Little Tagger

Date: 30 December 2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners 5g Brown Trout, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout
Berley: None
Catch: None - 1 trailer only
Report: Really nice stream to fish. Started at the bridge, caught the brown very early in the session then no action. Huge potential here. Brown was smoked.
Rating: 7/10

University River

Date: 16 December 2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners 5g Brown Trout, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout
Berley: None
Catch: None - 1 trailer only
Report: Pretty quiet day. I've heard this river doesn't fish well after rain - should have listened. Very hard fishing in places. Water was very murky, lots of debris in the water and overgrown foliage on the bank. Saw a massive cray. Will hit again.
Rating: 5/10

Yea River

Date: 09 December 2012
Weather: Sunny, very windy
Crew: Dave, Ross
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners 5g Brown Trout, Rapala CD5 - Spotted Dog
Berley: None
Catch: 3 x Rainbow Trout (small) - lost another 2.
Report: Pretty nice morning. Fished the Bitwenjopit before hitting the Yea River. Yea did not produce any fish and was very dificult to wade - not worth hitting again. Ross demonstrated an appreciation of the cost of Rapala lures. All fish released.
Rating: 7/10

Bitwenjopit River

Date: 02 December 2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners 5g Brown Trout, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout
Berley: None
Catch: 2 x Rainbow Trout, 1 x Brown Trout
Report: Pretty crazy action early on. Landed a tiny rainbow on my second cast, then hooked an absolute monster rainbow - this beast was 40 cm plus. Managed to get bring it right up to my boot before snapping the line - absolutely shattered. Biggest trout I've ever seen by an absolute mile. Hooked another fish when I simply dragged the tip of my rod through the water to test the lure action.
Rating: 8/10

Exmouth WA

Date: 21 October 2012
Weather: Sunny/Hot
Crew: Hawkesy, Scott, Luke and Cory
Target Fish: Sailfish, marlin, Mackerel, tuna
Bait: Whole Gardies, Lures – Stickbait, various hardbodied lures
Berley: Nonea
Catch: 3 x School Mackerel, 1x 10kg Longtail Tuna
Report: Spent hours chasing Sails and Marlin with no success. Went to a trusty mackerel spot to catch dinner (landed 3 and had enough). On way back to boat ramp saw heaps of flying fish going crazy. Threw a stick bait at them and this thing smashed it on the surface about 10m from boat then took off. Probably my best fishing moment. On 20lb setup. Great fun. Rating below is purely based on last fish caught…
Rating: 9/10

The Royal Bird

Date: 19 November 2012

Weather: Sunny

Crew: Dave

Target Fish: Trout

Bait: Lures - Spinners 5g Brown Trout, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout

Berley: None

Catch: 3 x Brown Trout

Report: Another first timer. Tried two spots, missed 2 good size fish at the first spot. Managed 3 at the second on Celtas and lost another 3 or so. River access at the second spot is tricky - possibly why it fished so well. Second spot is at the end of the gravel road, through the gate and along the fence. Not the nicest bit of water - but only an hour from my house.

Rating: 8/10

Fishing Tattoo

Date: October 2012
Weather: Miserable
Crew: Toon
Target Fish: Tattoo
Bait: Beer
Berley: None
Catch: 2 x tattoo
Report: Just got my leg tat done, and both tat's are fishing related so thought to chuck them on the blog...  Marlin and octopus tattoo done by Bang Bang in NYC and the skeleton one done by Gene Coffey in Brooklyn.
Rating: 10/10

The Conron

Date: 3-4 November 2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave, Kellie
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners 5g Brown Trout, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout
Berley: None
Catch: 3 x Brown Trout
Report: First time fishing these rivers. Water was very murky and running hard in places. I managed to pick a little cray up right out of the water. Both fish caught on the walk back downstream to the car. It's always worth having one more cast. Found a Rapala CD9 brown trout in a tree. Bonus!
Rating: 8/10

