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cruisecraft

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cruisecraft last won the day on December 8 2022

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  1. Wow, Wow, Wow, Great to read the report and see fish from the other side of the world. Thank you for sharing Regards Kit
  2. Well Done. Beautiful pics and great report. Thanks for sharing. Regards Kit
  3. Nice dollies. I used to fish both the Botany and South Sydney FADs from about 2005 till 2015. After that time, too many fishos and spearos were there on the weekends and I stopped going, as it was a waste of fuel, time and effort and I didn't like some of the agro that was starting at the FADs. I couldn't go weekdays like you did, due to my work. There are plenty of other options around the Port Hacking and South of the Hacking. Well done on your catch. Cheers
  4. Hi Neil, We spoke with Mitch, the hatchery manager, who said he had released salmon into the lake in the last 3-4 months. Patrick and Mitch are mates. We also had the "grand tour' of the hatchery with Mitch.
  5. Hi Raiders, I did a short trip to the Snowies last week and caught some trout. My mate, Patrick, caught a nice 74cm Atlantic salmon but he did not want to appear in the photo here. We fished the Thredbo river on the 12th and Rainbow lake on the 13th. Fishing was difficult both days as the fish were finicky. The temperature got up to around 30C on both days. I drew first blood with my 42cm brown in the morning, just downriver from Paddy's corner with a Rapala jointed lure and Patrick had the salmon on a celta in the same area around noon. This is me with Dusty, Patrick's blue heeler, who is very interested in the salmon. The water temperature was about 23C in the river. We fished the Diggings in the late afternoon but there was too much disturbance from the many campers in the area. 2 went past us on stand up paddle boards whilst we were casting some 500 meters up river from the camp grounds. We called it a day after that. The next day, we fished Rainbow lake, and caught 2 trout each but we released them as we had enough fish from the 12th. Mine were on a pink Tassie devil, Pat had one on a dry fly and one on a celta. We also had some beautiful yabbies from the 2 dams on the property we were at. Regards Kit ps the salmon would have been a release from Gadens
  6. Try a sea anchor to slow the drift
  7. The section we kept was about a 7cm cross section slice of the fish at the belly. The belly part(otoro) was sashimied and the upper part of the fish was pan fried but only cooked with the skin side down so it is crispy but the flesh a bit under cooked so the meat was moist and juicy. It was coated with some salt and pepper prior to cooking. It was great eating, yum That's news to me. Those canal trout are monsters.
  8. Hi Raiders, I went to New Zealand for 4 weeks and managed to fish both islands for 3 days. My big fishing day was supposed to be from a charter out of Whitianga for "kungfish"(kiwi for kingfish), but it was cancelled due to strong winds. Anyway I had bought a new travel rod from that 3 alphabet shop, to fit in the luggage and took 2 reels and a few lures for trout fishing with me if the opportunity presented. Needless to say, I managed to create opportunities on those 3 days . For non residents, the fresh water fishing licence fee for a day is NZ$35, easily done online but it is very important to read the local regulations carefully as there are many different rules for different places. I had heard about hydro canal fishing for trout in the South Island, and tales that the trout are monster size. My first spot was at Tekapo canal near the salmon farms about mid morning. Due to the excess feed from the salmon farming that makes its way through the netting and into the waters of the canal, the trout in the canals are huge. Unfortunately, this spot near the salmon farm was unproductive that session. We(wife/me) went off to do some sight seeing for the rest of the day. After an early dinner, at about 7pm I headed back to Tekapo canal but closer to Tekapo A power station. This time, I could see some trout jumping out of the water as well as cruising about, just metres away. around 8pm , I heard that beautiful sound, zzzzzzzzzzz from my reel. I knew it was a good fish and 20mins later, a 72cm, 5.5kg rainbow was landed. Without a landing net and in the excitement of landing the trout onto the bank of the canal, I broke the rod tip of the new travel rod. But I didn't feel any pain from the damage, as it was all smiles from me for a very, very long time. The lure was a 7cm jointed Rapala The next night, my wife put this on for dinner and with some Central Otago pinot, it was a top meal. Oh, after we caught the trout, we gave most of it away to a German couple(tourists) fishing nearby, as it was too much food for us. The next morning about 8am, I was back at the same spot, with the same lure and on the 2nd cast, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. That beautiful sound again . This fish was much bigger, it took > 200 yards of line and and it was smart. It swam into the middle of the canal and used the flow of the current to assist itself. After about 20 mins, hardly getting any line back and the drag nearly on lock, the hooks pulled. However I was not upset as I was still on a high, and I would have released the catch anyway. It was a top experience fishing the hydro canal at Tekapo. Later in the holiday when we were at Wanaka, I checked out Deans Bank. This spot is the Mecca for fly fishers, and it is about 3 km of fly fishing heaven. Closer to Albert Town Bridge, there is a 600m zone for spin fishing which I did do but I did not have any hits or follows. I also did not see any trout at Deans Bank orat the spin area. At Whitianga, after the kungfish trip was cancelled, I went to the Whangamaroro river and tried my luck there. Driving up 309 road, yes that is the actual name, and most of it is gravel, we pulled into Gamers Hole reserve and fished 2 of the pools there. I had many hits with hookups but only landed the one 35cm rainbow trout. I believe this was due to my rod being shorter and losing that vital extra flexibility of the tip and letting the fish throw the lure due to the stiffer rod tip. One of the fish lost was probably about 50cm visually I threw this one onto the BBQ hotplate at the park. New Zealand is a great place for a holiday and for a fish. People there are friendly and polite. Cheers Regards Kit ps The first photo was taken close to darkness and hence the wife's camera work can be forgiven as part of the fish is missing
