Racecourse Beach & Burrel Lake - Ulladulla



Beach fishing is quite easy & enjoyable!



Spent a week over news years down on the coast with Prue and a couple of other people. Managed to do a little bit of fishing while we were down there and had a good amount of success. Originally we supposed to be staying at Batemans Bay and I had lined up a fishin trip with local gun fisho James Bunn, a good friend of one of my work collegues. Unfortunatly there was a mix up in communication and it turned out we were staying in Ulladulla.



The first session I had was out at Burral Lake just up from where the channel flows out to the ocean. I mangaed to hook up on a few flatties for the afternoon, there wasn't much size to the fish but it was enjoyable all the same. That evening we decided we would go and have a little picnic down on Racecourse Beach, the local tackle shop owner had garenteed me a Salmon off the beach. I was happy with that!!

A nice Australian Salmon off the beach.

Set up on the beach with a full pilchard running off a star sinker. Ended up getting onto a couple of fish again and one of them was a good size and gave a very good account of itself.

Had another session at a different locatio on Burrel Lake and again got into a heap of Flatties. At one point I wias fishing over a weed bed in about 5' - 1' of water and as I was running the plastic accros the surface a biggish flattie came up and smashed it - very cool surface strike!



After finishing up at Ulladulla we decided to spend one night at Batemans Bay, I managed one 3 hour session fishing the flats and channell near the bridge as the tide was coming in and got into a heap of flatties again.

Overall it was a good holiday, I didn't actually do that much fishing, but it was great to get into a few when I did!

Wyangla Dam - 22-12-2010

What is with all the bloody rain ruining my fishing expeditions!!!!!
Spending christmas at the in-laws and saw it as a great opportunity to fish Wyangla, because up until recently it had apparantly been fishing its socks off! Just my luck that all the rain they had in the region has pushed the water level up from something like 40% to a massive 90% in a matter of weeks! So upon arrival at the dam I was greeted with what looked very similar to chocolate milk... only darker!!! It was bloody terrible, visability was maybe 3-5cm, even with my new spotters I was unable to see anything.
I put in at about 4.30pm and started trolling around to a little bay(well it used to be little) where I lost a good golden last time I was here. As with most of the dams in NSW that have filled quickly over the past 6 months trolling in a good depth is very difficult. This is due to the trees that have grown while the levels have been low over the past 10 years and are now covered in water. I couldn't get in to the 3-6m depth that I like to troll, so I gave up on the troll after an hour or so and peddled around to the little bay. Which looked very fishy... except for the water clarity. Pounded a heap of casts in and around the rocky banks and didnt get a touch. I tried a few different coloured spinnerbaits and a variety of hardbodies, but nothing would illicit a strike.
A dissapointing afternoon! Wyangla is such a good looking dam and I can see why it was fishing so well before all the rain! Hopefully a miracle will occur and the water will clear up within the next few days and I'll be able to get back out there.
Photos to come!

Weather
27*C
Water temp 24*C
BOM unknown
Slight wind

Old Man Creek 28-11-10

Headed out to the creek for a quick two hour session on Sunday afternoon, I shouldn’t have! Had just travelled back from Bathurst on the Sunday and was reasonably hung-over. Kanck was out there as in his Hobie but I couldn’t be bothered getting mine so I just walked the bank. The water looked really good and the creek actually came up about 15cm while I was there. I used a variety of smaller lures, teeny extractors, 50ml AC, small stumpy. I lost three lures and was not happy! I am not having the greatest of runs with lures that’s now five that I have lost in my last 4 trips. I am putting down two of the lost lures to being hung-over, I would normally take my time but I got frustrated very easily and ended up snapping the line with my retrieval pole. Very stupid of me, but as they say if you’re not getting snags you won’t catch fish.... at least I was doing one of those things! I lost a small JD lure because it got snagged around a f#@king set line. That gives me the shits.... f#@king setlines!

Kanck's 45cm Golden

I would have pumped 200 casts off the weir wall for maybe one hit, but I may have just imagined that. As soon as Kanck pulled up in his yak and let a cast go off the wall BANG he was on to a nice 45cm Golden. We both had a chuckle to each other about that, got some quick snaps and let the big fella swim off again. Kanck trolled up one other fish before this, but it was only a small Golden.

The release.

After seeing him catch that Golden off the wall I quickly realised that it wasn’t my day and I probably should have just stayed on the couch and watched a movie, so I headed back to the car.

Plenty of rain predicted for this week could play havoc with the creek again. I wouldn’t mind heading off to an impoundment after some big Golden’s this weekend. Hopefully soon I write a post about catching lots of fish and not losing lures!

