Tying the Rabbit Thing - a.k.a the Barra Thing

Rabbit Thing for the fresh

              (and Barra anywhere for that matter)

Once bought a fly tying kit from FlyWorld for this fly - been using it every since

mine a little different to the version they supplied

but it is my go to fly in the fresh water of Corroboree Billabong which is about an hour from my front door (soon to be 20minutes once I move to my rural block next year!)

One of the easiest flies to tie, not many materials but so vibrant in colour combos and alive with movement through the water - even stationary, so you can fish it really, really slow

here we go - lets tie some!

Tie in eyes of desired weight and size- I tie them at a point that is 1/4 of hook shank back from hook eye

Tie in Weed-guard - I use a 20lb plactic coated wire for this but any type of weed guard will do

Tie in some flash - here I am using some red and black flash

Tie in a strip zonker at  the hook bend             (I use 'Texas cut' zonker strips here a slightly wider zonker but sadly thicker means less movement and waggle of tail - its all a playoff depending on what your after)

 

Palmer in some contrast zonker, some would use crosscut fur but I feel zonker flares more when wrapped in this manner.

I sometimes add another collar same colour as tail upfront. 

That's it,     too easy!

Tie it some friends and go fishing.Works well in pink/white, yellow/chartreuse and other combinations. I usually have a very full box of these when saratoga or barra are potential targets, jacks like them too!

On a comp pre-fish Tim Davis got a 72cm on a dark combination fly while I got my few fish on one with a white tail with a red collar. 

So colour we thought was not critical. However, we felt the key of any fly in use is profile, movement (rabbit fur comes alive in the water!) and placement

Critically though - Got to get it close to structure if not in it - hence the heavy  Weed-guard. Bend it into place, just before you fish with it to help storage until use 

20151106 - Darwin Harbour

Well not the best day on the water........

First the fish just didn't want to play

I found some activity along East Arm wharf and sadly while the dock workers were watching I didn't catch any of the active fish

Found a pack of queenfish in front of the Naval area but after being quite active once I hooked one they just disappeared with out another boil, slash or ripple

Off Kaitlyn Bay I found some fish feeding and was tail hit a few times of first retrieve - then this dopey old bugger drives right through the area I was casting to tell me about active birds and fish further back 300m. Still didn't get the hint at my annoyance of his arrival when I told him the fish were also where he just went through and he just wished me luck.

I travelled all around the harbour looking for fish - caught only two, the one described before, the other off a large school of long finned batfish = this one a queenie too. I followed this school from a distance casting to its edge as it moved along Lee Point Reef - till out of frustration of only catching one fish after plenty of good casts, I went in for a closer look and saw what they were - bugger. Have hooked them before they go hard but difficult to get them to take the fly.

After such a good few last outings this one was quite the 'bummer' and a 'downer'
Add to this that the electric motor got fried with heaps of electrical smoke coming out of the control box - will have to pull that apart to check out what happened
Add to this that my boat trailer is starting to look quite rusted out (i.e. big money!)
And the wife hassling me about all the fishing I have been doing (even though she suggested it!)
And she is nagging me that I should have done more maintenance on the trailer!!!
And all the work I have missed while on long service leave - that will still need to be done
60 tests and 180 unit reviews to be marked next week and up date my lesson programs (that no one will ever read!!!)
So feeling a little pressured at the moment - probably would not feel this way if had I caught more fish today.

Oh well, lets go fishing to Bynoe on Sunday!
until then  - tight lines and fast fish

Silicone Surf Candy - tying method

So what was the number one fly for me in the last few outings – the Silicone Surf Candy

A very simple fly to tie (and mould!)

tails tied on - 3 tail materials from top - Flash'n'Slinky, goat, bucktail
no silicone applied yet

I use several different tail materials but my favourite would be the white goat hair (middle on in image on the right).

But I used a variety of synthetics and naturals depending on what I have available

The greatest component of this fly is the silicone as it created a fly that doesn’t sink as fast as the conventional epoxy coated surf candy

I also feel it has a better feel in the predator's mouth as it crunches through the nail polish shell into the silicone underneath - just like s predator biting through a fish's scales into the softer flesh underneath of a real baitfish.

