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doobie

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  1. Like
    doobie reacted to Hunter69 in 3lb brown   
    Caught this brown on fly Monday. Not the longest trout but one of the thickest I've caught. Put up a great fight too. 4lb leader, stonefly nymph. 
  2. Like
    doobie reacted to Hunter69 in 3lb brown   
    20231023_122301_1_1_1.mp4
  3. Like
    doobie reacted to Des in DONKEYS on the DODGE TIDE   
    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 generally preference a bigger meal such as juvenile prawns or clickers.
    With the small dodge tide their feeding will be concentrated to the smaller area, covered by little water flooding in. They will be easier to find.
    The terrain/substrate that holds their preferred food will naturally attract a higher concentration of larger YFW.
    That terrain you can feel under foot. The softer food holding substrate.
    The small tide movement, along with a deeper low tide, holds water over these prime feeding grounds longer. It provides for prolonged access to this zone for both fish and fisher person.
    A better explanation of productive terrain is in this post :
    .
    The dodge tide on Monday with a High of 1.77 mt @ 8.15am  and a Low of 0.97 mt @ 11.36pm provided a long drawn out, run off tide. With a prolonged spell under water, of some prime food holding areas. It looked like an ideal tide and I set off fishing.
    YFW are always stimulated by tide movement to feed. These tides do not provide much of that stimulus. However there are other factors that come into play.
    .
    The day started slowly without a strike for the first hour. The warmth of the day gradually started to take effect and the first to stir were some small Whiting.
    With the warming arvo came an arvo seabreeze, as well as a predicted strengthening southerly wind. YFW love a heavy rippled surface to take cover under and lose their feeding inhibitions. The bite picked up strongly and catches were now steady. In the constrictions of the upper gulfs any lower gulf southerly wind can force water up. A wind tide pushes in. It further stimulated the YFW and kept the feeding grounds covered with a perfect level of water for a wading fisherman.
    .
    I caught my bag of 20 in good time. This situation regularly provides quality fish, with10 of the fish ranging from 38 to 41cm. Most of the remaining 10 fish were around 35cm.
    Sugapen 95 was the most successful lure. Then again I did not need to use a lot of variety.
    The new Sugapen Splash caught it’s share when the afternoon breeze picked up. This is shaping up as the perfect lure for that strong summer afternoon breeze that kicks up a bit of chop.
    A few were also taken on the Ecogear ZX, when I was forced to go subsurface as a pack of persistent juvenile seagulls are yet to learn lures don’t taste good.
    .
    Hopefully we have some more fine weather for the next dodge tide.
    Tight lines all.
    Cheers, Des




  4. Like
    doobie reacted to Des in CHAIN REACTIONS with CHANGING SEASONS   
    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 biggest driver for a series of chain reactions, in the sandflats ecosystem.
    I am forever monitoring the water temperatures.
    The rise in water temperature is early this year.

    A series of natural events occur, which results in delivering us fishers, some fine Yellow Fin Whiting and Flathead.
    Stimulated by the rise in water temperature about now our local Prawns, the Western King Prawn, start spawning in their mid gulf grounds.
    Also now, the Haswell Shore Crabs shrug off their cold weather torpor and also spawn in the inshore shallows.
    Post larval Juvenile Prawns start migrating from mid gulf to the warmer, shallow, inshore waters of the upper gulfs.
    The Haswell Shore Crab larval zoea, now abundant, provides food for the juvenile Prawns and schools of baitfish.
    There is a boom in the population of Juvenile Prawns, Haswell Shore Crabs, and Baitfish in the inshore waters … And also their predators. YFW and Flathead, have moved in, enjoying this abundance of food.
    Having experienced a sustained period of exposure to higher water temperatures, the YFW have now, increased their metabolisms and have developed voracious appetites. The larger predatory YFW that I like to target are now aggressively hunting on the sandflats. Devouring juvenile prawns and shore crabs.
    So it is a perfect time to place myself at the end of these chain reactions and target some YFW and Flathead.

    I took advantage of the warm weekend.
    Given the tides, I selected an area that amplifies the small tide movement and works best on the slower tides.
    I started with chasing Flathead on the falling tide. The Flathead are very active chasing the baitfish as they retreat to the shelter of weedy areas in deeper water.
    Fishing for them in heavily weeded areas does present it’s challenges.

    Lures with trebles catch too much weed. And when a Flathead is hooked they will head into the weed. All the exposed treble barbs, hook onto the surrounding weed and help the Flathead throw the lure.
    I have recently started to use floating hardbodies like OSP Bent Minnows, with singles and assist hooks, for these areas. These hooks pull through the weed easily. So far, I have yet to have a Flathead throw these hooks.


