Magoo

I've been getting quite a few chunky bream lately on both Plastics and Hard bodies! 
 
A couple of weeks ago, I fished with Jacob at West Lakes. We decided to fish early morning without expecting much. We used hard bodies and we were getting follows straight away. It wasnt long before I hooked up to a little bream, followed by a few more!  
 

 

 
As the day grew warmer, it was time to head back. We threw lures around while walking back and all of a sudden a nice bream came out and whacked my lure twice before hooking up!! This fish had some go! After a solid fight, it was measured in at 40cm which is my new Personal Best on hard bodies!!!     
 

 

 
After a few photos, the fish was released.. (of course!) 
 

 
Today, my school mates and I planned a snorkelling day with this hot weather. But of course, I had to bring a rod along. The day started with flat conditions and clear water. I had a couple of casts with the Zman 2" Grubz before a few donkey bream followed it right in.   I slowed down my retrieve and the biggest out of them engulfed the plastic!!! I set the hook and it screamed off like a train! After dodging quite a few rocks and almost loosing getting smoked, the fish was tired out and as I was slowly bringing her in, the hook came loose and I watched the fish cruise back down....        It was well over 40cm, possibly even pushing 45cm... But who knows, that's fishing! 

After sobbing a little bit, I got back into the action. I could see some monsters holding up along the weed edge but none of them would touch the plastic. It was getting extremely hot and sweaty so we jumped in to cool down. It was a good experience swimming with the bream, I got some underwater footage but unfortunately my mate dropped the camera between some rocks (wasn't his fault, the strap came loose).. Never to be seen again     Which means I won't be making videos for a long time...     
 
After we cooled down, I climbed back to where I spotted the fish. A few casts later, I hooked up to another decent fish! This one was no where near as big as the first one but it was still a very good sized bream. It was just hooked in the top lip but I got it in a comfort lift. As I was getting ready for a photo, the fish kicked and fell through the rocks into the water. I thought it was still hooked but it must've spat it when it kicked... I estimated this fish to be around 37cm, spewing I didn't get pics 
 
Anyways after that, I climbed back towards the same rocks and slipped. My whole rod/reel combo was dunked in the water and my ass landed on a hard ledge.. I had to sit there for a while to recover. But after a few minutes, I got back up and started flicking again. I switched lures to a 2.5" Zman Grub after I got the other lure snagged on a rock. The first couple of casts resulted in another solid hookup! This one felt quite similar to the second fish. It ran me under a couple of rocks but I managed to get it out. This fish measured in at 39cm!!!   Stoked! Few photos and it was back in the water.
 

 

 
The bite slowed down a lot so I decided to venture around to see if I could spot any. For the next couple of hours, I was sight casting them, catching low 30's bream. 
 

 

 

 
It was a beautiful day to be out, although it was hot, it gave us an excuse to go for a swim lol! 
 
Here's just a couple more from earlier trips! 
 

 

 

 

 

 
Even got a few nice ones in a cheeky bait session   
 

 

 

 

 
Cheers!   
Alex. 

Best snaps!

40 kgs of hurt!

G'day
I enjoy hearing about people involved in illegal fishing activities who get caught and pay a hefty penalty for it.  Go for it I say, take their boat and their car if it is being used to fish illegally for profit.
However, as a recreational fisher I don't like the fact that these low lifes who rape and pillage our seas, get called 'recreational fishers'
To my mind, once they cross the line from accidentally having an extra fish, to seriously abusing the limits, they become criminals and should be named as such, not called recreational fishers.
eg If someone is jogging along taking handbags would you call them a jogger or a bag snatcher?
If someone is driving a car that they have stolen, would you call them a 'motorist' or a car thief?
If someone goes in to a store and removes goods without paying for them, would you call them a 'shopper' or a shop lifter?
etc
So why punch us law abiding recreational fishers in the nose by calling these marine poacher scumbags 'recreational fishers'
I find it very offensive, please use an appropriate term
Cheers
Rod

Hello,
 
As the comments here sum up very well, this appears to be a narrowly focused initiative, with scant regard for the likely ecological and fishery productivity impacts.
 
