Kelvin

The storm twitching nipper looks like a good imitation but I've thrown it a few times as well for yellowfin and haven't got a bite 

The storm twitching nipper looks like a good imitation but I've thrown it a few times as well for yellowfin and haven't got a bite 

The "moderate" action of Seabass is a bonus - planning to use this as a light bait / lure setup. 
Also have a 8'3" squid rod which is really light and crisp - will be used exclusively for lures to 25g and squid...
Most of my fishing is done on a yak, so this is my light beach / rock pair for when I don't have my yak 

Wow, that's amazing to see one in the wild.

The Yellowfin whiting guys rate it. One theory is that a Mantis Shrimp punch cause cavitations in the water that emit light that the fish can hone in on. 
Gulf St Vincent whiting with David Hall | Australian Lure Fishing (doclures.com)
 
Alot of lures are UV reflective these days. Even some brands of mono and leader glow really brightly under UV light.
I don't use UV spray but I like UV reflective lures in overcast conditions and dirty water for snook. 

The Yellowfin whiting guys rate it. One theory is that a Mantis Shrimp punch cause cavitations in the water that emit light that the fish can hone in on. 
Gulf St Vincent whiting with David Hall | Australian Lure Fishing (doclures.com)
 
Alot of lures are UV reflective these days. Even some brands of mono and leader glow really brightly under UV light.
I don't use UV spray but I like UV reflective lures in overcast conditions and dirty water for snook. 

This is a couple of short 60 -70 second clips of a couple of solid Meander River wild browns that I caught & released during the 2022/23 trout season..
cheers
Adrian
 

Season started 5 days early this year

Yeah things are made to break these days - its part of every good business plan😉 And noone seems more enthusiastic about applying the theory than fishing reel manufacturers 

A light bulb that lasts for 50 years - only needs to be repurchased once every 50 years - but if you make them last a couple of years - then you can sell a hell of alot more bulbs.

There an intersting doco on "Planned Obsolescence". Its starts with the light bulb - they actually had to work bloody hard to get them to break sooner😮
 
 

nice fish

After watching a school of salmon swing by the pier - I saw that even they can be selective when in a frenzy - and the guys doing most of the catching, had a few things in common.

SO I tried making my jigheads a bit fancier.

I put on a couple of coats of the cheapest spray paint at bunnings - fiddly bits in matt white. But it didnt hold on to the lead very well - and I should have done more coats- I was warned Id need to use a primer paint on the lead first but ignored those warnings.

Also learned that spray paint and polystyrene dont play well together😉

A lot of tools you swing have a fat bit at the end - so do my rods 
I originally used fat bits of cork because my guts would get bruised during Jewie season. (I used to fish for them regularly with heavy live bait gear)
Jabbing the rod butt into your guts on the strike and holding it there during the fight can leave a mark with skinny,/poorly shaped or metal butt caps. 
 
I always fish around structure so you have to hit them hard and fight them hard when using heavy-ish bait gear. In one spot I have to strike, then run 30m up the bank, to change the line angle, so I had a chance at getting them out. It was a clumsy affair with lots of adrenaline based gut jabbing. So by the end of the season it was hard to find a spot that isn’t bruised, to rest the rod on. 
 
that’s when I started thinking about comfortable butt caps
The added bonus I hadn’t considered was the ergonomics of having a fatter butt while casting. My rods had slight tapers before I shortened them. But making the butt fatter means you don’t grip as hard. 
 
it not a huge deal but it is noticeable- and it was a pleasant surprise the first time I used one - even my bream rods have them now
 

SUNSHINE … ON MY SHOULDERS MAKES ME HAPPY
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I had checked the weather ahead for this week.
And I could see there was a spell of Sunshine ahead.
So I managed to rearrange my week and set off fishing on this Sunny day.
It was such an enjoyable day, fishing in the brilliant sunny conditions today. And there were some good results.
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Here are a few reasons why sunny days are great for lure fishing Yellow Fin Whiting on the Sandflats.
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Simply put, on sunny days you will catch more Yellow Fin Whiting !
There is the extra warmth in the water that a sunny day adds. Increasing the fish metabolism and their eagerness to feed.
There is usually much better water clarity on sunny days.
Your lures are so much more visible to the fish.
Bright sunshine will also reflect a lot more off your lures, gaining the fish’s attention from a long way off.
Fish will notice your lure from a much greater distance, and often come hurtling in, at right angles from afar. Most often this happens very late in your retrieve.
Importantly, strong sunshine produces an extra “attractant”. Another stimulus. Something extra for YFW to chase.
The strong overhead sunlight casts a strong shadow from your lure onto the sand below. The stronger the sunshine, the stronger the shadow, and the stronger the stimulus.
Yes, in bright sunshine, you will often see whiting chase the lure shadow cast onto the sand. They will chase and frustratingly grab at the shadow along the sand, before looking up and striking the lure above.
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The sunny days also provides the fisher with better visibility.
One can clearly see all the terrain on the sandflats. It is much easier to identify and target your casts to known fish holding spots.
Structures like sand steps, shallow ledges, gutters and channels can all be easily seen and cast towards.
You can spot fish a lot easier and further away, in bright sunshine without disturbing them.
Sight casting your lures to and hooking up visible fish while wading the shallows is such a thrill.
The greater visibility of the lure, the chase, the strike, the runs and the fight of the hooked fish, all enhances the experience for the fisher.
It is so much more fun in Sunshine.
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But really, on these days, it does not matter if you don’t catch fish ! Sunshine on your shoulder just makes you happy.
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This day started with light winds creating a strong ripple on the surface, under the bright sunshine of a clear blue sky of a hot day.
Clear or lighter coloured lures work better in strong sunshine for me.
These were my successful lures today.

