The things we do...

[big Neil]

PRELIMINARY BANTER.So I've been sick with "man flu" for nearly a week since my neighbour dropped in, coughing and spluttering. You guys know how it is...very sore throat, horrible cough. shivering, and fever. FAR WORSE than anything women could tolerate. Barely able to make it to the medicine cabinet, let alone the kitchen (for sustaining nourishment). Anyway we don't complain 'cos we're tough, right?

I'm definitely on the mend as my wife and I were sitting having a cuppa. My mobile rings. "Hello, Neil speaking" (cough, splutter). It's my mate Luke asking if I'm up for a trip to the river. I glance at the Mrs who gives me one of those "you'd better not be thinking of going fishing looks". "Sure, half an hour, no worries" I say.

"I'll be ok dear, I feel a lot better today".

"Sure! You can barely stand up!" she says.

Anyway with the preliminaries over I scurry about making a flask and some sarnies and organise my rods and spinner baits.

FISHING REPORT.

The water level at the river is still very low even though we've had some decent rainfall. The water was quite discoloured so we opted for bright, fluro coloured spinner baits. The river is littered with huge logs and we skilfully manoeuvre our way upstream and start casting spinner baits into all the likely snags. It is quite cold when we round the corners into a windy stretch and the threat of rain isn't far away. Ever counted how many casts you can do in an hour? Well we each peppered the snags for 5 hours and never even got a hit. Luke and I have a theory...there's always one stupid one. All that time we were looking for the one stupid one and guess what? IT WASN'T THERE!

Probably should have listened to the Mrs, eh? Cheers, Big Neil

[fragmeister]

Hey Neil

Good work on getting out for a fish... pity they didn't cooperate.

You know Man Flu has actually been scientifically proven so I feel for you buddy!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/man-flu-is-real-study-finds-estrogen-protects-women-against-influenza-virus-20160115-gm6zkl.html

... but on to other topics.

Look at the hidey holes in that river gum snag in the second picture. I bet you commit these to memory for when the river levels are up again!

On your first picture though I see couple of apparent river levels.

The current low level - does it get much lower than that?

A grass line up the bank - is that the normal level?

And how often does it get up to the very top level?

Cheers

Jim

[Rah]

5 hours is not a bad effort for someone recovering from man flu.

Shame the fish didn't want to play today.

Cheers

Tara

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[big Neil]

Hey Neil

Good work on getting out for a fish... pity they didn't cooperate.

You know Man Flu has actually been scientifically proven so I feel for you buddy!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/man-flu-is-real-study-finds-estrogen-protects-women-against-influenza-virus-20160115-gm6zkl.html

... but on to other topics.

Look at the hidey holes in that river gum snag in the second picture. I bet you commit these to memory for when the river levels are up again!

On your first picture though I see couple of apparent river levels.

The current low level - does it get much lower than that?

A grass line up the bank - is that the normal level?

And how often does it get up to the very top level?

G'day Jim, the low level (now) can get a bit lower making boat fishing very difficult. The grass line is a normal height ( about 1.6 mtrs higher) and it does flood way over the top of the river bank. Happened twice in 6 weeks a few years back. I know many sections of the river quite well and often visit the same snag where a decent fish is likely to be hanging out. These huge gum trees do move though when the river is in flood. Generally I just pick likely spots each time I go. That would have worked today except the Cod and Yellas were shut down. WHY? I don't know! Cheers, Neil

[big Neil]

Rah, on 11 May 2016 - 6:44 PM, said:

5 hours is not a bad effort for someone recovering from man flu.

Shame the fish didn't want to play today.

Cheers

Tara

Thanks Tara, you're a very sympathetic young lady. I think I would have made sufficient recovery to head out tomorrow, if the fish had wanted to play "catchies". Alas that wasn't the case and I can feel a relapse coming on. Neil

[Rah]

Rah, on 11 May 2016 - 6:44 PM, said:

5 hours is not a bad effort for someone recovering from man flu.

Shame the fish didn't want to play today.

Cheers

Tara

Thanks Tara, you're a very sympathetic young lady. I think I would have made sufficient recovery to head out tomorrow, if the fish had wanted to play "catchies". Alas that wasn't the case and I can feel a relapse coming on. Neil

Hope the Relapse is only a minor one.