I spoke with Cr Bill Jamieson yesterday to try to better understand where the proponents are coming from and to make sure that the media had not muddied the waters. Unfortunately it does seem rather accurate that they want to do this just for recreation and it seems they have entirely dismissed any hope of restoring any freshwater flows to the Onkaparinga estuary.
 
I informed the Councillor that despite the low freshwater flows, the river ecology is very important/significant and has been appearing to improve in recent years. Also that the best ecologists in Australia advocate for restoring tidal flows (not limiting them) as a means to improve river health and that in fact, there is a direct link between estuary productivity and tidal flow/exchange. I also let him know that fishers have secured a grant of $20,000 to improve river habitat and that he should think it reasonable that the sizable angling community will be against this proposal as it appears.
 
The Councillor has sent RecFish SA his report and we will be responding appropriately.
 
Great to see so many on here and elsewhere on social media who have a really great understanding of the importance of natural river processes and who are ready to stand up to protect this wonderful and unique South Australian Estuary.
 
Kind Regards,
David Ciaravolo
 
Executive Director
RecFish SA

I quick report and a few techniques. Nothing fancy but thought I'd just get this comp rolling.......
 
 
Had a call from my chief fishing buddy yesterday that he'd just bagged out squiding his local metro wading spot. Same as this time last year, where he recons they must have been spawning, were there 2 days and then gone. With conditions still favorable and hoping that '2nd day' was today,  I decided to check out his home grounds.
 
Water was lovely and clear and warm enough to leave the wetsuit behind. I was expecting wind to drop as it changed direction. Things were looking pretty good. A short wade out to the appropriate structure with a little 1.8 Yozuri. After a half dozen or so casts I hooked and bagged a little bait sized squid and took this for a good omen, with the session just commencing. Alas it was not to be. Walking all over the rocks and flicking everywhere yielded nothing.
 
Whilst deciding that it was time to give up and head in, i spotted a school well within casting range, of course with my jig way out in the opposite direction! In the short time i was able to re-cast the school had gone out of visual range so i worked the area around where i last saw them. Gone! Finally i hooked a decent sized one, pulling line with each surge. Quickly worked into the net, dispatched & bagged.
 
Unfortunately that was it so i called it a session. Not quite enough for Xmas stuffed squid ! http://www.strikehook.com/index.php/topic/26369-grilled-stuffed-squid/
 
 

 
 
 
Wading is my favorite style of fishing and can readily apply to squid. Clear waters and low current/tidal movements work really well and enable a real visual element to fishing, one of the major joys of wading!. I prefer around the low tide and immediately after, also when one can readily wade to more suitable areas. Basically anywhere there is seagrass or weedy reef works: Just past the 'blue line' around Yorkes, reefy stuff around Marino and further south........pretty well all over the place!
 
I don't usually specifically target squid whilst wading, instead wait until i see them following a SP or HB intended for something else. Being inquisitive creatures, they regularly oblige. Then its a quick changeover to a suitable jig, flick over and thru the area where the squid was last seen with fairly standard lift & drop retrieve. If they are still around they can be pretty quick and easy to find.
 
With the super light tackle and skinny waters, I opt for small 1.8 & 2 sized jigs with nothing too lairy. Anything bigger sinks too quicky and can easily spook your target. You often need to let squid run for a while with this style of squidding so back the drag off a little, this way potential squid can 'take' the jig rather than drop it straight away. If they do drop the jig you may not get another shot .
 

 
Once hooked, retrieve slow & steadily, letting the rod take the squid's surges, slip a net in behind while still in the water and hopefully aim that inky goo elsewhere ! I like to humanly kill straight away by squeezing the head prior to placing in the catch bag. Careful though, squid can bite quite well so hold from the tube and squeeze the head from behind with thumb & index finger. You will know you have done it correctly when there is an instant loss of the squid colours, to white.
 
Its worth while getting straight back out in the same area where the last one was caught as squid generally occur in schools. Sometimes it may be 1 or 3, other times i have had 4 in the net before dispatching the first !
 
I love eating squid but it's a can be a tedious pain to prepare. I adore salt & pepper squid, with a double coating of egg white/seasoned corn flour prior to deep frying . Otherwise stuffed squid (above link) is a fave. If im being 'lazy'  a simply crosshatching, light flouring and onto the BBQ grill with sweet chilli sauce & .

