19 replies to this topic

[Peckoltia]

G'day

Got out for a fish on the weekend. Other than a nasty bit of sunburn we managed a heap of tailor. Fished for probably about 3 or 4 hours. Between the two of us we kept these 8 tailor that went 30 - 38cm and released probably about another 30+ undersized choppers. The herring in the photo was an absolute horse of a herring around 33 - 35cm and much thicker than a tailor of similar length. My call was a small sambo that you sometimes run into in the river as this thing had some herbs on it, massive surprise when this donkey showed itself.

Got 'em trolling at about 5 - 6knots. I was running a halco 15g gold twisty, mate was using a small bibbed minnow. Probably couldn't pick a winner out of the two, both lures did exceptionally well. The only down side of the bibbed minnow is it doesn't really handle any extra speed too well and will usually blow out of the water once you start going 6knots +, the downside of the twisty was I dropped a couple fish right at the boat, which I put down to the halco only having one set of trebles and coming with pretty average stock hooks. I will be putting upgraded hooks on all my twistys in the not too distant future... We fished right in the middle of the day from about 12 till about 3 or 4pm. Probably would have done even better if we had gotten on the water early morning or at about the time we left.

Saw a few other boats trolling around without much luck. In typical Swan river fashion everyone wanted to fish on top of us because we were landing fish after fish... must be just that magic spot of the river that holds all the fish?! No, not really, it is all about learning the river and the right technique for day/conditions. Trolling massive mushy mullies doesnt really do the same job!

Got to love trolling, probably one of the most exciting forms of fishing... Great fun while the demersal ban is on. Nice and quick too throw a couple rods in the car with a handful of lures and away you go!

Anyone else been wetting a line lately?








sorry about the sideways pics, should have changed it before i uploaded them....

Alex

[choombies]

Love the bomber herring!!
Biggest herring I have caught was also in the swan but nothing like that monster!!

[Peckoltia]

The way this thing was going I think we called it for everything but a herring! We usually play the call it game, call the species plus the size. Good fun on light gear - 2 - 4kg rods, 1000 - 2500reels and 4lb braid. Needless to say we were both wrong on both calls.

Herring are a funny one in the river. I never do that well on them, usually just catch the odd one here or there, but never a really good haul, and they are usually pretty small specimens. If you want a good haul of herring better off going down to cott or leighton and throwing out lots of burley. Behind Carnac island if you have a boat is a great spot too, just behind all the rocks poking out of the water towards Garden island, good spot for skippy too and the odd big sambo if you have the big gear out.

Edited by Peckoltia, 22 November 2011 - 03:07 PM.

[SIXFOOTLONG]

Just a few of the different things i have caught lately whilst weting a line
 blue_nose.bmp   144.29KB   46 downloads
 barra.bmp   362.02KB   27 downloads
 cheribon.bmp   388.93KB   28 downloads

 dok1.bmp   395.72KB   39 downloads
 muddies.bmp   333.43KB   31 downloads
 thredfin_and_barra.bmp   410.94KB   31 downloads

although i had a bit of an advantage Alex

[Peckoltia]

Awesome man. Very envious.

[SIXFOOTLONG]

it has been awsome!! but now my usual fishing spots dont compare i have been back a week and i have only gone out once

might have to get the fly gear out !

[dazzabozza]

What's the snake looking fish labelled dok1?

[SIXFOOTLONG]

its a type of eal i caught 3 of them and the locals didnt evan know what they were .. last picture is of a sea lice

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Attached Files

•  24052011122.jpg   306.48KB   37 downloads

[dazzabozza]

Nice! Reckon I would've needed a new pair of jocks after seeing that thing jump out of the water at me.

[SIXFOOTLONG]

it had shark teeth also i used a towel fish grips and the plyers to get the hook out and i think this one or one of the others as soon as i put it back a sea eagle swooped in and grabbed it they had a mid air fight but the eagle won in the end .

