Warburton Blackies

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Truedogz
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Warburton Blackies

Post by Truedogz » Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:23 pm

Hi All

The old Defender was due for a service in Melbourne today and to get away from the Goulburn Valley heat I drove down to the Warburton area to camp and try and get a good night's sleep! I also spent a couple of hours fishing a stream I haven't visited before checking it out for my old friends the Gippsland blackfish.

As you can see from the pic the stream is not very big - it doesn't need to be to hold decent blackfish. In general I have found that those with sandy bottoms, like this one, have lower densities of blackfish than those with gravel bottoms but the average size can be quite good:
stream.jpg
Within 15 minutes I had my first blackie from this spot. I simply placed a worm rigged with a small sinker in under the shade of the ferns near their roots:
1st spot.jpg
This is the fish, around 20 - 25 cm long:
1st blackie.jpg
A little while later I picked up a much better one from beneath an undercut bank, in the 30 - 35 cm range:
2nd blackie.jpg
I came across this terrific looking spot, a log across the stream with a raft of foam on top of a quiet area. I knew there had to be good one in here!:
nice spot.jpg
And here he is, a solid blackfish that would be close to 40 cm long: This is the best pic; I took a couple of others, but in the dim light from the shade of the ferns they were blurred with the fish also jumping around. In the hot conditions I tried to get the fish quickly back to the water. You can see from my boots that as they increase in size the blackies become quite deep in the body:
nice blackie.jpg
Finally, I picked up this small trout in a pool; I saw a few others but I wasn't targeting them:
trout.jpg
So there you have it, a couple of hours fishing on Melbourne's doorstep for four fish, two of which were quite reasonable blackfish - and from a stream I've never fished before. They were caught from about 3 - 5 pm so you can catch them during the day in streams like this one.

Best Wishes

Truedogz

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by purple5ive » Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:34 pm

Nice work mate.
Don't have to catch big fish to have fun .
Thanks for sharing

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by Lightningx » Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:37 pm

Great report and pics.
Nice work :thumbsup:

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by happyfriggincamper » Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:49 pm

Nice work will - you are certainly a Fisherman to admire!

Paulanderson
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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by Paulanderson » Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:37 pm

A good afternoon there Will - that 40 cm Blackfish has certainly been eating well. It's amazing what you can get out of a very small stream that many people just go past.

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by davek » Tue Jan 30, 2018 4:39 am

Nice fish Will, I'll try and match them when I'm down that way next weekend, :thumbsup: cheers davo
It's an exhilarating feeling catching a fish
But it's an even better feeling releasing them

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by smile0784 » Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:36 am

Nice little effort

Texas
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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by Texas » Tue Jan 30, 2018 10:42 am

Well done Will

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by Boonanza » Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:21 pm

Nice report as usual Will :thumbsup:
A smart person knows what to say. A wise person knows whether to say it.

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Re: Warburton Blackies

Post by smokin_reels » Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:44 pm

Nice work Will! :thumbsup:
There is always more to learn , fish to catch , places to see and friends to make.

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