AlbertW
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Posts posted by AlbertW
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Hey Raiders,
I'll be fishing the lake mac comp on the 19th and was wondering if any of you that frequent the lake have any tips. I've been looking at taking my outback (I have a lowrance sounder) out to the islands (pelican and spectacle) and the surrounding sandflats. I've mainly been looking at using soft vibes and plastics but all info is appreciated.
Cheers
Albert
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5 hours ago, Pickles said:
A great report Albert. weed beds are a great spo to target Bass and E.P.’s.
Nice work on the freshwater Albert - what lure were you using? (Next time it would be great if you could include the lure in the pic).
Yeah sorry about that, I usually do but the ep was bleeding a bit so I just dehooked him first. The lure was a yozuri diver, I think the crystal minnow
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3 hours ago, Green Hornet said:
Albert’s Park…..I see what you did there.
Nice fish and well done on a new species.
41 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:Yup… Albert fished Albert Park for an APEP ! 🤣
It was calling to me haha
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3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:
Nice fish Albert!
I have heard about Albert park lake, sounds like a cool fishery. I might bring a rod next time I go down, have never done so before.
Yeah theres plagues of EP's and some golden perch as well, wish I had time to target those! They also stock rainbow trout in the colder months and they even stocked 10,000 murray cod fingerlings in 2021 but I don't think theres a high probability that they survived.
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Hey All,
Bit of a late post due to the past couple of days being busy. I headed to Melbourne with the family on Thursday to visit my uncle and decided to pack an ice fishing rod and my nasci. Plan was to hit up the docks lands for some vertical bream but my mate who had visited recently told me to visit Albert’s Park lake instead. So the plane changed and on Friday I had picked up one of the new shimano revolution travel rods and respooled my nasci with 400m of 4lb braid. My uncle wanted to start fishing so I had paired him with the same outfit. I chose some shallow suspending divers as it would be an easy gateway into lure fishing. In the afternoon, I managed to get away with my uncle and by some luck i had chosen a random spot that had heaps of weedbeds. I showed my uncle how to tie a double uni knot and got him tied up onto a suspending diver. Headed to the water and teaching him how to cast and retrieve the diver, I finally started to fish. He started having troubles with the casting again so I demonstrated again and as i demonstrated how to work the diver back something smashes it and pulls me into the weed. I asked my uncle if he would like to land the fish but he insisted on me doing it so up comes my first ever estuary perch measuring at 30cm. At first I thought it was a bass due to their striking resemblance but had a look online shortly after. Swam the EP back and that was that for the trip. Back to Sydney on Sunday and was too tired to write up the report so here I am now.
Thanks for reading,
Albert
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Looks amazing, well done on the fish
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58 minutes ago, LuckyFil said:
Yes the lake is closed ATM and it doesn't fish well when that is the case.
Also the weed is probably at it's worst right now. That's partly a seasonal thing and a lot of it will clear as the water warms up but it really needs a good flush with heavy rain, but that won't be enough till the Council finishes the entrance clearing job that is underway and will maybe take another month.
I fish that area occasionally but always use SPs as they tolerate the weed. The flatties I've caught there are always just on the edge of the weed banks so no need to cast a long way out. Plenty of mullet jumping there currently if anyone knows how to catch them.
Cheers
Fil
a little unweighted hook and bread is all you need, chuck a few pieces out as berley and they'll swarm over it
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12 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:
I’ve tried it, the idea looks good, but I’ve had a few mystery lure losses with no pressure whatsoever, just flick flick and suddenly the hook/lure was gone. So I gave up on it. Also the wire rusts really easy.
Could be the sinker moving up and down as you twitched, which picked away at your knot, was a pretty common occurence when I fished with bait and used a blood knot to connect my running sinker rigs, one slight mix is to add a small bead over the knot
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Hey all,
This report has been long, long overdue since @DerekD took me out last sunday (Sorry Derek, I got busy with my engineering report and my role as a medic for my cadets). A bit of background info is that next year around the september holidays I have been very, very fortunate to be able to take a trip up to Darwin out on a live aboard bluewater charter for five days. To prepare for this trip I have started to save up my money and applied for a job at the big 'conda so I'll be working throughout the entire christmas holidays in order to hopefully afford some good gear. With the last bit of money I had saved up I was lucky enough to pick up a shimano ocea plugger for around $680.
We met up around 8am and got straight into it. I broke out the new Ocea Plugger and Derek was generous enough to lend me his Daiwa BG. We started off simple with only casting some heavy poppers. The first thing I had to work on was my casting, I had gotten lazy since the last time I saw Derek and my casting from had deterioated. I had gotten sloppy and was out of rhythmn but hopefully Derek has drilled it into me now. We then covered floating and sinking stickbaits, rhythmithically casting at different locations in order and then working it back. Afterwords we discussed what to do next over some pie. Since we both had the aftern0on off we decided to fit in a small topwater session. We met up at a nearby sandflat and Derek started out with a slipperydog whilst I continued using the berkley popper that had been working so well for me. The whiting and bream were feeding on little prawns, so I knew my lure wasn't going to be a perfect presentation of that but Derek's sure was. Half an hour later Derek hooked up on a decent 23cm whiting on the slippery dog. It looked like that the bite had turned off and we both had stuff to do later so we cut out the session short.
