TAZ

Great fish mate. Gee they look wierd when they get big don't they! Healthy looking specimen though.

Nice fish. Ahh that moment when a good dogged fighting fish finally goes in the net, it's gold isnt it!

Looks like a good spot. Nice fish. 👍

Hi mate. No I fish mostly freshwater. That drag is a fantastic system. You can up it or lower it without taking your hand off anything else with just your little finger on your rod hand. Fish goes to make the last second charge off before landing, back the drag off instantly, no fumbling or letting go of the handle. Fish suddenly heads for a snag, up it instantly to stop it. I've caught some big trout on mine up to 4kg and it was magic to be able to have upped it to stop one heading for a semi submerged tree, then instantly back it when it went crazy coming to the net.

Mate, Tassie, know some guys that go there now and then and from their limited trips and knowledge have done really really well just fishing off jetties and beaches. Ahh, Taz, yeah. Went for a user name but was taken, so tried my dogs name, Taz, named him as he is mostly black, a little white, and as wild as! But in a good way, good with people but just a total lunatic Staffy. First thing I thought of after we got him, a Tazzy Devil. 😁

For sure get it mate if you have had it before. The shot works. One of the best things I did getting it. I actually had mine when it was released just after trial stages and was told "it may, it may not work" but since then its been proven to work. There for me is Victoria central. Is that going to be your destination?

If you are after a top rear drag sping reel then look at a Shimano Exage. I have 2 and they are excellent. They also have an adjustable Fighting Drag making them in effect a rear lever drag spin reel. The pick is the 2500 RC size. Great reel. They come with 2 spools as well and are very well made.

Nice healthy looking fish mate. Top eating that size. Pneumonia sucks, had it twice, once double Pneumonia. Like being stabbed each breath. Also used to get pleuricy, nearly every winter. But after I got the Pnuemo Vac shot I have never had either since. Worth getting that if you are susceptible. I was/am as I get asthma.

Saki? My Dad served in the Aus Navy, gone now, and even though he did in the end days of the Pacific War, and they actually picked up the Japanese soldier's from the Islands who thought it wasn't over and fired back at them, he held no hard feelings and when they returned them to Japan spent time there and said how nice they were to the Aussies. He brought back many things from Japan. Furniture, pottery, craft items. And believe it or not, true, his Dad, my Grandfather was a Changi prisoner of War. I still have some of my Dad's War stuff and in our family the furniture, a large decorative chest, tables, and ornaments. My Dad, after all that, held fond memories of the people from Japan. On the ship, just one of several he served on, they picked up a soldier near Nu Guinea. He was at home a barber. He actually liked the crew so much he asked not to be returned to Japan and until he was acted as the ships barber/hairdresser. I still have a photo my Dads mate took of him cutting his hair. Long story, sorry about that, Saki? Oh yeah, asked my Dad about Saki, he said "I know you, and I know Saki, you won't like it". I got some, he was right! 😁

For some strange reason I feel like eating its eye!

Top fish mate. 👍

Hi mate. I got a relatively cheap Okuma a few years ago for bash around bait fishing. Still as good as day one and still has a very smooth drag and line roller still rolls freely. To be honest the drag impressed me from day 1.

Was tempted with that Aird deal myself, been going for the last few weeks now. So far have resisted the urge. Have an Aird X 7 ft rod though and love it. The BG is an al frame reel, the Aird graphite or whatever.

Yeah I've noticed over the years the majority of my best freshwater exploits have been on a rising pressure or during a high immediately after a low.

Great stuff mate, well done. You just made me hungry! 😀

Good one mate. Nice fish.

My Grandfather's old fishing creel. When he died in the early 60's it was given to my Dad and when he died it became mine. My Mum said her father used to love going fishing at Port Philip bay on the jetties. As a kid with my dad he always took with us fishing. I must have sat on that hundreds of times with a rod in my hand catching reddies and trout I reckon as a kid. Probably close to 90 yrs old I think it is.

Bummer about the boat having issues, hopefuly an easy fix, but otherwise a day fishing any way, fish or not, beats sitting at home. This weather here wont let up, cold fronts followed by cold fronts, wind, showers. I'll go mad if I dont get out this week. 😲

Left an old Jarke 3 piece cane fly rod. I know nothing about it other than the old bloke that owned it back in the 90's had it for a while. He passed away and it was going to be thrown in the tip. I can't fiind any info on it. Right an Abu, Swedish made, fly rod from the early 70's.

Im hoping to have a go this coming week in the Loddon. Drove over it a couple of weeks ago and it was flowing pretty well after the rains we've had. Good luck to you too mate. 👍

Very true mate. I may have to rethink my fishing tactics using lures in Clearwater lakes for trout and redfin and start targeting the natives more in the rivers. Time to buy some cheese and chicken I think. 😁

Hi mate. No, wish it was just a few weeks, these are for months on end. I read of a similar problem in Tasmania. Looked up online and a few places in the UK have had the fishing devestated by them. Have regularly fished this area from the 70's. Never seen these huge numbers that just move in and wipe places out. I figured that if the average was they ate 1 to 2 fish per day as they say they do, 200 birds, there for 6 months. At just 1 fish per bird thats 33,600 fish. If they did consume 2 per day 67,200. I heard a number of people in the district that stocked their own dams gave up on the idea and said they were just feeding the birds. It is recognised that the numbers have increased considerably. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/cormorants/Cormorant-Fish-Fisheries.htm https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.weeklytimesnow.com.au/sport/fishing/anglers-blame-government-policy-for-loss-of-iconic-trout-fisheries/news-story/154cd01693338c14816eeecc67820aa7

Hi guys. Over the last several years here in Vic I have noticed a big increase in cormorant numbers on the inland lake's. In particular the clear water ones. Makes sense as they chase/hunt by sight. But with this cormorant increase the fish catches have decreaesed. Significantly! In theses lakes you may have gone fishing and not caught anything but still saw rise's, got follows and or hits. Now it's just donuts all round. This goes for trout and redfin. Some lakes that you at least got a few small reddies in a session you now get nothing. An example is a small stocked water supply called Teddington Stuart Mill. Every time you got a fish or a few, or had follows, hits, but now nothing. But it gets stocked with around a 1000 trout a year more or less. But, you now see flocks of cormorants there often. You rarely used to see any but in the past few years they can number from a dozen to 30 ish. Last year at Tullaroop there were flocks numbering up to 200 birds. I see the same now in nearly every clear water stocked lake in central Vic. And, the fish catch rate in them all has declined. The cormorant numbers here have boomed and with that has coincided a significant drop in catch rate, fish activity and success. I am in no doubt that much of Vic's fish stocking now in clear water reservoir's and lakes is nothing more than cormorant feeding. Have any of you guys noticed a significant increase of them in other states?

Yeah mate I reckon they would too. Id hate to lose one though. Funny, I'm reminded of those days as a kid back on the Goulborn and Loddon river every time I see them. Great memories. I might cast one at something one day though.

Here there are Monitors and Iguana lizards that have toxins they secrete I think through a gland and then via saliva. A Monitor will bite its prey then track it for, not sure, several days till it succumbs and dies. You wont die quickly like a snake bite. You would have to be lost, far from help with no medical aid and be very unlucky to die from it though. And ultra unlucky to get bitten by one in the first place given they exit stage right when seen and disturbed.