After enduring a extremely long and boring 6 week break from fishing,
(apart from an excursion with the Reddy King last w/e) i couldn't take it any longer

Having my butt kicked last weekend by the Reddy King (TonyB)
i was in desperate need of some Reddy Therapy.

A trip up north of Adelaide to my favourite stream was urgently needed to ease the pain


After contacting all the property owners, and waiting for the better half to get home from work, i hit the road in the wifes car to save fuel/ money. ( got to keep them happy )

After arriving at the first property, a quick change in to the waders was in order, as the tall grass was still very dry and last visit saw me take hours to get all the grass seeds out of my hiking boots and socks

the first pool i tried, using a triple tailed soft plastic was still very clear and the soft plastic was cast hard up against the opposite bank and left to sink down in to the depths.
I had barely started the slow retrieve when the first taps were registered, and i was a bit confused by what was hitting the lure and not hooking up.
As the lure came in to sight, several small (8-10") rainbow trout yearlings came in to veiw.
Obviously the hard working folk from SAFFA (South Australian Fly Fishers Association) had done a recent stocking in the area.

Not wanting to catch any of these small trout i decided to move
to the next pool, this time using a small spoon.
After letting the spoon flutter to the bottom, i started a slow retrieve and about half way back got slammed by this nice Redfin of 38cm....



Good to get some therapy at last
Several more casts didn't get any more from this pool,so a drive to my next property was called for.

On arrival, with the grass here being shorter and the day warming up, i left the waders behind and walked to my favourite pool.
The water in this pool being a bit more murkier than the previous ones, but still reasonably good clarity.
Back on with the triple tail soft plastic,and nothing touched it for the first dozen or so casts, and just as i was about to change back to a spoon, the S.P scored my second Reddy of approx 32cm. A tiddler for this pool. however as i lifted the fish from the water the hooked pulled and it fell back in to live another day.( i can here TonyB scolding me for not using the net )

Another couple of casts at the far end of the pool resulted in one more Reddy being hooked and landed......


a nice solid fish of 37cm.

This therapy was doing wonders for me, very uplifting

Another pool further upstream ,that i never had any luck in previously beckoned me.
Probably the smallest of all the pools on this property, but still had good depth and cover.
A spoon was put on and a cast to the run in end was made. After hitting the bottom, a slow retrieve was made and the spoon was a quarter way back when i hooked a good size fish deep down.
Thinking it could be a large trout as it powered off to the refuge of the nearby rushes, i was over the moon when i layed eyes on a good size Reddy, and even more so when i saw its mate following.
The biggest i'd seen all day.
As i fought the fish i reached for the landing net (TonyB would be proud of me)
The fish screamed off again after seeing the net, but eventually i led it into the net, and it was mine
A couple of photo's,and a weigh, then it took it's revenge on me....a flap of its tail saw the gill spike slash my finger,(teach me for holding it with my finger to close to the gills!)



ouch! and with that the Reddy landed in the shallows of the pool stunned ,but not out.
a frantic lunge for the net and i turned to see the Reddy slowly swimming back down in to the depths of the pool to recover from its ordeal. And me to lick my wounds from the encounter

At least i got a couple of photo's to show for it.....



40 cm, 1.22kg Reddy



Several more pools were fished,and three more Reddies were netted, but were only in the low 30's. A few more small trout were seen but
i didn't wish to hook them, so i called it a day.

Not a huge number of fish caught, but most were good size and very solid. Looking at the pictures you can see the large humps behind the head, sign of a well conditioned Redfin.

The best therapy i have recieved for the past 6 weeks !!!

top report there graham some nice reddies to go with

Dubs

Good stuff Scorps,they all do look like thumpers.Tony would of been trembling at the knees with you fishing those waters
cheers brenton

DTTM.....Was great to get out there and have a fish, after a 6 week forced break.

Brenton.......Am waiting for the phone call from TonyB, but at this time of year, the clubs Redfin trophy is all thats on his mind.

The old worn out worry beads are about to break
( only fish caught from our club dams can win the trophy)

Great report mate, not sure about you showing your bleeding flesh

wounds to us faint hearted fishos tho mate

Awesome on those northern streams when you think of the quality fishing we've had from them and all on the back of your good work knocking on doors and getting permission! Well appreciated that you are willing to share these magical spots with your mate too

Been a bit mean with my karma's, here's a well deserved one

Well done mate, after the last couple of weekends chasing reddies and having a ball, i can't wait to hook into some biggies like that!!

Thanks Uncle Tony

Now get back up to that dam and catch another stonka of a Reddy to cement your position on that Reddy Trophy leader board.

Softy wrote:


Keep trying mate.

Iam sure many of our club dams have a few of those monster Reddies in them.

Nice Fish Graham! Very impressive indeed

scorpion wrote:


One of the club dams last weekend was good to us.

Booma wrote:


Thanks Booma,
I am sure if you keep looking in your neck of the woods, you will come across some good size Reddies also.
Quite often the small secluded pools will have the bigger fish.

loved reading that report scorps

I like it when they fight for survival and use their slippery suckerism's to escape

scorpion wrote:


I thought public accessible waters were allowed for club trophies ???

(totness for example)

Yes your right Rick

Public water caught fish are acceptable.

I was refering to where i caught them being on private property, which makes them not eligable for the trophy. As i found out last year after catching my personal best at 1.45kg.!

Rick wrote:


Finger on the pulse again Rick

PS might be some hungry/thirsty boys and girls at the next outing for

Bream in the "Pat" mate

when's the pata date ?? where in with hot-plate. canoe?? the lads doing home delivery again??

I know where you was referring to scorps, but you did potentially put some trophy hunters off the scent