Archive

Repository for posts that are being withdrawn or superseded.

My Polycraft 5.3 repairs and upgrades

The reason for this post is twofold. First to give me a 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.

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Garmin Panoptics – Down View

PANOPTICS DOWNI have set out below a series of photos of all all the screens that you will come across when tuning in your Garmin Sonar to Panoptics Down View Mode.

Basically all you have to do is to open each screen/photo on your Garmin Sonar and change your settings to agree with mine.

TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND

  1. Don't use or make any changes to your sounder settings unless your transducer is in the water. If your transducer is turned on but is not in the water you run the risk of your transducer overheating and being damaged.
  2. Don't forget to make the correct selection i.e. "Perspective", "Forward" or "Down"selection on your transducer before deploying it.

    Start by turning your Garmin sounder on and then turn your LVS32 or LVS34 transducer on.

    In around a minute the "Options" screen/page below will show up on your sounder.

    Click on the Panoptix icon.

    That will bring up a screen/photo which is a basic layout of the screen as it currently is programmed into your sounder. You may need to go to the "Installation" page as shown below and switch to "Perspective", "Forward" or "Down" before proceeding.

    Click on the menu button toward the right hand bottom of the screen/page.

    On that page you will se that the page is identified in to top right hand corner of the page with the page name, in this case, "LiveScope Down Menu".

    As you move forward you will see that all other screens/photos also have their name in top right hand corner.

    PROCEDURE TO BE CARRIED OUT ON EACH SCREEN/PAGE IS:

    Each page shows a menu down the right hand side of the page describing each setting and to the right of that a description showing either"

    1. The settings that you should enter in the same position on your sounder, or
    2. One or more sets of two chevrons that look like this >>. Each of those sets of chevrons will take you to a page related to the page your on.

      As you move onto each page/screen change the settings to the same as on my equivalent screen/page.

    So, using the "LiveScope Down Menu" screen/page above as an example:

    1. In the "Gain" field on your sounder enter 90%
    2. In the "Depth Range field on your sounder enter 20m
    3. In the "Forward Range field on your sounder enter 5m
    4. Leave the Pause Sonar field as it is. If you click on Pause Sonar that is exactly what will happen and you will have to restore the setting to "Pause Sonar" if you want to use your sonar>
    5. Leave the "Transmit" button on
    6. Select the first double chevron (>>) that will take you to the "Sonar Setup" screen/page.
    7. Carry out the procedure above to that page.

    8. Select the second double chevron that will take you to the "Edit Overlays screen/page.
    9. Carry out the procedure above to that screen/page.
    10. Use the "Procedure above on all the other screen/page".
    11. I have shown each of the remaining screens/pages below in the order I prefer to proceed.

     

    HERE IS A SINGLE PAGE SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE PROCESS IN .pdf format

    PANOPTICS DOWN VIEW SET UP

    230803-PANOPTICS FORWARD VIEW SET UP

    You can of course download this page and take it with you on the water if you find working of a camera screen of the above post. From there you can follow my PDF and make the eight changes to the factory settings.

     

    HERE IS A SINGLE PAGE SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE PROCESS IN .pdf format

    PANOPTICS DOWN VIEW SET UP

    You can of course print page and take it with you on the water if you find working of an online version difficult. From there you can follow my PDF and

    . ... hope this is of interest and helpful to you.
    Regards, Chatto

    Hammer variant

    These soft plastics were inspired by a white soft plastics that I was given in late 2019. It turned out that soft plastic was called a "Hammer" and unfortunately they became unavailable in the early days of Covid 19.

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    Fingermark 2

    One of the most popular target species of fish, not only in Australia but throughout the world, are the Lutjanids and we are lucky enough to have two of the family, Fingermark (L.johnii) and Mangrove Jack (L.argentimaculatus), endemic to our coastal and estuary waters in Central Queensland.

    Whilst very closely related they are still quite different in many ways with some of the obvious differences being:

    • Fingermark are gregarious fish and whilst you will find them schooled up feeding their cousins Mangrove Jack are more solitary and prefer to hunt alone.
    • Fingermark prefer to feed in deeper water with a preference of a gravelly bottom whereas Mangrove prefer to get into the mangroves as the tide rises and to hunt for tucker there.
    • Fingermark grow to a larger size than Mangrove Jack.
      fingermark2 211124-FINGERMARK-2
      Boyne River Fingermark A Narrows Fingermark

       

      Even though Fingermark can be found schooled up and feeding in waters beyond our estuary waters I have limited the scope of this article to fishing for Fingermark in estuary and inshore tidal fisheries in central Queensland.

      Fingermark (L.johnii) are very solid fish that have powerful teeth. They have big powerful tails and are very much the close combat specialists. The colour of Fingermark are basically silver and often with shades of red under the chin or on their face.

      They are found all year round throughout the northern half of Australia and are a highly sought-after target species on natural baits as well as both fly and lure.

      In the colder months Fingermark reduce their metabolic rate and reduce their food intake but of course you can still target them in some of the locations described below particularly those where their feeding intake provides more energy than the effort they have to use up. Then as the water starts to warm up in late spring their metabolic rate increases and their food intake increases.

      Both juvenile and maturing fish are essentially estuary fish but bigger fish move beyond our estuary and inshore tidal fisheries.

