Meppstas

This was a trip from a couple of weeks ago into the new trout season, very cold conditions it was too..
cheers Adrian..
 

Smart thinking fellas and well done on picking the scam bastards  

I got suspicious and overcame my greed/glee !  ...   when there was no PayPal at checkout.
The prices were just too good to be true ... and free shipping to Australia ! 

Could all members add to a list of Scam Stores in this thread.
I recently came across this store:
https://www.shimanostore.com/spinning-reels-shimano-vanford-2500-hg-spinning-fishing-reel/
It just seemed too good to be true !  
A few checks on the web highlighted it as a scam store
 

RIP Gary.    Hopefully his heirs/successors will be as considerate.
 
As for 'cold' in Tassie...  the creeks in the Adelaide hills are turning in to glaciers...
Hence the new name for my suburb... 'Bridge-clacier 5155 "...

This was a trip from a couple of weeks ago into the new trout season, very cold conditions it was too..
cheers Adrian..
 

Thank You Adrian, that is a beautiful, peaceful looking place
Cheers
Yorky 

Spring has sprung with a couple of days of warmish weather getting it started.
It seemed a good chance to try Lure fishing Yellow Fin Whiting and kick off this season with perhaps a catch or two.
The YFW lure box has not seen daylight for awhile. It was time to freshen up the lures by replacing the now well rusted out assist hooks on them.
The reels have been greased and oiled up. Trying best to prepare them for a season of abuse and dunking that wading fishing will inevitably deliver them.
All prepared I set off for a couple of days in search of my first lure caught YFW for this season.
 
The plan was to fish both warmish days ahead, determined to get off the mark for the season. I had also planned on fishing two different areas on either side of the upper St Vincent Gulf, hopefully increasing my chances.
Day one, was a hard slog with barely a YFW sighted. But plenty of Flathead about. The other variety that comes to life in Spring on the Sandflats. I spooked a few.  I dropped a couple. I had not prepared my lures by replacing the rusted hooks. They certainly will be a focus of my next session.
I had to resort to bait to find a few YFW and keep me informed as to the whiting’s presence and whereabouts.
 
Day two, which I felt might be the better day, as a result of the water warming after a couple of warm days. It proved to be the day.
It did take some effort with fish finally taken later in the day on the incoming tide. Again, probably the warmest weather spell of the two days.
I did not experiment at all with any new lures and stuck to my old favourites of the Ecogear ZX and the Bassday Sugapen.
Only 2 of the 8 lure caught fish were taken on the surface. Their body temperatures and metabolisms are still low. Making them a bit lethargic to be aggressive surface predators. As in past seasons the sub surface lures usually starts the season more successful.
Another influencing factor is, awaiting the arrival into the shallows, of the new season’s juvenile prawns from their annual, mid gulf spawn. The availability of this seasonal food source will also stimulate predatory surface feeding behaviour.
 
There is a considerable difference in water temperature on the two sides of the St V  Gulf. The Eastern side being far shallower, is the first to warm up. The Western side was significantly cooler. However this will soon even out after a more prolonged spell of warm weather.
There are signs of a promising season ahead with some very hot conditions predicted.
Every cloud has a silver lining.

This trip goes back to the last couple of weeks of the trout season, seeing as I'm still out of action with Spinal Stenosis (something that I now have to live with) and now down and out with the flu I thought I'd slip this trout fishing video on the site.. 
cheers Adrian
 

This trip goes back to the last couple of weeks of the trout season, seeing as I'm still out of action with Spinal Stenosis (something that I now have to live with) and now down and out with the flu I thought I'd slip this trout fishing video on the site.. 
cheers Adrian
 

This was one of my better trips during the trout season while fishing a small tannin stream close to home on private property. This video is the short version..
cheers Adrian
 

Nice session there..  well done.

This was one of my better trips during the trout season while fishing a small tannin stream close to home on private property. This video is the short version..
cheers Adrian
 

This was one of my better trips during the trout season while fishing a small tannin stream close to home on private property. This video is the short version..
cheers Adrian
 

The long 45 minute walk that was had to reach my starting point in the Mersey River was well it with a mix of brown & rainbow trout being caught & released.
It also required a bit of bush bashing once I was there too..☺️
cheers
Adrian
 

The long 45 minute walk that was had to reach my starting point in the Mersey River was well it with a mix of brown & rainbow trout being caught & released.
It also required a bit of bush bashing once I was there too..☺️
cheers
Adrian
 

The long 45 minute walk that was had to reach my starting point in the Mersey River was well it with a mix of brown & rainbow trout being caught & released.
It also required a bit of bush bashing once I was there too..☺️
cheers
Adrian
 

The long 45 minute walk that was had to reach my starting point in the Mersey River was well it with a mix of brown & rainbow trout being caught & released.
It also required a bit of bush bashing once I was there too..☺️
cheers
Adrian
 

The long 45 minute walk that was had to reach my starting point in the Mersey River was well it with a mix of brown & rainbow trout being caught & released.
It also required a bit of bush bashing once I was there too..☺️
cheers
Adrian
 

The long 45 minute walk that was had to reach my starting point in the Mersey River was well it with a mix of brown & rainbow trout being caught & released.
It also required a bit of bush bashing once I was there too..☺️
cheers
Adrian
 

The weather has been poor so I haven't been fishing much. So what do you do when you're not fishing? Make stuff for fishing! I've been making some small assist hooks to replace the back trebles on lures. 

 
I bought some silicone lure skirts of Aliexpress to use for a bit of flash.

 
The cord is cheap 30lb braid. There is no need to use such strong braid, you could use a lot lighter. But I decided to use this braid, because the diameter is easier to handle and tie knots. I measure out 25cms which gives me long enough tag ends to easily tie each hook with a 5 turn snell knot. I tie one hook. then measure 6cm and mark the braid. Next I slide the second hook up to the 6cm mark and tie the hook on. When the knots are dressed and tightened, it gives me the length I want for the assist hooks, which is a tad longer than the pre-tied BKK Striker hooks I previously used. I decided to make them slightly longer after reading a post from Des who add extra split rings for length. I'll probably make some slightly shorter to replace the middle trebles like Des suggests. I've made some with split rings and some with snaps and I attach the hook lengths with a simple girth hitch. Then I thread the silicone flash through the split ring/snap, fold in half and tie off with a 5 turn uni knot using 210D flat waxed thread.



 
I used Owner 52084 fine wire split rings #0 and Decoy Round Snap #00. The hooks are Owner 5117-031 Mosquito Hook #8 and Shinto Octopus Beak #10, which are physically the same size. I prefer the Owner Mosquito Hooks, because they are very sticky (they cost $6 for 11 hooks). The Shinto hooks are still a good hook and and I picked them up for $9.60 for 24.

Some great scenery, can't wait to get down there.

This was another of my late season spin sessions in a small tannin stream & it was great to come across a freshwater lobster. They were once plentiful in the rivers/streams here in Tasmania but due to very little catch rate restrictions they became scarce in the rivers/streams. Now they are a protected species that carry a $10,000 fine if taken from a river/stream.
cheers
Adrian (meppstas)
 

This was another of my late season spin sessions in a small tannin stream & it was great to come across a freshwater lobster. They were once plentiful in the rivers/streams here in Tasmania but due to very little catch rate restrictions they became scarce in the rivers/streams. Now they are a protected species that carry a $10,000 fine if taken from a river/stream.
cheers
Adrian (meppstas)