GT banger popper - the making of

So I was hoping to catch big fish a while ago at the Vernon Islands but no fish showed up - let alone big ones

Since then I have been going to make some Bob's Bangers type flies for this use of attracting big fish with a big surface fly

I ended up making a jointed popper fly (a bastardized version of Bob's Banger) - basically a 6/0 seaducer off the back and foam head with plenty of bling up front (details and images below)

Its a bit rough (very rough!) but here's what I did and the fish don't seem to mind the rougher edges of this fly compared to a beautiful symmetrical carved popper (see video of its use at end of this blog entry)

First I shaped up some foam off a foam kick board - so much cheaper then buying foam sheeting
I couldn't find a metal cylinder the right size to sharpen to punch out a few nicely formed cylinders of foam - so shaped them with a razor blade out of a craft knife

Wrapped the foam in gold tinsel
Colour the face with a red permanent marker

I punched a hole through the middle and placed them on a skewer for the next step








Covered all this with epoxy and added an stick on prism eye

I would have liked bigger eyes and eyes more contrasting to the tinsel wrapped around the head - but you work with what you have sometimes
Add a light coating of epoxy over the eyes

While all that dries on the rotary drying device.........
.........I then focus on dressing the rear hook section

Working from the hook bend to the hook eye - add........

 




Craft fur, feathers flaring outwards (so they pulse when you strip and stop the fly through the water), and then extra long ice chenille,  and you are done with rear hook

Attach the rear hook to the Waddington shank
I wrap this shank with thread to ensure it doesn't come apart in a fight












I cover the thread on waddington shank with epoxy and slide on the prepared foam cylinder
and your done (after it dries of course)

When in the water the popper part is in surface and the hook part is hanging down  as it swings on the rear Waddington eyelet (found it gives a better hook up rate)  - the materials of the rear hook are very subtle in their movement and flash helps too

Get it wet next time your are fly fishing - enjoy a big bloop and an awesome surface strike

The Stig

Early Start - late finish

For this weekends fishing trip, I asked for a 4am start - but was given 4:30am by Peter as our load the boat time frame - (he likes his sleep ins! and me, well I am a morning person!)

So I should have asked for a 3:30am start and I may have got the 4am start I hoped for!
(but then again when Peter is really tired, he reverts to the side of the road he grew up driving on! Like once we were launching early at Bynoe - lol)

Peter has been very keen lately for exploring and seeing what we could find at a new location
More species- maybe some big fish! and while I love just catching fish - I could do with a new location, more species and a big fish or two if the fishing gods are smiling upon me
So we thought an offshore location to start with was our first option and few spots in the harbour after if the wind came up stronger

So with a few GPS marks from a new website I found - we head off - launching by 5:15am at Dinah's.
But when we get near we see the GPS marks are not worth S#@T - one was in the middle of Melville Island ! Lesson to be learnt: Always double check those wonderful GPS marks you are given before you head out!!! (while not this time but especially ones from the 'dodgy fly tier' we all know, whose 'local' GPS suggestions are usually in Siberia somewhere!)

We still give the area a good search.
however, nothing shows on the sounder or is seen in the surface water for as far as we can see
We troll (dark side), we seek, we troll, we seek
I go to sleep - snoozing while Peter works hard to find reef, structure or fish on the surface
Peter has a few goes at knife jigging on sub-water humps 70-80 feet down - the only result is he gets a bit sweating with all that exercise and winding.

We start to travel back to Lee Point - shortly after we find patches of really muddy water as the tidal current starts to really get flowing after the high tide at 8:20am or so
We find plenty of algae scum on the surface too but no milkies hoovering it
No bait schools, no pelagics harassing them

We continue trolling dark side back to Lee Point in hope of a stray big mack - a needle in a very large haystack so to speak

Off to our left I spy a flash of something floating in the water in the choppy waves
We circle back to have a look
It looks like a dead fish floating on the surface in amongst the algae surface scum

Peter casts his big knife jig near it - it does nothing.
Despite my bagging him about it never reacting to the lure - he casts again
Is it actually dead?
But no - proving me wrong again - the fish chases the big lure across the surface to right near the boat
Before it dives out of sight and we think its over
But a few moments later we spy it again playing doggo on the surface a little further away

This wakes me up from my stupor of trolling lures - instantly
I grab a rigged fly rod - an intermediate line on an 8w with a silicone surf candy on it and start casting furiously
This with quite poorly casting skills sets on display - much to Peter's enjoyment! the sledging was on big time!

