FRESH OUTING - MAY 2014

January is nearly over, and we know that May be some time away, but with all the rain that is apparently going to fall over the next few months, it looks like Corroboree will be fishing at its best this year.  As we said in previous posts, we have a booking with Pete at Corroboree Park Tavern for an organised  'Mob' outing over the 17th and 18th of May, so if you would like to come along put that date in you're diary.

Here is the B.O.M 3 month forecast for rainfall and it looks great....



We will keep the information coming on this as it gets closer.  As the weather permits, we will also have a couple of impromptu outings before that weekend.

FF (FANCY FLIES)

Just have a look at these  (courtesy of http://rusuperfly.com/)

ON THE DALY

From Glenn Watt and Helifish.....

Daly creeks down from S Bends from Darwin Helicopters on Vimeo

TWO DOGS FISHING

From Dave Krantz.....

Australia Weekend

All week the forecast predicted 15 – 20 knots of wind, swells to 1.5 metres for this weekend. Wrong! Glass out and no swell was the fact until the afternoon sea breeze arrived after lunch.

Bynoe being the fishery it is produced the goods with Barra and Threadies on offer along the edges. Over two fishing sessions 9 Barra were landed with not one below legal size. Maybe all the small ones have headed upstream to the sweetwater!

This one prepared for the Esky before photo - apologise for the blood

A storm Sunday night dumped a good drop of rain around Bynoe which woke the Threadies up. Wherever there was a drain pushing some dirty water out there were Threadies feasting on the soup of Jelly prawns.

Third cast of the day

With the recent rains local Bynoe floodplains are holding good amounts of water and a couple of locals have been giving the Finnis Fresh a look and report good numbers of “rat” Barra being caught, plenty of Tarpon on offer. Saturday afternoon a Tarpon was landed then rigged as live bait, cast out from the boat ramp and lasted 20 seconds before a metre plus Barra took a liking to it! Hopefully this is an indication of the freshwater fishing that we will experience in a couple of months.

Remember, “You’ll never never know, if you never never go!” Get out there and fish.

Tight lines,

Jim Churchley

POPPA

This year we are going to try this on the flats...

Poppa from Flywater Expeditions on Vimeo.

and some similar stuff from SEQ Flyfishers

Strip Strike 28days teaser from StripStrike Productions on Vimeo.

THE ORR REPORT

G’day Cathie & Roger:

Had a bit of fun over the break, visited daughter in Sydney and sundry relatives around Brisbane, but found time to cast a fly occasionally.

Caught a few trout, best was a nice brown (photo attached) from Lake Lyall near Lithgow. 

 Fishing with the new 5-weight amongst sunken black-wattle at the time, pretty lucky to get it to grass really.  Had to give up on the dry fly because of shoreline wave action from all the wake-boarders and ski-boats (!) and resorted to a #10 Alexandra...and those blackberries in the back-cast are a bitch!!

Also ‘discovered’ bass on the flyrod, nearly as good as barra on the light gear. Might have to plan a serious trip to target them from canoes...

Short story up on the web for those who are bored enough to read my ramblings: http://www.marrakai-adventure.com.au/F_RecentObsession.html (see next blog)

Anyway, hope you had a great Christmas and the New Year brings plenty of takes and a minimum of snags!

Cheers

Tony (& Rebecca)

A RECENT OBSESSION- BASS! ....... TONY ORR

A RECENT OBSESSION- BASS! 

Living on the skinny side of the Capricorn parallel is without doubt a swoffer’s dream.  The wide coastal flood-plains, big tidal rivers and natural marine harbours of Australia’s “Top End” provide endless variety and opportunity for proponents of the long wand, though in truth we are chasing barramundi up here more often than not.  Nevertheless, "a change is as good as a holiday" they say, and for a complete change of pace I find myself looking forward to our occasional trips “down south” or across the Tasman during high summer armed with twiggy tackle for chasing trout on the dry fly.

 

This year was a little different however.  While visiting our eldest daughter in New South Wales over the Christmas break, I did indeed raise a few modest rainbows in the Duckmaloi and Fish Rivers wide of Lithgow with the new 5-weight, and managed to extract a nice hen brown of 47cm from Lake Lyall, but it was a text-message from my Sydney-sider mate the day before Christmas Eve that had me poking through the fly-box looking for something big and ugly.  Karl had negotiated a few hours spare in the late afternoon, and a nearby tributary of the Hawkesbury was apparently in need of some attention!  I had never attempted to bag a bass with the flyrod before, so my participation was quickly confirmed!

