bombora

Yep, Rooted Back, sounds like one of Roy and HG's greyhounds. Not to be confused with the more common rooting back. Drove up and saw the dam wall too, man there was some water coming out of that pipe and against the wall. Imagine a firehose a metre wide at full bore against a wall two metres away. Fish would all become instant flounders.

Set the alarm for 4 this morn with the intention of driving to Thompsons Creek Dam to do some walking under doc's orders to help a rooted back. Slept through the alarm. Stuffed around during the day but felt guilty not doing the walk I'm meant to do so decided to stumble around Queenie lagoon. I really hate walking when the reason isn't a destination or some isolation so took a rod even though the goon in mid winter is usually tough going. But had a hunch everything in it would have been pushed down by the recent drenching and constant rain _ which caused some lagoon flooding last week _ towards the ocean end. Water was brown, visibility maybe 4-6 inches so tied on a customised 1/8th TT Revhead; painted black leadhead, black thread, orange and black farmed arctic fox tail with a little UV crystal flash, gold willow blade, to get some vibrations happening. Hunch paid off with a 32cm to the fork EP. Fat and healthy suburban fish too.

Thanks guys, interesting that lithgow and dam weather can be different.

Hi all, finally should have a weekend free this weekend. And, hopefully, will be able to get out to Thompsons Creek Dam for the first time. The Lithgow forecast at the moment is for both Saturday and Sunday to have temps of 1C to 12C, but Saturday winds are forecast to be 2km/h from West at 9am but 2km/h from North at 3pm. Sunday is forecast to be 8km/h from West at 9am and 9km/h from West at 3pm. The Saturday forecast is looking really tempting BUT I think I read somewhere in my hours of Google searching for TCD info that the dam is a shocker in a north wind???? So any TCD fans think the same. I know many say it fishes way better when stormy/windy etc but the prospect of a glassy day on Saturday is appealing. But not if a North wind is a shut down wind? Could do Sunday if Saturday considered no good. Will be, if I go, spin fishing mini and micro hair/feather jigs. Have also tied/painted some 1/8th TT Rev Heads with either gold heads and black bucktail, or black heads with pink or orange rabbit tails. Idea is Celta-like vibration but can be cast long. reckon they'd work?

Hey 2 kay good to know you care! Know what you mean about underwater observation. Little while ago had a quick snorkel in the corner of a Sydney beach. Middle of a sunny day, crystal water, tiny swell. There in front of me in maybe three-four feet of water over sand, maybe 20 feet from the beach, was a bunch of trevs to about 30-35cms sucking on floating strands of ribbon weed like they were kids slurping down spaghetti. Was fascinating to watch and stayed observing for half an hour. must have looked weird to a passerby! Maybe they were stripping the weed of tiny crustacea as they'd spit out the strand of weed after the "slurp". Agree there's still great numbers of trevs in the harbour but I have noticed over past 30-odd years that the general size is down. Personally don't believe there are as many real stonkers around. Certainly don't seem to get the 2kg plus jobbies as often as used to, but maybe that's just me! My post was just a personal thing. Great catch by the way! I prefer small hair and feather jigs for trevs, they just smash em and no gut hookings. Only problem is lots of big mean things also love the little jigs and 2kay fireline gets smoked and I don't like leaving hooks/lures in fish's mouths. Much prefer trevs to bream! Quite happy for the bream lure fanatics to keep casting at jetties and wharves, I'll stay hunting ribbon weed beds and drop offs and deeper sand/rock margins. Love to eat em too, sashimi or curry or poison crue (spell?) Cheers.

PLEASE don't take this as an attack on your catch. I love my harbour trevs too. Have known they are slow growers for some time, but have recently learned how slow. Did you know it takes a silver trevally 10 years to grow to just 35cms. Yep a DECADE to reach just 35cms. And that's not fork length but total length. I was amazed. This has made me seriously think about my trev catches. Going by your pic that's around a century of growth sitting there. It's really something to contemplate. Kings and bonnies (and believe it or not, snapper in the first few years of their life, are quick growers and no prob keeping for a feed). I am not a fanatical C and R fella: to me that attitude is a liability as it lets the anti-fishos say "you just cause fish pain and then let em go" while a sensible approach of keeping a few mid sized fish for the table is far easier to defend, and for non-fishos to understand. Again this isn't an attack on your catch, just a plea to have a think about what's kept and what's not in relation to growth rates. Cheers Bombie

Hi Pilchard, from what I could see camping riverside would be very difficult unless you could get the OK from a landholder. The rivers there run through private property. Too many a-holes' past yobbo-isms have stuffed it for all. You'd want a bloody good sleeping bag too!

Hey GregL thanks for the reply to my questions on another take. Only just found this. Your pics are enough to get motivated to go! Beautiful. And I think I better find some thermals and long johns.

