hooklinestinker

I just came across this beautiful specimen while browsing through Reddit, and thought it was pretty enough to share. According to the comments, it's either a California Golden Trout, or a palomino trout; either way, you'd have to get a kick out of reeling something like this in 
 

 
Imgur link: http://i.imgur.com/o2nn9eS.jpg

I just came across this beautiful specimen while browsing through Reddit, and thought it was pretty enough to share. According to the comments, it's either a California Golden Trout, or a palomino trout; either way, you'd have to get a kick out of reeling something like this in 
 

 
Imgur link: http://i.imgur.com/o2nn9eS.jpg

Hey bjorn,
 
The weather seems like it's coming good briefly on Tuesday so I'm gonna try and do some winter flathead hunting on the flats with my day off. I'm keen to try some SPs and hardbody lures, but I'm gonna be in some fairly shallow water, and I'm not sure what to go for in hardbody lures... I don't have anything in my collection yet, so I'm off to a tackle shop tomorrow to grab a couple of things. If anybody's got any suggestions on what works for them, I'd love to hear 'em!
 
Cheers, and best of luck to all the other winter fisho's out there 
 
HLS

I just came across this beautiful specimen while browsing through Reddit, and thought it was pretty enough to share. According to the comments, it's either a California Golden Trout, or a palomino trout; either way, you'd have to get a kick out of reeling something like this in 
 

 
Imgur link: http://i.imgur.com/o2nn9eS.jpg

Thanks doobie! Quitting has been the best thing I've done in ages, my fitness has improved dramatically, I don't smell like an ashtray, and the aforementioned $$ benefits. I tried Champix (the medication) and patches and all the other things that didn't work, and it was e-cigarettes that finally did the job. Your wife would need to outlay about $150 to get all the bits and pieces to quit (I'm happy to tell you the kind of stuff you need if you like), and it lets you get off cigarettes while still having that familiar habitual element of having something to drag on, and blow out vapour instead of smoke.
 
Back to your fishing rods, for what it's worth, with that $25 Shakespeare rod I bought, I got a $8 spool of 8lb mono and re-spooled it from the even worse-quality line that it came with, and just cleaned and oiled it. I had 3 trips down to Rapid Bay and Second Valley 2 Summers ago with it and caught heaps of squid, tommies, gar and bastard toadies with it, and I had a great time, so don't stress about the kit just yet!

The sky really is the limit when it comes to purchasing fishing gear doobie, as I and my bank account have already come to learn  (I only just discovered last week you can buy fly fishing rods that cost over a grand... crazy!!). In the space of about 2 years I have moved from a $25 Shakespeare rod bought at a Normanville service station, to around a $70 Shimano combo from BCF (plus extra for braid), and then onto my current rods, which all cost between $300 and $450 all told once you've spooled them up with good quality braid (Thanks @ Fishing Wholesalers!). In the right hands, the $25 Shakespeare could probably catch just as many fish as my current favourite, I just love the sensitivity and the quality feel I get out of the pricier components, the lighter weight, and I know that if I look after them they will last me a long time.
 
I guess my point is that once you understand what kind of rod you're looking for, be it a light setup for chasing gar, tommies mullet etc or a 14-foot Mullie-chaser with a 10000 reel, you buy the best you can get within your budget, and go from there. For me, I suddenly found a whole lot more disposable income about 5 months ago when I finally quit smoking... hopefully it will have paid for my kayak by Christmas too! 

The sky really is the limit when it comes to purchasing fishing gear doobie, as I and my bank account have already come to learn  (I only just discovered last week you can buy fly fishing rods that cost over a grand... crazy!!). In the space of about 2 years I have moved from a $25 Shakespeare rod bought at a Normanville service station, to around a $70 Shimano combo from BCF (plus extra for braid), and then onto my current rods, which all cost between $300 and $450 all told once you've spooled them up with good quality braid (Thanks @ Fishing Wholesalers!). In the right hands, the $25 Shakespeare could probably catch just as many fish as my current favourite, I just love the sensitivity and the quality feel I get out of the pricier components, the lighter weight, and I know that if I look after them they will last me a long time.
 
I guess my point is that once you understand what kind of rod you're looking for, be it a light setup for chasing gar, tommies mullet etc or a 14-foot Mullie-chaser with a 10000 reel, you buy the best you can get within your budget, and go from there. For me, I suddenly found a whole lot more disposable income about 5 months ago when I finally quit smoking... hopefully it will have paid for my kayak by Christmas too! 

