Gone Fishin!

[Teotzlcoatl]

I love fishing here in North America! Walking up cold little mountain streams fishing for Trout is my favorite!

[Chiral]

ok hear we go here is a selection of some of the nice fish around my home town..where my oldies live ..Forster and Shelley point.

I miss fishing and haven't gone since I lived in the City..DOH..!

H.

[DreamingNagual]

Wow great response, The carp are a problem in a few waters down here, They cuased a major Trophy Trout water to be closed for close to ten years or so while they eradicated them.

Never seen or caught a reddie down here yet, My biggest trout would have to be a 5-1/4 pound Brookie caught from lake Plimsoll down the west coast.

Fresh water crays are a great bonus great to hunt down while walking upstream in the middle of a river for a day with the fly rod in hand, you ussually come across a few nice sized specimen over the 4 / 6 pound mark, They are Illegal to catch nowdays tho with fines goin into the $10,000 range, But that dont stopp many people Just have some etiquitte not to take any females that are in berry for obvious reasons.

As for salt water, My city was once known for its dirty waters poluted from the local paper pulp mill and a paint pigment plant called Tioxide. but since these been gone since the early 90's The place has once again become a great fishery, we have on of the deepest water ports in aus & you can catch plenty of huge Mackerall, Rock Cod, Squidd, Mullet, Cocky salmon, Couta Etc from there and the surrounding beaches an the local Jetty/ Boat ramps and river esturies. Whitebait are a big thing in the rivers too altho you need a permit, sea run trout are a prized fish whennthe whitebait runs are on as are atlantic Salmon.

Down towards west coast where they have huge ocean salmon farms there are some great trophy fish to be had from the fish escaping their pens after storms and such, but I am yet to be lucky enough to get me one of them babies.

[reshroomED]

IMO ED, the decline in numbers of carp and redfin has been due to the amount of flooding we have had in the past years, which has been fuck all to nil. Carp breed in shallow warm water and spring floods are perfect for this, something we havent had around these parts for well over ten years now and im sure the lil reddies loved to eat the carp fry.

I'd have thought this would disadvantage the cod more so, primarily since their breeding habits have always related to logs in recently flooded waters, and secondarily that they can't survive the environmental extremes that carp can in relation to water temp, oxygen content, etc.

Hehe my dad still raves on about the days where a wheat sack full of 2lb reddies was the norm, even when i was a kid a 5 or 6 lb reddie was nothing unusual in the right conditions and if you couldnt catch a feed there was something wrong with you. He also tells me stories of when he first started noticing "euros", "they appeared out of nowhere in the thousands, you could see schools of them swimming up the river", thank god them days have gone tho because for a while there carp were all you could catch in the murray and many thought cod and the like would never make a come back. Here here to restocking and re-snagging.

Making me feel old here 'cause I can remember that .

Now, with the reddies, ya leave the scales on, the whole lot, skin and all peels off once ya cook it

The skin's the best part. Still better if someone scales one for me, but I've been known to use that tactic if doing more than a couple at a time. Always meant to try a scaling bag on them but never followed through.

my pop taught me how to make a bardi grub 'screw' . fashioned out of a clothes hanger, 40 cm long with one end fashioned into a like a cork screw, that when screwed down the hole, the 'screw' end would screw around the bardi grub, then u would pull him out.

My old man had a similar idea but the corkscrew was soldered to the outside of a pushbike break-cable which allowed flexibility and, I'd imagine, greater feel which was important not to rupture a grub.

Down towards west coast where they have huge ocean salmon farms there are some great trophy fish to be had from the fish escaping their pens after storms and such, but I am yet to be lucky enough to get me one of them babies.

The westernmost of these farms was dead opposite my camp on McQuarrie Harbour. I was 30' odd from the water and spent several hours every day looking out that way, they would have been 800-900yds straight out from my front chair.

Had a gill-net which used to provide me with just a bit more than I could handle of atlantics/rainbows/browns, although the atlantics were by far the most common there. Average fish would have beeen around the 6 - 8lb mark, with annual catches of fish approaching the 30lb mark being regular. Never heard of one that big on a rod though, but very few people target that fishery with rods.

There'd be regular losses from the farms that'd end up in the net but were very 'milky' (as couta can get) due to the diet they're fed. Up until shortly before processing they use groth enhancing feed, then change to a feed supposed to enhance flavour etc a month or so prior to the fact.

