Squid Inc.

So mother in law arrives back in Australia and had 2 of these tools for me
Havnt had a chance to test it out yet but will do later and post my thoughts
If others want one let me know so I can work out numbers and I will email our Japanese friends to get a postage quote for me
Cheers

Ive always wanted to get a couple of 'bigger' bream in the onk on soft plastics/hardbodies. Having mainly fished hardbodies and weedless plastics around snags in the old noarlunga parts in the warmer months ive never come across anything bigger then late 20's.
 
I decided to hit the onk in the kayak to sound around and find some deeper parts as i have heard that as the day goes on the bream go deep. The past few weeks i did 5 sessions, morning, afternoon and midle of the day.
 
So first session i kayaked around with the fishfinder found some deep parts around river road. And some bits that drop off going south towards seaford. So it was a start for that area. Paddled to south road bridge afterwards remembering some likely spots aswell.
 
Had a land based flick one morning the other weekend and pulled one 33cm at sheep pilons and a little tacker. Got my first mulloway on sp's aswell 😃
 
As winter came to an end i actually concentrated in bits that were about 700mm to a 1.5m deep and found more bream waiting in these areas. I would drift over these areas looking at my sounder finding schools bunched up paddle to the bank and cast over them. If i was fishing plastics a would cast against the tide and bring my plastic back with it for a more realistic presentation. Hardbodies i would cast whatever way. I found the hidden weight jigheads by TT worked a more finesse presentaion and got more fish. Got 5-7 fish a session. Biggest went 39cm! Almost got my goal of 40cm. It will come soon. Heres a veiw pics. Happy fishing

Howdy all,  over a quite time at University I started writing a few reports about some of the fishing trips I have recently done  so here is a link to my reports, as it is easier than copying and pasting them all in. http://lachycross.wixsite.com/crossyscatches
cheers  members.
 
 
 
 
http://lachycross.wixsite.com/
 Here are a few pictures from some of my reports

Well I have upgraded from my Canon SX500IS PowerShot camera to a Canon EOS 700D SLR Camera, have had it for a couple of weeks now, It's a lot different to the powershot that's for sure.
 
Slowly getting used to all the mod cons on it, will take a little while longer before I'm completely confident with it though.. This camera will "NOT" be coming in a river with me at all.. still have two
SX150IS compact powershot camera that will be used for my trout fishing in the rivers..
 
Any way here's a few pf my practice shots... All taken from in & from my backyard.
 







 
 
cheers
Adrian

Hi All. If any one is interested there are some awsome news paper clippings and photos of Great White Pointer Fishing  with Alf Dean  during the 1950,s at Ceduna and Streaky Bay.
The site is Ceduna Old Photos which is on Face book and is put together by some local ladies as a history of the Ceduna area. 
There are also additional fishing photos in the archives. Cheers.

Its  history, please dont shoot me down in flames JMO....the human race was uneducated in those times... a big thing in mankind is the greatest mindset to be No 1 and , in the US it was Bears,In Africa it was  Rhinos Elephants,Leoapards and whatever... but  in hindsight what was the point in going out and killing the supreme predator of the ocean ,just to stand at a gantry  with it hanging upside dead.......

Yesterday (Monday), the weather forecast was for moderate North Easterly winds along the coast, and a reasonably chance of rain.   So I decided to head for Waitpinga and Parsons to lure for Salmon, a bit of warm clothing and wet gear.  Even though the area hadn’t produced for me in a while, neither had metro southern beaches, apart for a few ST’s – so I had nothing to lose.
 
So the car was already parked - from the day befores outing for a couple of flicks around Maslins (for a donut) – and I headed off at 8.45am with intentions to have the line wet before 10am.  A cloudy day both here and all the way to Waits.
 
A high tide of 1.08mts at 12noon would have me there in time for the incoming tide and allowing some good distance of walking the beach until its peak.
 
A quick stop for a photo of Victor area.  It does look so much better when the sun is out.
 

 
 
Almost there.
 

 
 
A view over a water catchment towards Waits.  According to a local, this catchment lost a lot bream recently from heavy rains and apparently the outlet along the beach had dozens of dead bream.
 

