have taken to plastics like any angling challenge in their life. My dad now sports more specialist sp outfits than bait rigs, a hobie to fish out of for his adjacent lake and braid coming out of his ears. He has all the elements in place to be a gun lure fisho. And to be honest he already is. I think it really appeals to his meticuluos nature.
My pop on the other hand is something different all together. Where my father was open to new ideas, listened to the mistakes i made and heeded the good oil to fast track his learning, much like i did when i was in his shoes years before, my pop has really run his own show. We all gave him the basics, told him what gear to use and what lures to use and where but he rarely listens.
I'm not sure if it is part of old age, he is 80 years old now and probably can't be given advice by a snot-nosed thrity-something. He will conceed we are onto a good thing though, but not initially.
I remember our first session together on sp's. It was in Botany. We landed over 30 flatties and good variety of by-catch. I was so excited for him cause he caught his fair share of fish. I was beaming with excitement and all he could muster was "they work ok...but they only catch flathead, no good for anything else". He's is a hard man to please! What made matters worse was he snapped the tip off his new graphite stick i bought him to get into the whole concept. "bloody rods break to easy...not as good as my ugly stick".
From those humble beginings has spawed a love affair for using platics now. He still will never admit it but i know he's keen when he rings me on a wednesday to tee up a session with me for the weekend. He knows i never use bait.
But the remarkle thing is he runs his own race. He used cheap old reels that wobble like a punch drunk boxer on his last legs. His rods are his trusty glass rods that weight more than my Navara. He will not conform. No matter how much i try and talk to him. But in essence this is what i love most. He defys the odds and still from time to time teaches me a lesson or two. It burns!
Last weekend at Botany he did it to me again. He pulled out his rods that barely have enough cotton on the bindings to hold on the guides, out came the DAM reels loaded with braid, probably thick enough to use as anchor rope, a jighead large enough to use off the continental shelf and he kicked butt. Go figure.
As a side note, the bay seems to be firing again. The winter chill has evaporated and the fish are ready to play ball. There a few kings getting around but they are timid. The flatties are VERY hungry and the tailor are a good class. The trevs seem to be a good size too with fish up to a kg roaming all over the bay.
My dad and grandfather have taken to plastics like any angling challenge in their life. My dad now sports more specialist sp outfits than bait rigs, a hobie to fish out of for his adjacent lake and braid coming out of his ears. He has all the elements in place to be a gun lure fisho. And to be honest he already is. I think it really appeals to his meticuluos nature.
My pop on the other hand is something different all together. Where my father was open to new ideas, listened to the mistakes i made and heeded the good oil to fast track his learning, much like i did when i was in his shoes years before, my pop has really run his own show. We all gave him the basics, told him what gear to use and what lures to use and where but he rarely listens.
I'm not sure if it is part of old age, he is 80 years old now and probably can't be given advice by a snot-nosed thrity-something. He will conceed we are onto a good thing though, but not initially.
I remember our first session together on sp's. It was in Botany. We landed over 30 flatties and good variety of by-catch. I was so excited for him cause he caught his fair share of fish. I was beaming with excitement and all he could muster was "they work ok...but they only catch flathead, no good for anything else". He's is a hard man to please! What made matters worse was he snapped the tip off his new graphite stick i bought him to get into the whole concept. "bloody rods break to easy...not as good as my ugly stick".
From those humble beginings has spawed a love affair for using platics now. He still will never admit it but i know he's keen when he rings me on a wednesday to tee up a session with me for the weekend. He knows i never use bait.
But the remarkle thing is he runs his own race. He used cheap old reels that wobble like a punch drunk boxer on his last legs. His rods are his trusty glass rods that weight more than my Navara. He will not conform. No matter how much i try and talk to him. But in essence this is what i love most. He defys the odds and still from time to time teaches me a lesson or two. It burns!
Last weekend at Botany he did it to me again. He pulled out his rods that barely have enough cotton on the bindings to hold on the guides, out came the DAM reels loaded with braid, probably thick enough to use as anchor rope, a jighead large enough to use off the continental shelf and he kicked butt. Go figure.
As a side note, the bay seems to be firing again. The winter chill has evaporated and the fish are ready to play ball. There a few kings getting around but they are timid. The flatties are VERY hungry and the tailor are a good class. The trevs seem to be a good size too with fish up to a kg roaming all over the bay.
Friday, September 4, 2009
South Alligator River
Hi Fisho's,
Just got back from a 3 day stint in the top end. Flew in to Darwin on a red-eye flight and arrived afetr midnight. 3am we pack the car and make the 2 hour drive into Kakadu and subsequently the boat ramp at the South Alligator.
On the weekend there were the year's smallest neaps; tidal variances were only 50mm at stages. The river was supposed to clean up and the fish able to bite freely. I have had a few trips north to trpoical locations that slightly disappointed when you consider the expectation placed on it by eager fisho's intent on catching more fish than at home. As most know though, fishing is rarely like that, fish bite when they bite, whether it's the untouched north or hard fished waters like sydeny harbour.
I had an idea of what i wanted to achieve over the few days i had. I knew we were going to troll for Barra, cast lures at bank-side structure and head offshore for some tastey reef fish. I also wanted to use plastics predominantly against the local techniques and see if my rubber lures could keep pace with the social and cultural norm.
We fished all the likely spots around Little Brook Ck and Mud Island and caught a swag of decent Barra to 82cms, a stack of hard-fighting goldies to 2.5kgs, grunters, queenies, threadfin, blue salmon, a small GT and a juvy balck jew. Not a bad mixed bag of tropical sportfish on the rubber stuff.
Offshore it was a bit tougher. Although the tide was placid I only manageed to hook a small queenie, spanish flag, moonfish, a nice GT that smoked me and a tenacious reef shark. The bait was catching the bulk of the fillets out in the blue.
I guess the key take-outs for the weekend were that our southern techniques using plastics certainly do work north of the border. I basically used bream and flatty retrieves on jerk minnow type lures all weekend and held my own against the hard body brigade. I even managed to convince the locals a spin rod is just as deadly as a baitcaster in the right hands. Mind you i was required to prove it too.
The crocs in the river were noticably absent except for when we stranded ourselves on a sand bank and forced to get out and pull it into deeper water. Suddenly 4 moderately sized crocs appeared out of nowhere for an inquisitive look. Sneaky buggers instinctively know when a cheap meal presents itself.
I can't wait to head back there, run off is my next target. Bring on the rain!
Just got back from a 3 day stint in the top end. Flew in to Darwin on a red-eye flight and arrived afetr midnight. 3am we pack the car and make the 2 hour drive into Kakadu and subsequently the boat ramp at the South Alligator.
On the weekend there were the year's smallest neaps; tidal variances were only 50mm at stages. The river was supposed to clean up and the fish able to bite freely. I have had a few trips north to trpoical locations that slightly disappointed when you consider the expectation placed on it by eager fisho's intent on catching more fish than at home. As most know though, fishing is rarely like that, fish bite when they bite, whether it's the untouched north or hard fished waters like sydeny harbour.
I had an idea of what i wanted to achieve over the few days i had. I knew we were going to troll for Barra, cast lures at bank-side structure and head offshore for some tastey reef fish. I also wanted to use plastics predominantly against the local techniques and see if my rubber lures could keep pace with the social and cultural norm.
We fished all the likely spots around Little Brook Ck and Mud Island and caught a swag of decent Barra to 82cms, a stack of hard-fighting goldies to 2.5kgs, grunters, queenies, threadfin, blue salmon, a small GT and a juvy balck jew. Not a bad mixed bag of tropical sportfish on the rubber stuff.
Offshore it was a bit tougher. Although the tide was placid I only manageed to hook a small queenie, spanish flag, moonfish, a nice GT that smoked me and a tenacious reef shark. The bait was catching the bulk of the fillets out in the blue.
I guess the key take-outs for the weekend were that our southern techniques using plastics certainly do work north of the border. I basically used bream and flatty retrieves on jerk minnow type lures all weekend and held my own against the hard body brigade. I even managed to convince the locals a spin rod is just as deadly as a baitcaster in the right hands. Mind you i was required to prove it too.
The crocs in the river were noticably absent except for when we stranded ourselves on a sand bank and forced to get out and pull it into deeper water. Suddenly 4 moderately sized crocs appeared out of nowhere for an inquisitive look. Sneaky buggers instinctively know when a cheap meal presents itself.
I can't wait to head back there, run off is my next target. Bring on the rain!
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Top End
Hi Folks,
The best part of being a fisho is the sense of adventure inherent in the sport. Invariably you get taken to breath-taking locations far away from the mundane reality that is our normal existence. I love the quiet streams and rivers with the only sounds of life are the sweet hummings of native birds and the rhythmic wistle of russtling leaves. It is a blessing some may take for granted. From time to time i often tilt my head back, gaze at the scenery and and take in a deep breath, tasting the environment through all of my senses. It unwinds the soul and invigorates the mind.
These locations might be local, some spots i fish in the Hawkesbury River have this effect, or it might be in some far-flung location. Booked holidays to exoctic destinations are planned sometimes years in advance. The lead up is usually a crescendo of excitement and nervous energy and BAM...the trip you have anxiously awaited for months on end has dissipated into a historical occurence. The week you have booked flies past with little regard for time. Then it's over!
I have been lucky this week to redefine the process. Instead of months of anxiety and patience,I have been blessed with an impromptu opportunity to the top end; the South Alligator River to be precise. My mate Sean called in Wednesday evening and suggested i should pack my bags and head north immediately. The tides have aligned and time is now. The opportunity too good to miss. Airfare tickets booked next day, pack my gear in a flurry of panic and today i fly. No time to contemplate, no time to assess and no time to lament.
Perhaps impromptu is better. If you look at the time pre trip we usually have, say 12 months and the duration of the trip, say 1 week, we have a disproportionately balanced cycle. 52 weeks to salivate and 1 week to devour. No wonder the time away flies past. Here we have 2 days to prepare and 3 days away. Perhaps the time will trickle in comparison. I hope so. It's times like these that we cherish, and adventures like this all too infrequent in modern times.
I will report of the fishing as soon as i'm back!
The best part of being a fisho is the sense of adventure inherent in the sport. Invariably you get taken to breath-taking locations far away from the mundane reality that is our normal existence. I love the quiet streams and rivers with the only sounds of life are the sweet hummings of native birds and the rhythmic wistle of russtling leaves. It is a blessing some may take for granted. From time to time i often tilt my head back, gaze at the scenery and and take in a deep breath, tasting the environment through all of my senses. It unwinds the soul and invigorates the mind.
These locations might be local, some spots i fish in the Hawkesbury River have this effect, or it might be in some far-flung location. Booked holidays to exoctic destinations are planned sometimes years in advance. The lead up is usually a crescendo of excitement and nervous energy and BAM...the trip you have anxiously awaited for months on end has dissipated into a historical occurence. The week you have booked flies past with little regard for time. Then it's over!
I have been lucky this week to redefine the process. Instead of months of anxiety and patience,I have been blessed with an impromptu opportunity to the top end; the South Alligator River to be precise. My mate Sean called in Wednesday evening and suggested i should pack my bags and head north immediately. The tides have aligned and time is now. The opportunity too good to miss. Airfare tickets booked next day, pack my gear in a flurry of panic and today i fly. No time to contemplate, no time to assess and no time to lament.
Perhaps impromptu is better. If you look at the time pre trip we usually have, say 12 months and the duration of the trip, say 1 week, we have a disproportionately balanced cycle. 52 weeks to salivate and 1 week to devour. No wonder the time away flies past. Here we have 2 days to prepare and 3 days away. Perhaps the time will trickle in comparison. I hope so. It's times like these that we cherish, and adventures like this all too infrequent in modern times.
I will report of the fishing as soon as i'm back!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Fishing World Magazine
Hi All,
As some of you may know i do a little bit of work for Fishing World magazine. I have only been with the company a few years now but in that time i have had the pleasure to meet some outstanding people, fishing with a few of them and befriend a lot more. It really has invigorated my fishing, given me something to look forward to and in the process made me a better fisherman.
The aspect like most is thinking of a possible story and spending time to perfect the species or technique or even the location in question. I seem to enjoy a deadline??? But the writing of the story isn't the hard part. It's getting a fish to co-operate in front of the lens. Any good fishing writer will tell you quality pics are the main game, not so much the fishing or writing.
Anyway, the last month saw Fishing World's 40th anniversary of the magazine, way back when fishing luminaries such as Vic McCrystal were pioneering the sportfishing movement in Oz. It's hard not to feel a sense of pride writing for this mag when you gaze upon the history.
An article was posted on the fishing world website listing in chronological order the writers the boys at the mag feel have done some outstanding work over the years. I was filled with pride to be the last man on that list; number 88 in fact. I could not believe i was on a list of names that outlines the heritage of the cream of fishing writers in this country. Some have passed on from writing, whist some still persue writing to this day. Names such as Rod harrison, John Mondora, Geoff Wilson, John Newbery and the eppervescent David Green just to name a few. I love gazing back on my old issues i pinched from my uncles. This was in a time when Greeny still had some boyish good looks!
It was a proud moment in my angling life. Who would have thought the wharf rat from sydney made it good. Check the link hereabouts for some nostalgic value.
Please support the magazine everyone. It's our patrons that keep the dream alive!
http://www.fishingworldmag.com.au/news/fisho-writer-roll-call-and-40th-tributes
As some of you may know i do a little bit of work for Fishing World magazine. I have only been with the company a few years now but in that time i have had the pleasure to meet some outstanding people, fishing with a few of them and befriend a lot more. It really has invigorated my fishing, given me something to look forward to and in the process made me a better fisherman.
The aspect like most is thinking of a possible story and spending time to perfect the species or technique or even the location in question. I seem to enjoy a deadline??? But the writing of the story isn't the hard part. It's getting a fish to co-operate in front of the lens. Any good fishing writer will tell you quality pics are the main game, not so much the fishing or writing.
Anyway, the last month saw Fishing World's 40th anniversary of the magazine, way back when fishing luminaries such as Vic McCrystal were pioneering the sportfishing movement in Oz. It's hard not to feel a sense of pride writing for this mag when you gaze upon the history.
An article was posted on the fishing world website listing in chronological order the writers the boys at the mag feel have done some outstanding work over the years. I was filled with pride to be the last man on that list; number 88 in fact. I could not believe i was on a list of names that outlines the heritage of the cream of fishing writers in this country. Some have passed on from writing, whist some still persue writing to this day. Names such as Rod harrison, John Mondora, Geoff Wilson, John Newbery and the eppervescent David Green just to name a few. I love gazing back on my old issues i pinched from my uncles. This was in a time when Greeny still had some boyish good looks!
It was a proud moment in my angling life. Who would have thought the wharf rat from sydney made it good. Check the link hereabouts for some nostalgic value.
Please support the magazine everyone. It's our patrons that keep the dream alive!
http://www.fishingworldmag.com.au/news/fisho-writer-roll-call-and-40th-tributes
Sunday, August 9, 2009
The Hex has been Lifted
Hi All,
If you read along to my blogs, you would know there has been a trend lately in my fishing that makes any environmentalist and fishing die-hard a happy camper. The influx of juvenile jewies plaguing our waters is still in full swing. What a great situation as well, our apex predators in our Sydney estuaries are breeding well and in abundance.
My general beef with this whole predicament is that my catch rates on jewies over 3kgs has almost disappeared. There are days were hooking 20 plus fish but all were infants muscling in on big brothers turf. Talking with a few old salts that have lived on the Hawkesbury River as long as adam was a boy, say if the small jewies are around, you can bet your bottom dolar the big ones aren't. Not too sure what the reason might be, but one can guess, based on the voracious attitude to feeding that little might be left for the bigger specimens to eat. One thing is for sure. If you catch a jewie, you can almost gaurantee subsequent fish caught will be of similer ilk. I rarely catch jewies in a short timeframe of drastically different sizes.
Obviously being a schooling fish this pattern makes legitimate sense; fish generally school with others of similar age and size. But what complicates this theory is jewies are known to be canabalistic. They will eat a juvenile jewie. So if a spate of juvenile fish are abundant, where are the big ones ready to eat them??? Who knows, they still may be there but are only dialed in on a particular food source. Therein lies much of the answer really.
The good news is i broke my winter hoodoo. I hooked a beautiful fish last weekend around the old fashioned 16 pound mark. I was flicking around 6" plastics all moring without interest. The moment i switched to a small squidgy wrigler hot tail in white body pink tail, smeared s-factor on it i cam up trumps. As they say, even elephants eat peanuts. While no monster jew, it was hooked on 4lb braid and 10lb leader on a 2-4kg stick and fought in close proximity to a jagged rocky shoreline. To make matters more interesting i hooked it on a Nitro jighead - Bream Series which are a light guage hook for finesse fishing. When the jewie was landed after a dogged 20 minute fight and placed in the environet, the half straightened hook simply fell out. My luck was in last saturday and that fish was meant to model for the camera. After behaving itself it was great to see it swim away. I hope this is the begining of a new trend.