  9. Wow, Wow, Wow. Thanks for sharing, some great fish there.
  10. Thanks fellow raiders for the good wishes. Yes, the catch and release policy does help to preserve their existing stocks, but the lodge is allowed to keep fish that is consumed onsite as per their agreement with the local community. As the kitchen had sufficient supply, all of my catch was released. Regards Kit
  11. Hi Fil, You discuss with the guide at dinner the night before, as to what you would like to target. He would advise you depending on the weather, the time of year and what was biting. In early May, generally the target will be barras, the guide said Oct/Nov for blue water as the seas are calmer then. Regards KIt
  12. Hi Raiders, I shouted myself a retirement present in May, after 40 years of working by booking a barra fishing trip to Melville Island. The only way to fish the Tiwi islands is with one of the 2 fishing lodges based there. I went to Melville Island for 2 days of solid fishing. The lodge accommodation is clean and of 3 star standard but the onsite food is excellent. There is only 1 room with an ensuite and the rest of the rooms have access to shared bathrooms and toilets in each block. Air conditioning is available in all the rooms. Telstra reception works on the island. I flew from Darwin airport with Air Frontier and it took ~30 mins to get to Milikapiti runway. My ride to the lodge soon arrived and in it were a happy group of anglers who were leaving soon on the Air Frontier plane back to Darwin. After a 5-10min ride into town, we reached the lodge where I met more happy anglers. At dinner, I met my guide, Wayne, as well as heard some tales of the day's adventures from fellow fishos. The next day started with brekkie at 6.30am for a 7am start. The aluminium boat used was about 24 feet and was a centre console with a forward casting platform. The boat is readied at the lodge and I was beckoned to board the boat which was already hitched to a Toyota and the whole setup was driven to the boat ramp which is about 5 mins away. Return was 4pm After launching, the boat headed in a north easterly direction initially and then followed the coast to the next inlet which was Snake Creek about 40mins away. The centre console had sideway sonar fish finders which were excellent at seeing barra against the banks. Casting was with bait casters, and hard body lures as well as soft plastics were used. Even though the barras could be easily seen on the sonar, enticing them to strike was not easy. The change of tide at about 10am seem to switch the fish on and I was finally getting hits. On both days, about 10 fish a day was boated and released on Snake Creek(the Tiwi is a catch and release fishery). Further up river, the water is fresh and clear and lily pads abound, and this is saratoga territory and it was the white soft plastic frogs that did the damage. Whereas down river, the water is muddy and both soft plastics and hard bodies worked. The hits from both barra and togas was awesome, the togas especially as the lure was swimming on the surface. Many a lure were hit but alot did not stick. The staff at the lodge were great and the guiding excellent. Thanks Wayne. Biggest barra was ~80cm and toga ~55cm. Here's a sample of some fish boated. Regards Kit
  13. Hi Pickles and Blackfish, I live in Sydney, I was away for 3 weeks only, and since return , it has been wet. Weather in SA was great at that time. Thanks for viewing and replying. Regards Kit
  14. Hi Fishraiders, We were doing a road trip to South Australia in March, just as the Big Wet was happening on the East Coast. I had always wanted to catch blue swimmers by raking, ever since I heard about it from a friend and with this SA trip planned, I factored it into our trip. Our base was a caravan park at Ardrossan, for 3 nights. By the time we got there, it was late afternoon, so we went down to the jetty to observe the locals, who were using traps with baits. Next morning, after buying fish heads for bait from the local hardware store, we went down to the jetty for 2 hours. The results were poor, as it was mostly undersized sand crabs and only one legal blue swimmer. The pots were free to loan from the caravan park. Later that day, at low tide, we waded out at Tiddy Widdy beach, just 1 km north of Ardrossan, in our gumboots with the loan gear for raking from the caravan park. The equipment was a black tub with a blue carapace measure for the blue swimmers and 2 garden rakes. These were also free to loan from the caravan park. Within 2 hours, we had plenty of blue swimmers and threw back the smaller legal ones. The limit is 20 blue swimmers per day per person and no requirement for a fishing licence in SA for recreational fishos. Raking was fun and easy and my wife had a great time too, as it was her first time crabbing. The crabs cling onto the prongs of the rake and by flipping the rake so the crab is topside, they usually stay on long enough to flick into the tub The caravan park provides an outdoor cooking area with free gas cooker and huge pot for the cooking of the crabs, so as to keep the cabins free of fish odour. Fresh blue swimmers are delicious. Needless to say, we had crab for dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Luckily no gout 😁 Regards Kit
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