Meppstas

So is a shimano Catana ( I think it’s spelt that way ) looking at the weather I’ll give it a try Friday morning 

A great write up as always Des with plenty of helpful info attached to it. That's one very nice bag of fish too, well done..
cheers Adrian

Thanks Des, yes mate, very lucky to have so much beautiful scenery & tranquil water to fish, catching a trout always tops off a few hours or so in a small stream or a large river Life is good down here, as for my season, I'm 40+ trout ahead for the same time last season at this stage, just hope it stays that way..
cheers
Adrian

Regular post readers will know I like to fish the dodge tides for Yellow Fin Whiting .
I cover a variety of reasons in detail, in this previous post:
.
One very good reason, is that you will regularly find better quality fish on the dodge tide.
YFW movements and feeding are highly influenced by the tide. Revolving around the largest tide of the day, they tend to have a 24 hour digestive and feeding cycles.
So even when the tides do not move much on the dodge, they will still have a need to feed within their cycles. The larger YFW have greater food needs and will generally preference a bigger meal such as juvenile prawns or clickers.
With the small dodge tide their feeding will be concentrated to the smaller area, covered by little water flooding in. They will be easier to find.
The terrain/substrate that holds their preferred food will naturally attract a higher concentration of larger YFW.
That terrain you can feel under foot. The softer food holding substrate.
The small tide movement, along with a deeper low tide, holds water over these prime feeding grounds longer. It provides for prolonged access to this zone for both fish and fisher person.
A better explanation of productive terrain is in this post :
.
The dodge tide on Monday with a High of 1.77 mt @ 8.15am  and a Low of 0.97 mt @ 11.36pm provided a long drawn out, run off tide. With a prolonged spell under water, of some prime food holding areas. It looked like an ideal tide and I set off fishing.
YFW are always stimulated by tide movement to feed. These tides do not provide much of that stimulus. However there are other factors that come into play.
.
The day started slowly without a strike for the first hour. The warmth of the day gradually started to take effect and the first to stir were some small Whiting.
With the warming arvo came an arvo seabreeze, as well as a predicted strengthening southerly wind. YFW love a heavy rippled surface to take cover under and lose their feeding inhibitions. The bite picked up strongly and catches were now steady. In the constrictions of the upper gulfs any lower gulf southerly wind can force water up. A wind tide pushes in. It further stimulated the YFW and kept the feeding grounds covered with a perfect level of water for a wading fisherman.
.
I caught my bag of 20 in good time. This situation regularly provides quality fish, with10 of the fish ranging from 38 to 41cm. Most of the remaining 10 fish were around 35cm.
Sugapen 95 was the most successful lure. Then again I did not need to use a lot of variety.
The new Sugapen Splash caught it’s share when the afternoon breeze picked up. This is shaping up as the perfect lure for that strong summer afternoon breeze that kicks up a bit of chop.
A few were also taken on the Ecogear ZX, when I was forced to go subsurface as a pack of persistent juvenile seagulls are yet to learn lures don’t taste good.
.
Hopefully we have some more fine weather for the next dodge tide.
Tight lines all.
Cheers, Des

Hi Greg, yes I'm still at for now mate, I'll be keeping at it for as long as the body allows me to, Looks like you've been spoiling yourself in WA, good trip by the sounds of it.. look me up if & when you get down this way... site member Soobz is touring the state at the moment too.. meeting up with him again near the end of the month..
cheers Adrian

The 'Trout Assassin' is still hard at it!!!
Great pics Adrian. Still on my bucket list to get down your way.  Just got back from Exmouth WA getting into the Marlin and Sailfish so Tassie is next!!!!
Cheers, Greg.

Just so picturesque out there. Who needs to catch a fish. Although that would just top things off!
Enjoy your beautiful part of the world Adrian. Hope you have a great season ahead. 
Cheers, Des

This trip was to the Mersey River on private property, the water was very cold and the level was still on the high side for my liking, good thing was that I did manage to get onto a few trout. The wind became a real pain in the butt as it always does when river fishing..
Thanks for watching..
cheers Adrian..