      An average size 40 cm Fingermark is a powerhouse but they are pretty clean fighters even though they fight well above their size.

      Fingermark are both scroungers and predators in that on the one hand they will foraging around the gravel bottom or in and around structure for tucker yet on the other hand they will take advantage of structure and wait for food to come to them.

       

      HABITATS

      Our estuary and coastal Fingermark frequent a wide range of natural habitats including deeper pockets of water in all sorts of habitats particularly near mangrove lined shore lines in both open estuary waters such as harbor and bay shorelines as well as rivers and creeks, tidal run offs from gutters, snags and rock bars.

      Other locations that Fingermark frequent are man-made structure such as bridge, jetty, mooring structure and rock walls.

      For any of these types of habitats that get uncomfortably shallow for Fingermark at lower tides keep in mind that they will be more inclined to hold fish if there is deeper water close by that they can retreat to.

      Those deeper retreats are a main habitats for Fingermark. Even better if those deeper areas are over gravelly areas , have wonky holes, hold their own structure such as rock bars or sunken timber that stays covered on low tide … a good way to locate those areas is to do a lot of scouting about on low tide and to lock appropriate marks in on your GPS/sounder.

      Around Gladstone popular areas to target Fingermark are deeper pockets of water close to structure in our coastal rivers including the Calliope River,the Boyne River, South Trees Inlet and the Narrows and the mangrove lined back waters of the harbor and structure in local estuary bays like Colosseum and 7 mile and moving a little further away Turkey Beach.

       

      FOOD SOURCES

      Fingermark chase the same sort of food items as Mangrove Jack, Grunter and Flathead including; prawns and shrimp, small fish, crabs, mollusks such as rock oysters and worms so it’s not surprising that fly and lure representations of those naturals are a good choice when targeting Fingermark. That is not the end of the story for mangrove jack they are very territorial and will willingly take other non-natural looking offerings that ‘inadvertently’ draw their attention.

      As it turns out Fingermark are cathemeral feeders which means, that because their eyes have evolved to allow them to hunt in times of low light, that when they feed is determined by other factors other than night or day. Those factors are what we call trigger events.

      Fingermark understand those trigger event ever so well as it’s entrenched in their DNA.

      For us, the more of those triggers that we can understand and line up the better our fishing outcomes will be. When less triggers line up it’s reasonable to expect that Fingermark don’t eat so well and when there are no triggers the Fingermark just don’t feed and may go hungry. Sure, they may scrounge up something to eat but without the triggers being present and creating what Fingermark see as bite windows Fingermark won’t congregate and our chances of finding numbers of feeding fish in predictable places gets harder.

      As anglers what we have to do to get the most out of our fishing time is to recognize what the triggers for bite windows are and what causes the triggers to be in different places at different times so that we can take advantage of the accumulation of those triggers, just as the Fingermark do.

      I have set out below triggers which can have a profound influence on the occurrence of bite windows and consequently the success or failure of a barra fishing outing.

      As I understand it the three main trigger event that instigate bite windows for Fingermark are tides, barometric pressure and low light. I have described their influences below:

      Generally, Fingermark are most active on the last of the rising tide and the first of the falling tide.

      As you work through this post you will realize that a good strategy, particularly if you have a high tide around dawn or dusk, is to fish sessions that include the last two hours of the rising tide and the first two hours of the falling tide.

       

      FEEDING CYCLE

      • As the tide starts to rise small fish, shrimp and prawns move toward and into the mangroves and other structure where they can feed and feel relatively safe. In response to that Fingermark follow the tide from their deeper holding water to sandy and muddy bays and closer to mangroves, in the early part of rising tides, to pick of small fish and shrimp as they run that gauntlet to get into the cover of the mangrove roots to feed.
      • In the latter part of the rising tide as the tide inundates deeper into the mangroves and the small fish and shrimp follow the flow and reach the relative safety of the roots of the mangroves and behind the mangroves fingermark continue scrounging in those sandy and muddy bays and closer to mangroves and mop up stragglers.
      • As the tide turns, reducing the comfort depth for the small fish, shrimp, and prawns, they run the gauntlet again, this time, to get back to deeper water. Fingermark, do the same and, retreat from the sand and mud flats and from close to mangroves areas that they have been scrounging in to those holding waters where they were scrounging as the tide started to rise.
      • As the small fish and shrimp find what cover they can in weed and other structure in the deeper holding water fingermark either lay up after their feeding cycle or continue to scrounge up what they can.

       

      THE GEAR

       
      FLY FISHING
      For fly fishing my preferred gear is a #10 weight fly outfit with a straight rod length leader of 20lb Sunline FC Rock. My preferred fly line is a Scientific Anglers 400g intermediate sink line.

      Flies presented on solid hooks in the #2/0 to #4/0 range that are representations of prawns and small bait fish are great flies for fingermark. These flies fall into two distinct types. Heavier flies with enough weight to get them down to where fingermark are feeding during the first part of the building tide and toward the top of the tide flies that have some sort of structure guard or flies that swim hook point up.

      Focus on repeatability twitching the fly and then letting it sit so you in the zone as long as possible. A lot of takes come as the fly settles on the pause and then the only problem you have is to get the fish out to clear water and into the net ... often easier said than done.

