Hunkgarian

Go to Devlin Road while there is no ramp, you may be able to launch

That's an awesome catch! Congratulations.

My brother in law and I hit the northern corner of Avalon this evening to try and avoid that stiff northeast wind. It was still a bit blowy there, but not unbearable. We arrived at nearly 20:00hrs as the day folk were almost done leaving for the day. (N.B. it would have been impossible to wet a line earlier due to the number of people using the beach). We set-up two outfits each, one light and one heavy. I am not 100% on his exact gear specs, both are egg beaters, one armed with heavy line and one lighter. I used a 12' beach rod with my Penn eggbeater and 20lb line leading to a 40lb trace armed with two 7/0 Gamakatsu hooks to hold the squid bait. My other outfit was my Luderick rod (11') with a centerpin Alvey and 6lb main line running to a 12lb trace and 1/0 baitholder hook. Baits used were beach worms (preserved) on the lighter outfits and whole squid (about 200mm long head and body only) on the heavier gear. He literally caught all the good fish in the first 20 minutes of us setting up. 2 x Yellowfin Bream (one was 32cm) 2 x Sand Whiting (one was 35cm) - note the big one had an open wound on its belly, possibly a small shark attack during the fight with my brother in law. The wound was semi circular, similar to a shark mouth and then he ended up hooking up to the small whaler..... 1 x Australian Salmon (~45cm) He then caught a small Common Stingaree (a kind of stingray) and a juvenile whaler shark of sorts, not quite sure of exact species. I'll send the query through to a couple of ichthyologists I know. I did pick up a Fiddler Ray, which was released. Same as the shark and stingaree. Overall it was a great evening with super action for 20 minutes, then nothing for an hour and 40. Note, there was a bit of washed in weed in the northern beach corner. Stay safe and happy fishing...

Looks like a chopper (small) Tailor. Incidentally, I was picnicking there yesterday with family and used that as an opportunity to test my second hand kayak I bought a couple of days earlier. I paddled around near the picnic area and upstream a little. Near the oyster encrusted rocks on the opposite side from the kayak launch pad my pink soft plastic was bitten in half by what appeared to be a chopper Tailor. It was on for a few moments LOL..... hardly worth its own fishing report. My kids and their young cousins did catch some nice bream, though at around 15-20cm all were undersized and returned to the water. However, catching fish is a great way to keep the children engaged. Looking forward to spending more time on the Hawkesbury system in the future.

This is such awesome info. Thanks for the effort of the write-up Derek. I am literally in the vetting process for a kayak (new or used) that I can comfortably fish from and also be able to use it for kayaking with my wife (who is not going to fish). So it has to be a double-purpose vessel. Love the thought of Hobie, but don't think I want to spend those kinds of $$$.

What a flattie! WoW! Congrats on the catch. On a different note, that poor Eastern Barn Owl is in a very unsuitable daytime roost there in the mangroves. Most likely it was flushed from a previous roosting site. The mouse plague in the west earlier this year caused a huge irruption of these nocturnal predators and the juveniles tend to disperse a long way from home (over 1,000km have been recorded previously) in search of food and territory, but that was pretty extreme. Doubt you'd have problems with suitable roost, eg. hollows in trees, which they prefer to an open branch. Whereas in Sydney, where I am, it's a tough one to find hollows where everything competes for less and less that are available due to development. Most birds hate any predatory bird and will mob it relentlessly, in big groups until they drive them away. Many owls like this can end up dead from magpies, currawongs, ravens and butcherbirds attacking them. I live in NW Sydney and have been a volunteer wildlife rescuer with WIRES for 13 years now and have been rescuing raptors and owls for several years now. I have not seen as many EBOs ever as this year. Between July and September, I alone, had responded to over 30 rescue calls (from Parramatta to St Marys and north from there) and many I had to rescue were flushed out from their unsuitable daytime roosts by diurnal birds. It's a sad world for them, as many don't make it, usually to some pretty serious injuries. But the ones that do still have to survive to adulthood, which again is very challenging for them. Sorry, I know it's not fishing related, but thought you guys may be interested in some other wildlife info

So Mark McGrouther suggested it could be a Little Weed Whiting. To be honest, that's one fish I have never ever heard of until now. Makes sense alright. https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/299#summary I've noticed the distribution map shows eastern shoreline of Spencer Gulf in SA. But there are several tabs on the page, and one that says 'MORE INFO' has the distribution written rather than showing on a map. The map is not representing the true picture.