Now the monkey is officially off my back!
If you read along to my blogs, you would know there has been a trend lately in my fishing that makes any environmentalist and fishing die-hard a happy camper. The influx of juvenile jewies plaguing our waters is still in full swing. What a great situation as well, our apex predators in our Sydney estuaries are breeding well and in abundance.
My general beef with this whole predicament is that my catch rates on jewies over 3kgs has almost disappeared. There are days were hooking 20 plus fish but all were infants muscling in on big brothers turf. Talking with a few old salts that have lived on the Hawkesbury River as long as adam was a boy, say if the small jewies are around, you can bet your bottom dolar the big ones aren't. Not too sure what the reason might be, but one can guess, based on the voracious attitude to feeding that little might be left for the bigger specimens to eat. One thing is for sure. If you catch a jewie, you can almost gaurantee subsequent fish caught will be of similer ilk. I rarely catch jewies in a short timeframe of drastically different sizes.
Obviously being a schooling fish this pattern makes legitimate sense; fish generally school with others of similar age and size. But what complicates this theory is jewies are known to be canabalistic. They will eat a juvenile jewie. So if a spate of juvenile fish are abundant, where are the big ones ready to eat them??? Who knows, they still may be there but are only dialed in on a particular food source. Therein lies much of the answer really.
The good news is i broke my winter hoodoo. I hooked a beautiful fish last weekend around the old fashioned 16 pound mark. I was flicking around 6" plastics all moring without interest. The moment i switched to a small squidgy wrigler hot tail in white body pink tail, smeared s-factor on it i cam up trumps. As they say, even elephants eat peanuts. While no monster jew, it was hooked on 4lb braid and 10lb leader on a 2-4kg stick and fought in close proximity to a jagged rocky shoreline. To make matters more interesting i hooked it on a Nitro jighead - Bream Series which are a light guage hook for finesse fishing. When the jewie was landed after a dogged 20 minute fight and placed in the environet, the half straightened hook simply fell out. My luck was in last saturday and that fish was meant to model for the camera. After behaving itself it was great to see it swim away. I hope this is the begining of a new trend.
Now the monkey is officially off my back!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Kindergarten Capers
Hi All,
I wrote recently about the influx of juvenile jewies inhabiting our local waterway's here in Sydney and it seems the trend is set to continue. Predominantly i have found the trend to be more prolific in the Hawkesbury River than other Sydney estuaries but as i stated previously, Sydney harbour and the George's River is experiencing the same phenomenon.
This time however, instead of finding the jeuvi's a little more mature and slightly bulkier than before, i happened to stumble across a patch of kindergarten kids. Honestly, the fish were no bigger than 30cms. What made this a bizarre situation wasn't the pint size of these blighters, but the fact they all were caught using 5" jerk minnows. Now that's 12cms approx of lure! In most instances the lure was well hidden in a disproportionately cavernous mouth. All aboard were amazed at the ferocity the small jewies had in both chasing down the lure to hit it and the venom displayed once they were hooked. They fought well above thier weight.
If you were to gauge the fight and attitude a mature jewie might have based on the dogged nature as juveniles, you would be fooled into thinking they would be an unstoppable adversary and willing to hit any lure put in front of them. Unfortunately this couldnt be further from the truth. As they grow they get wise. The takes are no more than timid taps, once hooked the runs are fairly short comparative to other apex predators in our waters, and they can be fussy eaters on both livies as well as lures. But maybe that's the reason we here in NSW revere them so much. If it was easy catching them everyone would be doing it!
There is another plague in our southern Sydney waters as well. Leatherjackets are showing up in mammoth numbers throughout all the clean waters in the hawkesbury System. These include Pittwater, Cowan and Brisbane Waters. The jackets don't seem to encrouch in the dirtier water in the main river itself but are becoming an annoying pest to all local fisherman.
Those who flick lures know the penchant jackets have for lures and a day's fishing is becoming a costly excerise. They are the species of jackets you see well offshore. I would be interested to know why they have come into such shallow water but are ruining some of the gun local spots. Some days your lure will not last 30 seconds before it's reduced to a bare jig head.
I know jackets were once fished commercially in Cowan but to the best of my knowledge are not anymore. Maybe this might have something to do with the influx of fish. Whatever the reason...I hope they disappear soon.
I wrote recently about the influx of juvenile jewies inhabiting our local waterway's here in Sydney and it seems the trend is set to continue. Predominantly i have found the trend to be more prolific in the Hawkesbury River than other Sydney estuaries but as i stated previously, Sydney harbour and the George's River is experiencing the same phenomenon.
This time however, instead of finding the jeuvi's a little more mature and slightly bulkier than before, i happened to stumble across a patch of kindergarten kids. Honestly, the fish were no bigger than 30cms. What made this a bizarre situation wasn't the pint size of these blighters, but the fact they all were caught using 5" jerk minnows. Now that's 12cms approx of lure! In most instances the lure was well hidden in a disproportionately cavernous mouth. All aboard were amazed at the ferocity the small jewies had in both chasing down the lure to hit it and the venom displayed once they were hooked. They fought well above thier weight.
If you were to gauge the fight and attitude a mature jewie might have based on the dogged nature as juveniles, you would be fooled into thinking they would be an unstoppable adversary and willing to hit any lure put in front of them. Unfortunately this couldnt be further from the truth. As they grow they get wise. The takes are no more than timid taps, once hooked the runs are fairly short comparative to other apex predators in our waters, and they can be fussy eaters on both livies as well as lures. But maybe that's the reason we here in NSW revere them so much. If it was easy catching them everyone would be doing it!
There is another plague in our southern Sydney waters as well. Leatherjackets are showing up in mammoth numbers throughout all the clean waters in the hawkesbury System. These include Pittwater, Cowan and Brisbane Waters. The jackets don't seem to encrouch in the dirtier water in the main river itself but are becoming an annoying pest to all local fisherman.
Those who flick lures know the penchant jackets have for lures and a day's fishing is becoming a costly excerise. They are the species of jackets you see well offshore. I would be interested to know why they have come into such shallow water but are ruining some of the gun local spots. Some days your lure will not last 30 seconds before it's reduced to a bare jig head.
I know jackets were once fished commercially in Cowan but to the best of my knowledge are not anymore. Maybe this might have something to do with the influx of fish. Whatever the reason...I hope they disappear soon.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
'The Bay of Plenty'
Hiya,
I hate to mislead you here. I'm talking about Botany Bay not the real 'Bay of Plenty' in NZ...In my last blog i had the eviable task of relaying the exciting winter fishery we have been enjoying in Boatny over the last few seasons; winter time kings. While in the this persuit the boys and i have uncovered some interesting new fisheries and some new patterns in the bay which remain largely untested but for now seem to be yielding some good results.
The first observation is that flathead in the bay are now a year round target. I can head out most days and get my limit, even though the fish seem to move around a touch more in Winter. One day you will find them in some obscure patch in the middle of nowhere and the next session they have vanished like a well oiled magician. This winter has seen a very poor baitfish run and working birds are mostly adbsent the days i have fished it. This means the sounder is a vital tool, and a lot of time is spent finding activity on the screen. Some days we can't find anything decnet marking up at all. In this situation we will fish sublte water depth changes and current lines. There are many in the bay so our pattern is to spend time on each area to we find fish.
The key to successful flathead luring in winter is to keep mobile. My old man gets miffed when we catch a flathead and 5 minutes later i pack the electric and head to another spot. Flathead are a schooling fish contrary to belief and a single fish in 15 minutes of flicking a new spot is a poor return. When a school is located flathead are usually caught in multiples. Until this happens i will rarely commit to one spot in the bay. Ming you i can go a whole day without finding a school of fish. A straggler here and there will usually make up my quota for dinner though.
Trevs and sambos are only now starting to yield good returns. While trevs may be more prolific at the entrance to the bay, they have taken a while to venture well inside, down past Towra and towards Captain Cook's. The sambos are quite nomadic at the moment and can be found literally anywhere down to Ramsgate. We are getting the odd one or two at any time of the day. No set patterns seem to be highlighted thus far.
Bream are an interesting absentee lately. The lack of baitfish are not helping on this front. The season is quite late though as warm water is still around. The cold currents havent fully set in yet. Maybe a month or so before the bream start to venture back in the bay. I have heard some decent catches around Kurnell but i rarely head over that way these days.
This has been our weakest season for tailor thus far too since switching exclusively to lures. While we have caught the odd fish, they are not stealing our jig heads as much as previous years. The ones we have caught though are monsters. I got one on the weekend that nudged 3kgs! I orginally called it for a sambo as it had a bad attitude and being lip hooked allowed me to be patient and enjoy the fight; usually on 10lb leader it would be game over. It did bite my thumb though; that was fun. Probably a good lesson here for the youg-uns, keep your fingers well away from a tailor's mouth. The temptation to salvage a plastic isn't always worth it!
So pretty much more of the same. At the moment its rightly named the 'bay of plenty'; if your brave enough to battle the freezing mornings and copiuos Av-gas!
I hate to mislead you here. I'm talking about Botany Bay not the real 'Bay of Plenty' in NZ...In my last blog i had the eviable task of relaying the exciting winter fishery we have been enjoying in Boatny over the last few seasons; winter time kings. While in the this persuit the boys and i have uncovered some interesting new fisheries and some new patterns in the bay which remain largely untested but for now seem to be yielding some good results.
The first observation is that flathead in the bay are now a year round target. I can head out most days and get my limit, even though the fish seem to move around a touch more in Winter. One day you will find them in some obscure patch in the middle of nowhere and the next session they have vanished like a well oiled magician. This winter has seen a very poor baitfish run and working birds are mostly adbsent the days i have fished it. This means the sounder is a vital tool, and a lot of time is spent finding activity on the screen. Some days we can't find anything decnet marking up at all. In this situation we will fish sublte water depth changes and current lines. There are many in the bay so our pattern is to spend time on each area to we find fish.
The key to successful flathead luring in winter is to keep mobile. My old man gets miffed when we catch a flathead and 5 minutes later i pack the electric and head to another spot. Flathead are a schooling fish contrary to belief and a single fish in 15 minutes of flicking a new spot is a poor return. When a school is located flathead are usually caught in multiples. Until this happens i will rarely commit to one spot in the bay. Ming you i can go a whole day without finding a school of fish. A straggler here and there will usually make up my quota for dinner though.
Trevs and sambos are only now starting to yield good returns. While trevs may be more prolific at the entrance to the bay, they have taken a while to venture well inside, down past Towra and towards Captain Cook's. The sambos are quite nomadic at the moment and can be found literally anywhere down to Ramsgate. We are getting the odd one or two at any time of the day. No set patterns seem to be highlighted thus far.
Bream are an interesting absentee lately. The lack of baitfish are not helping on this front. The season is quite late though as warm water is still around. The cold currents havent fully set in yet. Maybe a month or so before the bream start to venture back in the bay. I have heard some decent catches around Kurnell but i rarely head over that way these days.
This has been our weakest season for tailor thus far too since switching exclusively to lures. While we have caught the odd fish, they are not stealing our jig heads as much as previous years. The ones we have caught though are monsters. I got one on the weekend that nudged 3kgs! I orginally called it for a sambo as it had a bad attitude and being lip hooked allowed me to be patient and enjoy the fight; usually on 10lb leader it would be game over. It did bite my thumb though; that was fun. Probably a good lesson here for the youg-uns, keep your fingers well away from a tailor's mouth. The temptation to salvage a plastic isn't always worth it!
So pretty much more of the same. At the moment its rightly named the 'bay of plenty'; if your brave enough to battle the freezing mornings and copiuos Av-gas!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Winter Kings
If there is one observation i have made over years about fishing Sydney waterways is Botany Bay is by far the premier location as the mercury plummets. Just when other waterways are shutting shop for a few months as green cold water pushes in from the south, Botany begins to turn on the heat.
It's this time of year catching kings in the bay is our highlight. I know most pundits will say late spring and early summer are the prime times but rest assured winter in the bay is still kingy fever! The most appealing aspect of this winter focus is the depth of water we regularly catch these powerhouses. We regularly see kings busting up in less than 2 meters of water, herding whitebait tight to shore.
Admittedly there is only a short window of opportunity here as the kingys retrest to the safety of deeper water once the sun climbs higher in the sky. usually you will get about an hour to find the fish, figure out what presentation to use, then hook as many as you can till they fall off the bite. It's an adrenaline packed hour let me say that.
While i will refrain from marking an X on a map for you punters i will say that most of the kings have been taken over sand flats. While this is fairly cryptic, seeing as the entire bay consists of sand, i'm sure the crafty angler can join the dots. All that is required is your standard 2-4kg bream flick stick, 6lb braid and a hell of a lot of patience. The kings hit the afterburners real hard in shallow water. Probably seems to startle them and when they sense they are in danger in shallow water, far from thier ideal habitat, they freak out. What this ultimately means for us is line burning runs, a signing drag and disappearing braid off the spool. Dad got taken deep into his backing on the weekend and all i could do was laugh my arse off as he winced in agony. The kingy won that battle convincingly. The beauty of this fishery however is that its far from structure and occurs over sand flats, nothing for the vaunreable kings to do thier usual 'bust you up on anything they can find' routine.
Overcast days will prolong the bite and typically stickbait/Jerk Minnow type lures are the most successful. The usual size of the fish is decent. I wouldn't say im going to brake an IGFA record anytime soon but they are around the 70cm mark as an average.
So while some of you have packed your gear away with one eye on spring, reconsider, cause Botany Bay is still producing, and producing summer species in adbundance.
It's this time of year catching kings in the bay is our highlight. I know most pundits will say late spring and early summer are the prime times but rest assured winter in the bay is still kingy fever! The most appealing aspect of this winter focus is the depth of water we regularly catch these powerhouses. We regularly see kings busting up in less than 2 meters of water, herding whitebait tight to shore.
Admittedly there is only a short window of opportunity here as the kingys retrest to the safety of deeper water once the sun climbs higher in the sky. usually you will get about an hour to find the fish, figure out what presentation to use, then hook as many as you can till they fall off the bite. It's an adrenaline packed hour let me say that.
While i will refrain from marking an X on a map for you punters i will say that most of the kings have been taken over sand flats. While this is fairly cryptic, seeing as the entire bay consists of sand, i'm sure the crafty angler can join the dots. All that is required is your standard 2-4kg bream flick stick, 6lb braid and a hell of a lot of patience. The kings hit the afterburners real hard in shallow water. Probably seems to startle them and when they sense they are in danger in shallow water, far from thier ideal habitat, they freak out. What this ultimately means for us is line burning runs, a signing drag and disappearing braid off the spool. Dad got taken deep into his backing on the weekend and all i could do was laugh my arse off as he winced in agony. The kingy won that battle convincingly. The beauty of this fishery however is that its far from structure and occurs over sand flats, nothing for the vaunreable kings to do thier usual 'bust you up on anything they can find' routine.
Overcast days will prolong the bite and typically stickbait/Jerk Minnow type lures are the most successful. The usual size of the fish is decent. I wouldn't say im going to brake an IGFA record anytime soon but they are around the 70cm mark as an average.
So while some of you have packed your gear away with one eye on spring, reconsider, cause Botany Bay is still producing, and producing summer species in adbundance.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Juvenile Jewies
They say things come around in cycles and certainly in fishing that rings true. Quite often you hear certain species have bumper seasons in terms of fish biomass and then seemingly disappear the following season. Tuna seem to be a prime cadidate for that... and when the catch rates are studied, most times the fall in numbers can be attributed to seasonal boom and bust type cycles that have been a constant pattern for decades. Being such an important commercial target, catch rates have been very closely monitored for some time...
I dont do too much offshore fishing, mainly due to not owning an adequate vessel, but cycles are still apparent in estuaries as well. It's perhaps not as noticable in enclosed waters due to the variety of species on offer. For instance, if i go cubing for tuna, chances are i might not catch a fish all day. I have a lot of time to think about where the fish have disappeared to! Whereas if i go fishing for bream, chances are i will catch a host of other species in the process. Ultimately, though the by-catch can distract you to the real situation at hand, bream numbers might be down on last year!