Thanks guys. Like the hair jigs over plastic cause no plastic ever made moves like marabou, rabbit or fox but the plastics are a little heavier and will take a few types too. There was a great story by mini jig master Frank Prokop in the latest Freshwater Fishing mag. Hey GregL Very interesting about the fish around the first drop off. Trout guru I was with really hammered home the point about fishing shallows and margins first. Gotta say the redfin are very handsome fish, these ones had amazingly vivid scarlet fins (read that they lose the colour a lot in deeper dam water) but they didn't fight much at all, even the bigger ones when hooked right beside a big drowned tree. The little browns and rainbows were really pretty too, and fought much better. And they jump! Aquaman I might even take the waders just for the cold (me a stick insect in human form). Thanks for the insights, much to learn, and getting quite exited about going trout fishing again!

G'day, been a FR member for ages but haven't reported anything for ages either. Anyway went trout fishin for first time in twenty years (!) last week and had an absolute ball. Think I'm hooked on the spotted ferals. Went to couple of rivers near Tarana. First time fished trout in moving water. Man they sure don;t mind shallows. First little rainbow hit the hairjig in maybe 7-8cm "deep" riffle. One arvo and one morning's fishing saw probably 25 trout taken between three of us. Nothing big, max maybe 30cms, many little bubs. Got my first ever brown, on a black hairjig. Interestingly fished a pool the size of a backyard swimming pool and plucked 18-20 redfin from it. From hand sized to a couple that want 35cms plus. Bloke I was fishing with did really well on tiny (no16) dry flies. Watching his stalking and casting skills was a treat. Seeing a trout pluck his dry from the surface was mucho fun. I used 1/16th, 1/20th, 1/32nd jigs dressed with marabou, rabbit, or Arctic fox tales. Black, dark brown and olive all worked. The redfin adored an olive jig. Dislike what trebles do to fish's faces so the little jigs make for easy, healthy release. Anyway the streams will close soon so planning a trip to Thompson Creek Dam. Are waders an advantage at the dam? Don't know whether to take them, considering the walk in. And does anyone reckon the little jigs will work there. Max cast with them on 3 pound Fireline in still conditions is probaby 15 metres (maybe closer to 10 metres). Enough? Or should I bring some small spoons (refitted with singles) for longer casts and probing the deeper water? Cheers

Hiya Pea; fished out of a mate's families' Bertie 25 flybridge for several years. This was a rare single screw diesel and its was an awesome fishing boat and also harbour weekender! I would hate to think of the fuel figures for a twin engine petrol bertie though. The single engined 25 wasn't exactly a ski boat but the diesel grunt got it out of the hole pretty well and after that it would just happily sit on 15-18 knots all day every day and the fuel figures where easy to live with. The single engine box was OK and didn't obstruct fishing too much. I would seriously watch older Berties with the twin mercruisers and legs. There's a bloke on another site who at the mo is sharing his horror story of an older twin merc bertie 25 he bought up in queensland. Basically this bloke did everything right _ got all the checks done _ and still looks lik he's up for two replaced legs, one new engine and overhaul of the other. Also will second the plug for the Ghosn family who run/ran Sylvania marina. Used to fish many moons ago with Paul Ghosn (Nathan's dad) out of Botany and that family knew everything needed to know about Berties (what a blast going fishg with a marina owner _ never knew which boat we'd fish out of. Best was a 46 foot dream machine Cresta!!) cheers Bombie

Hiya again Kbark; had trouble PMing you, but yup slow retrieve for the whiting, with lots of pauses on the bottom; they don't mind a bit of weight in the jighead (guess they are used to wrestling worms out of their holes). The Squidgy resin heads on the other hand are good for the bream over the shallow flats. Cheers Bombie

Hiya Kbark; Narra is a great place to spend an hour or two; specially the back of the lake. Feels liek you are miles from anywhere!! Mate you should try for some of the lake's mega whiting on lures. There are 40cm plus specimens wafting around those flats up the back of the lake and right now ain;t a bad time to target them, they seem to get on the chew a bit before the water cools right down in the lake. Long two kilo flouro leaders, 1/16th jig heads (standup heads if you can find em) for long casts and two inch grubs in any of the amber/brown etc colours or the smaller Squidgy wrigglers in bloodworm have been successful. Nice flattie in your pic, too! Cheers Bombie

Hiya The daily tele has the report as well. Will be in tomorrow's edition with more detail than tv can provide . Very interesting, have just seen the stats. More than pelagics too, also includes squid. I also hear there will be some good news for rec fishos too.Sorry can't say any more as competitors don't have the report but will probably scratch something together after nine airs its stuff. cheers Bombie

