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I think there might be a few bass fishos that would disagree with you - maybe the fish can sense a storm front coming that will have an effect on their food source or something , ants and birds can sense atmospheric changes before it rains - one thought is they can sense barometric changes - how I dunno . I just added it so the OP has another avenue to investigate and to point out that barometric pressure should be noted in their fishing diary - sometimes a pattern will emerge over a period of time .

Your stance Derek! Looks like you are ready to scarper at the slightest hint of a lure taking a detour from its intended trajectory

Hi Will , welcome to Fishraider. I doubt the new gear is causing a problem - the fish can’t tell what gear you are using ! The answer may be the spike in water temps 23 to 28 is a big jump and this may have been caused by the recent rain . The fresh water is lighter than salt so it sits on top , it may be 28c on top but down deep it could be 15c especially in places like Akuna which is deep slow moving water . Also the change in salinity levels after some rain can drive small bait fish away from an area and the predators follow them. The trick in this situation is to note this in your fishing diary ( if you don’t have one I recommend you start one ) and try a different spot - go looking for the fish and if you find them note this in your diary as well because when this happens again you can draw from that knowledge pool and it will help you to find the fish again . It may be just a short move towards cottage point or even further up coal and candle creek to find fish , fish like Mulloway , flathead and bream will move towards a creek that is flowing from recent rain as it forces things like prawns and mullet out of the creek where as fish like snapper and kingfish like cleaner water with higher salinity so they would move towards the main section of Cowan creek which cops more of a tidal flush from the ocean . We all have donut days and that is actually a good thing as it makes one think about why they had a donut day and how to solve that puzzle which inevitably will make you a better angler. edit: I forgot to mention barometric pressure which has an effect on fish as well but that is a long and tedious story for you to investigate in your own good time !

I thought he was just keeping his distance so as not to cop a stray lure in the melon 🤣🤣🤣

Trick with birds nest is to use 50lb line - it always comes out 🤣🤣🤣 Nah but seriously if there is anyone on FR that can get you sorted out it is Derek !

Awesome report + nice fish + fantastic dishes = EPIC in my books ! How do you find the NS rods ? I have the flattie rod and love it- it became my favourite rod very quickly! , I am planning on buying the egi rod very soon .

Awesome fish mate ! You are definitely proving that a ski can be a versatile fishing platform!

Those that ask of fishing and never give back to it are robbing themselves ! The feeling you get when you help or teach someone to catch a fish is something they never get - if that fish is their first ever you can multiply that sense of satisfaction by a factor of 10 ! There may be other factors why they are no longer posting on FR - sometimes life gets in the way and their circumstances change but unfortunately some are just here to mine for information and go on their way.

That is awesome Donna ! They look great and Derek is a very deserving recipient of the new badges !

It might be time to upgrade Derek as well - not sure if there is anything higher than Gold member or Mentor but Derek definitely deserves to be there !

As an aside you can go onto YouTube and look up Ron callcut videos ( series was “ A fisherman’s world “ ) - the one called spinning for Spaniards was filmed at hat head ( all be it a long time ago ) - if that video doesn’t make you super keen to get out to the point and fish nothing will! Also watch out for snakes on the track out to the point - especially just after sunrise. It has been many years (over 25 ) since I fished the beaches up that way and as I didn’t have a 4wd at the time I was limited to sections where I could walk in but always got a feed of bream or Dart on pippies which were gathered while fishing . You should be able to get more up to date info from any local tackle shops or you could try the hi tide radio program on Sundays when lawrie mcenally comes on as he is a local who does a comprehensive fishing report for the south west rocksl region . You can listen live on 2sm radio or look up hi tide on your favourite podcast player .

Thank you Donna !

You may have hooked the main 12v line and the ignition or auxiliary wires all together . Radios usually have a wire that has to stay live to keep the memory active and part of that is remembering what state the radio was in when the ignition was turned off - simple fix is a switch on the dash to turn it on when needed .

Great haul of fish there !

Might have to start a new topic on Fishraider- dodgy reports and put those AI reports in there , always on the lookout for a good laugh 😆

Well I suppose you could call it that 🤣🤣🤣 I have never seen anything like it and it wasn’t a one off - I did three passes and they lined up behind the prop each time . Might have to change my name for my boat from Rainmaker to pied piper 🤣🤣🤣

Thanks all for the kind comments! one strange thing did happen - I was trolling along a man made rock wall and noticed a large splash in front of the boat so I started looking around the boat to see if I could spot what made the splash, looking out the back I spotted a school of big carp following the boat - seemingly mesmerised by the slowly rotating white prop ! I dropped a curl tail plastic in there but couldn’t get them to take it .