Agreed, I was a bit perplexed at that. Distribution of the 'proper' Stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa)is roughly south to the NSW/Qld border. Common names can be so deceiving. Many folks probably refer to Red Rock Cods as stonefish, well, they kind of look like part of the reef in their own pretty way. About 25 years ago I accidentally placed my bare hand on a Red Rock Cod while photographing something underwater at Shark Point, Clovelly. The pain was incredibly strong and I was nauseated for quite some time after the sting. Black Trevally = Happy Moments = Black Spinefoot = SUPER painful sting. Antoher bit of info is, that Frogfish is Batrachomoeus dubius, are not an anglerfish (Family Antennariidae), which is what Americans call frogfish. Here is a link to our Aussie frogfish.... very common in estuaries like the harbour, Hawkesbury etc.... https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/2835

That is the first common fish that came to mind and it is a young fish, and Herring Cale change over their growth cycle, you guys should submit to the Australian Museum ichthyology department if they still offer fish IDs. I'll ask a friend, who was their collections manager there for some two or more decades, but has now retired. See what he suggests. Also, I just googled Weed Whiting, as that name eluded me in all my scuba diving and u/w photography life. I noted they are only found around the eastern coastline of Spencer Gulf in SA, according to the distribution map on this page. https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/298

I never ever liked DPP despite using Canon from 2003 to mid-2020. There is just not enough functionality for a serious semi-pro wildlife photographer in that software. Sure it's fine for some people who are very budget conscious, and one cannot blame people for that, but it's very limited in its capabilities. Photoshop is not that expensive if you check subscription pricing for that and Lightroom (which actually I also don't like or use). 15 bucks a month is the equivalent of a Maccas meal upsized to large. My standard workflow is cull in Fast Stone Image Viewer and process with Photoshop and I also use Topaz denoise AI. And, I switched brand mid last year to Olympus (now OM System) - after a two-year deliberation - and couldn't be happier most of the time. https://www.adobe.com/au/creativecloud/plans.html Photography is a great pastime and there's never enough time in the world for my liking to do it.

Herring Cale https://australian.museum/learn/animals/fishes/herring-cale-odax-cyanomelas/

Hi Derek Great idea. I'll link a few different images, not sure how I can insert them, I tried with the link, but the links went red and nothing happened? My main interest is wildlife photography (birds especially) and fast action, like planes, motor racing (both only occasionally though, as admittedly they are kind of like shooting fish in a barrel when you're used to shooting unpredictable wild animals). https://www.amatteroflight.com/Auto/Motor-Racing/i-j6gL2n5/A Olympus OMD-E-M1X, M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 PRO lens (field of view = 600mm), ISO1250, f/5.6, 1/60th, hand held https://www.amatteroflight.com/Raptors/Peregrine-Falcon/i-WfZkgpN/A Peregrine Falcon juveniles learning flight skills. Canon EOS 1DMkIV, EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens, ISO1600, f/5.6, 1/2500th (probably, don't have EXIF handy) https://www.amatteroflight.com/Railways/Thirlmere-Festival-of-Steam-2015-18/i-tHZN5pK/A Lightpainted, probably Canon EOS 1DMkIV, EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, tripod, remote release https://www.amatteroflight.com/Aviation/2019-Dawn-Strike-Williamtown-RAAF-Base/i-NncRSQS/A Canon EOS 1DxMkII, Sigma 500mm f/4 Sport DG OS HSM, hand held, most likely ISO 8,000 or 10,000 due to very dim, dawn, light, rest not sure off the top of my head. https://www.amatteroflight.com/Macro/Spiders-and-Scorpions/Mouse-Spiders/i-GrzcP5W/Ahttps://www.amatteroflight.com/Macro/Spiders-and-Scorpions/Mouse-Spiders/i-GrzcP5W/A My pet female Eastern Mouse Spider, Gloria. She is a bit of a cranky pants at times. LOL I have tons of images on http://www.amatteroflight.com

I have always caught one fishing for luderick if the bait was too close to the bottom. Funnily, one of the first fish I've ever speared in the late 80s when I started out. My mate then used to call them cockyfish. Not sure why... Great tip about using them for mulloway bait!

