dirvin21

Best trout lure ever created

never seen one that colour before it was much more gold than the pic shows, at first glance thought it was a brassy, but the head shape was definitely GT

great fish mate

I've caught them at night especially around marina lights where the bait is schooled up

My effort to land a Jack this year has hasn't stopped in the last couple of weeks, scored a couple of weeks off work so the plan was to fish as much as possible with red satan being the prime target, started my time off with a session on my mates boat hitting sucken timber with hardbodies along some of our favourite banks of course the big eye trevally were around in numbers not to mention the GT's I also managed to hooked a stingray in the end of the tail I had it called for a monster trev I would have paid to see my face when I saw the stingray come boatside with the water really dirty upstream we headed back downriver to a bank we don't normally fish and of course there were more trevs first time I've seen a GT this colour before other than that the bank was very quiet went down to a 20lb spin outfit and a smaller lure looking for more trevally left the drag basically locked up and then it hapened..... the rod buckled over and the locked drag screamed under the pressure of some nasty red beast and then dusted, I've been keeping a tally of jacks lost since the last one landed this was number 6, the same thing happened to Andrew about 10 minutes later only aparently it wasn't as funny when it happened to him. Feeling inspired that fortunes had to change myself and another mate made a trip to the Kolan river north of Bundaberg again with the site set on Jacks, I'llkeep the story brief in the first 2 hours of arrival Matt managed a nice jack burning with jealousy I kept casting and casting and was rewarded with a royal dusting on 30lb baitcast outfit with a full locked drag by another giant red spawn of satan and number 7 goes begging there was some serious language thrown around, the consolation for the day was I landed a javelin which was also on the hit list the only other things that bit were green toads and sandflies, the Kolan is a beautiful system and I may return one day. So I return home and keep jack spinning due to some poor weather I do a bit of landbased and on a local rockwall lure gets nailed... surely a moses perch, atleast it's the right family, with the moses perch around I took the kids out with some baits and they both managed to land their first moses manged to get the boat out again the next day being so frustarted with jacks I went the safe option and targeted bream on the racks landing a few what's swimming around the racks absolute trophy sized jacks taunting me, feeling like I was hiding from my true purpose I went back to jack spinning and on some deep timber a take..... knew within a few seconds it wasn't a jack first cod I've got in the nambucca in 8 months so not disapointed with the wind picking up ran back up river for a last ditch effort and again on some deep timber a solid take... I dared to dream as the fish took a solid run but again soon became apparent a slightly bigger cod, back to the ramp feeling a bit dejected I was back on the rockwall the next arvo casting for the moses perch which suposed to be everywhere walking back to the car put a cast on a rock in the middle of nothing not metres from the footpath and lure gets nailed, a flash of red, and just like that after countless hours hitting the river in the boat and driving 10 1/2 hours for no result the first red satan of 2019 comes from the most heavily fished ublic piece of river in existance he only measured 25cm but these things are so hard to catch I'm never unhapy with them despite the size now i just have to fulfil my goal of catching 5 this year cheers for reading Dave

any cod is a good cod Neil..... you've inspired me I'm heading out after cod in a couple of weeks the unbelievable has happened and it's rained in the Severn river catchment and the river is actually flowing a bit

being realistic a 1 day charter for 7 chasing GT's would probably be difficult to find, certainly plenty of charter operators around FNQ and Darwin that chase GT's searching charters around Airlie beach/whitsundays, Cairns and Darwin would be a good starting point then contact them and discuss what you're looking for

Half blood knot same as you learned it off my old man many years ago...... on the topic of loop knots I use them for soft plastics and pretty much all lures

Cracking fish mate

Had a few short sessions in the last couple of weeks despite the relentless wind. Got out for an early session aiming to catch my first jack for the season but they have proved hard to tempt thus far, trevally have been breaking up the relentless casting big-eyes and GT', after being all but absent through winter and spring they've appeared in big schools up river certainly a surprise when bream spinning ended up with a good dozen trevs for the session the fish were really fired up until a sudden southerly change came through and all went quiet. A few days after got out for an after work session, again started off spinning for jacks but the persistant wind made it near impossible moved locations to find some sheltered water, switched focus to bream and didn't take long to get a willing participant moved on towards some sheltered oyster racks leading into the racks started flicking a plastic around. A hit on the flats and instantly busted off by what I assume was a solid GT because my drag was tight in preparation for the upcoming racks. There was plenty of life on the racks it still took a while to get a proper bite but once I did it was the ususal go for broke chaos another nice bream for the arvo continued casting the racks, there were plenty of fish feeding just a bit spooky put in plenty of good casts for no result and finally with the plastic sitting deep while adusting the electric motor I saw a tap in the line, immediately hit the fish and went as hard as possible took quite a bit of effort but managed to pull a quality bream from under the racks nothing like a rack bream, that finished the session as the bushfire smoke makes it dark early Managed to sqeeze in another uick pre work session up at Nambucca having a quick landbased cast. After many casts the prospect of a doughnut was looking likely in desperation I started casting plastics aiming for leahterjackets and fortunetly one was happy to oblige a little fan-bellied jacket to break the doughnut heading back for the car put some casts out aimed at catching a bluefin trev which are still hanging around wasn't expecting much as the water was a bit dirty form the low tide, and in the middle of daydreaming the lure was nailed and the drag singing a quality bluefin, really gave me some curry they stubbornly get their side in the current and can be hard to turn That was it for the last few sessions hopefully the warm weather will see the acks play the game soon cheers for reading Dave

The CI4 is lighter otherwise they're much the same I've got 2 FKs and can't fault them

I've got a good scar on my thumb from where I decided to thumb grip a 60 odd cm flathead, needed stitches won't do that again The other memorable one was sticking my hand in a murray coods mouth the dehook it and it bit down and shook it's head

