Matt

Has to be legal Snag good buddy I think the one Chris got was under size Cheers Windy

Well the first Social for 2005 kicked off rather promisingly. Whilst the fishing was somewhat tough there was still enough quality fish around for those willing to fish hard and smart. The day itself was a little irritating with rain squalls and an annoying SE that made it difficult to fish in some areas but the 46 anglers all persisted and brought back in a good 35 Bream for weighing totalling almost 19.5kg! The weights were close but we only have one winner and that was Breamaholic with a great 1.512kg. Well done mate Second place was claimed with Wacko with 1.452kg. Third place was AusBream Mod Billfish with 1.434kg. Fourth saw another AusBream Mod, Bassifier, with 1.337kg And in Fifth was Tujedu with 1.312kg. Well done to our top 5! Here is the complete placings: 1st Breamaholic (1.512kg) - 8 Points 2nd Wacko (1.452kg) - 7 Points 3rd Billfish (1.434k) - 6 Points 4th Bassifier (1.337kg) - 5 Points 5th Tujedu (1.312kg) - 4 Points Snag (1.179kg) - 3 Points Iceman (1.140kg) - 3 Points Muzz (1.085kg) - 3 Points GBrown1 (1.035kg) - 3 Points Slider (1.028kg) - 3 Points Jonny (.988kg) - 3 Points MickC (.966kg) - 4 Points (Whiting Bonus) Chopper (.966kg) - 3 Points David (.906kg) - 3 Points Gregl (.828kg) - 3 Points Joe (.807kg) - 3 Points Brownrockcod (.606kg) - 2 Points Mitch (.520kg) - 2 Points Matt (.396kg) - 2 Points Docky 0 - 1 Point Mark-Fisho1 0 - 1 Point Nickothefisho 0 - 1 Point Ozy 0 - 1 Point Hooky 0 - 1 Point Bills 0 - 1 Point Pedro 0 - 1 Point Tomo50 0 - 1 Point Seagull 0 - 1 Point Jamie 0 - 1 Point Hayden 0 - 1 Point Sputnik 0 - 1 Point Starboard 0 - 1 Point Swoffa 0 - 1 Point Hats 0 - 1 Point Leelee 0 - 1 Point Steve Edmonds 0 - 1 Point Aero 0 - 1 Point Stevo 0 - 1 Point Billfin 0 - 1 Point Kfish1 0 - 1 Point Kfish2 0 - 1 Point Darryl 0 - 1 Point The_Lure 0 - 1 Point Donfish 0 - 1 Point Swordfisherman 0 - 1 Point (I get the feeling I missed a couple here, who's missing?) Some interesting "other species" came in today. I believe Wacko managed a 62cm King and Darryl a 42cm Snapper! Hope to see somepics of those And Mickc was the only guy to score the Bonus Fish, a decent Whiting. Again well done everybody and thank to all for making the day a winner Cheers Windy

Yes there is a softy out there that resembles a small Flatty (not intentionally). Its called a Sculpin and is an imitation of a smallish US baitfish that looks a hell of a lot like a baby Flatty. I first saw them on Basspro but I believe that one of the national mags did a product review on them (Aus Fishing World or Modern Fishing?). Cheers Windy

What fish? I do a lot of Trouting and Breaming and the lures I take are vastly different. The same applies when I chase Jews (which I haven't done for a while). Anyway, here are my favs for my two favoured styles: Breaming SP = 3" Berkley Bass Minnow in Pearl/Blue HB = Ecogear SX-40 in Red Tiger Trouting SP = #2 Squidgie Fish in Gold on a 1/16th Willow Blade Rev Head HB = Rapala Vibrax Minnow Spin in Brown Trout Cheers Windy

I own and have used both Stradics and Capricorns and they are all first class reels. Of the two personally I prefer the Capricorns, the drag is better and we all know about Shimano's continuing problems with corroding bearings. The only down side to the Cap's is the weight, the are heavier than the Shimano's and they dont come in a 1000 size. Recently I have purchased a Quantum Energy PTi10, it is an amazing little reel that has some good innovations. It uses ceramic drag washers in between the metal ones to reduce heat (drag is super smooth), has a magnetic bail trip (this thing is awesome). They also have a rather interesting alloy finish that is unique to each reel. Again the only downside to these little jems are the weight and also the fact that they are only available in the US. I got mine landed for around the $200 mark, worth checking out. Cheers Windy

Spot on Byron I knew you wus baiting me Swoff I did nearly take the bait Actually the combo came from Alpine Angler, I know the guys quite well up there and they did me a great deal Cheers Windy

