macbilly

re your problem with mullet taking your bread ,what a lucky man you are the bully mullet is a fantastic fitghter on light tackle ,love to catch them .About floaters dog biscuits are the way to go,mullet wont touch them,why dont you go down with conventional bait and fish the bottom,there are some mighty fish down there.Hot evenings in summer are your best times,and i have seen some very large carp swimming aroun taking flies in the summer evenings.But it matters not because all fishings fun,however you enjoy it so tight lines Macbilly

You have come a long way since you fished those dum creeks full off eels,you have found a great spot,that people drove byand have amazed mewith the way you have made it produce.Well done,i have looked at it many times never botherd to fish it,shows what a dummy i am.More strengh to your arm ,and thank you for those excellent photos. cheers Macbilly

Once again we are in your debt with your excellent vidios,you deserve sucess with the effort you put in to your catching, good luck you are going to catch the big one that your effort deserves . Macbilly

I thank you for that most entertaining blog,we all fish our way and it was ineresting to see your way,fishing is fun anyway.Love to meet you one day on the bank,you are a good fisherman,and work with some very good gear,not very cheap.thanks again Macbilly

Sir your idea no doubt will happen sometime in the distant future,but why would us fortunate anglers need one.You mentioned big fish 25kg fish have been banked and still are,but ofton with the need of privacy.So at the moment your idea to me has little attraction as i have the most wonderful wild carp fishing in this country.Having been the subject of the sad effects of private overpriced fishing in my youth,i revell in freedom to fish relitivly freely.,but this is just my view,but good luck to you whatever,but our humble carp will always take a back place to our ,native sports fish. tight linesMacbilly

the most important thing is intelligence to add to any bait macbilly

Sir you are coming to a great place.Do not take dumb advice I live in carp paradise in N S W ,dont know about brisbane,but the carp fishing is fab[if you know how].Some of your english methods might not work as well,but you will have a ball.Due to the feeling about the native fish carp are not popular with everybody[ like polititians] but opinion is changing so cheer up,how fortunate you are. tight lines Macbilly

Watching the golf at the lakes in Sydney,what a fishy looking spot,any info has anybody fished it?More than likly you will go to hell but whats that got to do with it when the carp are big.heard away back that it had potential but never followed it up.Perhaps? cheers macbilly

Very interesting long distance casting for carp.Most important on certain types of water i e hard fished waters or big open type water,very good overseas,but Aussie waters fish well closer in .easy to hit bites easyer to get burly in.I try to bring fish in close with my burly.But who says I am rirght,enjoy your fishing your way and good luck to you cheers Macbilly

We are now in prime time guys,whats happening? hows the fishing? My favourite time for carp & mullet I got an excuse I am old,but i am getting out this week as Ihave had good reports on water colour & temp ,so I exspect to catch .But what about you gun fishos I really look forward to your reports and pics.Some of you amaze me with your catching & photography. Anyway cheers Macbilly

Dont worry about the bull sharks we have heaps of them everywhere ,but you will find some excellent freshwater fishihg here,and Ihave no doubt that you will catch some big fish including Cyprio. Cheers Macbilly

Funny subject to bring up but with the methods introduced by english thinking on carp i e bolt rigs fixed leads etc, Iwonder if it is better than some of our methods.Ihave seen great results from fishing a slack line no lead or very little also under the right conditions Ihave had good results on the float but it does not matter really as long as its fun.tight lines Macbilly

Just been looking at some great pics of carp being caught on the pole.Never tried it myself but it is a very admirable form of fishing.However it could be hard here with the size of our average carp.NSW does produce some fantastic carp fishing both in size and numbers,so it would be interesting to hear from pole anglers about their catches,how about guys? cheers. macbilly

Chris has proved it with a remarkable carp taken in a very difficult water,yes he is right there are very bigcarp in australia.Divers who inspect dam walls have told me, trawler skippers have caught them in their nets, now all you young anglers have got to do is put in all that fun work and put some monsters on the bank.You will i have no doubt,but wether you will do it with conventional methods could be the problem,food for thought. cheers Macbilly

Had the chance to go fishing with Ben our moderator .It was like a tackle show for me t he best carp gear ihave ever seen he modestly said it had cost ////// and i was agast that any one could be so keen.I also got a lesson in latest rigs and methods.he should start a school. Anyway i can reco mmend him, incidently we caught a few fish as well cheers macbilly

Been a slow year this far for carp [for me ]not for some of the dedicated who have been fishing the H awksbury area.The weather has cooled and i have found my best i e biggest come from now on. My prebaiting seems to work better now some of the natural foods have died off.Weed is less problem as well.now as you all know carp to 25kg have been taken from the hawksbury from one of my spots,so hope springs eternal,as with all anglers.So how fortunate we are to have such wonderful unrestricted fishing.there is heaps of room guys on the river,hope to see some. of you there doing well.cheers Macbilly

Being an expert on catching some of the biggest snags in Australia,sorry no photos,i give this advice.P ut the rod down,take the line in your hand,turn your back and walk away.Glasses are a safe feature that should always be worn.Common sense i know but?I wear a life jacket in case i hook a really big one. cheers macbilly

What an interesting post.You reminded us that there are hazards when fishing and excitment takes over.You caght a few fish however so was still good .Interesting about your drag set up, as i set my drags open bail arm,and use the Dick Walker method finger on the spool.It can rebound and i have burnt my finger when one of those fish that dont fight takes off..Good luck to you in you future endevours in that mucky old lake cheers Macbilly

Got to do it,have always used Mitchell reels some good[french] some awfull [korean]. Time for a change, small with a good drag system.There are heaps of cheap reels but ?So i would like some advice,practical experience, of you favourite would be most interesting. Happy fishing year to you all . MACBILLY

Fridge busted heaps of bad meat.Great i bread the grea test maggots i have ever seen with my Tbone steak,a bucket full.Straight up the river .Steady feeding not a bite,dumb fish dont they know how good maggots are,perhaps they are not used to them ,anyway saved the day with a tin of corn.But thats fishing,cheers lads macbilly

Is it a good idea for group s of individuls to promote private carp fishing ie secret information,secret fishing areas.we had it in england it was pretty stinky.i see it is being promoted here in the intrests of better fishing,sounds like govt bull so i hope it fails,but it wont,thin edge of the wedge.we have great fishing open and free dont let them stuff it cheers macbilly

Thank you for your interesting and informed comments.The maize store is ajacent to my house so have no excuse,i use corn with reasonable results,but hey thats what fishing is about learning.Oh and fun.For very big fish i still use big balls of bread minimum lead big hooks too,try it tight lines lads Macbilly

some very good anglers are having some remarkable results,they use lots of maize for burly,is it the smell? how do you use it? can you put it on the hook,or do you use pop ups? interesting isnt it . cheers macbilly

I use a very big net used for sea fishing,never catch spines in it as the mesh is big,got a cord thru the mesh at the top of the net.this cord takes the strain off the handle with big fish,rough and ready perhaps,but a very expensive english import could not handle it very disapointed.Keep nets for small carp have that soft fine mesh and i find trouble with the spines.big carp i return quick after a big fight they get stressed.i have never understood how people can sack biggies untill there mate gets a camera. cheers macbilly

addenda to my comments about the stocking of the water that is producing these remarkable carp.the stockist told me that he put in 12 commons in 20 yrs ago, so there some more biggies there for you keen anglers. cheers macbilly