Plectropomus

wow....and they would not be the monster/adult sizes either, would they? Gulf systems or Glenelg River? I emailed a fish parasitologist and attached the pictures for a professional opinion.

have you seen the rash/bruising in Victoria???

Thanks Mr Fish. That report will make interesting reading! I have not done a proper survey of photos (presence/absence of bruising "rash" +location+ month) and it is sometimes hard to know if the picture in an internet post (say, "tackletactics.com") is a reliable indicator of location, but it certainly seems most common in SA West Coast Fish. Not just there, though, the ones below are Salt Creek, Murray Mouth and (allegedly) Victoria (the smaller one with white fishing rod). I have not seen any (yet) in pics from WA, NSW/SEQ, or South Africa (where they call them "kob"). I have located the co

Hi there brains trust. For years I have wondered why pictures of big mulloway often show a pink area of bruising on the flanks. In contrast, I have never seen this on underwater footage of NSW/Qld mulloway taken by divers and spearos. I am really curious to see if anyone knows more. I even began to collect images to see if the bruising was limited to one side, or the other, and if it occurred only on largest fish. Early indications are it is mainly surf-caught, bigger fish, and often down the side toward the vent. See examples below, and the one with a yellow circle. The only t

I use 80 pound leader to 30 or 50 pound braid, and have had a devil of a time with knots. Knots failing (even when glued) and knots catching in guides. With my terminal gear, the "Slim Beauty" turns out as a "Nylon Nightmare". Sure, it is easy to tie at sea, and holds well, but boy, oy boy does it ever jam up in the tip and other guides. There is no doubt of the multiple benefits of the FG knot for such heavy terminal tackle, but blowed if I could remember it, and I seemed to need another hand (at least). There must be jigs out there on Google? Sure is, and the easiest to use and c

The bloke I went with was a Parks'n'Wildlife ranger at Chillagoe for 15 years and used to chase them in the Walsh River. He told of very large waterholes there. I've never been out that way.

I built on your by-catch de-hooking device and saved room by welding it to my gaff. Gaff and dehooker all made from scrounged 316 SS rod. Pokes the hook out while they are still in the water boatside. Field-tested today on a big barracuda, but failed on a long-tom which had the whole hook inside its mouth. Worked today (in practice!) on a circle hook by pushing whole hook (and trace) back through the jaw, then I opened the swivel to free the trace. "J"hooks will go straight back out the way they came in (in theory, anyway). Better than trying to gaff the gang hooks away from angry sharks, I ho

In the wild streams a 400mm fish is a good one, but they get very large and fat in the lowland dams, with fish over 50cm present. The Trophy sooty in the 2014 Tinaroo Barra Bash was 3.965 kg (not measured) when it was still a "kill and weigh" comp, and most of the fish in the 2018 comp were over 400mm and up to 490mm (not weighed, as it is now catch-photograph-and-release). There are far northern streams where you can catch sooties, barra, jungle perch and mangrove jacks in close proximity in the upper reaches, but nowadays crocs are an ever-present risk in those same places.

summer from hell!!! Everyone pays one way or another. Our house insurance premium went up 20% in late 2019 after the Townsville floods, even though we are 5 hours drive away, because we share the first 2 digits of their postcode

At 747 metres elevation, Koombooloomba Dam is Australia's highest tropical storage. It is perched in the dense forest on the Great Dividing Range on the headwaters of the mighty Tully-Millstream River and feeds some hydro projects below. The water is very clear, and cold in winter. Unlike other stocked dams, it lacks bony bream, freshwater mussels, water lilies, and other submerged vegetation. I guess the lake fauna and flora comprised whatever was in the fast-water streams blocked by the dam wall at the time. It has been stocked with sooty grunter and barra, but the barra do very poorly in

Hi there, Palm Cove jetty produces some great fish -- especially on live herring/sardines castnetted underneath it off the ramp. Huge GT's and spanish mackerel have been caught there. The trouble is the (cursed) sou-easter mid-year that re-suspends the muddy sediments and keeps the pelagics offshore. So your fishing will be governed by the wind and water clarity. The sou-easter blows for weeks on end (and makes the climate bearable) between about late March and late October. The various mackerel species come right inshore when it clears up in winter. Here is article for start

I will give it a go and post a pic here when I do it. I bent up some heavy 316 stainless rod to make my own gaff, using heat and a piece of water pipe as a sleeve-lever. I have some SS chain and thinner rod I can cut to make the "crook" to weld under the gaff hook. Thanks for sharing the idea! All the net closures and license buybacks from NSW up to the Cape have certainly been a boon to rec .fishers in many ways -- but they have released the inshore bull shark/pig-eye shark pups from a major source of mortality. They were a significant gillnet bycatch and sold as "flake" (fillets) in the loca

Chasebait "Flick Prawns" have hooked me lately. I use them in shallow drains and shallow drop-offs on flats. They drift horizontally, life-like, and I've caught flatties, estuary cod and pikey bream on them with more or less a "do-nothing" retrieve. However, they are snag-prone, even if rigged weedless, and are not cheap. Good old gold bombers continue to catch barra for me night (Tinaroo) and day (shallow drains in the Hinchinbrook mangroves), but YellowDoor's Sebile Magic Swimmers need some more time on the field up here. They look sooooh good in the water.

Sharks are a menace up here when floating out pillies for mackerel. If they eat the pillie you think you've hooked the mother-of-all-macks, but mostly they eat the mackerel after you hook up. I gaff the hooks on those littlies I do get boatside and let the shark bend them open to release. Not easy, and not good for the shark. Yours is a good idea, but more clutter for the tinny on top of the net and gaff (both of which seem to leap up and play trip-n-tangle when stumbling around fighting a decent fish). I reckon weld up a "crook" onto the bottom of gaff hook. Bottom of the hook gape so it does

15 rods! incredible

I'd love to see how many lures they actually use on the day! You'd be changing lures more than casting?? I guess there are whole videos of them in action to see how they select hardware for each spot/depth/habitat/light-level

Hi All, I picked up a 4120 and a 5120 from "GumTree" after posting my query here and getting some answers. Yes, the old glass ones are worth money....there is a FaceBook group called "Snyder Glass Fishermen Australia" (or somesuch) where folk trade these rods and rebuild them (or just appreciate and use them). There is another one called "Alvey Anglers Australia" where the old blanks are also traded. The trouble is the cost of freight interstate. where most buyers (like me) reside. Thanks

Thanks. It turns out the rod is "South Seas Tackle" (not "Southern Seas") but I am not going to pursue it. There is a "South Seas Tackle" wholesaler listed in Kilkenny.

Hi, I have googled "Southern seas" blanks and found nothing. I have been looking at an old "Southern seas BW141" rod for sale online and wondering about its origins, composition and taper. Has anyone any knowledge of these? Thanks

Thanks, Projoe. My rod may even have been a Butterworth blank as I had it custom-made in SA in the early-mid 1980's. with an extra-high winch mount (I have long arms). It was marvellous for belting out "Wonder Pilchards" for salmon and poling them ashore. I cannot even recall the rod-builder now. I wish I had never parted with it.

Hi, Can anyone inform me of the difference (if any) between the rod blanks specified with prefixes "FT" and "FSU" in the old Snyder Glas system? I know "FT"=Fast Taper and "SU"= "Surf Utility", but am wondering if there is actually any difference in the blanks themselves? I really enjoyed the old FT I parted with decades ago and am wondering if an FSU is the same stick? Thanks