prof_s_r

Apologies for not posting but work has been full on. Actually got out on the water for myself recently and managed to get the tank that spooled Steve-Bok a month or two ago - at least that's what i'm telling Steve. The tank weighed in at 29lb and was released for others to enjoy. Steve, this came from the same place where you got done by someone placing an island in the way of your fish. Fish are really on the bite at present, heaps of fun. Averaging maybe 70kg plus of fish per session and all still swimming for tomorrows fun.

For the groups i take fishing we had to get a custom made net for landing them as we found the standard nets could not take the large weights on a regular basis. I think we went through 4 of the off-the-shelf nets before this current net came my way by means of a friend who is a metal fabricator with aluminium & stainless steel. Last thing we wanted is to stress fish with net problems as i find the larger fish are a little more fragile than the smaller ones.

Great catch. At a guess they look around the 5kg mark as the stomach area looks pretty solid. Well done.

Reward for effort. A great catch that will take a while to beat. Congrats

When line class fishing we never go without at least 250mtr's + of any size line. When using 1kg pretest - my favourite, i run a 2000 Stradic or 2500 Quantum Energy with modified drag washers and the spool is full to the brim. Also have a spare spool in the bag. On two occasions i can recall i had approx 2/3rd of the spool empty when the drag pressure in the water broke the line. So it's not always about the quantity of line you have but rather how much you need out before water tension & drag breaks the line. We do a huge amount of line class fishing in the ponds, fly & spin, as it's a great way of teaching fishing skills.

Found another great spot in a Pond we have yet to fish. First two hours produced 8 fish on or over 6kg with three over 8kg. I think we'll name it Bok Corner as it will give you a challenge on that heavy gear. We got smoked maybe 4 or 5 times and was not able to stop them on 4kg braid with 10kg leader. Best part was we were standing there looking down on them and they just kept cruising around.

All fish are weighed, measured and some have a DNA sample taken as well. We have tagged in only 5 of our ponds and just hit the 100th tag. Todate no tag captures yet & we have only seen 3 tagged fish swimming. I think that says volumes for the amount of fish we have. Steve's contibution of DNA came by way of a fish scale from a foul hook. The scale was as big as his thumb to the joint. Nice . . .

Chris No I wasn't fishing the session gear, only light gear but it was 4lb braid which I think actually breaks at over 12lb, I usually land upper doubles to low twenties on it without too much trouble. Their is a no lead/sinkers rule so I was just flicking unweighted bread around, which seemed to be the popular method. The braid set-up seemed the strongest option for this finesse style of fishing. Waggler would be ok too, I took my float rod but I quickly determined it was going to be far too light when the first fish I saw within 5 minutes was easily 25lb+ Perhaps need to look at the session rod with a controller float for the really big ones, or something like that. It is no fishing in the park to the general public, but Tony runs the Volunteer Group for fishing in the park, so are long as you are registered as a Centennial Park volunteer and fishing with the group it's allowed. They're no longer killing them but are tagging and releasing them to try to work out what the deal is with the population... they finished off their first 100 tags on sunday (I caught lucky 100!) Seriously I can't wait to go back for another try, maybe we could organise a weekend to catch up, saturday Nepean/sunday Centennial Park, that's if Tony could fit us in. Cheers Steve Fishing is not allowed unless you register with me for the volunteer groups. There is no charge for this and open to anyone who wants to register that is over the age of 7. We also run guided trips for trophy fishing and corporate groups. Would be more than happy to look at a day for a few of you to come in. I think it would be awsome to see a few different styles in action so we could all learn a little and maybe finish it off with a BBQ. maybe have a think about dates in middle of Spring toward Summer when they are on the chew. Anyone wanting to come earlier is welcome, just send a PM if you want. More than enough fish to go round & i don't mind sharing.

Spent the day with a few fisho's searching for the big boys & gals in the ponds. Was joined by Steve_Bok who made the long drive to join us; now thats dedication. The early morning showed promising signs of things to come with Steve hooking a nice starter fish. When things slowed up a bit we moved to another area and found some nice fish cruising in the early sun. A few fish were caught with Steve hooking into another respectable specimen. In total we got 17 fish up to about 10kg. Steve and myself also hooked into two fish that saw us both smoked. Steve's ran maybe 100 to 200 mtr's before taking a left turn and going past an island in the pond. A great day with new friends - can't wait for round two.

I use mostly the bread fly, made same as a glo bug but just in white. Coat it with floatant to make a few that float and a few that sink. Others i use are worms, tadpole / mossi fish / bug. Depends on how they are feeding as to what i throw. Fly rod is 2 or 5 weight depending on how patient i feel. If using bait i have a 1 to 3kg spin stick, usually fishing with spider web light lines. Really interested to see what others are using.

Thought i might ask if anyone can ID this fish. One of the ponds we hit on a regular basis has a massive amount of them and they can grow to 3 + kg from what we have seen. I have been told that they are a goldfish and others say carp. I thought maybe a crucian but apparently not, so i'm told. Body is a different shape in that it much taller from top to bottom and has a different head shape, also no barbels around mouth. Maybe a hybrid ? What do you think as we got plenty

Just to wet your appetite Steve, these were two of the 9 that were caught on Sunday. All were sent back on their way and are waiting for you. I even wrote your name on one of them but you will have to catch them to see which one it was. The mirror went 8.2kg & caught on 2kg pretest. [/img]

Great guess. Not sure where your based but give me a shout if you want to join us.

I think it depends on what part of the Country you live in as views & passions will change. I have always fished salt, since i was 4 and have brought home my fair share of table & sport fish. It's only been the last few years that my views have changed toward catch & release, and i know it's the same for alot of others. I think that goes to show views can change as long as the arguments and facts suport the story being told, although i know it's a very long road. I've only fished Carp for 14 months but have come to respect the fish as a great opponent. I am very spoiled in my area as we have a huge population of large brutes that are managed very strictly and provide great sport as all are currently released, and it was a long road to get to this point. However, it's proof that views can be changed and things are looking forward toward a management style of fisheries that tries to balance between the enviroment & the fish. We now have a happy mix of Carp & Bass, all seem happy to me.

New to the site so hello to all. For me the best fishing is here, smack in Sydney, but only because it's close to home and offers great size fish. No fancy types, mostly just Commons, sometimes a bright Koi. Large water area allows for light lines and long runs. This went 11.54kg / 25lb on 1kg fly. Got three last weekend 8.1kg, 10.4kg & 11.7kg