Mr_Willy

well i'm convinced theres a kingie in westlakes coz he's eaten all the bream!!! thats my excuse anyway and i'm sticking with it!!

So with this long running debate I'm wondering how long its going to take till someone gets some juvenile kingfish and releases them one dark night into the lake just to prove a point. :whistle:

Some pretty big fish leave and reenter the Lake,there is a Large grill at the inlet pipe and a similar at the outlet but they would almost be 30cm square,I know Ballz has tagged reasonable schoolies in the port that have been recaught in the lake 12 months on.As to whether there are Kingies in there......who knows? i reckon one day if the number of Port rats improve then its a possibility. cheers brenton

Ive been watching this thread with interest, as I was lucky enough to get stuck into a school of rugger snapper in west lakes near the rowing club with fellow angler J Walkley. All fish where approx 33-35cm.I was planning on fishing the same area the following year to see if they had grown to legal but didnt get round to it as I live down south.Just the sheer array of fish in the lakes indicates that anything and everything can get in there as juveniles.The big question we need to ask is, are the rat kings that we see along our coasts...ie Marino (where I hooked about an 8lber), are these escaped farm fish..if so then they may have escaped at an age that is too big to get into west lakes. It seems to me that no one has caught any Rat kings that are tiny, and I mean a size that could swim into the lakes. Not sure exactly what size they would need to be, but Im thinking that the Kings are not breeding in Gulf st vincents at all. Ie not spawning? if someone could categorically say that yes, they have spawned in this gulf, then at that stage, I would say there is every chance that they will find there way into the lakes as the Snapper did and all the other fish that are currently found in there!Cheers,Brett

Your an idiot mate, your trying to heckle logic to make YOURSELF feel better MATEMr Willy, I agree with you 100% Translocation of fish eggs via birds is a big possibility if you still want to argue, however i have no doubt in my mind that if anything of a small enough size wants to go into the lake it will. fish do what they want, and "you never know". i dont even want to write anymore as it seems such a 'no brainer" to me.Guess its cus i haven't got my brain smothered with Berkeley stickers

So obviously you are the be all and end all of West Lakes fishing samboman, how did the squid get in there in the first place?? Must be some rare form of flying squid???And how did the Mulloway, Bream, etc. get in there in the first place?? Maybe they are a rare form of flying fish???And for what its worth, my best mate at school grew up not 100m from West Lakes so I have fished it at lot more than the average angler......But I am sure there is no way I have fished it as much as you Samboman.... Or caught anywhere near the number of variety of fish that you have..... How on earth could someone of done that!??

For variety Screwpile Jetty is good.... can catch pretty much anything off there..... but can also make the long walk and not get a bite!!

Do you regularly fish in the river Murray? Yes I doHow often do you fish in the Murray? Depending on season - as much as once a week when the fish are on - at least once a monthHow long have you fished in the Murray? Since I was 5 - fished with lures targetting Murray Cod for 5 or 6 yearsDo you ever target Murray Cod? Most definitelyHave you ever caught a Murray Cod, or seen one caught? Yes caught a few myself, seen plenty of others caughtHow many Cod do you think there are today compared to ‘pest’ species in the river? (highlight)Very Few Few Average Plenty Abundant.I would say few when compared with 'pest' species, but I think there are a lot more Cod in the river than most people would realise, and with the current water conditions it is only going to get better.Do you feel that Murray are fine, endangered or critically endangered? Murray Cod? I think they are between fine and endangered - but I think the current water flow will do more to help them than anything the government can doDo you think the necessary steps are being taken to improve their numbers and maintain the species?Slowly they are getting there - I think the total catch and release was a long time coming and will only help - the ban that was in place recently I don't think would help mainly because there are those out there who do the wrong thing and the ban meant not many people were on the river in peak season so those who wanted to do the wrong thing could get out there with less chance of being caught.How big do you think the impact on Murray Cod is from the introduced species such as carp or redfin? Very little - they are both food for the Cod anyway. The lack of natural flow is having the biggest impact - I was once told by the Inland Fisheries Manager at PIRSA that what the Cod need is flow as it disperses their larvae over a bigger area which means more survive - without the flow they all stay in the one area and only very few survive as they are competing for a limited food source.What do you think the biggest threat to native Murray Cod is? Lack of flow and the over regulation of that flow - and the lack of control that SA has over that flow - numbers are very strong interstate.Do you think the South Australian government is doing enough to ensure the Murray Cod’s survival? I think stocking would be a way to ENSURE the survival, but I think the measures they are putting in place now will definitely assist, but I think stocking is the way of the future and it is obviously helping interstate....What sort of methods and actions would you like to see employed by authorities to boost the numbers of Murray Cod? Stocking.On a scale of 1-10 how important is immediate action to increase fish numbers? 7 - the current high flows and the making the fishery total catch and release will definitely help and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 3-4 years once we see the full effects of the increasing flow - whether the numbers improve which I think they will and without nets in the river for the first time with increased flow the recruitment of Murray Cod should be strong and the nets won't clean out all of the smaller fish.Good Luck with the project. Perhaps contacting Johno McPhail at PIRSA for more information on what they are doing and the information they have on the Cod might help your project.

