Squid Inc.

Had a session in the Mersey River this morning when these storm clouds moved in.. not long after the rain followed.. (fishing report to come later on the forum, when I get around to writing it.)
 
cheers
Adrian
 

** This may be of some help to anyone fishing for trout during summer, I know how low & warm the rivers get in Sth Aust as I've fished them myself for many years before moving to Tassie.. But you may find a few helpful pointers from the article..
 
 
 '' SPIN FISHING RIVERS FOR TROUT IN SUMMER''
     by Adrian (meppstas) Webb
 
Well now with the warmer weather upon us it time to change a few tactics with fishing the rivers during the Summer months ahead. Lower water levels and warmer water temperatures is something that the trout don't like all that much. I have found the best water temperature for trout is between 11 deg C and 18 deg C above and below these temperatures and the fishing can become quite tough and even more so in Summer if the water temp reaches above 20deg then the trout tend to shut down.

Massive duns hatch makes for a tough day on a river for the spin fisher...
 
The rods, reels and line that I use for river fishing for trout are as follows: The rods are all 1.8 mtr & 1.91 mtr Daiwa Presso L/Wt 1-3kg coupled up with small Daiwa Presso, Ageas, Revros & Exceler reels and 4lb clear mono line to a swivel and anti-kink, from there it's 400mm trace of 6lb mono with a snap swivel attached followed by a blade spinner on the snap swivel. An anti-kink to me is a must when using blade spinner as they stop line twist which occurs when spin fishing with blade spinners. I always fish as light as possible and the weight of my blade spinners are 1.5gms. These are a variety of Mepps Black Fury's, Aglia's and Bug spinners. The hard body lures are 2gms in weight and they are only 30mms long. These are Rapala F-3 in rainbow, brown and brook trout patterns plus I do have a few Ralala CD-1's in rainbow and brown trout pattern as well a few Atomic Shad4, Muzza's & Wildbait hard body lures. I have used these spinners and lures for quite a long time with plenty of success. I have been the Angling Club Champion for the past 10 years in a row, so I know how good it gets when using light tackle that works for you. Like they say, when you're on a good thing ''Stick To It.''
''One of my l/wt Daiwa rod, small Daiwa reel, & Mepps spinner, great trout fishing set up.''

Trout falls to a rainbow pattern Rapala..
 
The long slow flowing stretches of a river will rarely give up a fish unless you are on it at first light or very late in the afternoon when the water temperature is much cooler and the sun is off the water. Fast water sections always fish well during the warmer weather as there is more oxygen in the water created by it rushing over the rocky sections of the river. Trout will sit in small pockets behind rocks that have small flat water behind them and will pounce on anything that passes by. It is here that you will find Summer fishing for trout at it's best.

Slower flowing water the trout will tend to be closer to the banks for protection..

Bright days with full sun means for tough fishing, fast water will hold trout early in the day..
 
I use small Mepps metal blade spinners and these work a treat in the fast water too. It's just a matter of casting the spinner up and across the river, then by keeping the rod tip at just below parallel to the water, retrieve the lure at the same speed as the flow of the river and hopefully you will soon bag a trout. Keeping the rod tip high will stop the spinner from bouncing on the rocky river bottom if you're fishing a shallow fast water run and also from possible snags. Another way is to cast on a slight angle up and across the river keeping the rod tip high & the line tight by letting the spinner drift downstream with the fast flow of the river.

Perfect water for trout during summer..
 
Once the line and lure are directly opposite you (facing the opposite side of the river) then slowly retrieve the line, this also produces many hookups. This can be done by using small floating hard body lures too. Some sections of fast water may be fish less, but this is just a part of what you have to contend with when trout fishing in fast water. Do not bypass any water as you will be surprised where trout will be holding. I have caught trout in 80mms of water that most fishers would bypass..

Solid brown was taken from the small flat water next to river bank.. never bypass any water..
 
On bright sunny days with clear skies I always use the spinners with a black blade because the trout's eyes are very sensitive to light, so you should not be using a shiny silver lure in these conditions. To catch trout and be successful in doing so, you really have to be in the river wading for them. By being in the river you have more access to some of the best sections of a river that will be holding trout. Then it's just a matter of casting into pockets of water and working the lure across the river and back to you at the same speed as the water. If you retrieve the lure too fast it will more than likely spook the fish more rather than attract it, so getting the speed of the lure is quite necessary for a good catch rate.
'' With bright conditions & clear water, head for shaded areas or fast water runs.''

