AUS-BNE-FISHO

Thanks Greg. That was a great article. Hopefully more of the (reefs and seawalls) and put in around the place.

Good luck jon. I hope you get some good fish. What do you plan on chasing? Cheers Hamish

Nice work Dino, those are some good bass!

You could try using a similar rig for mulloway as what you said above. A clump of beach worms or a strip of salmon on gang/snelled hooks and a sinker large enough to hold the ground in the surf. Mulloway supposedly are best targeted on a high tide. I'm sure there would be plenty of youtube videos about it. Cheers Hamish

Thanks for the great tips Khalid - you are very generous to share your knowledge about so many spots. Have you ever tried fishing for mulloway off some of these beaches/rock walls? Cheers Hamish

Hey @Sickfishing1 Look up Allan from fishingmad on Youtube. He has a few videos from fishing around Daylesford, which is about a 40 minute drive from Ballarat (according to google maps anyways). I'm sure most of the techniques he uses could probably be implemented successfully closer to Ballarat as well. Also, if you look through this website, you will find a few lakes around Ballarat with trout stocked (maybe check if they have been stocked recently compared to when you fish them though). https://fishingmad.com.au/trout-stocking-schedule-victoria-2021 In my experience I have found orange powerbait on tiny hooks with small sinkers and about 50cm of 6 pound trace works well for these trout. Cheers Hamish

It's good to hear someone has been catching fish - nice work Benno! How fast do you like to troll with the hardbodies? Cheers Hamish

Nice try Ray. Hopefully the dams start fishing good again soon. Cheers Hamish

Hi Sam I would be interested in any one of the left side reels/bottom right reel. I think they would be fun for tillies/eels and maybe a bullshark next Summer. Whatever reel you dislike the most I am happy to have. They sure look cool. Have their been any fish biting at Straddy lately? Cheers Hamish

Was just browsing through Gumtree and came upon this. I think it is the same as the bottom right. https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/northcote/fishing/daiwa-406ra-fishing-reel-was-19-now-9-/1269050228 Diawa 406RA. Judging by the fact it is for $9 it may be pretty common?

Good luck Hweebe, I'll be interested to hear how you go.

Good luck ID-ing the reels Sam. Do you think they could be old Abu Garcia or Okuma ones? Cheers Hamish

Hi Sunny Most of the fly fishing I heard about is done on sandflats, rivers, streams, creeks, dams, and around shallow reefs. I have never heard of it being done on the beach; if you were to learn I think a dam/calm water location would be easiest. It seems like a fun thing to do, in dams carp and tilapia seem a popular target species. Cheers Hamish

It's a shame about the dead fish. Did you get an ID on any? Interestingly enough I have found a fair few catties jammed in the rails of jetties that got flooded. I assume they got trapped when the water receded. The water looked putrid too. I wonder how the fishing will go in the long term.

Well of course my Dad has tested positive to COVID on his 50th birthday, which means we aren't going anywhere. Luckily it isn't too bad and no one else in the family has got it.

Yep, I actually saw that. I think it was around the Southern Bay Islands???? It definitely seemed like his dad knew how to pick spots. They did very well assuming that they actually hadn't been crabbing for however many years that Sammy said, though. I assume it will take a little while before they become a bit more active in the more upstream parts of the river. They seemed to do somewhat similar things to what I did although they had better quality pots by the looks. Cheers Hamish

Good work Ray, I hope you are ok after your asthma attack. Cheers Hamish

Hi Joala I actually have a mate who owns a 420 Busta. They have an electric motor. I will ask him the exact shaft size/motor size, but the one he has seems to be fine to hold in relatively heavy current. Although it did seem like it could run out of charge quickly so make sure you have a charged/big battery. Cheers Hamish

Thanks @Drop Bear. I'll keep these tips in mind next time I'm crabbing. I will definitely try checking them after short time periods.

Hi Llama I have never fished in Tasmania, but I would be fishing with something like: A large baitrunner, the biggest you can find, or the largest spinning reel you can find. Spool with as much 50 or 80 pound braid as possible (I guess depends on how much structure there is, though you'd probably want to go with the heavier line regardless). A heavy 24-37KG spinning rod, that can cast a fair bit (I am assuming you're fishing off a beach/jetty of some sort). A large breakaway sinker/star sinker, with a short trace of 200 pound mono, and then a large fish bait or strip bait. You could probably use heavier gear, I am sure a stingray of that size would fight hard. Also, I don't know what the law is in Tasmania, but in QLD it is that you can't keep/target stingrays over 1.5 width. I assume a 100KG ray would be bigger than that. Make sure you check. Good luck, Cheers Hamish

Thanks Angry, I see. I should have specified - my pot only had holes in it after it was in overnight, which indicates to me crabs cut their way out. Hopefully next time the crabs aren't as smart, lol. Cheers Hamish

Thanks very much Angry, the water is certainly very fresh in the river at the moment. I might wait a few weeks until holidays to try again. I might also try checking them more regularly opposed to leaving them for overnight. I tightened the entrances up on my pots, so they weren't so flimsy, as well. I will probably consider buying better pots over time, though I would hate to have 80 dollars stolen because I left my pot in the wrong spot Cheers Hamish

Hi all Last night I set out with two crab pots, some chicken, and a bream/tarwhine frame in each trap. I was originally going to strap my pots to my bike buggy, but by the time I was back from my tennis comp it was dark, so Dad decided to drive me (he probably came to regret that when he realised how much the bait stunk lol). I am going to build a rack that goes on the back so I can take four instead of two, in the coming weeks. I set the two pots, both landbased, in somewhat likely looking spots. At the first spot a stray cat prowling around gave me quite the fright while I slid down the bank to the river. It was a steep bank and plenty of mangroves nearby, but unlike last time the tide was up and I couldn't throw my pot sideways towards the undercut part of the bank, only straight out over some rocks. I then almost slipped on my bum when I was clambering down some muddy rocks at the next spot - (I came back to the car with mud all over me and got yelled at when mum/brother/sister found out). I checked them this morning and they were both empty, though one pot had three holes in it (in the shape of a crab shell) suggesting that a couple got out. I was disappointed but wasn't expecting much, anyways. I do have a couple of questions: 1. Do all the crabs tend to become less active in big rain events like this? I know a bit of fresh makes them go deeper but it seemed unusual I couldn't get anything. 2. Do crabs leave the pot if they can't eat the bait because it is stuck in the bait bag? I think I left them too long, going off the holes. 3. Is it normal for crabs to cut/claw their way out of the pot? 4. How long is to long? I read a lot of conflicting information, and I know everyone has a preference, but 1 or 2 hours is a pretty big difference to 24hrs. Thanks for reading, Cheers Hamish Stats of Trip: Recent Rainfall: 300mm in last couple of weeks Tide: Two Highs, One Low, 1.4, .7, 2 Moon Phase: 78%, Increasing Bait Used: Chicken, Fish Frames Gear Used: BCF Pryml Crab Pots Overall Success Rate: 10%

You could go crabbing… (note no pictures as the crabs forgot to stay in my pot ).