today's flies - tied for next outing

I have used so many mini white clousers and surf candies on the last two outings
I tied a few more - rather than start work on next years lesson plans

will be filling my boat with water tomorrow trying to find the leak it has.
here's hoping in it easy access and small!!!!!!!

If you can take the heat - great fishing to be had

On the water by 6am

Hot and humid already

A very high cloud mass of a storm is easily seen in the predawn light to the north of the city of Darwin, it has heaps of lightning and rolling thunder. Shouldn’t impact us and our endeavours for a morning’s SWOFFING.

Based on my outing two days ago we are heading straight to Lee Point to fishing the dropping tide.

Hopefully the baitfish will be present and being corralled against the lines of reef, one to three hundred metres offshore of Lee Point by queenfish, trevally, tarpon and macks. We didn't find any tarpon but we are not complaining! (keep reading to see why!)

The water is a little rough - most likely after effects from the series of the nightly coastal storms common this time of year, this morning’s was currently moving offshore to the west.

We get side tracked a few times by working birds on the way to Lee Point- mostly small grey mackerel schools that are very flighty and inconsistent in their movements, and getting anywhere close to the feeding macks, and the birds above them, sees them dispersing faster than we can get there - quite frustrating. Regular deckie, Peter and I call them one of the ‘MMMM’ fish (Maddening Mullet Mackerel and Milkfish) in other words fish that frustrate us when targeting them (usually for no result!).

We catch a virtual aquarium full of species at the various rock bars along the way to Lee Point - but no size - all tiddlers if quite colourful and various. Stripies, baby blue bones, mouth almightys, baby coral trout, and 10 other species I have no idea what they are named. 

On our eventual arrival at Lee Point the wind is dissipating, the water was also calming by the minute, and the birds are working in large flocks in several locations nearby. The unique type of sporadic slashes and splashes on the water’s surface clearly indicate mackerel again. But they are all over the place. Up and down before we can even move to chase at times. Even though and despite being an MMMM fish, we give chase, and we chase, and we get the occasional cast in when they are too busy to notice our approach, and we even get a few macks to hand.

We manage (that is fluke) a few other fish or two. A good queenie, a small giant trevally. I get one good queenie that goes nuts zipping all over the place, then we see the brown smudge of a shark chasing it explaining why it was acting such. I let the drag way off and the queenie alludes the shark but once back into the fight and tight lines again - the shark and this time a mate return. The first shark takes the back half of the 60cm queenie in a cloud of bursting redness. The second shark takes the rest and my fly, my backing streams off rapidly and we are about to give chase when the 20lb leader parts as would be expected with a 3m plus sharp toothed reef shark is connected to you on a mono leader. 

It is now I realize I left my cap that has the head mount for my action cam on the kitchen bench at home – it would have been great to get that action on video! Lucky I brought the railing mounting clip for the cam.

Once a vast pack of 60 -70cm plus queenies hangs under the boat for a while - following flies but not eating them. BUGGER! an awesome sight seeing so many queenies is such crystal clear water.

Questions arise as to fly choice - size colour action, materials - anything to improve the hook up results. We hedge our bets and fish a few different flies. I settle on the 'no see um' mini calf tail clouser baitfish imitation in size #1 and get good hook up rate. But I also used 50mm long surf candies in blue/white, and also in chartreuse/white, for good results too. The queenies seemed very keen on the chartreuse/white surf candy while the trevs liked the tiny white clouser. The macks didn't seemed to care and frustrated our fly experiments by ignoring whatever we cast to them, then a minute later took the same fly with carefree abandon.

