crystalliser Posted April 17, 2007 Author Share Posted April 17, 2007 Hi rzep. Nope, I wasn't luring on saturday, went on boat instead. G'day pmak. I was at IC. Well done on your first whiting! Those 2" pseed gulp grubs are dynamite eh.. Tight Lines Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted April 20, 2007 Author Share Posted April 20, 2007 Howdy raiders. Here's another short report on my landbase escapade. Recently decided to embark on another form of breaming. Having heard about an article in April's issue of Modern Fishing Magazine featuring surface popping, I went out to grab meself a copy and 'studied' in detail how it was done. Told FishFinder Tony I needed poppers and he picked me a StrikePro Rack Popper, cool! Anyway, on one particular morning, went on an unplanned trip since I woke up too early. Tried an assortment of sps 1st, as I didn't plan to use hardbodies yet. Whilst on the move to a mangrove tree, my sp was decimated on the drop. A call was made to do hb'ing. After looking through the tackle box, I decided to let the popper go for a morning dip. 1st cast... ploop.. ploop.. SPLASH! Almost shit myself! Pop more and the swirls just kept teasing me. Few casts later followed by some refinement, ploop.. ploop.. zzzzz... Yeehar, my 1st popper caught bream at 27cm! That was all it takes to make me get excited and basically I pop the whole session. There was another angler not far from me and out of the sudden, I heard a loud drag. That was some serious run and he was fighting to keep the fish connected since he was only using 2 kilo line. I volunteered to help him body-lift the bream and it was a staggering 42cm (39 fork) grandpa bream! It was caught on a ZipBaits Rigge. Made our acquaintances and I was happy to see him land such a big fish. His Daiwa Steez 2506 sure is a lean-mean machine. I continued my poppering and all I could muster up were 2 fail hookups and countless missed-strikes. They were definitely there in numbers but probably forgot to wear spectacles. WARNING: Top water action IS ADDICTIVE! Cheers Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robeebee Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 WARNING: Top water action IS ADDICTIVE! Cheers Ronald your not wrong mate I'm hooked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Get used to the missed strikes Ronald I reckon I get around one fish for every five strikes Try some scent on the poppers I beleive it helps get follow up strikes My favorite is megastrike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted April 20, 2007 Share Posted April 20, 2007 Nice stuff Ron. I've been into the poppers up here a bit more & it sure is addictive. I fished the bay early last Sunday & managed 1 chopper, 2 Bream & 6 Flatties. It was a fun session on my own & good to fish it again. Cheers, Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 Iceman: Thanks for the tip mate, megastrike it shall be. Jewhunter: G'day Grant, good to hear u revisiting your ex-backyard. Cheers Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris 55 Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Another good report Ronald I like the use of the thread to show history & your trips change in the tackle you use keep it up Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 G'day. Here's a report on my recent "3 consecutive NIGHT OPS" and one that will take a long time to forget. Since it was king tide for last week, I had been planning some night raids in the hope that it can be executed in good weather. Luckily they played ball and I made a call to a mate that the ops order had came through. My mate held some hopes that a jewie would come knocking on his door. He went for big plastics while I opted my favourite 2" Gulp grub. At one point, my mate registered some resistance and gave a hard yank, and I could hear his certate's drag jerk for a split sec. But there was no connection and the usual "what was it".. "what the heck".. curiousity tortured us. Continued our raid and suddenly I had a take which wasn't hard-felt. Put on my slight-strike mode and true enough, there was something at the end of my line. This thing came in easy, without a single line take. A couple of headshakes had me speculating a good size flattie. But as soon as it started swimming sideways to the bank, I had second thoughts. Nonetheless, it was brought nearer for visual inspection and turned out to be a 36cm bream. Too bad she thought she was a flattie and I promptly returned this 'plastic-bag' back into the drink hoping she'll haunt other future breamers. Night ops number 2 saw me and nzwarriors headed out in search of more surface activities I witnessed the night before. Nzwarriors was using whole camo worm while I continued with my grub, which happened to be the one I used the night before (yes, cheapskate, I know). However, it didn't last too long before it fell off the jighead, which ironically withstood the thrashing from 3 landed fishes including the 36. Suddenly I noticed nzwarriors was onto something. His Tierra was singing hardout and we knew this was a biggun. I regrettably advised him to tighten his drag a little as it was kinda loose and within seconds of the fish being near the oyster encrusted banks, it busted him off. This gutted nzwarriors and I wasn't feeling too well about my advise to him, sorry bro.. We moved to another spot and I was at one of my favourite spot very near to where I caught my previous 36. We noticed a lot of surface feeding and wasted no time to make a few casts. On a parallel cast, I felt a take on a twitch and instantly strike it. Kixy's singing woke both of us up and this one did better than any wet-socks. Funnily, this was another 36cm job. Thanks to nzwarriors for this pic and also assisting me in lip gripping this bugger. Continued for awhile more and managed one more 32cm before heading back to HQ. 3rd night came and the ops order came through for the final assault. I was met with the same conditions and the surface feeding activities were still there and more bustling. It was pretty quiet at the starting spots except for a take that made kix burst for a split sec but missed the hookup, darn.. It certainly felt like a good one. So, back to that productive spot and the water