I did get an Innovator Distance 6/7 weight and a Scientific Angler reel Swoff As for the bait comment, well I like to use whatever will catch me fish. And you know, drifting out Mudeye's whilst sitting and enjoying a coffee was far better for my soul than the never ending rush rush of Breaming Sometimes methinks I am missing something when chasing Bream etc on lures, its the simple things that I seem to find the most relaxing Cheers Windy

I am in dangerous territory here Swoff, my last trip to a Tacklo involved buying more Fly Gear and I even purchased the latest copy of Fly Life! Have I sold my soul to the devil??? Cheers Windy

Once again I decided to head back to the Snowies and Lake Eucumbene to take advantage of the current good Trouting. I wasn't let down one bit with Rainbows abundant for those willing to put the effort in. Session 1: Early morning session saw near to freezing conditions out at the Lake! It was the middle of summer and here we were rugged up like it was the dead of winter Didn't take to long to locate a fish, a good 1.3kg Rainbow sucking in a Mudeye within 5 minutes of us arriving. I lost another fish the next cast but made up for it with a better 1.5kg fish a short time later. We had few hits on lures and I continued my apprenticeship with the fly before we left. Session 2: An after dinner session was attempted as according to reports the fish were feeding better after dark. A nasty storm had us hiding in the Ute for a while but the evening turned perfect and as the shadows lengthened the Trout moved in. A Rainbow and a Brown, both around 1kg sucked in the Mudeyes right before dark and we continued with a couple of smaller Rainbows directly after. One of these was an amazing capture. My Dad thought he had a fish on his bait rod and brought in a small Rainbow, along with my bait setup. It turned out the fish had taken my bait and swum around Dad float, not unusual, but it was tangled badly so I cut my line and just left the main line floating in the lake whilst we sorted the mess. As I went back to retrieve the main line and rerig I discovered I had a fish?? What the..... who's line did I cut then? It became clear when we found that a Rainbow had swum through the Fireline lassooing itself! I caught a Trout with nothing but a blank line One more Rainbow came our way before we called it quits. Session 3: Another evening/night session. There was literally hundreds of people out at the lake tonight, they must have heard of last nights good fishing. I have fished the Snowies for 25 years and I dont think I have ever seen this many people! We trekked a distance before setting up and discovered the Trout were gun shy tonight. Either due to the heat of the day or maybe the hordes of anglers who were pestering them. But one or two were around and we scored a pair of average Rainbows each after dark. I had my first ever hit on a Fly, an Olive Mudeye getting sucked in but I missed the take and ended up with the Olive Mudeye in my hat! Dad blew a good fish that took his Minnow Spin due to a curled over hook point on the treble Interestingly all fish we caught took live Mudeye's drifted under bubble floats. A deadly method but normally we score 50% of our fish on lures. But the Trout were in one of those moods where it had to be a live, wiggling Mudeye. Even the Fly Boys were having trouble with the various mudeye imitationas and I only saw one or two taken on the Fly. The Live Mudeyes also had to be positioned perfectly, they had to be put into the channel formed by the old Arthella Creek Bed. Not in the channel, no fish. We saw this when a number of other guys floating Mudeyes got no fish whilst we did, there baits weren't on the money. Cheers Windy PS. No photos this time, despite me having the camera all the time

I have to add my congratulations on an awesome fish Mr Cool, well done A just reward for the effort involved. And a great report to go with it Cheers Windy