We come across a bit of a pressure wave readily seen in the almost calm conditions – most likely caused by the outgoing tide pressing around and over a submerged rocky reef - on the bottom corner of the reef as the tide  flows, fish at constantly busting up the surface attacking the baitfish, along the back and front of the reef more fish are devouring baitfish with abandon. The mackerel are working back and forth and we catch a few, some quite large, as they come within casting range of our anchored boat. Due to lack of wind we can cast in any direction as the fish break the water surface to indicate where to cast to. We catch good queenies to 60cm, trevs to 45cm, and macks to 60-70cm. After a while neither of us have time to count fish caught – it is just cast, strip, “I’m on!", wind in line, net fish, de-hook, toss fish back, cast again – repeat! Over and over. Simply one of the best times we have had on the water up here in Darwin. We would have preferred some larger ones but hey, it was still awesome SWOFFING!

The action for the next 2-3 hours was epic to say the least. Constant double hook ups, rarely was a cast then retrieve done without a follow, several hits or a hook up. We actually were exhausted catching fish and sat down to drink and eat while the fish continued to bust up baitfish schools in every direction from our boat and we were too tired and sore to even put in a cast to the nearest water surface bust up.

Awesome SWOFFING to say the very least. The action was so great we switched over to surface flies for a more visual experience. To have ten to fifteen fish slam your fly in a 30m retrieve was soooo much fun, it should be illegal. Hook ups didn’t even matter. But you never went too many casts using the floating lines and crease flies without a rod getting bent to the handle!

And do you know that we never saw another boat actually fishing and all this only 30mins boat ride from the centre of Darwin city.

Yes it was hot, sweaty and humid but with iced drinks, a few nibbles of food, full and proper sun protection, and resting every now and then to sustain you in such weather conditions - the SWOFFING was out of this world.

On a side note I manage a new PB for a species – this a 68cm Long Tom, schools of them were also into the small baitfish carried along by the fast tidal flow.

The fishing finally slowed to only a few bust ups every few minutes and we thought we would try for a difference experience but with the tide very, very low we had few choices. We visited Weed Reef but I have never ever seen it that exposed and so far from the water. Wickham point too.

For the last hour or so of this outing we hang off the inside gravel bar off Shelly Island waiting for the tide to start to flow in and create a pressure wave. Just like two days ago – like  then it again had small trevs (but this time no queenies - ????) hanging off it readily taking any fly swung across and through the pressure wave.

Peter was had it physically from heat ( and I wasn't far behind) and all the fish we had caught. I had a muscle issue in my casting hand from two days of fighting heaps of fish (so sad isn’t it!).

So, we called it a day and dragged the boat out of the water and headed home – very pleased with ourselves.

I also had permission from the wife to fish the next day (24^th Dec) but I was so fulfilled with my SWOFFING (and physically sore), I stayed home and tied 60 or so more surf candies and 30 tiny white calf tail based clousers.

One bit of bad news, on removing bungs from boat back at home after this outing, almost 60-100 litres of water streams out almost what seemed endlessly from inside the boat. Crap and bugger me!

Seems I have another crack in my hull to be re-welded. That means no boat based SWOFFING for a while.

So the next few blogs will be focusing on boat repair updates and fly tying – might finally do the tying sequences for that Gold Bomber Fly I have promised too many times!

Finally, based on this outing, I suggest despite the hot and humid weather conditions – cover up for the sun, have plenty of fluids (water not beer!) and go catch some fish -  preferably with  flies  you have made yourself!

a boring video on the day's surface action

Darwin Harbour (20141221) with visiting son and his girlfriend

Quite an overcast morning with storm and lighting off to the north

Luckily this storm passed around us much to the relief of my son Bradley and his girlfriend (Casey) visiting from Sydney. Given it was Casey's first  time to Darwin, she was still pretty enough paranoid just about Crocs jumping into the low profile boat I have but I assured her I had not seen any in the harbour for quite a while (funnily I did see a 3.5m one off East Point two days later!).

After a quick ‘look see’ at Shelly Island and Wickham point for naught surface action wise, we popped over to Weed Reef

We got a few smallish giant trevally but nothing consistent. With the wind dying back to almost nothing, we then crossed back over harbour for Katlyn Bay.

