Mickyj

hang in there mickyj it cant be too far now

The fish were lucky I stuffed my casting up ,I could see the barbs on there rather large mouths.always next time

Thursday 9th OctoberMy torrens report.I decided to have a look at different spot on the torrens. An area that I never fished when I was a lad .When I got out of the car I was a tad disappointed, but could see the river looked better further on .First spot I tried I was met with good natured taunts, but even I had to see that the water was way to shallow .So bidding the ducks goodbye I crossed the river .Walking through gumtrees to the sound of Cockatoos,Magpies and Brolga like birds and flocks of pigeons following my bag of bread .I headed onwards .I almost attempted to stand on a weir I came across. And If I had worn waders I may well have wasted some time .No way would i ever do something as silly as that :.Anyway I walked along the bank and found a break with some reeds to the right a large snag in the water on the left on the other side .And a very quiet large pool after the weir and before that rapids .I thought why not have a flick.So two pieces of bread went in then another and another and finally I managed to get the ducks to knick off.And nothing I was waiting and watching the bread nothing nothing nothing !!!That's it I thought bugger all again . :(When all of a sudden out of the reeds wham bam splash into the bread one and then a second Carp .Size wise lets just say I was beaming with pride etc when I landed a 28cm bream on a fly.But these things must have been around 50cms and fat .Made all the Bream and Salmon trout I have caught look like aquarium fish.I could get the buggers out part way but to entice them out so I could cast perfectly was never going to happen .I was getting tangled in reeds I tried the perfect cast when one was surface feeding(will call it that more like a death roll on a piece of bread)and bang I was tangled around the rod .Kept it up for most of my 1 1/2 hour trip but in the end those old girls stopped feeding .But with new found info(or relearned knowledge from my youth) I will try and find a bank that has reeds on the other side and burley up and wait.So I headed back towards my car and wandered onto more reeds .And I decided the water was to shallow after a few casts and another piece of bread floated towards the ocean.So once again nothing but 1 step closer and the Carp bug has bitten deeper into my fishing ego .Cheers

mickyj, where still trying to figure that one out, when we had them eating bread on the surface it was after an old lady had been feeding the ducks and there was tons of left over bread on the surface... I have accidently hooked one before and that seemed to scare them off... hehehe

No worries Luke in recent weeks I have had ducks water hens and water rats all have a feast on the bread .With the water hens chase my flies !!

Well done guys .and i am hanging my head in shame at my poor efforts on the fly.Using bread how do u stop the ducks eating your bread burley?

every fly I have thrown at them they swim straight past .

at night its used as the local burnout centre (yes I sit in my lounge room at night and hear it).Not sure how the police miss it .they are always just up the street doing random breathe tests .to be honest no matter how much the powers that be try to dress it up its not been built in a goo area.and yes I live in the same area.

When I used to bait fish i have caught KG whiting Bream Mullet .Seen Small flaties .Saw the biggest Bream I have ever seen about 20 years ago caught by a little old scotsman with an avery reel and a giant ball sinker .Caught on the old cement wharfs.My wife's Brother in law once told me many years back.About a train car that went into the Port river .Divers were sent down to find it and help bring it up.They surfaced and asked which of the many train cars they want brought up.Seems over the years the workers hadn't bothered to tell anyone when they went over the edge :icon_eek:

All I can say is well done Tony

I just use mono mate but some Trout guys may have better advice .

All most lures .But I am awaiting this little lot from Rod and fly in Tassie 30 carp flies .Just to help with my addiction ;)http://cgi.ebay.com.au/30-Of-The-Best-Carp-Fly-Fishing-Flies_W0QQitemZ280264960716QQihZ018QQcategoryZ23815QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My comp has died so I am replying on a different PC.Tried Friday morning lost 1 fly to a snag.Then went for a walk to another spot.On the way to the next hole I spotted some circles in the water and a rooster started crowing. looked at the fence the rooster call came from .When all of a sudden the water erupted to a jumping large carp.I just caught a glimpse and stopped learned on the fence at the top of the bank .There was no way with my bad legs that I could get down that bank.So with no more jumping fish I headed for hole number 2. Nothing nada .So with the wind picking up I headed back to hole number one .I crossed back to the other side of the river at this stage .And you gussed it a large carp jumped again at the same spot .Not sure if it was trying to eat a duck or something but it was large .So back I came to spot one realsed some more bread crumbs and commercial burley nothing .saw some circles under an overhanging tree and while trying to cast .You guessed it at my feet in the water there goes the top of a small carp doing a uturn .So that was my friday rdo 2 hours spent no carp hooked but i did get to see some this time.