   

Well-conditioned Lake Lyall Brown on the 5-weight

 

By 4 pm I was happily splatting a size 10 NZ-pattern deer-hair cicada around the numerous snags in the middle reaches of the Cattai.  The big surface fly was a 'no-brainer' as we were almost deafened by the incessant waves of chirping emanating from the riparian forest enshrouding the stream.  At times the 6-weight seemed a bit heavy for probing the narrow alleys and confined pockets around the many sunken logs, but when the inevitable happened, it was barely heavy enough!  My first ever bass on fly was a modest specimen of around 25cm, which surprised me a little as the savage surface 'boof' was similar to a barra twice the size, and the first 20 or 30 seconds so close to the timber was heart-stopping stuff!

   

First Bass on the Fly!

 

Extensive rafts of fallen blossom were drifting up and down the quieter stretches with the wind to test casting skills, and a population of pesky freshwater herring that could be mistaken for piranha would attack with fury whenever the fly was retrieved through open water.  Never a dull moment!  After missing several aggressive strikes from smaller bass around the snags, I finished the day with a slightly better specimen of around 30cm that gave a good account of itself on the 6lb tippet.  We were back at the mate’s place in suburbia, cold beer in hand, well before dark.  Top stuff!  Little did I realize that the seeds had been sown…

 

Travelling north to Brisbane after Boxing Day gave us the chance to camp on a mid-northern NSW beach for the night, however a powerful high-pressure cell was driving very strong winds onto the coast so we decided to head inland instead to get away from the weather.  Scanning the map for a likely riverbank refuge, I was confronted with a name etched in my mind from childhood, thanks to the writings of McCristal, Bethune and others who fished these rivers with lures in the 1960s: the Bellinger!  Those early Outdoor magazine articles were liberally illustrated with pictures of monster bass!  …so with the expectation of laying out a few casts during the ‘evening rise’, up the valley we headed.

 

It quickly became apparent that a boat of some kind was crucial to success on the Bellinger.  Not surprisingly, canoes and ‘yaks’ were the vessels of choice amongst the locals, and one successful yak-angler was proud to show off a nice 45cm fish he had kept for the table.  I was content to wade however, and was rewarded with a few smaller specimens coaxed off the minor snags scattered across the gravel-bar at the crossing.  One aggressive little fellow would have been perfect for a home aquarium!

   

Aquarium-size baby bass on the cicada fly

 

As the evening progressed, the ubiquitous freshwater herring became totally fanatical and it was impossible to twitch the big dry fly without it disappearing below the surface in a cauldron of clupeid carnivorism!  They were fun though, often leaping repeatedly after hookup.  I wondered what the IGFA flyrod record was for Potamalosa richmondia!

   

Voracious carnivore- NSW’s freshwater herring

 

Early next morning the herring were again in plague proportions and I soon gave up on any real chance of a decent bass.  The up-side of this pestilence was realised when daughter Alinta wanted to have a go at fly fishing- “Show me how to work this thing, Dad.”  Not a bad way to learn: every successful cast was rewarded with multiple surface strikes and an occasional hook-up!

   

Alinta's First Flyrod Capture

 

Of course her exploits were circulated amongst Facebook friends within the hour, along with appropriate witty commentary: she had caught her first “millimeterie”, and was now a proud member of the “millimeterie club”.  The techniques required to achieve the ‘dead drift’ will be a lesson for another day!

 

While doing the rounds of the rellies in SE Queensland after New Year, we squeezed-in a weekend visit with the wife’s niece and family at their farm up the Brisbane Valley.  The property has extensive frontage on a delightful deep-water creek fed by the overflow from Cressbrook Dam above, and draining into Wivenhoe below.  Suddenly it dawned on me: both are stocked impoundments!  This could be another opportunity for bass!  Succumbing to temptation, I carefully sneaked the 6-weight into my overnight bag…

 

Extensive electrical storms announced our arrival and persisted into the early evening, so I determined to rise with the kookaburras next morning and strip-search the kids’ swimming hole before sun-up.  The grand-nephews beat me out of bed however, and with the 'boundless enthusiasm of youth' they accompanied me down to the creek with their squidgy-rigged spinning rod.  Excellent: they could keep the yellowbelly busy while I prospected the surface for prowling bass with the trusty cicada fly.