Goulburn River - Thornton

Date: 20-Oct-2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave, Parko
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout, Fly - Caddis
Berley: None
Catch: 3 x Brown Trout, 2 Rainbow Trout
Report: Great day, plenty of action. Lost another 4 or so.
Rating: 8/10

Mary and Steve's

Date: 14-Oct-2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout
Berley: None
Catch: 2 x Brown Trout, 1 Rainbow Trout
Report: Absolutely sensational afternoon. Action on right from the start, lost another 5 or so. Need to strike more aggressively. Both browns took Celtas, rainbow hit the Rapala.
Rating: 9/10

Scissor Hands Creek

Location: Scissor Hands Creek

Date: 06-Oct-2012
Weather: Overcast, Rain
Crew: Dave, Kellie
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners, Rapala CD5 - Brown Trout
Berley: None
Catch: 1 x Brown Trout ~ small
Report: First trout session for the season, 15 mins past Bitspere. Had a cooked breakfast next to the river before starting. Water is still very high. Wading was very difficult/dangerous. Sections of still water were few and far between. Waders leaked like a sieve. Little guy hit the Rapala. Had another little brown trail the rapala. Looking forward to getting back up there in a couple of weeks.
Rating: 7/10

Santas Pond

Location: Sugarloaf Reservoir
Date: 01-Jul-2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave, Ross
Target Fish: Golden Perch,Red Fin
Bait: Lures -
Catch: Zilch
Report: Beautiful spot ! This reservoir is massive and looks like you'd be able to go canoeing whilst flicking a lure around. Kangaroos everywhere and the odd bogan here and there. We new this place to be unproductive in winter but... how could we resist
Rating: 6/10

Artillery Rock

Location: Artillery Rock
Date: 28-Jul-2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave, Randoms
Target Fish: Salmon, Tailor
Bait: Lures - Halco Twistie 20 g
Berley: None
Catch: 15 x Salmon up to 40 cm
Report: Fished 330 - 530pm. High tide at 530pm. Was on right from the start, lost another 10 or so. Solid session - Next time Rossco
Rating: 8/10

The Canyons, NJ

 
Location: The Canyons, 85 miles offshore 
Date: 28th July 2012 
Weather: Spotted showers, but mainly fine 
Crew: Gary, Toon, Ben, Ian, Jason 
Target Fish: Marlin, Tuna, Mahi Mahi 
Bait: Trolling ballyhoo and various albacore and tuna lures 
Berley: None 
Catch: 1x Tuna 40-50lbs and 1x small mahi mahi 
Report: Headed out from Manasquan Inlet around 4am, and took the 2.5 hour journey out to 600-1000ft+ of water and into the canyons. Got there about 6:30 am and immediately set up the rods, hooked up the outriggers and chucked out teasers. 
Within 5 minutes of pulling up the boat and setting up rigs the first rod went zzzzzzzzzzzz. We were at about the 600-700ft mark. One of the green lures was smashed by a smallish tuna, and after 10 minutes or so he was landed. We were just a little too pumped!!! As soon as it was landed, we cut its neck, tied its tail and threw it overboard to bleed it. Once completed it was gutted and chucked on ice. Since then it was a pretty quiet day. 
Heaps of boats out in the canyons but few were landing much. We bypassed floating debris a few times, and chucked out some lures to see if any mahi mahi were chilling underneath. As we passed a decent sized piece of board, one was chilling out, and we hooked up to it. We dragged him on board pretty quickly as he was only about 50-60cm long.
We did get another big smash on one of the rods about 5 hours into the trolling session, but unfortunately the crimp failed and we didn't even get to fight it. The fish took the lure away and unfortunately we didn't catch him. Could have been a monster tuna...who knows?? 
At times we saw some mahi mahi chasing the lures, but they werent too interested to really strike, so we didn't hook them unfortunately. One of the highlights was that there were heaps of whales out in the ocean, a bunch of minke whales and a couple of sperm whales which was friggin' cool to see. Shit loads of dolphins too. Overall we trolled for about 9 hours along the drop off of the canyon, and burnt a crazy 220 gallons of boat fuel! 
At 4pm we headed back to the inlet, and that was yet another long 2.5 hour cruise, but the twin 300hp engines certainly helped cut time! At the dock we cleaned up, and cut up the tuna and mahi mahi. There was so much meat from the fish it was incredible, and the following day some sesame encrusted tuna steaks were on the pan as well as some fantastic sashimi as a side. Heaps still sitting in the fridge/freezer for another meal (or 10). 
Rating: 9/10 - doesnt get a full 10 as we didnt land a heap of tuna, lost 1 from the bad crimp, but overall it was one of the best fishing trips had!

