Billmack
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Posts posted by Billmack
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On 2/11/2024 at 10:23 AM, mrsswordfisherman said:
It has been sometime since we have taken a fishing trip or any trip really. We have had some health stuff to get sorted and our family arrived back home from UK. Loving being grandparents.
This report is not really a fishing report. In fact despite trying there were about 6 fish caught all week! I will leave it here though for the moment.
It contains info for others who may be looking at a setup with a caravan, car and rooftop tinny.
We spend one week at Lake Hume in the Discovery Park Victoria followed by 2 weeks at the Mulwala Ski Park VIC/NSW for the last 3 years. Both have great facilities as you will see in the pics below.
Swordie spent a while organising the appropriate rods, reels and tackle to take. The lures are many and varied. We targeted Redfin at LH and Murray Cod at LM. We tried plastics, hard bodies, vibes etc but no fish there. We attributed this to the water level going down so fast.
DAY ONE The drive from Sydney to an overnight stopover at Gundagai broke up the drive. Free fast park wifi 5g and our auto satellite enabled us to watch TV and stream. It also has a weighbridge so we can check we are safe.
Top pic is the drive through site with an ensuite and bottom is the rig on the weighbridge. All weights perfect and in order. Well done with weight distribution swordie!
DAY TWO to DAY EIGHT We arrived after a leisurely couple of hours drive at Lake Hume. The first thing that hit us was the low water level.
The pic below shows current state (top 2) and bottom 2 in past years. You will see the back of our van! Normally we just push the tinny into the lake and tie it to the tree at the back of the ensuite.We also usually carry a Bulldog collapsible trailer on the back of the van. It takes a bit of time putting it together and getting boat onto it to launch at a boat ramp. We happened to see a device called a Tinny Hitch and bought it. We did not take the collapsible trailer.
It worked perfectly and there is another post in The Bar showing the loading, unloading and launching of the tinny using it with the set of wheels we have. It is only good for a few 100 mtres at max.
During the week we tried very hard to catch Redfin. We had about 10 sessions mostly Stewy alone. Weather was very hot with 2 days at 37 - 39 degrees C. The caravan park has a fabulous resort style pool and we took time to rest and keep cool swimming.
I even asked on a facebook local fishing page for some help. I posted up my Deckee trip map and most said it had been very poor fishing. The guru of the area said he had no reddies this summer. A few other blokes added some helpful comments. Then another plays the "secret spot game" and mentions lures that he has some connection with!!
I know why our community is THE best, we actually help each other. No raider spirit on fb.
Stewy managed to catch about 6 Redfin and we had just one fish dinner.
The rain came one day and Swordie went out of course ........ nothing again!!!
We decided to call it quits and take the boat out of the water a day earlier. That was when we encountered some serious problems. A post is to follow on the event that occurred.
Sorry Swordies, but I’m thinking the guy helped you heaps w his lure reveal and depth of fishing info.
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4 hours ago, noelm said:
I guess if you’re staying somewhere for a few days or more, getting everything ready is OK, but, for a “quick” fish, maybe simply oars might be sufficient to just get around? It’s impossible to have everything, we all want a 50’ caravan with a 20’ boat, and a tinny, and a kayak, and a motor bike and a tent………you just have to sift out what you NEED and what you can handle together.
I can get my Tinnie off and set up w folding trailer in a hour, and same to pack it up, if I wish, don’t normally do it for “ a quick fish” I can do that off the bank or a jetty.
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Great when smoked too !
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I have a 370 quintrex dart, I used 8mm plate as in the photo. Screwed and spaced to suit the curves.
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Modern day batteries are best charged with a modern day charger… many on the market….it’s not just x amount of amps for x amount of time, it’s a combination of current and then a reducing voltage, the charger senses the batteries stage and condition and adjusts to suit. No human input needed. . We pay a lot for our batteries, a good charger is, to me an insurance policy, to prolonging battery life.
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Hi Frank, not sure on your battery knowledge and I’m no expert either, but I know some basics.
A battery can be destroyed overnight with incorrect charging, an agm especially needs a stepped and programmed charge. Not sure if yours is an agm. If I may suggest a new charger, a projecta procharge 21A works for me, has settings to suit most sized batteries. I work on a max of about 10% charge rate of battery rating. A dc meter with a two decimal point readout is also a must, I’m sure you have one.
A few basic voltages need to be remembered, all readings have to be taken after the battery has been rested, from either charging or discharging, at 12.8 V battery is fully charged, 12.2 V battery is 50% discharged, 11.8 V the battery is flat, everything in between is common sense. An agm should not be discharged below 50%, but it will happen sometimes.
Once you are confident your battery is charged correctly, I think you can then work on the batteries performance, I’m sure a normal days fishing will not bring it down too far, 50amp draw is the MAX, it would average out a lot less than this.
I hope this has helped. -
Good trip Jon, the young fella did a lot of work it appears. We were drawn again to KAB this year, fishing was as varied as the water and air temps, but we caught our fair share. Once this place is in your blood....
Meant to say also, the goldspotted cod are becoming the carp of the north in the estuary system up there. It’s a bit of a worry, but hopefully nature will work it out.
