plankton

Thanks for the report Doobie. Those Seabass rods are great, I've got the 9'6" model myself.
 
I passed on the salmon this weekend to have a go at some bream on lures, should have stuck with salmon fishing.
 
Saw on FB that a shark was laying into some seals down at Southport, hope he eats them all. Might be time to break out the big rod as well, anyone know where I can buy seal chunks?

With some good tides and even better weather forecast I made the decision early for another crack at the salmon. After a quick stop off at the bakery for a coffee, I arrived at my chosen spot around 10.30and quickly set up camp and had the rods out.
 
Well the long and short of it all was the salmon went off and and after a short time decided to park up 1 rod so I had time for a sit and a beer. At times I would even leave the rod in on the beach and just enjoyed the scenic views. Both Wednesday and Thursday nights I used some fresh salmon big baits in the hope of something larger but was shocked that nothing was interested.
 
Friday morning arrived and with only 2 more fish needed for a full esky they were on the beach bleeding out before I even finished my coffee. After a quick clean up I was soon on the road home to clean up.
 
The results was 24 beautiful salmon with the biggest coming in at 65cm and the smallest at 57cm and a average of 60.6cm
 
With some great feeds and plenty of great mully bait all vac pack in the freezer it was time to knock up another feed off fresh salmon patties for tea.
 
Hopefully Lindsay you can make next time

Well conditions for Monday (yesterday) were going to be ok even though there was for generally Northerly winds at a moderate strength forecast – and I hate the wind, but thought I need to get out and find some more Salmon.
 
A low tide was for 12.30pm, so I had a plan to hit a couple of beaches with all intent of making sure I was at Pt Willunga for the low tide.  The reason being of 2 things 1) mainly Salmon but as a “by catch” I was hoping to recover a Gold Halco 40g lure I lost last Friday. 
I had snagged it not far out at all and with the line busting I thought just maybe at low tide I might find it. 
The low was for .5m so I wasn’t hopeful, which proved to be the case as not low enough – bugga.
 
So the car is packed, and my new first choice of rod is the Diawa Seabass 110MH (11’) is lured up and I head to Southport about 10.30am.
 

 
Conditions didn’t look too bad, only one noticeable gutter.
 



 
Normally I have been parking down near the Pt Noarlunga surf club and flick lures up to Southport and return.  But today I thought I would park by the Southport footbridge and spend about an 1 ½ hours between the club house and the river mouth.
 

 
On to the beach and no-one else fishing, so straight down to the water flicking my trusty old successful lure and casting close to 70 - 80mts with my new weapon. 
My lure looks well-worn but from using other lures like the Halco’s for example, this one has been my best performer in catching Salmon – it’s like, if the ‘other’ lures aren’t doing their job I get out my “Mr Reliant”.
 

 
Gradually reached that shown gutter and got a hit after a couple of casts.  It gave an ok fight so I knew it wasn’t big, but hey it was a start. 
 
But nothing more after that one, so started walking towards the mouth and with the tide low I was able to out in the shallows to reach hopefully a little deeper water.
 
I noticed now that someone else had turned up flicking lures as well.
 
Scanning the area there was a shadow, but it didn’t seem to be moving so it could be some weed – hopefully not. 
 
So first cast just passed it I retrieved a little faster and with rod slightly higher than normal making sure that if it was weed I didn’t get caught in it.
 
Bang !!  Lure taken and it was fighting very well.  Rod bent nicely, drag tightened slightly as it was taking a little bit of line and slowly side stepping back to the beach to land this sambo.
 
Retrieved the hook, bled it and straight back for more.  I signaled the other guy fishing trying to point out to come down here as there was a school and thought he should in the fun – he politely waved back but didn’t come down, so my signaling needs improving.
 
Just as well he didn’t come down as he must have known, as the next 20 or so casts there were no more Salmon. The shadow remained, so gathered it must have been weed with just unlucky Salmon strolling by.
The other fisherman had now left and wasn’t far behind, but first stop was to Fishing Wholesalers for a weigh in of .830g (40cm)– so not bad.
 

 
Off now to Pt Willunga for my lost lure (which as mentioned wasn’t to be seen).  Conditions were about the same as Southport but did seem slightly windier – did I mention I hate the wind!
 


 
Walked up just past the reef where I had caught a couple of dozen ST’s last Friday releasing the small ones and kept a dozen nice sized ones.
 
