Des

Mark, It is always the Food stupid! ... the saying borrowed from political campaigns ! I am sure you will get my drift So it is all about the best conditions for the baitfish. Always follow the baitfish. The falling Tide is best. The baitfish retreat and congregate in weedy areas. Flathead follow and also congregate. I don't get as many on the incoming tide. Too Windy. Little baitfish need protection and head out deeper or into sheltered deeper channels. Too Cold. Deeper water is warmer than the chilly shallows for the sensitive baitfish. And this also applies with

Always so picturesque in your part of the world. Catching fish is a bonus

For the Yellow Fin Whiting Lure fanatics it is time for the withdrawal symptoms to start setting in, as the water temperatures start dropping. Fortunately there is some pain relief, in chasing a few Flathead on lures. Autumn brings a transition for the sandflats lure fisherman. YFW surface lure fishing drops off. Flathead lure fishing picks up. The “Southern Blue Spotted Flathead” becomes more prolific on the sandflats of the Northern SA Gulfs. . And it is the large accumulation of SEAGRASS WRACKS at this time of the year, along with the change in temperature, that starts i

Hi Mark OSP Bent Minnows 76mm or similar: Assist Hooks Size 4: https://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/atomic-trick-bitz-assist-hooks-no-skirt Single Hooks Size 4: https://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/bkk-imp-inline-single-hooks OSP Bent Minnows 106mm or similar: Size 1: https://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/atomic-trick-bitz-assist-hooks-no-skirt Single Hooks Size 2: https://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/bkk-imp-inline-single-hooks Rapala Shadow XRap SXR12 120mm or Atomic HARDZ SLIM TWITCHER 110mm Size 1: https://www.anglerswarehouse.com.au/atomic-trick-bit

The sandflats north of Adelaide, at the top of both the SA gulfs, hold some unique terrain and ecosystems. At low tide, these sandflats can drain out for over 2 kilometres. The tidal movements are, over 3 meters in St Vincents Gulf and upto 4 metres in the upper Spencers Gulf. The water temperature ranges from 11C to 25C. Typical of shallow, protected water bodies, it is a highly productive ecosystem holding a lot of fish and marine life. It is home, for two of my favourite fishing targets, the “Southern Blue Spotted Flathead” -Platycephalus speculator and the “Yellow Fin Whiting” -Sil

Good to know there are a few about the metro beaches. Try keeping your bait moving. YFW love a moving bait. So cast and slow retrieve. Or alternatively walk out to the sand bank in upto waist deep water. Then slowly walk along the sandbank trolling your bait some distance behind you. You will have them, chasing, tapping and soon striking your bait. Good Luck

I never bothered targeting them But I would see people on my evening walk. More often on warmer days. Not sure if the fishers were cooling off by the river or the Carp are more active then Good Luck

STOCK DEPLETION of Yellow Fin Whiting ~ A Summary of Conversations. . I have engaged in a few recent conversations with many longtime Yellow Fin Whiting fishermen since my previous post: “A Threatened Species” … https://www.facebook.com/groups/1383810555282311/posts/3589648064698538/ They are experienced, talented fishers, with well established records, detailed in their many fishing reports in past fishing forums. Stretching back well before the days of Facebook fishing groups. They have all been unanimous in their observations of a steep decline in YFW catches.

On my regular river walks, I would see successful Carp fishers in the spot indicated on my map. Mawsons Lakes is also well known to hold a lot of big Carp

I loved my old Seamartin Mark 2. My go to reel for the surf in the late 70s. It got nicked along with my fishing back pack from a jetty when I left it for a few minutes.

