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At the end of the backing tie in a small swivel using a uni knot. Take 1.5meters of tippet material. My preference for bream and whiting is Riverge Grand Max fluorocarbon which is 0.210mm diameter and 9.5lb breaking strain. Tie that in on the business end of the swivel using a …… knot. If you…

Whilst the tips I have set out below evolved from fishing in the Snowy Mountains of NSW, in general terms they are equally appropriate to a whole range of fisheries. These tips are all designed to help you locate trout to encourage their cooperation.   Location, location, location Location is…

Please read this article in conjunction with the companion article: [member Link="p=6028" Title="Fly fishing tips"] Whilst it would be nice to have the right rod, line and leader set up for each sort of water in a river or stream it is not always possible. In competitions in particular you can…

Playing fish It's not just pricking fish that is important its landing them: Make contact with your flies as soon as they hit the water and maintain contact with your fly or team of flies at all times. Slackness in leaders will give fish time to spit the fly without you even being aware they have…

I like to fish wet flies in the rain. If you are one of those fine weather fishermen you are missing a lot of sport. On sunny days the fish swim near the bottom of the river, lake or stream for a number of reasons. They do not have eye lids and the sun can damage the eyes. More importantly the…

As a result of fishing in competitions I have got used to measuring the length of fish that I catch, rather than weighing them, and then releasing them to fight another day. It's quick and simple and of course if you keep the fish wet and handle it carefully it puts little extra stress on the fish…

A fly line is a fundamental piece of specialized equipment for the fly fisher. Modern fly lines are made from special polymer materials which are extruded around a core generally of monofiliment or more recently braid. The key difference of the two core materials to the fly fisherman are the…

The number of fly boxes you carry is obviously one of personal choice. One difficulty you may encounter when you are setting up your fly boxes is which flies you should include, and how many flies you should carry in your fly box or boxes. The last thing you want to be doing is standing on the bank…

On many occasions over the years I have been told that trout are true opportunistic feeders and that they will eat almost anything. From my experience this statement is both true and false. If you approach your fly selection on the basis that trout eat anything, over time (probably your first…

Detailed below are all the materials you will need to tie all the flies in the course "abc of fly tying for trout" plus heaps of other flies. The overall weight of this kit is 3kg. Over the years I have also used this as the fly tying kit that I take to international competitions such as the…

See also: Getting started – wet trout flies Getting started – salt water flies Getting started – bass and native fish flies Getting started – the gear There are only really two types of flies dry flies and wet flies. A dry fly is any fly that is designed to be fished on or in the surface film of…

A wet fly is a fly designed to be fished below the water's surface of the water or a dry fly that has been drowned and is being fish below the surface of the water. Basically there are two main types of wet fly: The type is representational flies which are flies tied to represent food that trout…

Quite simply, this is a check list of all those things that I regard as important, and that I need to be sure to do, in order to get the most out of every fishing competition or practice session and in my case even to social fishing outings. I go through this check list before heading of to an…

Large populations of dark olive Yabbies of the Cherax Genus have developed in both Lake Jindabyne and Lake Eucumbene. Many anglers suggest that the Yabby has been responsible for changing the feeding habits of trout in the lakes as the populations of Yabbies have increased. In fact in both Lake…

It was on the latest club outing to Kalkite on Lake Jindabyne where I was introduced to loch style fishing. I was picked up at 9.00am by the punctual and jovial Steve Chatterton. Attached to the 4WD was his latest acquisition, a serious boat made of plastic and powered by a 60 HP Yamaha. Within a…

In about 2000 I was lucky enough to stumble onto BFR75 Modular reels and have been using them ever since. BFR stands for "British Fly Reels" but sice about 2004 these reels have been made in China. Progressivly over time I have added to my collection of these reels and I now have 9 separate reels…

The amount of dissolved oxygen in water can have a significant effect on fish activity and well being and consequently from a fishing point of view its useful to understand why and when there may be more or less oxygen in water. Oxygen is absorbed into water in only two basic ways. Through…

The History of the Winery and Distillery is quite interesting. “St Peters was established with the utmost good taste and a seemingly limitless budget by Count Sassoli d’Bianchi and his son Count Andrea Sassoli d’Bianchi in 1978. Its function was truly bizarre: to produce that most unwanted of all…

See also: Getting started – dry trout flies Getting started – wet trout flies Getting started – bass and native fish flies Getting started – the gear Salt water flies are flies that have been designed specifically for use in salt water to catch fish that live full time or part of their life cycle…

I was recently at my home on the shores of Lake Jindabyne the wind was up and blowing from the north east at about 20 Km, it was cold and overcast and there were intermittent snow and sleet showers. All in all it was a miserable day and better suited to tying flies, reading or writing than actually…

Whilst I don't do it so often these days there is a time in my fishing history when fishing off the rocks or "rock hopping" as we called it was my preferred form of fishing. Sure rock hopping has its inherent risk factors but with a little good management you can still undertake this form of…

These are the AFTMA fly line ratings for traditional single hand fly rods used for traditional techniques. Line Rating —- Line weight —- range for line rating 12 weight | 380 grains | 368 – 392 grains 11 weight | 330 grains | 318 – 342 grains 10 weight | 280 grains | 270 – 290 grains 9 weight |…

  The reason for this post is twofold. First to give me a permanent record of how all the wiring works on my Polycraft and secondly I hope this post and the wiring diagrams included may be of benefit to anyone setting up a series of complex 12V or 24V electrical systems on their boat.  …

This is my approach to “Mal de mere”, “sea sickness”, “motion sickness” or whatever you want to call it. It is a terrible affliction and can spoil what may well have been a great fun day. The reason for sea sickness seems to be two fold. The first factor is that our balance centre, which is in the…

When I am talking about big fish flies I have in mind the flies I carry when targeting species such as but not limited to: Barramundi (both freshwater & saltwater) Kingfish (Yellowtail and Cobia) Lutjanids (Mangrove Jack & Fingermark Javelin fish (Barred Grunter and Silver Grunter) Flathead (Dusky…

I have owned a number of canoes and kayaks over the years and the Hobie Mirage Outback shown below is by far the best of that type of fishing platform I have experienced. They are light enough to be loaded onto and easily transported on the roof of the car, they're stable on the water, have plenty…

Food source [months] Fly * Dark Side suggestions Bream [10] [10] [20] [30] [40] [50] [50] [40] [30] [20] [20] [10] FLY Mud prawn PET shell prawn Mutant clouser DARK SIDE Flathead [50] [40] [30] [20] [20] [20] [20] [20] [20] [30] [40] [50] Articulated swimmer Mutant clouser Mud prawn Pregnant prawn…

There is nothing new about the snell knot itself but what you will find here is a unique way to tie it. I currently use this process of adding a stinger hook to the front of larger flies, soft plastics or even Mustard Fasthatch clips when I am fishing in low light or dirty water conditions. The…

When I am talking about big soft plastics I have in mind the soft plastics I carry when targeting species such as but not limited to: Barramundi (both freshwater & saltwater) Kingfish (Yellowtail and Cobia) Lutjanids (Mangrove Jack & Fingermark Javelin fish (Barred Grunter and Silver Grunter)…

Flies catch more fly-fishers than fish To the uninitiated getting started with flies can be a real hit and miss exercise. I know that when I started purchasing flies, well before I tied flies, I purchased many flies that I never caught a fish on. Some of those flies were flies that others said I…

I often get asked the question as to what gear a newcomer to the sport of fly fishing should buy. A lot has been written on what gear you should buy (most by people who are selling it) when you first start out but by the time you have sifted through the volumes you'll probably be as confused as I…

Casting a fly rod: 6 essentials There must be a pause at the end of each stroke, which varies in duration with the amount of line beyond the rod tip. Slack line should be kept to an absolute minimum. The rod tip must travel in a straight line in order to form the most efficient, least air resistant…

Traditional – according to the oxford dictionary: “fishing e.g. for salmon or trout, using a rod and artificial flies as bait.” In contemporary Australia: That form of fishing, for any fish, using a rod and fly line to cast artificial “flies” or “lures” either as bait, attractors or antagonizes to…

Process: In the example below I am making two 46g two layered soft plastics. So in this case that will take 92g of material. The bottom layer is deeper and will use about 60% of that and the top layer is only about 7mm thick so it will use only the remaining 40 % of material. For each colour I also…

One of the things I still enjoy about fly fishing is tying a fly and then catching a fish on that fly … it's a fantastic sense of achievement. Unfortunately fly fishing options around where I live in Central Queensland are limited by strong prevailing winds and strong tidal flows so more often…

Bass Zero bag limit for bass and estuary perch starts 1 May and ends 31 August. Catch and release is allowed. The zero bag limit does not apply to fish in stocked freshwater impoundments, including Glenbawn Dam and Glennies Creek Dam in the Hunter Valley, Brogo Dam near Bega and Clarrie Hall and…

Coming to grips with the effect of moon phases was a pretty daunting consideration when I first started fishing for Barra in Central Queensland but over time I have built a reasonable understanding of moon phases and the influence of each moon phase on the feeding antics of Barra. I have set out my…

On 29th September I was fortunate to be invited by Scott McAuley, who I have fished with socially on quite a few occasions, to partner up with him to fish the 2020 Venom – Lake Awoonga Open. The competition was made up of three sessions, one on each of Tues 29th Sep, day two on 30th September and…

There is no doubt about it … lures catch more fishos than fish. If you walk into any fishing shop these days you can expect to find a wall or walls of all sorts of lures … wow, where to start. I have mates that have boxes and boxes of lures and it's common to see them sorting through those…

Please read this article in conjunction with the companion article: [member Link="p=6028" Title="Fly fishing tips"] At the 2012 World Fly Fishing Championships which I participated in as part of the Australian team leader lengths were limited to twice the length of the fly rod. Whilst at the…

A long time ago I decided that #6 weight fly rods were the right weight of fly rod for still water fishing for trout. Since then i have used #6 weight fly rods in many trout fisheries overseas and in Australia and have never for a minute considered changing to a different rod class. Set out below…

  Quicklinks   There are times when the right bait for barra is a hard bodied lure. Selecting the right style and swimming depth of hard bodied lure is definatley one of the keys to that process. You can do things with hard bodied lures that you can’t do with any of the soft plastics…

My first fish on fly fell to the magic of a Woolly Bugger and many have gone the same way since then. My understanding is that the Woolly Bugger has its origins in America where it appears to be tied, as a leach imitation. having said that there is also an English fly with bead chin eyes called a…