                                                                                                             

I was hoping to maybe find the Golden Trevally I have found in the bay previous trips but alas no Goldens this day. When first there, there were  a few medium sized Milkies (70cm or so) hoovering down algae scum off surface in one corner of the bay. However, given my guests were not SWOFFING nuts like myself, I left the harder to catch Milkies alone and instead we chased the small queenies marauding some very small bait at the other end of the bay.

The baitfish being attacked were smaller than I have seen before, only about 3-4mm deep in the body and about 35 to 40mm long. My son was using a small as possible soft plastic but could not match the hatch size wise and still have something with enough weight to cast on the threadline outfit he was using (seems he has forgotten all the fly casting I taught him when I was married to his mum 15 years ago - but then again he was only five at the time!).
So I place a small ball sinker onto his 20lb leader that was tied to his main braid line and tied on a small calf tail based clouser onto his rig. Instant success to say the least. Even his girlfriend (not at all a fisher person on her own account) caught a couple of the small but plentiful skinnies continually bursting the surface with frenzied feeding activity.

Wanting something larger for them to tangle with, we headed towards East Point but nothing seen there so continued on to Lee Point.

As soon as we got to the reefs of Lee Point, a tight pack of about 20 sea birds could be seen working the pressure wave edge created by the dropping tide as it pushed up against the rocky outcrops that parallel the Lee Point headland. We caught some nice 30-40cm GTs and some 50cm queenies while casting to the water under the squawking hovering birds. However, the stiffling hot and humid conditions as well as the fight between wind and tide creating a rocky motion in the boat, got the best of Casey and so I headed back into the harbour dropping her off at Nightcliff Jetty where  my wife picked her up and took her home. The son and I headed the boat towards  the boat ramp at East Arm to meet them at home.

However the tide was way way out 0.5m and the ramp was high and dry. Giving at least an hour before we could even think about hauling the boat out of the water.

Great! More fishing.

We popped back to other side of harbour to Weed Reef again. I haven't been on the harbour at such a low time and we saw reefs and sand bars that I didn't know were even there. At Weed Reef we managed a heap of small trevally – (Giant and Fringed Finned). There were also heaps of really big (and I mean big mother big!) Milkies actively feeding the area. These were not working in waves sucking down algae off the surface but viciously slashing and turning to get at whatever they were eating. They were not interested in the algae flies I have caught them on before, nor the tiny white clousers cast repeatedly in their direction after a boil on the surface used in the hope they were eating the tiny baitfish we had seen earlier in the day at Katlyn Bay. I have had a large Milkie off Lee Point take a large clouser (lost that one as quick as I  hooked it!) while chasing queenies, so they do take flies other than scum  flies.

Frustrating ourselves with these big Milkies eventually saw us heading back to take the boat out but a short stop at Wickham Point gave us some more mini GT action and queenies to delay going to the boat ramp. This occupied us for about an hour. Eventually seeing the time was way after we should have been back, we again started towards the boat ramp at East Point.

However, when zipping past the wharf side of Shelly Island we saw a heap of slashes and bust ups on the surface off the corner of the island this had us stopping for another few casts (or twenty!). Two hours later we eventually headed for the boat ramp, as it took that long for the action to slow down (it wasn't because I was worn out and too old for catching fish as my son suggested!)

The water on this side of the small island near the loading wharf comes from deep water up over the shallow rock bar on this side and goes back down into more deep water. The effect on the water created all sorts of  pressure waves and turbulence – one that must disorientate the baitfish making them easy prey for predatory fish like the GTs and queenies patrolling this stretch of water.
see diagram here abouts for location tips

Cast after cast received hits and takes - giving bent rods and heaps of laughter and smiles from us both enjoying some good father/son bonding. It was great action in the strong flowing incoming tide – for which the hooked fish used well to their advantage to make them seem much bigger than what actually came to hand.

