yellow door 1

And the float takes about 2.3 gram or 1/12th of an ounce, to get it up right (left a little wiggle room for using with heavy scrub worms)

https://www.kmart.com.au/product/active-mens-outdoor-parka-puffer-jacket-s151607/?selectedSwatch=&size=

If you do have to stand still and fish in winter - this $50 Kmart puffer jacket is a game changer. If you havent tried puffer jackets before - give em a go - Ive forgotten what cold is since I bought one this year



 

1 minute ago, Des said:

Now to test the salted worm out in the water

 

will do

23 hours ago, doobie said:

I have tried garden worms in salt water and was a waste of time - die very quickly and became soggy.

Although many years ago I use garden worms in the Patawalonga  between the lock and 1st bridge and hooked up Bream. Maybe due to some fresh water in the Pat helped the worms to live a little longer.

Also tried Catchall Crawlers (good for Sea and fresh water) - wasn't impressed with them either - died quickly.

Yeah I should have dropped 2 worms into water - one in fresh rain water and 1 salt water solution - 35 grams of salt, in a litre of fresh, is supposed to be the right recipe for ocean water.

But I got side tracked with the salting process...... 

The scrubby I dropped into dry salt stopped moving very quick

17 hours ago, yellow door 1 said:

Salting now

Bit of shrinkage and they toughened up a bit

but I think I’ll stick to fresh and alive

On 3/7/2022 at 4:48 PM, doobie said:

 

Interesting, but reckon the straw would get bent out shape quickly or swivel will work loose under pressure a few times.

Just have to add the hot glue gun and batter powered hair dryer to heat shrink the indicator to the tackle bag  

Soaked them over night with no noticeable leaks and just did a test

took 6.8kg of pull and the swivel still held - the straw actually snapped in half first

Salting now

37 minutes ago, Rybak said:

Slightly off topic, and I know it's been discussed before, but is there a definitive answer on whether garden worms are effective in salt water fishing?

I have tried garden worms in salt water and was a waste of time - die very quickly and became soggy.

Although many years ago I use garden worms in the Patawalonga  between the lock and 1st bridge and hooked up Bream. Maybe due to some fresh water in the Pat helped the worms to live a little longer.

Also tried Catchall Crawlers (good for Sea and fresh water) - wasn't impressed with them either - died quickly.

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I have mucked around with garden worms. They seem to burst easily & obviously die quickly in saltwater.  Have tried salting & brining as well. Not much luck really so gave up on them. Just get salted tubies now. 

ill go grab a scrubby and salt him up now and see what happen

Salmon mullet and flounder have also been mentioned

Just asked the question on a few facebook pages and alot of people mention bream

Other mentions are Garfish, trevally, KG whiting, flatties, snapper, pinkies and small Jewies .....- to be continued.......

3 hours ago, malb said:

Slightly off topic, and I know it's been discussed before, but is there a definitive answer on whether garden worms are effective in salt water fishing?

Great question Malb - Thats something I was wondering about aswell.

I know estuarine species like bream love them but I havent used them out in the bay.

I have seen a guy slaying grass whiting on them in pure salt water but I wonder what other whiting think of them

One innovative use of plastic that never fails is the old dust pan worm collecter - just head to the local car park and start scooping em up - got about 80 from this stretch - some big boys in amoungst them

36 minutes ago, doobie said:

 

Interesting, but reckon the straw would get bent out shape quickly or swivel will work loose under pressure a few times.

Just have to add the hot glue gun and batter powered hair dryer to heat shrink the indicator to the tackle bag  

Haha - Yeah I havent used it yet - so im not sure how it will go during the water trials

9 minutes ago, imfishn said:

Great! Cheers mate 

No worries-  that super subtle tail has got me intrigued for super slow wiggly presentations.

actually if you chose the 35mm option you get 50 for $3 - so I went with the pumpkin seed and the white.

I reckon they'd be good on the little drop shot rigs I use aswell

13 hours ago, imfishn said:

Thanks for that yellowdoor1  I have never tried catching them on lures, but it would be worth having this in the tacklebox, when you run out of bait or if they are finicky, i guess! could be good fun to try out. Thanks again

No worries mate - seems like anything associated with "Ajing" fishing comes with a hefty price tag.

So heres the ali express version - $2.24 for a 20 pack sound more reasonable than some other prices I found

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000197310472.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.6ae936c7mv0SVU&algo_pvid=0e6c14a4-9729-4306-b500-be9bbb5116fe&algo_exp_id=0e6c14a4-9729-4306-b500-be9bbb5116fe-3&pdp_ext_f={"sku_id"%3A"12000023673453498"}&pdp_npi=2%40dis!AUD!!2.24!!!!!%40210318cb16567613125867579e9b68!12000023673453498!sea

24 minutes ago, imfishn said:

Hi yellowdoor1, that's a great little soft plastic for gar! can i please ask where you purchased this from. Thanks 

I suck at gars on lures - the guy who caught that one said it was "  a mebaru oboro plastic and a small ecogear jighead unsure of what size tho. Cheers"

The guys who use these lures fish ultra light tackle and tiny lures - the style is referred to as "Ajing" i believe

 

Here’s the things they come up to feed on around piers light at night

12 hours ago, Rybak said:

Gar are a weed eater & generally a bottom feeding fish hence their green poop. The large Gar at the moment are on the bottom (well in SA metro waters anyway) so if you want some, sinker on top swivel & cork float on the bottom of the rig & fish the bottom..... Just use gents as normal.

Yeah when I asked what lures to use for gars, there were plenty of blokes listing all the lures they have got them on - but very few photos.

Ive mouth hooked one on a little thin metal lure while chasing salmon. But when I burleyed them up and tried lures, they werent effective for me. So I just whipped out the chicken hunks and started landing them quite freely.

If I was going to target them again with lures I'd be using something very similar to this

Heres some footage of gars gnawing on weed - I wonder if they are stripping it for little bugs and snails etc or whether they just like salad.

That pointy beak and up turned mouth suggests they do a fair bit of hunting aswell. Lots of guys swear by lures to catch them but I have found it no where near as effective as bait and burley. (I did give up pretty quick on the lures though)
 

And the bit of wire on the stick was vital too.

Once everything gets coated in tuna oil - those plastic stoppers get slippery and hard to pull out - so you need pliers, teeth or a hole drilled through and wire on a stick to get them back out.

My guru used to custom turn wooden end plugs on a lathe. They were shaped like a mushroom so they were always easy to pull out no matter how slimey your hands were

I eventually drilled straight through and added foam  so there would be no line hanging outside the cage to catch my hook while casting

Some floats need a bit of tweaking and adjustment of casting styles to avoid tangles while casting. But once you get in the rhythm, it can be quite effective.
 

While its difficult to fish 2 rods at once effectively - it might be worth trialing both methods against each other to see which one you like. A light float very a burley float.

Bring a towel and have a bucket of water to wash your hands, as gar fishing, especially burley floating, can be a dirty labour intensive style of fishing
And always keep their bum pointed away from you when giving them a squeeze while removing the hook

A hook removal took is best  - just let gravity and their wriggling get them off the hook and they will fall into the bucket

I like a burley float with a short dropper to keep them around the hook