Which leads me to my next point! Over the last few months i have been putting a lot of recon work into the Hawkesbury River. In the process i have found a number of new 'gun spots' and new techniques to catch fish on plastics. The one thing that has been highlighted here is the sheer amount of juvenile jewfish that seem to be around this year. I have fished the Hawkesbury for a number of years but i have never seen so many soapy jewies come up as i have in the last few months. If our current catch rates are anything to go by, fishing for jewies in the Hawkesbury will be mind blowing over the next few years. I reckon in the past few months alone we have pulled over 100 undersize or just legal fish. Obviously they will take time grow to a decent line peeling size but when they do...its game on!
The funny thing is the Hawkesbury is one over-harvested waterway. Is it that commercial trawling nets now allow small jewies to escape? or is it just another case of a boom cycle of fish? Who can tell! But the signs of juvenile life are encouraging.
The only drama is trying to keep the soapies away from my lures long enough to catch a schoolie.
I dont do too much offshore fishing, mainly due to not owning an adequate vessel, but cycles are still apparent in estuaries as well. It's perhaps not as noticable in enclosed waters due to the variety of species on offer. For instance, if i go cubing for tuna, chances are i might not catch a fish all day. I have a lot of time to think about where the fish have disappeared to! Whereas if i go fishing for bream, chances are i will catch a host of other species in the process. Ultimately, though the by-catch can distract you to the real situation at hand, bream numbers might be down on last year!
Which leads me to my next point! Over the last few months i have been putting a lot of recon work into the Hawkesbury River. In the process i have found a number of new 'gun spots' and new techniques to catch fish on plastics. The one thing that has been highlighted here is the sheer amount of juvenile jewfish that seem to be around this year. I have fished the Hawkesbury for a number of years but i have never seen so many soapy jewies come up as i have in the last few months. If our current catch rates are anything to go by, fishing for jewies in the Hawkesbury will be mind blowing over the next few years. I reckon in the past few months alone we have pulled over 100 undersize or just legal fish. Obviously they will take time grow to a decent line peeling size but when they do...its game on!
The funny thing is the Hawkesbury is one over-harvested waterway. Is it that commercial trawling nets now allow small jewies to escape? or is it just another case of a boom cycle of fish? Who can tell! But the signs of juvenile life are encouraging.
The only drama is trying to keep the soapies away from my lures long enough to catch a schoolie.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Making a bird of it
Hi Ya,
Much has been written about the use of birds in finding fish, in particularly feeding fish on the surface. Many a great skipper can tell the different characteristics of birds and which birds are likely to lead them to fish. Others tend not to be as useful. Then the mannerisms of the birds can tell us when the fish are frenzied, the obvious signpost is when they are diving head first into the water, picking up scraps as they go.
Unlike offshore, in the estuaries bird activity seems to be ingnored somewhat. The predominant species are seagulls and pelicans. They are literally everywhere you look in inshore and enclosed waters and most fishos seem to idle past them, unless the birds are actively feeding on the surface, then most will stop for a quick investigation. But like many birds, the subtlety of thier behaviour can lead you to better fishing more often.
I was fishing Botany Bay recently, an area where seagulls do in fact feed actively on the surface, primarity due to tailor. I could see a flock of birds actively working the surface and at a distance made the prognosis that it was tailor underneath. Dad and i watched the activity for more than an hour till it died down. We were after shallow water kings so we didn't want to miss the prime time dawn bite we get in 3 meters of water just to catch tailor.
No kings came up so a move was in order. Dad made the comment to suss out the now dormant birds sitting on the water, seemingly motionless. We dedided to have a quick flick to see if any predators were still in the area but i wasn't too convinced. To cut a long story short, the ensuing hour saw one of the hottest flatty bites we have had in quite a while. Now this might not sound too interesting but upon thought a few factors were highlighted that drove home a very important point, it's not always the working birds that can lead you to fish.
First off, we found the flatties as far away from any discernable structure as possible. We found them smack bang in the middle of the bay, pretty much a barren wasteland of sand and stuff all else. Secondly, the tide was contradictory to prime flatty time. The fish were aggresive and ready to play ball.
This got me pondering. There have been countless times upon reflection that we have pulled good fish from underneath sedentary seagulls, as well as foraging pelicans. I know in Tuggerah Lakes the precense of pelicans means the presence of prawns, and the presence of prawns...well i'm sure you can guess the rest.
I guess the key here is give birds more attention. Not just working birds but birds stationary and waiting to feed. Don't think they are there just for a good rest. Birds can see and sense more than we hope to ever understand about our fishery. Use them...even if nothing obvious stands out.
Much has been written about the use of birds in finding fish, in particularly feeding fish on the surface. Many a great skipper can tell the different characteristics of birds and which birds are likely to lead them to fish. Others tend not to be as useful. Then the mannerisms of the birds can tell us when the fish are frenzied, the obvious signpost is when they are diving head first into the water, picking up scraps as they go.
Unlike offshore, in the estuaries bird activity seems to be ingnored somewhat. The predominant species are seagulls and pelicans. They are literally everywhere you look in inshore and enclosed waters and most fishos seem to idle past them, unless the birds are actively feeding on the surface, then most will stop for a quick investigation. But like many birds, the subtlety of thier behaviour can lead you to better fishing more often.
I was fishing Botany Bay recently, an area where seagulls do in fact feed actively on the surface, primarity due to tailor. I could see a flock of birds actively working the surface and at a distance made the prognosis that it was tailor underneath. Dad and i watched the activity for more than an hour till it died down. We were after shallow water kings so we didn't want to miss the prime time dawn bite we get in 3 meters of water just to catch tailor.
No kings came up so a move was in order. Dad made the comment to suss out the now dormant birds sitting on the water, seemingly motionless. We dedided to have a quick flick to see if any predators were still in the area but i wasn't too convinced. To cut a long story short, the ensuing hour saw one of the hottest flatty bites we have had in quite a while. Now this might not sound too interesting but upon thought a few factors were highlighted that drove home a very important point, it's not always the working birds that can lead you to fish.
First off, we found the flatties as far away from any discernable structure as possible. We found them smack bang in the middle of the bay, pretty much a barren wasteland of sand and stuff all else. Secondly, the tide was contradictory to prime flatty time. The fish were aggresive and ready to play ball.
This got me pondering. There have been countless times upon reflection that we have pulled good fish from underneath sedentary seagulls, as well as foraging pelicans. I know in Tuggerah Lakes the precense of pelicans means the presence of prawns, and the presence of prawns...well i'm sure you can guess the rest.
I guess the key here is give birds more attention. Not just working birds but birds stationary and waiting to feed. Don't think they are there just for a good rest. Birds can see and sense more than we hope to ever understand about our fishery. Use them...even if nothing obvious stands out.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Unfair Advantage
Hi Fishos,
In this era of advanced tackle such as engineered reels that rival space science, fishing lines made from sophisticated hi-tech materials and lures created from organic substances it's a wonder fish stand a chance. You would think we all would be pulling fish hand over fist. The funny part is that even if we use this state-of-the-art equipment we still invariably have fishless trips. Coming home empty handed is the sometimes the only constant you can rely on. It seems the improvements in tackle only keep us up to speed with the changing behavoiur of our adversaries.
Then other times it's the basic plays that reap the biggest rewards. On saturday i was fishing in my back yard, Berowra Waters. Lately the fish in the Hawkesbury system have been much more co-operative in the creeks and tributaries rather than the main flow. Seeing as i fish this peice of water regularly my goal was to try some locations i haven't persued before. That's quite difficult as i have scoured most of this deep catchment but there were a few spots i regularly drive over without too much attention.
The first spot was a prominent hole right on a prominent bend or point. This may sound like a no-brainer but the reason i never stopped previously is the high traffic volumn past this section. It was early so i decided to try it. I was rewarded early with a flathead first cast and on the second cast i felt the tell-tale tap of our friend 'the rabi'. For those uninitiated it's what Sami Omari calls the Jew. Positive hookset, were on. Fish boated! It was a nice little soapy but couldn't pop the drag. I was looking for his mother anyway.
I was starting to get some nice soundings showing and just as i was about to have my third cast, a very bad mannered captain decided to cut a path in between me and the marker pole on the point, disecting us perfectly only 10 meters from my boat. I didn't say a word. If he didn't know what he had done then nothing i was going to shout out was going to make a difference. It goes without saying the markings disappeared...the hole shut down.
I laboured on for a few hours after that; no cigar. I was still a little miffed about the rude boatie. The tide had turned now and i tried another spot with very similar characteristics to the first one; a prominent point with adjacent deep water. I had a boat anchored 50m off the point. I saw him jiggle a silver can attached to a rope. I made polite conversation with the guy and built the courage to inquire about the berley he was using. Sure enough he said dog food???
I couldn't fault him for using it though. Him and his mate were reeling fish in one after the other; flathead, bream, flounder and soapies were all succumbing to the flavour of Pal.
I was right beside em and was catching the odd stray flathead. It was obvious the berley was working it's magic. Being polite i asked if i could drift downstream and fish way back in his berley trail. To be honest i wasn't expecting a positive response. To my amazement i got the nod and off i went. In the next hour i had what i would call a hot bite. Throw all the new wizz bang gadgetry out the window. This was a case of yesterday's techniques still firing today. Without Pal dog food i was screwed. No space-age reels with scented plastics were going to salvage my session...but berley did. A little politness after some gross misconduct managed to deliver me a great few houres.
The fisho anchored upstream did remark about me stealing his fish before they made it to the back of his boat. Truth was he had a killer session too. It was an unfair advantage to fish in that berley trail. But no more than we try to give ourselves with all the latest and greatest technology anyway. Maybe i should carry a can of Pal with me all the time...just in case.
In this era of advanced tackle such as engineered reels that rival space science, fishing lines made from sophisticated hi-tech materials and lures created from organic substances it's a wonder fish stand a chance. You would think we all would be pulling fish hand over fist. The funny part is that even if we use this state-of-the-art equipment we still invariably have fishless trips. Coming home empty handed is the sometimes the only constant you can rely on. It seems the improvements in tackle only keep us up to speed with the changing behavoiur of our adversaries.
Then other times it's the basic plays that reap the biggest rewards. On saturday i was fishing in my back yard, Berowra Waters. Lately the fish in the Hawkesbury system have been much more co-operative in the creeks and tributaries rather than the main flow. Seeing as i fish this peice of water regularly my goal was to try some locations i haven't persued before. That's quite difficult as i have scoured most of this deep catchment but there were a few spots i regularly drive over without too much attention.
The first spot was a prominent hole right on a prominent bend or point. This may sound like a no-brainer but the reason i never stopped previously is the high traffic volumn past this section. It was early so i decided to try it. I was rewarded early with a flathead first cast and on the second cast i felt the tell-tale tap of our friend 'the rabi'. For those uninitiated it's what Sami Omari calls the Jew. Positive hookset, were on. Fish boated! It was a nice little soapy but couldn't pop the drag. I was looking for his mother anyway.
I was starting to get some nice soundings showing and just as i was about to have my third cast, a very bad mannered captain decided to cut a path in between me and the marker pole on the point, disecting us perfectly only 10 meters from my boat. I didn't say a word. If he didn't know what he had done then nothing i was going to shout out was going to make a difference. It goes without saying the markings disappeared...the hole shut down.
I laboured on for a few hours after that; no cigar. I was still a little miffed about the rude boatie. The tide had turned now and i tried another spot with very similar characteristics to the first one; a prominent point with adjacent deep water. I had a boat anchored 50m off the point. I saw him jiggle a silver can attached to a rope. I made polite conversation with the guy and built the courage to inquire about the berley he was using. Sure enough he said dog food???
I couldn't fault him for using it though. Him and his mate were reeling fish in one after the other; flathead, bream, flounder and soapies were all succumbing to the flavour of Pal.
I was right beside em and was catching the odd stray flathead. It was obvious the berley was working it's magic. Being polite i asked if i could drift downstream and fish way back in his berley trail. To be honest i wasn't expecting a positive response. To my amazement i got the nod and off i went. In the next hour i had what i would call a hot bite. Throw all the new wizz bang gadgetry out the window. This was a case of yesterday's techniques still firing today. Without Pal dog food i was screwed. No space-age reels with scented plastics were going to salvage my session...but berley did. A little politness after some gross misconduct managed to deliver me a great few houres.
The fisho anchored upstream did remark about me stealing his fish before they made it to the back of his boat. Truth was he had a killer session too. It was an unfair advantage to fish in that berley trail. But no more than we try to give ourselves with all the latest and greatest technology anyway. Maybe i should carry a can of Pal with me all the time...just in case.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Windy City
Hi Fishoholics,
Just a berated report from the windy and wild south coast. Last weekend i made a pilgammage down south with my ol man to meet up for a fish with our fearless editor, Jim. The reports weren't too positive on the wind front but like most die-hards i kept an optimistic outlook and prayed to the gods that Tim Bailey got it wrong.
We arrived friday night to the Palm Beach caravan park on St George's basin to be met with a stiff westerly blowing at a mere 40kts. Things were not looking good. Up we get a 4:30am sat morning and the same westerly was still around. It's a long way to come not to wet the boat so we decided to have a crack anyway.
After picking up Jim we hit a few spots in the Shoalhaven, targeting some jew which are apparently on the move in the river at the moment. Wind aside, the Shoalhaven is a magic looking waterway. It's a microcosm of the Hawkesbury system, my home ground back in Sydney. My dad was rewarded first up with a beaut looking EP around the 35cm mark. We didnt measure it but he did behave well for the camera (pic hereabouts). 2 nice eater sized lizards we next to follow.
We made a run down to Broughton Creek to catch the tide change. The wind picked up as well, if at all that was possible. I reckon it hit 50kts at stages. We were forced to venture well into the creek and had decent success in the trying conditions. We snared another EP, which basically made my day, and few ppint size bream and a couple more keeper lizards, one going 59.5cms. My throwback threshold is 60cms so this was one unlucky bugger. Rules are rules. Soon after we called it a day.
Sunday morning it looked as though the wind had abated. My prayers to a higher power were answered. We launched the boat in the basin and for half hour the conditions were perfect. Then we heard the trees in the distance. Yesterday's 40kt wind was back, and with a vengence. Dad and i are pretty resiliant buggers so we persisted. We tried to find a spot with some protection and in the process started having some success on flattys. In turn the wind changed into a higher gear. For the last hour the highest speed on the electric, and i run an 80lb thrust model, couldn't hold position against the wind...holy moly. We were catching these lizards adjacent to some weedbeds and kept getting blown away. The only option was to discard the leccy to try and hold position in favour of the stronger main motor! That should give you a clue how tough it was.
Like idiots we were last boat to come off the water. But we did have a feed to show for it. We managed the wrangle 20 odd flatties out of those dismal conditions. Really i was so proud of our efforts. We hung in there and came home feeling like we achieved something.
Next time i head down south i reckon i'm gonna sacrifice a live offering to the man upstairs. Cause prayers alone this time were far from enough.
Just a berated report from the windy and wild south coast. Last weekend i made a pilgammage down south with my ol man to meet up for a fish with our fearless editor, Jim. The reports weren't too positive on the wind front but like most die-hards i kept an optimistic outlook and prayed to the gods that Tim Bailey got it wrong.
We arrived friday night to the Palm Beach caravan park on St George's basin to be met with a stiff westerly blowing at a mere 40kts. Things were not looking good. Up we get a 4:30am sat morning and the same westerly was still around. It's a long way to come not to wet the boat so we decided to have a crack anyway.
After picking up Jim we hit a few spots in the Shoalhaven, targeting some jew which are apparently on the move in the river at the moment. Wind aside, the Shoalhaven is a magic looking waterway. It's a microcosm of the Hawkesbury system, my home ground back in Sydney. My dad was rewarded first up with a beaut looking EP around the 35cm mark. We didnt measure it but he did behave well for the camera (pic hereabouts). 2 nice eater sized lizards we next to follow.
We made a run down to Broughton Creek to catch the tide change. The wind picked up as well, if at all that was possible. I reckon it hit 50kts at stages. We were forced to venture well into the creek and had decent success in the trying conditions. We snared another EP, which basically made my day, and few ppint size bream and a couple more keeper lizards, one going 59.5cms. My throwback threshold is 60cms so this was one unlucky bugger. Rules are rules. Soon after we called it a day.
Sunday morning it looked as though the wind had abated. My prayers to a higher power were answered. We launched the boat in the basin and for half hour the conditions were perfect. Then we heard the trees in the distance. Yesterday's 40kt wind was back, and with a vengence. Dad and i are pretty resiliant buggers so we persisted. We tried to find a spot with some protection and in the process started having some success on flattys. In turn the wind changed into a higher gear. For the last hour the highest speed on the electric, and i run an 80lb thrust model, couldn't hold position against the wind...holy moly. We were catching these lizards adjacent to some weedbeds and kept getting blown away. The only option was to discard the leccy to try and hold position in favour of the stronger main motor! That should give you a clue how tough it was.