I'd occasionally scoot across in the tinny when I had visitors and they'd let you catch one out of the 'tanks' (which are actually big cylindrical nets running vertically with floats mounted on a frame around the top) and take a photo etc - had to put the fish back. But it gave people a live-proof photo that they'd caught a 10lb+ trout, which is a bit of a feat back on the mainland. I'd call it cheating, but if you aren't a fisho it makes a good photo.

Definitely the best place I've lived fishing-wise. Apart from the trout/atlantics it was twenty minutes in a tinny to water where few people ever dived (Sth of McQuarrie Harbour is World Heritage wilderness with nearly a quarter of Tassie that is only accessible by helicopter or boat from the shore). Next stop West is S. America so a lot of ocean out there and quite common to see very exotic fish. Had a 4' dia sunfish wash up at camp one day etc.

Tons of flounder, to the point of taking well less than half-an-hour from waders on to waders off with half a dozen dinner-plate sized fish (and they'd be one of my favourite salt-water fish).

Plus mutton-birds each easter.

And pepper-berries growing all around the camp.

Loved it over there, but a lot of the locals have serious problems, as is common in declining mining towns, so you've got to be bale to deal with that.

And f###in' swear. After about six months there I called into the milk-bar in Strahan on my way home for some smokes. Making conversation with the young girl behind he counter serving me, I mentioned that it wasn't much of a day (and it was pissing down at the time) to which she replied "It's a f###ing c##t of a day" as casual as you'd like. Now, I'm far from a prude, but having a sixteen year-old girl serving in her dad's shop speak to me this way in full hearing of her parents (who didn't raise an eyebrow) spun me out.

Then there's the Queenstown footy ground. It's made of gravel. As in crushed white-metal road gravel. I was mad as a meat-axe in my younger days, but wouldn't have taken a run and dive at this thing without motorbike leathers or better for money. And these mad bastards play footy on it.

Better stop before I offend you Tassie blokes, but I *would* be interested to hear from anyone on the West Coast as we'd have to know someone in common.

ed

[PD.]

well most of the cod around here have been restocked as they are unsure if the old cod are actually breeding due to the summer temps of the river which is fairly cold because it is the bottom water from the dams. Last year fishing near Edward(s?) river in NSW we were catching ridiculous numbers of silver perch and alot of them were full of berries even though there was no flood water in sight so even though the flood waters would be beneficial to the native fry imo and alot of the locals from that area it isnt necessary for the fish to breed.

Resnagging and restocking has been key in the return of the native populations.

[DreamingNagual]

Hey Ed, Your post reminds Me I have a Huge bag of Pepper Berries In the kitchen!

Great for using On Fish, Venison Or just for an Extra condiment thats a bit different.

I collected them at Waratah, I have an Uncle thats lives down there.

Did you Know They are reopening the Mt Bichoff Mine?

The Queenstown oval is Farkin Mad as aye They breed em hard down there for sure!

My sister an bro in law often pack up the kiddlywinks & caravan and head down to Arthur River for weekends at "The Shack"

I havent been down the West Coast for yonks, Last time was a new years @ Roseberry and I nearly ended up in hospital after My mate had an epileptic fit & put us over the edge of a Big Fuck Off Cliff In his XR8 Ute, Luckilly we hit a tree a qtr of the way down, I went thru the windscreen and had to pull him out the driver window! That freaked me out a bit!

My uncle used to live an work down at Savage River and I have a few mates that used to live there as kids.

Also mates from Queenstown & Tullah, I actually used to work the Bar @ the Tullah Tavern before it got taken into receivership and was reopened cpl yr ago! Those were some pretty good times, Altho with the Calcutta nights and such, Things could get pretty Hairy when you try and call Last Drinks in an isolated Pub full of Drunk Hydro workers an Miners with no police prescence

Edited November 16, 2008 by DreamingNagual

[incognito]

Lucky bastids, Vic fishing is shit, we got ripped off when god was distributing fish species. Makes me want to move when I read that

baph u should come fishing with us on the 12-14th. rutherglenn vic.

should b fun not long now.

cannot guarantee how much fishing will be done with experience from past sab fishing trips lol.

sounds like a good crew going.

[baphomet]

Thanks for the invite man, I will do my best to make it up there, sounds like fun.

Wouldn't mind loading up the boot with some local wines too on the way back.

Going fishing for trout tomorrow, my camera's out of batteries and I can't find the charger but I'll do my best to take some pics.

[PD.]

Yeh head up baph, plenty of wines to try, most of them reasonably good too.

[baphomet]

Not a very productive day but it's always relaxing, caught 9 rainbows between me and a friend, last time I went up with another mate we caught close to 30, lots of wild browns too. I think some of these fish are completely wild but others probably escaped from a trout farm earlier in their life, by the look of the rounded/worn tails. No real big ones this time either.

I cook them on a webber BBQ on a very low heat and throw on some wood chips to smoke em, (even though it is said to cause cancer ) they were delicious.

[PD.]

LOL, not very productive my arse Baph you bastid, i went out last nite for a bit and all i caught was a murray cray and a tiny lil river blackfish . It was good to see a blackfish after alot of years though, shows the river is in good health. Havent caught blackfish in the murray for over 15 years! Gettin lots of bites in the same spot which were tiny lil hard to hook blackfish so i was happy enuff. Good to see the natives making a strong comeback after so many shitty years of carp.

Still no cod as yet which is unusual for this time of year, its closed season which is the time you usually catch the nice legal sized cod you cant keep:S

[hebrew]

what a great thread, thanks for the read i love fishing havent been in years used to go alot when i was a kid mainly beach fishing down the south of WA, driving through the bush to get to the beach setting up camp on the beach or in the dunes and fishing, rock and beach

good times was something we did alot of as kids. dad still goes down fishing next time i am home i will go with him, down pallinup or gardiner river

bluff creek good fishing. last time i went back there mrs and i took dads gear we caught nothing but then we found a littel silver foil packet and to our surprise we found some bud, needless to say it was a great fishing trip and not much fishing was done

never realy done much fresh water fishing no fresh water ways like they have over here int he east where i grew up south west WA, river fishing we did but it was usually salt water, bream and mullet if you used the net.

man i miss catching a fresh herring or skippy and cooking it up on the fire.

[baphomet]

It wasn't a total waste of time but compared to other trips it wasn't really much chop. Another mate of mine went up recently and caught close to 30 fish again, some big wild browns and rainbows over a kilo.

There are blackfish there too but I've never caught one, like you say it's good to see the native fish still surviving. I am new to freshwater fishing but I hear yellowbelly and cod are better eating than trout so I don't know why the govt would want to introduce a species like trout to eat all their young, if anything they should be breeding more yellowbelly & cod I guess..

I would prefer to catch cod but there are some great trout streams up near you, why not give them a try? The Kiewa River is less than an hour away and that is supposed to be one of the best wild trout fisheries on the mainland, I hope to make it up there one day. (your in Rutherglen right?).

Directions to Kiewa River from Rutherglen: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&q...sa=N&tab=wl

I hope to make it to Yalata around Feb this year too but it's a long way from Melbourne, and very remote. Here's why: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=JywNri6EF_Q

If they catch fish like that during the day imagine what lurks around those beaches at night

Should be some interesting pics from that trip if we make it up there.

Never been one for taking pictures really but I'll start taking pics of the gummies, snapper, etc that I catch this year and post them here too.

EDIT: "never realy done much fresh water fishing no fresh water ways like they have over here int he east where i grew up south west WA,"

If you want me to put you on to the spot where I caught those fish just send me a PM. It's about 2hrs from Melbourne though.

Edited November 20, 2008 by baphomet

[hebrew]

thanks mate but igot no gear here in victoria or a car so my chances of fishing a pretty fucking slim, unless i went down the maribrynong but you would be a game c*&^ to eat fish from that, you know what i miss as well is yabbies and marron, we used to go pilching from the cockies dams all the time until we found this creek that had some of the best gilgies ever nice black blue ones used to good size too we used to go down and get a big feed in an arvo good times, makes me think what world we are living in where my son wont be able to do that sort of shit, if i keep living in this city.

[PD.]

Yeh i have walked a few streams up around that way as a lad baph, throwin celtas around is good fun but ive never really got into the trout side of things. Last time i targeted trout i went with a mate, we were on a dam for 15 minutes before a storm rolled over the mountains and we had to abandon the lake, needless to say i still got 2 large trout in that small amount of time trollin with my mates favourite pink taz hehe. He was filthy with me and hasnt invited me back out since lol, he is a mad fisherman though and i was using his favourite lure for that particular impoundment and he left empty handed haha. I guess there is enuff fishing around these parts to keep me occupied and i never really saw what all the fuss was about with the trout, i dont think they are as good eating as other freshwater fish, then again i was raised on redfin fishing so who can blame me .

[hebrew]

this one is for you fullas

 

gone fishing

[baphomet]

i never really saw what all the fuss was about with the trout, i dont think they are as good eating as other freshwater fish, then again i was raised on redfin fishing so who can blame me .