If you look back over the recent fishing report blogs and this fly has been THE FLY most times for trevally (Brassie, Giant, Fringe Finned, and Golden), Mackerel, and Queenfish. Plus plenty of reef species – jacks, stripies, snappers etc.

Like I said very, very simple to tie – with a bit of moulding of the silicone the factor that most might have trouble with but easy once you have a bit of practice.

I usually tie in batches of 20-40 to maximise my tying – tie on material to every hook before applying silicone to any individual fly. Once silicone on each fly and partly dried add eyes and gills, then nail polish

Recipe –

                   Hook:                                o'shaughnessy hooky

                   Thread:                              what ever type – I use white mostly

                   Tail:                                  bucktail, goat hair, Flash’n’slinky  or what ever

                   Under body:                       Holographic ribbon flash 

                   Over body:                         Clear Silicone                
                   Eyes:                                 Prism eyes black on sliver

                   Gills:                                 Red marker pen

                   Finish:                               Clear nail polish

Tying Method

• Step one lay down a bed of thread hook eye to hook bend
• At hook bend tie in tail material this about ¾ in length of the length of the hook shank when using a long shank hook, if using a short shank hook this tail material should be equal to hook length
• Tie in the ribbon of holographic material at hook bend
• Advance thread to hook eye
• Wrap hook shank with holographic ribbon, tie off behind hook eye
• Tie off thread

• Dip fingers into mixture of water and 20 or so drops of detergent. avoid over use of this mixture as it may stop the silicone sticking to the hook shank and holographic material
• Take a dollop of clear silicone and mould evenly around hook shank between hook eye and hook bend. 

Goat hair tail on left, Flash'n'Slinky tailed version on right - no gills yet

• Set aside an hour or two to dry – at least almost dry to touch
• Add on prism eyes
• Set aside till dry and semi hard
• Draw on gills with red permanent marker
• Allow this to dry for a few hours – as when applying nail polish it can run if brushes too much
• Give a couple of layers of nail polish to top and sides

That's it - Go fishing

Great fly, easy to tie – catches every thing!!!!

     So go tie 20 or 40 and get 'em into the water so things in salt water can eat them and make your flyline sing through the water!!!

You can vary the size depending on the hook size and length, while the thickness and shape depends on hook gap size and your artistic prowess

For larger versions you will need to build up body thickness with other materials like string, before wrapping with holographic ribbon. Then again apply a thin even layer of silicone over these materials. With black, green and blue and other coloured permanent marker pens you can be quite creative with your flies.

Enjoy – tie a few of them, then go SWOFFING!!!!

The Stig, 

Postscript: Am off to fish the harbour on Friday (tomorrow) with this fly - the fly will work great but I don't know how I will go as I am still sore from all the SWOFFING I have been doing over the last two weeks - my shoulders are tight, my back is sore, my wrist is aching from old sporting injury inflamed by too much casting, I have tennis elbow (a swelling of the tendon where is connects to the bone - I think?) - either from all the casting I have been doing or from the fencing I did four weeks ago - but probably both! Worse still, no matter who I tell this sad story of body soreness to, nobody seems to have sympathy for me - is it just because I am fly fishing too much lately?? 

What horse race? - I was fishing!

Biggest horse race in Australia today - the horse race which stops the nation
Not for me as I had time time to go fly fishing
Late onto the water this time as......

Got up late as I promised to help get wife and kids off to school, bought a few things from the shop for a class I didn't want anyone else to teach during my long service leave - a year 10 Marine Studies subject where we collect and document marine species (that is 'fish' for specimens on high tides, search on rock platforms on low tides).

one of my students with a fish she 'collected' (caught) today

But that class was at 10:40am - conveniently held at East Arm boat ramp and its high tide at 10:30am today. I had arranged the school bus driver to have them at the ramp at just the right time.

