Cornacarpio's Eclectic Estuarine Escapades

[bilby]

The main channel where the cooling water flows out is the warmies. The old timers there in the '80s used to tell stories to my brother and me as kids that you could get pulled in by giant tailor. I don't know what happened to the tailor run each winter - I haven't heard of any reports of them for many many years now.

[hornet]

I used to wonder about that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together good and evil, the dark side and the light. Crazy thing is... it's true. The Force. The Jedi... All of it... It's all true.

And especially the Tailor !

Seriously tho... I fished it back in the day with a surf rod when the tailor run happened every winter, I pulled some beasts out at times !

[bilby]

Yeah, there were a few decent fish in the schools - both tailor and salmon. I've never been one for the crowds, so only ever tried once or twice while they were "on". On a more contemporary note, I saw several quite large fish jumping in the river a couple of weeks back, including some bigger bust ups on the surface - I have no idea what they were, but lures didn't seem to interest them.

[Delirium]

I must say that I find myself looking forward to your next instalment here. Kind of reminds me of simpler times when I was a kid and would load my old treadly with gear and ride for miles and back with my neighbour, just for a fish. When did fishing become so complicated? Keep them coming :thumbsup:

Yaeah...I still enjoy all the things I did as a kid. I'm in my thirties now and still jump on the treadly and go for a fish nearly every chance I get. Guess it is something I will never grow out of

That's very evident Mate. I applaud you for it.....waiting for the next instalment :water:

[ducky]

Yeah, there were a few decent fish in the schools - both tailor and salmon. I've never been one for the crowds, so only ever tried once or twice while they were "on". On a more contemporary note, I saw several quite large fish jumping in the river a couple of weeks back, including some bigger bust ups on the surface - I have no idea what they were, but lures didn't seem to interest them.

There have been reports of the odd kingy school getting around up there for the past couple of months. As quick as they arrive they are gone though.

[Cornacarpio]

Had a day off from work today. It was a reasonably good day, so I decided to give the Warm Pies another go. Just like last time, I was fiddling around in the rocks finding old line to practice my 'paternoster' rigs with. Since giving the salt a crack, I've been Youtubing 'saltwater stuff' such as rigs and knots. When I first went down to the warmies, I thought the saltwater was so much different to the fresh, but looking back now, not too much has changed - I have exchanged a float and/or running sinker with a paternoster rig (which could also be used in freshwater) and my bait has changed from bread or corn to chicken giblets and/or squid with hook size upsized ever so slightly. I am finding squid to be the best bait thus far in the sea. One of it main advantages is that the fish can't 'steal' it.

Anyway, after about half an hour or so, there was a bend in my rod and on the end of it was a nice little Pinkie. This one actually gave a fairly good account of himself and I felt as though I had something decent on. Since fishing the sea and using a relatively heavy sinker, I find it hard sometimes to feel the fight of the fish - especially when you're catching pretty small fish. About half an hour later I had another bite - another little Pinkie, even smaller than the first. That didn't worry me though - at this stage I am happy just catching something.

Also like last time, I was far from the most successful fisherman there (the mob beside seemed to be pulling in Pinkie after Pinkie) but I feel I am slowly getting a bit better in the salt. I seem to be getting less snags, becoming more confident in tying new rigs (and bait) and, perhaps most importantly, catching more fish!

By the way, what's people's go to bait in the salt? Like I said, I'm finding squid to be really effective - it's hard for the fish to steal and they seem to like it. Although these Pinkies/Snapper don't seem too fussy, it seems like they would eat almost anything, dead or alive.

2 X Pinkie (4)

[BigT]

I've had good success in winter on the bream in the main river near the warmies using fresh sardine fillets on a size 1 hook with a running sinker rig. Got a good flathead of about 1kg there too using the same bait. The bream seem to be a fair bit closer to the shore than the pinkies there.

[Broomstick]

Really enjoying this thread mate. Good luck!

[Broomstick]

Also, if you can get your hands on some live bass yabbies, they are dynamite in that area. Especially on the bream.

[Cornacarpio]

After an exhausting week, the temptation was to stay in bed...all day. But the fact of the matter was the weather was too good outside not to go fishing. I was thinking about going to the Warm Pies, but the fact that it was the weekend meant that it would be packed and finding a good spot would be nigh on impossible. I thought about going to Cherry Lake, but the 8km head wind all the way there put me off that idea as well. It was time to try a new spot! So I jumped on my treadly and headed towards the Maribyrnong River - affectionately known as the 'Nong.

As I was riding along the path I pulled up and thought 'this is good spot' (it wasn't). I tied on my Strike Pro lure and started casting randomly up and down the river, hoping not to get snagged. After about 10 minutes I was already bored and not 'feeling it', like a fish would (not) devour my lure. So I decided to pack up and try another spot. I had a bit of luck finding my next spot - it was actually the first spot I wanted to check out, but some youths were there the first time I rode along, and they seemed to be getting bites. Now they had vacated and I had the spot to myself. I had enough of flicking a lure around, so I reverted back to bait - the prawns I bought at the Footscray Market like a month ago. The bait hardly had time to sink to the bottom before they were devoured by a healthy looking bream. I got another one straight after that as well. As soon as the bait was hitting the water it was getting 'smashed'. I kept downsizing my hooks until I ended up using the no.14 flyhooks I usually use for Carp. While this increased the hookup rate, I was still feeding a lot of fish! The prawns seemed to be coming off the hook a little too easily...

After a while I caught a very unusual fish. At first I thought it was a flathead gudgeon, but as this was estuarine water it couldn't have been, so then I thought I must have caught a Tupong, because it does look a little like a flathead. I was so very excited and proud of myself before I caught another, and another (and another). When I got back home I did a little research (including posting on the fish ID section of this forum) and am now under the impression I caught a Goby. I am now suspect I have inadvertently returned a potentially noxious pest to the water alive - something I am not in the habit of doing! I still have so much to learn in the salt. Ah well, you live, you learn.

Besides this little faux pas I had a pretty good day - I caught my first Bream in the 'Nong and added another species to the ever expanding list of estuary/salt water fish I have caught. It was also the first time I've been fishing in an estuary when they've been 'on'. Sure, no monsters, but they were still fun to catch. And to think that I nearly went to Cherry Lake today and/or stayed in bed. I'm not really one to talk as I've spent the past 3-5 years almost exclusively chasing Carp, but sometimes, just sometimes, it pays to get out of your comfort zone...

:water:

Tupong

This unusual fish is included here entirely out of consideration for out readers. We would not like anyone who is decent enough to buy this book to experience the shock we felt when we hooked our first tupong. Because, prior to this date, we had not heard of the tupong.

From the Concise Handbook of Australian Fishing (1947) by “Taggerty”, National Handbook No.19, Robertson & Mullens Limited, Melbourne, p.23

P.S. Just replace the word 'Tupong' with 'Goby' from the (historical) excerpt above