Very tough going down here

[big Neil]

Mate rang me to see if I wanted any Yabbies. He had held the traditional Yabby races at his place on Australia Day.

"Sure, why not? Are any of them recognised sprinters?"

It appears that they were all stayers and not a sprinter among them...

So he brought them to Bowls on Saturday for me to use. They were all small, ideal for Yellowbelly so I was revved up for a couple of good sessions chasing down some Native species.

On Sunday I took the boat downstream to Darlington Point (renowned Yellowbelly area) and bait fished for 5 hours. Monday I went out again for 4 hours (locally). The misery continues! 3 bites, 2 fish landed, in 9 hours of trying everything I know. I tried the Yabbies, cheese, worms, chicken and marinated chicken. Lost stacks of gear fishing real tight to the snags. Both fish were caught on chicken...absolutely no interest in the Yabbies so the leftovers were returned to the river to enjoy doing what Happy Yabbies do.

Ran into mate Luke on Monday and he had lure fished for 4 hrs solid with nothing to show for his efforts, either.

As usual I entertained myself taking a few pics of the trips so here we go...

A 57 cm Cod

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A 51 cm Cod

A typical snag that would have held fish...

Not much of a report.

A slightly depressed bn who is looking forward to a change of scenery.

 

[Blackfish]

A slightly depressed BN ? …… better than work mate, better scenery to.

[Little_Flatty]

Still a couple of lovely fish there Neil!

[LuckyFil]

Two nice fish to be happy with.

I've had a few dud trips lately and its natural to feel disheartened - you're doing all the right things in the right places and it just isn't working. Then out of the blue on the weekend two nice flathead on a day I expected nothing. I guess it's the old saying "time on the water" is what delivers results, ie you just have to keep trying doing what you know works and maybe a little experimenting to see if that changes things.

Good luck and keep up your great reports

Fil

[Hill373737]

hey @big Neil Its always better to get out than be at home thinking about it.  The cod fishing is damn tough up here at the moment so good to see you get a couple. 

I did have a good session on the yellas yesterday so will put a report in later today.

[big Neil]

2 hours ago, Blackfish said:

A slightly depressed BN ? …… better than work mate, better scenery to.

Yeh, been a while between decent outings. I don't usually get concerned about the odd poor session, they are part and parcel of this great pastime. I am annoyed that nothing is working. You know there are fish there, has to be, but they're not interested. Maybe it's as simple as the fact that they had a great breeding season (conditions-wise) and they don't need to eat.

Very strange that I don't miss work. Not even a little bit (LOL).

Cheers, bn

[big Neil]

1 hour ago, LuckyFil said:

Two nice fish to be happy with.

I've had a few dud trips lately and its natural to feel disheartened - you're doing all the right things in the right places and it just isn't working. Then out of the blue on the weekend two nice flathead on a day I expected nothing. I guess it's the old saying "time on the water" is what delivers results, ie you just have to keep trying doing what you know works and maybe a little experimenting to see if that changes things.

Good luck and keep up your great reports

Fil

Thanks Fil, appreciate it. Do you mainly bait fish, use soft plastics, or lures, to chase down Flathead?

bn

[bessell1955]

BN the scenery is more then enough, catching fish, well that is just icing on the cake.

[LuckyFil]

8 hours ago, big Neil said:

Thanks Fil, appreciate it. Do you mainly bait fish, use soft plastics, or lures, to chase down Flathead?

bn

I have greatest success using using soft plastics but I grew up catching them on bait mainly yellowtail fillets or pilchard pieces . But sometimes they just don’t want to play no matter what I offer 🤔