Mr Keen

Love all of it, with the exception of shellfish, but return 95% of fish landed. I dont target 'food' species very often though but take a feed only of salmon trout when having a session on them (sometimes a few for Nan too) and will gladly accept whiting and the like from a mate who has a boat. Until now my main focus has been bream and mully fishing and they all go back! I am also looking forward to reddies when I start fresh water fishing. I have only eaten them once and I think they were improperly prepared and cook as well as being on the same plate as callop but from what I have read can hold their own on the table.Other than the the thrill of the chase it is the fresh air, exercise, commraderie, scenery and the serenity that keeps me wetting a line week in week out

Nope, couldn't have done it!I thought long and hard about it (the oven was hot!!) and erred on the side of caution.I'll just have to go get more tomorrow won't I? And I finally get to use the Anglers Choice gift card my Nanna gave me for my birthday, have to replace the lures I lost today. Brand new one second cast too! Is it possible that the gallbladder was punctured previously? Than green flesh was there already and deep too.K

Too late, already in the ground where the corn will go later in the year.must admit I was so looking forward to having it for lunch I thought long and hard about it!!!! :unsure: :sick:

I'm not even keen on keeping it for bait!It is green so fertilizer it is.still hungry too

After a quick flick at South Port beach I returned home happily with lunch and a few returned to the briney to fight on. Cranked up the oven, scaled lunch but when I gutted lunch it no longer seemed appealing to the stomach. Never seen it before but not sure it's worth putting in the oven just to eat the other side.There is what appears to be an old war wound 1/2 way down the side which also seems to have healed well, but the flesh is stained green, this ain't something that scrapes off the gut cavity wall!!!I was really looking forward to chowing down on it right nowDo I, Don't I? Keen but not that keen

Lifes too short to feel seedy fellas, good quality Vodka keeps ya cockles and everything else toasty warm!!!K

I have been using them for way too long with excellent result to even think of using anything else when breaming or mully fishin. My goal now is to apply the same principles to callop fishing, catch them with minimal harm, maybe even eat the odd legal one mmmmmmmm....I'm thinking I might be best off keeping the baits big, good sized shrimp or yabbie on a 4/0 or 5/0 circlie to try to fend off the little ones but could that ultimately cost hook-ups on the old mud monsters?Love the idea of making little dents in the carp population at the same time as aiming for callop.I think I have the action of circle hooks fairly well sussed, would this allow me to downsize hooks without increasing gut hooks?k

Just got back from doing some research and the results are as follows.5/0 Gamm Octo Circle hooks with pilchard chunks and rod held9 Bream around 25 cm, all lip or corner of mouth hooked and splashed me as they left2 Bream at 34cm and 1 at 36cm, 1 of the 34s was hard to get out of the lip but all swam off nicely1 40cm Schoolie hooked just inside mouth but easy extraction and good releaseFed a lot of the pickers but didn't hook them so happy with that.About 3 hours work and a nice welcome back after nearly 5 months absence from the river.Gammakatsu Octopus Circle hooks work, they are very effective in assisting us to fish catch and release without killing a portion of that with gut hooks, they're strong enough to cope with snapper and as sharp as ya need them to be. They seem to keep well too, rinsed and back in the pack(providing sharp enough still to warrant keeping) they don't seem to corrode as some other hooks do.keen

Iv'e used circles on shrimp in the Onk but cant imagine keeping them alive very long in the fresh using them. I am gonna think long and hard about this but right now I'm going fishin. :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: keen

This topic made me think. I am swapping the bulk of my beach fishing for fresh water fishing and for weeks I have been contemplating Callop and the hooks needed. Will it be best for me just to downsize the same hooks, Gamma Octopus circle, to suit the different bait i will be using or do i need to use a different hook pattern. Avoiding gut hooked undersize is my number one priority when I embark on my next obsession, fun and comfort come after that. Would I be best off startin a new thread for this?keen

The last time I killed a bream (knowingly) was the last time I didn't use a Gama Octo, and that about two years ago now, two years of at least one session a week in the Onk.I struggle with the concept that a fish released with a hook in it's throat or gut has much chance of surviving so I was put onto them and haven't looked back.Some top comments too about using them, they took a lot of getting used to and my bro still hasn't got them sussed yet! The difference between us though is that I use yellow braid and he uses a dark fireline I think it is. I can see the action, even at night with a good moon, and he has to really focus to see his during the day.We only fish catch and release in the Onk so the Gamma Octo suit us just fine.Keener than ever!

i agree with all mentioned before especially regarding the fact that the rubbish is much lighter than when brought to the spot and that our environment is way to awesome to ruin.if i may put in my two cents it is the supposedly insignificant cigarette butt that really gets on my goat and being a smoker i am qualified to bitch about it.i have seen boaties just throw them over the side, mainly in the port where i am landbased, seen them tossed off the jetty, into the onk or just discarded on the ground. i have even been known to throw ciggy butts back into cars at traffic lights, much to the surprise of the culprit!take a tin or film canister or even as i do when i forget one, put it in ya pocket. us smokers stink anyway and the worst a ciggy butt in ya pocket can do is piss the missus off when they end up in the washing machine.they may only be small but i believe they do massive harm to the environment, two reasons to not just toss them.my 2 centskeen

yes it is only a gold coin to enter but surely it don't hurt too much to throw in some of the folding variety for a cause such as this. Ya have a good chance to win some great stuff and failing that it is a fantastic day.keen

if ya wanna have fun with the st's I recommend using soft plastics as the poor buggers are unable to resist something like a 4inch minnow or a squidgey flickbait. you can also mix up the retrieve more with soft plastics from fast to bottom bouncing.yesterday i beached a 58cm goolwa sambo using my 7ft bream flick stick with a blue squidgey fish, a truely awesome fight indeed!! screaming runs, aerobatics and they never say die!!still smilin'

cheers guysYou may have heard a sobbing noise on sunday morning, that was me, coming to the realization that the trip was a no go.Two reasons:1. The missus wrote her car off on the weekend. She and the kid are shaken but thankfully unharmed, her beloved first car is not though.Towing fees alone chewed up my diesel money.2. Having not owned the fourbie very long it is what I consider reasonably under-prepared. No towing points, UHF, good jerry can and several other items that help make a stint like salt creek hassle free.I will get there and when I do I will be able to relax and enjoy myself knowing that I am safe from becoming the under-prepared and ill-equipped newbie in trouble that could have been my fate had I gone this weekend.sad but still keen

