So what's your favourite type of fishing...why?

[Mike Sydney]

Tough to decide really it’s about the scenery and the outdoors for me but I would have to say buzzing crankbaits is always a pleasure, that initial dive and then the vibration on the retrieve still gets me going even if I’m not catching fish

[Bennyg78]

Its no secret that as that water temp starts to climb I love the top water bite, whether its bass, bream, tailor, salmon or flat head its a rush. I am hoping the El nino winter we have will pump the water temp up earlier this year

[Hoods]

Geez Neil, Why do you ask such hard questions!!??

I agree with Bluefin "Lure Fishing. Vic McCrystal (?) once said " A Lure is a Lie told to a Fish "   I love the feeling of a fish hitting a lure. I love the anticipation. I love searching , Hunting for my fish.

A fly fisher from Wagga once described fly fishing for Trout as "the artful deceiver" and I find this form of fishing is quite addictive

I am thinking the favourite form of fishing is the one we're enjoying now. Problem is as we get older our early fishing experience carries more nostalgic "weight"

Your question is a bit like asking an angler why they fish (bit like the poem Mulga Bills bicycle) - anticipation??

Hope you are keeping well.

[big Neil]

9 hours ago, Hoods said:

Geez Neil, Why do you ask such hard questions!!??

I agree with Bluefin "Lure Fishing. Vic McCrystal (?) once said " A Lure is a Lie told to a Fish "   I love the feeling of a fish hitting a lure. I love the anticipation. I love searching , Hunting for my fish.

A fly fisher from Wagga once described fly fishing for Trout as "the artful deceiver" and I find this form of fishing is quite addictive

I am thinking the favourite form of fishing is the one we're enjoying now. Problem is as we get older our early fishing experience carries more nostalgic "weight"

Your question is a bit like asking an angler why they fish (bit like the poem Mulga Bills bicycle) - anticipation??

Hope you are keeping well.

A very thoughtful reply to my "hard question" Andrew. I have to agree with you that lures are a method of deceiving fish...how creative have lures become? Maybe that's another "hard question"?

Yep doing alright, nothing new to report on the medical front. Starting to think of fishing trips for when the weather warms and Cod closure kicks in. I'll keep you posted on that one. Trust you're doing alright too.

Cheers, bn

[big Neil]

On 6/27/2023 at 5:55 PM, Mike Sydney said:

Tough to decide really it’s about the scenery and the outdoors for me but I would have to say buzzing crankbaits is always a pleasure, that initial dive and then the vibration on the retrieve still gets me going even if I’m not catching fish

I know what you mean. Any means of understanding what's happening underwater builds anticipation for the hookup. The pristine environments which we get to experience are amazing and never cease to amaze me. 

Cheers, bn

[kantong]

Love this topic. I caught my first fish (whiting) with my dad when I was a youngster and have been hooked ever since.

2 favourite forms of fishing is the float fishing and down rigging.

Float fishing - The anticipation of the "down" is just thrilling! Interestingly I have caught more bass on a float than I have luderick! I haven't quite figured out luderick yet, and it's still a work in progress.

Down-rigging - Similar to float fishing, the anticipation of the rod buckling over is just dopamine hit every angler is searching for! I remember going down-rigging for kings and you can see the marks on the sounder and the next thing you know, the rod goes off and it's the sound every angler lovess zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 

The thrill and anticipation of it all, is worth the early morning rises, cold, wind and rain.

Those sunrises/sunsets over the water never get old. 

[Ganguddy Goodoo]

For me bank walking rivers and creeks ... trout, bass, yellas and cod. Calming environment and always much easier to relax when you have had a walk. I started fishing relatively late and have always felt a bit jealous of young folk who seem to pick up "fishing intuition" much more easily. Going to more remote water with little fishing pressure evens up the score for me.

