Mr Mullit

Just a quick g'day and condolences to all the raiders that got f'd by the cyclone/floods. I know a lot of you copped it in the last week and are having a c of a time at the moment. I hope you guys can keep your chins up and know that it'll come out in the wash (Pardon the pun). Special shout out to my bro Grant (jewhunter) who i know got a bit wet. I know you guys are probably a bit down at the moment but I know you can come back even stronger than before. Chins up, Matt

I use poddies on gangs at the beach a fair bit as I very rarely buy bait and while they are no pillie they do work quite well.I fillet one side for one bait and use the other side spine in. This provides a bit of "berley" and it stays on the hook better. Thin strips of slimey fished on gangs or singles are my favorite bait if I'm after tailor and salmon though. Matt

Spangled emperor are a much more common catch that far south and in inshore waters. Plus the blue spots. Any more photos with the fins up?

Fan bellied jacket and a spangled emperor by the look of it.

Boneyard. Bombo

Try some bird netting or maybe get a gun license. You don't have to cover the whole dam. Just provide a fair bit of cover. Cover in the water works well to. Chuck in a couple of branches with heaps of twigs on them until the fish grow a bit. Can you see the bottom in your dam. If not have you tried catching the fingerlings you stocked a couple of years ago? If they were silvers there could be a couple in there and you wouldn't know. Bass are a bit easier to spot but a few could be in there. I've caught quite a few fish in dams that " birds ate all the fish". Matt

G'day Dan, I've put the full on distance casting down for a bit until I complete some work on my abu. I'll have a proper crack at that once I get geared up. What I have been doing is pendulum style techniques to lob baits and lures with less effort. I'm looking a bit unco and need alot of practice but it does seem that I'm on to something. Still not quite out to my usual distance but I'm assuming that will come with improved technique. Wondering if you do any of this type casting or is there another technique for gaining distance with less exertion? Also do you know of any single handed distance casts. I can't seem to find any. Thanks mate Matt

Looks like a blind shark

Nice work on the fish mate. I went out looking for snapper too today but didn't do as well as you. I'm a little bit further south than you recurve and I got out in my yak for a couple of hours before lunch. We didn't have much wind down here. Bit of swell but no chop. Didn't do any good good on platics not even a sargeant baker but managed a small fish on the old unweighted occy leg out the back trick. There here! I'll be getting out a much as can. You're setting the pace. Matt

No dramas mate . But this was about losing the hardest fish to fight. Not the hardest fighting fish pound for pound. So with 15+kg carp out there that get angry when you hook em. There is no comparison. What area do you bass fish in man? I do a fair bit on the south coast and in the hunter. Take it easy. Matt

Carp are no kingfish but name any southern native that pulls much more than 10/15m of line. 8 kg carp will pull any bass backwards.

Caught a few salmon on small yakkas off the rocks. Pain in the ring when you're after bigger fish. Not the bait I'd target salmon with though.

Mangy tailor was originally kept for bait to chuck out when then tide picked up and the lake started to run a bit. Don't worry Grant I did listen but as I taught you Obi Wan. F*** RAIN! Should have stuck it out but my wets were at home and I wasn't coming back out. I'll get tomorrow. Take it easy bro

No dam for me at the moment, I'm on the coast. My mullet were kept in a tank. I did live at a couple of places with approx.1/4 acre dams stocked with bass and silvers though. The bass really used to smash the insects and mosquito fish and you could get the silvers to smash bread off the surface. I caught both species on just about every lure I owned. Had some mad arvos at those joints. Why don't you catch some fish and put them in there if you're a bit short? That's how the bass got into the dams at one af the places I lived at. You should easily be able to keep 10 or so in a pool sized dam. Matt

G'day Chris Once you've caught them try putting them in a feed drum filled with salt water and introduce fresh water over a week or so. You'll need an aerator. Keep it to about 10 fish and you should be right. If you can get a drum with a tap on the bottom use that to drain the water. If not syphon the water out so you remove waste. If you can get one of those 1000l tubs on a pallet and you can have more fish. Once they settle down they'll eat pretty much anything but I'd get pellets. I found them to be a nervous fish and not that easy to keep without them bashing themselves up in the tank. Had to put a towel over the front. It'll be interesting to see how they settle down in such a small dam. Good luck Matt

Hadn't fished the beach for ages but conditions looked pretty good so wtfn. Got down to my spot near the mouth of one of the local inlets that was still spewing dirty water after the wet. Plan was to put out a bait in the gutter and then spin the mouth for jew. Sent out a strip of slimey and had a nice salmon on the beach before I'd tied on my plastic. Nice start. Chucked him back and out out another strip. This time I managed to get my lure tied on but got a bite just as I was about to start casting. Soon had a similar sized tailor which I kept for the lady next door. Obviously I had to make a choice of what to do. Unfortunately I decided to leave them biting and try for a jew as the tide was about to turn. Cast for about 1/2hr for no result then it started to rain. Stuck it out for about 15mins but it was getting heavier. Checked radar and saw the really colourful stuff was just about to hit so I packed up. So a pretty good little session aside from the rain. I might go back down tomorrow. Cheers Matt

Nice going Rick. Stuff the weather!