Managed to finally get a carp off the surface this arvo. Took one of the bread flies and gave me a nice fight. Harder to fight a carp on fly gear but so much fun all the same.
 

 
 

I thought I'd make a little post coz I havnt in a while! I havnt fished nearly as much as I'd like to lately because of work and everything else etc! Been down the onk a few times which resulted in a few flattys one small n one decent size! Got on the snapper once and got to go to salt creek once through winter that seen 100s of salmon and one half decent schoolie in the mix! Here's a few pics

So I went and visited my Local Tackle store (Let's Go Fishin) and Went in to Buy a Surf Rod, aswell as getting a new surf rod on Order (wilson Mulloway) I also purchased a few new Goodies......
 
A wilson 12ft 6144 Blank, A Kilwell 7ft Blank, and A broken 12ft Penn Prevail with the full Guides in tact! All for................... $50 thats right $50 absolute Bargain! Im stoked! I cant wait to build the surf Rod up, Ill be using The prevail Guides on the 6144.... to give it a modern yet tough look and feel...
 
Steves a great bloke and has some good Hidden Gems hiding! Plus his prices are cheaper compared to some of the tackle shops down south.... Best thing is he is opened Later than all the other Southern Tackle shops!
 
If you need anything go see him! he'd be happy to help you out!
 
Keep on watching this thread for updates of the Surf rod!
 

Hi guys,Haven't been online for ages but thought I would share a personal triumph of mine and believe it or not caught this bad boy from my own tub which makes it so much more meaningful. Caught down the south east about a month ago after a long fishing drought due to building a house and losing my job amongst other things. Bled weight was 108kg caught on a billmark skirt in Lumo. Outfit was okuma makaira 80w on custom status deluxe game rod. Also released one of similar size aswell which we didnt get any pics of as we were only 2 up and put the fishes health 1st for the release.Also special mention to my mate Shaun who was a big part of this, this kind of fishing is definitely a team sport.cheers

bit of an update I have completed the rod, as in guides are all on, been set and finished epoxy....
 
Just put on the hook keeper, so thats off to dry.....
 
All thats left is to put on the final special touch which I need to wait to arrive..... 
 
I am pretty happy how it came out, theres plenty i still need to learn but for my 1st go im happy with how it came out....  Now to load it up and give it a try on some decent fish
 
Next rod i'll build will be a surf rod I reckon!
 

Hi all,  
With uni and working two jobs, fishing time has been very limited but I managed to get out for a quick fish after work today. Took the fly rod down to the Torrens along with a light spin rod and a bag of bread for backup. I drove for a while along the river and just picked a random spot for a look. Well I found a really shallow bit stacked with lots of good sized carp! Perfect fly casting territory. In the 90 minutes I fished, I landed three good carp, two on fly and one on bread. Sizes ranged from 3.62 to 4.85kg. Heaviest fish was taken on bread on the bottom but the ones on fly were way more satisfying.
 

 

 

Headed out today with James for a northern flats session! A massive thanks goes to Underpants and Sbarnden for hinting us in the right direction. We started off the day at 6am and arrived on the flats at 6:45am. 

The tide was running out which was good but the wind was blowing pretty hard. We set up our stuff and headed straight out. Once we got close to the gutter, James hooks up to a fat whiting on the GULP worms. At first we thought it was a good salmon with the first run but once it came up to the surface, we were stoked. After a quick photo, it went straight into the homemade livewell! 


 
We kept persisting to see if we could get a few more whiting but the toadies kept on chomping out soft plastics. We decided to fish the channel/gutter and that's when the action was hot!  We started bagging some average sized tommies and salmon trout but we wanted to find bigger ones.


We made our way out to deeper water where we spotted a few black rays, but everywhere we went there were only tommies, salmon trout and toadies. We decided to go back shallower to see if we could get a few more whiting, but that's when we spooked a couple of big flathead! (around 45-55cm). I managed to hook one whist flicking for tommies/salmon trout but this one was only a baby. 

 
On the way back in, we stepped on a crab and James was quick enough to snatch it up into the livewell. Just over legal! It was a beautiful day to be out wading (would've been better without the wind  ). Here's just a few more photos! 