My son and I had an absolute blast casting our flies into the the tip of the disturbed water and letting the flies drift along the face of the pressure wave before starting a staccato type retrieve. Every cast receive some sort of attention. Many, many times we had double hook ups  and raced each other to get the fish in and cast before the other could. We didn't keep score, just enjoyed the constant action and father/son rivalry ---  AND HEAPS OF SLEDGING! over dropped fish or a retrieve that didn't get a take from the frenzied fish.

One fish my son caught a 40cm queenie with a couple of small bites out of its back (quite recently from looking at wound). Which was quite interesting to my son who had to take a picture of it.

So a slowish day to start with but still lots of fun and a few fish from each spot we gave a cast or two - that ended in a great last couple of hours for the trip of non-stop ‘a-cast-a-fish’ action.

Here is a bit of a video clip of the days trip.

             

I will be out again in two days time with my regular fly fishing deckie Canadian Peter Cooke.

Blog report and a bit of video on that outing - up on this blog soon.

Half day trip - Tuesday 20141216

School out for the year, house painted, moved into the bigger side of house, cleaned granny flat we have lived in for last 5 years - so its now fishing time!!!

Popped out early Tuesday morning
Took a couple of local young blokes out to see what was around

Plenty of small trevs around Weed Reef but inconsistent as they moved about heaps
Keen to chase the flies but not so keen to hook up!
when one hooked up always 10 or so similar sized following along

A few really big milkies blowing up surface and their sickle tail cutting the surface. - regularly fascinating the new deckies.

The young blokes are not SWOFFERs - yet!
So used my flies on spin gear to get their trevs
meter of leader material tied to a swivel and small running ball sinker above the swivel, with fly on the end of leader. use like a jig retrieve

however, I was catching two or three to their one - so they are keen for fly casting & fly tying lessons in 2015

The weather was blowy first up. But calmed off around 9am as the wind changed directions
But for the most the wind seemed always in the wrong direction no matter where & what structure was being cast at.

Though the wind was nice as it was was mega hot and steamy. It cooled the sweat constantly rolling down the body (and into the eyes). High levels of sun protection needed on the water this time of year.

The young guys got small giant trevs and a few small estuary cod
Still Enough to inspire them towards more fishing and eventually some SWOFFING!
I got the same trevs a& a few small queenies but nothing worth bragging at the pub about

Out with son who is up from Sydney, this Friday (but more tide movement than today so might be better results). Look for blog of that outing soon.
(Currently sitting in Darwin airport waiting for his plane to arrive)

I am still in land of living......

I am still in the land of the living but you wouldn't think it given how long since I have blogged

Crazy life at times and with school reports, painting, and other daily stuff so not much fishing lately

But I have my son coming up in a week or so
and a fly fishing mate from Perth coming up for a weeks  remote swoffing in January
over all 6 weeks of school holidays to fish at least three or four times a week weather permitting

Classes are winding down at school
So have started tying for all this SWOFFING I will HOPEFULLY be doing
I have also earned heaps of brownie points with the internal house painting so hopefully will get the time to get some serious swoffing done

Here are some soft blue surf candies I tied today for the Pelagics in the harbour
very Simple pattern to tie:........
Tie in white fibres and a touch of blue
Synthetics last longer with the toothy pelagics
while naturals look better
- choice is yours
you can even go all white

once tied in, tie off thread
then give a light layer of epoxy to the hook shank area, leaving tail section free to flutter in the current
Put on drying rotor till epoxy is set - don't be in a rush even if it takes three or four layers to build up a clear body over the tied in materials on the hook shank
Give enough layers of epoxy till appropriately sized body for the size prism eyes you are using
Again dry each layer on drying rotor
Add prism eyes, add more epoxy
More drying on rotor

Go SWOFFING - too easy

my 20 year old drying rotor

I have caught 30plus fish on the same fly before changing flies. So thanks to Mr Popovics we have a great tough as nails pattern that best of all catches most species out there.