 

Several tell-tale swirls and an occasional chop under the mid-stream flotsam were cause for much optimism as the flyrod was hastily rigged and the first exploratory casts laid out towards the disturbance.  It was easy to become mesmerised by the action of the mini Dahlberg-style cicada in the dawn tranquillity: Splat! …pause… twitch …pause… bloop, bloop… KaPow!!  You would think that decades of barra fishing would steel the angler against the sudden implosion of a surface strike, but I hope never to lose that instant shot of adrenalin as a good fish smashes an artificial right on the surface!

 

The well-hooked bass made a frantic dash for the back end of a very nasty-looking snag, no doubt its daytime refuge, but luck was with me as I held the rod impossibly high and miraculously manoeuvred the combatant back out into open water.  A few more mad dashes for the safety of the timber were similarly thwarted and soon it was time for the fish to play its final card: burying in the bank-side weed-bed!  Again a high rod prevented deep penetration and after a few unsuccessful attempts to get its head down into the weeds the fish was slid across the top into the shallows for a thumb-lock on the bottom jaw.  Held aloft, the 42cm prize was admired equally by the captor and accompanying entourage!

   

Grand-nephews and grand flyrod bass!

 

Back home in Darwin I am once again thinking about the next fly-fishing odyssey, and can’t help considering wild bass water from South Queensland down along the NSW coast.  I could tie up a bunch of small Dahlbergs with cicada wings, and weed-guards for the snags.  Even try tiny crease flies, or gurglers, or…

 

Well, there’s probably a pill for that these days, and I had better snap out of it in time for the Top End “run-off” that will be upon us soon enough.  I do realize that the obsession is probably not with bass per se, but rather the challenge of fly fishing for new species in exotic surroundings.  And if they will take a big dry fly off the surface with enthusiasm, I am well and truly hooked!

   

Subtle smile hints at a growing obsession...

Barotrauma in snapper

Barotrauma in Golden Snapper, The Video Explained.

The video shows the immediate response and recovery of released golden snapper (Lutjanus johnii) from various depths. This was a pilot study investigating post release mortality rates and the effectiveness of returning fish back to capture depth (e.g. using a release weight). 
Golden snapper were caught using conventional tackle to simulate capture by the average recreational angler. They were not “winched” to the surface nor were they bought up slowly. All the fish were handled the same before being released into the cage and then returned to capture depth. None of the fish were vented before being returned to depth.
Results
The snapper captured at 8 metres were able to hold position in the water column and move freely about the cage. There were no visible signs of barotrauma associated injuries.
The fish caught from depths of 14 and 23 metres lacked coordination and were unable to regulate their depth within the water column. All fish exhibited visible signs of barotrauma on capture (ie bloated abdomen, everted stomach).
After the experiment fish from different depths were euthanized and autopsied to assess any internal injuries. The combined results of the underwater experiments and the autopsies demonstrated the long term survival prospects for golden snapper caught from 8 metres of water was good, however snapper caught from depths of greater than 10 metres were clearly limited in their ability to swim and escape predation. These fish also suffered potentially fatal internal injuries rendering them highly unlikely to survive release.
Conclusion
Golden snapper are not suitable for catch and release in water deeper than 10 metres due to the effects of barotrauma and should not be targeted just for sport. Catch what you need for a feed and move on.
Watch this space for updates on the project as Fisheries carry out similar research on some of our other popular reef fish species.

JAN 11, THE UNTOUCHABLES

From Bendigo, Jeff and John..

Gday Cathie & Roger

 “The Untouchables”

 Launched the tinnie from Dinah at 7am on Saturday morning with my new Boss (John) & started our day up Reichart & Blessers Creeks attempting to catch a few Barra, which we had success doing with John landing his first sight cast Barra off a small rocky lump on the first push of the incoming tide (tick that box).

Now with the Barra ticked off we then decided to leave the creeks & while passing “The Wharf” we were faced with a predicament of a bust up of “untouchable” queenie’s right in front of the eatery section (see sample image), now I can certainly say the temptation was to zoom in for a quickie cast & get out of there, but “no guts no glory” or perhaps the fear of a rogue chip or dim sim from above being launched from a cranky local put us off.  

Beware of flying chips and dim sims

So we thought if we stayed off The Wharf by about 50 metres they would come in our direction eventually, yeah right that’s going to happen as they went deep & out of sight!.

We then moved on towards the other end of the Wharf & out of the blue up they come, we had re-located “The Untouchables” at “The Jetty Restaurant” end of the Wharf & in open territory, the only problem though as the sounder started pinging away like no tomorrow, was the thousands of small bait in the water that were looking like a smorgasbord to any hungry queenie in a neat tight ball that even an English cricket player couldn’t miss hitting.    