I eventually get the fish to follow the candy cast past it and allowed to sink a touch - but after a few meters following the fly it again dives deep out of sight. But then reappears 50m away laying on its side just under the water surface, like it is sunny itself (been told they act dead to attract small baitfish who shelter under its shade - then catches and eats them??)
I change over to a small shrimp pattern size #1 and start casting again
Peter suggests some casting practice to a plate in the backyard - thanks Pete!

About the 10th cast later (trust me as I am sure Peter was counting every bad cast aloud!) the fly placement is finally perfect and it reacts and swoops on the fly
The fish was U-G-L-Y! to also say the least (like chew your arm off ugly, so you don't wake it)

It turned out to be a 48cm Tripletail
The fight was a little weak to say the least in my opinion (in some web sties it speaks of good fight and lots of leaps that tripletails are capable of )
A few quick photos and release - and we continue on our journey to Lee Point - sadly nothing seen for the 20+km ride back to Lee Point (9news fishing segment Sunday night said Fenton patches good for macks - liars!)

When we arrive we see heaps of bust ups around our favourite spot at Lee Point
The tide is dropping and the reef is almost exposed
The predators are chasing the baitfish right over the reef - exposing their bodies as they do so
So it was very easy to know where to cast!

Peter handle mine and his in the mad rush of heaps of fish for the first time that day

We catch a range of fish - once I get three species in three casts - Mack first, then Brassie, then Queenfish
All are small though (sub 50cm - most sub 40s!), so as the tide continues to drop out we search the other reefs between Lee Point and the entrance of Buffalo Creek.

The fishing is really slow but we eventually find some macks and queenies (40-50cm) around a reef barely covered by the tide about 2km east of Lee Point proper.
The bait are holding to the top of this small patch of reef for safety but the predators really slam into them every now and then. We chase them about for a while

A lure tosser and his girlfriend in a nice bikini show up in a hornet(?) - see our bent rods and stop near us - but they are tossing big trolling lures and the baitfish are a fifth of the size of the lure - so they catch nothing - despite casting their lures almost into our boat - as if that is the reason we are catching fish and they are not!

Then we spy three or four large black smudges spread out over a small area, travelling along with the tidal flow towards Lee Point
Really tight bait balls travelling with tide in about 3m of water
The bait are harassed by a few predators and we follow - we get a few, we chase a lot!

Not too much happening at Lee Point as we drift towards it - so we motor to East Point hoping the current lines will concentrate the fish/bait into a more consistent activity location as this area has done many times in the past

Passing the shallow reef between Lee Point and Nightcliffe - we see more baitfish than we have seen in long time. the black slick was audible as it moved along. This one 'patch' of bait would have been 20-30m wide and 150-200m long - quite amazing how much there was!

Interestingly, hardly a predator was harassing them, there were a few we chased but the broad open area they were in meant they were very hard to get close to and to get a cast to.The massive amount of bait in such a tight group and the noise they were making as they bubbled the surface, could have been intimidating to the predators maybe ?

We continued our travels towards East Point
About halfway from Nightcliffe to East Point, we see massive amounts of birds working but under the birds it is just those one of those large schools of long finned trevally (20cm max) - more often then not any surface action in this particular area is usually these small trevally.
Once we identify them by their smaller splashes, we drive past them onwards and towards East Point

Here we find lots, and I mean lots, of birds working again but larger slashes under them
Peter seems to have the mojo touch today and is getting a fish almost every cast even when he not really trying but myself and my results indicate my mojo is no where to be found! I experience many, many lost fish, countless short takes at the fly, a plethora of hits on the fly just as you let the flyline go to grab the next strip of line! Come on you have all experienced that! Probably not as much as I did this trip! Uuuggghhh!!!!!

Once we were using the same fly (two that I had made!), we cast almost parallel to each other (i.e. same location), same brand and type of fly line, different brand of rods yes but....., and using the same strip........ and ...............

