RogerG

I'll go along with that Ranger, pickled yabbies, stir fried yabbies, yabbie pitza, any sort of yabbie? The last good catch of yabbies that I had is but a distant memory. After the 1996 high river on the murray to be exact. It took only half an hour to fill a twenty litre bucket from two dilly nets, using chook pellets for bait and just off the edge of the backwater in about 50cm of water. I reckon that crays are grossly over rated and prefer crabs. However, there is a little bug in the Spencer Gulf that we call the Balmain Bug, which tastes superb!

pellipeeli11 "now we have new regulations on set lines this may dissapear from my repartee?"I don't know where you have been mate, but set lines have been illegal in SA for years!RogerG

From another post for those who have not seen this alreadyA little gadget that I cobbled together a few years ago to prepare berley is an adapted "Insinkerator" An in sink, garbage disposal unit. This unit makes short work of crab shells and the like as well as macerating fish frames and heads. The set up is a double drainer sink, one side has a cutting/filleting board and the other holds the trays on which to place fillets etc. All the blood and guts, shells, frames and heads go down the sink. The plug hole is about 100mm diameter and the 1hp unit is capable of mashing chop bones. Underneath

Nice one Mickyj,I have a Pflueger PSFY 8056 which has served me well on the trout holes over the past five years. I hope you get a good run out of yours.RogerG

tonyb,I like woolly buggers too, however I never stop experimenting. There are a few "Names" around the world who have tied famous flies and these have been promoted so that others can make a quid out of people. Most of these flies are extremely elaborate and a specialized art form. You are paying for that art, not for the flies ability to catch fish. Walk into a tackle shop and you will find flies costing twenty to thirty bucks each. They are very pretty but will not catch any more fish than some costing a dollar each. One day I found myself sitting on the banks of the Murray, drinking a few

Nice ones Darren. Are the eyes stick-ons? I have some large rattler eyes to stick on mine.RogerG

Yes Micky the old faithful "deceiver" catches both bream and perch so do heaps of other flies and lures. I reckon that it depends on the fish on the day and no amount of expertise will make the fish bite if they are not hungry or playful. Those tinsel flies of mine will catch almost anything if it is feeling hungry. They are also cheap, fast and easy to make and repair and the variations are only restricted by your imagination. I am always on the lookout for new material, it has to be light strong and durable because flies take a lot of punishment and if the material is poor then the fly will

Here is my Squid made from bantam rooster feathers. Untested, but performs OK in the tank, looking forward to spring. Does anybody else have similar?RogerG

Here are afew that have caught reddies for me, the holographic tinsel with a pink body works really well.and one with a chenille wrapped body.This one has a brass swivel attached to the hook to provide extra weight and length then wrapped in yellow chenille with yellow dyed deer hairwith red dyed feathers.A Green Woolie wrapped with black chenille, The green fibres were cut from a Chip as Chips duster brush. I have tied red and orange as well but the perch don't seem too fussyA pink one with a grey bodyMost of the eyes that I use are brass barbell types. The coloured eyes are lead barbell type

A little gadget that I cobbled together a few years ago to prepare berley is an adapted "Insinkerator" An in sink, garbage disposal unit. This unit makes short work of crab shells and the like as well as macerating fish frames and heads. The set up is a double drainer sink, one side has a cutting/filleting board and the other holds the trays on which to place fillets etc. All the blood and guts, shells, frames and heads go down the sink. The plug hole is about 100mm diameter and the 1hp unit is capable of mashing chop bones. Underneath is room for a 20litre plastic container.(Chip fat drum or

Pretz43The billabong would almost certainly hold redfin perch and catfish and a good chance that there are a few trout surviving in the holes along the creek.MickyJIt would be unusual to see trout when walking past since they have excellent eyesight and are very shy. Sitting still, with back against a tree or dense bush, so that you are not silhouetted against the sky, is the best way to eyeball any fish, polarized sunnies help too since they remove the glare from the water. Floating bread will often attract fish even if they are only curious but a square of cheddar(Tasty) cheese is great for

