Luc53

Went on a degustation cruise catered by Mark and Tai on the Hinze this morning. Additional activities also included catching 43 bass and feeding the numerous barred grunter  whilst being stalked by the resident eagle.

Out to NPD T uesday for a grand tally of 6 bass, so I thought I might slip up to Baroon this morning and try my luck. Glad I did as the bass were in the same spots as last time and willing to take lures (purple ones). Managed 68 bass, trolling and casting and a couple on shrimp. Followed a Ambulance down the highway sitting on 100k left a car distance behind him and 2 different idiots without indicators tried to fit in that space, they must have a death wish some of these people.
Dino

3 of us went this morning. We had a bit of trouble checking our shrimp traps as the dam has fallen around one foot since last time . We had to keep adjusting the depth of our motors to clear the submerged timber that we used to pass over easily. Took us around 10 minutes to get off one stump that I ran up on. Was going flat out and raised the bow about a foot. The barred grunter were thick as usual until we found a spot that was clear of them. We ended up catching 40 odd bass from this one spot before some thunder forced us to head back to the ramp.with a final tally of 66 bass,one tandanus and one eel. Cheers Ray

Only 2 of us this morning. We were expecting a big queue at the gate at 5.30 and were surprised to be the only contenders. We found a couple of schools on the sounder in Koala straight but they turned out to be small silver trout so we headed to the island side of the floats where we hit paydirt boating 46 bass and numerous gar. Hai had a ball flicking small pieces of prawn and bread to the gar. With the glass out conditions they were easy to spot swimming in small schools just under the surface with the bigger ones going around 10 to 12 inches long. He ended up taking a good feed home.

Had a morning at Baroon yesterday, which will be hard to beat.Bass were hitting lures all over the place, I got them in backwaters where only a few weeks a go there was nothing on the sounder. Managed 81 bass all up with at least 50 of them on lures. I was trolling in the timber and I would get 2 on the way in and 2 on the way out,they were sitting 15ft down in 80ft of water.Some more come from trolling close to the edges, some on spinnerbaits and some on MDM plastic shrimp with some scent on.Picked up a couple of pies on way home for lunch, wife was very pleased.
Dino

Whilst fishing today ( 12/2/23)I had a visit from the friendly rangers today who gave me an update on the person who overnighted in the caravan. They visited him to move him on but were unable to move him on ( DRUNK)so they arranged for the boys in blue ( Black nowdays) to visit him. Wonder how you get on when you are far from home and do your licence.

Went by myself to the western arm to feed the barred grunter. Trip was successful with 38 bass and one tandan as bycatch. 

Went to Baroon Pocket this morning with Rick, Joy and Andrew. 2 mongrells,1 tandan,15 bass and numerous 3 inch spangled perch. Good to catch up with Andrew. Really makes you feel old when your son retires.
Cheers Ray

Hard going this morning. One yella ,2 tilapia and 5 bass on the floats and 10 bass and one tandan between the islands. Did not measure any of the bass but biggest many have gone 33cm stretched. No toga recorded on the catch records but saw someone claimed a few silvers  and 8 bass.

Thursday caught the biddest eeltail catfish I have seen on an ice jig at Baroon. This morning a new PB forktail catfish on a spinnerbait, 8kg, its head was nearly 20cm across. Also managed 58 bass from a few schools, some onspinnerbaits and some on shrimp.First 6 pics apply,rest need to be removed.
Dino

The effect of barometric pressure on a swim bladder volume is nonsense. 
A swim bladder is regulated by the fish to adjust to depth pf water it is swimming in....same way your ears adjust to altitude.
if they are down 10 feet there is an extra 14.7psi of water pressure than at the surface, hence the swim bladder is pressurised by 14.7psi to protect it's organs and to adjust it's bouyancy.
As a fish rises a foot or two to take a baitfish it adjusts this pressure automatically to maintain it's correct bouyancy and protect it's organs.
Now how much difference do you think the barometric pressure will affect this process inside the fish or change the bloating of the swim bladder??
Understand that 1010 mb/hPa = 14.649 psi and 1020 mb/hPa = 14.794 psi is a difference of 0.145 psi which also equals about 1.18 inches in elevation in water.....(within the first 10 feet of depth that is)
Sort of blows your theory and superstitions on barometric pressure influence on swim bladders to pieces.

