Andy_from_the_CJ

Macquarie perch:

G'day lads five good keen men mustered last week for the annual hunting and fishing pilgrimage to Lake Dartmouth, ninety minutes east of Albury in the Victorian Alps. What a trip! Non-stop rain in Sydney had us fearful of the likely weather conditions but, as it turned out, there was barely a cloud in the sky. Our biggest risk was sunburn. We travelled about 15 miles up the lake (about half-way) and set up a comfortable camp. For those who aren't familiar with Dartmouth, it is a massive lake in Victoria's Alpine National Park, completely surrounded by bush. Dartmouth is arguably the best trout water on the Australian mainland. Special techniques have been developed by the locals to take large bags of trout, most notably the trolled mudeye/ford fender rig. However our party didn't get too technical. We spun with Tassie Devils from the bank, or soaked a worm on the bottom. The fishing was good with carp, rainbow trout and (the rare) Macquarie Perch captured, although most time was spent deer hunting. Number two son Chris had some massive battles with 10lb+ swamp trout, on light gear. One big plus on this trip was Tad's cooking. He's opening a new business escorting European tourists on outback adventures, and used our party as test subjects. The greatest exertion on the trip was getting out of the camp chair, after Tad's borscht and goulash dinners, all washed down with cherry vodka. The pic of me with the trout shows the effects of one such night! A really great trip, one I'll never forget, and looking forward already to the 2006 expedition. If anyone's interested in joining us don't hesitate to let me know. Cheers, Andrew

hello Narra, they were just inside Box Head this morning, around 8:00AM. VERY boatshy. Cheers, A

Hilarious! I don't know what has me laughing more: Joe's innovative heater, or Iain's booze fueled rampage. You guys fish hard and you have a good time too. That's what's it's all about. I dips me lid to the lot of you. Cheers, A

Legal trial for controversial legal pastime First you strip to the waist and clamber into the river. Next, you bend under water and rootle blindly along the muddy riverbank with your bare hands. When you find a promising hole, you waggle your fingers - or toes - so alluringly that a large catfish locks its jaws around your arm or leg. Then you simply wrestle the 100lbs (45kg) giant out of the water and serve it fried with cayenne pepper. For the first time for nearly 100 years in Missouri the sport of noodling, fishing by hand for these brutally ugly creatures, will be legalised this week. Also known as hogging, grabbling, dogging and stumping, the practice will be allowed for a trial period of six weeks from Wednesday on the Mississippi and two other waterways in the famous river state. The ruling has been greeted with joy by its secretive proponents, Noodlers Anonymous, a campaign group set up by several hundred noodlers, who claimed their illicit "ancient art" made them an oppressed minority in the state. For conservationists, however, the legalisation of noodling threatens to accelerate the declining numbers of flathead and blue catfish. "Cats" are a popular delicacy in the rural corners of the southern and midwest states of America; historians record that southern American Indians used to dive down and catch the fish by hand, a tradition of fishing without hook or line taken up by rural settlers across the region. Grabbing mature catfish up to 5ft (1.5m) long and 30 years old with your bare hands has been described as the ultimate fishing thrill, an adrenalin-fuelled extreme sport. It is thought that the name noodler is derived from southern slang for crazy fool. Some noodlers have drowned trying to grab big catfish while many bear the scars of their sport, including missing fingers bitten off by the fish - or snapping turtles and beavers that take umbrage at being disturbed. The sport is now legal in 13 states, including Arkansas and Oklahoma, but has been banned since 1919 in Missouri, where those caught noodling have faced up to $1,000 (about £550) fines. After a series of annual legislative battles in Missouri's state parliament, the state's department of conservation finally granted an experimental six-week season from sunrise to sunset on limited stretches of the Mississippi, the St Francis and the Fabius rivers. The impact of noodling on catfish stocks will be monitored closely, but it has not allayed the fears of conservationists. They argue that the practice affects numbers particularly badly because noodlers target mature, breeding-age fish just at the time when they are retreating to natural cavities in the riverbank to nest. By catching the female catfish or the male that guards its brood, they may effectively kill off a whole family of young fish. Noodlers talk of "meeting the fish on its terms", pitting their intimate knowledge of the local waters against the wit of individual catfish that command certain river territories and have eluded capture for years. According to Mark Morgan, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, there are 2,000 noodlers in the state. Most are men from the countryside, where noodling knowledge has been passed down through the generations. Mouths Noodlers claim there are so few fishermen and women - a former Miss Teen USA is a keen practitioner - prepared to stick their hands into the mouths of catfish that the impact of noodling on stocks will be negligible. Last week, just 21 noodlers in Missouri had purchased $7 licences to begin legal noodling. Nearly half these permits were issued to Howard Ramsey, the president of Noodlers Anonymous. Welcoming the legal season as a "very positive step", Mr Ramsey, 59, said he bought eight permits for his wife, son, granddaughters and himself. "If you don't come up bloody, you ain't been hand-fishing," Mr Ramsey told AP. First taught aged 12 by his father and grandfather, he described how he caught the creatures by swimming headfirst into a catfish hole while a friend held him by the ankles, ready to pull him and the catfish out of the murky depths. It is a technique that has brought him plenty of pain over the years. "I've had them clamp down so tight on my arm that I didn't know if they'd ever let go," he told the Kansas City Star. "They have rows of tiny teeth, and when you try to pull your arm out of their mouth, they'll just skin you. I even had one fish that tore my tennis shoe right off my foot. I couldn't walk for a couple days. But that's all part of it. When you pull a 50 to 60lb flathead out of a hole by hand and your heart starts thumping, you know it's worth it." Steve Eder of the Missouri Department of Conservation said catfish numbers had fallen in northern parts of the state in particular, where streams have been turned into channels, removing the riverbank habitat where the fish can breed. "There aren't that many flatheads per square mile to start with. If we legalise hand fishing, that could further reduce the densities of big fish," he told the US press. "Hand fishermen do seem to be more efficient at taking big fish than other types of fishermen. And that could be a problem." http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1495333,00.html

Fantastic, mate! I'm green with envy. Blimey, you will be on a steep learning curve, fishing with the Hunters. Looking forward to further reports! All the best, Andrew

Nope. Maybe you've had a bad experience, but there were two blokes in a red Coleman canoe down there at yesterday lunchtime, working lures round the marina arms without any complaint from the management at all. You see that all the time. After dark it's a different story, when the security bloke is on duty, and that's understandable when you consider the amount of crime down there. I note the public phone at ATB has been ripped out (again) recently, so some crim can get a few 20 cent pieces. Red tape has canned the blue rental boats, just like it canned the Halvo cruiser rentals. It's a crying shame. Cheers, Andrew

The blue hire boats from Halvorsen's, which have been a fixture at Bobbin Head for as long as I can remember, are no more. Apparently the rental income no longer covers the cost of public liability insurance. It's only a year since Halvorsen's were forced to stop renting their famous cruisers, thanks to pressure from the EPA. Here's the story, from the Hornsby Advocate of May 12:

hello Ken Cowan Creek tomorrow night, with Darryl. Broken Bay on Sunday with a few mates. Good luck with your bream session! Cheers, Andrew

After reading the hairtail report from last weekend, the plan is for a night session this weekend, subject to the weather. Will report in if anything interesting happens, cheers, A

Thanks, Joe. See you on the water, my friend.

He he he. Well stay tuned mate because if I don't knuckle down and get a few runs on the board this winter it'll be up for grabs! PS what about a fish on Sunday morning? Can you put down the paintbrush for an hour or two? Hope so, A

hello Swoffa, luckily in that pool there aren't any snags, just shingle. So as long as you don't let them get into the main current or do something stupid (like applying too much drag) they can usually be beached. Getting the buggers to strike is the hard part. Cheers, Andrew

G'day lads, I was over in the south island of NZ last week on a backpack hunting and fishing trip. Caught this one on a collapsible rod, 3 kilo line and a Kilwell 12g spoon (which is identical to the old ABU Toby.) She went back into the water. Tight lines to all, Andrew

G'day lads, arrived at Bobbin Head a little after 7 to find Pedro on the rock wall with a big smile on his face, having just landed (and released) a nice flatty on an SP. Hopefully Darryl will be able to post a pic of that shortly. Cowan had a distinctly autumn feel about it as we headed towards the Hawkesbury. You can always tell that, when you've got four blokes trying to huddle behind one boat console. On arriving at the river we headed east, passing Frank Lowy's massive floating palace, moored just inside of Flint and Steel. A little further on Pedro spotted some solid splashes which looked like the work of frigate mackerel. We cut the motor and pulled out the spin gear. A couple of keepers hit the deck, tailor and a frigate, before things went quiet. Off to the bait grounds. Yet again West Head let us down. The place seems to be either red hot or icy cold, as a yakka producer. A swarm of mados, sweep and butterfish were in the burley, with a few nervous gars hanging out wide. Luckily, we'd scored a couple of nice squid, en route so with that and a few mini choppers we had enough livies to go trolling. Offshore was out of the question. Looking past the Joey big rollers could be seen marching north. Huge columns of spray were sent skyward as they hit the front of Box Head. We headed up Pittwater trolling a live squid off the downrigger, a livie rigged behind a flasher, and a big wet fly. Result? A big zero. The squid was way too big for the 60cm kings usually encountered in Pittwater, but whatever the reason, we didn't turn a reel. By midday we'd had enough and headed back. Fingers crossed there's a bit more excitement on our next trip. Tight lines to all, Andrew