    Look for where the Herons are feeding to show you where the baitfish are and the Flathead will be holding just downstream.
    I was able to extract 3 Solid Flathead that were hiding around the weed, terrorising the baitfish, before the tide slowed.

    Next on the agenda were the YFW. A good depth of water was holding over the softer feeding sandflat areas. Usually you will find this substrate holds more food and fish.
    Whilst not feeding as aggressively as when there is more water movement, the YFW were still keen enough to take a well worked lure offering over the sandflats. My usual favourites, Sugapen, Ecogear ZX and Zipbaits Skinny Pop, were the more successful lures.
    However it is a new season and there are always a few new offerings to try out.
    They did not get too much time in the water but both these new lures took fish.
    The New Sugapen Splash, which is perhaps better suited to a choppier day still took a fish.
    Daiwa’s Slippery Dog 80cm in the colour “Ebi” that I had not previously come across, I thought could work well in this area, had some success.

    A drop in air pressure with a change in wind direction from North to SW, pushed water up into the gulf and provided a small wind tide. The water movement, stimulated the fish to bite late into the afternoon. “Bob the bag snatcher” is also making an early season appearance. I normally don’t see them on the sandflats till November.
    I kept 14 of the better YFW. Most are over 35cm. And the best a very nice 42cm.

    The Flats are Firing early this year !!! Hopefully we can look forward to a great season ahead.
    The only downside is the heavy toll the professionals have taken over this winter as they increasingly search for alternative species to supplement their restricted and dwindling catches.

     
    Tight lines all.
    Cheers, Des
  5. Like
    doobie got a reaction from Meppstas in SCAM STORES   
    Smart thinking fellas and well done on picking the scam bastards  
  6. Like
    doobie reacted to Des in SCAM STORES   
    I got suspicious and overcame my greed/glee !  ...   when there was no PayPal at checkout.
    The prices were just too good to be true ... and free shipping to Australia ! 
  7. Like
    doobie reacted to Kelvin in SCAM STORES   
    If I'm not sure I usually do a whois check of the URL and also check that the company is registered
     
    shimanostore.com whois lookup - who.is
     
  8. Like
    doobie reacted to Kelvin in SCAM STORES   
    The Otto's combos tab is interesting. Looks like they have lifted their data from Otto's Tackleworld website.
     
    Hard to stay on top of all the scam sites as it is just too easy to register a website these days. Once they are caught out they just start another website.
    Other than price, the first thing I do if I'm suspicious is check the about us section and see if there is a name, contact detail, history of the brand and location, then check if they have a social media presence.
     
  9. Like
    doobie reacted to Des in SCAM STORES   
    Alan Hawk has a long list of Scam Stores
    https://www.alanhawk.com/blog/zmb.html
     
  10. Like
    doobie reacted to Des in SCAM STORES   
    Could all members add to a list of Scam Stores in this thread.
    I recently came across this store:
    https://www.shimanostore.com/spinning-reels-shimano-vanford-2500-hg-spinning-fishing-reel/
    It just seemed too good to be true !  
    A few checks on the web highlighted it as a scam store
     
  11. Like
    doobie reacted to bjorn2fish in Best 3 Jigs   
    Hi guys, great topic this one!
    I've had some computer issues and been unable to get on the past few days and missed the above post. Someone has moved to the Squid Files for future reference 😉
  12. Haha
    doobie reacted to Softy in SEASON OPENER   
    Geeze Des you don't mess about. I've not even considered them yet.. still wearing my Oodie around the house.

    Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk


  13. Like
    doobie reacted to Des in SEASON OPENER   
    Spring has sprung with a couple of days of warmish weather getting it started.
    It seemed a good chance to try Lure fishing Yellow Fin Whiting and kick off this season with perhaps a catch or two.
    The YFW lure box has not seen daylight for awhile. It was time to freshen up the lures by replacing the now well rusted out assist hooks on them.
    The reels have been greased and oiled up. Trying best to prepare them for a season of abuse and dunking that wading fishing will inevitably deliver them.
    All prepared I set off for a couple of days in search of my first lure caught YFW for this season.
     
    The plan was to fish both warmish days ahead, determined to get off the mark for the season. I had also planned on fishing two different areas on either side of the upper St Vincent Gulf, hopefully increasing my chances.
    Day one, was a hard slog with barely a YFW sighted. But plenty of Flathead about. The other variety that comes to life in Spring on the Sandflats. I spooked a few.  I dropped a couple. I had not prepared my lures by replacing the rusted hooks. They certainly will be a focus of my next session.
    I had to resort to bait to find a few YFW and keep me informed as to the whiting’s presence and whereabouts.
     
