61 crusher

Hi @wazatherfisherman in relation to @SaltyGreek’s comment & hope you don’t mind slightly off topic. I was told in my younger days while land based fishing by a couple of jewie fishos if you’re catching pike eels &/or catfish that I was in the right area, where they feeding me crap or is there some truth to that statement

This is a great video that every fishraider should watch because it’s coming from someone who shares our love & passion of fishing & as kingie chaser said & Mrs Swordie Starlo has also given some great tips & ideas to keep sane & get us all through this tough period Stay safe & keep the glass half full

Probably my second Barra, my first was caught at the base of the argyle dam in Kununurra on a rock groyne next to the spillway with an old rubber floppy about 40cm & released While doing the big trip in 89 a couple of days later we ended up free camping further down stream on the other side of the Ivanhoe crossing & every afternoon just before dusk there’d be about 6 to 8 of us casting up river on the crossing & on average most evenings one about 20 odd pounds would be caught, lost a good fish one afternoon fighting with a guy anchored upstream within casting range, my lure came back with bent trebles & scales needless to say we didn’t see him again after the mouthful he copped from all of us Two days later right on sunset I’m about to lift my orange nilsmaster out for another cast & this Barra launches clear out of the water right in front of us, we all look at each other & then my reel starts screaming keeping in mind I was only using 15lb mono straight through & after a long run I backed off the drag slightly as the head shakes reverberated down the line. Was over a meter & a good 40lb+ according to the butcher who gaffed her in the mouth Not the best photo but that Barra was the biggest caught there in 25 years & kept me in beers for the next two weeks & fed six of us 3 times with plenty shared around

Another item you can use is a clear rectangular Tupperware container cut an x hole or use fly screen mesh & secure, throw a couple of sinkers or rocks in to weigh it down & a good trick is to put a mirror in the bottom, they’re more likely to enter the trap seeing others inside, usually speeds things up a bit

Another great story Waza, that fog is always eerie & added to the mystique of the hairtail except when trying to get back to apple tree bay & the gps would start playing up past Waratah bay, definitely a great read & some good insights in there for fishos new to hairtail fishing & advice about the aggressive nature of the dreaded pike eel

Wow no wonder that creek was void of any fish, those muddies would’ve been the only thing that could hold there own against those vicious brawlers Ive never seen those eels fight but one time I was cleaning some squid on a flat rock adjacent to a rock pool with about 150mm of water in it & slowly being filled by the incoming tide, I was throwing the scraps into the pool & one of those green moray eels that you mentioned in your last story pocked its head out & started grabbing the scraps, I kept cleaning away & slowly but surely another eel showed itself & before long there was five of these little green eels poking there heads out from various crevices so I threw a fair bit of the scraps into the middle of the pool & as they got gamer they would start attacking one another & at one stage the water was boiling, while watching this & still holding onto an almost cleaned hood my fingers which were on the dry rock above the mayhem going on in the pool were grabbed by two occy tentacles, well I nearly sha#!!t my self. With all those eels I was amazed that the small octopus was so brazen I believe you Waza because once as a 12 year old fishing with a mate one night off ferry st wharf (parramatta river) on a big tide sitting on the wharf with our toes just touching the water & our legs were casting a shadow across the water we noticed one of the shadows off my mates legs was longer & slightly darker so he starts splashing the water with his toes & just then my mum pulls up & the car lights shone onto the water this eel was at least 8 to 10 ft long & mere inches from his toes & looked liked one of those conger eels & black as. I used to rib him about his smelly feet but never thought they could be useful to attract fish 😲

That’s a well conditioned bass, congrats on PB & your persistence 👍

Egg beaters are not designed to be dunked in water at best drag knob tight as & a light spray of fresh water if been used in salt environment, the dunking would be your problem like @DerekD has mentioned

There’s a couple of recent reports regarding night time bass fishing that have some good info, have a look at @JahmonW & @Ragnar re there threads

I think your spot might’ve also held bait, generally as a rule if there’s bait & the conditions are right eg barometeric pressure is high = fish, there are a lot of other variables such as water temp, weather conditions, water turbidity, time of year, sexual activity (of fish),etc

That’s an epic story from your younger days Waza & a great read I’m sure you’ve got hundreds more in your memory bank, I’ve heard they can be quite tasty but would never go there due to the hassle or there fangs

Another great report, keep em coming. Hopefully your new retrieve keeps producing

Great report & photos, it’s amazing how finicky they can be at times

Sounds like they have a great sense of community spirit with the sharing, bartering & self regulating. Great report & photos, by the sounds of it one of the few places left that aren’t in the tropics where one can say “ let’s go catching “ instead of fishing

Freddos (not correct spelling) on the C Coast is having up to 60% off + 10% store wide with exclusions