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snafu

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Posts posted by snafu

  1. 2 hours ago, Softy said:

    Idiots. Dare say if they are locals they will be copping it from all angles from the people in the town.

    There has been a bit of finger pointing towards a couple of blokes who come down from Alice Springs each year around his time. They usually bring a heap of fireworks with them (legally bought in the NT) to stir the locals.

    Proving that it was them may not be easy though.

  2. 1 hour ago, doobie said:

    Geez there are so many idiots around.

    Good on you snafu for your quick action :91_thumbsup:

    Do you know if the jetty is fully closed or just up to the missing planks?

    Earliest estimate is 30 to 40 grand in repairs.

    Fully closed.

     

    20210116_094400.jpg

  3. Got up early this morning to try for a squid or two off the Smoky Bay jetty only to find that it was burning.

    Ratbags playing with fireworks last night must have started the fire and it had been smouldering for hours. I rang 000 and the local CFA unit responded very fast, but the damage meant that burnt planks had to be removed making the jetty a safety hazard. Who knows when it will be repaired.

     

    20210116_064520.jpg

  4. 1 hour ago, SurfcaztR said:

    Going over the border and a covid outbreak,state goes into lock down and you are stuck.That's something some won't be prepared for.

    Not really a problem for us SurfcaztR, the wife and I are both retired and our car/caravan rig is set up for long term trips.

    The last trip we did to SA was only supposed to be for 3 weeks to look at buying a house in Smoky Bay, but we ended up staying there for a bit over 6 months. I can think of worse places to be in lockdown if there is another outbreak.

    We recently spent a couple of months up around Cooktown and met quite a few SA travellers who had decided to stay in Qld for the duration of the Covid crisis and most of them had the same outlook, they invariably said that they could think of worse places to be, but I wonder if they will think the same if and when the forecast cyclone season kicks in.

  5. 2 minutes ago, Softy said:

    What fishing mission are you on? 

    I want to follow the coastline around the Yorke Peninsula, never fished there yet and then over to Smoky for a month and possibly a couple of weeks at Fowlers plus a couple of favourite spots west of there. The weather will be determining factor as it always is with fishing trips.

     

  6. Maybe you're right there Softy, it happened at light speed so it had to be an automated response.

    At the moment, South Oz travellers need a permit to enter Qld, but seeing as I'm going to be down your way on a fishin' mission until April, I'll sort the return journey out when the time comes.

     

  7. 21 minutes ago, Softy said:

    decided on 8X Grande J-Braid.

    I've been using the J Braid Grande 10 & 20lb in Island blue for a while and I like it, good abrasion resistance and hold knots as good as any other I've used. No reason to believe that the lighter lines would not share the same qualities. The blue colour took a bit of getting used to after using mainly yellow for years, but it's become my preferred colour now due to it's low visibility below the surface.

    I've also switched over to using J Braid Thread FC, a good tough leader.

  8. I'm the same HBt, I don't like clutter and because I mainly fish with soft plastics, I only take with me what I need for the session - a couple of packets of sp's, a small tackle box with a selection of jigheads to suit the fish I am targeting, a small spool of fc leader, braid scissors and a knife. It all goes into an old canvas army sling bag, easy to carry and easy to get at things.

    My gear at home is neatly stored in trays for lures etc, rods stored in purpose built racks and reels kept in various padded containers all marked with type, model and line description. If I get a phone call from a mate at some ridiculous time of the night telling me that he will pick me up in half an hour, my gear is ready to go without having to rat around sorting things at the last minute.

    I shudder when I see the mess and clutter that others wallow in and yet they appear to be happy and enjoying their fishing. To each their own.

  9. 1 hour ago, doobie said:

    Sounds like you have a pretty good life - considering  ;) 

     

    Yeah, I've got nothing to moan about Doobie, the fishing is good, the weather is generally okay and there's no virus up here in FNQ, so why would I want to leave the place and head to South Oz? I guess the answer to that is KGW, calamari and blue crabs - definitely worth the 8,000km round trip.

  10. A bit over a week ago I was sitting back in Cooktown wishing that the howling onshore winds would ease when I decided that enough is enough, time to head to Smoky Bay for a couple of months. My plan was to cut down through western NSW and cross into SA via Broken Hill - I'm glad I stuffed around and didn't get that far.

    Hang in there people and I hope you don't have to go through the same extended lockdown as they experienced in Vic.

