Hodgey

Eloquently put and right on the money, Slinky!! Fishraider in particular is a great site for those qualities you mentioned. Other forum sites I have viewed have distinct 'clique' groups that make you feel like an outsider. The members of this site are quick to celebrate your smallest of victories, and offer advice on 'life's little quandaries'. Great thread, mate ... watch the replies mount up on this one!!! Hodgey

Congrats on your first Kingy mate! Hodgey

G'Day all Saturday produced another bumper session, with Dene and we managing to land 25 bream for the morning. (Including Dene's PB bream on popper of 42cm ... top fish! ) Even the very high tides did not deter the fish, thanks to an overcast day. (None of the 25 were kept. All fish were released to grow a little bigger! ) These 20+ sessions are exceptions to the rule. We have experienced many days where we have been struggling to get 12 fish between us, but weather and water conditions have been ideal for the last three weekends, thus the increase in the capture quantity. I have included below a very basic 'how-to' guide. It works well for me, but as I have stated in other posts in the past, quite often techniques become location specific, so this method may not work in your favourite stretch of water. Give it a go, and I hope it brings you success and enjoyment! Equipment similar to: Rack Raider rod (or similar), 6'6" - 7', 1 pce Suitable 2000-size reel 4-8lb braid, 80cm of 10-14lb flurocarbon leader 55 - 65mm Popper of your choice Where to target the fish: 1: Dense weed beds covered by a minimum of 6" of water 2: Lone snags or broken/disused oyster racks 3: Oyster leases 4: Shadowed areas around submerged timber How? Cast the lure to the selected target area. HINT: Try to halt the lure in flight before it lands on the water. This will generally produce a softer landing for the popper and will be less likely to 'spook' the fish. If the lure lands with a pronounced 'splash', leave it motionless for 3-4 seconds before commencing retrieve. To achieve the appropriate action from the lure, I use short, sharp down-strokes of the rod tip. You can achieve similar results by using a sideways movement of the rod, or by lifting upwards. I prefer the down-stroke as it ensures the cup-face of the lure remains in touch with the water, maximising water displacement (the 'bloop'). I retrieve the lure using a downstroke every second, for 5-6 seconds, let the lure pause on the surface for 3-4 seconds, then repeat. Each 'bloop' of the popper should result in a forward spray of water that is projected approx 10-15cm. The reel is wound continuously during the down-strokes to ensure contact with the lure. This retrieve style is maintained all the way back, then re-cast and repeat process. A pair of polarised sunnies is essential for this type of fishing as you will often see the fish 'stalking' your lure. 85% of my fish caught on popper attack the lure during the retrieve. They either pluck it under water subtly, or smash it on the top of the water in an explosion of water. The hook-up rate for poppers is quite low, but you can improve this by not striking on the initial attack. Allow the fish to turn with the lure in its mouth before you strike and commence battle! Fishing conditions will dictate how you modify your retrieve. I have had numerous days where the fish will only strike the lure when it is moving. If this is the case, simply remove the 'pause' from your technique. Sometimes, they will take it while it is sitting stationary on top of the water for a prolonged period! The ideal conditions seem to be when the water is 19-24 degrees, and there is a 'wind ripple' across the water surface. Overcast days is definitely an added bonus!!!If you observe a fish hovering under your lure, and it won't attack on the pause or the 'bloop', try winding the lure in slowly, so that it creates a 'v' in the water. This will often trigger the fish into committing to your lure. Well, there you go. I hope you found this easy to follow and , most importantly, informative. Best of luck to you all! Hodgey

I'm damn proud to call myself an Aussie!!!! 10/10 Stumpy! Hodgey

That was a great report Poddy. It seems everywhere you go now, you and your cousin are slaying 'em! A big CONGRATS to the younguns on their personal achievements. Keep the reports coming, and I hope to catch up with you both when you venture down to my neck of the woods again! Hodgey

Good report fellas! What a top session ... 28 of the buggers. Were all your fish taken on plastic? What is your favourite? Congratulations and keep the reports coming. Hodgey

That's a top breambo, Greg ... Well done! Hodgey

Great read, Dean, and some top photos as well. Looking forward to the post that reads "Bass, 3 Dean 3!" Hodgey

That was a good read, mate. Pleased to see you stuck to your guns and persevered with the HB. Sounds like the fish were very active for the weekend and you finally received a reward for all your efforts with a nice feed of fish. Well done, and look forward to reading about more success in the future! Hodgey

Cheers Greg We were predominately fishing the oyster leases and weedbanks of Tuross Lake. Those Smith lures definitely look the goods! Might have to take the 'handbrake' shopping on Saturday and 'accidently' find ourselves in front of the local tackle shop