The beach down at morgans was stopping some of the bigger models last weekend and the Rocky treated it like an unsealed graded road!! I was blown away with the ease which I scooted along. Having said that it does weigh 2000kg.

The Rocky came with an under-bonnet compressor so i got that covered and in the sand I appreciate the value of momentum already, still have lots to learn though and that can best be done with experience.I am so stoked to be finally getting there in my own 4x4 that i can think of little else, it has consumed me almost to the point of impotence. Better be extra careful with the laser at work this week too. Again, thanks for the tips fellaskeen

cheers guysthere is a 2.5m outer harbor tide that weekend but i plan on being firmly camped for the evening high, does anyone know the tide time difference from outer harbor or a comparable location?unfortunately i have only about a half hour of experience on soft sand, was hoping for more before a salt creek run, but we do have a second vehicle with us with a reasonably experienced driver in it. is 42 mile a better option for the less experienced? is teatree crossing dry still?i may be going fishing but my main objective is to be pulling into my driveway on sunday arvo with my bro after having fished 90 mile beach and had no major stresses since leaving work friday avro. i still have a week of thinking about it to get through yet!keen

hi allnext weekend i am taking my newly acquired fourbie (rocky 2.8d) down to salt creek or 42 mile for its maiden adventure, just hope i can get some sleep before then!i am not the sort to ask for info on how to catch the silver ghost so please do not provide any. i get much more satisfaction in figuring things out for myself and fishing is no exception.what i will ask is for advice on is what not to do, particularly in the realm of the beach's dynamics and the driving aspect. i dont wanna reap rewards from others hard yards ie. secrets and tips, but if i can save myself from heartache by learning from others mistakes it would be great.failing that just wish me good luck!cheers from the keenest of keen, Mr Keen

you poor poor thing blighty,must be tough not being able to fit all your needs into your SECOND boat!! man some people have it tough! trust, me i will be thinkin of you when i am carrying all my stuff down at the mundoo channel. alas the solution is simple, give me one of your boats and problem solvered. the small one seems to be making life hard for you at the moment. or you could do as mentioned in previous posts and target specific species or multi-task your gear/spools etc etc, but i think you will get way more satisfaction from my idea! always Keen

not sure but aren't smells created by bacteria, and if so an anti-bacterial type of disinfectant or wash should be the go shouldn't it? i use an anti-bacterial wash to help reduce the lasting smell of pillie hands with half decent resultsas i said, not sure about the cause of the smell being bacteria. i have a cheap eski down by the back fence that i have cut out of the loop because it has gone bad thru no fault of its own and am waiting for a day when i know the neighbors will have windows shut before attempting to discard the gent croutons in old bait broth!!late return + depleted grey matter + heat wave = very dead eski! might have to give it a crack and get back to ya'skenny said it best, "a smell that will outlast religion!"keenp.s. any other remedies for pillie hand would be greatly appreciated by the missus

i can relate to many of the comments already mentioned although i have not had any negative stuff thrown my way i have had a thread left unanswered and thought i had offended someone (or everyone).i must confess that i probably fit into the category of lurker due to my low post count but having less than 18 months of serious fishin experience feel that i am scarcely qualified to give advice, but i do give karma. i am also no wordsmith and practice the theory that it "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt", something i really wish i had learned in my teens!!!having said that i may well be a lurker, this does not mean that i skulk around the site trying to get as many spots and secrets i can. i firmly believe in practice and field work which is why i spend 20+ hours a week with a rod in my hand. :Pi am making some serious progress and will soon be capable/willing of providing worthwhile advice. willing in the sense that i will know which spots i am willing to share. until then i shall stick to reading the words of writers such as waterboys adventures or ranger and his proof that the pen(keyboard) is truly mightier than the sword! as for the groups, i joined three when the site was upgraded, 1 is no more from memory(the element) and the other 2 i have not contributed much and now i feel bad for it. i could blame lack of time but probably boils down to laziness and the aforementioned lack of experience, but i shall endeavor to be more active now that this 'lurker' tag has been thrown on the table. tis a very ugly word, dirty in a peeping tom kind of way Keen?

maybe enquiries should be made on the black market to see if anyone wants to buy HIS teeth!!! i am sure pirsa and the justice system could come up with a pair of pliers, hell I will throw a pair their way

hey smartiewelcome to the site and congratulations on ya milestone, commiserations also for being bitten by the bug. the same sp bug that bit me 18 months ago, the same bug that has had me return over and over again an average of twice a week since the bug bit me had my share of dud sessions but for my efforts have been rewarded with some spectacular fishin from that river. i am a believer that if ya treat the place with respect and put in the effort you shall be rewarded.keen

My brother and I fish the onk all the time and we are extremely fond of the little river. These pieces of sh!t(providing not researchers) better hope that I or my bro don't catch them doing this for they shall be wiping two or three holes by the time we've finished with them!!! I am so annoyed that these greedy bastards get away with this type of behavior that I am going out to the shed to calm down! ;)Keen