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Well done CC, Ardrossan jetty has a great community feel to it, people come from afar for a day trip, eskys open early. The red earth Cliff backdrop to the jetty is also worth seeing at sunup.
A couple of years ago, like you, I wanted to try the raking, and after a while the crabs are easy to detect in the sand, although I was lucky to get more off the jetty than raking. Raking ticked off the bucket list though.
Crab omelette, crab pizza, or just crab....and beer of course. Bugger the gout 🤣
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The 90 is a beautiful fish. Gorgeous colour.
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The most obvious with this post is the amazing choice we have in this country.
KC summed it up perfectly with his comments...
20 hours ago, kingie chaser said:I guess the question is what are the determining factors that make a specific fish a "quality" fish in your eyes?
Is it just on flavour?
I doubt if you did the Coca-cola/Pepsi blind fold challenge with 2 or more fish just steamed with no salt or flavour the majority of people wouldn't be able to differentiate between many fish(in my opinion 😉)
Is it a textural thing?
I know I enjoy the eating quality of the smaller flaking fish like dory & flounder over the larger flaking fish like blue eye.
Is it a moisture or oil content thing?
Obviously different fish also have different moisture & ool content so the method of cooking(or not cooking) will also affect the end product.
Personally each fish for me has to be cooked(or eaten raw) in the right method to get the best out of but if your just going to crumb or batter everything you may as well be carp 😛
For different reasons for different species I select 10......
Estuary Cod ( black spotted)
Threadfin Salmon
Black jewfish
Barramundi ( Wild from salt)
Mudcrab
Calimarri
Garfish
Flathead
Mangrove Jack
Golden Snapper ( fingermark )
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Butterflying is ok, rolling w the bottle breaks the lateral bones, and they are edible once the backbone is removed.
Have cooked many ways( as you would know they were popular in restaurants years ago) whole and butterflied in tempura battered or just floured in clarified butter.
Can cook several ways when you catch lots.
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We had a garfish session on St Georges Basin recently and I smoked a few in a Traeger smoker, because of the varying thickness they cook differently, the thinner ones are a bit like jerky.
Rolled with a bottle, back bone removed, in a brine of salt and brown sugar for 3 hours, and in the smoker for 2.5 hours. The other fish in the smoker is a blue nose salmon fillet from the gulf and a fillet of gummy shark, I’ll try anything once 🤔
Cheers.
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No expert here, but along with the above.
I would drop the boat to sit on the three keel rollers equally, adjust the two longer guides to meet the hull and balance the boat with a small amount of equal support given by them, and then rotate the two shorter inner rear guides 90’ with the curved end facing rear wards. 🤔
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Franco,
I did a fishing report about 3 years ago, that may help if you have a read. If you catch squid, you shouldn’t need to buy bait, like GH says about prawns, all fish love squid.
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Very witty BG, perhaps the slimey may have been the X factor on a hook ?
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21 hours ago, Yowie said:
They put up a bit more fight than a flattie, and you wonder what is on the hook when winding up from the depths.
Yes, but for some reason the flatties that day had a lot of energy and fought more than normal, lost many on the way up, changed hooks, but they had weetbix or something for brekky. 🧐
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6 hours ago, jenno64 said:
Fish'n'chips for all!
Yes and the neighbors are appreciative, as am I when they keep an eye on my house when I’m away.
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3 hours ago, Scratchie said:
Nice work on the gummies! I love that photo with the bend in the rod! What area are you fishing?
cheers scratchie!!!
Between Bowen Island and Point Perp in 40m, have fished there many times, but never gummies.
3 hours ago, BigHorse said:Haha nice pic of the rod goin off in the background! 🤣
great couple of catches of gummies there, well done!
The pic was the main reason I posted, hilarious I think, I didn’t know it was taken, I can only think I was righting my head by looking at the horizon after having my head down in the boat
3 hours ago, Yowie said:A few nice critters there.
Thanks, not much skill involved, a lot less finesse than your efforts.
1 hour ago, big Neil said:My favourite fish to eat Billmack. I didn't know they "schooled" either. Learn something every day. bn
I now have to assume they do with 5 hooks ups in the same place in a short time.
49 minutes ago, JonD said:Was trying to work out how you had that rod down inside your shirt!!!!
Haha, didn’t see that till you mentioned it.
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Hi All,
After recent successful trips involving snapper, garfish and squid in this amazing fishery I live near, we decided to have an easy day on the flathead grounds, but got a pleasant surprise with a school of gummies. I didn’t realise they schooled.
This first pic explains the title, I had my head down untangling the first gummy and didn’t realise my rod had gone off with another gummy.
But all ended well....
Outfished by the girls, again 🙄
The fillets were shared with several non fishing neighbors and for us it’s battered flake for dinner tonight 👨🍳🤤
Cheers.
BM.
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I believe it’s an i not a j.... craika.
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I have the same motor, it has always done the same as yours. They are a fantastic popular motor, their resale value is enormous.
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Photos like those and a couple of snappers, to me is a good day on the water.
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The break has done the fisher and the fished good.
Swordies at Lake Hume PART ONE 2024
in Freshwater Fishing Reports
Posted
If you get to King Ash Bay, be prepared to spend time travelling to the more productive areas, although not essential, it’s a joy to do it. Great spot.