Do you regularly fish in the river Murray? Yes I doHow often do you fish in the Murray? Depending on season - as much as once a week when the fish are on - at least once a monthHow long have you fished in the Murray? Since I was 5 - fished with lures targetting Murray Cod for 5 or 6 yearsDo you ever target Murray Cod? Most definitelyHave you ever caught a Murray Cod, or seen one caught? Yes caught a few myself, seen plenty of others caughtHow many Cod do you think there are today compared to ‘pest’ species in the river? (highlight)Very Few Few Average Plenty Abundant.I would say few when compared with 'pest' species, but I think there are a lot more Cod in the river than most people would realise, and with the current water conditions it is only going to get better.Do you feel that Murray are fine, endangered or critically endangered? Murray Cod? I think they are between fine and endangered - but I think the current water flow will do more to help them than anything the government can doDo you think the necessary steps are being taken to improve their numbers and maintain the species?Slowly they are getting there - I think the total catch and release was a long time coming and will only help - the ban that was in place recently I don't think would help mainly because there are those out there who do the wrong thing and the ban meant not many people were on the river in peak season so those who wanted to do the wrong thing could get out there with less chance of being caught.How big do you think the impact on Murray Cod is from the introduced species such as carp or redfin? Very little - they are both food for the Cod anyway. The lack of natural flow is having the biggest impact - I was once told by the Inland Fisheries Manager at PIRSA that what the Cod need is flow as it disperses their larvae over a bigger area which means more survive - without the flow they all stay in the one area and only very few survive as they are competing for a limited food source.What do you think the biggest threat to native Murray Cod is? Lack of flow and the over regulation of that flow - and the lack of control that SA has over that flow - numbers are very strong interstate.Do you think the South Australian government is doing enough to ensure the Murray Cod’s survival? I think stocking would be a way to ENSURE the survival, but I think the measures they are putting in place now will definitely assist, but I think stocking is the way of the future and it is obviously helping interstate....What sort of methods and actions would you like to see employed by authorities to boost the numbers of Murray Cod? Stocking.On a scale of 1-10 how important is immediate action to increase fish numbers? 7 - the current high flows and the making the fishery total catch and release will definitely help and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 3-4 years once we see the full effects of the increasing flow - whether the numbers improve which I think they will and without nets in the river for the first time with increased flow the recruitment of Murray Cod should be strong and the nets won't clean out all of the smaller fish.Good Luck with the project. Perhaps contacting Johno McPhail at PIRSA for more information on what they are doing and the information they have on the Cod might help your project.

Could try for salmon around between rapid head and Morgan beachOr try the sandy holes towards normanville should be plenty of whiting around by now...

Just a quick one hopefully . Went out fri night down the onk with my misses Sian . Spent six hours chasing live bait for just 2 fish . Got about 2 dozen bream in the process (if not more) to about 20cm . Got a bit annoying , used up all our bait . Ran into Fushlups and MrT out on the onk . It was dark by this time an all i saw was these faint silhouettes cast by their fishfinders lump out at me . Nice to meet you fellas should catch up for a better intro and a mully sesh in the yaks and canoe ? Ran into them a couple of more times and then waited for the right time to cast my 1 bait fish in . Bang i was on and this is the result .81cm . my best is 82cm . ohh soo closeand the video with some extra bitshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucr-yvwenCMtight lines

I think a lot of people miss the point when stealing spots also.I fished with a guy during my recent holidays who only fishes certain spots until the sun comes over the Adelaide Hills. He then has other spots that fire on the run out tide, others on the dead tide, and again others on the run in tide...THAT is exactly why I went fishing with him because I might be able to steal his spots but buggered if I have the time to fish every stage of the tide and every time of the day to work out when the fish bite best.Charter operators also know this as they have the time and resources to try new spots, to try spots at different times of the day and they can bank this knowledge to make future charters better.THAT IS WHAT I PAY FOR

personally there is 2 main reasons i go out on charters..1-- on my boat i am always the skipper and this means no drinking ( my boat has a 0000 alchy policy in place for skippers) this means me so by jumping on a charter means i can have a few bevies and fish.. 2-- certain places it works out more efficiant for me to just drive and hire,for example the anual pilgramige to portland chasing tuna or wedge island would not be cost effective for me to tow my big lug of a boat to then run it all day trolling.especially as i dont know the place well and would prob come back empty handed as for taking their spots think of it this way if you hire a tradesman to come do some work at your house would you expect him to show you how to do the job so next time you can do it for your friends and dont need him anymore...i know i wouldnt..also if we take all their spots where are they gonna take us to relax and not work to find fish for a day.. my thoughts anyway

Any chance that "knobs on jet-ski's" come under this banner?

You'll be right... Fish still bite on a dodge, they just school up more tightly....If you launch at Wirrina I would head to lady bay... Don't anchor, just drift over all the sand patches down there until you get some fish... Keep on the move unless you are catching fish...

Yep, love the Excellers....Maybe look at a Penn Pinpoint with the Exceller and you will get a bit of change from your $300 and get an awesome combo!!

Hey all,Especialy parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents, basicly anyone that spends time with the little ones,Christmas is upon us, and what better gift than a new rod, and most importantly time spent with them fishing.I went out with my son yesterday, a man of 22 now, and he was remembering the first rod i ever got him (was Santa actualy) the first time he used it, the biggest fish on it, in great detail, since then we have had many a fishing trip, and a great many memories, surely one of the best and longest lasting gift you could give.Ali

I was looking through the Wildcoast site and found a dvd called "Kangaroo Island Capers" and figured I needed another dvd for the collection :)Looks like it could be a cool dvd to watch and it's not often you find a dvd specifically on SA let alone solely on Kangaroo Island.Has anyone here seen it? If not i'll chuck up a review when it arrivesCheers Tom