Santa's Pond

Location: Santa's Pond
Date: 09-July-2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave and Kellie
Target Fish: Reddies, Yellow Belly, Trout
Bait: Soft plastics -  Lunker City Shakers with 7g blade spinner jig head
Berley: None
Catch: Nil
Report: Rumour has it this place in unproductive in winter. Will hit again when it heats up again. Very nice scenery, kangaroos everywhere.
Rating: 4/10

Gunnamatta Spinning

Location: Gunnamatta Surf Beach
Date: 11-June-2012
Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave and Kellie
Target Fish: Salmon
Bait: Metal lures: Alma Anchovy Electric (35g)/Ghost (25g), Halco Twistie (30g)
Berley: None
Catch: 15 + Salmon all around 30 cm
Report: Very crowded with fishermen on the beach, all were bait fishing with not much action. Worked one very productive gutter only. Had 5 mins of hookups every cast. Actually saw a salmon chase the Halco down the face of a wave. All fish caught on Halco with 0.5 m of 16lb flurocarbon leader. They fight pretty hard for little buggers.
Rating: 8/10

Sandy Hook, NJ

Location: Sandy Hook
Date: 10th June
Weather: Warm, 29, upcoming tide
Crew: Toon, Austin
Target Fish: Blues
Bait: Metal Lures, bunker
Berley: None
Catch: 1 x Blue, 4 x Sea Robbin, 1 x skate
Report: Summer finally arrived, so hit Sandy Hook for another blue chasing session. First casts out and we had nibbles, only to find out it were those pesky sea robbins. Moved up the beach to a 'better' spot, where reports of more blues were being hit. This was true. Austin snagged a good blue which put up a good fight. Caught off bunker. Casting metal lures out with eel tails, these got hit repeatedly, but couldnt quite hook up a blue. Need to sharpen those hooks or have smaller eel tail. Might need to get a few more lures, including some fluke ones. Was constant action throughout the day, didnt want to leave but had to head home. Solid session.
Rating: 8/10

Lake Alder, NY

Location: Lake Alder
Date: 25th May - 28th May
Weather: Freggin Awesome
Crew: Toon, Austin, Tim, Michiel, Lisa, Stacy
Target Fish: Trout, Catfish
Bait: Pepperoni
Berley: None
Catch: 6 x tiny catfish
Report: 2.5 hour drive north into the catskills lies this place. An amazing joint to chill, camp, fish, hike, make dick preonekke sticks, and drink! We had line and a hook, so made a fishing rod out of a nice bit of stick. Catfish were a sinch to catch, but a good accomplishment having caught it with homemade fishing rod. This place rocks, dick preonekke would be proud.
Rating: 9/10

 

Bitspere River

Location: Bitspere River
Date: 03-June-2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners, Rapala CD5 - Rainbow
Berley: None
Catch: 1 x Brown Trout ~ small
Report: Started at the same spot as last time. Had to do a runner from a herd of cattle who weren't too thrilled about me walking through their paddock. Lost a fish at the exact same spot I lost one last time - need to sharpen my hooks and be more aggressive with the strike. Caught the little guy on the second cast with the rapala. Still can't believe this place.
Rating: 7/10

