Bored witless

[big Neil]

Hi all...report from the dead centre: My local river has been too low to fish from a boat, until we had the rain. The dam levels increased by a few% so they decide to send down an environmental flow = huge amount of freezing cold water, similar to a chocolate thick shake. Not ideal for fishing! So I'm amusing myself by putting up more photos. Hope some of you like them, I do. Alas they will have to do until I can get back to fishing again. Now...where to start?

The above snags have more significance than the ones on the bbq.

The quarry...Murray Cod and Yellowbelly

A place for future exploration...the canyon.

Cheers, Big Neil.

Edited June 11, 2016 by Big Neil

[Blackfish]

Excellent and interesting photos again Neil.

looks a tad cold as well.

Thanks for posting.

[sam bros]

Great photos Neil

Freshwater fishing has always been on my bucketlist

[JohnDory]

Nice

[Cargo05]

It must be time for a trip to the coast for a fishing fix Neil. Hopefully the environmental flows will continue, or there is decent rainfall in your catchment area in the near future. Very poor cod season for you thus far. The 1^st of September is only 2 and a bit months away.

[big Neil]

It must be time for a trip to the coast for a fishing fix Neil. Hopefully the environmental flows will continue, or there is decent rainfall in your catchment area in the near future. Very poor cod season for you thus far. The 1^st of September is only 2 and a bit months away.

G'day John, you're dead right there mate. The entire season since last Dec 1st has been (largely) a fizzer. We have gone from no water in the river and unable to launch the boat and get around, to bankers of cold, chocolate coloured water. Either way I've not wet a line for ages...very frustrating. The only time I use the rods are to practise casting on the front driveway (lol). Hopefully I'll manage to get among the big Cod before September.

In the meantime, I am exploring trips to the coast. Nearest to me is Batemans Bay which is 7 hours with the boat on. Much will depend on how quickly the river here becomes fishable again. I have a mate who has never used soft plastics so we will be heading to Tuross Heads after September for a bit of fun on the estuary species. Something I love doing and I can't wait. In the meantime it's a case of reading every one elses frustrating posts on FR. How have you been going up your way? Cheers, Neil.

We have had stacks of rain here too and most off road tracks are unuseable.

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[Cargo05]

A trip to the coast might be just what the doctor ordered for that fishing fix Neil. The rain here has disrupted the fishing a bit, but we will be on the water again on Friday with a bit of luck. The bigger flatties have disappeared from the lake again with the colder water temperature, but the bream are on the chew. Might be time to try the rivers again.

[big Neil]

A trip to the coast might be just what the doctor ordered for that fishing fix Neil. The rain here has disrupted the fishing a bit, but we will be on the water again on Friday with a bit of luck. The bigger flatties have disappeared from the lake again with the colder water temperature, but the bream are on the chew. Might be time to try the rivers again.

Do the larger flatties move from the rivers /estuaries when it gets colder? I haven't really done a lot of targeting them in Winter. Certainly caught plenty during the warmer months. You're right about needing a fix...unfortunately there is no opportunity right now, with all that is happening at home. What do you use for bream in the rivers/estuaries, hard body lures or soft plastics? Cheers Neil.

[fragmeister]

Great pics again Neil.

The canyon looks interesting... some serious flows at times by the look of it.

Cheers

Jim.

[big Neil]

Great pics again Neil.

The canyon looks interesting... some serious flows at times by the look of it.

Cheers

Jim.

Yep sure does Jim. There's so many areas that I've discovered and yet to explore. Because the area I usually fish is "irrigation river" with quite a few weirs, I can always find some good running water in the Summer months. Fishing the edges of these flows always produces lots of smaller Cod. The past 15 months though I've been trying hard to catch larger fish on lures and spinner baits. This is substantially more difficult as it's best when there's little or no water flow (usually Winter). The topsy turvy weather we're having is presenting very few options...I will just have to be patient and also hope to get to the coast soon, if the rain stops and the rivers /estuaries clear up. Cheers, Neil

[Cargo05]

G’day Neil

In the past couple of years we have noticed that flatties in general are far less prevalent in the lake and can be found in larger numbers in the rivers. We like SP for flatties, year round. Bream are targeted with small hard bodies in rivers and the lake, around structure (in a similar way you flick lures for cod and yellows). Under the mangroves at high tide, amongst fallen timber, and over weed beds and rocks. We also use both small hard bodies and SP around oyster leases, piers etc.

If fishing was only about catching large numbers of fish, I would probably use bait, but I find lure/SP fishing addictive. There is something deeply satisfying about tricking wary fish to attack a piece of plastic.

[big Neil]

There's only one thing better than having a spinner bait or lure smashed by a fish (Cod) and that is having a surface lure smashed right at the boat. Scares the hell out of you at first...for sluggish fish they sure can move quick. When conditions return to being fishable, I'll be out there with all three types of lures. Roll on! Neil