Bang !! Another fighter and of equally strength as the previous one.  Beached and bled and only just a little shy of the first one in weight but a few cms longer (43cm)
 
Unfortunately nothing else along the beach and by now it was about 2pm, so decided to gut this one.  It had just eaten with 2 small fish inside its gut.
 

 
On the way home I thought Maslins Beach is worth a try with all the new gutters since the storms. 
 
I had estimated close to 18 gutters along the whole beach from last visit and they all looked so fishable.
 
On arriving at the bottom carpark, I noticed the small creek outlet had opened up even more than last Friday. Previously it no drainage out to sea and was generally a little bit of ‘pond’ dirty water. Now it has had the sad sides carved away with a near 2mt drop and a nice flush out with a bit of a stream happening towards the sea.
 



 
 
Walked the beach with nothing even touching the lure but there was a nice calmness around – yes the wind had dropped significantly – at last, but I was on my way now – typical !!
 
Got home to clean up and of course the dog has her nose up and could smell there was something in this for her. 
 
She likes fish, so she wanted to get in on the act, she got her S&H beanie for a photo knowing she would enjoy some tea tonight.
 

 

 

 
Hope you enjoyed the read.

With all the ordinary weather we've been experienced, its been 6 weeks since i had wet a line.
 
Finally the weather and tides cooperated and I managed a light tackle salmon session with a couple of mates, on today's low tide.
 
Things were really quiet to start with, too quiet.  Were they all gorged on bloodworms?
 
Then uncannily........ literally as if one had pressed a button they were 'on' .
 
There were surface bust-ups all around us and the three of us didn't quite know where to cast. Any direction, any lure was smashed.The fish were not of any spectacular size, curiously all around the 26-32cm range but they were fun, feisty and super aggressive! No idea what they were feeding on?
 
Beautiful clear, calm day in the water and some good clean fun. Would have easily landed 30+ of this size. Tried bait for nothing noteworthy and no squid about.
 

Just took home a feed.
 
 
News to me that Hornes have released a new 'wetsuit' range ........
 



 
Every time he slips on the waders he goes for a swim!!!!

Great photos in the fog.
 
I need to have another go at chasing bream on lures, not sure I have the patience for it though.   

Think I might try the Onk this weekend.
 
@Alex, seems like you've got the bream pretty sussed, do you find that tide makes much of a difference chasing them in the Onk? Any other tips you wouldn't mind sharing?
 
I could return the favour by sharing all the fishing techniques I try that don't work, so you know what to avoid.

Here's a little video I put together. 


  That's a very good point, I struggled with that when I first started targeting them. But once you land a few, you will feel more confident and persistent. Always worth the reward when you catch one, nonetheless. 

Thanks Alex, I'll let you know how I go, hopefully have some nice photos to share as well.
 
I do have some little grubs, so I'll definitely start off with them.
 
My biggest issue with bream on sp's is patience, it seems they prefer the lure to be moving very slowly and I struggle with that.

Hey Plankton. Happy to help! The tides aren't much of a fuss, only when it's running hard, it can be pretty hard to keep the lure close to the bottom! The slack of the tides are good to fish, but I find run in tides are also good to fish, as it lets in fresh seawater. But then again, the bream would be feeding on things coming down with the dropping tide! 
You can always trust a Zman 2.5" Grub to do the job . But I'm sure a lot of other lures would go well too. 
 
Best of luck mate! Let us know your luck.   

Great photos in the fog.
 
I need to have another go at chasing bream on lures, not sure I have the patience for it though.   

Headed down to the river today. The morning was sensational, glassy conditions, fog and clear skies. Ended up catching around 10 fish between James and I. Biggest went 37cm on the Squidgy Lobby.

Mine are pvc pipe riveted to star droppers. They're nice and tall so I can get a decent amount of the dropper into the sand, rock solid when a fish strikes.

Mine are pvc pipe riveted to star droppers. They're nice and tall so I can get a decent amount of the dropper into the sand, rock solid when a fish strikes.

The Penn Slammer 3 looks interesting.

Nope.
 
Had a go off the beach at Porties yesterday, it was just a bit too rough and stirred up I reckon. I was able to get good distance on my casts into 30 knot wind, but still not far enough.
 
There were several people on the jetty, but couldn't tell if anyone was catching.

Knowledge will be the biggest thing to aquire to become a good fisherman.
 