The sky really is the limit when it comes to purchasing fishing gear doobie, as I and my bank account have already come to learn  (I only just discovered last week you can buy fly fishing rods that cost over a grand... crazy!!). In the space of about 2 years I have moved from a $25 Shakespeare rod bought at a Normanville service station, to around a $70 Shimano combo from BCF (plus extra for braid), and then onto my current rods, which all cost between $300 and $450 all told once you've spooled them up with good quality braid (Thanks @ Fishing Wholesalers!). In the right hands, the $25 Shakespeare could probably catch just as many fish as my current favourite, I just love the sensitivity and the quality feel I get out of the pricier components, the lighter weight, and I know that if I look after them they will last me a long time.
 
I guess my point is that once you understand what kind of rod you're looking for, be it a light setup for chasing gar, tommies mullet etc or a 14-foot Mullie-chaser with a 10000 reel, you buy the best you can get within your budget, and go from there. For me, I suddenly found a whole lot more disposable income about 5 months ago when I finally quit smoking... hopefully it will have paid for my kayak by Christmas too! 

I'm only a relative novice, but I noticed an increase in sensitivity & hookups and a big decrease in line coil problems etc when I moved from my first cheapie rod with mono to a slightly better setup running braid, with a few extra bucks dropped for some fluorocarbon leader (this is just going for small shore-based species). As for line weight of leader vs main line etc, I agree with pretty much everything Scissors and sbarnden have said. I also find that using a slightly better grade of swivel allows everything to move freely gives me less hassles, too. Cheap crappy brass ones jam up after a use or two, and you get lots of annoying line twist.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-12/dramatic-drop-in-coorong-fur-seal-population-in-sa/6932998?WT.ac=localnews_adelaide
 
The number of long-nose fur seals in the Coorong has dropped significantly in just a few months, but authorities say proposed population control measures will still be needed.
Just five seals were counted in the area last week, compared with about 100 in August, the Environment Department said.
Department ecologist Mike Gregg said the seals had moved to the offshore islands for breeding, and were likely to return early next year.
"Just because the numbers are low at the moment, doesn't mean that we are stopping our work with the fisherman to look at alternative gear and also some seal deterrents, because it is very, very likely that in the future seal numbers will increase back up again," he said.
The number of long-nose fur seals has been a significant issue for the local commercial fishing industry.
Authorities estimated the seals have been responsible for reducing the fishing catch in the Lower Lakes and Coorong by 70 per cent.
The State Government has rejected calls for a cull, saying it is committed to spend $100,000 on non-lethal ways of controlling the population, such as underwater crackers to scare the seals away.
"They are a very small, underwater explosive and they go off underwater and they make a loud band, a crack sound and that produces a sound wave that's uncomfortable for the seal and put really simply, it startles or scares the seals away from an area," Mr Gregg said.
 

There is a seller on ebay with a mint condition one like this here, it looks like you've got a 'slightly used' Len Butterworth Pastime PoweRod there. There are a few hits on gumtree as well if you chuck in Len Butterworth, so you can see what you might have, or what it's worth. Cheers.
 
Here's what a brand spanking new one looked like:

There is a seller on ebay with a mint condition one like this here, it looks like you've got a 'slightly used' Len Butterworth Pastime PoweRod there. There are a few hits on gumtree as well if you chuck in Len Butterworth, so you can see what you might have, or what it's worth. Cheers.
 
Here's what a brand spanking new one looked like:

Well, for a few bucks in bits'n'pieces from the Reject Shop, I put together a live well of my own, basically a mirror of Alex's basket, just smaller. I took the basket and some preserved bloodies up to Thompson Beach yesterday, and had an awesome day reeling in well over a dozen YFW from 20cm up to 26cm. With such frequent bites happening, I decided to take the girlfriend there today for a few hours. We managed 7 puffer fish, 2 undersized YFW, and I managed to reel in these two beauties, measuring 35 and 36cm. Words cannot express how happy I was when I reeled these in, they're my first 2 legal YFW. WOOHOO!!
 

Haha, cheers for letting me know Alex, my ruler must be outdated, it says 27cm, I'll be taking home more fish next time!  I just got my hands on some halide Spotters, and I could see schools of little YFW cruising right in front of me clear as day, but the big fellas were harder to spot, I didn't see any large schools of them unfortunately.
 