A black blade works best during summer in clear water..

As does a dark hard body lure..
 
If there are sections of the river were the sun is on it, then work the areas that have shade along the on them from the vegetation that grows along the river banks. These shaded areas regularly hold trout. Wide open spaces and slower shallow runs rarely hold trout on hot, clear days, but on overcast days the trout will venture into these sections of the river more often. Some of the best fishing in Summer is when it is a humid day with light drizzle. I have had many great sessions on the rivers in these conditions. It's worth getting a little damp being in the river in these conditions that's for sure. This is when you can use a variety of spinners and hard body lures of different colours. Spinners in black, copper and gold all seem to produce some very good catches of both brown and rainbow trout in this type of weather. Hard body Rapala minnow lures in the trout patterns previously mentioned earlier will do well, as will many other hard body lures on the market and there are plenty to choose from..

Dull overcast day and humid conditions.. 29 trout caught this day..
 
The best time to fish for trout throughout the Summer months is at first light up until around 9.00am or when the sun hits the water, after that then your just wasting your time. If you're not an early riser then do as I do now days and that is go late in the afternoon. I will hit the river around 4.30pm -5.00pm when there is shaded areas along the river banks and you can work those areas and runs until the sun gets much lower and the whole river is covered in shade. Both early morning and late afternoon are some of the best times to be on a river. So if you want to catch a few trout over the Summer period then follow my lead and I'm sure you will pick up a fish or two and remember to use light tackle and hope in and wade the river. One other thing is don't bother fishing the small rivers and creeks at this time of year either, low clear water the trout spook at the slightest movement.. You may still catch a few but they stress too easily in these conditions, so wait until there's a good down pour of rain that puts a little more water back into the rivers.

Early morning, best time to be on a river..

Spin fishing the fast water..

Right hand side of the river, shaded side should hold a trout or two..
 
cheers
Adrian

hey stealthy i kept it simple but it was still delicious.
next time I'll do butter and garlic.
cheers!

Had a pretty good Christmas Eve sunset here in Sheffield tonight... Here's a couple of photos taken a few minutes apart..
 
cheers
Adrian
 

Follow the cooler water Winter in St V Gulf. Water is cooler north.Summer in St V Gulf. Water is cooler southSo in summer you will get them all the way down to Sellicks Beach. After that they run out of their sandy habitat.Cheers, Des

Noting a few recent posts enquiring after Yellow Fin Whiting, I thought I would put up some general info regarding a species I have obsessed over for a while, along with a part log for this winter so far.Yellow Fin Whiting are available all year round.There are independent resident populations in the St Vincent Gulf, Spencer Gulf and in WA from Albany through to Shark Bay.The is no migration between populations.Yellow Fin Whiting follow the COLD WATER. At various times of the year you will find them in the part of the gulf that have their natural habitat, but were the water is COLDEST. So I track them all year round, up and down the gulf following the water temperature.By the start of April they would have disappeared from the Adelaide beaches and moved north. This catch was at the end of April in a "middle" part of the gulf. Flathead are a nice by catch, but disappear along with the baitfish when the water gets too cold. However Yellow Fin whiting are still found in the cool water shallows. I manage regular catches through May and June. But it is the Bloodworm runs that really concentrate their numbers into the shallows. And it is then that the better size fish are more abundant. This catch was in the middle of the July bloodworm run.Another bag at the end of JulyThis bag in the middle of the August Bloodworm runAnd I recently managed to find a day with light winds! Which resulted in this bag.Now it is not just us recreational fishers that get stuck into the Yellow Fin Whiting in winter. The graph below from a study in 2000 shows the large majority of the professional catch taken in winter months.Cheers Des

Don't worry too much.
 
Fishing is crap there
 

 

 

 
And nothing to see when you go snorkeling
 

 

 

 
I don't know why we go. I reckon we enjoy the drive more.

Little black marlin.
 

All done now. Should be good for a temp fix. I used 25mm bolts instead of the 40mm that were used to hold the centre console down. Didn't ring the dealer, did email last night though. 
 
More calm now 
 
I'll have a chat to them tomorrow. 
 
I'll be camping on a beach along the Ningaloo Reef for the next six weeks from Mon or Tues night. These things are sent to test us.
 
I'll do a trip report seeing as I'm keen to do more of a blog.

This guy will get you onto KGs.

Here it is finished. I've been snacking, there is less now  .
 