Like idiots we were last boat to come off the water. But we did have a feed to show for it. We managed the wrangle 20 odd flatties out of those dismal conditions. Really i was so proud of our efforts. We hung in there and came home feeling like we achieved something.
Next time i head down south i reckon i'm gonna sacrifice a live offering to the man upstairs. Cause prayers alone this time were far from enough.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Jewel in the Hawkesbury
Hi fishos,
After my last bass and EP expidition i finally made it back to the briny after a few weeks off. I have been chomping at the bit to gt amognst the action, reports of great fish have been coming in thick and fast. Usually i wouldn't mind hearing all the good news stories but when your grounded, boat out of action and fishless for a few weeks, it's like someone driving a nail thru your skull. Envy wouled be the word that comes to mind shortly after quite a few expletives.
Anyway we headed off to Mooney in the Hawkesbury system to chase some elusive jew plus a few other likely estuary suspects. Mooney is a tide-out system only. Don't even think about chasing fish on the in-coming, your wasting your time. The odd fish can be caught but the game is well and truely over. Really the catalyst for a good fishing session is the prawn run and this happens on the outgoing tide. If the prawns are on the move the fishing is phenomenal.
We hit our first deep hole of the morning, a special spot where we have scored a jew on every attempt so far; 7 fish in 5 sessions. The signs were ominous as prawns were being slurped off the surface by unseen predators. Some splashes were moving far too much water to be bream. Usually this spot produces straight away but the first half hour only saw i tailor to 1 1/2kgs. Not a bad fish and it gave a good account of itself. We drifted thru the hole and came to the back end where an eddie is created by the curving shoreline. The results were istantanious. My uncle Andy got the first tap which indicated the presence of jew. Saddly he missed out but looked around to hear my little reel screaming for mercy. In the next 45 minutes Andy and i had a ball on jewies to 3kgs. It was basically a fish a cast. We caught and released 15 jews with 3 double hook-ups in the process. I'm sure we woke every resident on the river and this one oyster farmer kept shaking his head in disapproval.
The bite shut down so we pushed up the creek a considerable distance to catch the last of the tide. I was targeting bream and perch on the fringes, Andy jewies and flathead in the chanel. You can do that in Mooney, the place is small enough for that kind of duel tactic. Until the tide stopped i landed a dozen fiesty bream to 30cms and quite a few quality perch. Andy got 1 more jew, just a little tacker, and a handful of 45cm plus lizards.
The tide stopped...then nothing. The whole place shut down as if someone flicked a switch. This was about 10am now and we still had the day to go. We persisted, as die-hards do, but really the full time siren had sounded. All we were doing was picking up the scraps.
The damage was done on Gulps. At the moment my go-to lure of choice is the 5" Jerk Minnows in the new assorted chicken colours. They all work. Try colours that shillouette well against the murky Hawkesbury water. Imitate a prawn colour if you can. Remember, colours of plastics change in the water. Something that looks scary to us might seem quite natural to fish.
After my last bass and EP expidition i finally made it back to the briny after a few weeks off. I have been chomping at the bit to gt amognst the action, reports of great fish have been coming in thick and fast. Usually i wouldn't mind hearing all the good news stories but when your grounded, boat out of action and fishless for a few weeks, it's like someone driving a nail thru your skull. Envy wouled be the word that comes to mind shortly after quite a few expletives.
Anyway we headed off to Mooney in the Hawkesbury system to chase some elusive jew plus a few other likely estuary suspects. Mooney is a tide-out system only. Don't even think about chasing fish on the in-coming, your wasting your time. The odd fish can be caught but the game is well and truely over. Really the catalyst for a good fishing session is the prawn run and this happens on the outgoing tide. If the prawns are on the move the fishing is phenomenal.
We hit our first deep hole of the morning, a special spot where we have scored a jew on every attempt so far; 7 fish in 5 sessions. The signs were ominous as prawns were being slurped off the surface by unseen predators. Some splashes were moving far too much water to be bream. Usually this spot produces straight away but the first half hour only saw i tailor to 1 1/2kgs. Not a bad fish and it gave a good account of itself. We drifted thru the hole and came to the back end where an eddie is created by the curving shoreline. The results were istantanious. My uncle Andy got the first tap which indicated the presence of jew. Saddly he missed out but looked around to hear my little reel screaming for mercy. In the next 45 minutes Andy and i had a ball on jewies to 3kgs. It was basically a fish a cast. We caught and released 15 jews with 3 double hook-ups in the process. I'm sure we woke every resident on the river and this one oyster farmer kept shaking his head in disapproval.
The bite shut down so we pushed up the creek a considerable distance to catch the last of the tide. I was targeting bream and perch on the fringes, Andy jewies and flathead in the chanel. You can do that in Mooney, the place is small enough for that kind of duel tactic. Until the tide stopped i landed a dozen fiesty bream to 30cms and quite a few quality perch. Andy got 1 more jew, just a little tacker, and a handful of 45cm plus lizards.
The tide stopped...then nothing. The whole place shut down as if someone flicked a switch. This was about 10am now and we still had the day to go. We persisted, as die-hards do, but really the full time siren had sounded. All we were doing was picking up the scraps.
The damage was done on Gulps. At the moment my go-to lure of choice is the 5" Jerk Minnows in the new assorted chicken colours. They all work. Try colours that shillouette well against the murky Hawkesbury water. Imitate a prawn colour if you can. Remember, colours of plastics change in the water. Something that looks scary to us might seem quite natural to fish.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Bass En Masse
While my electric has been out of action for the last 3 weeks i have visited a few of my old land-based stomping grounds in the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury i havent seen in years. I have fished these spots since those days, only it's been out of the comfort of my boat.
This time of year i start to dedicate some time to catching some of our native species, namely bass nad EP's. To be honest i prefer to chase bass at this time rather than in the height of summer. It a lot more challenging to start with but the size of the bass are generally bigger too.
I wrote an article in Fisho a few months back on bass and EP's in the Hawkesbury and discussed at length the relationship between these two extremely similar species. I guess the key takeouts were that both species seem to migrate in Hawkesbury at much the same time. The difference was that bass migrate to the brackish in winter and EP's migrate to full salt at that time. While we are a little off the full brunt of winter the migration has already started.
This is a blessing in disguise as the closed season in winter prohibits us to catch either species for 3 months. The time to capitalise on th3e spawning run is pretty much about now. Reports of big catches of bass and EP's are filtering through around the Lower Portland and Ebenezer areas. Admittedly most of these have come in the twightlight periods and even into the full darkness of night. The fish are hurding hawkesbury prawns to the surface and gorging themselves in the process.
One thing that really struck home with me after my land-based efforts was the difference in attitude between fishing from shore as opposed to fishing from a boat. The spots i fish in these upper reaches have restricted access due to bank-side vegetation. I can only fish small pockets of prime land. This usually means i have to methodically work over the area with multiple presentations until i strike it rich. In a boat i might try 5 or 10 casts to a likey looking spot with the one lure and move on if i have no interest.
Both techniques have thier merits. The more ground i cover in a boat the more fish that see my lure. Here, mobility is my key asset. From shore, the slow methodical approach can lure inactive fish into striking. It's not uncommon to frustrate fish into taking the bait, so to speak. The less options you are presented with can be a blessing in disguise. The thinking angler will persist until something works.
From this is one little 3 meter wide ledge i fished from i did really well. Funny thing was it took me half an hour and 20 different lures to get my first touch. Once i found the right combo (the old faithful bloodworm wriggler) i got stuck into both EP's and bass. It was top little session. Just goes to show you don't need a boat to catch good fish in Sydney.
This time of year i start to dedicate some time to catching some of our native species, namely bass nad EP's. To be honest i prefer to chase bass at this time rather than in the height of summer. It a lot more challenging to start with but the size of the bass are generally bigger too.
I wrote an article in Fisho a few months back on bass and EP's in the Hawkesbury and discussed at length the relationship between these two extremely similar species. I guess the key takeouts were that both species seem to migrate in Hawkesbury at much the same time. The difference was that bass migrate to the brackish in winter and EP's migrate to full salt at that time. While we are a little off the full brunt of winter the migration has already started.
This is a blessing in disguise as the closed season in winter prohibits us to catch either species for 3 months. The time to capitalise on th3e spawning run is pretty much about now. Reports of big catches of bass and EP's are filtering through around the Lower Portland and Ebenezer areas. Admittedly most of these have come in the twightlight periods and even into the full darkness of night. The fish are hurding hawkesbury prawns to the surface and gorging themselves in the process.
One thing that really struck home with me after my land-based efforts was the difference in attitude between fishing from shore as opposed to fishing from a boat. The spots i fish in these upper reaches have restricted access due to bank-side vegetation. I can only fish small pockets of prime land. This usually means i have to methodically work over the area with multiple presentations until i strike it rich. In a boat i might try 5 or 10 casts to a likey looking spot with the one lure and move on if i have no interest.
Both techniques have thier merits. The more ground i cover in a boat the more fish that see my lure. Here, mobility is my key asset. From shore, the slow methodical approach can lure inactive fish into striking. It's not uncommon to frustrate fish into taking the bait, so to speak. The less options you are presented with can be a blessing in disguise. The thinking angler will persist until something works.
From this is one little 3 meter wide ledge i fished from i did really well. Funny thing was it took me half an hour and 20 different lures to get my first touch. Once i found the right combo (the old faithful bloodworm wriggler) i got stuck into both EP's and bass. It was top little session. Just goes to show you don't need a boat to catch good fish in Sydney.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Productive Pittwater
Hey Dudes,
I have mentioned a few times now Autumn is my gun time of year. While summer was dissappointing Autumn is still living up to it's enviable reputation as the 'prime time'...thankfully!
Most recently the boys have have been catching a stack on fish in Pittwater, a catchment of Sydney's famous Hawkesbury River. Since my father has moved out of the west and parked himself right on the doorstep of this pristine waterway, it's opened up a brand new option for us. While we have fished the system for over 40 years Pittwater was one area that was neglected...until now.
Pittwater is most famous for it's XOS kings. While they are still around that is not the main target. The species that raises the eyebrows about now is snapper. Some juicy specimens have been caught too. The most recent outing by my uncles Andy and Angelo saw over 20 snapper landed to 3kgs. Yes...it's not a typo either. 3kgs! Just goes to show you don't need to head to the horizon to catch quality snapper. They found a patch of good fish (somewhere???)around some weedbeds. That's all the info i can divulge without being lynched.
The boys jigged up some nice squid and used fresh strips as bait. Next time though I've challenged them to leave the bait at home and persist with plastix. I'm quietly confident they will have equal success and just maybe surpas that 3kg mark.
The John Dory are starting to make an appearence around the moorings too. Be careful though, if you use live yakkas for bait expect to get slammed by one of those over-sized kings. Upgrade your gear just in case. Usually the moorings in the deeper sections are the best.
Big bream are still quite abundant around the mouth of Pittwater. My old man has been having a field day on his hobie catching kilo sized bream. He's getting them on both lures and live nippers. They seem to in the shallower water and on the move. If your anchored a light berley may keep them in the area, but so too the dreaded leatheries.
The flatties are still as inconsistant as ever. One day you will bag out the next day they have vanished. Obviously plastics are the best method for catching them. Try all the shallower areas as the flatties will be sunning themselves in skinnier water with the dropping temps.
If you haven't tried Pittwater and you are a sydney-sider give it a go. You will be surprised what lies on your doorstep.
I have mentioned a few times now Autumn is my gun time of year. While summer was dissappointing Autumn is still living up to it's enviable reputation as the 'prime time'...thankfully!
Most recently the boys have have been catching a stack on fish in Pittwater, a catchment of Sydney's famous Hawkesbury River. Since my father has moved out of the west and parked himself right on the doorstep of this pristine waterway, it's opened up a brand new option for us. While we have fished the system for over 40 years Pittwater was one area that was neglected...until now.
Pittwater is most famous for it's XOS kings. While they are still around that is not the main target. The species that raises the eyebrows about now is snapper. Some juicy specimens have been caught too. The most recent outing by my uncles Andy and Angelo saw over 20 snapper landed to 3kgs. Yes...it's not a typo either. 3kgs! Just goes to show you don't need to head to the horizon to catch quality snapper. They found a patch of good fish (somewhere???)around some weedbeds. That's all the info i can divulge without being lynched.
The boys jigged up some nice squid and used fresh strips as bait. Next time though I've challenged them to leave the bait at home and persist with plastix. I'm quietly confident they will have equal success and just maybe surpas that 3kg mark.
The John Dory are starting to make an appearence around the moorings too. Be careful though, if you use live yakkas for bait expect to get slammed by one of those over-sized kings. Upgrade your gear just in case. Usually the moorings in the deeper sections are the best.
Big bream are still quite abundant around the mouth of Pittwater. My old man has been having a field day on his hobie catching kilo sized bream. He's getting them on both lures and live nippers. They seem to in the shallower water and on the move. If your anchored a light berley may keep them in the area, but so too the dreaded leatheries.
The flatties are still as inconsistant as ever. One day you will bag out the next day they have vanished. Obviously plastics are the best method for catching them. Try all the shallower areas as the flatties will be sunning themselves in skinnier water with the dropping temps.
If you haven't tried Pittwater and you are a sydney-sider give it a go. You will be surprised what lies on your doorstep.
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Boys are Back in Town
One thing that interstaters hate is New South Welshman; especially if they a) drink all their grog b) steal all their woman and c) catch all their fish. I must admit i'd hate it too. But one such character is doing all that and more.
My great mate and fishing partner Sean Cremin from the NSW south coast hamlet of Lake Conjola recently made a move north for greener pastures. Work is a little skint down south at the moment and before he conceeded defeat and made a move back to Sydney he's tried his luck up at Darwin. It must be good to have no ties, pack up your gear and station yourself in Australia's fishing heartland! When i think of about it, it saddens me that i don't have those luxuries. Good luck to him i say.
Sean's one of those characters that immerses himself into the culture of any place he visits. I seen it first hand on a bush camp in the Kimberleys. He looked like part of the indiginous set after a few days. Might not sound difficult but Sean's 7 foot tall, white as a ghost and got raging red hair!I knew it wouldn't be long before he had the place sussed and was getting straight on the blower to give me all the goss.
Sure enough, in typical Sean fashion he's hit the motherload. Sean, and a few of his new local mates, have been taking full advantage of this season's run off. They tell me that it isn't a particularly good run-off but it's starting to get to the right levels now in the Daly and South Aligator. They have been getting a stack of fish in the 50 - 80cm class on diving minnows. This might sound like pre-school but fight a 70cm barra in a raging run-off torrent and se how you go! Chances are you will up anchor and have to follow in hot pursuit.
So today i'm sitting at my desk. I get a sms from Sean. I open it up and nearly fall off my chair. The bugger is holding a mamoth wild barra caught yesterday flicking lures in the Daly. The story goes; "I was flickin some lures around a snag, i almost got held up in the woodwork, floated the lure over the top and WHACK, this thing got nailed!I knew straight up this girl was big".
After a torrid 25 minute fight that was full of, yes, yes, i'm on, get out of my way, i'm coming around the back, shouts of get your hand off the drag from the support crew, more shouts from the sideline critics, get out of my way i'm coming back up the front, fish jumping, adrenaline pumping, braid signing, rod bending and knees buckling, a beautiful 114cm barra was boated. Time to crack open a tinny.
Now 114cms might sound run-of-the-mill these days due to the gigantic proportions the Dam barra grow up to but let me tell you 114cms of raging wild caught barra is a fish of a lifetime. Make no mistake about it. I know i'd be happy with anything over 100cms.
I might be cursing him, but there's a small part of me that thanks him for giviung me a glimpse into what the fight was like, putting me in the hot seat and dragging me away from my mundane reality!
My great mate and fishing partner Sean Cremin from the NSW south coast hamlet of Lake Conjola recently made a move north for greener pastures. Work is a little skint down south at the moment and before he conceeded defeat and made a move back to Sydney he's tried his luck up at Darwin. It must be good to have no ties, pack up your gear and station yourself in Australia's fishing heartland! When i think of about it, it saddens me that i don't have those luxuries. Good luck to him i say.
Sean's one of those characters that immerses himself into the culture of any place he visits. I seen it first hand on a bush camp in the Kimberleys. He looked like part of the indiginous set after a few days. Might not sound difficult but Sean's 7 foot tall, white as a ghost and got raging red hair!I knew it wouldn't be long before he had the place sussed and was getting straight on the blower to give me all the goss.