Anywhere beats home or work! originally wanted lake Lyell but that place is booked solid months in advance, looked at Wyangla but didn’t like it and my mate mentioned Windermere so went there . Came here a million years ago and had a great time - glad to say that it is still a great place and I will be coming back !

G’day Raiders, Currently out at Windermere dam for a relax and a bit of fishing . Nothing serious and wasn’t expecting to catch much considering I don’t normally fish the sweet water. Anyhow we went out for a troll / cast session and I got my first cod and my mate picked up a chubby yella , mine was caught on a chartreuse spinner bait and the yella was on a rattling vibe style lure - brand unknown .

Fishing is only as expensive as you make it - buying seafood is expensive because you are paying someone to catch it for you and if you catch your own you also get the benefit of a day out / an adventure which will beat sitting at home watching tv every day of the week. Someone that can use a tiny bit of sausage mince on a small hook tied to a few metres of cheap light line and used to catch a yakka for bait and convert that into a table fish is a real angler in my eyes - it takes knowledge and skill to do this - neither of these can be bought and you don’t get them because you own a lot of expensive gear - they have to be learned and earned ! You were born with free transport - they are called legs and feet and you don’t have to have a boat- no use if you fish the beach/rocks , tiny bass creeks or trout streams anyway. The only thing I buy from a fish market are my pillies - usually around $13 a kg and still frozen food grade IQF which is a hundred times better than the garbage you get from a servo or tackle shop freezer. One flathead trip is usually 8 - 10 pillies ( 200-250gm) so for $13 I get four trips worth of bait . So about $5 bait , about$15 diesel, $10-$15 petrol , a thermos of coffee , a few sausages and salad for lunch so for around $45 I get a day out and if I catch my bag of flathead that may yield say 2-2.5kg of fillets @$30 a kg I’m saving $20 ! If you really want a sport / pastime or hobby that cost lots and returns zero try target shooting- each squeeze of the trigger is like throwing a $2 coin into the sea - then repeat that for the equivalent of 300 rounds and all you get back if you win is a trinket worth about $5!

The great thing with being able to turn the transducer off is you can play with the settings at leisure at home . I’m not sure but I think you can run it in simulator mode and test your settings- you might have to do some google work to check this though !

https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/echomapplus/EN-US/GUID-4E013683-0EFE-4465-A1ED-5DCF1238651B-homepage.html ok first one is a video to show you how to turn off/on the transducer so you can run the unit out of the water - do this first . once the unit is up and running run the sonar you are having problems with and the touch menu >sonar settings > advanced and check the bottom search limit setting - make sure this is deeper than where you fish . Also in that sonar setting section is where you will find the manual / auto / bottom lock and zoom function, I run either auto range or bottom lock as I fish on the bottom mostly . I made the mistake of watching some American guys tutorial on settings and ended up with a screwed up sounder - I restored to factory default and then chose the units I wanted it to show and pretty much left it alone. The new sounders do a pretty good job on auto for most applications. I found the little range icon box on the top of the screen wouldn’t set the unit into auto range , if I set it there it would change back to what was set in the menu function as explained above. Also in the menu you can change what that little box does ie from range to brightness ( gain ) etc to suit your needs. Each type of sonar has its own menu settings so you have to run the type of sonar you want to change things in then select menu > sonar settings etc . don’t forget to turn the transducer back on when finished- tap power button and select from onscreen list . one thing I did do is change the start sounder on power up to off - all this means is that when I turn the main power on the sounder stays off until I press the button on the sounder unit itself - good if you remove you sounder head unit all the time .

I think you might have one too many 0 on that number James - 2000AD was not that long ago ! Or was it 2000bc? I think it is a typo in the article - 2000BC looks more like it

I think that the system for hooks was around long before electrical wire though and even before fencing wire . I wonder if it may be something like sewing or knitting needles - iirc they use /0 system as well . Hooks are weird as they use a double sided scale for sizing , one side the higher the number the smaller the hook , the other side the higher the number the bigger the hook . It does make me wonder how far back the use of the /0 system goes in regards to fishing hooks - maybe Scandinavian countries were using this centuries before America was discovered?

Awesome Dolly Larkin!