Stickbaits, poppers and slippery dogs

[AlbertW]

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

[big Neil]

You're a great young guy Albert. Always prepared to acknowledge others who help you and to put yourself out to achieve your goals. Good luck with your Summer job, you will love it and I look forward to your reports from Darwin next year. Lots of fishing opportunities before then so keep focussed on your goals and enjoy your fishing.

Cheers, bn

[DerekD]

Hi @AlbertW

Nice report and I enjoyed the fishing session with you.

Sorry if I came across as a little grumpy at a couple of times but those little habits you picked up weren't the way I taught you. I hope it hit home how getting a little lazy on technique was impacting the efficiency (most result for least effort) and effectiveness (distance and accuracy losses) in your casting. In lure fishing the ability to cover ground is often (but not always) a big factor in your success. That extra consistent 10m minimum extra casting distance you were getting out of those heavier lures, once we'd tweaked your technique, can make the difference in getting fish. More importantly extra distance without the accuracy to put the lure where you want it to go is often wasted (ask any golfer). That jigging braid that I use on several of my outfits makes it very easy to see what sort of distance improvements minor changes can make.

Fishing lures generally involves lots of casting and in the heavier gear an efficient technique can make the difference between being very tired and very broken after a long session. Additionally, those habits you'd picked up meant you were wasting time in getting the lure back out there. Sometimes you only get a short window of opportunity with the fish feeding on the surface and the quicker you can get the lure out the more chances you have on the fish.

I will push you harder than I will other people as I want you to be the best that you can. While you are willing to learn I am willing to teach you. I see a lot of potential in you and I respect the maturity and desire to learn I've seen since I started mentoring you.

The afternoon session where we just fished for the fun of it (with a couple of pointers - can't help myself) was a pleasure and I'm looking forward to more topwater sessions as the water warms up and the fish get more active.

Regards,

Derek

Edited October 20, 2023 by DerekD