Soobz

I'll check when we last stocked the hills and what the current feeling on natural replenishment is. Certainly they will not breed in the plains rivers.

None of the hills rivers are stocked these days, we're not allowed to. Luckily the Adelaide Hills is cool enough, salinity low enough, and the right gravel beds form for the trout to be able to spawn. Please be extra careful walking in the rivers during spawning season to not walk on gravel beds as that's where the eggs are. These are likely to be the wider/shallower parts which are where you'd like to cross but should avoid.

Awesome fish! Interesting fly that, so rewarding to catch on your own tied fly. Cheers on the release. Those rivers are great at times, but the amount of fertilizer washing into them is a bit of a problem regards weeds, reeds and algae. I'll be up there on the weekend to do some remedial work on one of them. Historical Adelaide Hills river data says Browns will spawn from the end of May until June or July, Rainbows are later up until Sept. For that reason we don't fish the cooler months as we are no longer allowed to stock those rivers, so if the trout don't replace themselves on the

I've only got a couple of sinking minnows, neither are bum first, I assume they weighted yours for better casting at the cost of sinking weird. What bent the hook? Surely not that fish...

Hmm, they wouldn't allow a drive upgrade for my wife's PP10 when I got it, not that she really needs it. Tip, get a spare sheer pin for the rudder and keep it with the yak.

On my tray the Hobie has to sit top down as the hull bottom is too rounded, which is a PITA as loading is easier with bottom down. Actually I think Hobie says you're supposed to carry them topside down for some reason...I think maybe to do with stresses when tying down.

Sports fishing scene are about to have a sale, same with Tackleworld, and Reelndeal are in the middle of one so I'd be heading to those. Have a look at Venom rods at SFS, can't remember what I got but does whiting to tuna they reckon.

A mate did some testing on seaweed worms trying to breed them up himself. Turns out they are very slow breeders so don't take more than you need and turn the weed back over as you found it, ie. don't just scatter it around, this is to protect any eggs that were there.

That Tierra would probably suit you best, LXS= L = Light X = eXtra Fast action S = Spin ie a whippy light tip but more guts near the handle. I've landed 50cm salmon on it but it's light enough in the tip to feel tiny bites.

Mate went out yesty, on bait, 1 undersized and saw nothing else but puffers. Saw the netting pros out recently so likely the reason for no fish on such a good day for them. One day we will wake up and ban netting and long lines in the gulfs. Maybe.

Interesting stuff:

I watched a video recently, they used the old style and the new style with a camera watching the squid. The squid were far more aggressive on the newer style jigs and hooked themselves easily. The old style clearly works but maybe takes more skill. I will be buying mostly the good lures now, mainly because I've decided the pointy bits are the most important thing when fishing.

I was always a user of cheaper jigs. But over time I've bought a few better ones just to see if I was missing something. Apart from build quality, the expensive ones do swim a bit better and don't get snagged as much as they are better balanced. Then I thought I'd look closer at the barbs. I'll let you decide from the pics below. All are the same magnification 132x, some focussed a bit better than others, and some measuring lines just for a bit of reference. First up, Duel Dartmaster EZ-Q Search #3.0 Next is Shimano Flash Boost (poor focus sorry) Then for a bit of

Nice! We went out, mate got 1 good size, plenty there but they were fussy and then vanished. I topped up dinner with a good batch of STs in that mid 20's size. To be truthful I wasn't sure which was the YF and which was the STs, but perhaps that's cos the chef was good. I have to make myself a tub, the shoulder bag is limiting.

I'd be inclined to go thin and double up the carbontex as required, ie, 2 x 0.5mm = 1mm. This is all theory though.