[XD351]

The type where I catch all the fish and get to laugh at those who were stupid enough to invite me out for a fish - Sorry, sometimes I can’t stop that competitive streak from coming out 

From the movie Conan the Barbarian :

” To crush the enemy and hear the lamentation of their women” 

[big Neil]

7 hours ago, XD351 said:

The type where I catch all the fish and get to laugh at those who were stupid enough to invite me out for a fish - Sorry, sometimes I can’t stop that competitive streak from coming out 

From the movie Conan the Barbarian :

” To crush the enemy and hear the lamentation of their women” 

A touch of smugness in your reply XD351? LOL. I have had the opportunity to fish with lots of the anglers on this forum and few would openly admit to being competitive, although I know which ones are. One thing that I have learned is that a competitive nature comes with the desire to improve all the time. Therefore the ones who don't like to be beaten are the better anglers on the forum. They strive to be really good at what they do, irrespective of the impact it has on their fellow anglers. You appear to be among them. Thanks for the reply.

bn

[XD351]

I tried to use this competitive nature to help a mate out this week , went down to the parra river around Burwood for a lure flick  and I thought some fresh air and a bit of walking might drag him out of the rut he seems to be in. He walked to the first bench and just sat there while I went exploring , I was hoping he would tag along and I could get him onto a fish but I now I realise the problem runs deeper than I or fishing can fix .

[Mike Sydney]

9 minutes ago, XD351 said:

I tried to use this competitive nature to help a mate out this week , went down to the parra river around Burwood for a lure flick  and I thought some fresh air and a bit of walking might drag him out of the rut he seems to be in. He walked to the first bench and just sat there while I went exploring , I was hoping he would tag along and I could get him onto a fish but I now I realise the problem runs deeper than I or fishing can fix .

My fishing buddy got dumped, has Centrelink issues and generally hates everything. It took him a while to warm up to fishing as a way of dealing with his issues and he still cracks it at snags tides dropped hooks donuts the wind the temperature his gear…but getting on a fish does brighten him up a ton. Good luck there @XD351

[big Neil]

1 hour ago, XD351 said:

I tried to use this competitive nature to help a mate out this week , went down to the parra river around Burwood for a lure flick  and I thought some fresh air and a bit of walking might drag him out of the rut he seems to be in. He walked to the first bench and just sat there while I went exploring , I was hoping he would tag along and I could get him onto a fish but I now I realise the problem runs deeper than I or fishing can fix .

I hope that your mate will be ok XD351. Fishing can be very therapeutic yet equally very frustrating, can't it? Good onya for being there for him.

bn

[XD351]

I suppose it was a success of sorts as I got him to go in the first place - just got to keep at it .

[XD351]

I would have thought there would have been a few fly fishing tragics on FR? Only tried it once many years ago - it didn’t go well but it was fun trying !

[big Neil]

7 hours ago, XD351 said:

I would have thought there would have been a few fly fishing tragics on FR? Only tried it once many years ago - it didn’t go well but it was fun trying !

I have tried fly fishing and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Firstly with a fly fishing tutor in Tasmania, then many years later with DerekD when he taught me how to fly fish for Luderick. My shoulder is somewhat wrecked now and I need to medicate before fishing where I cast a lot. There are some very good fly-fishing anglers on here but they don't post very regularly. Their posts are excellent when they do put them up though. Do you do much fly-fishing?

bn

[XD351]

No not at all , had a go at it when I was younger but ended up following the lure path .

[GoldenHourFishing]

This is easy for me to answer - TOPWATER

Nothing like coaxing a fish to the surface to watch it smash your lure, dont care if its bass, salmon or tailor theres nothing like it. 

One of the best parts of fishing in the warmer months is the topwater bite, very exciting and super addictive. Cant wait for spring, I think bass will be my first target

[faker]

5 minutes ago, GoldenHourFishing said:

This is easy for me to answer - TOPWATER

Nothing like coaxing a fish to the surface to watch it smash your lure, dont care if its bass, salmon or tailor theres nothing like it. 

One of the best parts of fishing in the warmer months is the topwater bite, very exciting and super addictive. Cant wait for spring, I think bass will be my first target

I tried lake parra in summer for bads caught nothing. I ended with more snags tgen fish. Any tips?

[GoldenHourFishing]

16 minutes ago, faker said:

I tried lake parra in summer for bads caught nothing. I ended with more snags tgen fish. Any tips?