I intend to try and do both brenton :)wont be long I will be in the fresh in the AM and the salt in the pm.Carp are just something I need to do like that itch you need to scratch .Cheers

So guys I would like to pick your fly knowledge .Seeing I am going off on a different tangent again with my FF(not like me).What fly do you guys use when chasing CARP.Seeing I drew a big fat blank today except for losing 2 flies .Pretty sure the area/areas I will be hitting are full of snags rocky bottoms would a dry fly be better ? That is if I can get them up and feeding from the surface .Any thoughts Yes the obsession has started again :icon_eek:

Ok so today was the big day .And yes it was a failure I do think its to early for Carp just yet even with a 20 C day the fish didn't appear to be around .The major problems the wind a 15 to 20 knot blowing from the wrong direction.And it didn't appear to help when I crossed sides or crossed the road rather .And everyone was correct bread did attract ducks and the water hens.the water hen was the only thing that chased my flies.But the worst thing attracted was a big dirty "water" rat(brown body a white mark on its tail tip) .stopped me going in one direction sorry I fear snakes but I hate detest go all funny with Rats .I didn't think they'd be in the water mid morning but it was .at least the snakes were still asleep they will be moving soon .So from today I lost 2 flies to snags .Will need to get more flies I do tie my own salt water flies but haven't tried a fresh fly just yet .Perhaps I need to join a club .And it seems harder in the fresh than in the salt.Mind you if it want polluted I would have been wading and not on the bank fight trees and dying reeds(they do that in winter in oz).Was a lovely morning for a 2 hour walk .Made it back to mum and dads and had fathers day lunch with dad (fathers day tomorrow but I am going to the football) and before we had lunch mum dragged me off for another 20 minute walk in the other direction.Saw one or two more spots to try in coming weeks .And I tried to take a picture of some wild ducks and ducklings but by the time I had the camera out they were a bit far away but it does show the river..Salt seems easier than fresh after today :DSo heres a little pic

I know absolutely bugger all about fly fishing, and we all know that carp are bottom feeders, however, I used to "bowfish" from a canoe. We'd stand in the front of the canoe peering into the water (sightfishing) and ya could see the carp swimming about six inches below the surface. Due to this I'd suggest they'd definately take a fly tossed in their direction.

Ranger when I was younger and had no grey hairs the Carp would cruise this section of the river .and many were very very large .I will take pics If I catch something anything will do lol

Gidday mickyj heres take 2 of our relationship, good luck on the carp and have a good fathers day .sometimes where i fish if you hang back and look (peep) over the lip of the riverbank you may see the carp cruising the edges of the water or around weedbeds.(If the waters a bit clear) otherwise look hard for ripples on the same water,then go ahead of the fish slip down the riverbank and cast back to the carp and let it swim up to your offering this can also work for natives when the water is low but they spook a lot easier. :-* and make up ??? let me know how you go.cheers peelipeeli11

thanks again supposedly there are some Natives alive in this section of the torrens :icon_eek:I knew about Catfish but supposedly Silver Perch and Congoli are not far from where I will be starting.Wahtever takes the fly will be a bonus it was a long fishless winter .Mind you what I know about fly fishing is in the salt so its all new to me .cheers

I understand that Carp are a dirty word .But I will be heading to my parents house on the weekend and there house just happens to be on the Torrens.Does one get the things feeding on the surface or will they take a fly like other fish from blind casting ?