Sure enough, in typical Sean fashion he's hit the motherload. Sean, and a few of his new local mates, have been taking full advantage of this season's run off. They tell me that it isn't a particularly good run-off but it's starting to get to the right levels now in the Daly and South Aligator. They have been getting a stack of fish in the 50 - 80cm class on diving minnows. This might sound like pre-school but fight a 70cm barra in a raging run-off torrent and se how you go! Chances are you will up anchor and have to follow in hot pursuit.
So today i'm sitting at my desk. I get a sms from Sean. I open it up and nearly fall off my chair. The bugger is holding a mamoth wild barra caught yesterday flicking lures in the Daly. The story goes; "I was flickin some lures around a snag, i almost got held up in the woodwork, floated the lure over the top and WHACK, this thing got nailed!I knew straight up this girl was big".
After a torrid 25 minute fight that was full of, yes, yes, i'm on, get out of my way, i'm coming around the back, shouts of get your hand off the drag from the support crew, more shouts from the sideline critics, get out of my way i'm coming back up the front, fish jumping, adrenaline pumping, braid signing, rod bending and knees buckling, a beautiful 114cm barra was boated. Time to crack open a tinny.
Now 114cms might sound run-of-the-mill these days due to the gigantic proportions the Dam barra grow up to but let me tell you 114cms of raging wild caught barra is a fish of a lifetime. Make no mistake about it. I know i'd be happy with anything over 100cms.
I might be cursing him, but there's a small part of me that thanks him for giviung me a glimpse into what the fight was like, putting me in the hot seat and dragging me away from my mundane reality!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Urban EP's
You know...i hate cliches - and the most bandied around in fishing is 'enigmatic'. This fish is an enigma, it has enigmatic behavoiur blah blah blah. The problem is, if one fish can truely be called enigmatic, the Estuary Perch is it! I've been looking for a better descriptor for a long time now but mysterious doens't cut it, neither does peculiar. So i guess for now an enigma will have to do!
Sorry to digress but every time i think of EP's i get a sense of excitement. While i reckon i got these little blighters figured out somewhat i still have fishless days chasing them. There are other days where i sound out massive schools and they won't play the game and other days when the takes are so timid you don't have time to set the hooks. Either way it can be quite frustrating at times. In a sense though that's the appeal. Every now and again you get a reality check and these little buggers put your inflated fishing ego back in the top draw!
If you havent caught a Perch around Sydney and you have a burning desire to catch one, now is the time. Autumn sees the Perch on the move in the estuaries and are usually a little easier to find than normal. This is the time they start to make thier annual pilgrammage to the mouths of the rivers and creeks to spawn. This migration is a slow process and the fish could be on the move for a few months before they settle in to thier spawning patch. So the essence to finding them is to look for the highway routes out of creeks heading toward the main flow of the river. They won't be in the fianl positions now but should be spread across a fairly large area.
When i go looking for Perch now i tend to focus on the middle of the creeks rather then the edges. Look for deep holes adjacent to bends in the creek, eddies or current lines. They are quite sedentary creatures and don't like to waste energy in the fast current but need to station themselves close enough to it to snatch an easy meal being swept by.
They are extremely easy to find on a sounder too. EP's don't do a very good hiding job. If you find them you will find hundreds of them. To the un-trained eye they may look like a school of bait suspended just off the bottom but bait usually hangs a little higher in the water column. They should show up a meter or less from bottom. Don't be surprised either if your sounder max's out with readings too, its still working fine, it's just that at this tme of year the fish are tightly packed. Getting them to bite though is another story!
In my experience they will be feeding on prawns almost exclusively now. The days around the dark of the moon will see the best bite as the prawns move down. For that reason small lures resembling prawns are dynamite. Even grubs or jerk minnows still work even though they dont look like prawns but use a natural colour to imitate the colours of prawns. I like chartreuse the best. In the Hawkesbury River the colour chartreuse is a dead ringer for the famous Hawkesbury prawn.
Now Ep's are more wide spread than you may think. In Sydney thay can be caught in the Hacking, George's River (around in excellent numbers), Parramatta River & Upper Middle Harbour, Narrabeen Lagoon and the Hawkesbury River and every tributary that feeds it. They are recovering really well in the urban areas these days. Most fishos practice catch-and-release and if a feeding school is found cricket score catches can be made so stick to the stringent bag limits if you do want to nibble on one. But i reckon they are far too important to be caught just once.
Also please remember that during winter there is a closed season to allow EP's and Bass for that matter to spawn, so do the right thing, let them have thier privacy!
Sorry to digress but every time i think of EP's i get a sense of excitement. While i reckon i got these little blighters figured out somewhat i still have fishless days chasing them. There are other days where i sound out massive schools and they won't play the game and other days when the takes are so timid you don't have time to set the hooks. Either way it can be quite frustrating at times. In a sense though that's the appeal. Every now and again you get a reality check and these little buggers put your inflated fishing ego back in the top draw!
If you havent caught a Perch around Sydney and you have a burning desire to catch one, now is the time. Autumn sees the Perch on the move in the estuaries and are usually a little easier to find than normal. This is the time they start to make thier annual pilgrammage to the mouths of the rivers and creeks to spawn. This migration is a slow process and the fish could be on the move for a few months before they settle in to thier spawning patch. So the essence to finding them is to look for the highway routes out of creeks heading toward the main flow of the river. They won't be in the fianl positions now but should be spread across a fairly large area.
When i go looking for Perch now i tend to focus on the middle of the creeks rather then the edges. Look for deep holes adjacent to bends in the creek, eddies or current lines. They are quite sedentary creatures and don't like to waste energy in the fast current but need to station themselves close enough to it to snatch an easy meal being swept by.
They are extremely easy to find on a sounder too. EP's don't do a very good hiding job. If you find them you will find hundreds of them. To the un-trained eye they may look like a school of bait suspended just off the bottom but bait usually hangs a little higher in the water column. They should show up a meter or less from bottom. Don't be surprised either if your sounder max's out with readings too, its still working fine, it's just that at this tme of year the fish are tightly packed. Getting them to bite though is another story!
In my experience they will be feeding on prawns almost exclusively now. The days around the dark of the moon will see the best bite as the prawns move down. For that reason small lures resembling prawns are dynamite. Even grubs or jerk minnows still work even though they dont look like prawns but use a natural colour to imitate the colours of prawns. I like chartreuse the best. In the Hawkesbury River the colour chartreuse is a dead ringer for the famous Hawkesbury prawn.
Now Ep's are more wide spread than you may think. In Sydney thay can be caught in the Hacking, George's River (around in excellent numbers), Parramatta River & Upper Middle Harbour, Narrabeen Lagoon and the Hawkesbury River and every tributary that feeds it. They are recovering really well in the urban areas these days. Most fishos practice catch-and-release and if a feeding school is found cricket score catches can be made so stick to the stringent bag limits if you do want to nibble on one. But i reckon they are far too important to be caught just once.
Also please remember that during winter there is a closed season to allow EP's and Bass for that matter to spawn, so do the right thing, let them have thier privacy!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Live Bait or Lure???
For those who want to catch Mr Big this Easter, and by that i mean a big F@#k off jewfish, the perennial question always is Live bait or lure??? Obviously both techniques work, i grant that, but will one technique give you a better chance of catching one than the other???
If you read the marketing hype on the packets of plastix these days you could convince yourself that lures with out perfrom live bait every time. With blurbs like "outfishes live bait" splashed across them novices can be tricked ino thinking this is fact not fiction. I will conceed that in the right scenario and in the right hands, lures will outfish live bait sometimes. In saying that, put live bait in the hands of a true pro and watch the fish succumb! Lure anglers would shiver with jealousy.
As much as i'd hate to admit it, it is fact. Bait or lure is a lie told by a fisherman to a fish. This is a popular quote from one of Austs most well respected journo's, David Green. But Greeny refers this to lures. I tend to expand that out a little and refer it to bait as well. I mean, a dirty big 8/0 will go a long way to marginalising the concept of free swimming prey. And let's put things into perspective, live bait is a dead ringer for the real live thing...cause its the same bloody thing! All we need to do is convince the fish the live bait is infact an easy meal and not connected to 30lb nylon. Doesnt seem so hard now does it??
Now let's look at plastix. The very definition of how plastix work can translate to live bait. The whole concept is to create the illusion that a live prey item is an easy meal. So now you have to convince a fish that a piece of plastic moving in just the right manner is in fact real. Your behind the 8 ball before you even start. But the concept is still similar, we want fish to react to our live bait and our lures in the same way. Therefore a lure can be referred to as a live bait. But will it outfish the real thing??? Its hard to comprehend it will when one is real flesh and blood and the other is petro-chemical based or scented food starch!
With scents these days the line of demarcation is blurred. There's no doubt that scents like Gulp and S-Factor are closing the gap, and the way fish react to lures is changing. Fish seem to be more aggresive, more willing to hit a lure or they are tempted to strike outside of peak fishing times. This is a positive thing for lure fishos. But a fish will still hit a live bait similarly. A free tucker is still hard to turn down, even for us scavengers:)
In the end, when all is boiled down live bait is still live bait. It smells like live bait, It looks like live bait and swims like live bait. It even sends off tempting distress signals. Most of these things can be recreated in a labratory but the essence of life is lost. I cant see how lures will ever outfish the real thing. But im more than keen to try and find out for myself!
If you want Mr Big and you are not a lure convert already, learn live bait. It will be your best chance. For those of us who prefer to take the road of most resistence, welcome to land of a thousand casts.
If you read the marketing hype on the packets of plastix these days you could convince yourself that lures with out perfrom live bait every time. With blurbs like "outfishes live bait" splashed across them novices can be tricked ino thinking this is fact not fiction. I will conceed that in the right scenario and in the right hands, lures will outfish live bait sometimes. In saying that, put live bait in the hands of a true pro and watch the fish succumb! Lure anglers would shiver with jealousy.
As much as i'd hate to admit it, it is fact. Bait or lure is a lie told by a fisherman to a fish. This is a popular quote from one of Austs most well respected journo's, David Green. But Greeny refers this to lures. I tend to expand that out a little and refer it to bait as well. I mean, a dirty big 8/0 will go a long way to marginalising the concept of free swimming prey. And let's put things into perspective, live bait is a dead ringer for the real live thing...cause its the same bloody thing! All we need to do is convince the fish the live bait is infact an easy meal and not connected to 30lb nylon. Doesnt seem so hard now does it??
Now let's look at plastix. The very definition of how plastix work can translate to live bait. The whole concept is to create the illusion that a live prey item is an easy meal. So now you have to convince a fish that a piece of plastic moving in just the right manner is in fact real. Your behind the 8 ball before you even start. But the concept is still similar, we want fish to react to our live bait and our lures in the same way. Therefore a lure can be referred to as a live bait. But will it outfish the real thing??? Its hard to comprehend it will when one is real flesh and blood and the other is petro-chemical based or scented food starch!
With scents these days the line of demarcation is blurred. There's no doubt that scents like Gulp and S-Factor are closing the gap, and the way fish react to lures is changing. Fish seem to be more aggresive, more willing to hit a lure or they are tempted to strike outside of peak fishing times. This is a positive thing for lure fishos. But a fish will still hit a live bait similarly. A free tucker is still hard to turn down, even for us scavengers:)
In the end, when all is boiled down live bait is still live bait. It smells like live bait, It looks like live bait and swims like live bait. It even sends off tempting distress signals. Most of these things can be recreated in a labratory but the essence of life is lost. I cant see how lures will ever outfish the real thing. But im more than keen to try and find out for myself!
If you want Mr Big and you are not a lure convert already, learn live bait. It will be your best chance. For those of us who prefer to take the road of most resistence, welcome to land of a thousand casts.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Autumn's 3 Likely Suspects
Hi People,
Since we have been on a Autumn theme, its probably a good idea to look at what 3 species are available during these cooling months. It's no secret these are my favourite months of the year for fishing but lets look at what 3 species i love catching...
I fish Sydney's waterways and have done so for over 30 years. In that time many things have changed, my techniques have changed and even some species migratory patterns have changed. But there have been a few constants. Fish patterns you can even set your watch to.
Autumn in the Hawkesbury means one thing; big blue nose bream. The kind of bream that you would win every bream comp in oz. The brembos start to migrate out to sea to breed and are on the move out from the upper reaches of the river and creeks. The main chanels are highways now so foraging the shore is a little pointless. Try drifting the main water flow with small softies and deeper channels with long streamlined plastix. Dont be surprised when 1.5kg plus monsters start to come over the gunnels. Even Botany is inundated with bream at the moment so take advantage. Once the bream head out they wont be back for a few months!
Also this is time of year EP's start to head down to full salt to breed too. There is a closed season during winter but autumn is fair game. I dont keep any and most people dont so i dont see why we cant catch and release this species during thier spawning run. Every fish we catch is targeted during thier spawning period???? Silly policy makers!!! Try the edge of full salt and the brackish reaches of any of sydneys waterways, they all hold EP's. Small softies in charteuse are golden!
Another target is monster jewies. The small soapies usually start to move to the upper reaches of the rivers and the monster jews, who have been put off by the hot summer temps and holiday crowds start to move around the mouths of the rivers. If your going to get Mr. Big (over 25kgs) now is the time. Obviously live bait is gun and more specifically live squid is your best option to get your monster. But if you are like me, all lures, then big lures are needed, 6" should be your minimum. I like jerk minnows (stickbaits) fished in the deepest gutters and eddies i can find. Now big plastix arent always essential. Big fish are regularly caught on small lures. Remember even elephants eat peanuts!
There you have it. My 3 gun fish targets that make me salivate. Its these fish that keep me from sleeping at nights!
Since we have been on a Autumn theme, its probably a good idea to look at what 3 species are available during these cooling months. It's no secret these are my favourite months of the year for fishing but lets look at what 3 species i love catching...
I fish Sydney's waterways and have done so for over 30 years. In that time many things have changed, my techniques have changed and even some species migratory patterns have changed. But there have been a few constants. Fish patterns you can even set your watch to.
Autumn in the Hawkesbury means one thing; big blue nose bream. The kind of bream that you would win every bream comp in oz. The brembos start to migrate out to sea to breed and are on the move out from the upper reaches of the river and creeks. The main chanels are highways now so foraging the shore is a little pointless. Try drifting the main water flow with small softies and deeper channels with long streamlined plastix. Dont be surprised when 1.5kg plus monsters start to come over the gunnels. Even Botany is inundated with bream at the moment so take advantage. Once the bream head out they wont be back for a few months!
Also this is time of year EP's start to head down to full salt to breed too. There is a closed season during winter but autumn is fair game. I dont keep any and most people dont so i dont see why we cant catch and release this species during thier spawning run. Every fish we catch is targeted during thier spawning period???? Silly policy makers!!! Try the edge of full salt and the brackish reaches of any of sydneys waterways, they all hold EP's. Small softies in charteuse are golden!
Another target is monster jewies. The small soapies usually start to move to the upper reaches of the rivers and the monster jews, who have been put off by the hot summer temps and holiday crowds start to move around the mouths of the rivers. If your going to get Mr. Big (over 25kgs) now is the time. Obviously live bait is gun and more specifically live squid is your best option to get your monster. But if you are like me, all lures, then big lures are needed, 6" should be your minimum. I like jerk minnows (stickbaits) fished in the deepest gutters and eddies i can find. Now big plastix arent always essential. Big fish are regularly caught on small lures. Remember even elephants eat peanuts!
There you have it. My 3 gun fish targets that make me salivate. Its these fish that keep me from sleeping at nights!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Open the Floodgates or Flog the Dead Horse???
Hi Peoples,
It's no secret that this summer has been mightily dissappointing. Im not going to put some superficial spin on it. Im not going to justify it by saying everyones is finding it tough. The fact is i pride myself on catching fish when others cant. I pride myself on being able to track fish movements within a system, know where fish will be, know what fish 'should' be active and why! This summer things changed...and in a big way...
First off, the summer season isn't a particularly prime time for us anyway. If you read my last post you would know that summer is typically poor for our clan. Yes, the die-hard bait fishos clean up on whiting from the suds, yes the kingy brigade do well with live squid. But for me its all lures. A fish on lure is worth 10 with bait. Call me a snob but its how i feel..
I think we have been spoilt. Usually a poor session involves half dozen flatties, a few bream and maybe a bonus fish like a small jew or kingy. Every session has the undesirables too like tailor, leatheries and pike. So if you mix that in with 3 fishos onboard fishing for approx 8 hours, it equals roughly 3 fish each per day or 1 fish every 3 hours or so...Now thats slow in anyones language.