Fishing in Adelaide is hard and it is even harder landbased. The fish are there landbased but you will have to put in the time and fish unsociable hours in sometimes very crowded condition to put together a feed. A good way to start is to spend some time on any of the jetties in summer and watch the locals catch squid or whiting or gar or tommies. Tommies and squid are usually an easier fish to catch for beginners. If you are keen to learn, read every fishing book you can find and read through all the posts on fishing forums. Set small targets and expect progress to be slow.
 
 
Self sustainability in seafood is achievable but it takes along of time and effort and experience.
 
I usually catch enough fish to feed my family with some give away to friends but it has taken along time to achieve this. With my kayak I usually only spend a small amount of fuel and a few dollars of consumables (hooks, terminal tackle, line). I catch about 90% of my own bait.  A good trip will see me catch some whiting or squid or gar or tommies or salmon or snook or snapper. I kept a record for a while when I first bought my yak and factoring in the cost of the kayak ($2500) I estimated it took me about 3 years to break even in terms of cost of seafood.

Ever since the first time I hit the Onk this season, I've been hitting it almost every week! It started off with a slow session on the salmon, so our plan B was to fish the Onk, although we didn't have the right gear, we emphasised and managed to land a few good fish! 4 fish were landed the first time between James and I. Biggest went 37.5cm.    
 




 
The fish turned off for a while so we finished the day off at the jetty. A nice school came by and James and I landed 2 fish each around 45cm! We were stoked and wanted to do it again.

 
The next time we headed down, it was a lot more breezy and cold.  The water was a chocolate milk colour and our hopes were lost. We started flicking and soon found a school! We both landed a decent fish each and dropped some too. We continued and found another school, same thing happens. Biggest fish went 39cm and FAT! But the majority of fish were over 35cm. Killa fun. 















 
Once the tides changed, the fish turned off so we decided to check out the jetty again.. Unfortunately, the salmon did not want to play this time. 
 
With the bloodworm run taking place around metro waters, we hit the Onk again!     This time the condition were nice. We were welcomed to the spot with a glassed off river and a slight breeze. The water wasn't as murky as last time, but it was still quite dirty. We fished the same spots, and soon found a school. They weren't as active today, but in the end, we managed a couple of good fish. James hooked a bream that would have easily tipped 40cm but unfortunately it spat the hook!   Loved the photos James took today, epic!!   







 
I had planned to fish with Nathan, Kwok and Kelvin on Sunday. Same plans! It was one of the best days (weather wise), but the fishing wasn't up to standards. As Nathan and I moved along, Kelvin and Kwok decided to hit another spot in the Onk. They caught a lot more than we did! We worked hard for the fish all day, but I only managed 3. Biggest went 35cm.




 
Now for my trip to Port Augusta! I'm sure there will be a report, unless I donut!!   
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the report.     
 

Some nice fish snapperhead, would have been great fun on light gear from the yak! Thanks for sharing.

My wife's away for the weekend and I'm on full time kid duty, plus we've got an all day basketball carnival tomorrow.
 
I think the fish will be safe from me until early next week, hopefully the weather holds out till then.

I'm working on extending the butt of a surf rod, want to turn a 9' into an almost 10', but I'm gonna use aluminium tubing over the existing butt, then finish it with shrink tube. I'll post some picks when done.

I'm working on extending the butt of a surf rod, want to turn a 9' into an almost 10', but I'm gonna use aluminium tubing over the existing butt, then finish it with shrink tube. I'll post some picks when done.

Shot down to salt creek on saturday just passed and got 12 salmon, i would say above average size for down there too!
Only did a day fish and went home after 4hrs approx fishing
Seaweed was an issue until the tide started moving

I asked about them awhile back before you worked there, they said they'd gotten them when they first came out but hadn't sold well and weren't going to be restocked. Must have been one lost in the back room, you should make use of it.

The lure tube idea is quite popular with surfcasters throwing lures back where I grew up. The tubes can be different sizes to accommodate any size lure, even the big wooden ones we used back there. I have made up similar setups for boat fishing as well and it works great.
 
Here's the bag I've just retired, these guys make the best in the business, mine held a ridiculous amount of lures and tackle without being very big and it was incredibly easy to quickly access anything you needed. When I started using it over here I simply removed the big tubes from the main compartment and used it for the sort of items I now have in the same section of the Daiwa bag.
 
http://www.aquaskinz.com/index.php5?mode=item&cid=3&pid=2&alt=1

I got it from Motackle, but a couple other places have it as well.
 
 
I saw it listed on their website and liked the price, but when I was there about a month ago they didn't have any.