He was getting fish and I didn't!
This repeated several times mind you!
Talk about no mojo for the Stig! (and mega mojo for Peter!)

We chase a few groups of predators working the area wide of East Point hoping for bigger fish but they are flighty and moving fast. We arrive in perfect wind drift position and they still disappear (Peter still manages a few though!)

We eventual tuck ourselves inside the up current side of East Point. Here the baitfish are trapped against the rocks - the birds and predators are going nuts

You would grab a hooked and played out fish at side of the boat, take out the barbless fly, toss the fly back into the water and then the fish  - and already the rod tip is bent over and the fly line would be zinging away as another fish had taken the fly as it just sat in the water at the side of the boat!

We have a great time catching fish after fish - well - Peter gets three to the one I get, that is!
Peter wanted bigger fish today but I needed a few for Marine science class  (dissection day!)
The sun was setting, it was a long day but it was great to get amongst heaps of fish
Peter accommodated my need over his - on ya Peter!

We have multiple double hookups with the picturesque Darwin Harbour sunset surrounded by dark storm clouds as a backdrop to our fun  -who'd want to live any where else????? (except maybe those northern seychelle islands!)

One time, I break a leader off my sinking line with one strong fish, and rather than tie on another leader and fly, I grab the intermediate rod/line combo I used to catch the tripletail earlier in the day - and get straight back into it the very next cast.

We are surrounded by several hundred birds and what must be thousands of queenfish in the 50-60cm size range.
In those last 30 minutes we easily caught 20 or so fish between us
simple role cast distance from boat, a couple of strips and on
In front of a few other boats catching squat on bait and lure, I might add!!
Go the fly!!!

With the fish still going crazy as the last rays of sunlight lit up the colourings of the cliffs and rocks at East Point - and after a very long day we finally headed to the ramp around 6:30 - a very long day indeed

Peters phone camera takes great shots!

So.................
Where to next??
What to tie for that location and the fish you hope to catch??

Have a heap of student reports to write by monday - so no fishing this weekend -= maybe next weekend? always planning - always keen!

Get out there you SWOFFERS!
You might not get the size and/or type of fish you planned to get
But keep looking - then have some fun with 'bread and butter' predators in Darwin Harbour at least!
And if you keep casting like Peter always is - you might get a that big one eventually, like Peter does regular (but not lately!)

20161105 - Darwin Harbour trip report

With no planning with Peter for fishing the weekend - I was planning to be working on my rural block getting it ready for plowing and seeding. It had to be done but so boring!

But I get a message late Friday night - "you want to go fishing?"

Is the pope catholic?
Does a bear shit in the woods?
(or is is the pope shitting and the bear catholic?)

Regardless - my very quick message response was
 "I am already packed and ready to go - c u at 5:15am your place!"

Its a very calm morning at the ramp, heaps of boats launching

We motor straight out to Weed Reef first as reports earlier in the week were very encouraging
The tide is still coming in til after 8am, less run too

We get a few little ones but nothing goes off like our last trip, nor like the morning trip for fellow Swoffers earlier this week

first hook up

For Weed Reef - I reckon it has to do with the timing of the coincidence of the run out tide and dawn - and by the time sun up higher in the sky its all over

The calm conditions and massive sun made fishing hot and sweaty - man that sun has some kick!
So after waiting as long as we can for the fish to pop - we head off for newer waters and get an ever thankful breeze across sweaty shirts to cool us down as we skip along the water

Nothing showing at Mandorah, so head across towards East Point.
Half way we verge off line towards a red buoy I have had success at other times
Here we have water 30+m deep and as the water surges out of the harbour - it hits a plateau that is only 15m or so deep. This cause the water to compact pushing upwards and thus concentrating the baitfish moving along with the out going tide

The queenfish were there in numbers if a bit patchy in their appearance. with only a few birds indicating their presence when nothing slashing the surface.

As the mud clouds rolled through with the tide the bait would be on the edges of these clouds and the predators when finding them would go nuts. A cast would be made into this mayhem and an ensuing hookup would occur. No major size - 45-55cm mostly. But after a few hours of nothingness at Weed Reef - so much fun!!!!!!!

