One of the things I love about fishing with lures is the hunt. Trying to work out where the fish are going to be and why. Coastal lakes and rivers are big places and to cover them effectively with lures could take hours or even days. Throw in the variables of tides, cloud cover, recent rain, time of day and…
Category: Stuff we’ve learnt
Tournament time – a litmus test for us anglers
The annual Tuross flathead and bream tournament is just around the corner. Never heard of it? That’s understandable. This tournament on the south cost of NSW is a relatively low-key event run by the local fishing club to increase visitation to the small town of Tuross during non-peak periods. There are a stack of rods, reels, lures, an electric motor…
The value of birds as indicators when fishing
It’s something we read about time and time again: find the birds – find the fish. But what does it really mean, and what should we look for when we’re on the water? There are lots of different birds doing lots of different things, and it’s important to know which birds provide the cues we need in the multitude of…
Secret creek #2
I wrote a post a while ago about a secret creek. The creek I wrote about was secluded, unknown, wild. Or so I thought. I now know that some others have fished it, but it remains as much of a secret for them as it is for me, as far as I can tell. But it’s not really a true…
Big isn’t always best
A few months ago I was in the mountains doing nice things; things unrelated to fishing, like eating at nice cafes and restaurants, sleeping, reading, doing crosswords, looking in shops and so on. It was really lovely, and I also managed a few hours of fishing. When confronted with a limited window of opportunity the decision can be tough –…
Fanatik soft plastics: product review (plus a few photos from a recent high country mission)
One nice thing about having a fishing blog is that, from time to time, we are sent a bit of gear to review. We have always been completely honest about this, which I think is great in terms of maintaining a sense of independence and objectivity. It allows us to be really critical of certain things, while others may be…
Guest interview: Matt Rees from Fishthinkers
Welcome to the first of hopefully many posts where we interview our peers, including fellow anglers, fishery scientists (0ften 0ne and the same) and other personalities involved in fishing about their backgrounds, research and perspectives on recreational fishing. Our first installment is from Matt Rees from www.fishthinkers.wordpress.com. I can’t thank Matt enough! Hope you enjoy the read as much as…
A hunch
There is something special about fishing new water. An expectation of what may be to come, the sense of joy, mixed with trepidation that comes with stepping into the unknown. This goes for water that you absolutely know is going to hold fish, where the big challenge will be figuring them out, all the way through to what I like…
A few days fishing on the Murrumbidgee
Graz and I recently spent a few days fishing the Murrumbidgee west of Narrandera. It was a great chance to catch up with Grazza, who has spent the last year on the sunny shores and tropical mountains of Hawaii. We arrived fairly late after a decent 3.5 hour drive from Canberra. We only had a few km of dirt roads…
Back to basics – bait fishing off the beach
I spent the long weekend at Arugunnu, a campground in the Mimosa Rocks National Park on the far south coast of NSW. It is a special place for me, as it’s where I caught my first fish and spent a lot of time camping with my family as a kid. The thing I notice most when I get close is…
Catch and release: a little perspective goes a long way
The catch and release movement has grown considerably over the last few decades. Initiative like #keepemwet and others have done incredibly well at building strong support for catch and release in some parts of the fishing community. Social media has helped spread the message, driving a strong commitment to catch and release amongst many angling communities. Which is great! The fishing…
Is social media killing your fishing mojo?
We had just left the harbour, passed the channel markers and deployed the spread of 5 trolling lures. Each lure, made of lead and resin and a colourful skirt created an impressive bubble trail underwater and every few seconds would send up a huge spray of water as it broke the surface like an oversized GT popper. After only 10…