 

This trip was to the Mersey River on private property, the water was very cold and the level was still on the high side for my liking, good thing was that I did manage to get onto a few trout. The wind became a real pain in the butt as it always does when river fishing..
Thanks for watching..
cheers Adrian..





 

This trip was to the Mersey River on private property, the water was very cold and the level was still on the high side for my liking, good thing was that I did manage to get onto a few trout. The wind became a real pain in the butt as it always does when river fishing..
Thanks for watching..
cheers Adrian..





 

Thanks Yorky, glad you enjoyed it, I'm very spoiled to be able to have so many beautiful scenic rivers and streams to fish down here in Tassie. I still love my ol' home Sth Aussie state too.. As always mate, I appreciate your comments..
cheers Adrian..

Thanks YD, the scenery in and around the rivers I fish are great that's for sure. As for the spinners, the fish can run hot and cold on the blade spinners, especially trout, they can be on one minute and off the next and all one can do is to continue to chop and change spinners. Eventually there's one they'll take a liking to for a while then go of it, then it's back to chopping and changing lures again. Then I've had many days during the trout season when I've never had to change the spinner at all.  Spin fishing for trout with blade spinners fishing (or any fish) is certainly challenging most times, in the end that's what it's all about isn't it.. 
cheers Adrian 

Thanks YD, the scenery in and around the rivers I fish are great that's for sure. As for the spinners, the fish can run hot and cold on the blade spinners, especially trout, they can be on one minute and off the next and all one can do is to continue to chop and change spinners. Eventually there's one they'll take a liking to for a while then go of it, then it's back to chopping and changing lures again. Then I've had many days during the trout season when I've never had to change the spinner at all.  Spin fishing for trout with blade spinners fishing (or any fish) is certainly challenging most times, in the end that's what it's all about isn't it.. 
cheers Adrian 

This trip was to the Mersey River on private property, the water was very cold and the level was still on the high side for my liking, good thing was that I did manage to get onto a few trout. The wind became a real pain in the butt as it always does when river fishing..
Thanks for watching..
cheers Adrian..





 

couldnt find my old hand paddle so it was time for a new one - Finished with cooking oil varnish

Great video, beautiful area as always
Thank You
Yorky

Beautiful scenery and Fish Adrian

Ive only recently become a true convert to the spinning blade.

I always thought fish had to be fired up to hit them.

I actually ran a test last night on a small lake - I walked the length of it casting a 2 inch paddle tail for a few hits - then walked my way back with the jig spinner and they were whacking the hell out of it.

They were tiny reddies -too small to fit the big hook in their mouth but the increase in hits was very noticeable.

Ive had sessions where the reverse is true - but I used to assume if they were not hitting subtle lures - they would ignore loud spinning blades aswell

With the larger rivers still on the high side I decided to stick to the smaller streams until things settle down, as it turned out it was a good decision too with a few nice wild brown trout being caught and released. Even though this small stream was on the high side, it was still much safer to fish it than a large fast flowing river. A photo slideshow follows the video as well..
cheers Adrian..
 

Great video & pictures, beautiful area
Thank you
Yorky  

With the larger rivers still on the high side I decided to stick to the smaller streams until things settle down, as it turned out it was a good decision too with a few nice wild brown trout being caught and released. Even though this small stream was on the high side, it was still much safer to fish it than a large fast flowing river. A photo slideshow follows the video as well..
cheers Adrian..
 

Warmer water early in the season will certainly bring them into the metro areas earlier. I saw a post from Brighton Tackle claim they had been sighted locally.
As I have previously mentioned the ongoing heavy netting of this species over winter in the last few years is having a significant detrimental impact on the overall stock status. Hopefully they are resilient and bounce back.

That's one awesome write up Des, thanks for sharing it, I thoroughly enjoyed it and great photos to top it off..
cheers Adrian

The seasons are changing. The temperature is rising.
The water is warming. It is all happening a bit earlier this year.
Lizards are crawling on the roads. And “Lizards” (flathead) are crawling in the sea.
Water birds are gathering, lining up for a feast of baitfish from above.
The Flathead are lining up for a feast of baitfish from below.
In these ambient temperatures, food is plentiful in the shallows.
The ecosystem has had a great kickstart with the rise in temperatures and every thing comes alive and thrives on the sandflats.

Temperature is the biggest driver for a series of chain reactions, in the sandflats ecosystem.
I am forever monitoring the water temperatures.
The rise in water temperature is early this year.

A series of natural events occur, which results in delivering us fishers, some fine Yellow Fin Whiting and Flathead.
Stimulated by the rise in water temperature about now our local Prawns, the Western King Prawn, start spawning in their mid gulf grounds.
Also now, the Haswell Shore Crabs shrug off their cold weather torpor and also spawn in the inshore shallows.
Post larval Juvenile Prawns start migrating from mid gulf to the warmer, shallow, inshore waters of the upper gulfs.
The Haswell Shore Crab larval zoea, now abundant, provides food for the juvenile Prawns and schools of baitfish.
There is a boom in the population of Juvenile Prawns, Haswell Shore Crabs, and Baitfish in the inshore waters … And also their predators. YFW and Flathead, have moved in, enjoying this abundance of food.
Having experienced a sustained period of exposure to higher water temperatures, the YFW have now, increased their metabolisms and have developed voracious appetites. The larger predatory YFW that I like to target are now aggressively hunting on the sandflats. Devouring juvenile prawns and shore crabs.
So it is a perfect time to place myself at the end of these chain reactions and target some YFW and Flathead.

I took advantage of the warm weekend.
Given the tides, I selected an area that amplifies the small tide movement and works best on the slower tides.
I started with chasing Flathead on the falling tide. The Flathead are very active chasing the baitfish as they retreat to the shelter of weedy areas in deeper water.
Fishing for them in heavily weeded areas does present it’s challenges.

Lures with trebles catch too much weed. And when a Flathead is hooked they will head into the weed. All the exposed treble barbs, hook onto the surrounding weed and help the Flathead throw the lure.
I have recently started to use floating hardbodies like OSP Bent Minnows, with singles and assist hooks, for these areas. These hooks pull through the weed easily. So far, I have yet to have a Flathead throw these hooks.


Look for where the Herons are feeding to show you where the baitfish are and the Flathead will be holding just downstream.
I was able to extract 3 Solid Flathead that were hiding around the weed, terrorising the baitfish, before the tide slowed.

Next on the agenda were the YFW. A good depth of water was holding over the softer feeding sandflat areas. Usually you will find this substrate holds more food and fish.
Whilst not feeding as aggressively as when there is more water movement, the YFW were still keen enough to take a well worked lure offering over the sandflats. My usual favourites, Sugapen, Ecogear ZX and Zipbaits Skinny Pop, were the more successful lures.
However it is a new season and there are always a few new offerings to try out.
They did not get too much time in the water but both these new lures took fish.
The New Sugapen Splash, which is perhaps better suited to a choppier day still took a fish.
Daiwa’s Slippery Dog 80cm in the colour “Ebi” that I had not previously come across, I thought could work well in this area, had some success.

A drop in air pressure with a change in wind direction from North to SW, pushed water up into the gulf and provided a small wind tide. The water movement, stimulated the fish to bite late into the afternoon. “Bob the bag snatcher” is also making an early season appearance. I normally don’t see them on the sandflats till November.
I kept 14 of the better YFW. Most are over 35cm. And the best a very nice 42cm.

The Flats are Firing early this year !!! Hopefully we can look forward to a great season ahead.
The only downside is the heavy toll the professionals have taken over this winter as they increasingly search for alternative species to supplement their restricted and dwindling catches.

 
Tight lines all.
Cheers, Des

Yes, I haven't been on there for quite some time, too many argumentative comments on there and have been for quite some time. I have Russell Harris's  email address I send him a message, I caught up with him here in Tassie a couple of years ago. He's one of the nicer members on that site.. Hopefully will be catching up with Soobz when he visits Tassie soon..
cheers
Adrian..

Your being missed in Vic....