Well after trying to source a local Rod building wrapper, I sourced one from America on a site called www.mudhole.com 
 
So after being told it will take 3-4 weeks to arrive to my door step I was quiet shocked to see a parcel from America on my bedroom.... Im spewing because I only just put my order through Motackle for my rod that I will be building up.....
 
I have decided to start off with something simple as it will be my 1st rod i would of built. It is a 2-4kg wilson livefibre blades and tails blank. I love these blanks they are one of my favourites... It will be built with Fuji guides and Camo EVA grips.....
 
Can't wait....
 

 

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yZCdBrj-bCY
 
This guy has some fantastic Landbased Fishing for Yellowfin Tuna and the like on lures. In the video above he catches two big tuna of about 70kg and 90kg.
 
Also has a video of him landing a 105kg yellowfin landbased. Absolutely insane fishing.

Looks like you had a ball, Alex 
Great video too 

DAY 1

In the first week of school holidays, a Kangaroo Island trip was a great way to settle us in thanks to one of my best mates (John) and his family, who are one of the biggest deaf families in Australia! We arrived on a beautiful day with nothing but blue skies and crystal clear water. As soon as we got off the ferry, we were straight into the fishing! I spotted a few good schools of tommies so I chucked on a small hard body to see if I could tempt a few.. After landing a couple, a tiny squid appeared to be attacking the lure! Hooked up to it but dropped it. The next cast the same thing happened but this time I landed it. It was only small but there were quite a few hanging around it so I quickly chucked on a jig. First cast with jig, it was smacked by a nice squid on the drop. Same with the second, third and forth cast!   I realised how many there were but we were only keeping a few for bait and the rest were released. For the next 1 and a half hours we caught close to 30 squid, sharing around a single rod!    John, his two brothers and mum all landed their first squids which they were stoked about!   




 
It was time to head over to our shack, which was in Hanson Bay. We unpacked and set off for a stroll to the second beach, carrying a couple of rods. We found a very nice gutter and whist John chucked a bait out, I was flicking metals and soon hooked up within the first few casts! After a couple of solid runs, it spat the hook but another one took it closer in! Once again it spat the hook but again, a school chased it into the wave breaks and I saw the hookup through the wave! This one was one of the larger models which took me for a huge run and spat the  hooks again!!!! It was one of the biggest salmon I've hooked and I was spewing!! I even saw it in the wave with another 4 fish following it and clearly, this one was the biggest.   

For the next couple of casts, I had no interest in the lure but once the sun started to go down, plenty of big tommies and small salmon trout were hitting the lure. I landed quite a few big tommies while John only had bites on the baits. It got dark and cold so we decided to call it quits. Fortunately, the alarm was set for an early start the next morning!   
 
DAY 2
 
6am, we got up and had a quick breakfast. Walked to the river in Hanson Bay which I believe is the South-west River? The scenery was beautiful with the early morning fog creating a blanket over the top of the river. At the first accessible spot, I had a practice cast which resulted in a hookup on the Ecogear SX40! It was only a small bream but a good sign!

 
We made our way up the river flicking at every spot we could access. Before it warmed up, I landed another 3 fish with my mate getting donuts, it was his first time using lures which was understandable but I showed him quite a few tricks! 


 We made our way up to the very top of the river where I had plenty of casts in a small pool, on the 10-15th cast, I had a solid hookup! This one felt bigger and almost got me into a snag. After a good fight, I lifted it up to the ledge and boy was this bream healthy!   It measured 30cm and after a few pics it was quickly released. 

 
 
We went back to the second bay after lunch where we landed plenty more tommies, salmon trout and loads of pesky wrass! 

 
We got bored and went back to the shack to get the kayaks ready for a relaxing paddle in the river. But knowing me, I had to bring a rod along.    I followed behind John with the SX40 being trolled behind me. It wasn't long before I got hits, and lots of them! At the first bend in the river, I managed to land around 3 small bream. We made our way all the way up the river where I had no hits at all so we decided to go back down. As soon as we hit the same bend, I had a heap of hits. I hooked up to a few fish which spat the hook. This time I only landed one before sundown which was just legal. A quick photo and release.