[Tarpon]

What's the snake looking fish labelled dok1?

Common pike eel or pike conger. Have caught them in Dunsborough and Rotto
Very good eating if you can "bone cut" the fillets, prized in Japanese cooking

[gibbs]

G'day

Got out for a fish on the weekend. Other than a nasty bit of sunburn we managed a heap of tailor. Fished for probably about 3 or 4 hours. Between the two of us we kept these 8 tailor that went 30 - 38cm and released probably about another 30+ undersized choppers. The herring in the photo was an absolute horse of a herring around 33 - 35cm and much thicker than a tailor of similar length. My call was a small sambo that you sometimes run into in the river as this thing had some herbs on it, massive surprise when this donkey showed itself.

Got 'em trolling at about 5 - 6knots. I was running a halco 15g gold twisty, mate was using a small bibbed minnow. Probably couldn't pick a winner out of the two, both lures did exceptionally well. The only down side of the bibbed minnow is it doesn't really handle any extra speed too well and will usually blow out of the water once you start going 6knots +, the downside of the twisty was I dropped a couple fish right at the boat, which I put down to the halco only having one set of trebles and coming with pretty average stock hooks. I will be putting upgraded hooks on all my twistys in the not too distant future... We fished right in the middle of the day from about 12 till about 3 or 4pm. Probably would have done even better if we had gotten on the water early morning or at about the time we left.

Saw a few other boats trolling around without much luck. In typical Swan river fashion everyone wanted to fish on top of us because we were landing fish after fish... must be just that magic spot of the river that holds all the fish?! No, not really, it is all about learning the river and the right technique for day/conditions. Trolling massive mushy mullies doesnt really do the same job!

Got to love trolling, probably one of the most exciting forms of fishing... Great fun while the demersal ban is on. Nice and quick too throw a couple rods in the car with a handful of lures and away you go!

Anyone else been wetting a line lately?








sorry about the sideways pics, should have changed it before i uploaded them....

Alex

Nice fishing mate, the Swan is thick with Tailor at the moment. Thats a cracker of a herring!!!
If you change the trebble on the twisty (which you should) increase the size of the trebble. Tailor have a good knack of throwing smaller hooks but can easily chew down a large hook so dont be to scared of throwing a big trebble on.

[Peckoltia]

Cheers Gibbs, will keep that in mind when I upgrade the hooks. Was even considering attaching a single assist hook to the top of the lure, might change the action a bit too much but always fun experimenting.

[extend]

I went to the canning at the back of Waterford and my brother caught a flathead that would have nudged the 50cm mark on a sticker. This was on the 13 of november. We than went to applecross at about 6:30 than hooked into a number of tailor off the jetty. went about two weeks prior to apple cross and caught tailor at about the same time, just as the sun is not shining on the water.

[bigjohnnofish]

i'd be ashamed to take tailor at that size...... its a growout area for juvies.... go and hit the coast up north to catch some nice size talior.... well you used to be able.... not many left as people keep nailing them at the small (but legal) juvie sizes in the swan..!!!!

[gibbs]

I dont understand why a size limit of 30cm has been put on Tailor considering they reach sexual maturity at about 45cm. It allows people to take fish that haven't had the chance to even spawn. Taking a couple for a feed isnt going to hurt the stocks, the old timers used to catch 50 - 100 Tailor back in their day on the Swan and take every single fish they caught.

There are still plenty around especially at the moment, if you not catching 50 in a trolling session on the Swan your doing something wrong. If you want bigger troll the Cockburn Sound near the traffic bridge or try the beach around Mylup (south) or Yancheps (north) ways. There are some monster Tailor getting around

[Peckoltia]

i'd be ashamed to take tailor at that size...... its a growout area for juvies.... go and hit the coast up north to catch some nice size talior.... well you used to be able.... not many left as people keep nailing them at the small (but legal) juvie sizes in the swan..!!!!

