Volitan

Very true observation. I’ve noticed this too. I’m usually pretty free with my ‘secrets’ but I don’t ever remember seeing anyone act on the advice Ive given them, Or maybe it has happened but so rarely that it doesn’t do me any harm.

I applaud your analytical approach little flatty. Anecdote time : I grew up in NZ trout fishing and in until recent times the acclimatisation societies (who controlled the trout fishing via regulation and stocking) used to encourage anglers to keep diaries and send them in each year for data gathering. One statistic they drew from this was that in the Rotorua district people caught one fish per two hours of fishing and in Taupo district one fish per four hours. This was nonsense of course - it was mostly fly-only regulations and although the fishing was good catches were never high. We figured that the problem was only the older, retired locals bothered with diaries although the majority of fishing hours were done by people like us (out-of-towmers with limited local knowledge or choices). Although it was a fairly obvious source of bias they never bothered to correct it - perhaps they didn’t realise or perhaps it worked better for the local tourist industry if they just closed their eyes to it. keep it up. I hope you report results each year. One thing I will be interested to see is changes to species composition over time - perhaps reflecting water conditions or fishing pressure or whatever.

Thanks for the tip. I was just about to book a hire boat and now quick check of website show me they take the vouchers too. Otherwise, I find them pretty hard to use. cheers

Very nice raku, Neil. Very difficult to achieve too, I understand.

Hi Neil. Interesting you should mention pottery because I was thinking about doing a kind of gyotaku based on pottery. I was thinking to water the clay down and then press it onto the fish. Peel it off when leatherhard, let it dry further and then fire it. Giving me something roughly the form of a fish but with all the scale detail etc. No glaze, just a bisque. we are building a house and when the foundations were dug they were very deep so I rescued some of the clay that came up. Good clay with few inclusions and no organic matter having been under an old house for decades. I processed into a very nice terracotta and used it to hand form some vases etc but haven’t been able to get anyone to fire them for me. I was hoping to do a raku pit in our back yard but the neighbours are so touchy about smoke and fire - and fair enough we have had a bushfire right down to our boundary in the past. Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking - fish impression from our own wild clay, raku fired. Something good about it being from our own clay, from right under the house, earth to earth.

Oops. Sorry. Sorry to anyone who contributed to my thread on beach casting a camera. I went to answer a question from Rebel (it’s Putty Beach) and accidentally posted the response twice. I tried to delete one response but somehow deleted the whole thread. I didn’t even know you could do that. maybe Donna can reinstate it ?

Fish number two is in. A 106cm mulloway caught by an acquaintance. Eaten after printing, which took two hours. The fins are a bit raggedy but some things you can’t fix.

Putty Beach. Not a spot I’d normally bother with but everywhere else was blown out on the day.

Yes, I catch fish at the same time. In fact the flounder that you see in the video was hooked and in the original video you see it being dragged right into the sand and me bending down to pick it up. I cut that bit out because there are some very sensitive people on YouTube so not everyone would approve. Anyway, this is a frame from the video that I thought might interest people. This is taken by the camera as it’s being cast out and is just past the apex of its arc. You can see the pilchard bait and the little float I use to keep it off the bottom. Immediately below is the fisherman/photographer (me) in the orange hat. You can’t see the rod because it’s pointing straight at the camera. Shame about the big drop of water on the lens. Cheers

Most of my fishing is beach fishing on the Central Coast. I always find myself wondering what is going on out at the bait end. Always wishing I could understand better what fish are around and how they behave. Lately I decided to put the mysteries to rest and attach a camera to the line as well as the bait. It’s taken some time to get to the point where I can cast a camera 40 or 50 meters offshore and get it back reliably. I’ve also lost 5 cameras refining the process - two cast off, one snagged, one flooded and one taken by a shark (true - they love weak electrical fields). I use just cheap GoPro clones in homemade fittings. The surf environment is harsh - the cameras get knocked down as each wave goes past but are designed to self-right and always point back at the bait. Then they get knocked down again by the backwash. The videos that result aren’t pretty either. When the surf is over a metre it’s like being in a brown blizzard of sand with short clear spells. They give the information needed though - there is heaps to be learnt from this. It’s nothing like how I imagined it. I have put together some clips from a trip to Putty Beach a couple of days ago. I know it’s poor quality - when I get a new computer and overcome my dislike of video editing I’ll do some better ones - and maybe provide some commentary if people are interested. cheers V.

The Hough RAT kit we bought for $50 from Coles has a small UV torch inside. It’s this one - in the first photo https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7568901/expediency-not-health-advice-has-dictated-covid-policy/

Just noticed this. One of the sand gobies, probably decorated sand goby Istigobius decoratus. very common anywhere there is sand.

Back to your original question, what does La Niña mean. Well the answer in theory is that La Niña generally brings improved estuary fishing, but probably not This season but rather next season and perhaps the one after. La Niña brings lots of rain, hence lots of runoff, hence lots of algae growth, hence lots of baitfish growth, hence lots of predatory fish. Especially true in estuaries, close to the sources of runoff. A bit less true coastally, and less so offshore. effectively it supercharges the system. the more inputs you put into a system the more outputs you get. The estuary is the system, inputs are runoff from the land to the sea, the outputs are fish. australia is a flat, hot dry continent. Thus the nearshore marine resources are sparse compared to well-watered countries with plentiful large rivers - like NZ or East Coast America. Australian marine resources are a very thin veneer - a statement which often annoys Local fishos who don’t like to hear anything Australian being denigrated but its true nonetheless. La Niña brings much needed fertility to the system. El Niño takes it away. So if the La Niña plays out as promised expect some good fishing late this season and especially next. some of you may remember the double El Niña of 1998 1999 (i think, i don’t remember the exact year) and the impact that had on fishing. The amount of baitfish in the water in 1999 and 2000 was exceptional to the point that it even made the TV news and the SMH. Many of us started fly fishing at that time because it was just so easy to catch bonito, kings Mac tuna etc. I foolishly thought it was normal and would go on forever but 2001 and 2002 showed how wrong we were - very lean years for our chosen method. sorry if I have my years mixed up. Brain fade.