All those spots produced fish regularly. Try the small tides. Both outgoing and incoming. Fish nearer the channels that accentuate the small movement in the tide. Pick a breezy day. Minimum 5 knots upto max 15 knots. SW is best there. Long down wind casts towards shore into shallow shoreside water with the wind in your back. Don't worry if your lure is landing in ankle deep water. Too often people fish too deep. Good Luck

I had a disastrous day last week and could only manage one Yellow Fin Whiting all day. I got the tide and the weather conditions all wrong. I was fortunate to realise the error and managed to back it up the following day by relocating my fishing to a spot better suited to the tide and weather and finished with a bag of 20 large YFW on surface lures. . The sandflats of the upper SA Gulfs are a dynamic environment and ecosystem with many a variable factor that affects fishing. It keeps you thinking. Keeps you on your toes! And we don’t always get it right! One of the most dyn

Thanks MAH. I wasn't aware they were around ... with the winder attached. I will look into it. Cheers, Des

I previously got the tackle shops to do this for me. But with the increasing cost of quality braid these days I have started to source my braid elsewhere. And yes, I am topping up the backing as I shed/use up the braid above. I have been struggling and guessing so far. This will definitely help. It will be easy for the reels that have spare spools and the multiple reels of the same size/model. Thanks. Cheers, Des

I was just about to explain

Getting my head around that For this to work accurately, you will need 2 spools of exact same size and capacity. (good idea BTW) Or is there something I am missing?

That is actually a totally illegal practice. That is clearly illegally "passing off" under the Trade Practices Act. Shimano would certainly not cheapen their Stella brand by licensing this production or sales. That store is treading on thin ice.

Good for a cheap disposable reel I guess. Just like you need with a lot of wading fishing. Only a few dollarsat risk. However as I mostly repetitively lure cast these days that extra 50 - 100 grams is a killer for my R.S.I.

... too good to be true. Not genuine ???? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005627462809.html?spm=a2g0o.pay_result.0.0.60533474AE7Wpg&gps-id=pcSmartCardPaySuccess&scm=1007.10668.131923.0&scm_id=1007.10668.131923.0&scm-url=1007.10668.131923.0&pvid=c37623d8-94d5-4b94-9d9a-46d8e466da44&_t=gps-id:pcSmartCardPaySuccess,scm-url:1007.10668.131923.0,pvid:c37623d8-94d5-4b94-9d9a-46d8e466da44,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238113%231998&pdp_npi=4%40dis!AUD!446.80!40.21!!!290.00!!%402103246c17010876980253250eca24!12000033799501525!rec!AU!722497547!

A sunny Cup day meant getting out for a fish rather than be stuck home watching the races. . The flats were very crowded on race day. There were hordes and hordes of legal but smaller sizes Yellow Fin Whiting in the 25 to 29cm mark. They were a fish a cast for much of the day. But … Not the kind of horses I wanted to back. With so many little mugs about it was inevitable that the sly and the opportunistic would be out there ready to prey on them. . A sunny day on the sandflats is such a delight. The clear visibility and water clarity makes watching the passing parade

That is a Fatty! Great fish

Just so picturesque out there. Who needs to catch a fish. Although that would just top things off! Enjoy your beautiful part of the world Adrian. Hope you have a great season ahead. Cheers, Des

Regular post readers will know I like to fish the dodge tides for Yellow Fin Whiting . I cover a variety of reasons in detail, in this previous post: . One very good reason, is that you will regularly find better quality fish on the dodge tide. YFW movements and feeding are highly influenced by the tide. Revolving around the largest tide of the day, they tend to have a 24 hour digestive and feeding cycles. So even when the tides do not move much on the dodge, they will still have a need to feed within their cycles. The larger YFW have greater food needs and will gener

Warmer water early in the season will certainly bring them into the metro areas earlier. I saw a post from Brighton Tackle claim they had been sighted locally. As I have previously mentioned the ongoing heavy netting of this species over winter in the last few years is having a significant detrimental impact on the overall stock status. Hopefully they are resilient and bounce back.

The seasons are changing. The temperature is rising. The water is warming. It is all happening a bit earlier this year. Lizards are crawling on the roads. And “Lizards” (flathead) are crawling in the sea. Water birds are gathering, lining up for a feast of baitfish from above. The Flathead are lining up for a feast of baitfish from below. In these ambient temperatures, food is plentiful in the shallows. The ecosystem has had a great kickstart with the rise in temperatures and every thing comes alive and thrives on the sandflats. Temperature is the bigge