you'd think so but there didn't appear to be much happening from underneath. We were on a bit of a deadline and didn't have much time to try all options. They were far more nervous about a gannet that kept hitting the school, and they sounded with a big splash whenever a seabird passed overhead.

Hello Ken, no I haven't mate, for a few reasons. They're not well-shaped for trolling, in the way that a tuna is; they go completely nuts when you bring them into the boat, and they'd be a bugger to bridle; but most of all, they're one of those fish that die very quickly. But in certain circumstances it could be worth a go, and maybe we should give it a try. Cheers, Andrew

The school of cowanyoung

G'day all, Daryl, Glen and I arrived at West Head a bit after 7:00AM, and had no problems filling the tank with yakkas, and a few nice garfish. The plan was to run out 5 or 6 miles and look for currents, working birds or best of all, bait schools under attack. As we headed east the water was a beautiful deep blue, but without any sign of predators (except ourselves!) or for that matter, any other life. We decided to push on to the traps to put something in the fishbox first. On arrival the current was barely noticeable, so Daryl dropped a knife jig to the bottom. First drop and up came a flowerpot, not much bigger than the jig! (see pic.) Meantime Glen was getting into the mahi, using live yellowtail. Watching Glen hook up repeatedly became too much for Daryl, so he stowed the jig outfit and got stuck into the mahi too. We noticed that the mutton birds were very hungry- not an encouraging sign. After a few nice ones were packed into the esky we decided we'd better go big fish hunting. A spread was put out, consisting of a swimming gar on a bibbed snap head, a Laser Pro, and a medium sized Pakula. We were only out for a morning run, so we turned back towards BB. A mile or two out, we came across schools of cowanyoung rolling on the surface (see pic.) Out came the light gear and a few went into the esky, to be frozen for whole mako baits, next spring. The southerly was picking up fast so we headed back in. (I heard from a mate in the Farr 40 race that the southerly hit 35 knots, about an hour later.) That was it for the morning. Not the most exciting trip of the summer, but you have to put the hours in, if want to tangle with Mister Big. Cheers to all, Andrew

Well I really enjoyed it. You blokes fish hard and you're good company too. See you next week, and we'll try and put a bend in that Shearwater 24. Cheers, A

one of Pedro's stripies:

G'day lads, woke up this morning, rolled over and looked at the bedside table. Now why is that clock radio flashing? I asked myself. Suddenly the dots connected. Power failure, last night! Alarm's not working. And I'm meant to be down at the boat! Thank heavens I'd already loaded the gear into the car. Tore down the Bobbin Head road like Gelignite Jack Murray, and pulled up with a screech of brakes. Pedro and Darryl were already waiting, and kind enough not to give me the dirty looks I deserved. We loaded our kit into the tinny and headed off down Cowan. On the approach to Flint and Steel some splashes were spotted, just off the point marker. We pulled up, broke out the light gear, and got stuck into the choppers and frigates. The action went quiet and off we went again, to West Head. A tank full of yakkas was quickly acquired and off we went, past the Joey. On rounding the point it was pretty obvious that a long run offshore was out of the question. The southerly was building steadily and some fairly steep whitecaps were about. We turned south into the swell, put up the outriggers and ran out some marlin lures, on two 24s and a 15. We didn't have long to wait. Strikes came steadily- not marlin, but chunky striped tuna, up to 4-5 kilos. On the heavy gear they provided plenty of excitement, without giving us too much trouble. With the seas still building we turned for home and were back in by 12. Another good day, looking forward to a couple more next week. Cheers to all, Andrew

Yes mate it is a shame but work comes first, unfortunately. Fingers crossed that we can get out on Thursday, for a half-day. Great to hear from you, all the best, Andrew

last but not least

another pic