So prior to that I had 2 hours of SWOFFING time - yes!!!
A fast run to Wickham Point had me seeing fish - these around the sand/gravel bar behind the couple of trees amongst the furthest rocks from the shoreline.
They didn't take or show interest in the fly i was casting -

Then I see a disturbance about a 100m out from the trees on the mud flats north of Wickham Point. So use the electric to move closer and investigate

The water was super smooth, zero wind - so easy to see things happening
Once I arrived, it was a few large manta rays, 10 or so feet across - wing tip to wing tip
They were looping over and over back-flipping in the process
All the while they were scooping thousands of bait into their mouths

And guess what was hanging of them eating the dregs - a few hundred small trevally

A cast across the back of the flipping rays with a silicone surf candy or a small white clouser resulted in a hookup most casts. So with the two hours I had over 30 trevally to hand. A few sub thirty centimetres , most 40-45cm. Absolutely awesome fun

Then the alarm on my phone went off to tell me time to head back to ramp to take my class
bugger!
So hard to leave fish biting in such awesome conditions and circumstances.

The students were enthused to see me as I tied up my boat to the end of the floating platform at the boat ramp and bagging me out about my dress style (sun smart!)

We had a good time with students collect several specimens

a small jellyfish that was collected - yet to be identified - homework for students

Until the wind came up from the north-west
This wind would bugger my options for the afternoon given its steady increase in speed

While I was waiting for the class to end, my constant thought was the question of whether to take boat out of the water or go fishing?
So at 12:30pm despite the white caps I head back out of the harbour to find some fish

It is a slow trip past East Arm Wharf with a good sized chop slamming into the boat, every lift and fall has wind assisted salt spray hitting me.
But I keep going - eventually getting to Stokes Wharf and begin to search for fish along the foreshore with the idea to eventual head towards Kaitlyn Bay. The water here while still wind swept only has a riffle of chop.

About halfway to Doctor's Gully, I see some birds working the up current side of a little rock bar that juts out from the area off from the derelict water tank. The wind was opposite to the tide flow, so trying to drift into the working birds would be difficult.
  
None of that matters when I spied the golden ball of fish about the size of my boat working under the birds. What a rush of excitement I felt stripping line off the reel for that first cast at the golden ball of fish harassing the baitfish school.

I cast quickly, instantly hooking up - the fish tries to stay with its mates and really goes hard. Awesome!!!
It breaks me off - bugger!

There seems to be three packs of golden trevally roaming the area.
I soon worked out that if I cast late and the fly sank in front of the moving packs I would get a small golden but if I cast 4 or so metres in front of the writhing mass of fish letting the fly sink right to the bottom (about four feet deep) and hope the pack continued on its original path (not always!) - then as the fish moved over the fly start my retrieve - I would hook up to the the bigger fish

The small ones were 35-40cm, with most around 50cm. While the biggest I caught went 67cm to fork and put up such an awesome fight as it tried to stay with the school - twice it took me well into my backing trying to stay with its mates.

17 golden fish came to the net, and 6 bust offs for the afternoon session - what a great day I had experienced - the mantas-trevally in the morning and the goldens in the afternoon.

When I got back to the ramp, some lure tossers were complaining about their wasted day with no fish to hand and that they should have watch the big horse race.

I replied "What horse race? = I was catching fish!"
           - horses don't take the fly (or could they? - a hay fly maybe)

So after that outing (and the other 5 trips in the last 9 days) - and even though some say I am spoilt -
          I still need one more trip before the weekend - Thursday or Friday

Then there's Sunday at Bynoe with Canadian Pete (not that name for much longer he tells me he got 100% for his citizenship test - well done Peter!)
Better tie some more silicone surf candies as I have none left in the fly box!

until next trip report

GO SWOFFING - no better way to catch a fish

Monday 2nd November - Darwin Harbour trip report

Well I didn't end up fishing by myself as suggested in previous blog
I recalled an old friend whom I went to uni with that I have been meaning to take fishing so many times and haven't as yet for various reasons and interruptions

When we first met I was just finishing a double degree and he was just starting one, I used to fish in the mornings before lectures started and bring back fish for the guys who hadn't the time or gear to go fishing as much as I had. I used to fly fish off the rocks for bonito, aussie salmon, tailor and kingies south of Catherines Beach, Newcastle. Sometimes they were thick like oil slicks on the water - and real suckers for a well stripped fly - particularly a blue-white surf candy or a white crease fly with a blue back