The fundamental point behind your post is incorrect. It is much better for wild fish stocks for anglers to catch mid range fish of a species than a comparable amount of large breeding adults. I regularly fish off the coast, and let me tell you there is no shortage of good sized tailor being caught at the moment. When was the last time you fished the coast for Tailor? What are you basing that there isn't many left on?

Also - on the West Coast there is a maximum size of 2x tailor at 50cm + to try minimise the amount of large fish being caught. It would probably be best for anglers to take fish from 30 - 50cm, rather than go out fishing for large adults all the time. We kept 8 fish between the two of us, half our bag limit and released the rest, just enough for a feed.

I am far from being ashamed. I am a responsible recreational angler. I have never kept a single fish undersize... I don't even freeze fish, I only take what I plan on eating in the next couple of days. I am more than responsible and environmentally conscious when I am recreational fishing. I have even devoted a large proportion of my time through study on the environment through a degree in biological science and a cert in Aquaculture. I have even given up some of my time in the past to do abalone counts during abalone season. I actually find your post quite insulting to be honest.

Gibbs and Johnno - I personally think a rule that needs to be reconsidered is Snapper fishing in Cockburn Sound just before the spawning season. This year was the first year I have gotten into it, and I was pretty amazed and disturbed at the same time with what I saw. Boats, sometimes 100+ targeting a tiny area where the snapper are beginning to school up for spawning, fish after fish is pulled out of there. I have even seen boats go home and come back for a double dip at times. As much as I hate to say it as a rec angler I think the ban on snapper fishing in the sound needs to be lengthened. It is an absolute slaughter out there.

Alex

[MUZZYBEAR]

not bad, responsible rec fishing is awesome, and it does appear that you havedone this, well done.
personally i prefer spear fishing, if a fish is hooked incorrectly a large percentage die when released, so i prefer select my target fish.
when spear fishing i shoot a fish that appears larger than minimum size as when a fish comes out the water its always smaller than it looked in the water. the last time i went i was out alone for 2 hours, saw heaps of fish that were all edible, but only shot 1(a leather jacket) 50cm approx, i was later told by a local that the channel that i was spearing in between a island and the main land was common place to see the big wites pass through.lol its a awesome hobby and past time. the only delema is there is to many sharks to go spear fishing alone and without my shark shield.lol

[gibbs]

Alex, dont think i was having a crack at ya mate. I quite often get on the swan and take my fair share of choppers. With young kids i rather get on the river with light tackle to chase bream and tailor then risk them on the ocean. When i do happen to get out without the kids the rigs come out and on the ocean ill be.

I fully agree with you regarding the Cockburn Sound. I was out there just before the ban and it was quite sickening the way people were pulling up 1 after the other. 1 bloke was calling up mates that weren't even on the water because he had bagged out 3 times. Was glad to see fisheries heading out as i was heading. No snapper for me but the sambo go like steam trains in 8 metres of water near there spawning site

Edited by gibbs, 24 November 2011 - 06:51 PM.

[bigjohnnofish]

Alex i wasnt have a go at you or anybody else.... if the rules are set and your abiding by them then thats no problem.... even if i think the rules arent really in the better interest of the species...
we fish between kalbarri and steep point at a few special spots every year.... the tailor have become less plentiful and smaller over the last 20 years we have fished the area...

but yes in regards to the pinkies.... the gravel patch is their spawning haven and its a pity people are plundering them at this time of year... the snapper ban needs to be rethinked in the sound.... i fully agree... but a clever angler can catch just as many fish around the other side of garden island.... but it takes a few more brains to work out where to go....

im not really a fan of snapper as for eating... im into jewies... taste much better... along with spanish mackeral and blue bone.... depends on your taste buds mate!
herring , skippy , tailor and mulloway are catch and release fish to me... or maybe a bait for something bigger......

and anything living in the swan does so in a large chemical bath.... and being at the top of the food pyramid you'll accumulate plenty of heavy metals and toxins in your body from swan river caught fish...