Hey Micky, no mention of any controls except major Carp kills for the Cray fishers pot bait. All of their work is data collection. Apparently some clever guy worked out that Carp jump. So they built fish traps which allowed natives under but the Carp had to jump. We were in awe of the height they could jump, 2 to 3 metres on the video he showed :o a slide took them off to holding crates which are lifted out of the water by winch loaded onto freezer trucks and sent off to the cray fishers. The annual catch is in hudreds of tonnes :icon_e_surprised: Did you have a specific reason for asking about mosquito fish mate?Cheers, Tony

Only because they are worse for the environment than Carp or so I have read or seen somewhere .Thats all tony.Cheers

Good work Roger, your straw flies remind me when it was legal to troll along Port Noarlunga reef for salmon. We used blue plastic tubes about the same length as yours which bubbled and were lethal on those salmon. I started off with 3 lures in tandem, but after a triple hook up with two lures snapped off and a 3lb salmon on the remaining hook, I soon reverted to one. Had a boat trip down to the windmills at Cape Jervis recently and saw guys catching Salmon so found an old blue tube and yes, it's still as effective today.Just on catching Reddies in the Murray, I suspect those halcyon days of big bags are long gone due to that fish virus that cleans a lot of Reddies out of running water systems. We had a scientist from the Government give a talk at a recent SAFWAA meeting about the fish species throughout the Murray. I button holed him after the meeting and asked for any hotspots he knew off as they trap and radio tag all manner of fish to gather data.Imagine my surprise when he said over one year and a thousand kilometres of the river they only caught 4 redfin :icon_e_surprised:One of our other members told me when he was young , reddy anglers used to line the Torrens near the Zoo/university and catch them all day. Have you heard of any one doing that nowadays? Thankfully they are a very resilient fish combined with prolific spawning activity which will keep them on my plate for a long time to come.Cheers,Tony.

Tony I am 45 now .But decades ago when I was in my early 20's or late teens used to have a sales rep come into work .He used to tell me stories of redies in the torrens .Those were the days .And not just near the Zoo either !!Did the scientist say if they were controlling the mosquito fish in the river or not ?

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

thanks RogerG I hope to and use it in both salt and fresh .I seem to be getting a bug to walk along some streams or rivers somewhere:)

Hey Micky, top link mate,I always tied and used chenille bodied flies like those for many years and have a soft spot for them. I caught my PB trout in the UK on a white chenille body, white marabou tailed streamer style fly with tap/plug chain(two links) for weight at the head. I've just cobbled together a redfin imitator with an olive chenille body with a gold rib, red wool tail and red wool tags up the body to simulate red fins. Tap chain at the head, still got to get it wet yet.I'll try to get a pic if I can work out how to do it. (I've got the Photobucket website from here) Looks as if I'll be busy for a while with the ideas from you guys, many thanks, Tony.

No worries Tony will have to get busy making more of my own flies .The port river is ok but I like the lake for my salties.But I have to try the fresh some time

Took the new stick out for a flick this morning on the Port river .The only ones enjoying the fishing were the 20 or so Port river Dolphins. And boy in the morning mist watching them feed was an awesome sight .Mind you it did nothing for my personal fishing .What I did learn was this rod was so much easier to cast than my old one .Sure there were one or two teething problems but they were due to operator faults than the Pflueger Rod.And I predict this will be a very good "Bream Stick"Cheers

Roger you backed up what I was told yesterday at the tackle shop in Port adelaide that you can even make flies from chip packets for colours .Am I correct in thinking that a Bream fly would catch a redfin ?

The Torrens is a long way from west lakes and port river.The Torrens has always had it outlet at Henley South as far as I am aware unless it was more than 52 yrs ago.I get the impression Yak is not impressed with my post.Sorry but people around there own (or the bank does) their houses but as one of the lads said , they don't own the lake and providing those who fish there do it quitely and make no mess then I can't see what the problem is.

The Torrens is a long way from west lakes and port river.The Torrens has always had it outlet at Henley South as far as I am aware unless it was more than 52 yrs ago.I get the impression Yak is not impressed with my post.Sorry but people around there own (or the bank does) their houses but as one of the lads said , they don't own the lake and providing those who fish there do it quitely and make no mess then I can't see what the problem is.

no pescados your wrong i think pretty sure the torrens used to go to sea so to speak in the port river .

I am not sure if the mods will allow this link but how about bass vampire flies ?here is a link http://cgi.ebay.com.au/10-Mk11-Bass-Vampire-Bass-Fly-Fishing-Flies-2_W0QQitemZ270264047990QQihZ017QQcategoryZ23815QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem