GordoRetired

Sounds like a cracker of a day. Well done. Is that Craig with you taking a day off?

A very old friend of mine has been inviting me to go and fish with him on his property which has the Murrunbidgee river running through it up in the hills outside Adaminaby for ages, this week I finally took him up on his kind offer. Set off from Sydney at 7.00am on Monday morning and drove down to meet up in Adaminaby, to find his place, apparently it is not that easy. After a 1/2 drive along some pretty sketchy 'roads', muddy dirt tracks is a better name even if they were showing on the GPS as recognised roads, we arrived. Unpacked and headed down to the river. I was introduced to Trout heaven, a stunning bush setting where peace and tranquility were the order of the day. The below picture does not do it justice, being a panoramic view it looks like a bend but is actually straight. We started fishing using 2 rods each, one rigged with a set up very similar to a whiting rig, running sinker to a swivel, then around a meter of 4lb trace to a small hook which we loaded with worms from his worm farm. The other rod in hand with small trout lures. The first session produced 2 nice Rainbow trout for my mate Adrian, I only managed one hook up on a lure and after 30 seconds of spectacular jumping the fish spat the hooks, so nothing landed for me. Never mind, the setting and that I did actually have a fish on meant that I was more than happy. Day 2 we headed to a different spot which involved crossing a creek around 3 foot deep and some very muddy track with huge pot holes filled with water. After a while, we had caught a few Rainbows when Adrian hooked onto a real nice Brown, as Browns are nowhere near as common as Rainbows in the river he released the Brown to fight another day. Day 3 Adrian has some work to get done so I headed down on my own. The weather decided to test my resolve to fish by snowing for an hour but I was in no mood to quit. And was I glad that I did not as it was a productive morning with lots of fish caught and released. After lunch we headed back down and had a fun time catching and releasing a heap of fish, not all went back but we would have released more than we kept. To make sure that we were doing the right thing the boss Wallabie sat on the opposite back checking us out while I relaxed watching back 🙂 Final day and I was determined to make the most of it getting to the river bank with line in at 7.00am. Weather was a bit chilly, 1 degree, but I was rugged up so no worries. It turned out that the early start was a good plan as within 30 minutes I had landed a couple of decent fish and then had a big Brown smash my lure. Unfortunately it hit so hard the the lure was stuck down it throat with the hooks in his gills so it was not release-able and had to come home with me. I fished till 12.00 releasing a few more Rainbows then headed back for lunch. After lunch we headed back to the river for our final session of the week and it was a good one. Lines in by 3.00pm We hooked quite a few fish, released most of them and then I hooked into the best Rainbow of the week. Picture below. It put on a great aerial display before I managed to get it to the bank. A lot of fun to watch. Adrian also got his fly rod out which I had a go with. Managed to kind of get the fly out but soon went back to my spinning rod while Adrian proceeded to land a pair of nice Rainbows on fly. It was fun watching someone who know what they are doing casting a fly.When it got to 7.00pm we decided to call it a day and head back for a glass of red, which after spending 9 hours fishing I was looking forward to. I don't know how many casts I would have made during the day but my arm is still feeling sore. That was that for the week, we honestly lost count of how many fish we caught, all but 2 of them lively Rainbows, there was not a single session where we did not hook at least a few. The only thing that did suffer was my car. I mainly have a 4WD to tow my boat, but this week I certainly put it's off roading capabilities to the test. I have never had a car get so filthy, don't ask me how but it even has mud on the roof! ! ! ! The picture below by the Big Trout does not do it justice, it looks far worse in the flesh.. It's going to take me a few hours with a gurney tomorrow to get all the mud off. Got back to Sydney mid afternoon after an easy drive, the amount of traffic made me really appreciate just how tranquil and relaxing the week had been living off grid. Can't wait to do it again soon. Tight lines all. Gordo.

A nice haul of Flatties. Judging by the number of reports that you post, always accompanied by a picture of a bunch of fish, I am guessing that you eat a lot of fish 🙂

This is going to be a short one. Launched the boat and away from the Roseville ramp at 7.00. Spend 2 hours trolling around North Head to Manly for not a single hit. Went across to the front of Manly and spent 3 hours drifting for Flatties. Caught heaps, all throw backs, a couple of Snapper, throw backs, a couple of Rock Cod, throw backs, a Flounder, throwback and a small ray, throw back... I see a pattern emerging here! ! ! ! 😞 Then another hour troll lures back round into the harbor for not a single hit, a quick drift around Quarantine bay for 1 Tailor, throw back. Then headed back to the ramp. On the positive side, I seem to have managed to wriggle the right wires so the electronics issues that I reported last week have gone away and it was a positively beautiful day with plenty of sun and minimal wind. Now busy packing for a trip down to the Snowies to chase some trout. Hopefully have something to write about when I get back. Tight lines Gordo

OK, that's the next job. The batteries are quite new, less that a year old. When I pulled off the covers they look like new batteries, no corrosion anywhere and all nice and tight. I was under the dash and the wires are just a jumbled mess, it's hard to see whats what. I'll try to figure which is the earth and redo the connection. I HATE ELECTRICS 😂

Thanks Zoran. I'll try that. Have just been looking at the electrics and they all look good but did not take off the battery covers as even when the power to the instruments went off the engine would turn over and start with no problem . I'll go check the terminals now 🙂

Looking at the forecast this week and Saturday was looking good so the plan was made to finally get the boat out. It was only when I stopped at the servo on the way to the ramp that I realised just how long it had been. I only needed to put in 15L to fill it up which meant that the last trip out was on Lake Jindabyne back in April....... On to the fishing, we headed out around the Heads on what was a pretty good day, almost no wind and very little chop on the water. We started drifting across the area known as Foul Grounds and it was not long before we got a bite. My mate Steve pulling in a nice Snapper, around 45cm, so into the ice it went. After bringing in a few throw backs, small Snapper just shy of legal, Steve pulls in a decent Mowong, onto the ice. During this time all I seemed to be able to catch were throw backs, Snapper, Mowong, Naniguy, Sargent Baker, Rock Cod and Wrass. At least we were getting a nice selection of species. As we got near the edge of the area Steve pulls in a nice Flathead, around 50cm, then he pulls in another around 40. I still have not put a keeper in the boat and by now we have been fishing for over 3 hours. Finally perseverance pays off and I bring in a Flathead around 50, shortly after in comes one around 40 so I had finally contributed to the catch for the day. Around 1.00 the wind started to pick up a bit, all morning we had been drifting on Current rather than breeze, so we decided to head to our favorite Flathead spot off Manly for a drift. Not very successful, first fish was an undersized Snapper, then a barely legal Flathead, both went back to fight another day. Finally we decided to call it quits and head in while trolling a couple of Rapala's from Manly around North Head and into the Harbor. Just as we rounded North Head and were pointing into the Harbor Steve's rod goes off with line screaming off the reel. He grabbed the rod but after a few seconds it spat the hook. Overall it was a lovely day out, not a huge day for keeping fish, the final tally was 1 Snapper, 1 Mowong and 4 Flathead, but conditions were great. Only problem on the day was that the electrics kept turning off, sounder, radio and stereo, and after a while they would come back on again. Guess that my Sunday is going to be spent trying to find an intermittent electrical fault..... Pure Joy 😞 Sorry no pictures. Cheers Gordo

Another good day on the water. I am planning to head out on Saturday, let's hope the forecast is right and the fish are biting. 🙂

All I can say is WOW.... That looks awesome. With the 300 on the back that thing is going to fly. Recon that should be a great replacement for Barry. 🙂

Those Trevally do go hard for their size. The Flounder is a great eating fish, keep the next one. 🙂

Another good day bringing in the target species. Well done 🙂

If you're fishing the harbour try drifting over near Quarantine beach, from that big block of flats over near Manly right across that general area. I have caught some nice Flathead and Flounder around there.

Sounds like a great day. It's always awesome to see whales out there. 🙂

They are the smallest Jewies I have even seen. Still would have been fun of SP's. 🙂

Should have left the bananas at home, Hairtail are allergic to them 😂

Great report. Sounds like you had a ball 🙂

Hard to beat a decent feed of Flaties 🙂

As usual you return with a good feed of fish. Well done on that Cod. 🙂

I dream of catching Snapper that big. Great days fishing, well done.

That a trophy fish and will provide some great eating for a lot of people. Congratulations on catching such a great fish.

It was a pleasure to help out another Fish Raider. Good to see that you had a decent catch. I really must dust off my boat and get out. 🙂

That's a couple of real nice Snapper there Bob. Well done. You have done well getting out, it must be 3 months since I last wet a line. 😞

Another good feed from a day's fishing. Well done 🙂

Sounds like you guys had a great day out. Well done. 🙂

Nice mixed bag there. Interesting that you fillet the flounder, I always grill mine whole, figure that way I get every little bit of flesh off them. I Love flounder, a beautiful fish to eat. 🙂