It was a bit choppy in this location due to the disturbed water but at times you could see the queenfish body surfing the waves. then you could lead them with a cast, followed by a quick strip and you would be on. Peter got the best fish of the day 71cm with this type of approached. I spotted the fish, Peter made the perfect cast (I had just cast to a different location just before I saw the fish in the wave), almost instantly Peter came up tight and an extended fight ensued.

Now I know we have been catching lots of fish lately and I know it was a hot day, we are both getting thicker in the middle and less fit as each year passes - but Peter needs to work more on his enthusiasm when fighting the fish - he is getting a little lazy with his feet up at times.

The fishing at the red buoy quietened down as the tide bottomed out - so we move on to find more active fish

We find more queenfish 500m out from East Point and worked the schools as they zipped about chasing concentrations of bait. We follow the large number of birds over the top of them and pay attention to their movements to show us where to cast in the hope of a better return rate for effort in the cast.

With the electric running out of battery and a few fish in the esky for some old people around my place - plus an increasing wind - we head back into the harbour towards the Dinah Beach boat ramp.

with it being just after midday, we stop off at the Stokes Hill Wharf for a pit stop of a steak sandwich and chips - awesome - canopy up, nice meal, great scenery! What a great harbour we have at our doorstep. Fighting fish one moment and a few minutes later a hot meal - and then after that more options for fishing only a few more minutes away!

We have time before enough water at ramp - so check out Shelly - this location needs a heap of water rushing in past the northern tip to really fire - which it wasn't!. We check out the gas platform supply wharf but nothing but tight small balls of tiny baitfish. I get a couple more queenies at the drop off into deeper water but increasing heat and wind plus no fish makes it hard fishing and casting - so we head back towards Stokes Hill Wharf.

Nothing else seen along the way and when we arrive at ramp there isn't enough water to even float a 2.9 tinny with oars, doesn't stop some from trying to get their boats out. One big greek boat (lots of flags and a boat wrap to indicate the country of origin of its occupants), one of those aluminium pontoon style boats with a 250-300hp outboard churning up the 30cm of water at the ramp edge to get his boat on the trailer. Mud, small rocks and water go it all directions and it eventually gets on the trailer. Wonder what damage that had done to his prop??

Another guy is seen towing his boat along walking through the waist deep water (at times shoulder deep). He started back at the rock bar out from the lock of the housing estate next to ramp and Peter filmed the whole episode hoping for something to sell to Channel9 especially if the guy got taken by something in his walk through the water and mud (macabre voyeurs we were). Talk about Darwin Awards and comedy capers. His later attempts to get the trailer down the ramp were comical at the very least as too taking out the entire two lane ramp for backing and the many attempts to get the boat on the trailer.

We anchor amongst a few other sport fisherman who known better and are waiting near the 5knot buoy for more water at the ramp. However, when there was enough water, the etiquette of late comers after us and about five others, was quite selfish taking up the entire dock while they ever so slowly chatted with others and eventual left to get their trailers from the carpark - totally ignoring the queue of boats as they drive pass us waiting for our turn after the greek boat and the guy towing his boat through the mud to get off ramp.

We stay calm and collected, no raging and yelling like others and eventually we are out of the water by 4:30pm (got to ramp at around 3pm)

The boat was cleaned and the fish we kept handed out to friends not long after

I must say how thankful I am to have a mate like Peter, we vent and dump our week to each other while fishing, we work well fishing and casting our fly rods at the same time with out too much mayhem and tangles - and if it hadn't have been for him and his boat while my boat (trailer!) has been out of action - I  think I would have gone off the deep end - Thanks Peter!

It is good when you find the guy who you can fish with regularly with getting (too much) on each others nerves. 5 years we have been fishing together now, no blood spilt yet! (touch wood!)

So when and where next????????????

Looking forward to the completion of the new ramp at Dundee Beach, hope to do a few more trips to the Peron's and beyond after the wet season. those creeks they feed into Anson bay south of the Peron's need more attention, maybe staying over night protected in one of the Peron island bays.

As always more flies need to be tied, where's that new material I got recently hiding on my fly tying desk???...................
 
Until next time - please remember - 100% fly fishing always!