choad

thanks for the tip. very generous of you considering the volume of readers here. perhaps good karma is due on your next fishing trip. ps: what's a king? who'd be interested in chasing those? pps: i know a few good yakka spots.... pm me.

I did a tour of the rockies from vancouver. it was a package thing because we were travelling with a 9 month old baby. This was the only fishing trip for those two weeks in canada. It was an awesome experience. Just to be there felt like such a privilige but to catch trout on fly was phenomenal. The fight of the brookies was amazing... they'd stay deep like a brown but fight to the death like a rainbow. Those fish were estimated to be at least ten years old. Slow growing because of the the icy cold glacier fed lake water. The lake is covered in ice for about 6 months a year. It amazes me how anything survives such extreme conditions.

I thought I'd post some pics and a brief report about a recent fishing trip overseas. The location was Lake Maligne (French for malignant / wicked). It's about an hour drive from the sleepy country town of Jasper in the Canadian Rocky mountains. The lake is only open to non-petrol powered watercraft and about 22km long (a lot of distance to cover with an electric motor - i think we went through 7 or 8 deep cycle batteries for the day. The day started with a thick fog which rose quickly as we prepared the canoe. The target species was brook trout. The lake holds the record for the largest rainbow trout in Alberta Canada (about 20pds) and some solid brook trout. It was early autumn and the brookies were coming up to spawning mode and were hanging around the creek and river mouths in preparation. This was the guide. He hooked the first two fish and gave me the rod to pull them in. I declined his offer to photograph myself with the fish (it felt degrading - like photoing yourself holding a fish you just bought from Glebe fish market) Nevertheless, there were plenty more opportunities for photographs. The technique used was a combination of slow trolling flies with weighted line and casting towards the river / creek mouths. The result was multiple brook trout all around the 35 to 45cm mark, each one a different colour. We would have caught and released at least ten fish for the day. A great day overall. Great fishing and spectacular scenery. It was also the day I popped my "trout on fly" cherry.

not a bad way to kick back and relax during lunch time. Congratulations.

great advice guys. so here is my plan for next session.... pop 1/2 a travacalm the night before, sleep for 12 hours, drink cordial and red bull, eat crackers and dry bread followed by another travacalm and a kwells followed by a few beers and beef sandwiches, some staminade and then ET's pills. I'll also bring a knot tying bait applying assistant and make sure I get stuck into a hot bite. That should cover me. though, seriously, thanks again for all the different tips... it gives me plenty to experiment with. maybe by the time i get through all the different tricks I'll finally find my sea legs.

can anybody show a picture example please? when did they change the rules? i thought the light rules varied for different boat lengths. it seems a bit odd that they'd crack down on some ambiguity in the legislation when the majority of runabouts don't have an easy solution.

Hey there Billy, Squiddyland is located in Sydney Harbour. See the map. Hope it helps.

mate, very observant. you really know your harbour don't you.

saw your post. what a coincidence. forget kingy madness... lets have a PJ social!

A delayed report from Saturday, as I was waiting for a mate to email me some pics. The day began at a deserted roseville boat ramp an hour before dawn. We picked up a brace of livies (yakkas) - about the only fish I can gaurantee on Choad Charters. We tried a new spot for squid as the stock standard Spit Bridge drift, although seemingly popular amongst Sydney fishos, has always been a disappointment for me. The new spot lived up to Spit standards.... zip. The post dawn hour somehow slipped away during that squid session so we rigged up the livies and started a troll through some select spots in MH. We saw presumed kings on the sounder and a bit of spooked yakka action but no takes. Before we knew it it was 10:30am and time for a change of tactics. We decided to collect some more livies and head outside. Whilst gathering bait near a reef I picked up this oogly from the bottom using a patternoster rig on frayed 6pd vanish fluorocarbon. (the rod is the one to the left of the picture) At first i thought i was reefed after the initial tap, tap. If it wasn't for slow sideways movement I would of thought it was an anchor or big chunk of reef junk. 20 minutes of fight in ten metres of water gave the old imagination plenty of time to wish for a big lizard but unfortunately THIS thing came up. Anyhow, it was the biggest Port Jackson shark I've ever boated and the biggest fish I've caught in the new boat. It went an estimated 140cm and 15kg. It swam off as if nothing had happened shortly after the photo. The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent chasing (and wretching) after salmon outside the heads. It would have been fun if not for sea sickness. 11hrs later and pulling into the driveway empty handed apart from a bag full of bait for the freezer and the looking like this , reality set back in... I thought to myself, "Maybe it's time for a fishing break. Rejuvenate the hunger. Regain the faith.".... that was of course until I saw the emailed pics and remembered my "trophy" Port Jackson on 6pd line. I feel another session coming on this weekend. Yakkas and triple refrozen bait here I come!

thanks for all the replies fellas. I agree a lot of it is in the head. I was feeling pretty rotten on Saturday until i came up close to a huge salmon school. Instant cure.

i hooked mine on a brick of a raider pattern metal - 70gm i think. Helps to have that extra casting distance. A mate hooked up on soft plastics... the small metals not interesting them. Next time i'm out i'll pack the fly rod.

nowhere on saturday. look for deep water and structure (moorings, channel markers, reefs wrecks) fat schools of salmon around the heads atm if you want some pelagic action. welcome, and be be sure to post your reports for our reading pleasure.

hey, thanks for the tips. what do you target when trolling 50m + depth ?

Sea sickness trolling outside the heads has become an all too familiar and disturbing problem for me of late. I have been on charter vessels in the past in rougher seas without an issue but i've noticed that trolling just outside the heads in my 5m cat is almost intolerable. It's ok if i'm driving and looking forward but to turn my head and look at my rods or worse yet try and bait or tie a rig.... game over. 1. is it the size of my boat which is the problem? If so, do you think stepping up to a 6-7m boat will make much difference? 2. do you guys find it's worse near the shoreline (because of reflected waves) versus further out? It almost makes me want to give up fishing from a boat... almost..... for a second..... maybe.

which do you prefer? the cannon or scotty downrigger? i understand they're both quality and respected brands but does anyone have experience with both or advice which may sway me one way or another? thanks in advance.

the boy sounds like a lucky charm. looks like you'll have to take him on every trip from now on. i have vivid memories of my first fishing session with dad when i was 4. You can't beat that. well done.

Nice fish. Congratulations on the pb. Shame about your mate busting off on a good'n. Now that you've popped the cherry i'm sure you'll continue to rack for the rest of the season.

thank you.

Hello fellow FR's. I need some suggestions for a downrigger for my 4.9m webster. I'm thinking of running 2. Some quality brand names, advice about whether to go manual or electric, type of mount would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

cheers klainz. nice rack. looks like a decent sized hairy there too. how big was it? choad. ps: for your first pig, try brut 33 and a place caleed scruffy m&(*%ies.

has anyone seen where the trawlers get them? perhaps next year we can time a week/month long social in the same place (the more the merrier)... get in on the run of fish but also give the hairies a fighting chance of making it to their breeding grounds.

wow. maybe the pro nets weren't wide enough to cover the mouths of broken and botany bay. there may be a couple of fish left for us to have a go at after all. good luck to all at the social.

Did anyone see the fishing report in the Sunday telegraph. It said hairtail have been caught in botany bay. Is that a misprint or can anyone verify the report? ps: cowan is dead.