Once again Derek, thank you so much for taking me out for a lesson again, especially because you were generous enough to let me borrow your reel and lures (Btw if the nomad popper isn't working properly or breaks, let me know and I'll cover it). The casting is definietly something I'll have to work on and I'll try my hardest to not get lazy again and break up the rhythm. I have also been doing some homework and research about all of my gear and I'll let you know once I finished compiling everything, but right now I'm looking at setting the outfit as a pe 6 outfit with pe 6 ocea 8 braid and black magic tough trace. I have also looked at the technical stuff like transporting the rods but I will let you know in the summer.
Thanks again Derek!
Albert
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23 hours ago, DerekD said:
Hi @AlbertW
This will be the first of many over the years as your technique improves and you spend more time doing it. Be warned. Topwater fishing is addictive. Seeing that strike adds a visual impact to your fishing sessions.
I enjoyed the running commentary when you were talking to me over the phone while this was happening. Thanks for letting me share in the moment.
I'm looking forward to our topwater lesson with the heavy gear on Sunday.
Regards,
Derek
True haha, I've also just picked up a prawn walker from <retailer removed> today as I handed in my resume
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2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:
Hi all,
Just got back from another session on the Figtree bridge flats. Arrived at 4pm at the bottom of the tide and waded out onto the flats. I was aware that the tide was going to come up and make for an uncomfortable wade back to shore, so I was on a mission.
I had a new tan coloured Fuzzle Shrimp tied on, as I had lost my previous one to a snag during the week. I had a new cheap sink tip line on the reel, which paired with the shorter leader fly fishos recommend with these lines (4ft of 20lb flurocarbon), made it heaps easier to cast. It was a revelation; I had always thought that you needed a 9ft minimum leader for all fly fishing! That said, even with the much shorter leader, the wind was playing havoc with my cast and on my third cast, I had a tangle. Then on my fourth cast, my hand was stopped mid-strip and my rod loads deeply with some flatty headshakes.
The fish proved more challenging to land than expected, but that had more to do with me still getting familiar with having a fish on the end of a fly outfit, than any other factors. Having a flatty on the end of a bendy rod is an unusual feeling. After 30 secs or so, I decide it would be easier to play the fish off the reel and wound in all the stripped line. A couple of runs later, a 49cm flatty slides up the flats:
Not a croc, but a PB on fly so far, and I was stoked! The leader was scuffed up quite badly and I was really glad for the 20lb leader. Much as I am enjoying my fly tying, I'm still quite slow and can really only manage one fly a night amongst all the other things we need to do of an evening.
Cast around for about 15 mins and then move round to the other side of the bridge. Probing the eddies around the bridge pylons, I pick up another fish:
Cast around a bit more, but notice the water was coming in fast with the incoming tide. It was already noticeably deeper where I was standing than at the beginning of my session, so I decide to call it and start heading back in, having a few casts along the way. In my old age, I don't like wading deeper than knee height, especially when there is icky soft mud involved.
Get back to shore and have a cast around some really fishy looking spots. Sighted a good bream rolling around the oysters, but spook it before I can cast to it. And I doubt it would've taken a fly on my 20lb leader in such shallow water. Then I got snagged and copped a tiny oyster cut when clambering down to free it. Have made a mental note to myself to pursue this same spot on a high tide, just casting from shore with flies or lures. I also sighted some whiting on the flats, so might give them a go too.
My alarm goes off at 5pm which was my cue to go. Quite a few more 'last casts' than anticipated, then I head back to the car to clean myself up. The mud was quite horrid last time, so this time I came prepared with a 5l jerry can of fresh water and a bucket. What a difference that made! From mud-monster to human again in two minutes.
I've noticed that fishing here is very hard on the gear. Just the mud, being in the salt water and clambering up and down the retaining wall is rough all round. Have to stay on top of the gear maintenance if I am going to do this a lot.
Pretty happy with the session. Hopefully more to come in the summer.
Maybe tie on a crab fly or the light cranka crab for the bream 😆
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16 minutes ago, Yowie said:
Hard fighters at any size, salmon go hard and are great entertainment.
That salmon took me on four runs, once to structure on the left, then to structure on the right, then it went back out to open water and then the last diving straight down. definietly gave me a sore arm for a couple minutes haha
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1 hour ago, HawkesburyParadise said:
Mind sharing the popper name?
Its the berkley pop 50
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1 hour ago, faker said:
What time did u catch it at and phase of tide?