 
DAY 3
 
The next day, we went to Kingscote jetty. It was pretty windy and cold. We had plenty of tiny bites on the baits but no hookups, it was really slow. After an hour, John hooked up to something huge on my rod! It took a rather large squid tentacle and screamed off straight under the jetty. After a quick 20 seconds, it busted him off on the pylon..    We reckon it was a big salmon, small kingy or possibly a snapper. I tied on another rig which had no interest other than the odd small nibbles. In the last few minutes, I decided to try for squid. It was hard casting with the wind but I managed to land 2 small squid before we left. 

 
Just after dark, we made our way to Vivonne Bay jetty. it looked very promising with tommies swarming the lights. First couple of casts, we landed a couple of tommies on plastics! They were solid tommies going 28-30cm. After landing around 20, I hooked onto something that peeled line!  After a decent fight, I lifted it up and to my surprise, it was a nice Silver Trevally! A couple more tommies were caught and then I hooked up to another slightly bigger Silver Trevally! We were getting loads of tommies and before we were about to leave, I hooked another Silver Trevally which looked a lot bigger! It fought extremely hard and spat the hook before it broke the surface. Oh well, we landed a nice feed all up! 


 
DAY 4
 
After a long night, we woke up tired but we didn't want to leave the place without landing a big salmon, so we walked all the way to the third beach, both casting metals into the surf along the way. We both managed to land a few salmon trout each, nothing big and were released. We made it to the third beach which didn't look as good as I thought, the gutters were really shallow and we didn't get a single hit. On the way back, we flicked metals at the end of the second bay, next to the rocks. First cast we both had hits. We hooked up to some good fighting salmon trout but we both persisted through the smaller ones. After I had a talk with John about why persistence is crucial in fishing, we both hooked up to a big salmon each, at the same time!!!   Mine was doing plenty of heart stopping jumps but they both stayed on! We were so excited and shared an amazing experience together. Both salmon were our personal bests with mine going 55cm and John's going 51cm. 


 
We threw them onto the sand and our lures went straight back in, hoping for another 'real' salmon. This school moved way to quickly and we didn't hookup to anymore solid fish.. After another couple of hours flicking lures and catching salmon trout after salmon trout, we called it a day and what a day it was!!! 

 
After hard work scaling and filleting the fish, they made a lovely meal! This was when I realised how good they tasted fresh from the surf! 

 
DAY 5
 
It was an early start for me as I had to leave. Lots of hand shakes and hugs went around as I left. I arrived at Penneshaw jetty a few hours early which gave me time to fish! It was windier than the first day but it didn't stop the squid from biting! First cast I hooked up to a nice squid, followed by more.

 
I ended up catching and releasing around 20 and decided to try catch something else. I chucked on a Zman 2.5" grub to see what was hungry. Casting into the reefy shallows, I had a solid hit, quickly retrieving the lure in, it was followed in by a wrass which smashed it! They actually fight hard which was a surprise.  After a pic it was released. 

 
And of course! Here's the video!! My longest video yet, please enjoy  

 
What an amazing experience I had! MASSIVE thanks goes to John and his family for the awesome time. 
I would also like to thank a few Strike and Hook members that helped me get familiar with Hanson Bay! 
 
Cheers guys. 
Alex. 

I have made designed and made a wall mounted rack and a floor rack on wheels.  I had everything I needed lying around
The floor rack was the simplest. 
cheers
Rod

knocked this up the other weekend out of a pallet, have a go
 

 

 
will make a double row next
 
 

 
 

As Fishing Wholesalers have been goods supporters to S&H with prizes etc, most recently the Daiwa combo in the S&H August salmon competition, just thought I'd mention I went along to their BBQ for the end of their salmon comp yesterday.
 
Around 25 people turned for the sausage sizzle and prize giveaways. Some guys even came in with some tuna caught yesterday (100kg from Pt McDonald) and thrown on the barbie as well.
 
After some chit chat and more purchases over the counter for me, and sausages too of course, they started the draw with the major prize of a Penn conflict combo, some braid, cap and sunglasses.
Prizes winners had to be present otherwise a redraw.
 
3 entries out out of the box before it was claimed - not my name 😥
They also gave away caps to everyone plus around a dozen other prizes of lures, poppers, small rods, fillet knives and various other things.
 