I was in the men's dorm but my mate lived just on the edge of the uni campus. We called it Nappy Valley where the married units were, due to all the babies in the area.
He now works up here and I have been meaning to take him out fishing for quite a while

So a quick SMS the night before saw us leaving the ramp in the predawn light
I have been telling my uni mate for a long time about the great fishing here in the harbour
And he never used to fish but since coming up here he has caught the fishing bug

He fishes only landbased on the bridge and jetty at the boat ramp on the Elizabeth river
He has caught a few fish but mostly drowning baits and waiting for the fish to eat
I call it 'dangling' not fishing
So when I tied a fly on the end of his spin gear - his entire body language said
         ---    "WTF, you have to be F%$$&**G kidding me!"
(not that he would say such words as he is a pastor of a church in Palmerston)

So off to Stokes Wharf and work our way along to Kaitlyn bay - nothing and nothing
There was the most awesome sun rising over the city skyscrapers though

So then off we go to Weed Reef = Nothing - even with conditions looking perfect
Then off to talc head and the small bay behind it - Nothing!
Then off to the rock bar south of Mandorah Jetty + Nothing!!
Then the Mandorah jetty itself - nothing!!!!
Then the reef past the jetty - Still NOTHING!!!!!!

All my past stories and bragging to him have come back to haunt me!
He was being polite and telling me the drive around the harbour was all he needed to de-stress - catching the fish didn't matter
But Bugger me - the pressure was on!!

I told him about recent trips to East Point as we headed over in that direction, I mentioned the little rock bar and the working birds and fish under them we had got into most trips last week - but was this going to be another empty spot????

Well finally the birds were there and so were the fish - just like I had told him moments before
(thank the fishing gods!!!)

Actions stations for the first time that morning - both of us keen as.
My mates first cast towards the birds was a little short but he hooks up to a nice 40cm trevally first wind of the handle - he is loving it! Lip hooked, fly in top lip.
2nd and 3rd cast he hooks up again -again after a few turns of the handle but busts them off playing hard ball with little respect for these small trevally using the tidal current to their full advantage
After retying leader, sinker and fly to his rig for second time - I back off his drag (from full tight 'don't give any line' level) and tell him to enjoy the run and play the fish, take your time - enjoy

While all this happening I have caught a several queenies and one trevally too
Fourth cast of my mate - nothing, but fifth cast he is on again with only three turns of the handle
This time he plays the fish and uses the rod to tire out the fish - now he is really enjoying himself
even a yahoooo when it finally rests in the environet

We play here with the fishes here for an hour or so - then leave them biting to try another spot - Lee Point
Now all week Lee Point hasn't been at its best but it will complete the ride around the harbour

On arrival we find the birds working the back end of my favourite spot
Tide in the opposite direction to when I normally fish the reef but the fish are still there
A mixture of macks and queenies

After a fair bit of mucking around with the anchor and drift lines we finally get into a position to take full advantage of the aggressively feeding predators

My mate is thoroughly enjoying himself - with fish after fish coming to the net

He has a few species in the esky now, good bragging rights with his wife - who was a little mift due to only room for two in my boat (she has been getting into the fishing too!)
He had to take a few flies to try out later

We both agree to do this again soon
A great mornings fishing and home by lunchtime

until next time - the harbour has more to it then you might think!

Day 4 (last outing) of Father and Son fishing Darwin Harbour

So off early again but we were delayed by a flat tyre = well blown tyre that was absolutely shredded. after only a few metres of hearing the noise. As my normal rear tyres have worn down to slicks I replaced them with my trailer spares while waiting for some BF Goodridge all-terrains to be delivered - told none in town till December 16th = not happy!. Not sure what cause the blow out but it happened and lets get it changed!

So off the side of McMillans Rd we changed the rear driver side ute tyre - it was a bugger of a job as the mechanism that holds the spare tyre under the truck has rust up and it took quite an effort to get it loose - note to self: grease and check the mechanism from now on!!!!!

