Dirty old Nong

Williamstown, Altona, Point Cook, Werribee
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sloth
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Dirty old Nong

Post by sloth » Sun Oct 17, 2021 4:59 pm

The kids wanted a couple of lazy fishing sessions over the weekend so we went to the local. Lazy for us means pretty much fishing out of the boot of the car ... bait runners, small hooks and lots of burley. The kids don't really care about quality - they just want quantity.

With the rainfall I knew the top-end of the system would be fresh so figured mid to lower would be the go. We opted for mid on Saturday and got there about 11am ... was surprised at how high the water was - pretty much over the bluestone and not that far off the top of the banks.
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It was pretty dirty so it would be interesting to see what was around. I figured the inflow of fresh would push the bream down the system but with the water so high and previously uncovered areas under water I wasn't sure if they'd have retreated to the deeper holes and channels or if they'd take the opportunity to be up on the banks foraging.

For lazy fishing I use a running sinker rig with a swim feeder as the weight, down to a small #14 mudeye barbless hook. Bait is a tiny bit of chicken and I give it a dip in a 50/50 mix of oyster and soy sauce before it goes out. Yummy!
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The burley is 50/50 Coles wheat bran and Coles breadcrumbs with just a splash of tuna oil.
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In an hour we ended up landing four bream ... none were noteworthy ... all were around the 20cm if I had to guess.
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Today (Sunday) the kids wanted to go again - by the time we got there though there were a few others who had had the same thought and the car park was a bit squeeze .... the work on the bridge means they've put a line of bouys out and it stretches from the mid-point of the bridge to about the middle of the car park which pretty much means you can't really fish the middle section as the bouy line blocks your casts ... I hate fishing on top of other people (and being fished on top of) so headed further down the system. I don't usually fish the bottom section very much so wasn't too sure what to expect. Parked up on Sims st ... not quite fishing out of the boot - had to walk about 5m ... but we came prepared with camping stools so it was just about bearable :)

The river was running pretty strong as we got there about 2hrs after the high. Casting out maybe 3-4m would see the swim feeder roll along the bottom until it found a spot to nestle. I had one rod running a small 500 size baitfeeder and the other a 1000 Sienna. As usual it was the baitfeeder that landed most of the fish. I'm going to treat myself to another baitfeeder I think - I love fishing with them this way and it certainly makes a difference in hookup rates - the only difference between the two combos I had was the reels.

As soon as the rigs were in the water they were getting nibbles. Generally on the little baitfeeder a nibble turns into a run and then flick the switch and its a hookup. On the sienna you'll get a few got taps and then nothing - either the bait is gone or the fish is spooked. Ended up with three bream in the hour we were down there.

Started off with a juvenile
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Then we got a small run and as my youngest reeled in I think it may have been swimming in towards us as it really didn't put up much of a fight until it got close to the bank ... it woke up at that point and gave a couple of good runs and turned out to be a decent mid-30s chonk which was full of milt
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After that it was just endless small nibbles. I figured the mullet were around and as we weren't hooking up I took the rod out of the holder and decided I'd strike on the smallest of taps.......
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..... Good to see a healthy system :)

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Sebb
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Re: Dirty old Nong

Post by Sebb » Sun Oct 17, 2021 7:10 pm

Wow, never seen Nong water that high before. That's crazy.
You managed to get some in that brown water, good on you 👍
The baitfeeder is the secret! :gj:
------------------------------
A fish is a fish :ft:
No fish is worth a life, stay safe

Nude up
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Re: Dirty old Nong

Post by Nude up » Sun Oct 17, 2021 7:21 pm

Great work kids would have loved it

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KChubbs
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Re: Dirty old Nong

Post by KChubbs » Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:00 pm

Cheers for the post, enjoyed the read! :tu:

intercooledpc2
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Re: Dirty old Nong

Post by intercooledpc2 » Sun Oct 24, 2021 2:23 pm

I enjoyed reading this post, some great tips. Thanks for sharing

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