Definitely more baked than smoked close to the bone. I'll be filleting off the bone next time.
 

Fillets for me or cut into flatty tail shape
 

 
 

I'm going to smoke this big piece of mackeral this arvo in the BBQ with the lid down. I get some really good smoke off the solid plate.
 
Been brining for 48 hrs now drying off in the fridge.
 
If it tastes good I'll let you know. If it is crap I will never mention it again.
 

Headed down the fleurieu peninsula on saturday. Got there early morning on the hightide. Started receding nicley. Put my rag soaked in tuna oil in and in 10 mins there was plenty of garfish swimming around in my berley trail. Put out a float on one rod and the other with 2 splitshots and let that one drift. Ended up with 14 ranging between legal - 27cm. And 4 at 30cm. Fair few undersized that i had to work through but persisted. The legal ones were nice and fat aswell. Things shut off after and hour or so. Bring on the warmer weather!

And just to show how little we actually know about them, this baby 4 days old caught in the Mediteranian , well genetic tests show these are linked to the Australian population, not the South African ones ,which is closer to there  .
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfgtS2nYfdU

And I remember when the news broke out of this monster from SAs South East.
 
http://www.elasmollet.org/Cc/Ken_Jury.html

Agree with rotare on this one there are on average 70 boating deaths each year in Australia but nobody here would think twice about taking the family for a day out on the boat.
As horrible as it is when something of this nature happens and I feel a immense amount of sympathy for the families and those affected by these events the fact remains that when we undertake any activity there will always be a risk that something can go wrong and that there are factors that are out of our control.
People are smart enough to know that when they are in the water there will always be that risk that a shark will be in the area and that it is there area and something might happen but the same can be said for driving a car, riding the bus fishing from the rocks and almost anything that we do in our day to say life's.
Killing of the seals and the sharks isn't the solution more flyovers and more life guards spotting is the answer for beach swimmers and if you are more than a km of shore then the risk and responsibility to ensure you understand the risks and the controls falls on you and who ever you are with at the time.
 
It's there home we just play there

Although it's horrific to hear that somone has been killed or attacked by a shark, the stats show that on average only 3 people are killed each year from shark attacks.  If people were really concerned about saving lives of humans it would make more sense to focus on activities that kill much more people each year, than trying to cull sharks to reduce shark related deaths.
 
Globally and in Australia there is a trend of increasing shark attacks and deaths.  Experts say this is more likely due to an increasing global population and more people enjoying water based activities, more so than a massive resurgence of shark numbers around the world.
 
The irony is there are about 300 people that die from drowning each year in Australia.  Although not of all these occurred in the ocean, a good portion did, so on this basis there's a good argument to suggest that if people stayed out of the water they'd significantly help reduce the mortality rate related to drownings and shark attacks.

For whatever reason, he'd been carrying on with  "I wanna go fishing with daddy" whereas i've normally been shafted for "mummy"  so i just had to foster this new attitude!
 
Had been hoping for a Saturday wading session with a mate but the weather had turned to s**t mid-week. Thursday i hand finally succumbed to the cooties the missus had sharing around for the preceding 3 weeks .
 
Come Saturday morning i decided," f*** it, i may as well feel like s**t soaking a bait rather than sulking around at home". So our annulled wading plans turned into a Onk bait session on aforementioned mate's mates property. 
 
Young fella and i collected some tigers out of the compost bin. We arrived mid-arvo and spied a few fat carp hanging around. I had a few nibbles on worms and decided to target carp with bread. I didnt get a thing but mate landed 2 little reddies on worms, before we ran out of bait.
 
Young fella had a ball, spent more time arsing around than anything else.
 
Grabbed him a his first pair of polarised sunnies today, so he can "see the redfins" 
 

 
 

A forum member PM'ed me about pulley rigs, but I couldn't figure out how to post images in a PM, so thought I'd just throw a new topic up.
 

 
Here's a whole rig, I always use 80lb mono for the sinker trace, and for mullys often the hook trace is the same, but sometimes 60 or even 100 or wire if the toothies are around. The hook trace must be a bit shorter than the sinker trace.
 

 
This is a closeup of the Gemini clip, the swivel that acts as the pulley, and the beads on either side that protect your knots. I use a big swivel because the eye is thicker and doesn't beat up the mono as much, after a few good fish you may need to replace the rig, better than losing the fish of a lifetime. Always use good quality stainless steel swivels, brass swivels are crap and have no place in saltwater fishing.
 