      You'll find plenty of fly options to fit the bill in this selection:
       
      My big fish fly box – temperate & tropical destinations.

       
      DARK SIDE
      The outfits that I prefer for this type of fishing are 3-6kg overhead outfits with 20lb braid backing and a rod length of 20lb Sunline FC Rock connected to the backing with an FG knot. The reason for the choice of the overhead outfits as opposed to spin outfits is twofold:

    • For the species and fisheries concerned I find it easier to give line with the press of the thumb on an overhead real and then being back in contact with the line with just a touch of the handle rather than the manipulating the bail arm on a spin reel.
    • More often than not a large part of success in these fisheries relates to accurate casting in to tight positions around an behind mangroves and other structure and in being able to flick a lure under overhanging structure. With practice overhead outfits are much better at this than spin outfits.

     
    I generally carry three classes of lures:

    • I enjoy fishing with paddle tail, grub tail and swimbait soft plastics so it's not surprising that the ones I make and proprietary TPE and plastersol soft plastics more often than not are my goto option when targeting these iconic fish. I rig them on jig heads of different weights and always try to get away with the lightest weight possible that allows me to effectively fish the soft plastic at the desired depth and in the preferred way. A few of those soft plastics also lend themselves to being set up weedless so they can be cast into structure.
    • Hard body lures area great option too but, as the better ones are fairly expensive and pretty easy to snag up and loose I generally only revert to them if I'm fishing over areas that are not too snag endowed.
    • I have found that vibes are a great bait for all scroungers so I always have a box of vibes in my kit. Because getting snagged is a regular occurrence when fishing for any of scrounger fish, the vibes I use are generally on the inexpensive side rather than the big brand heavily promoted vibes. Given that tidal runs can be very fast and sometimes make it difficult to get the vibe to where it can be jumped along the bottom I have no hesitation in adding a snake lock weighted snap lock at the end of my leader or of incorporating a small ball sinker in the loop knot that connects to the leader to the vibe. This configuration allows me to get the vibes down to where I need to fish them. The offset is of course the snake lock weight or the ball sinker may spook some fish but at the end of the day if without the split shot you cant consistently get vibe down to where the fish are feeding the occasional spooking of a fish is a good concession.
    • ZMan soft plastics set up weedless on TT weighted shank twistlock beast hooks in various weights are very effective but I have learned from experience that they can be an expensive choice. As it turns out the “ElaZtech” Zman proprietary TPE material melts and deforms other Zman soft plastics and traditional plastisol based soft plastics and must be stored away from each other and all plastisol soft plastics in a non-PVC based container or their original sealed packaging. That sounds easy but the smallest of storage mistakes can turn out to be an expensive problem.

    You'll find plenty of specific lure, soft plastic and vibe options at "Coastal & estuary lures".

     

    STEALTH

    Keep in mind that Fingermark are easily spooked so you have to be stealthy in your movements and casts.

    • So when you approach an area you going to fish do it slowly and if available quietly under the power of your electric motor and take advantage of any cover that’s available. Don’t cast a long shadow over or motor over over the water your going to fish. Longer casts are important and cast to the side of any fish your targeting.
    • If your using an anchor deploy and retrieve slowly so that there is no bumps or chain noises that will spoke fish.

    Protected: Personal medications etc -11 liter food and water esky

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    Chatto’s blog

    Fishing and fishing related blogs

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    2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships

    Shared post 1 hr Facebook/Australian Team 2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships Ireland Stephen Chatterton has been selected to represent Australia in the 2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships in Northern Ireland. Chatto (as he prefers to be called) describes himself as “a journeyman fly fisher that has been lucky enough, and honoured, to be selected to […]

    2019 trout river season – almost upon us

    Because the 2019 trout river season due to open across our eastern states I have started a review of my various fly boxes that will come in to play. For me My “trout” river wet fly box is the most important fly box in the open season so that has been my first fly box reviewed. These are the changes I have made:

    Articulated bugger fly – new colour combination

    I started making soft plastics in gar fish colours about a year ago in response to identifying that a lot of the buffing of big barramundi that you hear at dusk and into the night is barra targeting garfish. I have now added gar fish inspired colouring to my articulated bugger range and have found that to be a great dawn and dusk time fishing colour combination.

    Awonga spills at dam wall taking plenty of fish into the Boyne River

    Every cloud has a silver lining I am told. The silver lining for the horrendous weather and damage associated with cyclone Debbie is that Awonga dam has started to spill taking heaps of fish into the Boyne River. Over the next short while as the river flow settles down the barra fishing should be very exciting.

    Awoonga dam Gladstone Qld – trialling new flies

    Awonga Dam continues to produce.

    Bass – record numbers stocked in NSW

    A record 429,000 Australian Bass have been stocked into dams across NSW throughout 2017. Australian Bass are a sought after sports fish with bait, fly and artificial lure.

    BIG FISH FLIES

    One of the things I always promote is the importance of limiting the flies you carry in your fly boxes to just those flies that you are confident work for you, you understand when to use them and you know how to fish them.

    Black rubber tail fly

    This fly has turned out to be a fantastic point fly for bass in Lake Maroon. I have fished it for two years in a row in the Variety Club competition with a MKII olive or black woolly bugger on a dropper and achieved two podium finishes.

    BOM climate outlooks

    Latest climate outlook for the next few months from the BOM is not good. Main points are: – Drier than average likely, but may start to ease for some in early 2020. – Rainfall is likely to be below average across most of the country for November. – The likelihood of drier conditions in eastern […]

    Calculating trout weight from length and condition

    As a result of fishing in competitions I have got used to measuring fish that I catch rather than weighing them. It’s quick and simple and of course puts little extra stress on the fish so that is all good. The process of course does have its short comings in that you don’t know how much the fish weighted. Well that’s no longer the case because I have adopted a mathematical process called a ‘power low equation to allow me to calculate the weight of fish from just one or two measurements.

    Candy for cod etcectera

    This Articulated Swimmer fly, when dressed in Qantas colours is like candy for Rock Cod.

    Cania Dam

    Cania Dam has been on my bucket list now for a couple of years and consequently I have been undertaking quite a lot of research so that when I do get up there hopefully this year I have enough information to make a reasonable job of that fishing trip. This is what I have found so far.

    Carp control plan update

    Researchers and government officials were given an update on the National Carp Control Plan (NCCP) in Canberra in late July. The NCCP is looking at the release of the carp virus cyprinid herpesvirus-3, with $15 million funding from the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC). At the Principal Investigator Workshop in Canberra National Coordinator of […]

    Christmas Island – Pacific Ocean (Blog for Rav)

    Christmas Island – should be on all fly fishers bucket list to visit.

    Commencement of trout spawning season

    Fishers are reminded that the annual trout spawning season commences in the Snowy Mountains from 1 May 2014. Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Inland Senior Fisheries Manager, Cameron Westaway said: “The annual trout spawning season fishing rules apply to the Thredbo River and its tributaries and the Eucumbene River and its tributaries (upstream of the […]

    Crown road closure applications in NSW now online

    Crown roads to some of your favorite fishing locations may well be under threat. photo photo photo Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner has announced the launch of a new online service to make consultation over the closure and sale of Crown roads easier. Mr Stoner said this was a big step forward for stakeholders, with users […]

    Estuary Perch

    NSW Department of Primary Industries Recreational Fisheries Manager, Craig Watson, said that 10,000 Estuary Perch fingerlings were released. “The fish were bred at Narooma Aquaculture and are being released with the assistance of local fishers,” Mr Watson said.
    Estuary Perch are found along the eastern seaboard through NSW, into Victoria and South Australia and including Tasmania.

    Eucumbene – summer 2014

    Generally at this time of year there is an expectation that the midge would be starting to move and that there would be plenty of fish feeding on them and mayflies nymphs in Jocks, Cobrerbald, Coppermine and Wainui bays. Well on my latest visit I saw no evidence of that so I had to go […]

    Eucumbene River access at Denison Camping Area

    The camping area will be better defined with timber bollards with a view to stopping vehicle access beyond the camping area to the north … I support this project.

    FISH Magazine – Fisheries Research & Development Corp.

    FISH is the official newsletter of the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation and is now available online. FISH is published quarterly in March, June, September and December. To obtain a copy of FISH mazagine by mail, please fill in your details on the Subscription page. Download the FRDC FISH Magazine in PDF format.

    Fishing for foragers – on fly and the dark side

    We are very lucky around Gladstone in that we have a healthy population of Mangrove Jacks, Fingermark, Barred and Silver Grunter and Flathead in our local waters and all four of them are reseptive to both fly and lure presentations.

    Fishing season reminders

    Just a few reminders here about the main closed seasons in NSW … better to be safe than sorry.

    Fishing season reminders – NSW

    Hopefully this small blog post will keep you in touch with the dates for fishing seasons in NSW for popular species such as bass, trout and cod.

    Fishing season reminders – NSW

    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 Toonumbar Dams […]

    Fishing season reminders – NSW

    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 Toonumbar Dams […]

    Fishing season reminders / NSW

    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 Toonumbar Dams […]

    Fly boxes – how I set mine up and why

    How you organise fly boxes is important as it can make a big difference to how much you enjoy your fishing outings. This question and answer explains my approach.

    Gaden meets rainbow trapping targets.

    A total of 861 wild rainbow trout have been trapped this year at Gaden. Along with rainbow trout broodstock held on site, the rainbow trout allocation target for this year has now been reached and the permanent fish trap has been removed. A total of 152 litres of rainbow trout ova have been laid down, […]

    Gaden Trout Hatchery 2014 winter report

    ‘This is the busy time of the year at the Hatchery, with egg picking commenced for this production cycle. 403,000 Atlantic salmon ova were laid down. After egg picking there were 275,000 eyed ova left, a 68% fertility success rate. The Hatchery currently holds 400 1 year+ Atlantic salmon, 155 2+, 90 3+, 60 4+ […]

    Getting started – flies

    Flies catch more fly-fishers than fish. One of the things I try to promote is the importance of limiting most if not all of your fly box to just those flies that you are confident work for you, you understand what they can be used to represent, and you know how to fish.

    Gladstone – my normal fishing locations

    There are a lot of fishing options around Gladstone in Central Queensland and these are my current favourites.

    Gladstone Queensland – overview

    A town with boom and bust cycles determined by big projects mainly in the mining industry on the one hand but on the other a very pretty town with access to a number of fabulous fisheries.

    Half-dunk

    This is one of the flies that I have tied for an impending trip to N.Ireland to fish in the 2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships. My research shows that there can be Autumn hatches of caddis and occasionally olives and midge. Those sort of hatches often occur in relatively shallow water and often the fish […]

    Hardy Ultralite 10000 SDS fly reels

    These reels are beasts and have an impressive capacity of backing. I have gone for 70lb braid for backing and so that the backing is not the weak point in my system and even then 300 meters of backing fits easily. The reel also has a drag that locks up and needs 13lb of direct force to give line and then it does it ever so smoothly … OMG..

    How old is that Jindabyne or Eucumbene trout?

    Ever caught a fin-clipped trout in Eucumbene or Jindabyne? If you have, you can determine its age by the position of the clipped fin. Every year thousands of trout are fin-clipped by volunteers at Gaden Trout Hatchery so that the age group can be identified. Different fins are clipped to indicate the year.

    Invasive turtle species spreading around Sydney

    North American red-eared slider turtles are spreading in the Sydney region, threatening native turtle populations by competing for food and nesting sites. They are considered one of the world’s worst invasive species of waterways, breeding rapidly and carrying exotic diseases. They can spread salmonella bacteria to people, pets and other animals. Unlike native turtles they […]

    It’s a hatch of booby blobs …

    I tied up a few extra coral and white booby blobs today. I’m hooping that they will work as well in N.Ireland at the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships as they work on rainbows here in Australia. Head off on 24th August.

    Join the fin clipping team at Gaden in January

    This summer’s fin clipping at Gaden Trout Hatchery, Jindabyne is scheduled to start on Tuesday the 13th January 2015. As usual there will be 37,500 rainbows to clip (which is 25% of the 150,000 to be stocked into Lake Eucumbene). Fisheries will provide lunch, morning and afternoon tea on the day(s) of clipping, so if […]

    Just keeping you in the loop !

    We don’t get many days in Central Queensland when we get a break from persistent winds but when they come around it’s nice to take advantage of then and target one of your favourite species on fly.

    Kingfish crackdown

    Some of the undersized kingfish seized by DPI fisheries officers during the operation. A recent compliance operation targeting fishers retaining prohibited size kingfish in the Sydney region, has resulted in the apprehension of a number of fishers and the seizure of many small fish, says DPI Supervising Fisheries Officer, Chris Clarke. “The operation was conducted […]

    Lake Awoonga – new hatchery up and running

    My sources tell me that 200,00 fry were stocked in May and the intention is to stock 1 million fry by Christmas. Mangrove Jack are also being raised at the hatchery and apparently, we can expect 200,00 fry being released as soon as possible and ongoing releases hopefully giving Lake Awoonga a daytime species to target.

    Lake fishing in the Snowy Mountains 2012

    In Jindabyne and Eucumbene that trend continued and whereas the midge/damsel fishing season which is generally a highlight of our November and December fishing was fantastic in 2011 it was almost non existent leading up to Christmas 2012.

    Lake Jindabyne – January 2018

    The first snippet headed “Monaro” provides the first credible incite I have seen that alludes to why trout fishing in the lake has declined in the last 6 years. The second snippet headed “Pumped Hydro” adds to my concerns for the lake. Since the Snowy MKII upgrade was muted I have been expressing my concerns about redfin being introduced to our trout lakes.

    Lake Maroon (Blog for FFA Qld & Variety Club)

    Lake Maroon is one of South East Queensland’s best freshwater fly and surface fishing destinations It lays close to the base of the Great Dividing Range on Burnett Creek, a tributary of the Logan River. It is a relatively small impoundment with a surface area of 350 ha and an average depth of 9.6 meters. […]

    Lake Maroon – great idea

    Thanks about your email looking for information on Lake Maroon. I love Maroon and have had a couple of podium finishes there in Fly Fish Australia competitions. I am not aware of any guides that fish the Lake Maroon area so I cant help you there but I have set out a little information on my web site that may help with your expedition there.

    Learn to tie flies … what a great present

    In any of the three courses practice each skill until you have it down “pat” and then move on. All the flies tied in the course are proven flies for catching fish so you will finish up with flies that you will be able to use.

    Make a soft plastic … catch a barra

    These 5 barra above are all over a meter and have been caught in Lake Awoonga over the last 5 weeks on soft plastics that I rigged up in my own very personal way on soft plastics I poured myself in moulds for top pour soft plastics that I finessed and made myself.

    Masthead reef 20/6/24

    Got a text from from my next door neighbor Tom on Wednesday inviting me out to Masthead on Saturday to target our favourite table fish Red Throat Emperor.

    Mid winter 2011 Snowy Mountains fishing report

    The old adage ” when the weather is good for fishing it’s bad for fishermen” definitely was conjured up to represent the way things happen down here in the Snowy Mountains. If your coming down for a fish don’t forget to bring plenty of layers of clothing and of course if your fishing from a boat make sure that everybody wear and knows how to use their PFD. The fishing however can be fantastic at this time of the year … my last 3 outing produced 37 very good fish.

    Mud prawn

    Spent a bit of today topping up my #10 weight fly box with a batch of Large Mud Prawns. It is hard to believe just how many salt water species will take a well-presented prawn bait.

    Murray Crayfish clawing back

    Murray Crayfish have been successfully relocated

    My 2014 Fly Fish Australia National Fly Fishing Championships.

    As it turned out my beat on the Bundarra didn’t give up 1 fish in any of the 5 sessions. Despite that disaster because I managed fish in the next 3 sessions (Rocky Valley, Kiewa River then Rocky Valley again) I was running 12th on Saturday night with only one session to go and that was on the Mitta Mitta.

    N. Ireland – Fishing Report 2018 Commonwealths

    Fantastic event that was well organised and mostly equally well executed. My rotation for the competition was: DENNETT RIVER On day one my departure time for my Dennett session was 7am. Competitors were supposed to be dropped of at their beats with at least 1 hour of time available to set rods up and walk […]

    National waterbug blitz

    This Spring, Australians are encouraged to become ‘citizen scientists’ and investigate how healthy their local waterways and wetlands are, simply by exploring and identifying what aquatic macroinvertebrates they contain. The type and number of waterbugs found in a waterway can tell us a lot about how healthy that waterway is.

    fingermark2New fly categories added for 2020 BTHU

    Originally posted on January 9 on https://boynetannumhookup.com.au/news/ For the 2020 Boyne Tannum Hook Up as well as there being the GT Fly Fishing Category that was introduced in 2019 there will also be new separate fly fishing categories for both seniors and juniors for flathead, yellowfin bream, whiting, grunter, fingermark and barramundi. If you want […]

    New personal best Awoonga Barra 21/9/23

    Managed a couple of nice Barr at Lake Awoonga on 21st Sep with this 109cm beast being the best for the night and a new Awoonga personal best for me. And the added bonus was that it was caught on a soft plastic I crafted myself.

    New Snowy Advisory Committee replaces Scientific Committee new

    On 5 March the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Amendment (Snowy Advisory Committee) Bill 2013 passed the NSW Legislative Assembly. It establishes a new Snowy Advisory Committee but dissolves the previous Snowy Scientific Committee which was first established by the previous Labor government in 2008. The committee advises on the timing and patterns of the annual release […]

    No smoking in NSW national parks

    NSW national parks are now no smoking areas. The smoking ban applies to almost all areas throughout NSW national parks and reserves, including picnic areas, camp-grounds, accommodations, beaches, lookouts, walking tracks, and on national park roads. The ban doesn’t apply to some commercial lease or licence areas, or to private residences located within a park. […]

    NSW – fishing season reminders

    Bass, Trout, Murray Cod, Eastern freshwater Cod & Murray Crayfish

    NSW – Fishing season reminders

    Closed seasons for popular fresh water species in NSW for 2018.

    NSW – NEW RULES IN LINE FOR RECREATIONAL FISHERS

    Friday 17 JUNE 2022 The NSW Government is introducing new recreational fishing rules for Rock Lobster and Dusky Flathead in NSW, which will see the bag limit for lobsters increase. The new rules were developed with the Recreational Fishing NSW Advisory Council and follow a comprehensive community consultation process, which showed strong support for changes […]

    NSW – Online map helps anglers access new fishing spots

    NSW – Online map helps anglers access new fishing spots … so how good is this?

    NSW government gives green light to Snowy 2.0

    The NSW government has given planning approval for the multibillion-dollar Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project, prompting warnings the move will cause the extinction of a rare native fish species. Mark Lintermans, an associate professor at the University of Canberra, resigned as chairman of the NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee, saying the giant project would likely transfer […]

    Ociana Fly Fishing Championships 2015

    In 2015 Australia will be the host country for the 10th Oceania Fly Fishing Championships. I’ll be there representing Australia as a member of the green team. Go to the FFA web site for information on the Ociania’s and of course follow the event on the FFA Facebook page. If you have any gems of […]

    Operation Tempus … awareness about VIC fisheries regulations.

    Operation TEMPUS, a major enforcement operation on Corio Bay, begins today to ensure all commercial and recreational fishers are aware of Victoria’s fisheries regulations and are obeying bag limits and legal catch sizes.

    Packing for Christmas Island

    Each time I go on a major fishing trip I modify my packing list. My latest trip was to Christmas Island in the Pacific. These are the revised lists for my High Sierra bag when it is used as my carry on bag and for the same bag when it becomes my fishing bag as well as my list for my check in luggage. I will modify these list as I head off to other destinations.

    Perdigon (Spanish nymph) – silver/orange & peacock

    For the last few years I have used Perdigon flies as replacements for my older style anchor flies and of course there is added bonus, particularly in small sizes that they catch fish themselves whereas my older style anchor flies seldom did.

    Platypus’ continuing to die because of politicians passing the buck

    Fishing a stream and seeing a platypus how good is that … well it seems that unless our politicians stop passing the buck and get on with the job of protecting them from “opera house yabby traps” our kids and grand kids may never experience that. The NSWCFA has been asking questions for many months […]

    Public forum on Snowy Mountains Lakes trout fishery

    Fishers are invited to attend a public forum on the Snowy Mountains Lakes trout fishery with Department of Primary Industries (DPI) managers and scientists in Cooma on 29 May 2014.

    Queensland Grouper – juvenile

    There are very few fish our there that wont eat a prawn or a shrimp. This Juvenile Queensland Grouper fell to my prawn fly. As usual the fish was released to fight another day. photo3

    Redfin in Jindabyne, Eucumbene & Tantangara ????

