dirvin21

That's solid yellabelly Neil I'm bloody jealous 🤔

Try it, see how it goes

The only time you're likeky to have an issue is holding your rod pointing upwards when you have a fish or a snag beneath you and a sudden jerk of pressure is applied Soft plastic retrieves, fight fish from a distance are fine It's usually in a boat or kayak that issues with high sticking occur

Best way to spend a couple of days off, head out to the Mann river with one of my daughters for a quick overnight trip. We weren't there long before we knew the fishing woukd be a challenge, it was hot!!! And the water was also hot, I reckon over 30 degrees a swim wasn't refreshing so we waited out the worst of the heat and headed off for an arvo kayak. The river looks stunning as always, a little low but still running well. To say the fishing was slow is an understatement. Kept searching for deep water where hopefully the bass wouod be holding, atleast when the fishings tough the river provides quality scenery Kept casting and casting using a 1/4oz spinnerbait working it as deep as possible Coincidentally took this photo, where some boulders come out of deep water screaming fish, rolling the spinnerbait along it finally get hit, the fish takes off my first thought was an eel took some hard runs, finally got a glimpse of a big eastern cod, put up a solid fight when he went in the net I knew I'd smashed my pb He went 75cm, Tried to release in the shallows but he seemed unhappy so I waded out chest deep into cooler water and watched him swim off strong, magnificent sight The rest of the arvo was uneventful but the weather was pristine Overnight we got hammered by an unexpected storm, getting up early with everything drenched jumped back in the yak, switched from the spinnerbait to a 1/4 oz chatterbait for something different The morning was looking good and the water temp had definitely dropped It didn't take long to get hit A nice little cod to get the morning started The fishing again was slow but did manage to score a final beautifully marked cod to finish the session The fishing had been tough but you can't be disappointed in a place that looks like a painting Abbi finished of our trip with a mullet on a worm while we were packing up Just for FYI we were targeting bass unfortunately the bass just didn't want to play, although they're said to be endangered eastern cod are prolific through the Mann river and I'm definitely never disappointed to catch one as by catch Cheers for reading Dave

Mono floats and fluro sinks

Nice mate, you've definitely ticked off one of fishings challenges

Stealth and access to small water are the advantage of a kayak otherwise it's way easier to fight and land big fish in a boat The lack of leaverage and thr ability of fish to tow a kayak make big fish difficult to land One of my funniest fishing memories is Amy getting towed into trees by a small murray cod

Mate you're overthinking it, a lot of fishing is using your instinct which you build by trial and error. I change tactics when it feels futile this could be after 1 cast or 50 or sometimes no casts, you learn to just know Pelagics from shore are difficult mostly because you need to he where they are I don't even bother unless there's a bust up, if I think they're likely to be around I'll carry a couple of metal slugs or if highly likely have one rigged up on a second rod The lure weight rating on your rods are guides the only way to know is to test each lure and see if the rod works it effectively

Come join me on one

Definitely a little skinny but fish from that area are often leaner than fish from rivers like the Severn Have never kept a cod, love them too much

Good stuff Neil, hopefully a good season ahead🤞🤞🤞

As the title says we headed out for the opening of cod season, unfortunately Amy jad to work so my daughter joined me and we headed off at 4:30am for our 3 hour drive. We started pur hike along the NP trail 9nly to see the river flowing hard and dirty I was a bit worried as I didn't bring many flashy lures Still beautiful spot regardless Started out with my usual weedless plastic, put my first cast along some spindly trees thinking to myself the plastic may not work in these conditions... cod thinking hold my beer, plastic gets annihilated right at my feet first cast, near soiled myself A beautifully marked cod to start the season on the first cast. That pushed confidence up, we got into casting and working along the river, Georgia was running a spinnerbait and I stuck with the plastic. Georgia was getting a few bumps on the spinnerbait but nothing solid, then after she peppered an area first cast with the plastic it gets smashed Love the release shower they give Another nice cod, decided to change Georgia to a plastic, a short cast into some backwater so she could see how it works and it gets smashed straight up Another feisty cod of similar size, the day was going great....... for now! We started hiking and fishing down river, first of all the heat came from nowhere combined with the fish really grinding to a halt, Georgia started feeling unwell and was clearly roasting, not to mention dizzy and shaky. It amazing how quickly things cjange in the bush. After some shade, water and a splashdown she was looking better the decision was made to not go any further then to seal the deal the wind came from nowhere, geniunely causing worry about widow makers. Headed back to the main pool and let Georgia have a break I decided to put a few more casts in and for good measure A final cod to finish the day off, In the end we only cut our day short by probably less than 2 hours which is nothing versus coming home safely Interestingly the fish and hits all came from shallow edges well away from the main current flow, Hopefully the first of many cod for this season Cheers for reading Dave