  11. It's not what you've got, but how you use it that separates a better fisho from an average one.

    Top shelf gear is definitely great to use, but it doesn't necessarily make the fishing better or the person using it a better fisho. I've just spent the past couple of months fishing with a mate in Cooktown and he is a real tackle snob who only uses high end gear, but he lacks some of the basic skills when it comes to going head to head with big fish - it cost him a $1200 Millerod that self destructed on a big mackie.

     

  12. 22 hours ago, Soobz said:

     Hate these blanket claims. If they want to say brand X mono in 10lb vs brand Y Fluoro in 10 lb then maybe you can make a comparison.

    Fully agree with you Soobz. 

    As the old Castrol ad claimed "oils aint oils, Sol", the same applies to fishing line whether it be mono, fluro or braid. Different brands, different quality.

    Me being an 'old fart', a lot of my fishing took place before fluro and super-lines were invented, or if they had of been they were not readily available to most fishos and as unbelievable that it may come across to some, those of us who fished in the same era caught our fair share of fish using nothing but mono.

    I do believe that a lot of the hype around most fishing gear these days is generated by consumerism and marketing, not so much the proven science behind thorough testing in the field. Sure, lab tests will give an indication of whether or not a certain product lives up to manufacturer's claims, but it's out there in the real world where it needs to work and that brings in a lot of variables. 

  13. On 13/09/2020 at 4:02 PM, Snook said:

    Can you camp on the beach or in the dunes if you wanted to fish a couple of nights? Or is the beach too soft to drive on

    Sorry about the delay in responding to your question Snook, but I've been up in FNQ for the past few months with no internet service.

    It's mostly soft sand all the way along the beach and the dunes are large and steep, but if you've had experience driving in such conditions it's not too bad to get in and out. The drive out needs a bit of thought to make sure you pick the right line up over the dunes. If you're not real confident with tackling huge soft dunes, see below.

    On 06/09/2019 at 5:43 PM, snafu said:

    The beach to the right in the image (white arrow) is good for schoolies and a lot easier to access than Bellamore. It is known simply as the ocean beach to those locals who camp at Davenport Creek, seen to the north of the beach on the other side of the sandhills. The creek produces some decent flathead and KGW's.

     

    InkedCapture_LI.jpg

     

  14. November through to February were the best months for me, but in saying that, I was a bit of a wimp when it came to beach fishing during the colder months so I never tried for them outside of the warmer months.

    Water temp would play a big role. There was definitely an increase in baitfish with warmer water, so it stands to reason that there would be an increase in the number of predators also. I got spooled a couple of times at the Dog Fence by what I can only guess were big bronzies, definitely gets the heart pumping until you realize what it is and not the mother of all mulloway.

  15. Being a Queenslander, I was weened on Alvey gear and used nothing but Alvey until I made the monumental jump to a Shimano Bantam baitcaster sometime in the late 80's and it was a game changer for me. I've still got that reel somewhere. Since then, I've used mainly Shimano and Penn with the occasional ABU, but after having some crappy Daiwa reels, I've steered well clear of them.

    With rods I stick with Shimano for most of my light gear and for the heavier stuff I'm a full blown barking mad Ugly Stik supporter - they take the hard knocks of bouncing around in the back of the ute better than most.

    I rarely look for specials with gear, once I've researched what I want and where to get it, then I'm on a mission to own it.

  16. The pick of the soft plastics for me are Charlie Brewer Sliders followed by Squidgies. I seem to have more success with them for most species that I target in fresh & salt.

    Hard bodies are a bit more varied depending on what I'm chasing, but I chuck more top water lures than divers with Bassday Sugapen and Lucky Craft Sammys being my top picks. They both work well fishing the flats down south for whiting & flatties and they are unbeatable up here in the north on jungle perch & sooty grunter. You don't always find good all rounders with lures, but these two are close to it.

  17. Back when I lived in Ceduna, a mate and myself targeted the mullies at Bellamore Beach and always on the last couple of hours of a run in tide that would peak just after sunset. Bellamore has huge sandhills where we would park the Hilux on top of the highest one and scan the gutters using binoculars to spot which ones had the fish. We didn't bother with the moon phases and neither did the fish. Bait of choice was whole squid and tommies.

    Some evenings were better than others, but never once did we leave the beach without scoring a few fish, not as big as those we caught at the Dog Fence or another secret location that will not be named, but generally they were up around the 15 to 20 kgs. 

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