Huxstang

How good is fishing….pic from Monduran 2 weeks ago

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNZg3pijBjwQGyGZCu5K5t_C9VillVOhVsjALmyOfIHF9KCGXZ-LCN_adCwq4BjJw/photo/AF1QipOzecOZWGj3v2Ydb2zmH1e4x-OfI-DdaqJ8cnXn?key=Mm1JY0RtVXZ5Z0JCc1MySV9ZTDR4Y0hjQThJaFpR Dad and I used to always get a pile of diver whiting on the cockle banks. If anyone wants more specific marks just ask and I will grab them off the garmin navionics maps.

This is actually an exceptional forum. No keyboard warriors, everyone is helpful and respectful. So nice compared to the Facebook pages.

Good fishing Bob.

Keep an eye out for a Formosa 580 Offshore or a later 595. Might struggle to find a 595 for that money but a decent hull.

I am keen to try it in deeper water. They say 100feet is fine. Next time I venture out to Harries and the like will try it in that 20m range. As I said, just playing with it got a better understanding of how to adjust the manual ranges better and what it means so really keen to try it in down mode over the wrecks or forward mode around any of the beacons. I had a great time looking at the geen channel marker at Clara rocks yesterday which is in 12m of water - should have recorded it, you can clearly see the base structure of the beacon and some form of platform that is well below water. Sort of like a bell shape. Quite interesting but no fish around it worth talking about.

I thought I might share some of my experiences with Livescope so far. First disclaimer - I am a tech head (even though I am almost 60). I studied IT and have loved every bit of nerdy gadgets that has come along even though I never actually followed through and became an IT professional - just managed them for a while. So got my new boat in September and decided that it needed all the gear - yep all the gear no idea. But thanks to the wonders of the internet, youtube and the like I was able to do a crash course on using live sonar, what the settings were and how they affected what you saw. Now I do not claim to be an expert but i think I am learning pretty well the more time I spend on it. Now I have Garmin Livescope Plus (ie LVS34) - in my personal opinion they were the originators and are very heavily invested in it and at the time I made the decision were a generation infront of others. Also I like Garmin screens….I like the menus etc and as a bay/estuary guy their transducers generally were going to suit so I didnt have to have a mixed bad of brands. I have shared two videos so far - on in fresh water and one in saltwater. Both in relatively shallow water however have been in as deep as 18 metres with it. Quite a few learning there as it is best to manually adjust the depth range and as I discovered you need to push your distance range at the same time (or reduce it) to ensure you are seeing in a usable range. Suprisingly they are quite easy to use out of the box. Garmin have two different settings (its called focus) which are optimised for salt or fresh. Other than that its the gain (which is the sensitivity) ie the clutter you see on screen. Colour is personal - most like amber….same for me. Once you see it in action its really easy to understand, you can see your lure, if its in the beam, you see fish move around and you can see the distance and depth. Benefits I have seen so far is that you can actually see things your other sonar will not show eg big barra stalking in tight treed country. Up under lilly banks and like today schooled fish that are easily seen in a lot of other clutter. Like all marine electronics time on water is the key…. https://www.facebook.com/1276354345/posts/pfbid024w7ydeKsQMmWQBETN1XZyz9r2xFL4Pmiy7T5HPo44TUF8XqszGbXUgNwjNTCdQzVl/?

Yes mate. Didnt see them on side scan at all - mind you we didnt do a major scout around. And with downscan and the amount of crap in water at moment you really cannot tell. So dropped the pole in and spot locked just on city side of southern pylon. I’d say there was a solid 20 or 30 fish. They were moving around quite a bit but staying in that @6m depth. Current was just dropping out so plastics werent getting a lot of interest so changed over to the nemo Zerek vibe and it converted. I recorded the fish again…just need to find a better way of sharing the livescope capture. https://www.facebook.com/1276354345/posts/pfbid024w7ydeKsQMmWQBETN1XZyz9r2xFL4Pmiy7T5HPo44TUF8XqszGbXUgNwjNTCdQzVl/?

Short session under the Gateway this morning. Lots of debris from the rain but came across a nice school of small jew. 59cm Mulloway https://photos.app.goo.gl/LPb5x27NqyiWJEZV8 And also got my first fish live on the Livescope…actually watched my jig float across in front of this bream which couldnt help itself. 31cm Bream. https://photos.app.goo.gl/osQz9HHBrXe5u46JA

Texalium bargain. Heck id give you $30 for rhe rod by itself

Thanks that was really quite interesting. GIves an understanding why a true custom rod costs a bit with the labour in it - even though they dont make the blank

You can have the grid lines show or are you talking about the really bright lines (which are trees). We were right up amongst the timber which is a bit touch in a boat as big as mine (not exactly a 4.3 edge tracker ). Simple way of thinking of livescope is ultrasound. You move the beam around and it paints a picture. So you can see these really bright vertical lines which is the beam hitting the trees and then fainter lines fading in and out which is just trees a bit out of the beam. I think the fish can be seen quite clearly in the video? And Greg LVS34.