 
Zipbaits Skinny Pop and Fakie Dog DS in their clear colours took fish.
 

Smaller lures are easily seen in bright sunshine, and are a bit more subtle in the high visibility and light wind conditions. .
A new lure I tried for the first time today; Zipbaits ZBL Zoea Lipple 45F Floating Lure Col:248. A small juvenile shrimp imitation worked very well. I think they may have been designed for Bream but I knew they would catch YFW on days like today.

 
Jackson Ebi Panic in the clear colour comes to the fore in these conditions.
The ever reliable Sugapen in MB16 was still producing the goods. Although it was the smaller 70mm that was successful rather than my fave size, the 95mm.

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As every thing is seen so much clearer on these days, I don’t like to give shy fish a second look at the lure immediately. If they have chased the lure and have not committed, my next cast will be 90 degrees away to let them settle before I cast back at them. On windy and cloudier days fish are more aggressive and you can send repetitive casts their way with out scaring them off.
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The breeze died down later in the afternoon. And the water had glassed off.  Fish were getting timid, not hooking up well with many dropped fish.
I finished with 16 fish. Ranging in size, from 30 to 40CM. With 5 fish around the 40cm mark.
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Sunshine on my shoulder made me very happy on this day.
Cheers, Des
 

Hard to find any upto date data. Looks like just the stock reports from SARDI
At least the references are listed
 
 
Microsoft Word - Marine Scalefish Fishery Assessment Report 2020 - Post PIRSA 24 April final_js_MS_SM_DL.docx
King George Whiting 2020 (fish.gov.au)

Wow 2 on one lure is pretty special

Nice work Des

Fished the dodge tide on Saturday. 

Unfortunately the wind and air pressure conspired to negate what little water movement there was. Rather than accentuate it which is what I was expecting. 
Nonetheless got 16 from 32 to 40cm. Sunday was a blow out !
 


 
 

Nice work Des
Thats an impressive flounder
I'm still waiting to get my first metro Yellowfin. I've seen one or two but they are not schooling up yet

It has been one of the slowest starts to the Yellow Fin Whiting lure fishing season here in S.A.
Adelaide finally got it’s first 30c degree day in 7 months, this November.
It has been a disappointing weather pattern. As soon as we have a warm day, it is followed immediately by a cool change and several days with temperatures in the teens. A sustained warm spell is needed to put some deep set warmth into the water. At present water temps, still hover around the teens.  Well short of the 20+C that makes those big Yellow Fin Whiting rabid hunters. The hotter the better. My favourite YFW spot has the Big Mamas ravenous at 22C.
Nonetheless we have to get our fishing fix and take what is available.
There are plenty of YFW about for the bait fisher. And sub surface lures like the Ecogear ZX are more productive in cooler waters.
At present the most common catch on surface lures are Salmon Trout. In good sizes too, not your small summer sprats.  Their presence is a clear indicator of the cooler water temps.
Flathead are providing a good option to break the monotony of unproductive casts for Whiting.
They don’t mind the current water temperatures. Too hot and the baitfish along with the Flathead disappear from the wading shallows.Whereas the hotter shallow water see the juvenile prawn population thriving and the YFW voraciously feeding on them.
The Ecogear ZX gives you both options. It will take Flathead and YFW. Although you will need to modify your retrieve depending on which fish you want to attract. With whiting it is always the continuous retrieve of a fleeing prawn. For Flathead it is the high lift, pause, retrieve, repeat. For Flathead it is all about the “hang time’” above their eyes. A not infrequent by catch is the odd Flounder. Tasty when cooked fresh. Should you come to a Flathead holding hot spot, my go to lure at present is the OSP Bent Minnow which certainly attracts their attention. These catches in current conditions, necessitate you target a variety. And for those keen on Salmon Trout, you can certainly come away with a full bag.
Mixed bags are what I am getting in these “transitionary” conditions.
But I am keenly looking forward to a heatwave !!!!
Cheers, Des.
 

DODGE TIDES … YOU BEAUTY!
 