That location isnt good for topwater 

Why: Its suuuuper deep, legend has it that some parts of the lake are so deep that sonar didnt get a bounce back reading. 

When its that deep, there is a lot of water between the surface and the bass, less chance they are going to notice something wiggling on the surface of the water

So basically if you dont have a kayak, you arent going to be able to chuck lures under low hanging vegetation in the shallower water, this is generally where the bass are sitting. 

 

You can get them out in open water with surface lures, but its a lot less common and better chance at sunset or complete darkness. Its also a big lake that is stocked, none of them are wild so finding them can be tricky, many of them go over the dam wall when it floods or they release water, so better numbers can be found down by the wier. 

 

At the end of the day you will just have to spend hours out on the water, there is no real substitute for that

[frankS]

My fly fishing experience.
Was back in 1994 and I was on holidays doing the tourist thing in the UK.
A friend of a friend owned and ran the Killin hotel in the midlands/highlands of Scotland.
Being the owner of the Hotel this gave him the rights to be caretaker of the stretch of waterways that ran beside his Hotel.
River Lochay which flows into Loch Tay about 1500 meters from where I was fishing.
I introduced myself and we had a good few hours together talking various subjects, fishing came up in the conversation and he
suggested we go down to waterside and catch a Salmon or two, he made it sound so easy and after lunch we headed down carrying his FLY gear.
I thought WOW this will be good I have never held a Fly rod in my life and thought I would make a complete fool of myself after bragging about how good a fisherman I was ( as you do ) .
He gave me some instructions and demonstrated how it was done with several nice casts, it was my turn to try.
I stuffed up the first attempt by allowing the fly to drop to the ground behind me (rookies mistake) I had another practice cast that wasn't too bad
and he gave me a couple of more tips and aimed me to where he thought I should try and land the fly  (was more like a salt water feather for trolling)
I cast out and on my 3rd backswing I let it fly to where he pointed. 
Man all hell broke loose, and the rod bent over and I was on. I think a bit of panic came over me and I started to shake, he told me what to do and I managed after some very intense vibrations to bring the monster to the bank where he slid his huge net under it.
It was a great capture for me and he told me it was one of the better fish that he had seen come from his river, it went 115cm, don't know the weight but I am sure it fed quiet a few of his customers in his restaurant. Don't even know exactly what species but all he said is It's a Salmon.
What an experience and one of the many highlights of my 3 trips to the UK.

Frank

[Ganguddy Goodoo]

@XD351 and @Mike Sydney

 

Have you considered pointing your respective friends to "Men In Flight" (Mens mental fitness program ... using outdoors and flyfishing (salt and freshwater options). Probably not appropriate while you are acutely unwell but potentially very valuable to those struggling with the black dog.

[FrigateMack]

Nice topic.

Targetting big things off the rocks does it for me. Casting out a livie under a float and then seeing that float disappear violently.. Or casting metals off the rocks and getting that Bonnie / Kingie hit. Golden.

There's also a small sense of adventure, driving over to the rocks through the empty suburbs in the middle of the night, then getting down to the rocks while it's still dark, before anyone else comes. Some places have a sense of wilderness about them, even though it's near such a big city, right alongside suburbs and busy beaches.

 

[big Neil]

43 minutes ago, FrigateMack said:

Nice topic.

Targetting big things off the rocks does it for me. Casting out a livie under a float and then seeing that float disappear violently.. Or casting metals off the rocks and getting that Bonnie / Kingie hit. Golden.

There's also a small sense of adventure, driving over to the rocks through the empty suburbs in the middle of the night, then getting down to the rocks while it's still dark, before anyone else comes. Some places have a sense of wilderness about them, even though it's near such a big city, right alongside suburbs and busy beaches.

 

Thanks for your reply FrigateMack. I used to love fishing from the rocks when I was a lot younger and much more agile. Often it can be easy to hook up but very difficult to land fish from the rocks. Not too bad with Luderick but big Tailor and Salmon can be quite a handful.

Cheers, bn