Fishing Beats Shopping

After a stressful morning shopping I finally convinced my Dad to drop me down to the now deemed ‘not so secret spot’ at the woolwash but getting there by foot would be difficult after heavy rain, let alone getting there by car, So instead I went to ropes bridge. The tarpon were busting up everywhere chasing and attacking guppies. Whenever a group were busting up on the surface I would try and put a cast there and give it a pop and a long pause, this seems to be the best way to catch tarpon when you cast over the boils they make in the water. Most times however I just cast into the middle of nowhere and gave it small pops and little pauses all the way back which normally ended in a hook up. During the 3 hours down there over 40 tarpon and one Barra were caught, well over 100 hook ups would have happened with most of them tarpon, dropping the hooks or spitting them out at me, and one stage my lip. The gear of choice while fishing for tarpon on this day was nothing flash, just a combo I put together for if im showing others how to lure fish. It consisted of a 1000 size reel, 1-3kg rod and 6 pound braid. Testing this new combo out was fun, and the best part about tarpon fishing is watching the visual display as they climb all over your lures. I took a video of as much as possible but my battery and memory was low so it only goes for a few minutes, Enjoy

Gear For Tarpon:

Rod: Okuma X-factor 1-3kg travel

Reel: Shimano Seinna 1000

Line: 6 pound fused braid, 6 pound mono leader (mono floats which helps surface lures)

Lures: Sebile Splasher 52 in perch, amber fashion and sardine

stay tuned for more fishing adventures

Clayton

Daniel Richardson with his 56.5cm barra, tagged and released
good job I took my lip grips.

Well guys, I went shark fishing on Monday at the river, everything was prepared, I had 6 rigs set up in bags at home, each rig was a paternoster with a dropper loop, on the loop was 30cm wire trice, the wire was nylon coated, then on that was a 3/0 suicide and a 4/0 bait holder. I used everything, live mullet, bony bream, dead mullet, live prawns, dead prawns.  On the bottom was a big enough snapper lead to get it to the bottom of the fast flowing river.  There were some bites but that was about it, except for the run that broke my 20ib dropper loop, which if it was a shark its tail may have hit it.

 I had been there for hours and decided it was time to go home, I did so, but still feeling quite useless I rode to a local lagoon and used a Sebile splasher to find stuff, the only thing hitting it though was perch about 10cm in length but catching 15 of these was better than no sharks.

Shark Gear:

Rod: Berkley drop shot bait caster

Reel: Team Daiwa Viento with 10kg braid

Rig: 20 pound mono paternoster with 20 pound wire on dropper loop, 3/0 and 4/0 hooks connected together, small snapper lead

Bait: mullet, prawns, bony bream



just an avaraged size perch, relly the only fun is
 seeing about 50 of the swarm the lure in the water



Perch Gear:

Rod: 1-3kg strudwik sic stick

Reel: 1000 stradic ci4 with 4 pound braid

Lures: Sebile splasher 52 in perch colour

Stay Tuned for the second attempt,

Clayton

End Of School Trips



Crab catching at its best, bare handed



43cm flat head, judged by the mat

40cm+ bar tailed flathead

a few cod and other species caught on sebile lures,
 many other fish spitting hooks or cutting the line aswell

Definately catch of the day,
my mate with my lure in his hand

a trip to the hospital put the fishing trip on hold

one of many tarpon for the day

sebile splasher nails anything that eats surface lures

another tarpon

my mate getting his first woolwash barra

another mate landing another small barra, both only around 40cm

tagged and ready for release

Sebile Splasher, Barra and Tarpon

It was late In the afternoon, a few of my Gramma mates and myself met with a couple of boys from TCC(the cathedral college). We had the common goal, try for fish such as barramundi and tarpon on the surface.

I decided to make use of my Sebile lures and show off how top notch they really are. It was a slow start for my mate as his okuma baitcaster combo wasn’t working so he changed to his 1-3kg spin gear eventually, fortunately I already had mine out and going with a tarpon down on my Sebile splasher 52. Once the fish got excited it was great, the best part was tarpon have such soft mouths the hooks normally fall out. That was great news for everyone as each cast it would get hammered more than once and then something would finally hook up and the throw the hooks at the bank so all you had to do was cast out again. This happened most of the time but they hit the lure with so much force sometimes they hook up on their gills or eye socket or even in their side so the pliers and lip grips were handy.

The end of the day came and most of us achieved our goal, to catch fish.

My best mate got way up into the action with his light gear, my mate from TCC that works at the local tackle world cast about 3 lures into the tree and probably lost more, the other TCC guy claimed to have caught a Barra but there is no photo so I cannot put it up. Out of all the Sebile splasher showed every lure up. Lure fishing isn’t as easy as it may seem one of my mates didn’t get a single fish, it goes to show quality is better than quantity.

GEAR OF CHOICE:

Shimano Stradic Ci4 1000, 4 pound braid, Struwick sic stik pro 1-3kg

Sebile Splasher, Sebile Stickshad, Sebile Bonga Minnow

TACTICS:

The lure was used on a slow retrieve with regular bloops, more subtle bloops were used if the lure was being retrieved slower.

When surface luring do not try to hook the fish

bussing to the beach

First fish of the day



Bussing down to the sort of local estuary system is a very slow journey but when I got there it was almost low tide, perfect for big cod and nice flathead. My first throw of a placcie landed me a small cod, but they slowly got bigger, all of this in the first few casts in my opinion is a pretty dam good start and landing a fish on the first cast is a great confidence builder for any angler, even a pro. I changed to one of my favourite lures for fishing the snags, a Sebile Crankster 35Mr, the square shaped bib just bounces over the snags leaving the hooks dangling freely for any cod or flathead sitting next to it which ends in a perfect hook up. This is exactly what my holo greenie coloured Crankster did. Every time I cast out there was an eighty percent chance of some nice sized cod, the other twenty precent was flathead and strangely enough moses perch, which my lure hard appreciated, all three of my holo greenie Cranksters now need new paint jobs thanks to these toothy critters.  





My Big Cod



Representing Sebile



The tide started to come back in, slowly covering a yabbie flat and in that water were many small whiting, I had my stradic ci4 1000 reel and my okuma xfactor 1-3kg rod. On my stradic was 6 pound braid, on that 4 pound fluoro leader connected by a surgeon knot. Then tide to the 4 pound fluoro was a Sebile splasher 52. This  perfectly balanced set up enabled me to cast all the way over and float the lure just above the nosey fish keen to forage for anything on the yabbie flat, one little bloop and straight on the lure went a nice blue nosed sand whiting. As fun as this was it only lasted a good 15 minutes before the flat was covered with water.



Flatty attack



Because my mate and I fish her so often we know where all the rocks on the flat are, and next to those rocks are flathead, how do we know that, on a low tide walk around the estuary and you will find flathead holes, like stingray holes but where the flathead lay, waiting to prey on an unsuspecting fish.  Before I walked over to that side I had a final cast with the Crankster producing a nice kilo and a bit cod, then on the other side, the flathead cam on the chew, with that concluded a very successful day

 

KILO COD

The Barra Bonanza





possibly one of the best action I have seen on a Lure



On Wednesday my mates phoned and wanted a flick, one sponsored by rapala freetime and one that hasn’t even caught anything on a lure. We headed to my rocks in the river that become visible at low tide, creation pockets of deep water the fish can escape the current in, my theory obviously worms because there are baitfish, structure and more importantly Barra and threadies. My mate and I rocked up there after visiting the local tackle world to look at the new stock after their big sale (wasn’t in yet so no new gear). I noticed mullet cruising the surface and getting nailed, so I threw out a Sebile ghost walker with an amber like oil filled in the body which when seen in water creates a unique bleeding effect and guarantees strikes, and strikes were all they were, surface lures work but they just weren’t hitting it properly. The sun got higher, and the rocks became more visible as the tide slowly made its way out, my mate changed lures and within a few cast he was on, I think it was his first Barra in the river, not a half bad one at that.



can you hold it any closer mate? good fish either way



The Barra went deeper so on went my Acast minnows, unfortunately they are suspending so when I pause there is no rise or fall so I have to try as hard As I can to work them, I got one take and almost got It in, by the way it fought for a few second I was positive it was a threadfin or really big tarpon.  Unfortunately It drove me either into a snag or hit another fish but it must have been hooked only slightly and got ripped out. I changed to the white lady Acast.



yes, we dont take the best photos, but we do fish well



My second mate showed up, now the fun began, he started with gold bombers and we suggested a brightly coloured RMG, the pause he took to look around and say something let the lure float, and for some reason in the middle of nowhere a Barra climbed onto it, after a bit he landed his first ever fish on lure, not a half bad one for first go either. After many attempts I realised I got a lot of hits when I pulled the suspending lure up just like a lift and drop technique for plastics, I got a hit and run from a big fish, It dropped it then the way It was presented must have looked injured so another Barra threw itself at It, my heart hadn’t gone from sick to overdrive that quick ever, the feeling when you lose a nice fish, then the sudden jolt as another climbs on. All In all not a bad day,