Plenty of tandans at the western arm today with me being the tandan king with a total of 5 and another 4 for the others. Disproved the theory that you only catch them on the bottom they were mixed in with the bass at a depth of 10 to 15 feet fishing in 35 feet of water. We also managed 62 bass and one yella and lost a lot of shrimp to the barred grunter. The bass were very finicky and at times you did not know if it was a bass picking at the shrimp or a barred grunter.

Trip to Baroon this morning.First up, why do motorbike riders think they can ride around with headlight on high beam, I had one behind me making it hard for me to see the road, so when he passed, I let him have a bit of his own, funny he decided to dip his lights for oncoming traffic. Then had one come at me on high beam so I let him have it as well, soon dimmed them.They think because they only have one light they can have it on high beam, I persuaded them otherwise.
On the fishing side, I found 2 good schools and managed 73 bass. Lures used were chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, ice jigs, hardbodies and a few on shrimp. Road in front of croc park all finished and looks good, just need the highway finished now.
Dino

Spent some time fishing the edges for little action so found a few schools of smallies, 52 bass and not one over 35cm.Headed home before it got to hot.Spinnerbaits,chatterbaits,minnow chatterbaits and a few on shrimp.
Dino

Went to the western arm caravan park this morning. ( Bloody victorians and a Jeep driver to boot so probably could not expect anything else) Winge over plenty of small bass upstream no size to them. 62 bass between 25cm and 42 cm and one tandanus all on live shrimp. Barred grunter forced us to move at most locations we would get 6 or so bass and then the grunter moved in and although we could see bass on the sounder the grunter would attack the shrimp before the bass could get it.

Fishing has been very tough out at NPD lately, its a miracle if you can find a school. Having said that I managed to have about 5000 yellars in my boat yesterday. They were a bit small so I put them all back in the water. Bass were a bit small also, I have been catching a few trolling.
Dino

Brilliant video done by Hai on his phone. After releasing fingerlings we we headed downstream to the floats where we quickly boated 5 bass before the school moved on. We sat there for another 2 hours for 2 yellas one at 45 cm and one at 50cm. They were tagged and released for someone else to catch. On the way back to the ramp we observed 3 flocks of geese each about 20 birds heading downstream. First time I have seen this.
 

Waste of fishing time!!
 

Waste of fishing time!!
 

Waste of fishing time!!
 

Waste of fishing time!!
 

Waste of fishing time!!
 

I was the only silly buggar out in the rain this morning at NPD. Managed to troll up quite a few bass on spinnerbaits, using 1/2oz in 10ft of water. Also some on chatterbaits and a few on shrimp.All up one eeltail catfish,one forktail catfish and 57 bass, oh and the wet ass,now I have to dry all my gear, this  will upset the wife as she says the pergola looks like a cyclone hit it.

We decided to go downstream this morning and had a bonus when we went to do our shrimp pots. The dam is now at 97% and we found 4 of our old pots that would have been submerged since 2021 when the dam was last at that level. Needless to say there was nothing in them so we brought them home to clean up and refurbish. After checking the rest of our pots we went furthur down stream and could only find around 4 or 5 bass. We had a friendly visit by the rangers who were checking all boats and they said that the fishing was a bit hard. We then went upstream with a few small bass and plenty of barred grunter in Ians island. Then up to a few spots just above bass bay where we found some small schools of larger bass ending up with 33 bass before we ran out of shrimp. 

Thought I would see how the back was going, so headed out to NPD for a session. Last time I had a great trip trolling, the bass were sitting in the thermercline at 20ft. Today the thermercline was at 15ft, so I had one lure a crazydeep 20ft and another a codger at 18ft and this proved successful as I got several double hookups. 31 bass all up.Downside of the trip was that some lowlife moved my shrimp pots a 100mt away and put his pots where mine was. He has a shock when he goes to find his.
Dino