This year has seen me chasing Trout more and more and of course my annual Christmas visit to my parents in Cooma would see another shot at Mr Speckles. We only managed 2 morning sessions as Beer and Food took up most of the few days I had in Cooma but Christmas is a relaxing time and its not done to squeeze fishing into every last moment! Morning One: Lake Eucumbene Middlingbank Arm (well actually, its the Buckenderra Arm) was our destination this morning but we arrived a little late at 6:30am and were initially dismayed at the amount of cars we could see parked around the place! But the very end of the bay were Middlingbank Creek flows in was devoid of anglers so we setup base camp here. I always prefer to fish the very corners of bays near creeks as Trout love to get up into the shallow stuff picking off food and I find it odd that anglers rush past this area? The first hour was very calm and the Trout were up on the surface feeding on Midges, some solid Trout were seen but they ignored our lures until a slight breeze ruffled the surface (Fly time methinks!) We had a few (we being my Dad and my brother James) bumps and hits on lures before James solidly hooked up to our first fish for the trip, a nice 1kg Rainbow that ate a Rapala Minnow Spin. Dad followed up with a smaller 500g Rainbow on the same lure, a good start but the rest of the day past slowly without much happening until the last 30mins when James again landed a 1kg Rainbow, this time on a Berkley Frenzy. Day One saw 3 Rainbows landed. Morning Two: We were a good hour or so earlier and this time I was armed with a Fly Rod (decided to bite the bullet and bought a setup). But the wind was up earlier as well and my casting with the Fly was ordinary to say the least. It was up to James and Dad to keep the score ticking over and it was the bait rods that did the damage today with 4 solid Rainbows on Mudeyes and 1 on Powerbait. James and Dad also scored a Rainbow each on Berkley Frenzys, which has turned out to be a great little spinning lure. We missed as many fish again with consistent hits on lures all day and the occasional Mudeye taken but missing the hooks Not that it mattered much! The day was overcast and I suspect that we would have kept on scoring Trout throughout the day but I had to drive back to Sydney and there was also food beckoning so we called it quits with the score at 7 for the day, all Rainbows about the 1kg mark. No bigguns but all solid fish that on the light spinning tackle put up great fights. Here are some photos: 1st is of my brother James with the 1st mornings Frenzy eater. 2nd is James again with the second mornings 1st Rainbow 3rd is James and myself with a pair of similar sized fish. Cheers Windy

The Bermagui River is a neat little waterway but like Jethro I haven't fished it in years. I do recall a on the northern bank, upstream from the bridge there was a good stretch of spinning waterway that stretched all the way to a small creek flowing in. Wallaga lake is also a great place to fish but its huge and I never really fished it much. If you want to go looking for those special little rivers and lakes take a drive south of Bermagui towards Tathra. There are some amazing little Estuaries that hold some great fish. Two that spring to mind are Cuttagee and one starting with B??? Cuttagee is also one of the area's best prawning waters (well it used to be!). There is also an amazing lake by the name of Wapengo. Its a big, shallow lake and its hard to get at (only access road is a dirt road that is easy to miss) but it hold some great Flathead and Bream. A bit further south is Nelson Beach which has a small Estuary that fishes well at times and then of course you hit the Bega River at Tathra which since being turned into a Rec Only Waterway has started fishing magnificiently. Hope you get some Cheers Windy

Can't have you coming second all the time Pedro Well done and well deserved. An awesome fish! Congrats to everybody who got a spot and all of the photo entrants And a big thanks to Ecogear and Ken for running the comp Cheers Windy

I am on the wrong side of the Harbour, I know where you mean. I think its just known as the Spit Beach????? Cheers Windy

That would be Clontarf Beach I think. Cheers Windy

Well, in that case at a guess I would say Castle Rock Beach? Cheers Windy

Chinamans Beach??? Cheers Windy

I normally call the gulps plain old crap mitch Cheers Windy

I am with Jethro, thats the Dora Creek Rail Bridge No bloody Bream live there either Cheers WIndy

Chops correct, the original Poo Eater was the 2" Power Grub (as was the PPE). The Poo Eater name I believe was coined by Bassifier & Pukka whilst on one of there jaunts a couple of years ago. The PPE name came from Billfish/Pukka a few months earlier before the PE came out (I think). Cheers Windy

Awesome Browny Boppa In all my years of Trouting I only gave Fly Fishing a casual hit for no reward, I am seriously considering giving the "dark side" another go one of these days. Cheers Windy

Well, I give my reels a thorough wash down in running water (with a tightened drag) then pat dried and left on a towel for water to drain. Then spray with some Inox, un-tighten the drag and into a reel bag. The rods come in the shower with me for a thorough clean with soap and clean the grips. Dry with a towel and into a rod bag. Every month or so I given the reels a thorough grease and oil change Bit extreme, but hey, I aint rolling in cash and if I spend the dollars on good gear I like to look after it Cheers Windy

Howdy Allen, be great if you can come along to the next Social Day (I assume you mean the ones I run :thumbsup: ) and bring along some of your rods! Cheers Windy

Howdy Bill, I would have a look at the Shimano Raider series, especially if you want to spend under $200. I have a 6''8" Rack Raider (its 2-5kg), I bought it originally for HB''s in the racks but it has been forwarded to both the metal flicking department and is my Jewfishing Stick as well. It might be a littl light for what you are after but its worth checking out to see if they have a slightly heavier model. Maybe the Daiwa Procasters are worth a look as well? Cheers Windy

Whats Bills boat been up to then? You really should control your boat a bit more Bill :naughty: :cuddle: Cheers Windy