I’ve been fishing Googong a fair bit recently and enjoying good success on the yellowbelly. It has been a lot of fun, and with the lower water levels at the moment it has been possible to explore a bit more water than when the dam is full. I was recently fishing a shallow inlet and came across what I thought…
Tag: carp
What is the future of the Howqua river?
I spent last weekend camping on the Howqua river at Sheepyards flat. It wasn’t a fishing trip. It was a camping, hanging by the river, hanging out with the kids, making new friends trip. The days were filled with swimming, throwing stones into the river, watching horses, grilling meats over an open fire, drinking cold mid-strength beer during the day…
Carp herpes virus: risks and rewards
The fishing media is currently awash with articles about ‘carpageddon‘ and wild claims from all sides. In this post, we want to answer a few of the questions that have been raised about the release of the virus and the potential habitat and ecosystems benefits that may occur, but also some of the risks of the release. What is it? …
Carp in Australia- past, present and future
I was recently interviewed about my carp fishing habits by some researchers at the University of Wollongong. It was an interesting interview and forced me to think a little harder about my relationship to carp. To put it bluntly, the relationship I have with carp is a little quixotic. On the one hand, I think they are one of the…
The generalist: a fly fishing manifesto
Some fly fishermen specialise. They focus on one species. They learn every subtlety in behaviour. They develop an deep almost spiritual understanding with their quarry of choice. They become truly excellent fly fishers. For most fly fishermen (but not all), the quarry of choice are trout. This makes sense. If god exists, trout were designed by him/her to give pleasure…
Making do. Urban carping
I haven’t had much fishing time over the last few weeks which has seen me “making do”. Being a fly bum, living in the centre of Melbourne can mean options close to home are limited. In my case its pretty much carp or bust. Urban carp are a gift from heaven for the city bound fly bum. They tick all…
Fly fishing as therapy.
I didn’t have the greatest of weeks last week. I’m trying to finish a PhD and I’ve got this one little bit of lab work that needs to be done before that can happen. Last week I was up in Canberra getting ready to knock of the last of the lab work and break the back of the PhD so…
Why do some freshwater fish taste muddy?
So after Graz detailed his quest to eat carp and the (surprisingly delicious) results (Part I and Part II), I thought I’d delve into what causes the biggest complaint about eating carp and freshwater fish in general, that they taste muddy. Talking to Graz while he was in Vietnam recently illustrated the point. While his Canberra carp was delicious, he…
The Southern Australia mixed dozen challenge
Spoilt for choice How many amazing fishing options do you have within 2 or 3 hours drive from your front doorstep? Can you count them? Could you fish them all in a weekend? With the exception of Dan in the top end, the rest of us at Flick and Fly call south east Australia home. From here we can fish…
Graham (and Lee) join the paper
Flick and Fly journal is proud to announce that Graz has gotten himself a gig with the Canberra times (syndicated in the Narooma news and Rob Paxevanos’ blog) writing the Canberra region fishing reports. We are also proud to announce that Lee has gotten himself the gig as the bench writer for the column, filling in for Graz and Anthony…
Two years fishing one pool- lessons from the “carp hole”
Most of the fishing we do here at the blog is catch and release. Some fish are just way to special to only catch once. Treasured, valuable trophies, be they tiny fish that one day, with a little luck will rule the river, or huge trophies, kings in the here and now, fish worth so much more alive than dead.…
Sometimes you’ve gotta break the rules…
With spring in the air and some more stable weather my local creek has finally cleared up and I can sight-fish for carp again. Afternoon dog walks now often involve me wandering the 2 or 3 km to my favourite carp hole rather than to the dog park, which brings lots of strange looks from commuters as I wander through…