Funny thing is if you combine the total like described above it seems like a decent day. Now lets look at some of our recent trips...last sunday at botany bay, 1 legal flathead, 1 pike and 1 tailor between 2 anglers over 7 hours??? WTF. I would say that is our worst day in over 5 years, not to mention a dud day at Brisssy waters the week b4.
So whats the issue??? Are the fish changing patterns and i aint keeping up??? or are they becoming immune to the lure of our lures??? or is it just a case of lost concentration???
Probably the answer is a little of all those. I do believe that fish can 'wise up' to lures and presentations. It wouldnt take long for us to stop eating at a restaurant that served meals with saftey pins in them. Im sure we wouldnt forget food that looked like the meal that did either! Same goes with fish. Also the erratic weather patterns do have an impact on how fish behave. Species like whiting used to come on the chew on the Central Coast early Nov when i was a little boy...now its late January. Not to mention environmental impacts like the QX desease in the HBury killing off the oysters. The bream have to find another food source. They don't just stop eating. This will affect migration routes as well as behaviour.
The answer is simple. I need to fish more. I need to re-tune into the local waterways. To a degree i feel like i need to wipe the slate clean and start again. Re-learn all the things i thought i knew about the local fish. It's scary to think that but in the same breathe its exciting too. New possibilities and new challenges.
The bonus is this is traditionally my most productive time of year. I hope that remains the same. If not all might be lost and i will need to put my training wheels back on. I guess worse things have happened.
I'll keep you informed on my progress..till then... kick arse captain!
It's no secret that this summer has been mightily dissappointing. Im not going to put some superficial spin on it. Im not going to justify it by saying everyones is finding it tough. The fact is i pride myself on catching fish when others cant. I pride myself on being able to track fish movements within a system, know where fish will be, know what fish 'should' be active and why! This summer things changed...and in a big way...
First off, the summer season isn't a particularly prime time for us anyway. If you read my last post you would know that summer is typically poor for our clan. Yes, the die-hard bait fishos clean up on whiting from the suds, yes the kingy brigade do well with live squid. But for me its all lures. A fish on lure is worth 10 with bait. Call me a snob but its how i feel..
I think we have been spoilt. Usually a poor session involves half dozen flatties, a few bream and maybe a bonus fish like a small jew or kingy. Every session has the undesirables too like tailor, leatheries and pike. So if you mix that in with 3 fishos onboard fishing for approx 8 hours, it equals roughly 3 fish each per day or 1 fish every 3 hours or so...Now thats slow in anyones language.
Funny thing is if you combine the total like described above it seems like a decent day. Now lets look at some of our recent trips...last sunday at botany bay, 1 legal flathead, 1 pike and 1 tailor between 2 anglers over 7 hours??? WTF. I would say that is our worst day in over 5 years, not to mention a dud day at Brisssy waters the week b4.
So whats the issue??? Are the fish changing patterns and i aint keeping up??? or are they becoming immune to the lure of our lures??? or is it just a case of lost concentration???
Probably the answer is a little of all those. I do believe that fish can 'wise up' to lures and presentations. It wouldnt take long for us to stop eating at a restaurant that served meals with saftey pins in them. Im sure we wouldnt forget food that looked like the meal that did either! Same goes with fish. Also the erratic weather patterns do have an impact on how fish behave. Species like whiting used to come on the chew on the Central Coast early Nov when i was a little boy...now its late January. Not to mention environmental impacts like the QX desease in the HBury killing off the oysters. The bream have to find another food source. They don't just stop eating. This will affect migration routes as well as behaviour.
The answer is simple. I need to fish more. I need to re-tune into the local waterways. To a degree i feel like i need to wipe the slate clean and start again. Re-learn all the things i thought i knew about the local fish. It's scary to think that but in the same breathe its exciting too. New possibilities and new challenges.
The bonus is this is traditionally my most productive time of year. I hope that remains the same. If not all might be lost and i will need to put my training wheels back on. I guess worse things have happened.
I'll keep you informed on my progress..till then... kick arse captain!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Changing Seasons
Hi People,
It's here! The best time of year...Finally!
Autumn is my favourite time of year to wet a line. The days are still warm enuf to jump out of bed at 4am and wear thongs and it's not too cold to need beanies or balaclavas. But it goes a little further than that. In my opinion this is the gun time for a number or reasons; allow me to explain...
My fishing diary is not a comprehensive piece of work eligible for a pulitzer prize...its more an amalgamation of photos carefully filed by location, month and fish caught. In this way i can look over my fishing trips and see patterns on fish caught in what area in what month. Its without coincidence that my best fishing photo library has been collected in the cooler months of Autumn.
So why is this??? Why do i seem to be catching all my prized fish in Autumn???
In order to understand this, it is interesting to look at the other seasons as well. The two extremes of summer and winter have produced the least fish. Then spring comes in as the 2nd most productive time of year. So the immediate conclusion you can draw from this is that in the areas i fish, and with the techniques i use to catch them, the transient months of autumn and spring are the best fish producers. The fish seem to react better to lures in the 'mid' temperatures rather than the heat of summer or the chill of winter.
So let's look at temperature! I know for myself i find it hard to eat in the height of summer. Its too hot, i become sluggish and sometimes i just couldnt bother. Same with fish. I recorded temps of around 28 degrees this summer. Thats hot bath water! How do you expect fish to want to chase down a lure when the water they live in is practically boiling??? I even found whiting to go off the bite at times too with ultra high temps, and these are true blue summer specialists!
Same goes for Winter! How do you expect a fish to have enuf energy to hit a lure when they are chilled to the bone??? I know i don't move far from the blanket in winter!
While it's true the rising water temps promote fish activity, extremes in weather can have the same effect of putting fish off the bite. Even conditions within conditions, such as the barometic pressure in summer effects fish behaviour. This summer season the barometer's been going crazy. The weather patterns have been very inconsistent and erratic. Many times the fish have shut down when every other signpost suggested a good session.
In winter and spring the weather patterns are much more settled too. You can string a few good wind-less days together with a high barometer and moderate water temps. In fact water temp doesnt really cool off totally till about June. But the water temps dont pick up sufficiently again till November either!
Another prime reason is the 'cross over' of species in this period. The summer fish are now ready to move on and either reproduce, such as the bream, or they will find more suitable conditions, like the whiting for instance. This happens the same time the winter species move in such as tailor, salmon and trevally. The cross over could mean more competiton for food. This 'can' force fish to become more aggresive. Certainly this time of year has produced better mixed bags of fish. Having a larger biomass of fish present means a larger concentration of apex predators. Just look at the current shark epidemic. But for lure anglers this usually means jewfish, kingfish, EP's and salmon. All are viable targets this time of year.
Therein lies the secret. The fish are better suited to the warming or cooling temperatures of autumn and spring and the transient fish populations mean there is a larger concentration of fish, wich basically means greater competiton for food. Its without doubt the best time of year in the Sydney estuaries and rivers so take advantage.
The trick is you won't catch fish reading this in front of your computer! Get out there...
It's here! The best time of year...Finally!
Autumn is my favourite time of year to wet a line. The days are still warm enuf to jump out of bed at 4am and wear thongs and it's not too cold to need beanies or balaclavas. But it goes a little further than that. In my opinion this is the gun time for a number or reasons; allow me to explain...
My fishing diary is not a comprehensive piece of work eligible for a pulitzer prize...its more an amalgamation of photos carefully filed by location, month and fish caught. In this way i can look over my fishing trips and see patterns on fish caught in what area in what month. Its without coincidence that my best fishing photo library has been collected in the cooler months of Autumn.
So why is this??? Why do i seem to be catching all my prized fish in Autumn???
In order to understand this, it is interesting to look at the other seasons as well. The two extremes of summer and winter have produced the least fish. Then spring comes in as the 2nd most productive time of year. So the immediate conclusion you can draw from this is that in the areas i fish, and with the techniques i use to catch them, the transient months of autumn and spring are the best fish producers. The fish seem to react better to lures in the 'mid' temperatures rather than the heat of summer or the chill of winter.
So let's look at temperature! I know for myself i find it hard to eat in the height of summer. Its too hot, i become sluggish and sometimes i just couldnt bother. Same with fish. I recorded temps of around 28 degrees this summer. Thats hot bath water! How do you expect fish to want to chase down a lure when the water they live in is practically boiling??? I even found whiting to go off the bite at times too with ultra high temps, and these are true blue summer specialists!
Same goes for Winter! How do you expect a fish to have enuf energy to hit a lure when they are chilled to the bone??? I know i don't move far from the blanket in winter!
While it's true the rising water temps promote fish activity, extremes in weather can have the same effect of putting fish off the bite. Even conditions within conditions, such as the barometic pressure in summer effects fish behaviour. This summer season the barometer's been going crazy. The weather patterns have been very inconsistent and erratic. Many times the fish have shut down when every other signpost suggested a good session.
In winter and spring the weather patterns are much more settled too. You can string a few good wind-less days together with a high barometer and moderate water temps. In fact water temp doesnt really cool off totally till about June. But the water temps dont pick up sufficiently again till November either!
Another prime reason is the 'cross over' of species in this period. The summer fish are now ready to move on and either reproduce, such as the bream, or they will find more suitable conditions, like the whiting for instance. This happens the same time the winter species move in such as tailor, salmon and trevally. The cross over could mean more competiton for food. This 'can' force fish to become more aggresive. Certainly this time of year has produced better mixed bags of fish. Having a larger biomass of fish present means a larger concentration of apex predators. Just look at the current shark epidemic. But for lure anglers this usually means jewfish, kingfish, EP's and salmon. All are viable targets this time of year.
Therein lies the secret. The fish are better suited to the warming or cooling temperatures of autumn and spring and the transient fish populations mean there is a larger concentration of fish, wich basically means greater competiton for food. Its without doubt the best time of year in the Sydney estuaries and rivers so take advantage.
The trick is you won't catch fish reading this in front of your computer! Get out there...
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Hawkesbury 21st/ 22nd Feb
Hi peoples,
Just a quick report from the wwekend. Hit the hawkesbury both days in what turned out to be a mixed bag for fish as well as weather. Left bayview ramp in pittwater at half 5 to hit a few jewie ledges we know. havent pulled a jew in the hawkesbury since nov on sp's so it was time time to make amends.
Prospected around to no success so we hit a few flatty grounds to brake up the monotony. Hit some good fish and tried a few new spots. My mate fially snared a jewie that preceeded to bust him off. Later i found out he had 6lb leader. Bummer.
Came back into pittwater and flicked the shallow flats along the back of palm beach. I hooked a nice 67cm lizard that had a male flatty about 35cms in tow. He was obviously pissed off his maiden was being ripped from his bed.
Lastly we hit scotland island with blades as the leatheries were decimating our stocks. Got another 67cm lizard too. Next cast i had the mother of all flattys on. I have caught a 98cm fish but this felt, dare i say it, bigger!!!! It hit a 5cm blade and just hugged the bottom and when i gave it some stick it hit the afterburners and snapped me off. We ended up catching over 25 flattys, a few bream, a few pike and few leatheries.
On sunday we tried the same game plan. It was apparent that the day was going to be slower. We hit all the same spots and tried all the same techniques but only caught 6 flatties and 2 kilo plus bream... I did land a nice 73cm lizard though. That was pretty fun.
So a mixed bag of luck..but thats fishing.
Just a quick report from the wwekend. Hit the hawkesbury both days in what turned out to be a mixed bag for fish as well as weather. Left bayview ramp in pittwater at half 5 to hit a few jewie ledges we know. havent pulled a jew in the hawkesbury since nov on sp's so it was time time to make amends.
Prospected around to no success so we hit a few flatty grounds to brake up the monotony. Hit some good fish and tried a few new spots. My mate fially snared a jewie that preceeded to bust him off. Later i found out he had 6lb leader. Bummer.
Came back into pittwater and flicked the shallow flats along the back of palm beach. I hooked a nice 67cm lizard that had a male flatty about 35cms in tow. He was obviously pissed off his maiden was being ripped from his bed.
Lastly we hit scotland island with blades as the leatheries were decimating our stocks. Got another 67cm lizard too. Next cast i had the mother of all flattys on. I have caught a 98cm fish but this felt, dare i say it, bigger!!!! It hit a 5cm blade and just hugged the bottom and when i gave it some stick it hit the afterburners and snapped me off. We ended up catching over 25 flattys, a few bream, a few pike and few leatheries.
On sunday we tried the same game plan. It was apparent that the day was going to be slower. We hit all the same spots and tried all the same techniques but only caught 6 flatties and 2 kilo plus bream... I did land a nice 73cm lizard though. That was pretty fun.
So a mixed bag of luck..but thats fishing.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Lake Conjola Flathead Classic Results
Hi Peoples,
Sorry for the delay since the last post. My new work arrangements mean i'm sightly more pressed for time now but i do endeavour to get back here a few times a week and keep all you fishos inspired to go out and fish. Im no less committed to wetting a line but now it's a matter of preparation rather than the luxuary of picking and choosing.
As happens when it rains it pours... exactly the predicament with the weather at the moment. I fished the annual 2009 Lake Conjola flatty classic last weekend and it was a real scorcher. I mean over 40 degrees both days and stiffling hot. Right now im gazing out my window and its raining sleet and a coolish 20 odd degrees...who can pick it???
So anyway the conjola classic is a hotly contested tourney with alot of the local guru's vying for dominance evry year. It's almost impossible to get an invite as the numbers are limited for legal reasons but i got my look in this year...and it was time to put up a spirited fight for the imports.
The comp is the accumulation of the 5 longest flathead on day 1 plus the 5 longest flathead on day 2 to give you your total length catch.
The lake was a tepid 28 degrees which wasn't a good indication early. I reckon its far too hot for the fishing to be optimal. My mate sean cremin and devised a gameplan and decided to hit the shallow fringes early. We thought the frst hour or so of day one was when the friges in a foot of water might produce. The lake is quite small so 70 odd boats plus skiers plus other ring-ins was going to make a large impact on the the fish. Our initial plan was spot on. We both hit a few early and got on the scorecard.
The 40 degree day bit home and things slowed down. 4 hours past and both of us were stuck on 3 fish each. Sean dropped 2 fish in two casts and on a slow day basically spelt the deadth of his chances, especially when we heard of a 80 plus and a 90 plus fish being caught. To my luck i snagged two fish late in the day to get my full bag of 5 fish and managed to accumulate 1.91m of fish, sean had 3 fish for 1.30m. The winning angler after day 1 was an astounding 2.84m of fish witha lovely kicker fish of 83cms.
I had 90 odd cms to make up but was in 2nd place.
Day 2 started very slowly. I persisted with the baldes which caught me 2 important fish on day 1. But things were slow. We tried a few spots and decided to prospect an area that sean dropped a cracker on day 1. I also changed to a plastic and i had immediate results. 3 fish in 3 cats if you dont mind umpire. A 45, 67 and 56. Back in the ball game. I then hit another 48 and 42. In fact in went on to snare 10 legals for the day and upgraged my 42 to a 61. I had eventually bagged 1.73m of fish on day 2.
I thought i had got 20cms too little and sure enough i was close to the mark. The winning angler got a 48cm flathead on his last cast of the day and effectively done me by 15cms. In fact he only got 4 fish on day 2...spewin.
Well thats how it goes. Once again the bridesmaid. This is a vey informal comp and a family orientated one to boot. It was a great few days and maybe just maybe the sun god can have arest next year cause 40 odd degrees is far too hot for any man...especially one thats built like an artic seal...hehehe.
Sorry for the delay since the last post. My new work arrangements mean i'm sightly more pressed for time now but i do endeavour to get back here a few times a week and keep all you fishos inspired to go out and fish. Im no less committed to wetting a line but now it's a matter of preparation rather than the luxuary of picking and choosing.
As happens when it rains it pours... exactly the predicament with the weather at the moment. I fished the annual 2009 Lake Conjola flatty classic last weekend and it was a real scorcher. I mean over 40 degrees both days and stiffling hot. Right now im gazing out my window and its raining sleet and a coolish 20 odd degrees...who can pick it???
So anyway the conjola classic is a hotly contested tourney with alot of the local guru's vying for dominance evry year. It's almost impossible to get an invite as the numbers are limited for legal reasons but i got my look in this year...and it was time to put up a spirited fight for the imports.
The comp is the accumulation of the 5 longest flathead on day 1 plus the 5 longest flathead on day 2 to give you your total length catch.
The lake was a tepid 28 degrees which wasn't a good indication early. I reckon its far too hot for the fishing to be optimal. My mate sean cremin and devised a gameplan and decided to hit the shallow fringes early. We thought the frst hour or so of day one was when the friges in a foot of water might produce. The lake is quite small so 70 odd boats plus skiers plus other ring-ins was going to make a large impact on the the fish. Our initial plan was spot on. We both hit a few early and got on the scorecard.