Good post - and I agree on barbless as my experience is there is no noticeable difference in capture rate. id probably put the use of treble hooks on lures in the same category.

I have two offshore charter trips booked for November, chasing kingfish. These are both replacements for trips I had booked in August and early September - both cancelled of course. I’m hoping November will be on - maybe only for the vaccinated or with reduced numbers or mask restrictions applying.

James, there’s an excellent article here https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318816871_A_Review_of_Fish_Taxonomy_Conventions_and_Species_Identification_Techniques which explains the current state of fish taxonomy, what features are considered reliable when distinguishing fish, and how researchers go about declaring new fish species or changing existing classifications. It’s worth a read.

James, the concept of species is outdated and was never really supportable anyway. Scientists use it as a convenience while all the time knowing that it doesn’t really hold water. Taxonomy (the science of classifying plants/animals and describing their relationships) is based on the view that there are hard and fast boundaries between groups of animals but it doesn’t work at the species level and is even worse at the genus level. The suggestion that good species cannot interbreed and produce fertile offspring was never realistic. Even mules can be fertile (although rarely). With plants, even different genera can cross and produce fertile offspring. Older attempts at classification were based on anatomical features. Nowadays DNA analysis is available although it doesn’t really fix the problem, just moves the deck chairs around. There have been attempts over the years to find better methods of classification such as form-species and the cladistic approach. so, to answer your question, they are considered different species because the scientists (actually probably just one or two) who have studied them (usually by just laying out preserved museum specimens and looking them over) considered they have sufficient anatomical differences (or less likely, suffiently different DNA), and those differences are sufficiently consistent, to divide them into two different species (while realising that the whole concept of species is flawed but acknowledging that there was no other approach available). Once their findings are published, it remains the scientific orthodoxy until someone chooses to do the work and challenge it (which no one is rushing to do because it isnt very appealing work and not the best way to spend your scientific career). BTW: according to the modern cladistic approach to taxonomy, humans are fish. Gives you something to think about.

I wouldn’t trust squid ink because I think it would fade. The eye is just watercolours, using a fine paintbrush. btw. It’s more normal to add colour to gyotaku. Usually big watercolour washes over the fishes body - in the fish’s natural colours but simplified. I chose to leave this one black and white because it will suit the look of our house. If you are interested, I have a Pinterest board on good gyotaku : https://pin.it/5hU6LPH

Hi. In the last 18 months I’ve only managed 1 or 2 fishing trips due largely to me ownerbuilding our home. Now I’m taking a short break so I shouted myself a charter trip out of Terrigal - a specialised kingfish fishing trip . An excellent trip with a great charter skipper - I managed 5 kings from 900 to 1060mm plus one little 670mm model (I know the limit is 5 but there was some c&r). One of the fish I used for gyotaku - Japanese art of fish printing. Result attached. Basically, you dry off the fish. Ink it up. Press rice paper over the fish. Peel it off and then touch up with watercolour, sumi ink or whatever else you feel proficient in. the aim with touching up is to round out the fish and make it more lifelike, but still keeping it looking like a manual print, with creases and smudges retained for authenticity. We think this, with simple frame, would go well in our new home. And maybe we’d like 1 or two others. Fish of different species but complementary in being much the same size. I don’t catch meter plus fish very often though. So here’s the proposal. If anyone is interested, you could let me know when you catch a large fish (say 1 metre plus) and I’ll do the gyotaku, plus the painting and finishing - one copy for you and one for me. I would commit to making myself available to do the work ASAP, although naturally I can’t always be available. Note there are some prerequisites. The fish must be whole, not gutted, with one side without damage from gaff etc. Sharks are not much good because of the stiff pectoral fin. You can eat the fish after (I use edible ink) but be aware the cleaning and printing takes 1 to 2 hours plus travel time so you would have to factor that in when considering if it would be fresh enough. Frozen fish are Ok but they must thaw completely so adding two hours after thawing probably means you shouldn’t eat them. I’m on the Central Coast. I’m really interested in large fish of sporting species - tuna, mahi mahi, jewfish, a big mackerel maybe. if you are interested, pm me and I’ll give you my phone number. Then if ever you catch a good fish and want a reminder of it you can text me and I’ll make the arrangements. If not, no problem. cheers

Excellent resources. Thanks James.

Thanks for the replies guys but the question was about rod weight or rating, not brand or model - I have all the rods I need and am not looking to buy another one. Perhaps I should rephrase it by asking should I take a 15 or a 24kg? I’ve been out on a few charter trips for this type of fishing but foolishly never bothered to look at the weight of the rod I was handed. I can’t even remember what they felt like. im probably going to pair it with a Shimano TLD 20 with 65lb braid. My 15kg rods are labelled something like 10-15 or 8-15 kg. Will they be adequate. The 24kg will have more stopping power but it weighty and I don’t want to feel like I’m fishing with a lamppost all day if I don’t have to.

Pickles what weight is the 64CJ ?

Hi.what is the recommended rod weight for boat fishing for kingfish. Cold be using live or dead baits. Realistically, the likely target would be 900-1m fish at 60 metres deep. Cheers

Ok, thanks guys. I’ll give it a go. Landbased so not expecting heaps.