So it was a good couple of hours, even though I didn't have my name drawn out, but heard James (owner of FW) he wants to hold more BBQ's on Fridays for his regulars as a thanks. ☺

Mully that got me in the running for fish of the month, at local tackle shop, got beaten by 100 grams or so
But cool all the same, getting it in the local rag. They gave me a heap of ice to keep fresh overnight & next day brought it back
& got on 'Ken Brown's Coast Watch' TV show with it
Was caught in Maroochy river at Bli Bli, live mullet, Daiwa rod,15lb Maxima mono on Shimano 4500 baitrunner
 

 
 
 

Tried for redfin wih SPs & HBs, Fri/Sat arvo's 
... not a touch

a few cranks I've bought recently, some perch patterns may suit redfin more so than bream
but may work in the Coorong too? I like the clear ones for clean water, as back in QLD & having a cast net
I caught a lot of glassy perchlets, which fished live, nailed heaps of bream - they're seen in aquarium shops as feeders
& are transparent 40 -70mm on average
 

I have been wondering lately, especially over the last week, to whether the salmon have actually disappeared.
Many of us have had dreadful times in trying to find them and to even catch the bugga's.
 
Lately I have been heading down to Maslin Beach because it is only 5minutes from my house - so it is convenience more than anything.
 
I've walked up and down that beach luring only and expecting something due to some good catches about 3 - 4 weeks ago.
 
But on the last 6 or so occasions of going there morning and afternoon I came home with nothing....again !
 
So I checked the tides for today and wondered about going to waits with a north/east and high tide about 2pm. 
 
But first at 7pm, I left home and head to Maslin's first for the out going tide for one more shot.
 
Slight ripple on the water and quite brisk.
 
The sun coming up and shining on the cliffs and about to pock its head onto the beach.
 

 

 
But this had been washed up ....a barracuda, about 1.2mtrs long !!  I thought a first it was a big snook but those large upper teeth gave it away.
 

 

 
But no touches as usual, so off the Port Willunga and nothing either except for a couple of other fishermen - and they didn't stay long.
 
Ok, now to Waits and Parson and will be there about 2 hours before high tide and went to Parsons first.
 
Looked beautiful from the top but not many gutters showing up, some seem to have 'gone'.
 

 
I was disappointed nothing attacked my lure for the walk to the end, so pondered about attempting from the rocks...snags, losing lures, slippery, getting washed out to sea etc.
 
But thought don't be pathetic and give it a go.
 

 


 
Picking the right spot to cast and bang, a solid hit and with a wave coming in I could see another 4 trying to attack the lure.
 
Maneuvered the salmon around the rocks best I could but it was fighting hard.  Got the salmon (about 1kg) to the rocks about 1m below me but heavy to lift up and as doing so it dropped
 
The next half hour of luring for them and they had disappeared.
 
So walked backed to head off to Waits (and cursing most of the way).
 
(btw, the steps to the sand at Waits have been closed off - you know, the steps with the big jump from the last step. Need to walk to left to get down - working sorting it out).
 
So now high tide was nearly in, so do I go right or left ...... left it was.... and decided to go where a chap had bagged out on our August S&H Salmon day.
 
Walking to this point there were other fishers using baits but had not caught anything.  A few of them mentioned they were losing baits to crabs, so must have been a few around.
 
Got to the spot and first cast this happens. (And mind you it was a little tricky holding rod and taking a photo by yourself).
 
 
 
And this was result- just touching 50cm.
 

 
I had been using a 40g Stinger with a single hook leading up to here, but changed to the chrome 3 hook (incidentally, the lure was from The Fishing Guru, so everyone should get his lures...they work)

 
Most casts were getting hit and mostly by ST's .
 
Before to long, another good fight from another Salmon - about 40cm.
 
Another 40cm hit and was at my feet and dropped off only for a wave to come in and it was gone
 
And no joke, as one of those pacific gulls was watching and waiting, it gave out its 'voice' and it really sounded like it was laughing at me - so told it to  off, but it didn't.
 
So not a bad ending to the day, a nice catch - kept a few ST's to do some patties  â€‹
 

 
 
Hope you enjoyed the (loooong) read.

I've tried that using a KREH loop, but found sometimes fouled with the front treble, as I'm not tying them small enough
I'm going to try a solid ring to the split ring & just tie a uni or locked blood knot to the solid ring, see how that goes
that might make them drop nose first tho' I suppose