Underpants

http://www.strikehook.com/index.php/topic/15594-pickling-squid/?hl=%2Bpickled+%2Bsquid&do=findComment&comment=181447

Gonna pickle my next lot.

Would suggest a more 'old fashioned' approach of talking to people? -Very easy to ignore/delete an email.

I find if one takes the time to speak to someone face-to-face or even over the phone they are more likely to actually listen in the first place. When you are able get some message across and present your case results may prove more positive!

No one will give money or goods away if they are unable to percieve a benefit to themselves or their business.

Rememeber we're capitalism not altruism and convice them why is worthwhile!

This is how i did my last couple of batches of squid from the freezer, salt & pepper style.

• 4-5 squid tubes (mid 20cm+)
• 250 g cornflour
• 1tbls pepper corns
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tsp each garlic, ginger & chilli powders
• 3 egg whites
• oil for frying, i used sunflower.
• newspaper & paper towel.

Thoroughly clean squid & slice tubes into rings. Lay rings out to dry on newspaper & paper towel.

Grind pepper and salt. Mix into flour with remaining spices in a bowl.

Beat eggwhites in a small bowl.

Toss rings in flour mix, dip in egg white and finish off with flour again.

Batch deep fry in hot oil 180-190deg for no more than a min. Test temp with a bit of squid or bread.

Serve straight away with sweet chilli sauce or whatever takes yout fancy.

This time i used the bbq 'casue the deepfryier was hadnt been cleaned from a few times ago. I think it was called a 'roasting dish' or something along those lines?

I usually use squid once frozen for a while as i find it easier to skin and a little more tender. I gut, remove wings prior to freezing whole tubes.

Tenticles are ok but make better bait than grub.

Wings are a pain in the a**e as they are inconsistent thickness to cook. Last time one rolled up and spat hot oil on my eyelid. This time i ditched the wings and wore my polycarbonate faceshield!

I was inspired by a recent episode of River Cottage, where Hugh made a cerviche with bull mullet.

Thinking salmon was going to be relatively easy for me to come by and similarly oily,decided to give something different a go. A current oversupply of lemons & limes was helpful too.

Here goes:

•  ST fillets - skinned, de-boned, bloody bits removed and chopped in 3cm or so chunks (mine were from 6 x 35-40cm fish)
• 1 tsp each minced garlic & ginger
• handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• fresh chilli to taste, finely chopped
• lemon/limes freshly juiced

Mix all together in a pyrex dish and juice enough lemon/limes to just cover the fish. Cover and refridgerate for 3 hours.  Remove and eat.

The fish is 'cooked' by the juice and changes colour as if its been cooked conventionally.

Pretty simple and tasty. Not overly sour as the ST flavour holds its own. Mine needed more chilli!

Alas does say "summer & pilsner" to me.

I've always used a 3-way Shogun swivel like the one blelow. Only been able to find them on Mo.

Running a 50-60cm sacrificial line of softish mono (roughly 50% mainline breaking strain) from the swivel to a 3-4oz snapper lead.

Alas you're still going to lose leads this way tho.

usually 2 snooded 4/0 suicides but i'd like to go Kelvin's way with circles if i could confidently hold a bait on them .

As you say; take in all the slack on the line, give it a good heave to lift everything of the reefy stuff and wind like crazy to start with untill you're happy it's all clear.

Never actually caught any on this rig .....but im coppying my 'LB metro snapper expert mate' who has caught dozens on this at the same spot. I just cant put in the hours he does.

Dried them out on newpaper as best i could, dipped in metho for a minute, back on fresh newspaper to dry out again, zip-locked bags & into the freezer.

First time ive done this so im not entirely sure how they will perform for bait later in the year.

final result, a few vacuum sealed packs of worms ready for the northern flats

Good to hear you were able to get onto them.

Nth Flats are my plan too! After wetting the waders there last weekend, im getting pretty keen.

Damn should have vac packed some too.

Got there after 8, left around 11 last night so a couple of hours work. The quantity in the water got more as the night went on but i reckon they where smaller. Anywho, 2/3 a decent sized bucket full is going to keep the freezer nice abd full, now to use them. Was an interesting car ride back down south with them between my legs!!

Bucket with a lid (lid on!). Bucket inside a plastic tub. All in the boot. Easy.

Indeed, nice one

Half doz or so blokes up on the fishing platform when i arrived at round 2115. 

Quick G'day to Kelvin and i netted mine from the platform's footings just below.

1/4-1/3 a 10lt bucket in 35min. Took me longer to get there than collect what i wanted!

Easier than cockling and didnt even get wet.  1000s were just floating right past the rocks at your feet. A most satifying 1st time worming session.

A pleasant evening, not all cold, farily calm and gentle winds. Beat staying home watching on TV.

Recon ive 'saved' $300 based on the price i paid for a little tub at the tackle shop last week .

!

A few members make the 'breakaway' style.

http://www.strikehook.com/index.php/topic/24158-breakaway-sinkers/?hl=breakaway

I gather there are a few different designs, 'Breakaway', 'Gemini' both pommy.

http://www.breakaway-tackle.co.uk/index.php?route=common/home

http://www.gemini-tackle.co.uk/

http://www.uk-hooks.com/category.php?selected=891&page=1

I bought some off torpedo7 to trial....just havnt managed to trial them yet  .

Thanks folks.

Will learn the slim beauty and FG, see what im more comfortable with.

The double uni is already in my arsenal as the in the easier leader knot to tie out on the water when the pre tied leader busts.

Ok so we had the new moon sunday night just gone. I was thinking of having a dab off the OH breakwater....just few queries for those in the know:

• Are tuesday/wednesday the nights to go?
• With high tides around 1800hrs and low midnight, what time is it good to head out- in terms of how much into the run-out tide until its worthwhile?
• Are the predicted NW winds useful?  Blowing them into the OH breakwater?

Anyone else out there keen on teeing up a group LB bait collection session?

Been using the Albright Knot for my lighter lure casting outfits; 5-12lb braid with 2-3m of 8-15lb flourocarbon leader.

I always tighten the knot down and cut the tag ends nice & short with a tiny dab of super glue on each.

Nevertheless ive experienced  issues with the knot catching at the smaller guides, seems to flip sideways or the leader tag  catches the main line.

Recon the knot is too 'long' creating a longer than necessary section that is rigid. Dont like how leader tag faces forward where its more likely to catch (even tho i try to smooth it with the bit of super glue too) & doesnt perform to my satisfaction.

A mate swears by the Slim Beauty, looks a bit messy but is pretty small and the leader tag faces backwards...... should i learn the FG?

Experiences/recommendations please!

Young fella on pg 75 with the horse kgw looks familiar............

Nothing fancy, a combination the first two plus whaterver else is available :

• frames/heads/skin/guts of tommie, mullet, ST ect
• old bait, especially stuff thats been unfrozen and refrozen a few times and becomes too soft.
• crab shells, prawn shells, juice
• razorfish guts & juices

Usually all gets frozen untill as there is enough accumilated to knock up a batch. The soft stuff usually goes thru a hand mincer on a coarse grind (18mm holes), shells broken up roughly by hand.

Or more recently carp thru the garden mulcher.http://www.strikehook.com/index.php/topic/24886-carp-for-burley/

A liberal dash of tuna oil, oil leftover from jars of anchovies and a bit of bran(tommies, LJs & sweep love bran!) if things are too juicy! Frozen into 2lt icecream or 750ml takeaway containers.

Distributuion 'system' is the tricky part and where im still struggling to learn! Needs to be in the right scenario where it isnt just washed away from where you are trying to fish.

Im a LB fisho so currently a bag made of gutter guard, onion bag or the like. Anchored via a rope with rocks for weight or 1/2 a house brick extended from the roap tail.

The latter is great to wade out and drop in a tidal flats hole/gutter on the dusk rising tide with a float & glow stick attached. Sit back and cast in the dark to the perfect spot.

All said, nothing wrong with a tin of Black & Gold sardines catfood, a dash of tuna oil and 1/2 doz handfulls of chook pellets (old bread, bread crumbs, bran ect). Great to throw out by hand into the feed zone or mash into a feed spring/sinker.

Have not had any experience with pelicans but have had silver gulls fly into my line and become entangled on two separate occasions,  LB metro.

Whilst i share no love of the silver gull, i have no intention on injuring and causing pain to any animal, such was somewhat disturbing.

Not to mention a major pain in the a**e with an oversupply of ignorant onlookers; had some lefty-fruitcake come up and tear into me.

All the while this poor bird was getting smashed in the breaking waves against the rock wall. When i was finally able to go down and attempt to untangle it, it was stressed to the max, saturated & exhausted. I did the humane thing and put it out of its misery .

Nice and bloody but bugger all oil, needs a liberal dash of tuna oil for that general purpose burley feel.

Rover Chip & Shread. Had it for 6-7 years. Not cheap and probably not what i'd buy now. PM if you want my (limited) experiences.

carp + 4.5HP 4Stroke =

......a bit of bran to soak up the excess juice.

Kinda reminds me of the movie Fargo.

SMSd a mate " Wanna drown some bread?". He handnt wet a line since Mar last year   and his missus was under the weather, having an nanna nap so was pretty keen.

As he lives down that way, we checked out that "secret spot" in the pic above.

Nothing moved 3 times over 3hrs.....changed baits bread, corn & nightcrawlers. SFA !

Damn it was geting cold standing round talking s**t with no bites so decided it was time to pack up and have a beer.

We were fishing slightly apart from each other, so had to walk back to my rods. Noticed the braid on my heavy outfit (8lb vs 6lb)wasn't as slack as i left it , tho not tight either (bail arm was open). Lifted the rod, expecting nothing, bang set the unweighted circle into a fat carp!

Bit of a run, jump out of the water and certainly didnt want to come in. After around 15mins mate was able to grab the leader and get is foul juices on his hands as a consolation prize.

A filthy, fat mud monster. Went 64cm and must have been over 5kgs, estimated only (think i'll invest in some scales).

I know its not the biggest but hey, havn't been fishing for ages so was pretty stoked. Plus only the 3rd time ive targetted carp and certainly my PB.

One interesting note: this was landed at 1700hrs, i took it home in a plastic bag in the back of hte ute and chucked it on the front lawn, so the young fella could have a look (might turn it into burley yet?). At 2200hrs when i hit the sack,  it was still gulping!

Mate was saying he used to catch them at Mannum, take them back home (in Adelade). Once chucked them in the bathtub full of water just for the hell of it (his missus must have been away) recons overnight, half hand fully revived!

Thought he was full of s**t but after last night, i beleive that story. Man they are nasty, tough SOBs!

Your shoes/boots with the best grip & ankle support.

Echo coments to travel light, always keep one hand free to assist balance/grab rocks as required.

It's a hard walk.

You can't 'predict' the rock structure at all like you would be able with natural reef/rock fishing as it is entirely artificial plus a hotchpotch of rock types. Some of those are well weathered, some are not. Some will move (quite a bit) as you jump from one to another and can be slippery due to any weathered, chalky loose surface before you add rain & spray to the mix. Keep your momentum from one rock to the next rather than a stop-start walk.

Im fit & quite competant on rocks but last time out there i fell near the end and bruised my hip joint (& busted my reel)  was sore for months & haven't been there since! (easily 2 years ago)

Not to put you off in any way....the OH breakwater sucks bigtime.

That said, did catch my first snapper there, sub legal, nevertheless fun dragging away from the rocks on 6lb line!

Think the general consensus was to wait til the run post July's new moon (27th). Ill try to have my first go then.

Finally had a crack at 2 reels; a Penn Slammer 560 followed by a Shimano Sienna 2500FD.

I have never stripped a reel before, do have some general mechanical aptitude but are by no means a 'gun'. I conducted some basic research primarily from the above links, few vids off YouTube & a chat with Mozzie from Gotcha Tackle.

An added bonus that neither of these reels were considered particulary valuable either.

Penn Slammer 560

I started with the Slammer as the Penn's have a reputation for being one of the simpler reels to work on. This was second hand, so i didnt know what it had been subjecttd to, otherwise appeared in excellent condition other than some cosmetic scratches and some sand on the outside & under the spool.

This link was a great start: http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=3205.0

It refers to a 760L as opposed to the 560 but Slammers are nearly identical, other than size plus mine lacked the Live Liner function.

It appeared to be logically put togeather and it amost 'intuative' to strip & reassemble. This wasnt easy but certainly not hard.

There was some grey discolouration of the grease, expected with Al alloy gears, other then that no real issues. So i stripped, cleanend off all the sand and old grease, re-greased, lubed & re-assembled.

It seems fine, just needs to be propely loaded up & tested in the field!

Shimano Sienna 2500FD

The Sienna had been well used wading and had experienced numerous splashes & partial drownings. It was starting to feel rather 'clunky' and i had just about ended its working life.  Glad i started with the Penn as this was a little harder, much due to its smaller size making it fiddly.  Otherwise all the components were similar and function in the same way.

Internally the grease was similary discoloured but there was some obvious signs of corrosion on the alloy gears, likely from some earlier salt water intrusion. Drag washers also looked a bit past it. Nevertheless i cleaned, lubed & re-assembled. Now feels much better. Not new-like but certainly a different reel.

So as long as you are not a mechanical missfit, give it a go it's not that hard! Some advice would be:

• Find an hour or so where you can concentrate on the reel uninterupted (i found this the hardest part of the whole task!)
• set up your area first, plenty of room, good lighting & tools
• have the exploded schematic diagram close handy
• plenty of small rags & some newspaper
• a couple plastic containers to store small bits

i used:

• Cotton buds, an old toothbrush & a small stiff paint brush for cleaning
• A glass jar partial full of white spirits to soak off greasy gears
• Inox mx3 as a light oil (plus helped clean stuff) & Inox mx6 grease (no particular reason other than it came in a handy 30g tube with a nozzle).

I'd certainly do it again if one of my reels gets a dunking or otherwise feel unsatisfactory. Might add that none of my reels are considered 'high end', most expensive being a Symetre 4000FL.

One of my mates has an old overhead fibreglass rod he generally fishes with a spin reel as a salmon bait outfit.

Hang on, he doesnt believe in using a shock leader lure fishing with braid ......maybe give his experience a miss !

Ok i can wait til July's....just getting a bit keen me thinks!