Many Yellow Fin Whiting fishers complain about Dodge tides. They find it difficult to catch fish during a dodge.
I feel the dodge tides present an opportunity to easily catch fish.
 
Dodge tides are small and always with a higher water height at low tide. They do not spread the fish out far and wide across the sand flats. The fish are held in a concentrated area for a prolonged spell. Most often the fish will be congregate on the lower food rich sand flats. On nipper and worm rich flats nearer to the weed lines. The experienced YFW fisher who has previously worked the same spots, having previously followed normal tides out and back in, will know the terrain and exactly where to go at their regular spots.
 
At times on a dodge the YFW may seem lethargic and uninterested in your offering. YFW are stimulated to feed by water movement. And normally there is little movement on a dodge tide. However the movement and stimulation can be provided by a variety of other small factors.
 
In the SA Gulfs the tide is amplified the further north you go. So a small tide movement is a bit larger if you chose a location further north in the gulf. The lay of the land, channels, weed beds, etc can accentuate what little movement there is. So fish those spots of slightly greater water flow. Like a sand flat near the opening of a channel that will experience any small water movement from that channel draining or filling.
 
Wind always stimulates feeding in YFW. And even more so on a dodge. Check the forecasts and fish a time when the wind picks up. Late afternoons are good. A strong sea breeze creates a wind tide, with enough movement to stimulate feeding on these otherwise listless “Dodgy days”.  In cooler weather periods, it is the smaller water body of a dodge tide that will warm up quicker. So dodge tides actually present some opportunities.
 
I had a good recent session on a dodge tide. One of frequent good dodge tide sessions. On this day, I started fishing at the bottom of the tide, early in the afternoon. The low tide was at the higher level of 1.00mt. The next high was small and about 12 hours away. There was going to be very little natural tidal movement. However the wind was predicted to turn SW and pick up on this arvo. Given that the opening to our Gulfs face SW,  SW winds in or gulfs always produce a higher tide. And do produce a wind tide. At the bottom of the tide, I was positioned to benefit from any movement. I worked an area of sand flats adjacent the weed line which had a number of channel openings in it.

Any water movement was going to be felt here. Fish were lingering around the area from the start. Lazily cruising around in the extra pools of low tide water that the dodge holds. They took some coaxing at first. But as the wind picked up, they certainly got a lot more aggressive. The water movement was noticeable even if a bit slow, if compared to a regular tide.

There was no need for small lures and timid fishing, with the stiffening breeze. The Sugapen 95 did most of the damage on this day.

Late in the session it got a bit too choppy. A switch to sub surface with the Ecogear ZX caught the last few fish. There were some very solid fish at around 40cm in the catch.
 

It finished up being a very satisfying day going to plan.
 
Cheers, Des

Seacliff is a very good spot to practice. You don't need to be far offshore to catch squid and you can also pick-up other species like snook. It's a very popular spot so there will likely be others around you plus there is the Surf Life Saving Club and yacht club adding to activity and eyes on the water.
However, practicing capsize and re-entry can't be over emphasised. Self rescue should be considered your primary method, never assume someone will be there to help, you must be able to save yourself.  I'm pretty confident on the water, including multi-day self supported tours  circumnavigating islands in West Papua. I still practice capsize and re-entry. As a kid we owned and sailed a Mirror dinghy, the same principle applied and my sailing school made us practice all the time. Even if there was no wind, they would tow us out and we would drill capsize and re-entry over and over again. I've had to call upon my skills many times and would have been in serious trouble if not well drilled.
I make my son practice regularly, even though he hates doing it. One thing I drum into him is never let go of the boat, not only is something you can rest upon, but a kayak is more visible than a person bobbing up and down in the water. Remember that once you flip your capsized kayak back over, if there is a strong wind or swell. your kayak can shoot off from you much faster than you can swim.
It sounds boring, but always plan for safety first and fishing second. Have a plan for the day, where you will be fishing, what time you will launch and return, etc, and make sure someone knows your plan. if you change your plan, let someone know (take your mobile phone with you in a waterproof pouch). Make sure you have all you safety gear packed before you start packing fishing gear. And do a safety check before you launch, bung in - check, hatches secure - check, etc.

How much kayak fishing and ocean kayaking experience do you have? What Kayak?
It can be pretty big water out there. You would want to pick your day and be experienced in deep water reentry and surf launching.
 
Coorong is much easier and more sheltered for the yak.

Headed to Marino Rocks this morning. Water was reasonably clear. Weather was a bit average, wind started to pick up and there a slight drizzle.
I had waders on so was able to get out to a nice little rock ledge and start casting around jigs.
I used slow sinking jigs, but still snagged a couple of times. Luckily I was able to clear the snag each time.
Caught 2 squid over 1.5 hours, not great but better than a doughnut.
As the tide dropped I saw a lure wedged in a rock, which turned out to be a 10g Halco twisty. Nice little find.
A good way to spend the morning.