[Cargo05]

LOL. How long will you have to live with "I told you so"? Hopefully your man flu was no worse when you returned home.

I am very glad to know I am not the only one who can catch nothing. It take a certain skill.

With the rain the worry about black water should ease. You have a lot of structure to put in the memory bank for when the water level returns to normal.

[bessell1955]

Good to see that you are keeping the side up. Fishing for 5 hours with "Man 'flu", you are a legend.

[big Neil]

LOL. How long will you have to live with "I told you so"? Hopefully your man flu was no worse when you returned home.

I am very glad to know I am not the only one who can catch nothing. It take a certain skill.

With the rain the worry about black water should ease. You have a lot of structure to put in the memory bank for when the water level returns to normal.

Hi John, no the man flu was no worse but I'm still coughing and spluttering. Always affects me for a long time. Because the river changes constantly, I think I simply take each visit as it comes and try to do the things which will get a result. I am still trying to understand these fish so that I can maximise my efforts. SOME DAYS THEY JUST DO NOT FEED. Whilst it's good to catch fish, it's even better to get out there and have a go. One of the biggest "buzzes" for anglers is the anticipation and that's always there, whether you're catching them or not. How's your efforts being rewarded? Cheers.

[big Neil]

Good to see that you are keeping the side up. Fishing for 5 hours with "Man 'flu", you are a legend.

Thanks! Going fishing when you've been laid up for days is a form of preventative therapy...stops me from going nuts. How have you been going up there in Wilberforce. Do you get much chance to go fishing? You need to put it on the curriculum...or is it already? Cheers.

[Cargo05]

G’day Neil

I had a crack at beach fishing for the first time on Friday even. Sad to say that I didn’t trouble the scorers. It was a beautiful evening though.

The lake has been fishing reasonable well for flatties, although they are mainly 30-38cm. it must be time I went back to the river in the hope of some big girls.

[big Neil]

G'day John, I'd more than settle for catching ANYTHING at the moment. After the trip out with my mate Luke I went out alone and put in a solid day of casting spinner baits around and came up with another big fat ZERO. Catching flatties, even small ones would be a big plus. I don't think I've seen such poor results from the river, as we have this season. I've been resisting going Carp fishing, thinking that the Cod fishing would improve eventually...but I'm having second thoughts. Maybe time to go get rid of a few pesky Carp before I go crazy. Nice pictures mate. Tell me, when you went beach fishing did you use berley? I think it's the single biggest benefit to catching fish off the beach. Not that I'm an expert by any reckoning...but it's definitely been my experience. Cheers, Neil

[Cargo05]

Yeah Neil, I used a bit of burly, but perhaps not enough. Must keep trying, but fishing on the lake is so much better.

[big Neil]

Cheers John, can't beat a spot that turns up trumps on a regular basis. I ventured out today because there was a bit of water heading down the river. It was much easier to get around and I spent 5 hrs there. Started off by chucking spinnerbaits into the snags and only had the one nice hit. Alas it didn't connect and wouldn't come back for seconds, despite my best efforts. The extra flow in the water made it hard to use the lures and spinnerbaits so I went back to the trusty old bait for the last few hours. Managed a Cod of 51cms and a huge Carp which took off like a rocket when I hooked him. That was late arvo and just before I pulled up stumps. Amazing the change to my outlook ,catching a few has made. Cheers, Neil

[Cargo05]

Yep, nothing like a few fish to regain a feeling of confidence. After a time with no fish I start wondering what I am doing wrong.

When do the environmental flows commence in the Bidgee?

[big Neil]

Yep, nothing like a few fish to regain a feeling of confidence. After a time with no fish I start wondering what I am doing wrong.

When do the environmental flows commence in the Bidgee?

They are on all the time really. What I mean by that is that they send water down (as available) periodically to try to minimise the risk of black water killing native species. During the Summer when the river was high they sent them down. This is questionable as there's already a good flow happening. Now when the levels are low it's a matter of whether they have much to send down. I bumped into two guys working on water quality, who report back to NSW Gov't with their findings. They travel round checking all the rivers and creeks...what a job. They maintain that the water quality is fairly good but did say that it's a fine line between that and major problems. It's one of those things where you have to trust science to get it right. The decisions are out of individuals control anyway. Cheers John.