You weren't kidding about the toadies, they were everywhere. My observation was though, the whiting were mostly going for the worms, and the Gulp! bloodworm and camo sandworms (pre-packed in the short segments) were getting destroyed by the toadies. Seriously, you get the toadie off the hook, and there are 2 or 3 little hacked up chunks of SP left... I threw out a couple of my favourite Lucky Craft surface lures and poppers on Friday, and the only fish getting caught on the trebles were about the same size as the lure itself... I haven't had any experiences with poppers and whiting before, so I'm sure my technique could be better, but they were the least successful choice out of bait, soft plastics and lures. That being said, I was catching stuff on them, so it's definitely still worth a go! 

Well, for a few bucks in bits'n'pieces from the Reject Shop, I put together a live well of my own, basically a mirror of Alex's basket, just smaller. I took the basket and some preserved bloodies up to Thompson Beach yesterday, and had an awesome day reeling in well over a dozen YFW from 20cm up to 26cm. With such frequent bites happening, I decided to take the girlfriend there today for a few hours. We managed 7 puffer fish, 2 undersized YFW, and I managed to reel in these two beauties, measuring 35 and 36cm. Words cannot express how happy I was when I reeled these in, they're my first 2 legal YFW. WOOHOO!!
 

Well, for a few bucks in bits'n'pieces from the Reject Shop, I put together a live well of my own, basically a mirror of Alex's basket, just smaller. I took the basket and some preserved bloodies up to Thompson Beach yesterday, and had an awesome day reeling in well over a dozen YFW from 20cm up to 26cm. With such frequent bites happening, I decided to take the girlfriend there today for a few hours. We managed 7 puffer fish, 2 undersized YFW, and I managed to reel in these two beauties, measuring 35 and 36cm. Words cannot express how happy I was when I reeled these in, they're my first 2 legal YFW. WOOHOO!!
 

After seeing all these great variations on fishing caddies, I hunted Google Images looking for ideas and found these 2. I basically didn't know these things existed a week ago, and suddenly I'm filled with a desire to MacGyver something up for this summer. Damn fishing, you so addictive!
 
The pre-fabbed one is called the Kayak Kaddy *drool*
 

And the other one is ingenious

After seeing all these great variations on fishing caddies, I hunted Google Images looking for ideas and found these 2. I basically didn't know these things existed a week ago, and suddenly I'm filled with a desire to MacGyver something up for this summer. Damn fishing, you so addictive!
 
The pre-fabbed one is called the Kayak Kaddy *drool*
 

And the other one is ingenious

After seeing all these great variations on fishing caddies, I hunted Google Images looking for ideas and found these 2. I basically didn't know these things existed a week ago, and suddenly I'm filled with a desire to MacGyver something up for this summer. Damn fishing, you so addictive!
 
The pre-fabbed one is called the Kayak Kaddy *drool*
 

And the other one is ingenious

Flotation & stability!
 
Initially it was 20mm pvc running thru the floats with a pvc end cap glued on. The floats & axels wore thru (with the addition of a bit of sand) and the floats started coming off.
 
I re-did the wheels & axles by  jamming  25mm pvc into the floats with a rubber mallet and then running this on new full width  20mm pvc axles (so they were running on pcv/pvc rather than polystyrene/pvc) plus 25mm outer for extra stiffness. All held together with end caps, with a self tapping screw (for easier dissembling) rather than glue. This also keeps the floats free from rubbing on the tub.
 
Axles attached to tub (straight thru the base) with matching pvc saddles and all-stainless bolts (flat phillips head on the inside), washers & nylon lock nuts.
 


These end caps should/could have been recessed into the float.

This is mine. Recon i've posted it before somewhere? 150mm floats on electrical pvc conduit axles. I didnt make it tho , one of Mozzies from Gotcha Fishing Tackle!
 
Catch bag, landing net, rod holder, fish measure sticker, webbing belt for towing & crab gauge tied on somewhere there too.
 

Looks like I'm going to have some company up there this weekend! I'll be heading up either on Friday or Saturday, heading from the city. En route to the northern flats, can someone tell me the easiest place to drop in and grab some bungums?

Way to go Alex, you got out there early and got a good catch in your awesome DIY live-basket. I can't wait to see more pics and clips this summer, your KI report and video were excellent as well.
 
All but two of my exams are over on Friday, so I am heading out ASAP, and I'll have a bait and SP rig ready to go, judging by these pics. 
 
P.S. I think you may have inadvertently started a DIY live-basket trend here on StrikeHook too 

Caught decent snapper on my 2-5kg gen black and 5lb line without an issue. Its awesome fun! Just use your 3-5 with 10lb line and you should be fine

Holy crap, I had no idea orcas came down here!
 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-04/great-white-killed-by-killer-whales-in-sa/6069168