 
Here's the hook sitting in the Gemini clip attached to a sinker. It's a 7/0 Gamakatsu octopus circle. The weight of the sinker pulling down keeps the hook engaged. When the whole thing hits the water they separate and your hook and bait drift free.
 
After casting let your sinker bed itself then wind up the slack, have your drag tight enough to set the circle hook but not so much that a good fish pulls your setup into the sea. The design will allow a fish to pickup the bait and move a bit before the tension sets the hook in the corner of it's jaw. Another bonus is that the sinker is up away from the fish and the seabed on the retrieve.

Thought i'd put up my recipe for my American style BBQ sauce. Perfect for ribs, char-grilling and even pizza topping. I did BBQ chicken pizzas for diner tonight .
 
I started with a ridiculously complicated recipe and have fortunately refined it over the years to a  a really simple one, with only 3 ingredients!
 
bottle tomato puree/pasatta bottle of Worcestershire sauce 4-6 hot smoked chipotles, cut in half lenghtways
 
Chipotles are absolutely essential and may prove hardest to find. I purchase mine from Chile Mojo ,  on Magill Rd. https://chilemojo.com.au/
 
I make my own worcestershire sauce too but any good one will do .
 
Pour  both bottles  (approximately equal volumes of each) into a large sauce pan on low heat, add chipotles, bring to a simmer and stir every 5mins or so. As it it thickens it will spit like buggery.
 

 
When the desired consistency is achieved, remove chipotles and bottle in sterilised jars. Will store for a year  or so in the cupboard ( not likely) or in the fridge once opened.
 
 

Noosa Trip
The day to depart Adelaide with the flight to leave at 11.00 am and a heavy storm predicted to arrive late morning,with me thinking this is going to be close to take off.
Waiting at the terminal we get told there will be a delay for 10 mins for our incoming flight to arrive.Finally we are being backed out onto the tarmac and waiting for 4 incoming flights to land before we can taxi out for take off at 11.20.Now the heavy cloud has arrived and the rain is starting with me thinking common lets go,anyway we take off and as  we climb to 100-200m of the ground we get hit with lighting across my side and the wing.The lady sitting next to me by the window says she felt that go into her hand and foot but we experience no power loss or crash we are finally on our way  to Sydney and with a connecting flight to Port Macquarie to stay a few days to look around.
 
While spending a few days to look around i get to see the local fishos in there rivers and lakes and think gee they get it much better than we do here with so many more fishing locations with lakes and lagoons.
Drove (hire car)through goldcoast into Noosa where i spent 5 days and finally getting into a charter being busy school holidays time there and being heavily visitor populated.
Just as a side note,no one really worries about speed limits here,travelling on the M1 highway at 100kph i had cars passing me at 130-150kph.But when staying at Coffs Harbor or Brisbane ever 10 cop cars i'd seen 8 of them had someone pulled over for speeding..LOL.
 
Anyway being on stand by for a charter i get the call for a midday trip and we now go over the Noosa sand bar on a quiet mild day with nice sea conditions,didn't take us long getting out to 30 clicks off the coast with 2x300hp out boards.Only 5 on the charter plus the skipper and deck hand,over all we had moved to 6 locations over the 5 hours looking for better fish.
The guy next to me hooked up on something big but the hook pulled,the skipper and deck hand started fishing of the back between the out boards catching live bait until the skipper hooked up on that mulloway pictured.Then i started getting live bait to drop 50m to bottom and i was on something bigger and what do you know the hook pulled and it was gone and so was our time to head back to shore.I had the most catch rate on the boat but nothing worth keeping but was given that mulloway which was cooked up and served that night..
 
As for the equipment supplied i asked about what they had used over the years for rods and reels and he said,they ran the Diawa saltist for a while but they became to expensive.They used the Penn SSV water resistant reel but they started rusting up  in side just from getting splashed and never being submersed.They settled for the Fin-Nor Offshore 65 reels at $130 each and ugly stik rods.He told me with 12 rods and reels i'd seen onboard each rod went through 2 reels per season so yeah 24 reels a year.
We used 30lb mono with 50lb leader 2x4/0 circle hooks and a 12 oz sinker for the current.We had a few whales in the back ground had 2 sharks come by for a short time and a dolphin for a while..Was it worth it..probably not as i could have gone to Fiji for the same money..Any way a few pictures..
 

Dug up a bit of old footage - enjoy!