STWTK: Fishing

[Screamin TE]

Who here fishes?

Best locations (if not top secret)
Set ups - rod/reel and rigging
Brags

I, myself live at secret harbour and am keen to give it a bash. Have a 12' beach rod that I am trying to find a casting technique to and an 8' rod that i have had for years and can cast it a mile!

[timmay]

Lately I have been out at sunrise at cott groin. Using a beach road, and a combo rod - around 8'. I buy premade rigs, just for the convenience, with the reels spooled with fireline, and a snapper swivel on the end.
Then I can change between a whiting rig, tailor rig, and even lures if the weather / conditions suit at a moments notice.
Bait: I take a small bag of loose mulies, and ox heart. A mate of mine takes a raw chicken breast - and that does quite well for the whiting too.
If you are after a big mulloway, its late nights on the beach (2-3am), look for a deep gutter just past the breakers, and its better at full moon.

[Aufitt]

Albany, out past the Islands.
Little Diawa Luna Baitcaster, 20lb acudepth braid, almost pulled the hook as the 2nd pic shows.
Nice Pinkie Boxing day.

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Out again tomorrow, I go twice a week.

[T.G]

Fishing about 5k of the back of ocean reef yesterday just using mullies and squid, I got haWRASSED! Mate managed a baby sambo about 35 cm

Was just fun to get out on the water

[Brougham]

Best bait I've tried lately for whiting (and worked wonders) was ox heart. Can buy from larger fishing shops or probably from coles too. Cut into thin strips, they loved it.

[Don]

More into beach and rock fishing myself. Bottom fishing is terrible boring and I hate the fact that things die on the way up. I like to release my catch . Boat fishing for pelagics would be awesome, I would love to try it. All the pelagics I have caught have been off the rocks.

I use a 10' blank for the tailor and whitewater work with a small overhead and 15lb mono.
I use a 16' lite blank for distance casting small squid/prawn/crayfish/mulie baits. Overhead with 50lb mono with braid backing.
Then there are two 14' cating rods for heavy baits or for livebait. Overhead with 50 lb mono and 7 to 10 ounces of lead.

Usually rock up in the afternoon, catch a couple of tailor/herring/whiting and put them out live (for sharks and such) and spend the rest of the time working on mulloway or snapper etc... You have to use livebait for consistent good catches.

On most beaches that are near to structure or have a lot of wave activity distance makes a huge difference. Obviously this is not always the case, but it does open up the amount of deep water and holes that you can 'get' to.
With the long rod and a nice squid bait I can get just over 150m (measured) so more like 130 or so on a bad cast.
Pendulum casting a large mulie bait on the heavy rods I get just a little further. This is pretty far, but not overly so. It just takes practice and attention to equipment setup.

Focus on the quality of the bait. Food quality squid and complete unbroken mulies are great. Hide your hooks in the mulies and use ghost cotton to make sure the fish looks good and presentable before it goes out. Clean your baits first and try using little pieces of pink foam in the squid/prawn baits so that they look more natural in the water. Presentation of the bait is everything.

[Aufitt]

Got a poor old Sambo today, couldnt lift this one but fun on the baitcaster.
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And 3 Big Pinkies.
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[Desmo]

All on fly, accept no substitute.

[t bone]

Auffit Nice pinkies Where did you go would of been a bit rough ?
Jim Fucking hate show offs NICE catch know where you are on fly too
Was taking the boy tomoz TOO rough for him so going to drink beer instead win lol
Aint had the boat out for a while weather is crap when I am home
Next break 10 th march planned a lil over nighter up the coast all welcome and in the loop

[Aufitt]

Auffit Nice pinkies Where did you go would of been a bit rough ?
Jim Fucking hate show offs NICE catch know where you are on fly too
Was taking the boy tomoz TOO rough for him so going to drink beer instead win lol
Aint had the boat out for a while weather is crap when I am home
Next break 10 th march planned a lil over nighter up the coast all welcome and in the loop

About 65 k's south of Mt Barker, yeah always a bit rough.
I try to avoid the Sambos as much as possible, but they are everywhere. Pinkies and Dhuies are the fave.

[Aufitt]

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[Brougham]

Off to the Mackerel Islands in a few weeks for a week of fishing with the lads. Can't wait!

[Desmo]

Brougham, stopping in town on your way through by any chance?

[Brougham]

dunno mate. at present transfers are off onslow, so doubtful.
however if what we talked about comes off, then might be

[Pva_Glue]

Is it salmon season yet?

[Desmo]

There are schools of little threadfin up here but that's it

[Brougham]

desmo - how hard is saltwater fly fishing to get into?

apparently fly fishing is awesome at the mackerels.

[Desmo]

Brougham, Fly fishing is an amazing sport. It's more like hunting than fishing, you target the prey, spot the fish and actually cast to the individual fish you want to catch. It's also infinitely more productive I find. All the fishing I do up here with the exception of the odd spearfishing trip, is catch and release fly fishing. None of this "kill kill kill" mentality that seems to infect a lot of people, which is very sad.
The problem with fly fishing is that you have to be able to throw a decent loop which takes a lot of practice, it's not like tying a lure to the end of a flicky and throwing it around.
Some casting videos, you need to be able to double haul to throw the fly out there.
This isn't waving a wand at some trout, these are fast, aggressive fish and you need to be as well.




My very good mate Jono from Exmouth Fly Fishing | The Ultimate Saltwater Destination and I go out very regularly, I don't really fish with anyone else except Zach

[Brougham]

cheers Desmo. gonna be taking up mainly boat gear for GT's, spanish, etc, but will be considering buying a fly fishing outfit to have some fun if the days are good.
there's some spots up there that GT's hammer poppers like they're going out of style, and apparently they go the fly even more so there.

be good even to just have some fun on light gear

[Desmo]

Poppers up here look for white/pearl with a red head, same for your diving lures for your mackies.
For a fly setup, I would look at a #9 or a #10 with an intermediate line and a lot of backing.
We run pretty basic stuff, intermediate line with a butt section of 40Kg tied on with a nail knot, tied to that we use 10/15/20Kg tippet and tip that with a chartreuse over white clouser. That will catch you pretty much anything up here from threadfin to queenies and Goldens to mackies.
If you want to specialise in what you are catching then you can, but that is really going to cut into your "pleasure" fishing time. To target a species up here takes a lot of time and dedication.
It's a good fishery but at the same time it's very challenging.