Great fish, Cobber. Congrats to you both! Hodgey

G'Day all Spent a lot of this weekend targetting bream on poppers. Saturday was reasonably productive, with nine fish landed for the day. Biggest one was roughly 35cm. The morning started off foggy but by 9am the sun was beating down and there wasn't a breath of wind. These conditions are less than great for poppering so called it off early and hoped for better conditions on Sunday. Sunday was brighter than the day before! No option but to chase flatties on plastics in the estuary. Managed to snag 4 fish between 50 - 58cm, so 2 wound up on the dinner table Sunday night. Monday was a different kettle of fish altogether. A very overcast morning, with a gentle breeze causing a mild ripple across the water. Dene and I both commented that it looked like a good day for poppering. What followed was the most memorable popper session I have ever experienced! Bream were attacking the popper as it landed on the water before you could even move it 2 of Dene's poppers were absolutely hammered near the oyster racks and are still located down there somewhere 1 popper had the underside anchor point (including treble) ripped from the popper The fish only wanted the popper while it was moving and on numerous occasions made 4 -8 strikes at it before eventually hooking up Final tally for the morning: 1 flattie, 1 whiting, 2 tailor and 18 bream Kept 5 fish for the table and the rest are swimming around out there for us to chase again this weekend. It's been 24 hours and I am still grinnin' ... what a cracking session!!!! Hodgey

G'Day all, You'll have to excuse a proud Uncle, but I would like fellow Raiders to know of my nephew's success in the Cod Classic in December. The young bloke is 12 years old and has been fishing for most of them. He lives within spitting distance of the Murray, so he has become quite a talented little freshwater lure fisherman. In 2007, he won the Junior Longest Cod section of the tournament, with an 80cm/22lb fish caught on a Spinnerbait. He received a beaut trophy, a very nice fishing outfit, and free entry into the 2008 comp. Congratulations, Kyle!

Great fish Mr RB! chicken fillet breast marinated in parmesan cheese. Is there no end to the lengths we are prepared to go to catch the humble flattie? Next thing you know we'll be luring them in with Dinner Rolls and Asti Riccadonna! Considering how popular cheese is with Murray Cod, that wasn't a bad idea, Mr RB ... well done! Hodgey

G'Day Jewgaffer I was one of the members who made comment in the described post, and the blue and white popper I mentioned when targetting the Flatties is a Rebel. The smallest whiting I have landed on popper was 36cm and the largest was 42cm. I would like to add, in my humble opinion, that lures often have different success rates in different locations. For my local lake/estuary system, yellow is the go. I also believe there is a lot to be said for confidence casting. I don't doubt that I 'work' the yellow popper better than the blue simply because I have more confidence in its performance. A lesson learned ... Hodgey

If I lined up my entire catch for the month nose-to-tail, they STILL wouldn't measure 150+cm, and you did it in one fish! Congrats on a spectacular fish. Those two photos really put that behemoth into perspective! Brilliant! Hodgey

The old adage 'lure colors are designed to catch fisherman' comes a little unstuck here. Like Iceman, my preferred popper of choice is the yellow Sure Catch/Surebite popper. I have 15 of them. I have caught maybe 30 bream on an orange/gold Sure Catch popper, but dozens of great fish on the yellow. (see post on lure fishing report) This is not the case with other fish though. I have caught EP's on green and black, BIG flatties on blue and white, and whiting on every color imaginable. As long as you maintain a steady, noisy retrieve, the whiting and flathead will target just about any color you throw at them! (but subtlety and stealth is the bream key!) Hodgey

G'Day all, Has been a long time since I have been able to view the forum as I have commenced a new employment opportunity. I have had my eldest daughter with us on holidays for the last 5 weeks and we have been targetting fish on poppers, as she had yet to catch anything on a popper. To her credit, she picked up the 'popper principles' very quickly, and finally she snagged three small tailor. She was really chuffed as they gave her a bit of curry on the light line, although they were quite small. I was targetting the timbered areas and using my popper to demonstarte the different technique required when hunting bream. In front of my daughter's eyes, this bloke thumped the popper: 43cm and 1.52kg of muscle and attitude ... niiiice! A couple of smaller fish located around the snags but nothing else worthy of a mention, so I started targetting the deeper water for whiting. Different technique used, resulting in a good whiting of 39cm. Found a shallow bay with a forest load of underwater timber. 1st cast and a 30+cm bream nailed the popper, leapt out of the water and threw the popper, with the fish going east and the popper going west, all in about 3 seconds. LMAO! Next cast, and a 40cm 1.2kg breambo wasn't quite so lucky! All in all we had a fun session, with the icing on the cake being my daughter's first captures on popper!!! Hodgey

Thanks Stewy. Down in Vic at the moment chasing yellas and cod!! Happy New Year to all Hodgey

Maaaaaaaaaaate!!! Well done ! Would have fed that whole tribe of yours!!! Keep the reports coming, mate. Nice to see you getting back out on the water again! Hodgey

Clever girl, Pumpkinseed!!! Great photos Hodgey

Had a great day last Saturday with poppers. 2 Flathead (both 65cm+), 2 Bream and 5 Whiting ( 3 over 38cm), plus an assortment of near misses, thrown hooks and bust offs. Water temp is hovering around 22 degrees so I guess it will be popper time again this weekend! Hodgey

Now THAT'S a Kodak moment ... good on her! Easy to see where Stewy gets his piscatorial prowess from! Hodgey

What a sensational fish for a 'first' .... well done mate! Look forward to seeing many more in the future!!!! Hodgey