 
 
The Waits viewing platform has not changed since the storms (no steps) and the way down is still to walk left onto the dunes.  Whilst I was there some workman just about to put some posts along the dune and had dismantled the remaining 3 steps from the damage.
 

 

 

 
 
Conditions looked great, no wind (so much for the weather forecast), but it started to rain quite steady.
 

 
 
I decided to park at the bottom car park for an easier approach to the beach.
 

 

 
 
Once on the beach I headed to the right where some nice looking gutters were and headed right to the end without any Salmon touching my lure.  I used a 40g Halco chrome lure at first then changed to a $4 cheapie from K-Mart for the walk back.
 
Once back at the platform area, and with the high tide about half an hour away, I could see the waves hitting hard against the sand dunes.  There was no way I could get past without being swamped and I wanted to get up by the reef that has produced well in the past.
 
So decided to get up on to the sand dunes and climb over the top of them until I got past these breaking waves.  Mind you I had second thoughts of doing this as a couple of the dunes did look kind of steep – but nothing ventured, nothing gained, so off I headed.
 
Just repeating this photo as it shows the area of concern just left of the 2 fisherman.  You might think that first sand dune doesn’t look too bad, and it wasn’t, but the next one behind the first was worse, but I soldiered on.
 

 
 
Well effort to get on to the beach from the ‘hazard’ proved to be a waste of time as again there were not hits on my lure.  It’s about 1pm now and from the reef I couldn’t tell if the waves were still smashing the sand dune, so decided to walk right to the end, knowing there was not too many opportunities to flick due to rocks etc.  But thought this will waste a little more time allowing the water to drop a little.  That paid off as the waves had subsided slightly and saving me another dune climb.
 
Now off to Parsons Beach and I wasn’t holding much hope of catching anything.
 

 
 
On my arrival, I took a quick photo of the beach and noticed one fisherman near the exposed rocks.  Mind you, those rocks (once I was done there) were absolutely fantastic in their worn formation.  Parsons doesn’t have too many gutters, but what is there are reasonably good, and I have have generally caught more fish here than Waits.
 

 

 
As I got back to the car to collect mygear, a couple of guys came up from the walkway with a nice 2kg and a couple of 1kg Salmon.  They had been at Waits during the morning with no result, but the mentioned they got these just on the otherside of the rocks.
 
Second before the rocks and watched an ST following the lure in shallows and grabbed it – yah, not a donut day.  He was over legal but released him as wanted bigger (not greedy or anything).  Another couple of casts and another ST and released. 
 
Walked further to try past the rocks (having a quick chat the other fisherman – he had a couple of ST’s only) and now hits were the previous guys got theirs.  So now for the usual walk to the end and about 150mts before the end rocks I get a hit in smallish gutter – which I was not expecting.
 
It felt big, the rod well bent and he started to spool me slightly, so a quick extra tightness on the drag, but he was fighting very well.  Next, out the water he flies – I just love that sight.
Once beached, he was fat and approximately 2.5kg and estimated close to 60cm.  Quickly bled and lure thrown back in.
 
On again, and this one seemed to be fighting harder and flew into the air a couple times and even though I just tightened the drag, this one spooled me for good 10mts – he wasn’t giving up – so tightened the drag even more and slowly got him to the shallows and dragged him with the waves.
This was a big Salmon for me and on first appearance was would a PB.   You can tell in the below photo a cut underneath the tail and I am gathering he cut himself on my line whilst fighting.
 
Again, quickly bled and ready for more.  Another 3 were landed around 2.5– 2.8kg and about 56 – 60cm and kept and all the fish looked healthy and were all plumpish. 
For extra fun, another 4 were landed and released and 3 threw the lure.
 

 

 

 
 
The time was about 3.30 now, so left them on the bite and the long and very heavy walk back to the car.  If the walk didn’t kill me the hill nearly did.  I was stuffed and stopped a few times on the hill to stop from having a heart attack !!
 
But what seemed could be a donut day ended up being some thrilling excitement.

Don't listen to me. The first decent spinning reel I ever owned (my second) was a shim baitrunner I got for my 40th six years ago. Prior to that all overheads. So I cannot wind a reel with my left hand worth a damn. I gave it a go for a day and ended up with RSI like symptoms. I tried because casting over and over and swapping over is inefficient. I can absolutely see why chucking SP all day for Bream winding with your left makes sense. I don't do much of that type of fishing. If you bottom bash catching snaps and kgw it really doesn't matter much - to me. Plus I'm too old to change

Try and find anyone who is right handed and winds an overhead with their left hand. There is your answer. And we have bigger fish, pump the rod up with both arms, right hand to spinning reel handle then grind away, repeat.

THe Coriolis effect works on reels too!!!
 
 
Actually, I have always held my rod/reel in left hand and wound with my right.  winding with my left hand is really awkward.

G'day
Just read the Alan Hawk spinning reel review and it raises the age old question, well 49 year old question for me.  I was born in SA but lived in pommieland from age 6 - 13.  Learned to fish and got hooked over those 7 years.  Spinning reels are supplied with the handle on the left for the majority of users who are right handed.  Casting accurately is all managed by the dominant hand and the simple task of making the handle go round and round is done by the dumb hand.  Left handers do the opposite of course
Then come back to Oz and handles are getting put on the right, right handed people are swapping the rod back and forth between hands and then asking me if I'm left handed   
Bizarre
Look on any USA or UK site and check the handles configured for right handers.
My question.  Do they swap them in the tackle shops or are they specially requested to be in left handed mode?
This problem could take generations to rectify and it hasn't even made it to the media yet 
Anyway, have fun all you discombobulated 
Cheers
Rod
Here's the shimano USA site as an example
http://fish.shimano.com/content/sac-fish/en/home/products/fishing-reels/spinning.html

Hi all, this is my first ever report posting here so suggestions are welcome! hope you all enjoy.
 
Friday:
Woke up early on Friday and headed to the old man's place to finish packing up the trailer before heading off to Butler's. We left his place about 8am, ready to meet my brother in law and my other sister's partner at Pt Wakefield. On the way, we kept a wary eye on the dark clouds and swaying trees hoping it was a bit calmer down the bottom of the Yorke and we'd be able to wet a line that afternoon..
 
Fast forward a few hours and we arrived at Butler's. Andrew was as cheerful as ever and after a brief chat we managed to arrange to move from our normal camping spot to one that was a little more sheltered from the wind - Turns out it wasn't any calmer down that way. We unloaded and walked to Salmon Beach. There were some BIG breakers around but a few calmer spots we thought we'd give a go. We stayed for 3 or 4 hours but the only thing making our reels sing was big clumps of seaweed. Ah well, nothing for it but to head back to camp, start a fire, light a cigar and pour a bourbon. 
 
Saturday:
Saturday morning seemed a bit calmer and we were keen to try again. Again Salmon beach was full of weed but conditions were a bit calmer. No action though, and we went back to camp for lunch and to get a curry going in the dreampot for dinner. We then went down to Butler's beach. I wasn't holding much hope as its only the next bay over and I imagined the weed would be just as bad. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that there was no weed in sight! 
 
We weren't long there and dad hooked a ~45cm salmon and a bunch of tommies and mullet in the shallows. The others only managed a tommy each... and I didn't even get a nibble. Dad's one of those lucky fishers that can go out on a jetty where no one has been catching all day and hook up on the first cast.....hard to love him sometimes! It'd be an understatement to say I was not happy, but hey. That's fishing. A nice hot curry back at camp got me in a better mood (or maybe that was the bourbon?)
 
Sunday:
Sunday morning was our last day of the trip. We woke up and cooked up some brekky and discussed if we'd try Butler's beach again or maybe leave early and stop at Point Turton on the way back for a flick off the Jetty. It was decided we'd have a look at Butlers and see what the conditions were like. It was calmer again and was a BEAUTIFUL day. So we thought we'd use up the rest of the bait there and see how we were going. Well...5 minutes in, I was on! After watching the acrobatics and a bit of a fight, I pulled in a 60cm Salmon weighing in at 2.5kg. My PB and the biggest of the trip! I was ecstatic! THIS is what it's all about! This was the feeling I'd been chasing! Dad being dad, managed to hook one shortly after, but it was smaller at around 56cm.
 
Alas! now we were out of bait! We sent the brother in law up to grab some more pillies while we threw around some metals for a bit.. but just as quickly as they came, the salmon were gone... I managed a few more mullet and that was it. Time to head home.
 
 
 



 

Some of the joys of going fishing    
 
 
 

 

 

Photo taken of me in a 12ft punt with MinKota drifting around for Squid. Was a awesome evening spent at the shack. In the background is the Flinders Ranges. Top left corner is Horrocks Pass (Pt Augusta to Wilmington Rd)
 
 

I bought a $70 silstar baitcaster from kmart in darwin. Cheapest outfit ive bought, but its caught some of my biggest saltwater fish in aus biggest queeny i got was 9.2kg...
Smallest was 6.5kg.

My Monday adventure starts off from Sunday nights weather forecast of 22C and moderate Northerly winds – more wind than I like !!  However, on waking this morning and looking out the window there was not a breeze of air – weather forecasters get it wrong again, but good for me.
 
So during the night, I am kept awake assessing the plan for the fishing day.  I was contemplating going to Waits/Parsons but also maybe hitting up Southport.  In the end I couldn’t be bothered going all the way to Waits/Parsons  â€“ sort of ‘over the area’ at the moment.
 
So Southport it is, (not knowing that the day would bring a torn stitching from the clip in my waders, a treble hook becoming a single hook and 2 lost lures) .  The webcam shows lovely conditions so parked the car and off by 9.30am.
 
Once I arrived near Southport I noticed an Australian Flag in someone’s yard that was blowing with all its glory – yes, there was a Northerly more than my home surrounds had indicated – but once on the beach it was not so bad.
 

 
River mouth was not looking very clean (but looked great by the end of the day)
 

 
I parked South of the Pt Noarlunga surf club and strolled down to the water edge and lured towards the jetty first of.
Not much there so turned around and headed towards Southport.  It was uneventful with no fish as yet, but I need to remember to always check that the reel bail is opened before I cast !!
First lure sent flying. 
 
So set up with my Mr Reliable.
 

 
Just before the Surf club I received a hit and a nice just under 1kg / 37cm Salmon was proudly in the bag.  A few casts and 2 decent sized ST’s about 27cm to go with it.  Another cast saw my rod bend nicely but a lost ‘Salmon’ in the shallows was the result.  

 
 But I now notice that my Mr Reliable lure has a single hook instead of the treble hook.  Did the lost fish break it off?  So a quick lure change but nothing more happens.
   
Down to the mouth for no more hits and then a slow walk back towards the jetty.
 
As no other fish hit the lure it was time for lunch – and I had packed a nice gourmet lunch at that.
 
Gourmet multigrain bread with vegemite, a 2016 bottle of Adelaide tap water and 2 homegrown mandarins.  A well deserved luncheon.
 

 
Whilst eating my lunch I am continually scanning the water for any passing shadows, but none where forth coming.
 
I now decided to take a treble hook from another lure on put it on Mr Reliable and attaching the left over single hook at the lure nose.
 
So back to the water and repeating the same as in the morning.  Lure towards the jetty and then turn and head towards Southport.
 
When near the jetty I noticed a guy with rod in hand walking along the jetty towards the shallows and dragging a fish along the water. Obviously a heavy fish as he didn’t want to pull it up.  Once near the shallows I offered my help to drag his line on to the beach.  He had caught a Port Jackson shark.
 
After my help, off to Southport again but no action at all.  By the time I got to Southport there were half a dozen fishos in the area but no-one seemed to be catching anything especially as it was near high tide now.
 
I positioned myself just North of the surf club and starting getting good hits and was retrieving some good fish weight. Five lost fish was the result. For some reason they were not staying hooked and they just threw the hook close to shore.
 
Then I was devastated.  On retrieving a cast the line went soft!  My Mr Reliable had come off.  The swivel had opened up and the lure had dropped off – what am I going to do now without Mr Reliable
 
RIP Mr Reliable
 
 
So a change of lure, and by now it is 4.30 so headed back towards the jetty to head home.
 
So a long day in the area for a few fish but well worth it being outdoors and wetting the line.
 
Tomorrow I off to get more lures !!!
 
Ps: anyone know best way of stitching strap back onto waders?
 

 

OK...I recently posted in the "Shoutbox" about this, but I think it deserves wider coverage:
 
https://gonefishingday.org
 
Thanks to ludaqryz for the tip-off...
 
Cheers
af

Had another fantastic time down at the Onk this arvo, only fished for 3 hours! I landed a dozen with the 2 biggest being 37cm and 35cm. Dropped quite a few including one that would have been similar to the biggest, if not bigger. My mate (Blan) landed his first bream on lure, followed by 3 more! All fish were caught on the ol' trust worthy Zman Grubz. Always feel confident using them. 








 
Hoping to get onto them again, sometime soon! 

Here's a little video I put together. 


  That's a very good point, I struggled with that when I first started targeting them. But once you land a few, you will feel more confident and persistent. Always worth the reward when you catch one, nonetheless. 

Well conditions for Monday (yesterday) were going to be ok even though there was for generally Northerly winds at a moderate strength forecast – and I hate the wind, but thought I need to get out and find some more Salmon.
 
A low tide was for 12.30pm, so I had a plan to hit a couple of beaches with all intent of making sure I was at Pt Willunga for the low tide.  The reason being of 2 things 1) mainly Salmon but as a “by catch” I was hoping to recover a Gold Halco 40g lure I lost last Friday. 
I had snagged it not far out at all and with the line busting I thought just maybe at low tide I might find it. 
The low was for .5m so I wasn’t hopeful, which proved to be the case as not low enough – bugga.
 
So the car is packed, and my new first choice of rod is the Diawa Seabass 110MH (11’) is lured up and I head to Southport about 10.30am.
 

 
Conditions didn’t look too bad, only one noticeable gutter.
 



 
Normally I have been parking down near the Pt Noarlunga surf club and flick lures up to Southport and return.  But today I thought I would park by the Southport footbridge and spend about an 1 ½ hours between the club house and the river mouth.
 

 
On to the beach and no-one else fishing, so straight down to the water flicking my trusty old successful lure and casting close to 70 - 80mts with my new weapon. 
My lure looks well-worn but from using other lures like the Halco’s for example, this one has been my best performer in catching Salmon – it’s like, if the ‘other’ lures aren’t doing their job I get out my “Mr Reliant”.
 

 
Gradually reached that shown gutter and got a hit after a couple of casts.  It gave an ok fight so I knew it wasn’t big, but hey it was a start. 
 
But nothing more after that one, so started walking towards the mouth and with the tide low I was able to out in the shallows to reach hopefully a little deeper water.
 
I noticed now that someone else had turned up flicking lures as well.
 
Scanning the area there was a shadow, but it didn’t seem to be moving so it could be some weed – hopefully not. 
 
So first cast just passed it I retrieved a little faster and with rod slightly higher than normal making sure that if it was weed I didn’t get caught in it.
 
Bang !!  Lure taken and it was fighting very well.  Rod bent nicely, drag tightened slightly as it was taking a little bit of line and slowly side stepping back to the beach to land this sambo.
 
Retrieved the hook, bled it and straight back for more.  I signaled the other guy fishing trying to point out to come down here as there was a school and thought he should in the fun – he politely waved back but didn’t come down, so my signaling needs improving.
 
Just as well he didn’t come down as he must have known, as the next 20 or so casts there were no more Salmon. The shadow remained, so gathered it must have been weed with just unlucky Salmon strolling by.
The other fisherman had now left and wasn’t far behind, but first stop was to Fishing Wholesalers for a weigh in of .830g (40cm)– so not bad.
 

 
Off now to Pt Willunga for my lost lure (which as mentioned wasn’t to be seen).  Conditions were about the same as Southport but did seem slightly windier – did I mention I hate the wind!
 


 
Walked up just past the reef where I had caught a couple of dozen ST’s last Friday releasing the small ones and kept a dozen nice sized ones.
 