Don't know anyone that that targets kingies here off the rocks Hat head further north has a well known LBG platform otherwise closer to north haven maybe point perpendicular

Watched video have a better understanding on what you're fishing These are couple of travel rods we have that are close to your budget The vertitas is a spin also comes a bit lighter The daiwa TD is baitcast is a great rod light with serious stopping power I can cast surprisingly light lures woth it

A 2-3 kg coral trout are hard to stop they fight dirty and hard, heading straight for cover ad soon as they're hooked, cod/grouper are no different Personally I used a PE 2-4 rod and it felt a bit undergunned, Queenies are no problem on light gear just got to tire them out

Might struggle to find something for your budget Shimano revolution inshore travel series might have something For coral trout and other tropical reefies you need stopping power preferably something in the 10-15kg line class

Samaki zing travel rods We've got a couple, they've handled some eeioys punishment including the amazon and Thailand

Bream are about the fine details, Personally I use atleast a rod length of 8lb fluro leader Bream generally like subtle presentations, 2.5 inch soft plastics presented on light jigheads, the retrieve needs to be gentler than say flathead, I hop it with 3 small taps or flicks of the rod, watching the line as it sinks for any taps they generally suck it in on the drop Scent also makes a difference The main thing is bream are tough on lures especially from public landbased locations, long cssts are a definite must

I don't live sround Sydney but same principle, I've caught pretty much everything you can in a mid north coast river, tye chance of something different or bigger is always motivation but realistically I love catching fish regardless of the species

After our jungle adventure Amy and I had decided to try onr of the Thsi fishing parks, for snyone that doesn't know these are ponds stocked with fish from all over the world that you can pay to fish in. The park we chose is actually owned by a Frenchman, we even had his driver transfer us to and from our hotel. The lake was looking good not overly large with fish of 30 odd species We could see arapaima everwhere which are one of the spught after fish in these parks having both caught wild arapaima in the amazon Amy and I had more interest in other species After a quick briefing and introduction to our guide Bier we were into it We had 2 rods each 2 predator with chicken hearts for bait and a "carp rod" with some sort of mixed dough bait, both rods are loaded with 100lb braid, the rigs had surprisingly small hooks, it's a matter of casting sitting and waiting. To put it frankly the morning was slow despite the lake full of fish it was tough. We had a few enquiries mostly alligator gar that wouldn't hook up, it's funny how simply watching arapaima cruise in a lake is therapeutic. The first proper take was Amy's rod the line took off and fell slack Bier suddenly realised the fish had b lined under our pontoon but with his assistance Amy was able to extract the first fish A solid red tail cat, we also caught these in the Amazon but this one was much bigger, spirits were high They really take care of the fish lraving them in the net with an aerator to recover and spraying any wounds with anti septic. After that the action really died off the good thing though we sat on our comfy chairs ordering drinks and top quality Thai food we just kept staring at the rods Bier switched one carp rig to a float, I sat aimlessly staring at it Then unbelievably it suddenly goes at ridiculous speed, I was hooked into a powerful fish, Amy filmed a 12 minute fight which included some soul destroying runs and Bier wiping sweat off my face whilst they both laughed. We finally saw the culprit a big Mekong catfish hooked in the dorsal fin, it started to circle in front but I just couldn't get it too the net before the hook pulled.... gutted!!! With my arms sore and my mood low, Amy being the incredible person she is told me to take the next bite, it actually didn't take long. At first the fish came easy then woke up. Thus fish played stubborn just staying out of sight I'd get to leader and off again when I finally saw the culprit my knees buckled, the fish I wanted most.... it took time and patience and when it hit the net there was plenty of celebrating A giant Siamese carp, classified as critically endangered in the wild, these are pretty much the only places to encounter a big one. I couldn't resist getting in for a water shot And to personally release the fish, it swam off strong and left me wet, covered in slime and smiling from ear to ear. With the carp seeming to be feeding Amy had the next shot, the float went down almost immediately but much to our surprise another redtail A nice fish but Amy was eager for a different species, Shortly after my predator rod goes off the fish plowed hard for structure in typical redtail fashion Another solid one for the day, I only caught a small one in the amazon so it was nice to hold a bigger specimen. Amy still hoping for a new species stuck at it, the alligator gar were pestering her with hits but no hook ups but finally Amy hooks up, I recognised the same stubborn fight early on, Amy put in a solid effort and played the fish out into the net, scoring herself a nice Siamese the scale patterns on these fish are undeniably beautiful. With the day pretty much over my predator rod went off one final time the fish instantly running up into some timber, Bier took the rod presumably to bust if off and suddenly hands it back, Ended up with a nice redtail to finish the day. The fishing park was a really fun experience, the fishing was definetly not easy, they were well educated and challenging to catch but the chance to hold a rare river monster was definetly worth the effort. I would definitely recommend this for any fishos visiting Thailand Cheers for reading Dave

Apparently, the striped snakehead are a very popular food fish with the locals

Amy and I just finished a trip to Thailand and of course for us fishing is slways a part of it. We organised a 3 day trip fishing a large lake surrounded by Jungle in Kao Sok National Park just north of Phuket. After a late arrival we had a 5am pick-up and a 3 hour drive to our launch and onto the lake our guide was english (Neil) with a Thai boat captain and his assistant With no idea what to expect we were seriously surprised The limestone bedrock makes the water strangely clear almost like sea water First thoughts the lake was spectacular, we did a quick stop at our floating bungalow accommodation And we were off to start casting the target giant snakehead As we learned snakehead fishing is tough, casts need to be spot on first time especially casting at "fry balls" of baby snakehead with very aggressive parents guarding them, with lots of guidance from Neil we started to figure it out The first session took us to some beautiful areas But the snskeheads proved elusive it was a challenge accurately casting light surface lures long distances but as our casting came good we started to get strikes including Amy getting hammered by a beast. We fished the morning session for no joy so we stopped for lunch and a break (in the heat and humidity it's a must) and headed out for the arvo session in the rain. In the arvo we fished the most remote section of the lake heading up into one of the many small creeks, it was a frustrating session landing perfect cast after cast on fry balls for no joy, finally with dwindling hope and patience blind casting some submersed grass I hooked a fish A juvenile giant snakehead atleast the doughnut was broken With the day slipping away and spirits low and wet about to head back, the Thai captain suddenly appears at my side saying "babies' his eagle-eyes spotted a fry ball many deep breaths later I put a long accurate cast in the zone and was almost surreal when the water exploded, I was dead set shocked with the power and attitude of snakehead it was a serious struggle to wrestle the fish in incredibly nasty shallow water Finally a solid fish, there were high fives all around with that we ended day 1 exhausted but excited for day 2 Day 2 started with spectacular scenary We were soon into the fishing again we again headed into some stunning jungle And were treated to wildlife like "dusky langurs" The morning started with blind casting grassy edges and it wasn't long before Amy was on A nice giant SH to start were off, even at this size they have attitude, and literally next cast she csught another similar sized fish Shortly after I hook into another thinking another juvenile I was pretty excited to lsnd my first striped snakehead A much smaller species but seriously aggressive We then found some balls of much larger babies and actually csught a few As juveniles the giants are stunning fish unfortunately the parents weren't having a bar of our lures, our morning session ended with renewed enthusiasm For the arvo we pushed way up into a creek, after a couple of babies Amy gets blown up by a better fish, the surface strikes are ridiculous Amy's best snakehead for the trip even in there non breeding form they are beautiful fish Shortly after I landed another small fish But the big fish continued to evade us.... for now, Heading out to another spot the old eagle eye captain spots a fry ball, my first cast was a about 1m wide feeling dejected I near soiled myself when the water erupted as an angry parent launched out of the water and did a 180 and screamed off, the fight was brutal as the fish dove for cover there were many nervous moments especially when the fish dove under the boat but held my nerve and unbelievably A cracker of a snakehead this fish was big and angry trying to bite me more than once, being air breathers snakehead can stay out of water for quite awhile so we spent some time searching for the dry ball and releasing her back with her babies, after that the heavens opened and we wree beyond wet but indescribably happy Our final day we went a completely different direction again stunning We spotted hornbills, buffalo, monitor lizards and a troop of long tailed macaques swimming across the river Not to mention freshly destroyed jungke from wild elephants The fishing was tough but I managed a nice striped And a couple of small giants but it was a bit slow, after lunch we packed our gear and headed out for our last session We headed i ti some more spectacular jungle we were unlucky with missee stikes and me dropping a nice hampala barb but Amy managed to put us on the board With a nice little giant, on our last stop of the day my lure gets destroyed in the final minutes and I finish the trip off with a nice giant That ended a truly amazing jungle trip the fishing was tough but rewarding and the scenery absolutely breathtaking, Definitely can't beat a fishing trip away with your significant other part 2 of out Thai trip to come If you want any details on the guide etc send me a p.m. cheers for reading Dave

Nice rainbow Rick Looks pretty green around the river there

Find a sheltered area

They are difficult to specifically target but they do love worm style soft plastics like the gulp turtleback worm