Thanks guys, main reason for evac is to avoid being trapped with no power water or communication RFS crews are stretched as it is so a good chance help wouldn't

I've now evacuated, the fire took an unexpected turn and is only a few km's from home so made the decision to get out early

The devastation is unbelievable, I've got friends and workmates that have lost their homes, the fireys here have been working tirelessly and are doing an incredible job this whole section of the coast woukd be ash without their efforts Hope all my fellow raiders are doing ok, I've been lucky thus far but got grave concerns for Tuesday

Take it to a professional.... the springs are notoriously difficult to get back in correctly

you're doing the right cast parallel along the rockwall, try small hardbodies either a shad style like an sx40 or a strikepro pygmy and a twitch-pause retrieve, or slow roll a shallow crank with a pause and shake the rod tip every few meters especially if they're chasing also scent can make a difference

the single yak setup would be ok for estuary creeks etc.... personally I would never take a sit in yak offshore simply because you can't get back in if you capsize the tandem wouldn't be suitable for a single paddler as the weight is too far on the back or front (looking at seat placement) for a lot less money you can get a really good quality single kayak, if your really keen on a sit in the oldtown vapor 10 is a great kayak if you're set on fishing wider bays and rougher conditions you need a sit on with a bit of length I'd suggest go to a reputable kayak shop and have a chat to them

start with a simple yak the internet cheapies are decent setup for the price, second hand is also a good option, start with short paddles in calm conditions and get some confidence couple of things that'll make a big difference: a compact inflatable PFD ,an extra cushion to sit on I've got a thin outdoor furniture one it makes a huge difference on a long paddle , get a good quality paddle- if you buy one of the starter cheapies with the included accessories get a good quality paddle 220cm handle with a narrower blade shape makes tracking straight a lot easier (feel free make a good one) limit your gear on the yak, always keep loose lures in a box otherwise you'll end up with loads of jewelry which leads to my next point a short handle environet so you can dehook your fish before you handle them it'll save you a lot of hooks embedded in you other things to consider do you intend to fish small creeks that require a smaller yak and what fish do you target and do you catch and release or take fish home (handle on the yak and storage like an esky) the most important thing is just do it

caught in the Hastings river, apart from guessing it's a cod, I've got nothing

There's been weeks of ups and downs on the fishing front, unstable weather has made the fishing very unpredictable, since I haven't ut a report up for awhile thought I'd put one up of whats been happening since the arrival of spring. Quite a few weeks ago now after a sudden imprivement in weather shot up to Nambucca after work for a landbased session on the high tide, with crystal clear water found the bluefin trevs that have been hanging around, went through the usual frustrating process of cast and follow and after about 1/2 hour they are such a painful fish you have to get their attention with fast twitches and when they chase really speed it up, after that many casts for 1 fish couldn't believe the next cast that fuelled the confidance..... so spent the next hour fishless watching them knock each other out of the way and run rings around my lure but not eat it, got in the car to drive away and noticed a school busting u in another spot, a coupe of casts and I'm onto a better quality fish a nice mid 30's they start packing a punch when they get over 30 went onto the usual frustrating process and kept casting for another 2 hours for 1 reasonable fish and a small one, I always swear I'll never target them again but I can never help myself they fight hard and are a stunning fish. Amy and I recently bought a quintrex 420 renegade, the first couple of trips were tough we fished some serious hours for not a lot of reward mostly small flathead but we did get a couple of reasonable fish Amy also caught some sort of cod on the oyster racks in the Hastings river Last week the weather suddenly changed, warm temps and light winds which demanded one thing.... a pre work kayak session got the yak out on the main oyster racks and was greeted by glassy water the bream were a bit spooky with the glassy conditions but they were coming aboard fairly regularly mostly small ut a cast in tight on a lively looking rack and almost straight away a familiar tap on the drop, the rod loaded up and the fish went nuts on the locked drag the rod went in the water to the handle multiple times trying to get him out of the rack eventually out came one of the thickest bream I've caught not a particularly long fish but thick, and with serious attitude fish like this is why I fish the racks fished along the outside for more smaller fish and got chewed off yakside by a big flathead, heading back along the inside changed plastic colours, more small fish then noticed a better quality fish put a cast on him and he was on it in a flash another good quality fish they go so hard on the locked drag, finished the session with a medium sized mangrove jack chasing my lure to beside the yak, if you get a chance to kayak fish the oyster racks for bream give it a go it's brutal but so much fun when every fish is a victory that's it for the successful sessions in the last few weeks hopefully I'll have some better quality reports to put up soon cheers for reading Dave

I go 8lb fluro leader on 6lb braid I fish from kayak, boat and landbased but nearly all of my breaming is around structure or oyster leases plus potantial by-catch so anything lighter would be suicidal I try and run at least 1 1/2 rod lengths of leader

it's a little confusing, you can walk along the riverbed of a waterway as long as you've accessed said waterway from a public access point, I have had this discussion with landowners from my kayak and not all of them are keen on the finer points of commonwealth legislation but 90% just say hello and ask how the fishing's going, on the flip side some farmers around my region have copped some very poor behavior from fishos and are very testy with potential trespassers one thing I recommend is NEVER take the tempting shortcut across the paddock

I bought a 420 renegade a few weeks back and went for the 50hp it gets up on the plane easily compared to the 40

Plenty of boats street parked permanently around SWR so I'd say it shouod be fine, wouldn't leave loose gear in it though As for 4wding there's plenty of state forest past Kempsey depending on how far you want to go there's some wild tracks up around the Kempsey-armidale rd and styx river state forest , limeburners rd going south from point plomer to Hastings river Nambucca state forest pretty much all the firetrails have been destroyed by local clowns to make 4wd tracks