Hiya Kevin; bought the T-Curve 5-10kg late last year to take with me on a surfari to some atolls east of Tahiti. There it was given a pretty good test, comboed with a 4000 sized threadline filled with 10kg braid and casting lures _ poppers, metals and bucktail jigs. It was also used by other surfers onboard and, well lets just say it was a good test of a rod as these guys surely weren't fishos too; lots of high sticking, winding fish in without pumping, casts that always seemed to see the tip come in contact with a bit of the boat etc etc!!!!!!!!. Took fish to 5-7kgs and all fights were brutal affairs as any fish only needed to swim about a metre to get to the coral. The atolls are also about the saltiest place I've ever been to as the nearest river or fresh water is about 500 kays away (lures' hooks left outside, but undercover and washed and dried after use, were rusting after just five or six days!!) and the T Curve showed no signs of rust anywhere. I reckon it's a softish 10kg rod, though it's action is deceptive and despite a lightish tip (though still with enough poke to move a popper properly) there's a fair wack of power in the butt. Hey Allen why the call on the T Curve only lasting a short time? They are made, are they not, from what Shimano at least calls high density graphite so they are supposed to be damn tough _ they are not a thin walled super high modulous rod _ and I can attest to their toughness after it survived the other surfers' abuse. The T Curves also sport top line Fuji hardware, excellent bindings, and quality cork is used in the grips. So why would it not last as long as an Ugly _ as tough as they are. cheers Bombie

Hiya guys; one problem with hardbodies in the lake at the mo is you'll go nuts stripping weed from their trebles. The warm water promotes weed growth an certainly at the back of the lake right now there's heaps of it. That's one reason SPs are so handy there!! You'll still get a fouled hook _ unless you go full weedless rigging _ but not as often. One tip: try to fish around the various fringing weedbeds, they are so much better than straight sand areas. Also if you wanna really have fun on the shallow flats at the back of the lake try resin heads instead of lead heads; they are dynamite in a metre of water or so and generally outfish leadheads by far _ just need to find a place with the wind at your back for longer casts. cheers bombie

G'day Marty: Spit Bridge in Middle Harbour and Bantry/Sugarloaf Bays in Middle Harbour also easily fished in a 12 footer too and are kingie hotspots! just watch out for the wakes from monster cruiser's "captained" by rich prats who don't care about little tinnies!

Hiya guys, just my opinion but I reckon the back end of the lake fishes heaps better than around the caravan park!! cheers Bombie

Hiya Jewel, My experience with Nitlon has been fantastic. I actually think its abrasion resistance is great; 2kg Nitlon leader held an 82cm Narra Lake flattie for me last year, and just on Monday this week 2kg held an approx 60cms plus flattie hooked deep again at Narra lake. Keeping the flatties' heads below water with a low rod helped too but a do like Nitlon. The 5kg stuff also did sterling service over the hard coral flats in Tuamotu atolls in December and that is one harsh environment; the coral rock there is razor sharp. Cheers Bombie

Great report guys and I'm almost certain that's not a juvenile samson fish! Have caught several in Sydney and they don't have the distinct marking across the eyes as in your pic and are more "trevally' shaped and less "fat kingie" shaped as in your fish. Might actually be a juvenile almaco jack (spelling), or a long finned amberjack or something similar, either way a much rarer capture in Sydney than a baby samson so damn well done!! Bombie

Hiya raiders; actually got to get out for a fish yesterday (tues) for the first time in ages, amazing!; waded the flats near Pipeclay Point for just an hour between 6pm and 7pm; lovely grey sky and wind at my back meant good conditions for shallow flats fishing (overcast means fishees less nervous and wind at back allows long casts vital to fish in skinny water). Summer weed growth has much of flats covered in greenery so used Squidgy resin heads and smallest flash prawn coloured flickbaits as any weight in the head had the hook collecting weed on every cast. Anyway scored only two fish in the hour but they were a v nice lizard which was over 60cms and a bream which would have nudged 30cm. Both still swimming, cheers Bombie

Hiya guys, you may have misheard alan jones _ he was merely parroting (PS The Parrot is his nickname here) the Tele follow up yarn today which reveals dioxin levels 100 times WHO standards in bream caught at Homebush, but, more frightening is dioxin levels of 10 times WHO standards in bream caught at places like Balmoral and Wollstonecraft. Government is in the rpocess of now testing 19 other species _ a mix of bottom dwellers like whiting and flathead, and pelagics like kings and tailor, with a view to modifying the bans/don't eat advice. Lots more questions to be answered, methinks. Cheers Bombie

Hiya all, we (the Tele) broke the yarn, been working on it for a few days. The other media simply did lame follw ups to our first edition story. Will be trying to answer all your questions in tomorrow's paper. cheers Bombie

Hiya fellas/fellettes(?); just one thing if you are gonna fish the opening. Lots are talking about using plastics. Might be a tough cast into the teeth of a strong east-sou-easter. Have watched some guns in the past take advantage of the outflow-falling tide and cast out big floating jewie minnows, then let the flow carry the minnow out another 50-80metres. Gives your lure a lot of time in the water on each retrieve!!! Might be a thought for those headin there (though was interesting when a guy got hit at the start of the retieve when he had about 120 metres of line out!! Then again maybe if the outflow is strong enough and you use a resin head SP you could do a similar thing. Cheers Bombie

And the name of a Fishraider