G'day fishos. I got a couple of very old solid fibreglass rods in to repair this week and it got me thinking of how lucky we all are to see the evolution of fishing tackle in recent history.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Heavy cane and solid glass rods have given way to hollow glass and ultra-light graphite materials turning our rods into highly powerful and sensitive fishing tools, even if they are a little fragile in the wrong hands.
Some reels these days have as much engineering and technology in them as Armstrong had on him when he jumped out of that little landing craft onto the moon you'd reckon when you look at them and pick them up and realise how light and smooth they are.
Cold forged gears with finer teeth have been designed in conjunction with better quality sealed bearings and superior oscillation systems to give fishermen unbelievable cranking power for larger saltwater fish so you can now use much smaller reels than ever before.
Some of the new bait casters out there have their own little generators in them and apply 1000 pulses per second to the spool when you cast so the reel can't backlash and tangle.
Line has also advanced so much, with super thin braided lines made from materials that were designed for use in bulletproof vests giving fishos the freedom and opportunity to use much heavier breaking strains on much smaller and lighter equipment than ever before.
How lucky are we to have been born in this era.
Cray season! Yep, cray season starts on Saturday, June 1 which is next Saturday.
The rivers are very low but that's normal at cray time and if the amount of crays that are being caught on rod and reel while angling is any indication, we should be in for a great start to the season.
At A GLANCE
Dartmouth (64.1%): has picked up a bit over the past week and rose .2 per cent in that time as well. We've had quite a few reports from up that way, with most having success in varying degrees
While we didn't hear of any huge bags of fish, most fishos bagged one or two, with the great news being most were flat lining.
Lyn and Burnie Muir picked up two nice rainbows on Thursday in a four-hour session, one on a "Sting" cobra and the other on an "A C Invader".
Cobras, Tassie's, and minnow-style lures are all taking fish, with the wall area around into the eight-mile and the main basin being as good as anywhere.
Fenders or cowbells with worms also worked well again.
I'm not sure what was on up there last weekend but there were about 40 cars and trailers at the ramp, which is usually a good sign.
It's also a great sign for the Dart Cup which is only a couple of weeks away.
Streams: were still looking great but could colour up a bit if we get a decent drop out of the predicted rain.
Predictions weren't for bucket loads so they shouldn't be affected too much and will probably do more good than harm.
Don't forget there's only a couple of weeks left in the trout season in both states too.
Eildon (35.78%): has also been pretty good to cod fishos lately, with similar tactics to those used in Mulwala working well.
Send your fishing photos and details of your catch to 0475 953 605 or 0475 947 279.
Lake Hume (15%): has started to rise a little and is still producing some good yellas around the timber. Despite the cool weather, they are still having a crack at those slow rolled grubs with a couple of rippers picked up again last week. Jake Hill nailed a few, with the best being 64cm.
The reddies haven't been brilliant but there's still a few being picked up on bait.
Below the wall: is very low but there has been a few trout showing up so may be worth a visit.
Mulwala: has been patchy, with some great cod being caught but a lot of fishos are catching bugger all too. There are lots of swimbaits being cast around during the lower light hours to catch those big ones.
Trolling a spinnerbait or smaller hard body seems to be producing a few fish as has bait, but they have been a bit tough for most.
The river below Mulwala has picked up a bit with decent reports from a lot of towns a long way downstream as well.
Blowering (29.7%): is similar, lots of keen anglers out during the night picking up the odd great fish but bait and casting/trolling during daylight hours has also been productive with some really nice cod showing up.
Josh Read picked up three solid fish over a few sessions, with the biggest being around the 1.100 mark.
These were all caught casting large lures in daylight hours despite putting in the hard yards at night as well.
The cod have certainly improved in the past week in lakes just about everywhere and it's possibly not a coincidence that most of those lakes have also started to rise at the same time.
Improved catches also coincided with the full moon last weekend so it'll be interesting to see if the improved bite continues this week.