G'day guys Still can't see how they are going to clean up the dead fish. Contolled releases may seem like the answer but I can see how they can work in REALLITY. How big will the sites be? Sites will have to be small enough that the carcasses can be collected before they foul the water. Even small sites will require serious man power. Maybe too much work for the local lions club and a few volunteers. How will the virus be contained? This is going to prove almost impossible. Birds are believed to transfer the virus between carp populations in Japan. Some clown will transport infected fish to his local river or dam. How will inaccessible areas be accessed? Just getting people in and out of some areas will be almost impossible without choppers. And some of the wetland areas will just be impossible. How will unseen carcasses be removed? When most fish die they sink , bloat then float. This will leaves large numbers stuck in snags,undercut banks, tree roots and the miles and miles of blackberry and lantana that line some waterways. These fish will be almost impossible to remove and if left will foul the water. Time is another problem. By the time the controlled releases are completed there will be another population of resistant back at the first site. Time to start again with a new strain of virus that will need all the same testing as this one. As much as want to see the back of carp I'm starting think this may be a dangerous waste of money. But given the track record of the bodies involved I'm probably wrong and they've thought of all senarios.

I think massive native fish kills are likely if this virus is released and an adequate clean up plan is not in place. If the virus works as stated and kills within 48hrs there will mountains of carp piling up daily. Whilst this problem maybe easy to overcome around towns. I think in remote areas the problem could become a totally different beast,with piles of dead fish choking up waterholes and poisoning the water. Possibly resulting in the death of large stretches river in inaccessible areas(the areas we want to fish in). Human and stock health issues could also occur. "Eradicate Trout and Redfin " Tricky one this. I think it depends what sort of inland waterways we're after. If we want native fish to return in numbers then they must be removed. Both species are aggressive predators that our natives don't have the instincts to cope with. Trout were responsible for the near extiction of many species natives, including. several species of galaxia,pygmy perch,macquarie perch, grayling and trout cod long before the carp showed up. Both species would be relatively easy to control with a virus that kills redfin already existing which knocked around European populations in 80s/90s. Trout being very temp sensitive (die at 24c). So cutting dam releases during summer and a decent drought should almost see the end of them. If we don't care that much about native fish stocks and want invasive species in our rivers. We should be prepared to put up with trout and not much else in our cooler rivers with masses of redfin and a small population natives in our warmer ones. Maybe we should just fill the joint up with "cool" invasive species like nile perch, tigerfish and peacock bass and be done with it. The fishing will then be the best it's ever been. Plus think of the tourism jobs. Carp make the longest sustained runs of any southern freshwater fish hands down. Although big mullet run faster.Fish light and you'll be in for a serious fight. Sight fishing to big fish in shallow water is something that will convert the most ardent haters. just my opinion. What do you guys think? Matt

Wellzy, All the gear mentioned above will catch you fish off the beach. Personally I use gear to suit conditions. If there's a bit of surf I use 40-60g lures on a longer, heavier rod (10'6/20lb)for cast distance,wave clearance, and fish fighting ability in a bit of surf. I find you get a better class of fish when the surf is up. Most of the time I use an 8ft rod with 10/15lb line and 25g lures. On flat days I'll use 6/7ft bass or plastics outfit and use 10g or smaller lures. I fish to conditions but I live at the beach and can go for a look first. Probably pick my heavier 10'6 if I had to pick one. Probably the most versatile. some of the lures I use. The ALL work.

Just been over the footy field for cast. Had a few attempts at pendulum casts with my abu and 11' tiralejo. Even got a couple to sort of look like I might have meant it before I cracked my sinker off. Changed to something a bit easier and tried ground casting with a 7' rod and 8000 saragosa with 30 on it. I just cut off the rig and tied on 60g sinker. As soon as started to get the hang of it and casting straightish I was hitting just short of 70m about 10m better than I was with my old technique. Back over later with longer rods. Going stick to eggbeaters till I get a bit more of a grasp of the basics. Awesome to feel the rod properly load up. Can't believe I haven't got into this earlier. Maybe fishos whould be better off learning these techniques before they start learning how to use the next latest and greatest lure or tie the latest leader knot. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction Dan.I owe you a beer. Game changer! Cheers Matt

Sitting here thinking about how awesome learning these long cast will be. Also so thinking about how funny this technique could be. I know I'll attempt it when I probably shouldn't. Imagine if heaps of people try it with just any old tackle. Maybe we should stop talking about this or they'll have wearing stackhats. What do you know about ground casting? That looks a bit better for later in the day.

Try with no water and you'll never go back. Save aerator batteries too

Nice one Neil. Love reading your stuff. Matt

Sorry for the late answer but is this in the right spot? I use NO water. Just keep your bucket in the shade with a wet rag on it and they last ages depenging on temp.Treat them like a mud crab. Give them a 10 min. swim and tip water out again and you can keep them longer. Keeping in water is risky because if one dies it can send the bucket off plus remembering to change the water.