    Here is an interesting email from Steve Samuels that I wanted to share with you. Redfin are prolific breeders and carnivores … if the right precautions are not in place, with no chance of mishap, their numbers will quickly out-compete trout for food and as soon as they get to any size they have the predisposition to eat trout fry and fingerlings.

    Regional Recreational Fishing Forums – Victoria

    Fisheries Victoria would like to hear your ideas! Join Fisheries Victoria for a public forum with VRFish to learn more about what they are doing to improve recreational fishing across the state. Go along and share your ideas or, if you cannot make it along on the night, email your ideas to [email protected] or post […]

    River access increased in Victoria

    Freeing the rivers The Upper House has passed legislation to legalise camping on Crown Land with river frontage and grazing licences from September 2021, complementing recreational activities already permitted on Crown Land like fishing. This is a big step forward in delivering the State Government’s Target One Million commitment, which will make it easier for […]

    Rock lobster tracking

    Pretty cool huh?!

    Royal Mail Hotel NZ – an option for a fresh or salt water fishing adventure

    Situated next to the beautiful Oreti River, at the crossroads to a further 35 crystal clear trout and salmon fishing rivers, streams and lakes. The southern regions of New Zealand are world renowned for trophy fish, pristine clear waters and access to private fishing spots. If you have not yet experienced the thrill of fishing here on the South Island, I can assure you it is an experience such that the wily fish will test your angling skills and the scenery will take your breath away! If saltwater fishing interests you, the southern ocean and world heritage site Fiordland National Park are only an hour away and offer thrilling adventure, crystal waters and stunning catches.

    Rule of twelfths

    The rule of 12ths … an easy way to know the approximate water depth at intervals of roughly 1 hour as the tide rises or falls.

    Sad day for trout fishing in The Snowy Mountains

    Well, that is just my personal opinion. Please find following a notice from Snowy Hydro on possible delays on Tantangara Road over the next month … I think this is the beginning of the end for our Snowy Mountain trout fisheries.   26.10.20 – Construction Notification – Site establishment at Tantangara – 28 Oct 2020 […]

    Sandfly bites

    Contrary to popular belief sandfly bites are not associated with laying eggs. They are in fact bites associated with feeding. The fact that almost immediately they start to itch and the itching increases is related to the fact that during the feeding process they urinate and the bites become infected.

    SELF SERVICE YOUR PFD

    This had to be done once a year and should be thought of as a cathartic process rather than a chore.

    September 2012 – Competition fishing at Eucumbene

    There was a lot of interest in this competition and a strong filed of competitors including 2 from Tasmania and 3 from Victoria as well as a number of Eucumbene specialists. The reason for the record number of registrations was no doubt the fact that the two sectors being fished were two of the 4 sectors to be fished in the 2012 National Fly Fishing Championships in November.

    Snowy Hydro MKII – redfin update

    Snowy Hydro continues to work closely with the recreational fishing community to minimise issues associated with the possible transfer of redfin perch between reservoirs by the Snowy 2.0
    pumped-hydro project.

    Snowy Mountain Rivers

    On 27 October 2017 at 20:10, Tim wrote: Hi, I was watching a fly fishing show of the Willow Grub being used in NZ waters. Any idea of the success rate if used in the Snowies around Thredbo area? Regards, Tim     Reply: Chatto 28 October 2017 at 06:41 HI Tim, I can remember […]

    Snowy Mountains fishing report December2013

    Fishing in the Snowy region is often tough at this time of the year but if you put the time in and fish well you will find fish My suggestion for Tantangara is to concentrate your efforts loch style fly fishing the Tantangara hot spots. For Eucumbene polaroiding the rocky and timbered shores and back […]

    Snowy Mountains trout season 2012/13

    We should never be surprised when our fishing expectations are dashed because after all it’s called “fishing” not “catching”. What I am getting at here is that as the season on both lakes progressed it became increasingly patchy and whilst there were individual days with reasonable catches by in large the common thread on both lakes were very hard fishing.

    Snowy Mountains Trout v’s Redfin

    MEDIA RELEASE – Monaro Acclimatisation Society Inc on 25 May 2020 Monaro Acclimatisation Society to work with NSW Fisheries for Snowy Hydro 2.0 Recreational Fishing Offset.

    Sort out your fly boxes

    Every now and then it’s worth going through your fly boxes and resorting them. Not only does it give you a chance to re-establish some order in your fly boxes but it also helps identify where you need to tie a few and which ones you can discard.

    Spotters Prescription Sun Glasses

    I am cranky with myself for not taking up Spotters 2018 Fly Fish Australia teams sponsorship offer for the 2018 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships (N. Ireland). I didn’t take it up because I still had my original Spotters and my Spotters that were sponsored to me via Fly Fish Australia for the 2016 Commonwealth Fly […]

    Spring comes early

    Based on my diary what I call spring for the Boyne River in Central Queensland arrived about 20th August last year and the year before. This tear I reckon that it arrived a week earlier. The criteria I bases that on is a dramatic change in the weather patterns and the behaviour of budding fruit […]

    Spring into action – 2011 in the Snowys

    Well the river season has opened with a blast and there have been great reports in relation to most of our local rivers and lakes. For the rivers – I have spent quite lot of time fishing the Eucumbene River either side of Providence Portal. On the lakes it has been fantastic with plenty of double figure days. this year has been the best polaroiding season we have seen for years. The ‘doom sayers’ predicted that the flushing of the Snowy River with water from Lake Jindabyne would kill the fishing off for a few months. They were so wrong …

    Summer 2012 fishing report from the Snowy Mountains of NSW

    Well its been one of those seasons where it looked like it was going to be a better than average summer. In the local lakes Rainbows and Browns started off feeding fairly freely both around the edges and of course in the shallow bays with plenty of drowned vegetation producing plenty of midge and great fishing. In one December week I had 3 days where I boated 42, 51 and 36 rainbows all over 40cm. The rivers started strong also and plenty of both Rainbows and Browns took up residence in the normal hot spots.

    That ship has sailed !

    Over the last 48 hours you may have seen quite a lot of activity on http://www.fishonfly.com.au. I just wanted to bring you up to date and let you know that www.troutflies.com.au has been WITHOUT CONSENT using our site as a source of fly information. This was brought to our attention when wording from several of […]

    The bass season is very close …

    The bass season is now very close and I’ll be heading off on my first outing for the season which is an outing to Cania Dam later this month. . bass Don’t forget the old British Army adage “Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance” So here’s a few snippets of information that you […]

    Thompsons Creek Dam angler access arrangements

    Thompsons Creek Dam near Lithgow in NSW is a water storage for the Mount Piper and Wallerawang power stations and offers some of the best lake-based fishing for trophy sized rainbow and brown trout in NSW. It is managed by DPI as a trophy fishery and access to this private property is granted for anglers […]

    Tilapia

    Be on the lookout for Tilapia, an introduced pest fish that is widespread throughout coastal Queensland and parts of northern NSW. The Murray Darling Basin and further coastal areas of NSW are at threat of Tilapia invasion. Once established in a waterway, Tilapia are almost impossible to eradicate so preventing their spread and early detection of new incursions is critical.

    Topping up my bead head nymph fly box

    My bead head fly box has around 25 different nymphs and I have it set up so that the 6 flies that I have the most faith in and consequently use most often are all together as shown in this photo. Clearly supplies of a couple of these are down a bit so over the next week or so I’ll focus on tying the following from left to right in the photo shown.

    Trout v redfin

    500 rainbow larger-than-usual trout have been released in Oberon Dam in the hope the large fish will slow the population growth of redfin. Ray Tang from the Central Acclimatisation Society helped carry out an experiment in July. “Basically, it’s a pilot release. An experiment to try and combat the prolific redfin. It breeds so prolifically […]

    Update on Snowy Lakes – Steve Samuels

    Dear Supporters As you may be aware Snowy Hydro Limited has announced that it will soon begin geotechnical surveys of the landscape between Tantangara Dam and Talbingo Dam as an initial part of the feasibility study for the proposed “Pumped Hydro” concept. This will involve the use of heavy machinery on and around Tantangara Dam […]

    Updated my PB barra on fly yesterday

    On Monday this week I fished a deep snag in the Boyne River and made contact with a big barra that came out of the snag and took my fly. Unfortunately the 24lb fluorocarbon leader wasn’t up to the shock and as the fish took of in panic the fly and the leader parted … […]

    W.I.P. barramundi variant of my sand stripper that I am testing

    This 2/0 9cm fly is a barra variant of my mud prawn that I am testing.

    Will Snowy 2.0 be a white elephant?

    This article builds on concerns previously published on this website: April 2022 edition of the NSW Freshwater Fisher There is continuing concern that Snowy 2.0 is a $10 billion white elephant, despite the project being well underway. From a recreational fishing point of view, it will introduce noxious and pest fish into the headwaters of […]

    Will this be the end of invasive carp?

    Scientists at CSIRO have wrapped up almost a decade of testing to prove the bug kills only the so-called “rabbit of the river” clogging the Murray Darling Basin, The Weekly Times reports. Applications to introduce the virus in Australia are now being submitted while an unlikely alliance between ­industry and environmental groups, including the National Irrigators Council and Australian Conservation Foundation, support the measure.

    Winter 2012 – Lakes Jindabyne and Eucumbene

    It’s been a fantastic start to the polaroiding season on Jindy with us regularly spotting big browns either cruising or just sitting doggo watching the world go by … Evening fishing has also been very good in Jindabyne and I recommend you fish just a little up from the back of any of the drowned inlets … loch style sessions on Lake Eucumbene last week and both resulted in double figure numbers for both my boat partner and myself. The catch was about 6:1 browns as opposed to bows and some of the browns were corkers.

     

    Threadfin Salmon

    Threadfin are fantastic table and sport fish with big tails and plenty of vigor and would pull a similar sized salt water Barramundi backwards. They also have a well earned reputation of being finicky and difficult to catch.

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    Check list – emergency kit

    I keep my emergency kit in a small orange zip lock bag. It does have just enough first aid items to get by but most of the content are items you may need in an emergency.

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    Protected: Alpha frog – pouring sequence

    There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

    Adding lead to a “weedless” AKA “worm” type hook

    Weight can be added to a fly in many different ways and they effect how the fly sinks and swims also in many different ways. This is how I add weight to weedless / worm hook when I am going to use the fly to make a fly similar to my Scrounger fly.

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