Finally on the way to ramp but not as early as originally planned.

the hooded father and son

Expecting the forecasted stronger winds, we hug the city cliffs looking for fish, we see the third giant passenger liner for the week docking at Stokes Wharf. The Darwin government should really make a priority the beautifying of this area for the visitors coming off these boats. That empty block of land in front of docking area is not exactly promoting Darwin as a modern tropical city.

The Latest Stokes Wharf visitor

We motor on out of the harbor and find some splashes near a yellow bouy out from the esplanade area halfway to Doctor's Gulley area. There were massive amounts of bait moving through the area hugging close to the muddy clouds in the water. As the bait got close to the edges of the mud clouds the predators would strike rapidly ( but the inconsistency in their arrival and location was impacting our efforts and success)

We caught several fringe finned trevally - again not very big. Would be great fun on 2weight rod or for kids learning to fly fish as the species is quite aggressive and very willing to take a small surf candy or white clouser, plus short casts as the species as not afraid of the boat nearby. Plus thousands of them at times.

We continued along the shoreline looking for activity. Which ended up being along the drop off of Kaitlyn Bay again. Same scenario as the yellow beacon earlier with baitfish hiding in the muddy clouds in the water. Again the predators were inconsistent. We increased our blind casing chances by casting along the edges of the muddy clouds. We managed to snag a few queenfish this way.

We noticed that wind had dropped to almost nothing and the harbour is mirror calm (again poor info from the BOM which predicted the opposite) Thinking that Weed Reef would be more exposed by now given the raging tidal flow on this side of the harbour, off we go expecting the conditions of Wednesday's awesome fishing.

on the way to Weed Reef - so smooth!

But on arrival the tide was hardly flowing at all and only the tips of the trees were exposed. Weird to see no tide flow here and yet only a kilometre away on other side of the harbor - a raging tidal flow.

Weed Reef  as smooth as - with just the tips of the mangroves showing

We hang round for an hour waiting for the action to start but no go. We speculated that the phase of tide combined with timing of sunrise on Wednesday were the factors of the awesome action on Wednesday. We saw a couple of slashes but that was it.

So no fish this morning at Weed Reef, so off to Mandorah to check things out. We found the tide still quite high but there were packs of queenfish working over the baitfish as they crossed over a sand/gravel bar 300m south of the wharf.
This was a heap of fun. We caught several queenfish before we had enough chasing them around.

East Point was the next destination. Here we found birds working in the same place as Wednesday. This in an area off the pedestrian viewing area of East Point. During a low tide earlier in the week we found a rock bar extending to middle of harbour from this point. Although not huge it seemed enough to hold the bait and thus the predators in the area. Still the fish were all over the place, rapidly moving about. Again they seemed to be targeting baitfish on the edges of the mud clouds moving along through the tidal flow. With the tidal flow quite fast we had to motor around to the front of the working birds and the fish under them, drift through the mayhem, catch a couple and repeat the whole process again. but frustrating as when you think you were up current of them and kill the motor only to them dive and come up a 100 metres to left or right.

they are over there now!!!!!!! )(&(^$*&^$(&^$!

But the queenfish were bigger here (like last few trips ) and worth the hassle. They also were really strong fish using the tidal flow to their advantage during the fight. Great fun!

We worked our way back to East Arm boat ramp, as the both of us were very tired after several early mornings, long days on the water during hot weather, lots of fish and late evenings talking and chatting - we called it enough and pulled the boat out for the last time of our father and son adventures on Darwin Harbour (this year anyway!).

Brad now is thinking about what he can fish for near home at Newcastle, but having now used a boat for his fishing he isn't interested in seeing fish just out of casting range every land based fishing trip.
I think he will just have to plan and work some overtime towards more fishing with his Dad up here in fishing paradise of Darwin, Northern Territory! - everything else, anywhere near the other capital cities in Australia just don't rate!

Next week it will just me on my pat Malone  - Monday and Tuesday are fishing days planned for fishing Darwin Harbour my last week of long service leave, and Sunday next weekend in Bynoe with its mid morning neap low tide with Canadian Pete.

Will put those fishing reports up as soon as they happen.
Off to tie some more silicone surf candies for the queenfish and trevally - used 40 while brad was here. maybe I should beef up my leaders (or cast less winds knots that weaken the leader!)