Weather

• Humid & overcast
• Temp unknown
• BOM unknown
• Water Temp unknown

Results

2 Golden Perch

Old Man Creek x 3 & Mundowy rocks 20th 21st 23rd November



Small Cod taken late Saturday afternoon.



Headed out to the creek with Kanck on Saturday arvo for a quick session, went straight up to the weir and was disappointed with the water clarity, it had cleared a little but not enough. Punched over a thousand cast in and around the weir with a only a small cod and two lost lures to show for it. The most interesting point was that I picked up the cod as soon as the shadows came across the water. It was stinking hot and a tough session, but we thought it might settle a bit more over night and be clear enough for lures in the morning.

Water coming over the wall...
Has been a rarity of recent years.
 Now its becoming a regular thing.

Headed back out at 5:30am with Kanck and was fishing at the weir by 6:00am. Kanck hooked up to something in the fast water but alas, the hooks didn’t set. After an hour or so with no result we decided to head over the Mundowy rocks for a look. We thought the river would be a little dirty but it couldn’t hurt to give it a go. We both tied on spinnerbaits Kanck had a small profiled natural coloured one and I had a fairly large purple and green one. I had a terrible start and managed to snag up 5 or 6 times which was not helping my frustration levels. When I finally got to make some effective casts my spinnerbait was demolished with a very savage strike. I called this fish for 70cm+ but it turned out to be a very fit and angry 51cm trout cod. These things hit like freight trains and it was a nice change to what was turning out to be a very tough session. It's certainly starting to heat up not that summer is here. That was enough for us and we fished our way back to the car with no result and headed home.

Bloody Camera on the wrong setting!

Tuesday afternoon I headed back out to the creek because it looked like some storms were starting to roll in and the water level had dropped quite significantly. I thought things were looking promising, within 20 casts I managed to pull a very small 18cm trout cod from the fast water at the weir. The water was only coming over the main release part of the weir wall and it was creating some great looking water. Although it looked great, no fish seemed to like it. I managed to find a couple of nice lures on my way back to the car, but overall is was a disspointing session.

51cm of Trout Cod

My thoughts are that the Goldens may have either finished spawning or made their way further up river when the water was flowing over the wier. The water had dropped significantly this week and once the banks dry out a bit I think I will resort back to my normal approach, rather that focusing on the wier area.

Old Man Creek...IT’S BACK!!!! 13-11-2010 & 14-11-2010

Small Golden Perch

Headed out to the Creek on Saturday afternoon for a quick session, the rumour going around town was that it had really cleared up over the week and started to produce some nice fish. Upon my arrival I had to remind myself that I was at Old Man Creek and not Pitt St in Sydney, people were fishing everywhere. I headed straight up to the weir and was disappointed to find about 8 other people fishing it. I started with a spinnerbait first up and after an hour with no bites I changed to a Custom Crafted Teeny Extractor in yellow & black. Within an hour of making the change I hooked up on a little Golden Perch. I had finally broken my 6 month Golden Perch drought. I managed to pick up another small Golden and a small Trout Cod for the afternoon. While I was there I saw maybe 10-15 Golden Perch that the other fishermen caught. This was enough to motivate me to have an early start on Sunday and come back out.

Small Trout Cod

Picked up Kancky at 7am on Sunday morning and anticipation was high, I was feeling really confident. Got to the weir and had it all to ourselves, I tied on a Custom Crafted Teeny Extractor in a Murray Cod pattern and set myself up on the rock wall to cast into the back current that the fast water was creating. Kancky opted for a yellow & black 50ml AC invader. Within 10 casts my lure was annihilated by a 50cm Golden Perch. It put up a great fight in the fast water and I only just managed to land him.



50cm Golden Perch



The hooks pulled as he was in the shallow water where he only needed one kick of his tail to get away and if it wasn’t for Kancky’s cat like reflexes and nimbleness, he would have made it back to safety. A very funny moment! A few quick snaps of my new personal best Golden Perch and he was back on his was way.

Kanck playing a 50cm Golden Perch

Three casts later and I was on again, this time a 36cm Golden had decided he liked the look of my Teeny Extractor. He liked it so much that he took the whole lure down his gob. I was beginning to think that this was going to be a cracker of a morning. Ten minutes later and Kancky was on, another 50cm Golden on his yellow and black AC, we couldn’t believe how good this session was going. Kancky then lost his AC to a hungry snag and as he was tying a new lure on my Teeny Extractor was smashed again, this time a little cod had taken the lure and put some lovely battle scars on it.

Kanck's 50cm Golden Perch

A couple of other blokes turned up and to our surprise one of them actually started to fish within one meter of us and was casting over the top of our lines, the rude little bastard! There is an etiquette among fisherman, and granted this fella had never fished in freshwater before, but generally in my opinion if I can hit you with a cast then I am too close and first in best dressed! I think that’s pretty fair!