    Day two, which I felt might be the better day, as a result of the water warming after a couple of warm days. It proved to be the day.
    It did take some effort with fish finally taken later in the day on the incoming tide. Again, probably the warmest weather spell of the two days.
    I did not experiment at all with any new lures and stuck to my old favourites of the Ecogear ZX and the Bassday Sugapen.
    Only 2 of the 8 lure caught fish were taken on the surface. Their body temperatures and metabolisms are still low. Making them a bit lethargic to be aggressive surface predators. As in past seasons the sub surface lures usually starts the season more successful.
    Another influencing factor is, awaiting the arrival into the shallows, of the new season’s juvenile prawns from their annual, mid gulf spawn. The availability of this seasonal food source will also stimulate predatory surface feeding behaviour.
     
    There is a considerable difference in water temperature on the two sides of the St V  Gulf. The Eastern side being far shallower, is the first to warm up. The Western side was significantly cooler. However this will soon even out after a more prolonged spell of warm weather.
    There are signs of a promising season ahead with some very hot conditions predicted.
    Every cloud has a silver lining.


  14. Like
    doobie reacted to Tri-Man in YFW Sighted!   
    Was out there last school holidays and there would have been at least 15 big whiting pushing the shallows. What confused me was how unphased they were with people swimming. Tried my luck but they just were not interested. They can be bloody fussy at times!!
  15. Like
    doobie reacted to Knackers in Anybody want to Fish Coffin Bay?   
    If any of you fine people are over here in the lower EP send me a message. Always looking for deckies for a fish. My local mates are pretty elderly so don't handle offshore to well with bad backs etc. It is not a charter so you don't have to pay for fuel. Just mates going for a fish.
  16. Like
    doobie reacted to MAH in Whats your Favourite way to cook fish?   
    Tommy Tortilla

    La Banderita tortillas Guacamole
    Salsa made from tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, salt, pepper, olive oil and lime juice (coriander is also a nice addition)
    Japanese mayonnaise (I like Kewpie brand) 
    A few dashes of Tobasco Chipotle Sauce
    Fresh tommy fillet
     
  17. Like
    doobie reacted to Knackers in Is there any crayfish in Port Turnton or Edithburgh jetty?   
    Got some nice Tuna this year close in. Now they are over your way
     
     

  18. Haha
    doobie reacted to Knackers in Is there any crayfish in Port Turnton or Edithburgh jetty?   
    Doing it tough mate.
  19. Like
    doobie reacted to Knackers in Is there any crayfish in Port Turnton or Edithburgh jetty?   
    Not sure how experienced you are or whether you're talking about SCUBA or snorkelling, shore dive or boat. But none around there. Corny point is an option and everywhere south. It is not for the faint hearted or inexperienced though. I could give you easy spots around there but they are hard won. Take care for your first Cray. I got my first one at 14. Photos are me at 18 and then 2 weeks ago.


  20. Like
    doobie got a reaction from bjorn2fish in Boat Ramp and Surf Web Cams   
    Seems the Seacliff club has 2 cams now.
    Here's the other 'original' still going https://www.ipcamlive.com/slsc
  21. Like
    doobie got a reaction from Rob62 in Boat Ramp and Surf Web Cams   
    Seems the Seacliff club has 2 cams now.
    Here's the other 'original' still going https://www.ipcamlive.com/slsc
  22. Like
    doobie reacted to Meppstas in Razor Fish Tongs   
    Hi Darryl,
    Here's an old YouTube video of a similar set of tongs that I used back in the day when I lived in Sth Aust and fished for KGW in the Outer Harbour area on the opposite side of the revetment wall, mine only has two tongs on each  side and they worked very well, I used to get plenty of razor fish there.. Plus I don't thing Panga (Linsay) comes on the site anymore, haven't heard from him for ages..
    cheers Adrian..
     
  23. Like
    doobie reacted to Meppstas in A twenty one trout day..   
    Thanks doobie, the walk was well worth it too, one of my better days..
    cheers
    Adrian
  24. Thanks
    doobie got a reaction from Meppstas in A twenty one trout day..   
    After a 35 minute 'hike' to get to the stream, it was great session for you Adrian.
    And 7 in a row - lucky 7 😁
    Nice video as usual.
     
     
  25. Like
    doobie reacted to Meppstas in A twenty one trout day..   
    This was one of my better trips to a small stream when the trout were on fire..
    cheers
    Adrian
     
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