Bright - Ovens River

Date: 19-22 April 19 - Easter Long Weekend
Weather: Fine 25
Crew: Toon & Mark
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Green Spinner
Gear Used: Fishing rod
Catch: 1 small rainbow, 1 tiny Brown
Report: Bloody perfect weekend for fishing. Headed to Ovens river just out the back of Bright Accomodation Park where we stayed. Flicked lures upstream, snagging a small rainbow and tiny brown. Lost a horse of a trout in one pool he jumped off, was a heavy bugger!! Awesome times. Jax had a flick or two, but river fishing isnt easy for the little fella. 

Report: 8/10

Murrindindi River

Date: 26 Jan19
Weather: Hot
Crew: Toon & Willo
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: Green Spinner
Gear Used: Fishing rod
Catch: 1 small rainbow
Report: Very tough conditions fishing through Murrindindi. Low water levels this time of year and lots of overhang and fallen trees makes it hard to cast into good spots. Lots of fish around though, saw heaps as you walked through and over obstacles. Didnt lose a lure in all this stuff which was good, and caught the little fella on the last cast. Too relaxing and awesome as usual. Finished off by swimming at Wilhelmina Falls   

Report: 7/10

Cray Session

Date: 29 Dec 18
Weather: Warm, overcast
Crew: Dave, Bilsy
Target Fish: Crays
Bait: BBQ steak
Gear Used: Line, no hook
Catch: 6 (took 4 home)
Report: Been meaning to head out for a dedicated cray session for a while. Walked about 50 m upstream from the car, threw in the first line and hooked up a dirty eel in about 3 seconds. Saw a monster cray immediately after, spent about 30 mins trying to get him. Set about 6 lines, checked every 20 mins or so. Bilsy pulled in the first one straight after throwing the line in. We changed our approach, pulled in all set lines and decided to target specific spots. Next cray pulled was a monster, was a two man job to land him. Ended up taking 4, all caught within about hour. Could have easily bagged out. Saw a fight between an eel and a cray, and saw a couple of river black fish. Was a fun session. 

Boiled for about 8 mins, eaten with a bit of lemon. Delicious!

Report: 9/10

Portsea Pier

Date: 26 Dec 18
Weather: Perfect 25.  
Crew: Toon & Jax
Target Fish: Squid
Bait: - Squid Jigs - Black with red belly, and Purple with pink belly
Gear Used: Fishing rods. 
Catch: 3x Squid
Report: Hit Portsea Pier with Jax and fished for a total of 5 minutes. Both Jax and i cast out the jigs just 15 meters from the beginning of the pier and within 2 casts we had 3 squid. Perfect situation to then call it a day and get an ice cream from the dimmy van. Cooked the squid for dinner.  
Report: 9/10. Needed an ice bucket to keep going!!

Mordialloc Pier

Date: 11 Nov 18
Weather: Fine, slightly choppy 20. 
Crew: Toon, Jax, Millie, Sambo, Lisa
Target Fish: Sambo's
Bait: - Metal Slugs
Gear Used: Fishing rods. 
Catch: 0
Report: Another session to keep the fishing bug infused. Jax's casting getting better, and millie starting to get into it. We just need to salmon to run up and down the pier to cast into! No fish today to be seen, but pleasant 1.5 hours fishing.  
Report: 6/10

Farm

Date: 9 Sept 18
Weather: Overcast and 19
Crew: Toon & Jax
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Various lures 
Gear Used: Fishing rods. 
Catch: 0
Report: Went to the farm and had a crack at the monsters in the dam. No fish were interested in the lures, didnt see one swimming after them nor did we get a hit. Good day practicing to cast but Jax really needs a better reel.   
Report: 6/10

Mordialloc Pier

Date: 8 Sept 18
Weather: Fine and 18
Crew: Toon, Jax & Millie
Target Fish: Salmon 
Bait: - Metal slugs (bumpa-bar 25g, halco twisty 25g) 
Gear Used: Fishing rods. 
Catch: 0
Report: Jax again bugging me that we havent been fishing for ages, so needed to wet a line! Checked out MetEye and the bay was calm so took the fam down to Mordialloc pier hoping to cast into schools of salmon swimming up and down the pier. Got some hot chips, walked to the pier and starting casting some lines into the water. No salmon schools were in sight today though. Some decent sized bait balls around and birds diving into get them, but no salmon around. Very nice relaxing session with the fam.  
Report: 8/10 Perfect day for practicing casting. Jax has figured it out, but his $10 anaconda reel is a piece of shit.  