Small Murray Cod

The rain finally rolled in at about 10.30am and by this stage I’d had about 5 hits and 2 hook ups but couldn’t manage to land one due to some bad luck and poor management. After a good soaking from the rain we decided to call it a day and hit the road, very satisfied with the morning’s session.

It's a Shark

Weather

1016

22*C

Overcast, rain with slight wind

Results

3 Golden Perch

1 Murray Cod

Bundingerry Canal/Creek & Old Man Creek - 9-11-11

Heard a report during the week that a couple of blokes had picked up 13 odd fish in a few hours out at the canal during the week. I hadn't been out to see the aftermath of the floods yet so I saw it as a good oportunity to check it all out.

Playing the little cod.

Got to the canal at about 2.30pm and it didn't look to bad, plenty of water being released out of Berembed and it was creating some nice slow water and back currents up one side of the canal. Threw a bright green mudguts spinnerbait around, about 20 casts later I managed to pick up a small Murray Cod. I thought that was going to be the start of a good day! I was wrong! Moved further along the canal for another hour or so, but no more inquiries.

He sure liked that spinnerbait!

Decided to head back out to the main road and check out the canal/creek further downstream. Water was a lot dirtier down here and there were literally thousands of Mosquitos. Spent 30mins here and after being attacked by Mozzies, decided to head back into Old Man Creek in the hope that the 'Local' water would produce the goods!

Got to the creek only to be a little dissapointed at its hieght. But from all reports the dirty water and high levels were not stopping the fish from taking lures, so hopes were still high! Went straight up to the weir and pumped a few hundred casts in and around the rock walls and trees, no inquiries! Fished back to the car, constantly talking of how hard the creek is to read when its at high water level.

An interesting day, with stormy weather predicted for the majority of this week it could be quite a while before the creek settles back down into its normal summer flow. But I am predicting some brilliant fishing when things do settle down!

Weather

• BOM unknown
• 27*c
• Gusty wind
• Unknown water temp

Results

• Small Murray Cod

Blowering Dam.... Again! 31-10-2010

After seeing so many Golden Perch on my guided trip last week, I couldn't help but head back up to Blowering again. I had a technique that I wanted to try out to see if I could tempt these shut down fish into striking. My plan was to walk the rocky bank on the Talbingo side of Log Bridge Ck to see if I could spot a few Goldens in the shallows. I wanted to cast out some suspending minnows and see if an ultra slow, stop-start retrieve would see the undoing of a few fish. I thought that if I could get a follow from a Golden then I could stop the lure and subtly twitch it in front of its face to illicit a strike.
The day started with rain all the way up to the dam, so things were looking glim. I parked the car at a nice grassy bay and rigged up a very small spinnerbait to start the day. There was a fair bit of distance to cover to get to the bank I wanted to fish so I thought a spinnerbait would be a good prospecting lure for the walk. The rain finally stopped just after the fishing started and it turned into a very pleasent morning. Spotted a few very timid carp on the way over but no Goldens. I finally tied on a suspending minnow and started flicking it around. Kanck ended up getting a Golden to have swipe at a plastic and soon after I had a Golden follow my lure in, a played the lure in front of his face and he looked genuinly interested, until I made a totally uncoordinated and spastic movement and scared him off... shit! Needless to say I let off a few loud expletives after that incident. Within the next ten or so casts I had a good Golden come and have a massive swipe at my lure while it was stationary in the water about 10' out from the bank, but alas the hooks didn't bite back and I was left cursing on the bank.... once again. Fish 2 - Scott 0.
Fished on for another hour or two after that but didn't see any more fish, looking back I should have went further along that bank towards Log Bridge Ck. But we had decided earlier that it was to steep to comfortably traverse. Even so, next time I'll head up that way and tough it out! Although there were no Goldens landed I was pretty happy with the morning. Blowering is a very hard dam to crack and fishing for the Goldens in there requires a totally different approach to what would be considered 'normal' ways to target Godlens. I knew the day was going to be tough but I thought I would have been able to fool one or two, and came very close to doing it, just a few minor errors and bit of luck let me down, I will learn from what happened! With a lack of consistent warm weather, a considerably larger body of water to heat up and a consistant inflow of cold water the fish are still very shut down, with some consitant (4-10 days) warm weather, I would expect a lot more success!
Fished the Tumut river for an hour on the way home. It was pretty full! Had a few hook ups, but didn't manage to land any. Kanck picked up a couple on a yellowing 7g Tassie Devil.The river started rising as we were fishing so we took off!
Sorry no photos! I need to buy a cheap camera!

Weather

• 1016
• 14-22*C
• Slight to no wind
• Unkown water temp