Good on you, that's great news. I love fishing for Luderick, such tough fighters on light tackle. You're in for an addictive pastime

I am thinking, strange as it may sound, that those were Sargassum Fish (look like an Antenariid - anglerfish) rather than anglers. Unless they happen to be juveniles, and I am not particularly familiar with juvenile dispersal of anglers. https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/3837

Rainbow Cale 100%

These Striated Anglerfish also come in different colours such as this form, yellow and other in between! We used to photograph them at Shiprock in Port Hacking and at times in the harbour. The Americans and in the South Pacific they are referred to as "frogfish" most likely for the way they walk, but no common name is better than what we use in Australia - Striated Anglerfish. As technically, they are anglers, using their ilicium (rod) and esca (lure) to fool unsuspecting fish that they suck in extremely fast. I always disliked the common name frogfish, as we already have the Eastern Frogfish (Batrachomoeus dubious, I think from memory) that is a frogfish in Oz. Here is a video from the Smithsonian where you can see a similar anglerfish (oh hell they call it a frogfish and I am cringing). But it's so amazing

That's fine. I guess I will always get more shots and faster shutter speeds, which are needed when you're tracking fast flying subjects in the air. ISO 100-200 just does not cut it for fast shutter speeds!

Thank you. Unfortunately, digital technology has not done photography a big favour. There are too many folks happy to give away images and too many publishers expecting to pay nothing for images. I am enjoying my obsession the way it is

The bottom lens is an older Canon FD series, which is useless as it is manual focus and it won't fit your autofocus camera without a special adapter I still own the original Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro I bought in 2003, and will update it sooner or later. It is an amazing lens. Admittedly I also use the twin macro flash MT-24EX from Canon with diffusers.

Depends on what kind of wildlife you want to photograph really. You don't need to spend 12-13K to get a great lens. I didn't and admittedly until March last year I was a Canon snob big time and was dreading the amount of money I was about to spend upgrading my EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens due to its age and my worry about lack of serviceablity going forward. Canon are pr1cks. Period. They make it very unattractive to want to spend big bucks on their gear, as they don't support them indefinitely. I ended up with a Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sport lens after CR Kennedy (local distributor) loaned me the lens for a month to test in the field. As mentioned, the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM is a pretty good lens and way cheaper than the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM zoom. Many people use that cheaper 100-400 who want to shoot wildlife (mostly birds in Australia as there's not much other easily accessible wildlife anyway). Coupled with an APS-C sensor camera like the Canon EOS 7D MkII it gives you very good quality images. I bought the same 100-400mm Canon lens for my wife in October 2017, then sold it to buy a more useful lens for her, as she needs the focal length more and she was saving 2/3 of a stop of light with her new lens for a similar focal length (Canon 100-400 + 1.4x TC = 560mm f/8 versus 600mm f/6.3 on the Sigma = 2/3 stop saved). So we bought a Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens last year for her before our journey to South Africa where she used it with the 7D MkII. I was more than impressed with the image quality and I am as anal as can be when it comes to high quality results. Where she did suffer and still suffers to date was in low light, and very low light, where I was still able to shoot very good quality images at ISO10000 with my Sigma 500mm f/4 DG OS HSM Sport lens and Canon EOS 1DxMkII body. That's the kind of situation where one will thank for the more expensive equipment. Although now she also bought a 1Dx MkII body, because it runs circles around the 7D MkII when it comes to in field use and high ISO capability. And let's face it, don't believe when people tell you that you can get away with ISO100-200 shooting wildlife. You may if you use a tripod. However, tripods are useless in most instances (except at night or in a hide) and many more serious bird and wildlife shooters like to shoot hand held due to the flexibility you get hand holding and the weight of modern lenses allows for that more readily. Personally, I rarely go below ISO800 and mostly use 1600-3200 to get as fast a shutter speed as possible and with the right capture of the RAW images noise is not really an issue. At the end of the day you always get what you pay for. The cheaper lenses come with compromises, but in reality most people are happy with the results and don't need to spend tens of thousands on gear.

Lovely fish! Hope you get its big brother soon!

Thank you Clutch!

Thank you. I hear you. I think digital is great technology, but now so many people suddenly become professional photographers and gives away stuff freely making it hard for anyone with decent photography skills to earn any kind of income. I only ever give my images away freely for conservation organisations if my personal values align with theirs. Otherwise I charge and rather not get published than give away my stuff free. Sadly, that's the way the photographic industry has gone. I get on average one to two enquiries per month for copyright licencing and turn most away as they just want a freebie. They can get nicked.

I apologise for missing your question earlier. No, I have a newer camera and lens. The ones in the photo were my Canon 1DMkIII and EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens.