52-ing the fresh

When heading down to the local lagoon casting for Barra I like to use the Sebile splasher 52, such a versatile little lure. Slow retrieve with heaps of splashing to imitate insects, large pops then a long pause to entice the barra out of the Lilly pads and the constant pop on a medium retrieve to cover the vast distances of water. A little walk the dog retrieve in an opening of water in a weed bed gets them all the time too.

The trip started as I finished school, after losing my last splasher the previous day my goal was to find a splasher and a landing net. This brought me to the local tackle store, they had a large number of 72 splashers but they just weren’t the same on the barra, so I got the one colour in the 52 they had, grabbed a landing net and headed on down. After a lot of rain the water level had risen covering the entire area I was used to fishing, but the barra didn’t mind the new territory. Every 15 seconds all you heard was “pop”, “boof” or “slap” as they hammered the surface.

Clayton Nicholls with a stunning 60cm+
Barra pulled from snags on 4Ib on the Sebnile Splasher 52

The first fish was taken by trying to imitate a flailing insect between two weed patches; this obviously worked as a barra snapped it up and ploughed through the water like a truck. The next fish was coincidently taken in the same spot; I cast out doing a medium retrieve and a slow pop with a pause, a little tarpon hit it and sent the lure to the area where the first barra had dwelled. A few more pops and the second Barra climbed on and shot off straight into the weedy bank, but this time I had my landing net, saving the lure and getting the fish.

The next fish was taken in an area where I could hear a loud smack every so often, just next to a water plant floating on the surface. I made the cast, let the lure float a little, then after two splashes and a long pause the mighty fish erupted out of the water, dancing on the surface then came crashing down. The fish was landed and hooked perfectly in the pin joint. The lure came out easily, and then the fish was taken out of the net and swum a little for recovery before a few happy snaps and on it went.

A slow twitch near some timber accounted for the last two in my area; I decided it was time to evacuate when I walked out of the water to find I had 3 big leeches on my leg. To my surprise after the amount of times tarpon hammered the lure, I didn’t even hook up on them, but the best part of a tarpon is their hit so no loss there.

The Barra In my little spot are not huge, so why use the common barra gear of 20Ib braid, 40Ib leader if the barra are around 60-70cm when you can have a lot more fun on 4Ib main and 4Ib leader. Yes, you may lose a few fish, but you actually get more bites and hook ups fishing light, and fishing this light puts you up for a long fight of hard runs and aerobatic leaps.

‘Fish light and get the bite’

Clayton Nicholls

How To Fish From Structure

Have you ever been to a new fishing spot, only to be put off by the many fisherman already there and the tell tale signs that they haven’t caught anything? The problem here is that a lot of people don’t know how to fish from structures; all they do is drive on down to an area, toss out a prawn and hope for the best.

Structures can be many things, such as pontoons, bridges, wharfs and even rockwalls. All of these structures can be successfully fished from with the correct guidance and preparation. 

Clayton Nicholls with a just legal Barra

The first thing people do time and time again is to head on down to their local tackle shop and buy a bag of prawns, not even worrying about asking what they should be using for where they are going. Prawns are fantastic bait, but only when used in the correct area, otherwise the chances of hooking up on a lovely fish is almost zilch.

The best way to gather bait is to grab a cast net and try to net any baitfish swimming around the area, this could be poddy mullet, bony bream, herring, perch and the list goes on. Generally speaking the baitfish that is there in abundance is what works the best. In my local area I have found that bony bream and poddy mullet are the most commonly netted bait fish. If you do not own a bait net your local tackle store will be able to hook you up with a bait that works.

Rigs are the next problem people face, the local pontoons are riddled with sharks and larger barramundi, and so the normal 6 pound standard line on the small weekend trip combos may not work too great. Your rigs will ultimately depend on the fish species around the structure. Due to the number of sharks and barra in my locality, the rigs I use are tailored to that situation, 20 pound line to a metre of 60 pound leader (this will help with gill breakers and shark tails), all the way to a 20 pound nylon coated 20cm wire strand which will stop the sharks teeth but the nylon coating wont shy away the barra. To top it all off a 3/0 to 6/0 hook is used depending on the size of the fish and bait on that particular day.

Once the bait and rigs are sorted you have to put the bait on the hook.  Don’t just throw the hook anywhere and think ‘she’ll be right’, the effort you put in will be payed off when that fish of a lifetime swims past and hammers down that perfectly presented bait you spent a few more seconds dealing with.

A whopping 77cm barra pulled from the river by Clayton Nicholls

The general place to hook live bait is under the dorsal fin or just before the tail, although hooking through the top and bottom jaw can also work well.  The most important part in putting a hook through a livey, or any bait for that matter, is to leave the barb and majority of the hook protruding from the bait. Observe the bait after a fish has taken a shot at it: are the majority of the bites on the tail, back, head, or underneath? Change where you put the hook to suit the pattern – it’s all about being aware.

The correct gear for the fishing spot is always needed; you don’t see people fishing for flathead with an overhead combo, so why fish for sharks and barra with incorrect gear? A fisherman should never blame his tools if he didn’t bother to get the right ones in the first place.

 Most people around central Queensland would have a typical barra bait cast combo with 20 pound mono or braid, this can easily be adapted simply by leaving it in free spool or with the drag turned right off so when the fish hit and run they don’t feel any line and won’t drop the bait. Once the fish has taken a few metres of line, tighten the drag or engage the reel and watch the slack line disappear and the rod load up.

So you’re up 10m above the water on a pontoon and have hooked a big shark or barra, how the heck do you get it up to where you are? A simple method is a crab pot with no top, this can be lowered down to swim the fish into and hoist it up onto the pontoon. If you’re off a jetty or rock wall, a landing net or pair of good lip grips are all that is needed for the retrieval of your catch.

Another shark caught on the baitrunner

The correct handling of the fish is another important thing, most fish like barramundi and salmon require a lip grip in the mouth and a hand under the belly for adequate handling but sharks are a different story. If you aren’t game enough or don’t want to risk it, just cut the hook off and get it back in the water, but for those of us who like the adrenaline rush, one hand firmly gripped around the tail and another pinching tightly above the gills is the correct method for holding these fierce creatures, but hold on tight as they are very powerful.

When hooking these fish and retrieving them, take note on how they play with the bait. Sharks will hit and run whereas barra will play around with the bait in their mouth. The more you get to know how each species play with the bait, the more avid of an angler you will become. You will begin to recognise and identify the species of fish, start knowing and feeling when the right time to hook them is, and you will know how they fight so you can prepare for a long run or a lunge at the snags.

Many areas around Rockhampton city can be fished in this manner. For example, the old wharf down along Quay Street, the new boat ramp jetty near the boat club and the land outside Moore’s Creek near the Bowls Club. All of these places can be fished properly and with ease, it just takes preparation.

Correct holding of the shark

If you are looking for a more family friendly alternative, the sheltered wooden deck along the Quay Street walkway is a great spot: there are seats, fresh water, lots of grass for activities if the kids get bored, nothing dangerous around and what’s good is that it is in the middle of the city. Another alternative are the three pontoons or ‘towers’ as my mate calls them just over the road from the new playground, tennis courts and basketball stadium on Huish Drive. Once again, this spot offers a place for the kids, but it has also has railings which cover the perimeter, table and chairs, more seating, lights, power points and a barbeque.

Rains, Rain Don’t go away?

Recent rains in the Rockhampton to Gladstone vicinity have turned those little local waterholes into land locked fishing madness for the past month and if this trend in rain continues we are likely to see some very healthy specimens pulled out.

Clayton Nicholls with a nice 70+cm bara
pulled from the weed at the Woolwash

At this time of year the lagoons normally fire up at night but all the recent rains have pushed fish like Barra, Tarpon and even Sooty Grunter up to the surface chasing the swarms of insects getting knocked down and enjoying the change in temperature. This means that at any time of the day the chances of fish on surface or shallow diver are fantastic, the best time has been found to be between two and five in the afternoon.

Through this past month places like the Yeppen Lagoon and Wool Wash Lagoon have been fishing well with fish responding mainly to surface lures such as poppers and stick baits, and even unweighted plastics.

The main trick for productive surface fishing is watching all the little clear spots in the weed, chances are after a few short sharp bloops in the clear patch you will have a fish on fairly soon after. Be patient, best results happen after the lure is blooped and left there for a half minute or so.

Surface lures that have tight actions like the Sebile Splasher and R2S bubble pop have been smashing the fish population whilst shallow dives like the bomber long A’s, Rapala Xrap’s and Sebile Koolie Minnows have taken some decent fish just below the surface.

If you’re not too keen on lures and more of the hard-core bait fanatic, many species of perch have been caught on little surface lures around the Yeppen in the shallow waters amongst the lillies, a 4/0 through the back makes top notch Barra baits out of these little fish

All the recent rain has month been so good for the Fitzroy River but that’s not all bad news, the fish have pushed up into creeks such as Gavial and Casuarina to escape the large volumes of fresh pouring out. These fish are somewhat shut down but 8cm brightly coloured minnows with a short diving bib seem to be doing the trick.

Brendan Handly with a massive metre plus barra

These minnows can be slow rolled back from a snag or sharp short twitches with a little pause can get the fish stirred up and jumping onto the trebles.

Unlike popular belief Awoonga Dam is still fishing to its full potential, a small adjustments is all it takes to produce some fine specimens of Barra and further in the creek systems some Togas can be pulled too.

Prawns have come back in numbers in the saltwater regions of creeks between Gladstone and Rockhampton, mainly being caught in nets at mudflats or rubbles patches.

In the next month prawns are expected to be gathered a lot more easily, crabbing should be worth your while if the rain eases off but so far there is no way of knowing that, as soon as there is a break the black clouds roll in again.

Landlocked fisheries are expected to quiet down as the days get shorter and the temperature drops a little but a decent effort will still see you landing the large specimens.

If rains continue as predicted, bridges and water catchments such as Roopes bridge will continue to see a hefty population of Barra before they retreat to the deep pockets when the rain stops in the dry season.

barra and sharks

alright guys, I know it has been a while but I have been busy with work, christmas and fishing
these are two videos I have done up to keep all you fishos out there amused until i update with blogs tonight

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