Mordialloc Pier

Date: 3 Mar 18
Weather: Sunny and 31
Crew: Toon & Jax
Target Fish: Salmon 
Bait: - Metal slugs (bumpa-bar 25g, halco twisty 25g) 
Gear Used: Fishing rods. 
Catch: 0
Report: Jax has been bugging me to go fishing again, good on him! So had to go on what was an awesome day. Was planning on just him and I, but lisa and the other 2 wanted to join so the whole family went. Girls did girls things, and Jax and I went fishing. Fishing didnt last too long as the kids got tired, so had to pack up after about 40 minutes of fishing which sucked as the action was just starting to hot up. Big school of salmon swam up the pier, and gars were everywhere just as we had to go. I did manage to cast my lure into some snag of line, and i had to jump into the water and swim out to retrieve it. Water was pristine, calm, blue, warm and just beautiful. That pier is fun to fish at because of all the boat activity and regular sightings of salmon schools to cast into.  
Report: 5/10 - if only we were there for another 3 hours!

Mordialloc Pier

Date: 19 Nov 17
Weather: Sunny and 28
Crew: Toon & Jax
Target Fish: Anything, including toadies. 
Bait: - Really old pippis, metal slugs (bumpa-bar 25g, halco twisty 25g) blue squid jig
Gear Used: Fishing rods. 
Catch: 1 salmon
Report: Had to get Jax out there again. He was super excited. Got to the pier around 10am, change of tide was 10:30. Fished for about 1.5 hours, wanted to fish heaps more but kids were done. As soon as we arrived there was a monster school of salmon swimming up along the pier, big buggers!! Many other schools around. Had to get jax set up so quickly set him up with a small hook and running sinker rig with some pippis. Got the pippis at a local milk bar, they were old as fuck. Toadies didnt even want to eat it. Tried to just get jax catching anything, and couldnt even get him a toadie on his rig. Anyhow, as soon as we got him in the water i quickly set up my rig with a metal lure and first cast managed to hook a salmon. As i brought it up onto the pier he jumped off. Hooked another salmon and gave the rod to jax to fight, but slack line saw the fish get away. Saw some huge things what looked like cuttlefish so put on squid jig, but by that time they were gone. Many schools of salmon to cast in to and they all gave a look at the lure, some hits, some hook ups, but relatively slow day trying to help the little man figure it all out. His casting is coming good! Water was pristine. Bumpa-bar was most productive lure. 
Report: 7/10

Tagger

Date: 24 Sep 2017
Weather: Overcast/Drizzly
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Fly - Royal Wolf #14, Pheasant tail nymph #14
Gear Used: Orvis Superfine Carbon 3w, 7'6"
Catch: 1 Brown
Report: River still flowing pretty hard. Was feeling very tired, and only put in an hour or so. Managed to land a cracking brown, typical of the bigger fish this stream holds. Had a Lyre Bird put on a 20 min show on the river bank - absolutely amazing.
Report: 7/10

Connie

Date: 2 Sep 2017
Weather: Sunny/overcast
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Fly - Royal Wolf #14, Pheasant tail nymph #14,
Gear Used: Sage Approach 4w, 9'
Catch: 1 Browns
Report: Season opener! Drove up Friday night and solo car camped. Head a pretty rubbish fire on account of some damp firewood. Had a quick flick in the Roys, before focusing on the Connie. Session was looking hot, with a nymph hook-up on the fifth cast. River was flowing very hard.
Only managed a couple of hours in the morning. Had a brief encounter with the fish police, a reminder to all to get a license!
Report: 7/10

Mary and Steve's

Date: 8 April 2017
Weather: Sunny/overcast
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Fly - Royal Stimulator #14,
Gear Used: Sage Approach 4w, 9'
Catch: 2 Browns, 1 Rainbow
Report: A really nice afternoon. Was hoping to hit a different section of the river but had been beaten to it. Dropped a few fish, including a line break - I think the key is 4X tippet. 

Report: 8/10

Tagogo

Date: 16 April 2017

Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Fly - Royal Stimulator #14,
Gear Used: Sage Approach 4w, 9'
Catch: 0
Report: I had an unsuccessful session at this spot a couple of years ago, and had thought for a while I should have another go. The low water suggested I'd left it too late in the season. Did see a couple of fish, including a very nice sized brown. Saw a turtle - a first! (see if you can spot in the pic). Will hit again.

Report: 6/10

Licola - Macalister River

Date: 16 April 2017

Weather: Partly Cloudy
Crew: Toon
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Celta Spinner,
Gear Used: Spinning outfit

Catch: N/A
Report: Headed up to Licola to camp a few nights. Fished the Macalister river that joins from the caledonia river. Some decent sized pools as you walk down the macalister. No insect action at all, no fish jumping. As a result, no bites or hook ups. Pretty quiet, but special area nonetheless. 

Report: 5/10

Bitwenjopit

Date: 8 April 2017

Weather: Sunny
Crew: Dave
Target Fish: Trout
Bait: - Fly - Royal Stimulator #14,
Gear Used: Sage Approach 4w, 9'

Catch: 1 Brown, 1 Rainbow
Report: Had planned on heading north east for the weekend, but the prospect of storms and heavy rains meant a rethink. The revised plan was to stay local - fish a few hours, then have a riverside fire and cook up with kellie. Managed to land an absolute monster brown, which I can only assume was an escapee from the nearby trout farm. Got the fire started, and then the mother nature unleashed hell.

Report: 8/10