Bitspere River

Location: Bitspere River
Date: 19-May-2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave, Ross
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Spinners
Berley: None
Catch: 1 x Brown Trout ~ small
Report: Amazing part of the Bitspere River. Parked beside farm and walked across paddock. Waded in the water upstream for a couple of hours. Caught a nice little Brown around the island. Good little fight. Caught of a silver spinner. Dave also had a hook up, looked like a nice size but unfortunately lost it. Came across a run down, make-shift cabin up river in a picturesque setting. Plan to cook up fish next time at this spot with a nice cold beer. Couldn't believe this was the Bitspere! Will give this spot a go many more times.
Rating: 7/10

Stockyard Point

Location: Stockyard Point
Date: 6-May-2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave, Ross
Target Fish: Gummy Shark
Bait: Fresh Eel caught from the Yarra River
Berley: None
Catch: Nothing!
Report: Fished 4.40 - 7.30pm. Low tide at 7pm. Many reports of small to medium sized gummy's caught from here. The channel can be reached with a decent cast only at low tide. We fished this spot on the full moon. Reports of Elephant Sharks caught here the previous day. Amazing views, also a great spot to camp in the dunes. Glow sticks helpful at night time, pvc rod holders worked well. Wade in water as far as possible and cast as far as possible towards French Island. I'm taking a sea kayak next time to find out exactly where the channel is !
Rating: 5/10

Location: Sandy Hook 
Date: 5-May-2012 
Weather: Mild - around 15 degreesywogs 
Crew: Toon & Austin 
Target Fish: Blues and Stripers 
Bait: Clams and Bunker 
Berley: Chook pellets
Catch: 1 x skate, 1x plastic bag fish 
Report: Fished the high tide, full moon, sunset from 4-9 pm. Tried to hit that run of blues the year prior but nothing out there. Water was calm but no one was catching anything. Skate took a nice zzzz, zzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz then bang, but other than that it was pretty quiet. Austin caught a plastic bag fish. It gave a pretty good fight until it was skull dragged onto the sand and found out it was just a plastic bag.
Rating: 4/10

Artillery Rock - Lorne

Location: Artillery Rock
Date: 5-May-2012
Weather: Overcast
Crew: Dave, Westy dudes
Target Fish: Salmon
Bait: Lures - Halco Twistie, Alma Pilchard, Alma Ghost, Laser - Red Head
Berley: None
Catch: 1 x Tailor ~ 1.2 kg
Report: Fished 3 - 6pm. Low tide at 330pm. Hooked up 2 good size salmon on Alma Ghost but lost on retrieve due to Salmon jumping out of water. Tailor hit Halco Twistie. Dolphins keeping the fish away. Be careful at this spot, fish around low tide only with maximum 3ft swell.
Rating: 7/10

Howqua River

Location: Howqua River - Between 8 Mile Flat and Ritchies Hut
Date: 21-Apr-2012
Weather: Warm and sunny early, then a little rain in the afternoon
Crew: Dave, Ross, Willow
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Lures - Silver inline blades, Rapala CD5 Spotted Dog, Rapala CD5 Rainbow Trout
Berley: None
Catch: 1 x Brown Trout ~ 35 cm
Report: An absolutely marvelous weekend. One of the most beautiful fishing spots imaginable. Ross hooked a beauty at our lunch spot but unfortunately lost it. Dave landed a nice Brown Trout at around 4 pm just after it started raining - made for a tasty appertiser at dinner with a squeeze of lemon. Both fish hit Rapala CD5 lures. Witnessed a medievel battle in the camp site on the Saturday night. Great photography by Willow.
Rating: 9/10

Just up-stream from under a bridge

Location: Creek, just near water outlet pipe
Date: 09 - Apr - 2012
Weather: Very cold, raining, windy
Crew: Huggett
Target Fish: Eel, bream
Bait: Chicken, lures
Berley: None
Catch: 2 x Eels both around 70 cm
Report: For gummy shark bait. Hooked up within 30 seconds of dropping line. Lost one on the bank around 120 cm...wasn't too keen on handling that monster though. Eels were filleted and coated with salt, left to drain in a sieve in the fridge for 48 hrs, then frozen. We'll see how effective they are as gummy bait. Threw lure around for 5 mins but too much debris in creek.
Rating: N/A