MickyJ regarding Squid on flies, these might be the go with a treble stinger on the tail. Note that the eyes are rattles and are available in much bigger and louder styles. The tails are "chrome" plastic braid but I might just tie some mono and thread it through for the stinger. It would require a 7-8wt fly rod to cast these but you would not want to use anything smaller, especially if the Sambos are around. I just might have to cobble together a brand new fly for targeting squid. Thanks for the idea.RogerG

MickyJ, I finally got around to digging out the wagglers, I noticed that they have "Rattle eyes" These are available from Cheap as Chips etc. in various sizes and are glue on. There are a couple of lose ones out of my kit at the bottom of the pic if you can see them.RogerG

Nice catch and good account GI Joe, My only experience of shark on light tackle was during a weekend in the 60's off Weymouth beach UK, a group of us fished for Tope (Similar to Schoolies) and I landed a 128lb fish on 12lb mono. It took over an hour, running up and down the beach for about half a mile either way. The four of us caught one each and then we were to knackered to fish anymore. Oh to be young and fit again.Guru, I was in Germain Bay, about four or five years ago, fishing from a mates 13' Quintrex when a big mother eyeballed me so close that I could have leaned out and touched it. I

MickyJI suppose that a treble could be effective on squid, I will give it some thought. I have have some "Waggle" flies that a Scottish cousin tied, I will dig them out and perhaps I could incorporate a stinger into there tails for squid :icon_idea:Regarding your West Lakes encounter, I have successfully coaxed them into a large landing net after they chased my flies, but only a couple of times, more likely to happen when there several at the same time. Have an offsider hold the net under the water and lure the squid into it with the fly.RogerG

I use a 9/10wt for most of my jig head flies with WF 10 sinking line and 9lb tippet on a 100mm Olympic and medium to fast retrieve, bloody good fun when the lizards latch on.The one with the stinger I usually use an Abu MT-561CAM (Muscle Tip) with an Abu 6500 cs reel.They all troll fairly well behind the boat and are good on big snook and sambos. I especially like to use the big flyrod around the creek mouths North of Pt Broughton for lizards Also I use a 7/8w with straight flies for bream.MickyJ, I have only ever caught squid on commercially made squid jigs never on a hook RogerG

Some of my effortsOne with a sting in its tail.And a couple of larger onesRogerG

Nice tip yobbo I need to make a new board and will bear that in mind.RogerG

A few of my tube flies.This type catches Kingie RatsNote the double hookUnrigged with chrome braid wrapped tube (Untested)Works on Snook and Flathead good all rounderAll on plastic tube from cut down ball point pen refills. The hair is from fallow deer, a mate supplies me with venison now and then and I always clip some of the longer hairs before skinning it.RogerG

Brass or tungsten eyes might be the go or wrap some wire (Lead or solder ) around the tube. Nice colour for bream.And the daisy bead looks like it should stir up some water. I have used tubes from ball-point pens, cut down, for similar flies.I will post some pics of a few of mine laterRogerG

Make sure that you are getting 100% Tuna Oil, It should by stated on the label. A two or three years ago there was a few shonkies around Adelaide selling stuff that was cut with vegie oil and contained only about 5% Tuna oil, just enough to give it the smell. The genuine stuff sticks like s**t to a blanket and should take quite a while to wash off.RogerG

An alternative is el cheapo sardines in oil, generic brands can be found at around 3 tins for a dollar and come in handy for emergency burly or even crab bait. I usually attach a swivel/clip to the ring pull on the lid and dangle over the transom. With the lid cracked about 5-10mm. Or attach ring pull to crab nets bait clip. They stow easy too!RogerG

VenkovitchThat recipe is for Australian Salmon as caught in the Spencer Gulf. Thanks for the link, keep em coming!Roger

If you treat the squid gently, with a landing net they seldom drop their ink. Take them out of the net, point away from self and gently squeeze until the squid squirts it water jet reserves out then place in ice slurry so that squid goes to sleep. When you pull its head/guts/tentacles off the ink sac is usually still intact. place whole sac with others in a jar of sea water and store in bait fridge or, even better, use fresh from the squid.RogerG

Sunova,I don't know how long it would keep, it tasted so good that we ate it all the same day! I would guess that it would be OK for several weeks refrigerated but it is so easy and quick to do, why keep it?RogerG