XD351

I’m devastated 😭 The Donut Boyz have broken up 😮 Well ,if it were one of those boy bands you would be looking at a name change and a solo career- maybe Mikey Mike and the flattie bunch 🤣🤣🤣 But on a more serious note , if you are thinking outside of the box ,mixing it up, experimenting with new lures and techniques or just fishing a new location expect lots of donut days - it takes time scope out new ground or to prove theories and to fine tune a technique.

“The Donut Boyz “ Better get out and have another crack before that monicker sticks🤣🤣🤣🤣 Happens to all of us !

I always thought of it like this - fish don’t have eyelids so can’t squint or close their eyes. On bright days fish the shadows or deeper water . Dusk and Dawn transitions benefit predators whose eyes can adjust quickly - mulloway ,tailor and sharks are a couple that come to mind.some fish like trout use the light to silhouette the prey they are hunting on the surface - not enough light and they can’t see it , too much and they are blinded by it so they switch to prey that lives under the surface like small baitfish and mudeyes .

If I told you that if you carry a couple of green marbles in your left trouser pocket you will become a great fisher person because those marbles will offset the the imbalance in your soul created by the offset of the North Pole would you believe me ? I wouldn’t either ! Ok some thoughts: If your book or app says not to fish this time or that day and you listen to it you are not going to catch anything because you didn’t go fishing - was the book or app right? You will never know ! With the exception or family , work , health or extreme weather events etc - never let anyone or anything tell you when you should or shouldn’t fish ! Start a fishing diary or even better diaries ( smaller one for each location) this way you can keep track of days where you caught fish and those where you didn’t and the little details that are so important to unlocking the success you seek - time of day, weather conditions, tide, moon phase ( also rise and set time for this ), water temp , recent weather events like floods or heavy rain , big swells if you are rock , beach or ocean fishing and the basic things like bait and rig used . Finally either try fishing a location for a period and work out what species live there and with the assistance of your location diary that you have been vigilant in keeping up to date ,work out the best time , tide , bait and technique works to catch the fish that live there or pick a species and work out where they are most like to be caught and on what bait , lure or rig . I get a laugh sometimes when I ask people I see fishing “ what are you going for or trying to catch ?” Usual reply is whatever comes along ! It’s a bit like waiting for a train at a disused train station - you can hope all you want but it ain’t ever coming ! So to summarise: Target a location and learn the species or Target a species and learn the location (you need to do some basic research on the species you want to catch with either of these options) Fish as often as your life allows and keep a diary or diaries. Never let the days where you don’t catch anything get you down or cause you to stop believing in yourself- these days ( donut days ) happen to everyone and are more often than not the ones that teach you the most - learn from them , never regret or fear them ! And finally - ask questions , lots of questions- there are no stupid questions but it is nice when those questions follow a common theme like for example trying to catch a bream on a lure , so rather than asking that today and asking about catching kingfish the next day and trying to catch trout the next day after that - stick with one thing until you achieve your goal .

I have seen plastics rigged with a small foam ball sitting where a jig head would be , I have also seen an orange ear plug used to do the same thing , also works on the beach to keep your bait off the bottom and away from sand crabs .

The Texas rig is better in tight structure and for vertical work as the sinker against the hook gives more control of the lure - both when casting and retrieving , the Carolina is better for shallow weed beds and soft silt bottom - you can adjust the leader length to suit which helps to keep the lure above the weed or from disappearing into the bottom silt - even better with buoyant plastics like Zman . Never used the drop shot as I never seen a use for it - maybe teabagging or similar to the Carolina ?

I do the same as green hornet says - I generally run at least a metre of heavier leader - 20lb in my case then use 10 or 16lb trace to the hook . one thing you have to be careful with is the sinker running up the line and getting hung up on the leader knot - mainly a problem when fishing straight up and down . I just feather the line as it comes of the reel to keep the swivel against the swivel or cast up current as far as the water is deep ( cast 20m in 20m of water ) then flip the bail and let the rig sink - it will sink in an arc keeping tension on the line so the sinker stays on the swivel .

The demarcation line between clean and dirty water is where I will be concentrating along with deep holes .

These are taken at lunchtime today 23/4/24

I think a lot of lure fishing newbies get a little swept away with the hype about this knot being better than that knot and for x amount of reasons . I think of it this way ( yours is probably different ) but if you use an FG knot which takes a bit of time to learn , time to tie and is a known strong knot then use a weaker knot to tie your lure on then isn’t all that effort wasted ? If you are sitting on the bank fumbling around trying to tie a knot like the FG you are not fishing - if your lure isn’t in the water then you can’t catch anything . This point was driven home to me in the comments on a YouTube video I watched recently, the guy uses an improved albright to connect his leader and he copped a bit of an ear bashing by the FG fraternity. His reply was simple and to the point - the knot I tie my lure on is the weakest point , I can tie this knot blindfolded, it goes out through the guides ok and it has never let me down . I think that for a mug angler like me this reasoning will be good enough .

We are still here- hiding in shame , eating off wooden spoons and waiting for the next messiah! Either that or for another team to steal the wooden spoon off us !

That’s the one ! haven’t caught one for years though ! Tigers fan too eh !

My mate said broken bay looked reasonable today . Don’t forget that the fresh sits on top so it will look muddy for a while to come but go down a few metres and it will be clearer . You can always duck into Cowan if you don’t like the colour of the main river . There will be trees floating around for a month or two to come , just be aware and take it easy . I’m surprised I haven’t seen any reports of big mulloway after that flush - maybe no one has been trying for them ?

I had one break a Mustad 9555b once . They have a similar head construction to a green toad but they have plates instead of a beak type tooth - their mouth is a bit like a pair of Vise grips. They used to blow up to the size of a volley ball !

Used to get some big puffer fish in there years ago .