was alive. Casted my grub and probably on the 2nd cast, I felt a take and since I couldn't see my line in the pitch black condition, I struck nonetheless. Zzzzz... followed by a jump within a foot away from where I was standing! Almost shit myself but kept my composure and played her confidently. With little space to move around, I had to pray that my rod steering is up to standard. She made a good respectable 5-6 runs, and with some improvisation, I landed her successfully and she measured 41cm (37.5 fork). This biggie certainly left me with a good impression and was rightfully returned to where she was from. Continued a short while more with another 31cm to close up this session. These night ops were truly enjoyed and will definitely not be the last. Cheers Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmak Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Hey Ronald. Top session there! You've got to be crazy SP fishing at night but look at your 40+ monster! Man, do you like use the 'force' to 'feel' when to strike? Hats off to you, Jedi fisho for battling the 'Dark side', waving your rod 'saber' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1975 Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 top effort mate, certainly worth the late night excursion. billy PS don't tell you've given the hbs away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottyman Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 What an awsome thread Ronald. I've just had another look since my reply in January and what a great read.... Congratulations mate, you've certainly got it all sussed out... Cheers, David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerg Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 hey Ronald, some very nice fish there. cheers, Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 pmak: Mate, u should try luring at night. Lure fishing itself might already posed a challenge to fishos, but by adding pitch black condition when u can't see $hit, it makes the capture much more special. 1975: Billy, I haven't written a will for the hbs. mottyman: Thanks David, it's like my mini fishy blog to share to fellow fishraider forummers. gerg: Thanks for the compliments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 It's been quite awhile since I've posted anything. Have been doing my regular breaming but nothing spectacular to show. As usual, always more keen to test lures than catching fish. Got a River2Sea Static Shad from Fishfinder Tony and decided to wet it the 2nd time. Apparently there's no weight transfer inside but surprisingly the action was not too bad. I did however change the treble size. Managed to score a small chopper on the 1st cast and subsequently a bream. Then, it was time to rekindle my night ops again. To be honest, I did 4 nights instead of the previous 3. The conditions were quite similar and they were still surface feeding under the full moonlight. However, the luring was far from expectations. This time round, I opted to go bigger on the plastics and the 3 inch gulp minnows were on the menu for that week. 1st op only saw a 34cm bream taken on Smelt which gave some respectable runs. As the tide wasn't that high in 1st op, I plugged out a neglected overseas-bought hb and gave it her 1st saltwater bath. On the first cast, the StrikePro (old version Pygmy) snag me a small bream. After that, a couple of solid hits but no hookup. On my 2nd op, I brought a mate who had never lured before. Hooked him up with some Gulps and he managed to nail a 36cm and 41cm flattie. He was stoked and glad that he enjoyed fishing with plastics. On the very same day, I bought another pack of 3" minnow in Lime Tiger and keen as mustard to toss it into the water. Managed to snare a couple of good size flatties and small breams, including this 31cm specimen. Very happy with the 3 inchers. They seemed to last longer and had the ability to attract bigger ones. Brought my mate (nzwarriors) along for the 3rd op. It was windy that night and not much surface activity. Didn't do well but nzwarriors managed to get a 35cm whiting on a whole camo worm which was meant for a jewie. With the morning tide not being too ideal for me, I went out anyway to my favourite flats with the mentality to test run some surface lures. 1st up was a Lucky Craft Bevy Prop and it took me quite awhile to figure out a way to work these lures. Seemed like when I discontinued the pauses and wind in constantly with intermittent twitches, the swirls started appearing. Next cast with the same patterns and I managed to score a super duper small chopper that was pulled in like a leaf and looked the same size as the lure! Continued for awhile more and even practiced how to "walk the dog" but nonetheless without any hookups. Iceman told me about this attractant called megastrike might help and so I went out and bought one out of curiousity. Heavier curiousity ensued and this crystalliser just wouldn't be a good 'stay-home' boy and had to eagerly try out if this $hit works. To be honest, I'm not sure, but this "smell-like-pizza" attractant did snatch me some breams and flatties on Gulps that had been soaked in water many times without a touch till this bream took it on the 1st cast with megastrike. Till next time. Tight lines! Cheers Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmak Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Night fishing again? Looks like you're after some serious challenges. Your lure collection must be huge. I actually tried some late evening fishing last night at Iron Cove (under the bridge over Hawthorne Canal) on the way back from work and saw lots of surface activity. 1 small bream and mid-sized flattie. Did not stay long - was hungry and had to help #1 son with his homework. Tide was a bit low too .