For anyone looking for a bit of fun fishing around the Wharf area, there’s a red buoy near “The Jetty Restaurant” & if you sit there long enough you will see bust up’s in casting distance on neap tides once it turns from Low to High, they are not big but there’s always a heap of them. Once you see them around the Jetty Restaurant they tend to keep heading towards the Fisherman’s wharf area following the incoming tide, they then hang around the old Jetty off Perkins Shipping if you want to chase them (birds will come off the old Jetty once they surface which assists the chase). 

  

Jeff

TIP FOR UNTOUCHABLE QUEENIES??

Sometimes it pays to have a four or six inch large popper on a dark side rod in the boat, take off the hooks and drag it through the queenies when they wont take flies.   This method used to drive the queenies crazy and they would hit everything after that.  Might still work?? and stirs up other fish as well. 

JAN 11, FIRST REPORT

From Phil and Stephen

Hello Roger,

Sorry no pics as forgot the camera.!!

Met Stephen at the boat ramp at 6.20 and launched soon after. Water smooth and only a light breeze. Tried to get to the point near the gas plant however not enough water. Went straight across to Weed reef.

 After about an hour got on to the fish. No wind to speak of and smooth water - what more could you want. Between us we caught Queenfish, Trevally, Spotted rock cod, Fingermark.

 The queenfish were breaking up madly in big numbers and huge fish - some over a metre and most about 60 - 80 cm mark. Would not actually take a fly - tried everything from a pink thing to small green clouser,  incl red/black, blue/white combo Two about the 70cm mark actually jumped right over my fly at about 6 feet from the boat. The queenfish activity stopped when the water was high enough to go the flat areas of the reef. One over a metre followed the fly to the boat. The queenfish activity stopped when the water was high enough to go the flat areas of the reef. 

A few barra started showing themselves when the water went over the flat rocky area, not to mention the rays, sharks and turtles. Saw a few Trevally getting around on the flats as well. Even at about 2.00 pm when we came back the water was so smooth that we were up on the plane the entire run.

AND A PHOTO FROM DAVE....

SATURDAY 11 JANUARY UPDATE

For those of you heading out tomorrow, here is the worst of the stormcast maps for the day, looks pretty good really, Darwin is only only the edge of possible storms.  The Yellow is possible storms, most of the day is clear on the harbour..

Here is the wind for around the same time, so all in all looks like a great day for being on the water, but may be hot, so take plenty of fluid....a bit of rain during the night, should stir up the jellies, and get the fish going (I hope).




If you cant get out, for whatever reason, here is Ken Culgins keel fly pattern for those who want to do some tying and a bit more dredging. (Courtesy of Ken)

Great fly for getting deep, good luck.

PS; talking about flies, I hear that Graeme, Crusty and Wayne will be out there....don't worry Wayne, Graeme has the best flies with him. Ha! Ha!

FIRST OUTING FOR THE YEAR - DARWIN HARBOUR 11 JANUARY

Lord Jim and Jon White are heading out onto Darwin Harbour on Saturday 11th January 2014, the tides are very similar to the ones fished by the Stig and Steelie Pete (http://flyfishersmobnt.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/tough-day-at-weed-reef-with-silver.html) a low of around 2.4 around 8am and 5.2 around 4pm.

Jim and Jon (JJ) will be launching around 6.30pm from East Arm, and coming in around 2pm give or take an hour and depending on the weather.  Jim has suggest that we might have time for a sausage sizzle after the fishing, and is happy to arrange that if any of you are interested (Lets us know on the above email if you are) other wise we might all meet on the water if we are still out around lunch.

The boys are intending to fish the flats on the low in West arm, then the reefs at the front of west arm as the tide rises (Weed Reef and Stokes)

*Remember to take care over the reefs and the shallows, and watch out for the construction stuff.

For the flats a floating line or a floating line with an intermediate tip is recommended, but over the reefs we use 225 to 300 grn lines with either floating or intermediate running line, but because the tide is not running that fast an intermediate or full sink line would probably do.

We will be using rods ranging from 6wt (for the fun of it) to 9wt. with a variety of flies, but the every faithful clouser is essential.  Our flies are on 1/0 to 3/0 and  we have them from about 4cm (Inch and a half) to 10cm (around 4 inches) because there are always big fish around the edges or steaming through the smaller schools.  Goldies congregate under the bushes on the high tide, so the lurk is to sink your flie down before the bush so is goes in around the bottom.  Then hang on.

Here is the present forecast for Jan 11

Good start to the year

Dave Krantz

Nice morning walk and the first barra of 2014. Good start to the year, it's going to be a ripper.