Yea I hear redfin are much better eating but I've never caught one of them either, well not big enough to eat and not from clean enough water.

igot no gear here in victoria or a car so my chances of fishing a pretty fucking slim

Your welcome to come along when I go fishing next, I have a spare rod you can use, just send me a PM if your interested.

[hebrew]

thanks mate i will write when i am on holidays in a few weeks

[incognito]

when u say blackfish, are u referring to maquarie perch -pass and baph?

have u ever tried trout sushi style? that would be the preferred way that i would eat em.

i dunno ive never really liked trout except for it smoked or sushi'd.

pass-throwin celtas around is good fun

man bringin back so many memorys-the ol' no.6 red celta!!

was the no.1 sure fire lure for redfin, i used to spend a fortune on them as a tacker.

man my mouth is lterally watering right now at the thought of a battered fresh redfin fillet sanga right now......

this sucks i want to be fishing.

i normally fish round the jetty here in coffs every so often with my daughter, she is a bit of a hippy and makes me throw em all back though. normally pufferfish and tiny fuker bream, have caught one decent luderick,that one i kept much to her disgust and baked it in the oven and thought it tasted putrid.

look forward to taking her to the old redfin packed reservoirs around parkes when she grows up a bit, cos ur guarrenteed to catch a feed for all ur family and friends, would make another great venue for the psy fishing adventures mark 2. heaps of really cool forest and wildlife all around. would be great for budding photographers.

Edited November 20, 2008 by incognito

[baphomet]

No, river blackfish: http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv=2&a...G=Search+Images

Never really fished for them cause I heard they were just slime & bones, anyone else tried eating them before?

[incognito]

No, river blackfish: http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv=2&a...G=Search+Images

Never really fished for them cause I heard they were just slime & bones, anyone else tried eating them before?

ah thanks baph, never actually seen a pic of the fish, had heard of lovals catching 'blackfish' or 'slipperys' in the lachlan, but never quite knew what fish they meant, as id never caught or seen one, they where kind of like an urban legend. and they werent really documented at the time

does anyone know about the status of the 'sleepy cod' and 'trout cod' in the murray?

dang nabbit im gonna do a bit of research on the freshwater cod species now.

i love em' so great to see them making a comeback in the riversystems.

i have seen old piccys of paddlesteamers that used to fish the murray for cod and hok em in the melb and sydney markets. literally chest deep in the 'big mulloway sized' cod on the steamers.

cool link-http://www.sweetwaterfishing.com.au/species.htm

Edited November 20, 2008 by incognito

[PD.]

Never really fished for them cause I heard they were just slime & bones, anyone else tried eating them before?

IF, and that is a big if you can catch them big enuff, 30cm+ they are the sweetest tasting fish you will ever eat in your life baph. I dont know why so many ppl despise them but i used to make a point of finding the deepest hole i could and fishing there rite on dusk just to catch them and they are hard to catch if you are after them. Biggest one i have caught was a tad over 45cms, one of the best feeds i have ever had!.

[DreamingNagual]

and i never really saw what all the fuss was about with the trout, i dont think they are as good eating as other freshwater fish, then again i was raised on redfin fishing so who can blame me .

For me, Its not all just in the eating when it comes to Trout PD, I lurve the thrill of the hunt

I enjoy Wading in the shallows Polaroiding or Stalking a Trout down whilst he cruises the water on a still morning, Supping of the protien rich film of Smut left on from last nights Dun Hatch, Waiting patiently to glimpse the faintest ripple from that delicate Tailswirl, Barely Breaching the surface tension seen thru the subtle morning mist!

Then casting a Royal Wolf, or Damselfly, Presenting the pattern just perfectly within the fishes Feeding patern, Heart standing still as you wait for tha strike, Then Bam & He's on!

The piercing Screeam of the Fly Reel sends a jolt of adrenalin coursing thru my veins, I start shaking...

............Too Be continued.........

Maybe not... Drunken Ramble

Edited November 24, 2008 by DreamingNagual

[teonanacatl]

fishing rocks :D next year, imma be up cape york living off fish, ahhh will be so horrible hahaha. Barra, queenies, trevally shit the fishing up there sucks

[PD.]

look forward to taking her to the old redfin packed reservoirs around parkes when she grows up a bit, cos ur guarrenteed to catch a feed for all ur family and friends, would make another great venue for the psy fishing adventures mark 2. heaps of really cool forest and wildlife all around. would be great for budding photographers.

sweet, got the site sorted, we just need a date now incognito :D