Clayton

My local river monster

guys this is my metre and a half eel, the thing didnt stop, this is a while into the fight after I convinced my mate its not a snag that moves and swims and goes for runs. enjoy the small amount of dodgy camera work

barra lures part 7- sebile barra lures

barra lures part 6- Sebile Koolie Minnow

barra lures part 5- Plastics

barra lures part 4- Surface Lures

barra lures part 3-Sebile Acast Minnow

barra lures part 2- barra classics

barra lures part 1- poppers/bloopers

A couple of recent sessions

35 crankster mr does it again

The first of these trips that will get shown is my best mate and me walking around the back creeks of a major estuary system targeting flatties in the deep holes at low tide, equipped with reef walkers, stradwick 2-4kg rod and a newly purchased daiwa Jupiter reel I was ready for some fishing. The first spot was quickly showing how much fun the day would get, admittedly I was equipped with the wrong lures for the day but I persevered. My mate seriously got the better of me in the flatty scene whilst I picked up with the cods, both of us hooking up on Barra and both losing them. throughout the day a spot where hard bodies were viable this is when I came into my own, casting and retrieving getting strikes on the Sebile Crankster 35mr in the new favourite colour of blue gill, more cod were caught, some flat head, the two biggest flathead for me were both lost by high sticking, and after having a decent fight and getting them to the shore 3 times and then having them swim off wasn’t the greatest feeling but none the less a spot that should be revisited showed its full potential and gave me something to look forward too,

this one got bug anted (ecogear bug ant, pretty good action)



best mate with a lovely flatty



Another trip was to the causeway lake where the whole day was just spent casting and retrieving plastics and hard bods. Many flat head were caught along with some whiting, bream and giant herring. Another reason to go back with heavier gear is to catch the big rock cod that took my lures (yes two lures all up and i could see both of them in his gob clear as day). Pretty disappointing but still a great day.

first jewie on lure, hell yeah
on a down side, very small, they got bigger though

Monday the 15th of this month was a day off school so i bussed down too this beach where I thought it would go all right, turns out it was quite poor, the creek next too it seemed to be heavily out fished with many residents casting baits and not striking, essentially feeding fish. a shallow beach that has no life at all, on low tide not one flatty mark or indent from a  whiting foraging for food. The big estuary next too it showed little potential, once again heavily baited and easily fed fish. still persisting payed off with my lures catching fast moving herring and whiting, terribly annoying giant toad fish ( yes there is such a thing) and the highlight is on the beak of high tide for about 20mins i scored small whiting sized jewies on hard bods. And boy do they give you some stick when they run with the currents and use waves to their advantage.

Possibly the best outings I have had are with my girlfriend, well sort of, I went to the causeway again to see how it was going while my family were walking the beaches. heavy strikes kept coming then a big snag after a pull from a fish, I looked across the creek and my mate was standing there ( surprising how we both wanted to fish ) he tried to get my snag off but failed and snapped the braid against a rock, unfortunately I had not planned on this as I only got 20 mins to fish while the family got fish and chips , so i tied my new rainbow trout coloured strike pro pygmy and lost it straight away to a flatty, braid plus rocks just does not work. With that happening and my girl looking very bored I went and had dinner, keen for the Monday and fishing.

On another trip I was taken to the mouth of crio bay at sandy point I believe it’s called. lures were of no effect in the fast flowing water, so bait was the go, amazingly it worked, and very well for a blob of flesh on a hook, may have something to do with the burley but none the less the bream and whiting were amazing on light gear, my little 1-34kg rod and ci4 stradic 1000 came into its own, landing what would have to be the biggest whiting I have ever caught, along with some nice bream, the whiting came up to a total of 35 cm, for a sand whiting that’s pretty dam big.

solid effort, 35 cm whiting on ultra light gear
best time ever

Ann Jobling looking very happy with a decent whiting

Sorry about the response time to the fella who was waiting, year 11 is pretty hectic and it will only get worse, but holidays are sonish and fishing shall be done. Keep up to date with my blogs and Facebook posts by subscribing, and also joining the Facebook group. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Kayaking-and-fishing/200939529916666 . Remember Sebile lures are the way to go and in any situation have never let me down.

Couple of sites for your viewing pleasure:

www.sebile.com.au

http://www.youtube.com/user/clay94fishing?feature=mhee

possibly the best photograph taken by man, but was just
 a quick snap while running so i didnt miss the bus

Winter in gladstone part 2

Day1- Dad and I drove down and I got dropped at the hatchery to meet Kurt eagerly waiting with the boat ready. We took it straight to the nearest boat ramp and sped off to the islands to fish for bream on the flats.



bream on asebile crankster in a prawn colouration



 Once again the Sebile Crankster dominated in their actions and colours, the prawn imitation patterns and bluegill pretty much saw a bounty of lovely fighting fish on my light 1-3kg rod and 100 stradic reel.  Because we were flats fishing the drag was minimal so the entertainment and joy of real fishing kicked in.

small queeny

 the first few fish were bream and then we went around the back of a gravel patch and Kurt kept nailing bream while for some reason I took out some travelly and a small queen fish. Kurt captured a nice sized flathead on a cranka then we headed off to another spot. I reeled in a small cod on the bluegill colour and by this time I was thinking there was no fish that could resist this colour.

larger more fun queeny

the cod we werent meant to be catching

 A few more bream were caught and we headed over to yet another sand flat with rocky points and gravel patches, the perfect place for bream, and bream was what we got, one after the other. The day got even better when I nailed some more queenfish with Sebile Koolie minnows, magic swimmers and Acast minnows.

bluegill colour

another to the prawn

The magic swimmer then got terrorised and after a short and hard fight to a large blue salmon the salmon went for a pounding run and snapped the week in comparison 4 pound line, A stick shad was then put on and rapidly jerked through the water and landed some steel back salmon, and by that time it was midday and Kurt needed to get back so we headed back, hitched the boat up and left, I then walked to the marina and caught some trevally and bream then after seeing many people getting their bait taken around the one pylon I vertically jigged a semi hard vibe and landed a small but nice Moses perch. The day was pretty much over and I left to go back to dad’s apartment only to return the next morning for another fish with Kurt.

nice coloured specimen

Day2- I met Kurt at the marina at 5.30 then shortly after we headed out on the low tide to capture some bream trying to get up on the flat, then came some flathead and whiting. After a long wait the flats were finally full and we fished them well, the bream were feeding hard but not following through most times.

bluegill again

When we hooked up on a bream these things sure did go, especially because as Kurt explained they were big and heavy in pre spawn mode. We punted back to the inlet and tied the boat up and I cast around for fish nailing some Moses perch while Kurt was at his meeting, this time gave me a while to practice with my newly braided bait caster.

nice flatty on the bluegill

The casts were smooth and accurate with no backlash of any sort Kurt finally came back and We headed off to capture me a mighty salmon and after many looks from the salmon and dodgy half assed bights we had to call it quits, nothing was getting these fish to bite, even the dopy ones that were right next to the boat and didn’t swim off.

and once again bluegill dominates

Kurt Hutchby I do not know if you read these but It was a pleasure and joy to have you take me out so many times and fish with you where I learnt a lot more than I could just fishing the areas by myself. I look forward to the next holidays and hopefully going out there again for a ‘catch the most species day’…

For more photos go onto my Facebook group where every single snap is uploaded.

Winter in Gladstone part 1

The bottom of the spillway where Barra were
holding and had to be fished out

It was the middle of the school holidays so I went to Gladstone with my dad because he has work down there, the first day of part one I went to the Awoonga dam spillway where some large Barra had come over the top in the recent downpours. Previous to this I had only just watched the people from fishing dvd capture Barra at the spillway on flies and now I got to go there with my full kit of Sebile lures. The wind and rain was against us though with many Barra shutting down, the cool temperatures didn’t help either. When I got there I was greeted by Kurt Hutchby and other GAWB hatchery staff. It was late morning and not many fish were seen, then band my line was peeling off the spool and my drag was whirring away. It took ages to get this fish in but when it was at the rocky bank it turned out to be a massive sea mullet taken on a soft plastic, not something you see too often. The weight of it was insane and the fight was pretty amazing with Kurt even saying later the next day mullet would be the greatest sport fish if people could figure out a way to regularly catch them. After that a catfish was caught on a Sebile a cast and then nobody caught anything after that. Kurt went off to take some earlier caught Barra downstream and release them and whilst there a guy also helping caught three in five casts so the fish were back on, I got many hits on plastics but no takers so I decided to risk a hard body and see whether I could nail a fish before weed smothers the hooks. No chance. Everybody was packing up to go with not many fish that day because of the wether… but I wanted my Barra so I went for one last cast and twitched the hell out of the lure and bang a nice Barra climbed onto the lure. I got it in on my light line and was pretty please to get one when everyone else had given in for the day. I went back to Gladstone and fished the very dirty looking Auckland creek which is normally very clear, a few bream were caught and a Grinner as I was told the next day. I have attached a photo of the grinner purely because I laugh at it every time.



MY BARRA



cod on koolie

Grinner

Day two of the first part of my winter trip was even worse with the crystal clear Boyne river looking much like the murky brown of the Fitzroy River… target species were bream and the catch rate was nil. Even though the fishing was pretty bad Kurt still taught me a lot about how the fish act and were to look for and cast, showing me god lures and patterns and all that.

Boyne River at late morning after it had cleared up a bit

 I got back and thanked Kurt for his time and am eagerly waiting for my Tuesday Wednesday trip to get some more fish. Whilst waiting to get picked up and drive to Awoonga I caught some cod on a deep diving Koolie Minnow and at Awoonga caught only catfish, the lake is so vast and the wind was so strong there were literally waves In Awoonga dam. I have seen fewer waves at many beaches on the coast.

Keep coming back for more updates.

Clayton