Wahoo

As Piranha said, NT is the place to go & the runoff is the prime time for numbers. So if it's Barra only then that's the time to go. however, later in the dry they can still be caught, the conditions aren't as oppressive and the offshore fishing is better if you want a trip with everything. Went to Darwin for a conference in late August 3 years ago and a bunch of us organised some guides and filled 3 boats for a half day at Shady Camp, my first Barra came in at 86cm, the guide said it's all downhill from there. Only got a few between the 3 boats but the biggest went 89cm and I dropped one a good 90cm+ at the boat :sick: so they're still around just not in the large numbers you get in the runoff.

Been using it on the boat for years. Standing at the centre of the stern with the wife on 1 side, the Mother in law on the other and rods overhead in the rocket launcher it's the only way to go. I do it the other way though, I lift the rod tip and keep the line under the rod, by grabbing the sinker (paternoster rig) & putting plenty of bend in the rod I can get longer and more accurate casts than they can :woohoo:

@ Kon. Gregorian Easter is invariably late March through to mid April.I mean, like, seriously Mr Meedja...WTF?Not wishing to offend the Christians but Easter is held on the weekend of the first full moon after the Northern Hemisphere spring equinox, hence the moving dates. It is an ancient Norse festival of Oestrus signifying the rebirth (Spring), it's why we give Eggs! Just another festival stolen by the Vatican when they were trying to tie down dates.KGW must have not heard of it and have stayed out wide 'til the water cools, maybe!

Just back from a 9 day fishing trip, least said about that the better, and came across this thread. The Wahoo in my Avatar went 20+kg on 50lb stand up gear, I'm only a little bloke & I reckon it put as much hurt on me as it did the fish. Big charter boats like to keep some way on when you're fighting a fish so I've got the boat going one way and a Wahoo doing what felt like 100km/hr in the other, I seriously didn't think it was going to stop. When finally landed we discovered it was foul hooked near the tail, no wonder it went so hard. Many years ago fishing out of a 12 foot tinny at fishermans beach channel hooked a black ray on 20lb mono that was waaaay biger than the boat, that towed us around for over half an hour with the drag locked up. When the barb came over the gunwhale we decided to cut it off :ohmy: 4lb brown trout on 3lb mono in Victoria, that fight went hard and long in a small snag filled pool!Almost spooled by an unseen monster in the bay at Stansbury last week on 10lb braid. Take your pick :cheer:

Before some smart arse comes on and say's "It's at Stansbury" I'll answer for you. Stansbury is on lower Yorke Peninsula about 20kms North of Edithburgh & about 20km south of Port Vincent. Due to the shape of the coastline it has a large sandspit running offshore in a NE direction for a few kilometres. The spit is home to many razorfish, blue swimmers, squid, tommies, garfish, flathead, snook, KGW and about half a dozen oyster farms. Check it out on Google Maps

Just been reading some of the thumper KG threads in this section & thought I'd share these.Fishie mentions in another thread the power hauling and netting that used to occur on the Stansbury Spit. For years all you could get inside the spit were undersized KGW, waste of time fishing there if you were after KGs. These 2 were caught back in early December, inside the spit in less than 3 metres of water. Both were caught using 6lb braid with 10lb mono trace and size 4 circles. Biggest (caught by the fair one) went 56cm, mine went 51cm. :woohoo: Dropped a similar size one at the boat the next day. Going back in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed.Cheers Wahoo

Lately I've been putting the burley pot over the bow or even down the anchor rope to try & get the buggers up front and away from the baits. Seemed to work last trip but can't guarantee it every time CheersWahoo

Hi Scaley Tom & Wishing2BFishingDon't know if this link will work http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/pirsa/media_list/fisheries/two_whyalla_men_convicted_for_great_white_shark_offences Wahoo

In addition to the offshore stuff & Ningaloo Reef. Exmouth also has superb flats fishing with Bonefish & Permit available. There are a couple of guides offering fly fishing for both.

@ THF Inside a pool fence is the only way my missus will go swimming for just that reason.@JM. Yeah, they did release the findings last year. Personally I always like listening to presentations as you often get to hear little anecdotes, some of which can be pure gold, which don't make it into peer reviewed scientific papers. Depends on the presenter of course, I've not yet heard Dr Huveneers so can't comment on his style.Dr Harris (the other presenter) on the other hand I know is an entertaining speaker and for the divers on here he is a well known cave and technical diver.

Bump.Just a reminder, 1 week to go if you want to find out all the research info on the shark shield.

Plus one for Snapper Safaris. Mike also does extended far west trips based at Fowlers Bay. A number of guys at work have been out with him from Broughton and always come back satisfied. There was an article about his operation in Wildcoast a year or so back.

Sorry to hear of your loss.Well said Chuck TStansury has been my home away from home for the last 15 years or so. Over the years there have been concerted attacks on the caravan parks, particularly the back park where I'm based over there, by out of town thieves. One year they removed a number of auxilliary outboards from boats in one night, they then did one of the other peninsula parks the next night. About a year ago someone went through the park removing fishing gear from boats during the night, also likely to be an out of towner. Always found the locals to be friendly and helpful.Wahoo

Your Welcome. It's what I did when I started.