Try a full moon. We were on new moon which according to Almanac should be a good time….clearly not . Also from what I saw the better points are where northerlies are hitting whilst we had a SE wind. Still we found them just couldnt get a bite - so just hope you find them hungry.

I feel a lot more confident with the livescope after Monduran - like any marine electronics, time on water is the key thing. Watched every video known to mankind I think but it was a couple of solid days of use that really made the difference. Now its time to try it in some deeper salt water. Will see how it works around the Clara rock/boat passage reef which is only @ 10m but I guess quite disturbed from current or maybe if no cruise ships in, give it a good workout around the new terminal which is probably a better spot. Regardless I will be using it more now I feel more confident.

Tried everything in the box. Jackall 79’s, Zerek Flat shads, Molix 140’s, some of my old RMG and Halco’s, B52 deep, even tried a Zerek vibe and a Zman frog for surface. Mate even tried a curly tail to try and mix it up. Spoke to quite a few people at ramp and accomodation and no one was getting anything so just seems they were shut down and not feeding. Thing with the sounders you can see just how much bait is available, so unlike rivers where its more opportunistic. It was a great trip for me…so much time to spend on my electronics and really get a better feel for it. The LVS is definitely a great thing to actually see if fish are there and look forward to being more targetted with it around the river etc.

Hey Brian see if you can see this reel on Facebook mate? https://www.facebook.com/1276354345/posts/pfbid0LD2gdKbhY4REmXDaieFTUcizWLxq2srDcK1TTAzTQmdf9txB1LCQUZFF31QA4Lgjl/? Basically you can see we are in @ 6m of water and at around 1min you will see some fish moving across bottom right to left. Scale across and up are all in meters. I then used the screen zoom to look more closely and you can clearly see they are barra. The grids are 1m square so you can see just how big these fish are.

I will see how I can share it. Damn painful as wont upload into Google photos

No idea but it seemed shut down. Quite a few guys putting in long hours just like us and zero results. I have heard full moon is a good one. Will try again sometime soon.

Mate and I decided to try our hand at Monduran. It must be 20 years since I was last up there and the water level was much lower (currently only 1m below spill way) which may be why we had success 20 years ago with no sounder and no idea - there was definitely a lot of water and I am sure it spreads the fish out. So short hand version - saw plenty on the sidescan and even more on the Livescope. recorded the livescope and its quite interesting as you can actually measure the fish - had 3 fish that would have been the magic meter all within casting zone and could not get them interested. And that was it, 4 sessions, and not one strike - didnt feel too bad because everyone we spoke to was exactly the same…zero fish and worked hard for nothing. Dam was pure, did all my high school in Bundy and played junior golf comps at Gin Gin and have no recollection of it being so green. Really nice time to visit. Temps were quite mild with the SE wind. Still obviously summer but not ultra humid like Bris when we left. https://photos.app.goo.gl/8JYMxd3dJ4D41Kpt9 According the almanac it should have been excellent fishing conditions, but clearly fresh water barra cannot read. NE winds are apparently preferred but we still found plenty of fish just could not raise a bite. If I can find a storage solution I will share a screen recording of the livescope. It was my first chance to just work it really hard and play around with things to see what worked or not. Much easier than when you are getting bounced in the ocean or river to sit on the gunnell and tinker. So report is - saw lots, caught zero

G’day Steve….how good is this retirement caper eh!!! Similar story to yourself, finished up mid last year and finally got time to actually use a boat not just own one.

YGK Pentagram casts fine, as does Sufix 832. Will try the Sunline Castway this weekend up at Monduran. With a few practice casts the Sunline seems to be a bit firmer and may reduce risk of wind knots. On a spin reel the Varias PE8 casts nicely but I dont believe it is overly abrasion resistant. Not a fan of Nomad Panterra at all….could be the massive backlash I got flicking a jig with it

No idea where you are located but can I suggest you go into a proper tackleshop and chat to the staff. For me I think the guys at Tackle warehouse at Coorparoo are pretty good, they wont upsell you but try and get something you like within your budget. And if you buy an outfit they will give you a discount. Feel a few rods and what you like, talk through the options and go from there. I do buy from other places but when I go in they know me and I always get a discount on stuff. I think its worthwhile in getting a relationship with a proper tacklestore who you can lean on for advice. The TT Rods are pretty good value as are Samaki and others. I think like all sporting goods another 10% in quality/feel/satisfaction costs at least a couple of hundred % more and wont catch anymore fish.

Nice tusky…great to catch and great to eat. How good is that. And an early start for the southsiders

Mate of mine did a trip up to Pancake Creek and on way home drove into Monduran Dam reversed down the ramp. A guy was yelling at him about not having undone the straps…he laughed and said he was just flushing trailer and motor with fresh water. Not sure if its bad etiquette but its only around the corner from Turkey Beach relatively so you could always stop for a quick fresh water fish on the way home and run it with some fresh water.

If you are into Youtue have a look at Part 1 of the boat build on Greg’s Wicked Fishing (he is a bayside boy). He bought a 5m plate boat and had RipTide fabricate a new casting deck and other mods. Might give you some ideas at least as its a very different boat. And get into it. If you can fabricate and weld this will be a walk in the park.