The 40 degree day bit home and things slowed down. 4 hours past and both of us were stuck on 3 fish each. Sean dropped 2 fish in two casts and on a slow day basically spelt the deadth of his chances, especially when we heard of a 80 plus and a 90 plus fish being caught. To my luck i snagged two fish late in the day to get my full bag of 5 fish and managed to accumulate 1.91m of fish, sean had 3 fish for 1.30m. The winning angler after day 1 was an astounding 2.84m of fish witha lovely kicker fish of 83cms.
I had 90 odd cms to make up but was in 2nd place.
Day 2 started very slowly. I persisted with the baldes which caught me 2 important fish on day 1. But things were slow. We tried a few spots and decided to prospect an area that sean dropped a cracker on day 1. I also changed to a plastic and i had immediate results. 3 fish in 3 cats if you dont mind umpire. A 45, 67 and 56. Back in the ball game. I then hit another 48 and 42. In fact in went on to snare 10 legals for the day and upgraged my 42 to a 61. I had eventually bagged 1.73m of fish on day 2.
I thought i had got 20cms too little and sure enough i was close to the mark. The winning angler got a 48cm flathead on his last cast of the day and effectively done me by 15cms. In fact he only got 4 fish on day 2...spewin.
Well thats how it goes. Once again the bridesmaid. This is a vey informal comp and a family orientated one to boot. It was a great few days and maybe just maybe the sun god can have arest next year cause 40 odd degrees is far too hot for any man...especially one thats built like an artic seal...hehehe.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Getting Started on Soft Plastics
Hi Peoples,
Getting started on softies can be a daunting task. I recently had 2 newbies wanna get started on sp's in my office and it was an interesting challenge to give them the info they would need to get started and not enough info so they would be confused by the experience.
So what did i tell them?? or more so, what did i think was the must know stuff to get a new fisho strated n sp's and give them a chance to catch something???
First off the education dept was around the rods and reels used nowadays for lure fishing. I felt b4 we got into the convo of lures and jigheads the best place to start is at the begining, of course, so that is with the differences in tackle and the benefit of the the new tech stuff. This was easy to understand and while they didnt quite comprehend everything was a good basis by which to continue...
The braid line was a good talking point as both were unaware of the new gsp stuff and only ever saw or used mono. It was an important point and recommended using braid at all costs.
So once the rod, reel and line education was over, the lures and jig heads were a natural extension of that. I basically labelled the lures (sp's) into two categories. Lures with in-built action and lures without any action. Basically any lure that has a tail that swims upon movement or a lure that has no action as it is retrieved without the manipulation from the angler.
Upon that convo i discussed jigheads. I indicated a round jighead for the in-built lures and an angular head or bullet head for no-action lures. This made good sense and after discussing the pysics of water and an angular jighead indicated how a lure with no in-built action can come to life.
Lastly i discussed leader. I didnt go into too much but basically said it helped tell the lie to the fish. Only the fish should see the mainline not the fish...
I didnt go into technique too much but suggested the lure should always make contact with the bottom after each hop. and that was about it. The very basic stuff to get a greenhorn rigged up and ready to cast a lure.
I felt if i gave anymore info it would be overload. The rest really can be learnt along the way. But no doubt the best way to teach them is to take them on the boat and let them see how its done first hand.... seeing really is believing!
Getting started on softies can be a daunting task. I recently had 2 newbies wanna get started on sp's in my office and it was an interesting challenge to give them the info they would need to get started and not enough info so they would be confused by the experience.
So what did i tell them?? or more so, what did i think was the must know stuff to get a new fisho strated n sp's and give them a chance to catch something???
First off the education dept was around the rods and reels used nowadays for lure fishing. I felt b4 we got into the convo of lures and jigheads the best place to start is at the begining, of course, so that is with the differences in tackle and the benefit of the the new tech stuff. This was easy to understand and while they didnt quite comprehend everything was a good basis by which to continue...
The braid line was a good talking point as both were unaware of the new gsp stuff and only ever saw or used mono. It was an important point and recommended using braid at all costs.
So once the rod, reel and line education was over, the lures and jig heads were a natural extension of that. I basically labelled the lures (sp's) into two categories. Lures with in-built action and lures without any action. Basically any lure that has a tail that swims upon movement or a lure that has no action as it is retrieved without the manipulation from the angler.
Upon that convo i discussed jigheads. I indicated a round jighead for the in-built lures and an angular head or bullet head for no-action lures. This made good sense and after discussing the pysics of water and an angular jighead indicated how a lure with no in-built action can come to life.
Lastly i discussed leader. I didnt go into too much but basically said it helped tell the lie to the fish. Only the fish should see the mainline not the fish...
I didnt go into technique too much but suggested the lure should always make contact with the bottom after each hop. and that was about it. The very basic stuff to get a greenhorn rigged up and ready to cast a lure.
I felt if i gave anymore info it would be overload. The rest really can be learnt along the way. But no doubt the best way to teach them is to take them on the boat and let them see how its done first hand.... seeing really is believing!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Size of your Fishing Reels
Hi Peoples,
I had an interesting question put to me recently. It was about the size of reels people use for light line spinning e.g. for bream on light lures and whiting... The argument, as happens when opinions are put into the mix, some of us say that lighter is better and others like a heavier outfit...
The argument for a heavier outfit was interesting. When i say heavier i mean using a 2500 sized reel on a 2-4kg 7 footer... The reason they opted for a heavier reel was 'in case' a bigger than average fish got hooked they could land it. By this bigger than average meant hooking by-catch. Now my issue with this is two-fold.
Firstly, fishing equipment is such finely tuned and balanced that catering for a mulitude of species with the one outfit will negate the performance that can be achieved if it was species specific. Putting a 2500 sized reel will throw out the balance of the small flick stick, make it bottom heavy, lead to wrist fatigue and generally feel poor in the hand. Yes, you might be able to knock over bigger fish with a 2500 sized reel but come on. In that premise you would need to go a heavier line class and therefore restrict the finesse appeal to catch you smaller quarry. If you stuck with a lighter line class, where's the benefit??? The only one i see is line capacity, but just chase the fish! I have never had a fish spool me...ever!
Secondly, the drag settings on a 1000 sized reel will never be fully used anyway let alone a 2500... The 4lb and 6lb line classes are too light to be used to thier full capacity on a 2500 sized reel...usually. Most of us will over ever run max 1-2kgs of drag thru our bream rods, and trust me thats over estimating it too. Do a test for yourself and run 1kg of drag thru your 2-4kg spin stick. It will be at max load. So the drag will never be fully utilised anyaway on 2500. Most new 1500 and 2000 sized reels run 3 or 4kgs of drag nowadays and thats plenty.
I use a 2004 luvias and 2000 certate. These are the max size i will run on light line finesse gear. The luvias is substantially smaller than the certate and is my ultra finesse reel. It weighs a mere 180grams and has 3kgs of drag.. Its gun and i have knocked over my fair share of jew and sambos on it. It can handle the heat all day, let alone a bream!
So will a lighter reel do the job better??? As Greeny (a fellow fisho writer) says, a lure is a lie told by a fisherman to a fish. In this deciept the lie needs to look authentic, smell authentic and taste authentic. The movement of the lure needs to be realistic. In order for this to happen the jighead needs to be as light as possible, the leader needs to be light, the main line light, the rod light and sensitive and a reel to match this integrated system. In this instance i cannot forsee why you would dampen the feel of the set-up just to cater for by-catch. If something comes along and spools you...good luck i say. That would be enuf fuel for me to get out there and keep trying.
So i guess my advice, and take it with a grain of salt, is to go as light as possible with all your equipment. Fish light and fish it hard. You'll be surprised at how far you can push your light gear...and the fun factor goes thru the roof too.
I had an interesting question put to me recently. It was about the size of reels people use for light line spinning e.g. for bream on light lures and whiting... The argument, as happens when opinions are put into the mix, some of us say that lighter is better and others like a heavier outfit...
The argument for a heavier outfit was interesting. When i say heavier i mean using a 2500 sized reel on a 2-4kg 7 footer... The reason they opted for a heavier reel was 'in case' a bigger than average fish got hooked they could land it. By this bigger than average meant hooking by-catch. Now my issue with this is two-fold.
Firstly, fishing equipment is such finely tuned and balanced that catering for a mulitude of species with the one outfit will negate the performance that can be achieved if it was species specific. Putting a 2500 sized reel will throw out the balance of the small flick stick, make it bottom heavy, lead to wrist fatigue and generally feel poor in the hand. Yes, you might be able to knock over bigger fish with a 2500 sized reel but come on. In that premise you would need to go a heavier line class and therefore restrict the finesse appeal to catch you smaller quarry. If you stuck with a lighter line class, where's the benefit??? The only one i see is line capacity, but just chase the fish! I have never had a fish spool me...ever!
Secondly, the drag settings on a 1000 sized reel will never be fully used anyway let alone a 2500... The 4lb and 6lb line classes are too light to be used to thier full capacity on a 2500 sized reel...usually. Most of us will over ever run max 1-2kgs of drag thru our bream rods, and trust me thats over estimating it too. Do a test for yourself and run 1kg of drag thru your 2-4kg spin stick. It will be at max load. So the drag will never be fully utilised anyaway on 2500. Most new 1500 and 2000 sized reels run 3 or 4kgs of drag nowadays and thats plenty.
I use a 2004 luvias and 2000 certate. These are the max size i will run on light line finesse gear. The luvias is substantially smaller than the certate and is my ultra finesse reel. It weighs a mere 180grams and has 3kgs of drag.. Its gun and i have knocked over my fair share of jew and sambos on it. It can handle the heat all day, let alone a bream!
So will a lighter reel do the job better??? As Greeny (a fellow fisho writer) says, a lure is a lie told by a fisherman to a fish. In this deciept the lie needs to look authentic, smell authentic and taste authentic. The movement of the lure needs to be realistic. In order for this to happen the jighead needs to be as light as possible, the leader needs to be light, the main line light, the rod light and sensitive and a reel to match this integrated system. In this instance i cannot forsee why you would dampen the feel of the set-up just to cater for by-catch. If something comes along and spools you...good luck i say. That would be enuf fuel for me to get out there and keep trying.
So i guess my advice, and take it with a grain of salt, is to go as light as possible with all your equipment. Fish light and fish it hard. You'll be surprised at how far you can push your light gear...and the fun factor goes thru the roof too.
Monday, February 2, 2009
How good are we???
Hi Peoples,
Ever wondered how good a fisherman we are??? Ever sat there and watched a TV show and pondered if you had the goods to outfish any of the pros you see flickin lures on TV??? I'm a very competitve person so i usually do. Problem is that with video editing and other production values its hard to assess. Also the pros make it look easy at times so its hard to gauge for real. I do know however that some people i see making a living out of fishing are hacks...
I have fished a few tournaments. My best was a second place in a sydney comp and i recently came 5th in a Hawkesbury comp. While its far from blazing glory comps are a funny way to assess your skills. In a social scene fishing is quite different and i feel i could hold my own against most (usually only sp's). But why is a comp a different story?? Most pros get a week to pre-fish a spot, work out the patterns and devise a sound gameplan. Weekend warriors who enter most likely rock up on gameday and make decisions on the fly. The tourny boats hit the gun spots at 120kms/h and coupled with a pre-fish are mostly unbeatable. But thats whats required to win.
Also my ability or inability to catch fish with multiple techniques is a factor. I would consider myself proficient at catching bread and butter species on lures e.g. bream, flathead, jewfish and whiting but seem to struggle with kingfish on poppers. Therefore a complete angler will have better skills to use across all diciplines of fishing. Its hard though to keep up with all the new lures that hit the market. I have 1 day a weekend usually to go out and experiment. The time it takes to perfect a lure at a rate of 1 day a week is negligable. Fact is its far too slow. By the time you have perfected it two new lures have hit the scene.
But thats fishing. Unless your a pro or extremely rich or live on the water its hard to be a jack of all trades. So basically it's not a question of are we the best?? but a question of are we the best we can be??? In the end its fishing...and the more i realise that the more im discouraged by fishing comps. Its a social sport meant to be enjoyed by family and friends.
Ever wondered how good a fisherman we are??? Ever sat there and watched a TV show and pondered if you had the goods to outfish any of the pros you see flickin lures on TV??? I'm a very competitve person so i usually do. Problem is that with video editing and other production values its hard to assess. Also the pros make it look easy at times so its hard to gauge for real. I do know however that some people i see making a living out of fishing are hacks...
I have fished a few tournaments. My best was a second place in a sydney comp and i recently came 5th in a Hawkesbury comp. While its far from blazing glory comps are a funny way to assess your skills. In a social scene fishing is quite different and i feel i could hold my own against most (usually only sp's). But why is a comp a different story?? Most pros get a week to pre-fish a spot, work out the patterns and devise a sound gameplan. Weekend warriors who enter most likely rock up on gameday and make decisions on the fly. The tourny boats hit the gun spots at 120kms/h and coupled with a pre-fish are mostly unbeatable. But thats whats required to win.
Also my ability or inability to catch fish with multiple techniques is a factor. I would consider myself proficient at catching bread and butter species on lures e.g. bream, flathead, jewfish and whiting but seem to struggle with kingfish on poppers. Therefore a complete angler will have better skills to use across all diciplines of fishing. Its hard though to keep up with all the new lures that hit the market. I have 1 day a weekend usually to go out and experiment. The time it takes to perfect a lure at a rate of 1 day a week is negligable. Fact is its far too slow. By the time you have perfected it two new lures have hit the scene.
But thats fishing. Unless your a pro or extremely rich or live on the water its hard to be a jack of all trades. So basically it's not a question of are we the best?? but a question of are we the best we can be??? In the end its fishing...and the more i realise that the more im discouraged by fishing comps. Its a social sport meant to be enjoyed by family and friends.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Reef Balls
Hi Peoples,
Wanna have a quick chat today about how we are spending our rec fishing license fees. Some good initiatives have come out of this like buying back commercial fishing licenses which have reduced the overall quota on catch rates..so they tell us...improvements to our boating lauching facilities like ramps, wharfs and pontoons...and the construction of artificial reefs in certain estuaries.
The artificial reefs are constructed out of concrete balls that are hollow and have multiple holes in them. The concrete is a special mix of god knows what but its supposed to promote marine growth on the balls, and hence the start of its own ecosystem.
I have had a chance to fish a few of these things already, with mixed results. I have visited the reefs at st georges basin and lake macquarie. The st georges basin reef balls have been there now for a while, not too sure of the exact time, but they fish pretty well. There is a good You Tube video of a diver with a camera showing the fish life. While i havent had too much success on them i know a few dudes that pull good reds off the reefs in the 2kg class, not monsters but quality for a basin.
The lake mac reefs are hit and miss as well. They do produce a good mix of bread and butter species but lack some of the quality fish the rest of the lake produces.
Other reefs are located at Botany Bay and a new string of reefs at Lake Conjola. This has surprised me a little. I wouldnt expect Lake Conjola to be a prime location. But the lake is devoid of reefs and fish holding structure so it may be a good choice, only time will tell. Also one has been touted for Merimbula Lake???
This is a good iniative. If it helps to promote fish life and give anglers a chance to catch better class of fish and more fish...its a good thing.
Wanna have a quick chat today about how we are spending our rec fishing license fees. Some good initiatives have come out of this like buying back commercial fishing licenses which have reduced the overall quota on catch rates..so they tell us...improvements to our boating lauching facilities like ramps, wharfs and pontoons...and the construction of artificial reefs in certain estuaries.
The artificial reefs are constructed out of concrete balls that are hollow and have multiple holes in them. The concrete is a special mix of god knows what but its supposed to promote marine growth on the balls, and hence the start of its own ecosystem.
I have had a chance to fish a few of these things already, with mixed results. I have visited the reefs at st georges basin and lake macquarie. The st georges basin reef balls have been there now for a while, not too sure of the exact time, but they fish pretty well. There is a good You Tube video of a diver with a camera showing the fish life. While i havent had too much success on them i know a few dudes that pull good reds off the reefs in the 2kg class, not monsters but quality for a basin.
The lake mac reefs are hit and miss as well. They do produce a good mix of bread and butter species but lack some of the quality fish the rest of the lake produces.
Other reefs are located at Botany Bay and a new string of reefs at Lake Conjola. This has surprised me a little. I wouldnt expect Lake Conjola to be a prime location. But the lake is devoid of reefs and fish holding structure so it may be a good choice, only time will tell. Also one has been touted for Merimbula Lake???
This is a good iniative. If it helps to promote fish life and give anglers a chance to catch better class of fish and more fish...its a good thing.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
8 things to remember about Lures.
Hi Peoples,
As most of you would know i do most of my fishing with lures these days. I do on the odd occasion hook on a live bait for jew...but it is rare.
So over the past 6 years what are the things i reckon are most important to successful luring??? The following are my experiences and are subject to change. Nothing in fishing ever remains static.
1) Go Light - I put this at the top of the tree, before action, technique or any other factor. I believe the lighter you go, the more natural your presentation looks, the more sensitivity you have, the more fish you hook. Now go light refers to the whole integrated system from your rod and reel, to your braid, to your leader and thru to your jighead. Everything should balance. Not only is this more comfortable but you will trick more fish too.
2) Be Stealthy - This goes well with point 1. No good going light and finesse then roaring into a spot just to spook the fish. From a fishes perspective a roaring boat must seem like a F18 doing circus stunt fly-bys at very low altitude. It's loud and it's scary. Pull into a spot gently, operate on an electric motor or use the tide and wind to cover ground. Keep banging the boat to a minimum. Remember if you can hear noise sure as hell the fish can too. Also i wont take the boat of the garage if the leccy isn't working!
3) Make Long Casts - Once again, ties in well with point 1&2. If you fish light you make longer casts, make longer casts you can be stealthier, and the best attribute is cover more ground. The whole premise of my lure fishing is ground coverage. I try to work as much water as possible till i find fish, stick with em, exhaust the opportunity and move on. Long casts help me achieve this. The more fish that see my lure in a given session the more fish i catch.
4) Be Patient - Not every fish eats all the time! Just like us, fish eat and rest, they don't bite all day. So be patient, soon enuf the bites will come.
5) Fish Where the Fish Are - I know this sounds a little obvious but the amount of times i see boats flogging lures in a barren wasteland astounds me. Have a reason to fish a spot. I know you here it all the time, fish structure. A fish needs somewhere to eat and rest, if you were a fish where would you go to eat??? Where would you go to rest??? Answer these questions and your well on your way! Think like a fish....
6) Slow Down - By this i mean slow the retrieve down. When things are quiet slow everything right down. Keeping a lure dangling in a fishes face a split second longer might just be the tonic to make it strike. On tought days long pauses are often the difference between fish and no fish.
7) Use Scent - These days i don't go out fishing without my trusty S-Factor and a handful of Gulps. I do use conventional sp's but smeared with S-Factor. It honestly makes a huge difference. My jew catch rate has doubled while using S-Factor. It's GUN!
8) Clear Water, Clear Lures - The simple philosophy for lure colour selection is clear water clear lures, dark water dark lures. In saying that i believe that lure colour is the least important factor in the whole system. Get the action and size of the lure right, use the right equipment and usually fish will follow. On some days though, colour can be a factor.
There you have it. 8 factors for my success with lures. Common knowledge stuff but a foundation i base all my luring by.
As most of you would know i do most of my fishing with lures these days. I do on the odd occasion hook on a live bait for jew...but it is rare.
So over the past 6 years what are the things i reckon are most important to successful luring??? The following are my experiences and are subject to change. Nothing in fishing ever remains static.
1) Go Light - I put this at the top of the tree, before action, technique or any other factor. I believe the lighter you go, the more natural your presentation looks, the more sensitivity you have, the more fish you hook. Now go light refers to the whole integrated system from your rod and reel, to your braid, to your leader and thru to your jighead. Everything should balance. Not only is this more comfortable but you will trick more fish too.
2) Be Stealthy - This goes well with point 1. No good going light and finesse then roaring into a spot just to spook the fish. From a fishes perspective a roaring boat must seem like a F18 doing circus stunt fly-bys at very low altitude. It's loud and it's scary. Pull into a spot gently, operate on an electric motor or use the tide and wind to cover ground. Keep banging the boat to a minimum. Remember if you can hear noise sure as hell the fish can too. Also i wont take the boat of the garage if the leccy isn't working!
3) Make Long Casts - Once again, ties in well with point 1&2. If you fish light you make longer casts, make longer casts you can be stealthier, and the best attribute is cover more ground. The whole premise of my lure fishing is ground coverage. I try to work as much water as possible till i find fish, stick with em, exhaust the opportunity and move on. Long casts help me achieve this. The more fish that see my lure in a given session the more fish i catch.
4) Be Patient - Not every fish eats all the time! Just like us, fish eat and rest, they don't bite all day. So be patient, soon enuf the bites will come.
5) Fish Where the Fish Are - I know this sounds a little obvious but the amount of times i see boats flogging lures in a barren wasteland astounds me. Have a reason to fish a spot. I know you here it all the time, fish structure. A fish needs somewhere to eat and rest, if you were a fish where would you go to eat??? Where would you go to rest??? Answer these questions and your well on your way! Think like a fish....
6) Slow Down - By this i mean slow the retrieve down. When things are quiet slow everything right down. Keeping a lure dangling in a fishes face a split second longer might just be the tonic to make it strike. On tought days long pauses are often the difference between fish and no fish.
7) Use Scent - These days i don't go out fishing without my trusty S-Factor and a handful of Gulps. I do use conventional sp's but smeared with S-Factor. It honestly makes a huge difference. My jew catch rate has doubled while using S-Factor. It's GUN!
8) Clear Water, Clear Lures - The simple philosophy for lure colour selection is clear water clear lures, dark water dark lures. In saying that i believe that lure colour is the least important factor in the whole system. Get the action and size of the lure right, use the right equipment and usually fish will follow. On some days though, colour can be a factor.
There you have it. 8 factors for my success with lures. Common knowledge stuff but a foundation i base all my luring by.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Bream on Soft Plastics
Hi Peoples,
Little bit of fishing report from the weekend. I went out chasing Bream in one of my favourite hot spots...Berowra Waters! I've been after a genuine blue-nose breamski in the 1.5kg weight class for a front cover shot in Fishing World.. last year i was hitting this class of fish pretty regularly and got some real monsters in the process. Ever since i have been trying to get one for noteriety and i can't get close..bloody frustrating.
The plan was to hit a few bream early using a combination of unweighted crabs which my cousins were using and i would persist with sp's.. The bream weren't around in massive numbers but they played ball and kept us entertained... The boys did better than me on size fish but i kept pace with numbers.
This all got me thinking...Gulp packaging reads..."outfishes live bait"... how true is this??? Who are they judging this against??? Is it scientific???
If a pro bream fisho uses gulp he will almost certainly outfish a newbie using live bait. Put that live bait in the hands of pros and it's a different ball game. Marketing is a powerful influencer...
Anyhow, not to digress, but i have addded to my 2009 goal sheet. I want to hit a genuine 2kg bream on sp's. I got a few using bait over the years but now it's time to hit one on sp's. Add this to my 1m flatty and my 20kg jew..and it makes for a busy year ahead. The question is what scent will it come on??? Gulp or S-Factor???
Little bit of fishing report from the weekend. I went out chasing Bream in one of my favourite hot spots...Berowra Waters! I've been after a genuine blue-nose breamski in the 1.5kg weight class for a front cover shot in Fishing World.. last year i was hitting this class of fish pretty regularly and got some real monsters in the process. Ever since i have been trying to get one for noteriety and i can't get close..bloody frustrating.
The plan was to hit a few bream early using a combination of unweighted crabs which my cousins were using and i would persist with sp's.. The bream weren't around in massive numbers but they played ball and kept us entertained... The boys did better than me on size fish but i kept pace with numbers.
This all got me thinking...Gulp packaging reads..."outfishes live bait"... how true is this??? Who are they judging this against??? Is it scientific???
If a pro bream fisho uses gulp he will almost certainly outfish a newbie using live bait. Put that live bait in the hands of pros and it's a different ball game. Marketing is a powerful influencer...
Anyhow, not to digress, but i have addded to my 2009 goal sheet. I want to hit a genuine 2kg bream on sp's. I got a few using bait over the years but now it's time to hit one on sp's. Add this to my 1m flatty and my 20kg jew..and it makes for a busy year ahead. The question is what scent will it come on??? Gulp or S-Factor???
Friday, January 23, 2009
Does the Media Influence Your Tackle Purchases?
Hi Peoples,
I read a post recently on Ausfish that posed an interesting question. Does the media or media personalities influence the way you shop?? what decisions you make??? Do you put any stock into the recommendations or endoresements fishing personalities make???
These are all good questions and require some logical thought. On the forum this topic recieved a mixed bag of responses. The typical response however was one of animosity and disgust. This was directed at fishing personalities that endorse a certain product and the way they go about it.
I have worked in advertising for 8 years and worked in media for most of that time. I think i have an acute understanding of the concept of advertising and the sublimimal affects it has. Also i understand the culture of sponsorship of which no industry or products are immune.
The problem i have with all this is people dont really understand the concept of advertising. Yes they see glossy ads in a mag, TV ads and hear stuff on radio but it goes beyond that dramatically. We are all vehicles for advertising. The clothes we wear, the gear we use, the language we speak all represents a product of some nature. It is widely accepted that word of mouth is the most influential of all advertising mediums. In this respect, how can someone say they are not influenced by advertising or media on fishing related purchases. Its a short-sighted response that speaks of jealousy and tall-poppy.
This especially so when they attack fishing personalities that endorse products. The personalities are merely using another more public form of word-of-mouth. No different than if i gave a mate a recommendation about a reel. The only difference is they get paid i dont. This is where the discrepancy lies. The money factor may influence personalities to falsify thier true opinions...yes maybe. They may be forced to have to mention a product repeatedly..yes maybe. They may even be forced to use products they dont like...yes maybe.
The true die-hards should be able to cut the wheat from the chaff. Honestly, i dont know anyone thats run out and bought a shimano just cause starlo uses em...but subconciously, after seeing starlo, buschy, slick and the myriad of other use em, its hard not to associate the product with quality. They are in the hands of quality fishos. It happens to me and i know my gear back to front. Its all about perception.
So who cares who endores what. Be inquisitive and ask some questions. Investigate. Soon enuf you will make an educated decision. There's no wrong or right.
And to all the green-eyed monsters out there, pissed off cause fishos sell thier soul for gear, I'm sure you would have your hand out if someone offered something for free. Its just our nature.
I read a post recently on Ausfish that posed an interesting question. Does the media or media personalities influence the way you shop?? what decisions you make??? Do you put any stock into the recommendations or endoresements fishing personalities make???
These are all good questions and require some logical thought. On the forum this topic recieved a mixed bag of responses. The typical response however was one of animosity and disgust. This was directed at fishing personalities that endorse a certain product and the way they go about it.
I have worked in advertising for 8 years and worked in media for most of that time. I think i have an acute understanding of the concept of advertising and the sublimimal affects it has. Also i understand the culture of sponsorship of which no industry or products are immune.
The problem i have with all this is people dont really understand the concept of advertising. Yes they see glossy ads in a mag, TV ads and hear stuff on radio but it goes beyond that dramatically. We are all vehicles for advertising. The clothes we wear, the gear we use, the language we speak all represents a product of some nature. It is widely accepted that word of mouth is the most influential of all advertising mediums. In this respect, how can someone say they are not influenced by advertising or media on fishing related purchases. Its a short-sighted response that speaks of jealousy and tall-poppy.
This especially so when they attack fishing personalities that endorse products. The personalities are merely using another more public form of word-of-mouth. No different than if i gave a mate a recommendation about a reel. The only difference is they get paid i dont. This is where the discrepancy lies. The money factor may influence personalities to falsify thier true opinions...yes maybe. They may be forced to have to mention a product repeatedly..yes maybe. They may even be forced to use products they dont like...yes maybe.
The true die-hards should be able to cut the wheat from the chaff. Honestly, i dont know anyone thats run out and bought a shimano just cause starlo uses em...but subconciously, after seeing starlo, buschy, slick and the myriad of other use em, its hard not to associate the product with quality. They are in the hands of quality fishos. It happens to me and i know my gear back to front. Its all about perception.
So who cares who endores what. Be inquisitive and ask some questions. Investigate. Soon enuf you will make an educated decision. There's no wrong or right.
And to all the green-eyed monsters out there, pissed off cause fishos sell thier soul for gear, I'm sure you would have your hand out if someone offered something for free. Its just our nature.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Fishing in the Heat!
Hi dudes,
Sorry for the looong delay between posts but unfortunately, or fortunately for me, i took 3 weeks off doing what i love best. Thats right folks, 3 weeks of fishing and relaxing. So i thought a good way to kick off 2009 is to look back at some highlights of 2008, the milestones and the lowlights... Then tomorrow i will kick off 2009 with some cutting edge techniques that are donking fish all over the eastern seaboard.
So lets look at 2008's goals;
To catch a jewie on sp over 20kgs
To catch a flatty over 1 meter
To catch a kingy on a popper
To master a new lure
Bag out on whiting with poppers
Pretty standard but lofty goals to help me strive to achieve something. Otherwise i feel if i dont set goals i just go out and fish without any direction.
So how did i go towards these goals..
Jewie - 12kgs. Yep i fell 8kgs short. while i would be disaapointed with that usually the upsides were it was a PB jew on sp's. Also looking back on the year i caught 35 jew on sp's which was also a PB on numbers, including 2 individual days where i caught 3 jew a day.
Flathead - 98cms. Yep you read it correctly. I fell 2 agonising centimeters short. Can u bloody believe it. Mind you i did wait till the last week of 2008 to catch it so up until then i was 18cms short of 1 meter. I got the monster in St. George's Basin on the south coast of NSW. Nice effort.
Kingy - Nil. While this was a goal i only went out once to achieve it. Just so happened that it was the day the kingys were shut down in sydney harbour. Got a heap of follows but no strikes. Im sure this goal will be ticked off before the months out.
Master a new lure - Blades. Done. While it is a little presumptuous to state me mastering it i can confidently say i can catch a variety of fish in a variety of situations on any given fishing trip. Mind you i have used them every day for a month too so the learning curve has been steep but rapid. And let me tell you...these things catch fish ladies and gentleman.
Whiting on poppers - Incomplete. I didnt fish for whiting on poppers as much as i thought i would so far this summer. I have been been pre-occupied with catching that elusive 20kg jewie... but in the few times i have chased whiting on poppers results have been positive. While i didnt bag out this year i get 11 in one session... so 9 short.
All in all it was a productive year. Caught a stack of EP's and bass too. Still need to get my 1 meter flatty and my 20kg jew in 2009.
Sorry for the looong delay between posts but unfortunately, or fortunately for me, i took 3 weeks off doing what i love best. Thats right folks, 3 weeks of fishing and relaxing. So i thought a good way to kick off 2009 is to look back at some highlights of 2008, the milestones and the lowlights... Then tomorrow i will kick off 2009 with some cutting edge techniques that are donking fish all over the eastern seaboard.
So lets look at 2008's goals;
To catch a jewie on sp over 20kgs
To catch a flatty over 1 meter
To catch a kingy on a popper
To master a new lure
Bag out on whiting with poppers
Pretty standard but lofty goals to help me strive to achieve something. Otherwise i feel if i dont set goals i just go out and fish without any direction.
So how did i go towards these goals..
Jewie - 12kgs. Yep i fell 8kgs short. while i would be disaapointed with that usually the upsides were it was a PB jew on sp's. Also looking back on the year i caught 35 jew on sp's which was also a PB on numbers, including 2 individual days where i caught 3 jew a day.
Flathead - 98cms. Yep you read it correctly. I fell 2 agonising centimeters short. Can u bloody believe it. Mind you i did wait till the last week of 2008 to catch it so up until then i was 18cms short of 1 meter. I got the monster in St. George's Basin on the south coast of NSW. Nice effort.
Kingy - Nil. While this was a goal i only went out once to achieve it. Just so happened that it was the day the kingys were shut down in sydney harbour. Got a heap of follows but no strikes. Im sure this goal will be ticked off before the months out.
Master a new lure - Blades. Done. While it is a little presumptuous to state me mastering it i can confidently say i can catch a variety of fish in a variety of situations on any given fishing trip. Mind you i have used them every day for a month too so the learning curve has been steep but rapid. And let me tell you...these things catch fish ladies and gentleman.
Whiting on poppers - Incomplete. I didnt fish for whiting on poppers as much as i thought i would so far this summer. I have been been pre-occupied with catching that elusive 20kg jewie... but in the few times i have chased whiting on poppers results have been positive. While i didnt bag out this year i get 11 in one session... so 9 short.
All in all it was a productive year. Caught a stack of EP's and bass too. Still need to get my 1 meter flatty and my 20kg jew in 2009.
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