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted June 16, 2007 Author Share Posted June 16, 2007 Hi raiders. It's been a long time since I've posted here. I have been neglecting luring for quite sometime due to other fishing commitments. Anyway, nothing much I can do about heading out for a quick flick with this weather looming around. I did however snuck out for a quickie as you don't often get 2m tide. Yup, another night op for me. With so much FW dumped, I thought softies were the go. The session started with a few small flatties before I hooked onto something when on a particular drop. Now, usually I would have worked the plastic a fair bit before it could get hammered but this fish tooked it on the drop after a fair distance cast. The run was baffling me, as it didn't power off but went on a steady pace and took roughly 20m of line. During the run, I was pretty sure some headshakes were felt. However, that thrill was shortlived and my braid went limp. Negative hookup, positively pissed! Then the drizzles came and I thought that was it, a crappy outing. However, I kept going. For that extra 1/2 hour, I had finally broken the lure-drought with kix singing-in-da-rain. Cold water, letargic runs? I'm afraid not. This 36cm bream gave me some good fun I've been craving for a long long time. My bloody crap digicam played up on me again. Didn't wanna leave the poor bloke out so long and thus made do with my ancient phone camera. Just when it powered off into the depths, heavens opened up and I guess I'm wet enough. Cheers Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 awesome stuff Ronald! good on you for braving out the cold weather! ive been reading this topic with much interest! may i ask wht size jig head you were using for the bass minnows in bloodworm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted June 17, 2007 Author Share Posted June 17, 2007 awesome stuff Ronald! good on you for braving out the cold weather! ive been reading this topic with much interest! may i ask wht size jig head you were using for the bass minnows in bloodworm? Hi Davy, It's a 1.5g size 2 jig head. Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 (edited) Well im glad i decided to look at this post, Crystalliser,there is some nice fish and nice pics in this thread,well done to u penguin Edited June 17, 2007 by penguin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Nice stuff once again Ronald. I did really well the last couple of winters on a 1gm jighead & a size 4 hook. The lighter jighead makes the bass minnow "glide" nicely through the water & you can fish even slower than usual. It was very effective down at H.C last year. Cheers, Grant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted June 19, 2007 Author Share Posted June 19, 2007 Nice stuff once again Ronald. I did really well the last couple of winters on a 1gm jighead & a size 4 hook. The lighter jighead makes the bass minnow "glide" nicely through the water & you can fish even slower than usual. It was very effective down at H.C last year. Cheers, Grant Hi there Grant, thanks once again for another tip. It sure sounds deadly. Will definitely give it a go. Cheers Ronald Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Another option in jigheads that I use quite a bit to get SPs to glide is TT hidden weight 1/28oz which is a touch heavier than 1gm Worth a try Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalliser Posted June 24, 2007 Author Share Posted June 24, 2007 G'day. Had gone through a pretty bad start to the week and thus needed to destress myself. The weather was awesome on Friday and so a quick call to a visiting friend from overseas was made. But alas, he was not free and so I set out by myself. The water was still brownish but quite clear though. I started with my obligatory gulp and the action was slow. Moved on for about 5 meters till I got my 1st hit and a hookup. Not a bad start with this 30cm bream. Then, out of nowhere, a thought came into my mind. Jewhunter gave a tip about 'gliding' sps from previous posts and I thought.. yeah.. why not. Didn't have any 1gram jigheads and so had to make do with a 1/32oz (that's the lightest in my arsenal). Rummage through my tackle box and saw a used watermelon bm with a broken tail. Being a cheapskate, I trimmed it down into a much slimmer profile. Tied it on and gave it a trial swim to check the action. It was pretty sexy. From the spot where I've just released the previous bream, I made a cast (to be honest, a 1.5g and a <1g jighead doesn't really affect casting distance). Can't believe it, 1st cast of this new trial and I had a solid take halfway through the 'gliding'! The fight was almost similar to the 30cm job but still pull a fair bit of line. To my surprise, it came in at 39cm. 'Gliding', u rock! Jeez, she must've really liked the bm as the hook was bent. Nonetheless, it was taken out and she powered off effortlessly. Changed another jighead and continued at the same spot. There were no takers and decided to move over to a drain. On a particular lift-n-drop, the 4lb PE suddenly shot out. Striked and I was on. This 26cm gave quite a good account of itself. The same thing happened on the next cast but it was turning out to be much better. As I striked, the reel went zzzz and it certainly felt like a better one. But out of the sudden, I've lost it! The bm was gone though suggesting it wasn't hooked at all. Being an ultimate cheapskate, I opted for a used Squidgy Flickbait (think the colour is evil minnow). Trimmed it by yours truly and the lure action was even hotter. Believe it or not, on the 1st cast while 'gliding', I had a hookup. It was a 30cm breambo. Scored another small flattie from the same drain and I had to leave while the fishes were still biting, due to my bloody nature's call! Oh well, had my fun though, felt a little destressed and left a happy chap (minus the fun-destroying-bladder). Cheers Ronald "Fishraider tips.. never leave home without it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDiko Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Great work mate, care to take me through the process of gliding? IFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishyfingers Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 now lets say you've got someone who's ... o h i duno .... lazy .... and couldn't really be bothered looking ..... can someone explain the "gliding" technique? I mean a lot of us might already be doing it but don't know it as gliding....then you might have someone who doesn't know it at all ...... random someone ... no one in particular! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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