Bang !! Another fighter and of equally strength as the previous one.  Beached and bled and only just a little shy of the first one in weight but a few cms longer (43cm)
 
Unfortunately nothing else along the beach and by now it was about 2pm, so decided to gut this one.  It had just eaten with 2 small fish inside its gut.
 

 
On the way home I thought Maslins Beach is worth a try with all the new gutters since the storms. 
 
I had estimated close to 18 gutters along the whole beach from last visit and they all looked so fishable.
 
On arriving at the bottom carpark, I noticed the small creek outlet had opened up even more than last Friday. Previously it no drainage out to sea and was generally a little bit of ‘pond’ dirty water. Now it has had the sad sides carved away with a near 2mt drop and a nice flush out with a bit of a stream happening towards the sea.
 



 
 
Walked the beach with nothing even touching the lure but there was a nice calmness around – yes the wind had dropped significantly – at last, but I was on my way now – typical !!
 
Got home to clean up and of course the dog has her nose up and could smell there was something in this for her. 
 
She likes fish, so she wanted to get in on the act, she got her S&H beanie for a photo knowing she would enjoy some tea tonight.
 

 

 

 
Hope you enjoyed the read.

Found by a mate in the water at Port Norlunga. Fairly rare and described in my book as a 'superlative food fish'. Never seen or heard of one of these before this. It had been dead for a bit so the colour has faded

A friend of mine from school has asked me if I know much about old Alvey reels.Her grandfather found this one in his shed and they were wondering if it was of value and or if they were much in demand.I intend to pass your advice on the my friend.Tell you the truth im interested in whether it might be of value too.Cheers, here is some photos;

Got my first metro bag of whiting today down south. Found a big school and quickly had 12 decent whiting 36-37cm on board. Pretty chuffed as first time on my own in the tinny bagging out metro. I have a nice new mark for the collection too! Water pretty stirred up still so no squid wanted to play. Moved to the snapper spot but no legals wanted to play this afternoon only a 38cm whiting which hoovered a bid squid strip with a pair of 4/0 gamakatsus in it. Unlucky bugger got a free ticket as my quota was reached.

Ever since the first time I hit the Onk this season, I've been hitting it almost every week! It started off with a slow session on the salmon, so our plan B was to fish the Onk, although we didn't have the right gear, we emphasised and managed to land a few good fish! 4 fish were landed the first time between James and I. Biggest went 37.5cm.    
 




 
The fish turned off for a while so we finished the day off at the jetty. A nice school came by and James and I landed 2 fish each around 45cm! We were stoked and wanted to do it again.

 
The next time we headed down, it was a lot more breezy and cold.  The water was a chocolate milk colour and our hopes were lost. We started flicking and soon found a school! We both landed a decent fish each and dropped some too. We continued and found another school, same thing happens. Biggest fish went 39cm and FAT! But the majority of fish were over 35cm. Killa fun. 















 
Once the tides changed, the fish turned off so we decided to check out the jetty again.. Unfortunately, the salmon did not want to play this time. 
 
With the bloodworm run taking place around metro waters, we hit the Onk again!     This time the condition were nice. We were welcomed to the spot with a glassed off river and a slight breeze. The water wasn't as murky as last time, but it was still quite dirty. We fished the same spots, and soon found a school. They weren't as active today, but in the end, we managed a couple of good fish. James hooked a bream that would have easily tipped 40cm but unfortunately it spat the hook!   Loved the photos James took today, epic!!   







 
I had planned to fish with Nathan, Kwok and Kelvin on Sunday. Same plans! It was one of the best days (weather wise), but the fishing wasn't up to standards. As Nathan and I moved along, Kelvin and Kwok decided to hit another spot in the Onk. They caught a lot more than we did! We worked hard for the fish all day, but I only managed 3. Biggest went 35cm.




 
Now for my trip to Port Augusta! I'm sure there will be a report, unless I donut!!   
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the report.     
 

I'm 40 odd and can't remember these not being in our household, they would have to be 35 years plus.
Old man didn't do things by halves, pegs solid steel and drilled through so the PVC could be secured.
I've never had to change a screw.