High tide I think
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Hey All,
Was planning on hunting for a big bream on Sunday but first decided try the new popper I got and maybe get my first fish on topwater. First cast on it I had a bream come up and hit it twice, with me foul hooking it on the second hit. Due to me foul hooking it the little trebles slipped out and I lost it. The next few casts resulted in my first ever landed fish on a topwater, a legal tailor. I then hopped in a call with @DerekD and on my next cast something exploded on the little popper. It took me for a total of 4 runs which I had guessed it was a salmon. I somehow managed to pull a 45cm salmon up a 1.5m wall and took a quick pic and chucked it back. No luck on the bream that night so I got some dinner and went home.
Thanks for reading
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27 minutes ago, HawkesburyParadise said:
Do they take any lures?
The bass will but i have foul hooked a carp and it took off like a rocket
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28 minutes ago, HawkesburyParadise said:
I saw a video of Shroom fishing Carp in the Parra River upstream of the ferry in the fresh water. He pulled massive Carp and Koi Carp. I am wondering if it's allowed to fish them at this location and is it safe enough to eat them?
Yes it is allowed to fish there, however I wouldn't put anything that comes out of the weir or the parra in my mouth as the weir smells like stinky aquarium water 😂. The carp are there and will just generally take bread like what Shroom used, sometimes the bass will also take bread.
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17 minutes ago, Restyle said:
if you use it for baits, a shimano aqua tip is a very durable rod & also aesthetically pleasing rod. There is a 6'8'' 3-5kg and you can get them for around 40$. For best bargains best off to visit a local tackle store as online retailers aren't allowed to advertise below a certain percentage from rrp & larger businesses are much more firm on prices. Paying cash will also give you better discounts.
If you want a graphite rod for throwing out plastics, blades etc, shimano jewels are a great rod, Use these as my squidding & light flicking rod. Amazing rod for the task and out do rods like the black water egis. A cheaper alternative is the squidgies range, although I find these can be abit sloppy.
All the rods ive mentioned are ones I've had experience withReason why you're rod could've broken is i see its a graphite rod. IF You've ever dropped the rod on the ground, walked on it by accident or applied any sort of sudden shock which would even include hitting 2 rods together it will create small hairline fractures which in the right conditions would eventually give way. Graphite rods are amazing & powerful but fragile. I store all mine in rod bags/tubes when not in use as I've also broken a couple cheaper graphite rods
Legend!
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Hey All,
I'm looking for a new snapper rod preferabbly 3-5kg, 7 foot and can cast around 10-30g. Unfortunately in a freak accident of some sort my atomic arrowz rod just snapped in half out of nowhere, I had made a cast and suddenly half of the rod followed my plastic into the water. Does anyone have an idea on how?
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Hey Raiders,
Just thought I’d put up a brief report on something that just happened which involved a donkey sized bream. I wasn’t planning on fishing tonight but I packed a rod and some gulp plastics just in case so I got to the wharf at around 7pm ish. First thing I noticed was that there were jelly prawns skipping around on the surface and occasionally a little bit 10ish cm tailor would come up and smash one. I was using a 3inch gulp paddletail with a slightly larger hook so I wasn’t hooking up on the tailor very often. However I dropped my plastic down to the bottom and as I winded my slack in I felt that I had foul hooked a tailor, and as I was bringing it up, I kid you not, a 45-50cm donkey of a bream comes up, catches a few milliseconds of air and takes off the lower quarter of the tailor. I hadn’t realised that Sydney bream could be this ferocious as in one of my past trips to the Gold Coast i had made a new friend and I fished with his family using live 10-15cm herring for trevally but at night the bream would come out and absolutely demolish the live bait. So could this be a reoccurring thing with bream where they get a lot more aggressive at night? I will be returning to the spot on Tuesday with proper gear in order to target these fish
Thanks for reading,
Albert
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4 hours ago, Pickles said:
Well done on the Redfin Albert (as far as freshwater fish, they are one of the best eating, but not sure if Manly dam is clean enough). A lure that I find deadly on bass is the feral cat signature (Greg Catt makes these himself) in purple / black. I don’t know if they would work in Manly dam, but they certainly work in the Hawkesbury.
I actually have the halco version of those haha, not sure if they’d work quite as well but that opens up an opportunity to fish the deeper water
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Good to see that bobbin head is producing again, I grew up fishing there and had the odd little bream and snapper but a couple years ago it went silent and I’d soak a prawn for hours and not even get a bite. I should revisit it again with lures now haha
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Unfortunately the situation is looking grim, I’m getting rained out and the wind is howling, there were no signs of trout at the entrance of the river so now I’m headed off to get something warm to eat and maybe fish one of the Rotorua lakes, @Volitan any suggestions?
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12 hours ago, scottyboy said:
Dude your killing it, how good is NZ. Hope you got to try some NZ wine. Your reports are awesome Albert, a true fish can adapt anywhere in the world and that's what you are. Stand tall brother and keep them reports coming. 🤟🐟
Cheers bro, I’m still only 15 so no wine for me haha, however I really enjoyed the blueberry white tea which was an import from the US. I’m on my way to some trout in the waihou river and hopefully 🤞🤞🤞will be back with a report.
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Lake Mac Comp Bash
in Saltwater Fishing Chat
Posted
Cheers mate