If your schneider's getting memory retention it can possibly be that it's too heavy a breaking strain for the diameter of the spool. I've used it in the past without too many problems.I've been using 6lb braid for KGW for years now & have now changed to braid on all my regular outfits, I wouldn't go back but it's a personal thing & you probably need to try braid on 1 outfit first & see how you go with it.If your existing schneider is in good condition you could strip off the top 60metres or so & then top shot with 150metres of braid. Knots are the clincher, you need extra wraps/turns and lubrication. Learn some good leader to braid knots, there are a few out there & Geoff Wilson's book Fishing Knots and Rigs is a worthwhile investment. Fishing World website also has some knot videos that are good value.Hope this helps.Wahoo

I've caught them on the top dropper of a KGW paternoster rig when I'd threaded a small SP onto a size 4 baitkeeper hook so it's worth a try.Wahoo

I'm with TT on this one. Having said that, a size 4 circle is quite a small hook and a cockle doesn't leave a lot showing, but yeah, when they're picky I go to a cocktail. CheersWahoo

A belated Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year to all also.To the topic.Over the last few months I've noticed much talk amongst the Kayak fishos, and some spear fishermen, on the topic of shark shields. There was also a thread mentioning the work of Dr Charles Huveneers with said shark shield. At the RAH Hyperbaric Unit we run a Divers Forum every year where we try and get guest speakers to present topics of interest to the local sport diving community. This year we have been fortunate enough to get Dr Huveneers to agree to present his research work with Shark Shields and Great White Sharks. As this topic may be interesting to the 'Yak fishers and spearos as well as any sport divers on the forum, Bjorn has agreed to let me advertise this presentation on Strike & Hook.Date is 13th February and cost will be $20.00 per ticket, bookings are essential. All details on the attached pdf.This is usually a well attended event, informative and fun. Guided tours of the Hyperbaric unit for those interested are provided after the presentations.Hope to catch up with some of you there.CheersWahoo

RAHDiversForum2013.pdf

Sorry. The screws for the inner plate are actually on the outside, another reason to get the handle off first. Writing this from memory at work, not with one in front of me!

Re the Ambassadeur 10000C. Don’t know how much experience you’ve got stripping & cleaning overheads so I might be teaching you to suck eggs & as Crispy said, if not sure, get it done by a professional. This link will get you a schematic http://www.abugarcia.com/support/reel-schematics?field_schem_numb_value=10000c Basic pull down of these is by the knurled knobs on the right hand plate (the one with the handle). They’re designed to get that plate off quickly so you can access the spool to unpick tangles or change centrifugal brake blocks. For a complete pull down, take the handle & star drag off first, makes the rest a bit easier. Once handle & star drag are off you can undo the knurled knobs & remove the right hand plate, then remove the spool trying not to drop any of the centrifugal brake blocks which can sometimes slip off their posts.Put aside right hand plate for later and take the reel frame. Undo the 4 screws holding the left hand plate to the frame and separate the two. In the left hand end plate is a roller bearing. If the level wind feels sticky strip, clean and lube. Right hand end plate is the tricky bit. Undo the screws on the inside part (next to the spool) place the end plate handle side down and remove the inner plate. This will expose all the gearing etc. Then it’s a case of servicing each piece in turn making sure you lay everything out in order and correct side up, especially the drag washers! Tricky bits are free spool mechanism and the non-reverse pawl. Not going to get into cleaning and lubing as we will end up with a few thousand different ideas on that one and I’m sure there must be someone on here who does it professionally.

@ TT Headed round to Stansbury over on YP. For a quick weekend getaway. Wind played havoc for the whole time making the fishing hard. Picked a few squid and crabs. Squid coming on the Pink Sephias. Cheers TTThat wind played havoc most of the next week as well TT. got out twice in 8 days. There were snook around the jetty lights at night. We managed a couple of 50cm+ KGWs in the boat. I'll post some pictures later.Wahoo

@TB Loving the long nose release pliers used!Look like 9 inch artery forceps. Surgical Stainless steel, clip together at the top so they don't come undone. Been using my pair for over 30 years and still going strong. You can sometimes buy cheap imitations in tackle shops but they don't last as long and they're not as rigid. Wahoo

Pretty sure you'll find that number 5 refers to size. Used to use the little ones for trout, they're killers on browns!

Hi AFFGravel pits are generally old quarries that have been put to good use by turning them into fishing lakes. Don't know about now, but back when I was fishing them over 30 years ago they were generally, but not always, pay to fish. The quarry owners turned them into fishing lakes & then charged you to go fishing there, sort of keeping an income from something that wasn't used any more. Generally well stocked and very good fisheries so we didn't mind paying, especially in Hampshire, which just happens to be where I'm from originally, there is a preponderance of super expensive chalk stream/rivers for trout and salmon, but coarse fishing opportunities were limited until these gravel pits started opening up.As you can see from Paul's videos the lakeside vegetation suggests that some of these lakes have been around for quite a while and some had excellent reputations for Pike even before I left the UK in 1981.Interesting to see that despite the number of different hard bodied lures being made for virtually all species of fish these days, Paul is still catching Pike on a good old Mepps number 5. If it aint broke, don't fix it.CheersWahoo

Eye splice would have been my suggestion. They're easy enough when you've done a few hundred 3rd strand of the first tuck is the key. If you have too much troubly let me know & I'll see if we can sort a time & venue for teaching.