What am I doing wrong??

Hello, I am by my own admission a very unsuccesful fisherman.  I have little knowledge and try to pick things up from this site as I go along.

I recently bought a little tinny and yesterday went out just outside the Marina at Mindarie for a fish after work.

I intended to go for Skippy or Garfish.  I used a number 6 hook and a little fluro bead on line with prawns from the river as bait.  I also had a burley bucket out and some fish oil.

I was fishing about 20-30 metres away from the outer harbour wall where everyone seemed to be pulling in heaps of good size fish.  However, with two rods out I didn't even get a nibble.

I am clearly doing something wrong, any thoughts.  I have 15lb line on one rod and 6lb on another.  Does heavier line put the fish off?

Please help or I am going to have to take up another hobby as I cannot take much more of the wife's piss takingCry

I don't have a fish finder but then neither did the guys on the rocks!!  I am more than happy to take someone out for a fish if they are willing to show me where I am going wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Paul G's picture

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Date Joined: 12/12/07

Are you bottom fishing or

Tue, 2008-09-23 18:09

Are you bottom fishing or drifting the bait down

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tango and cash's picture

Posts: 62

Date Joined: 05/07/08

drifting it down

Tue, 2008-09-23 18:10

I am not putting any weight on it and letting it drift down then re casting

 

flangies's picture

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Is your bait sitting at the

Tue, 2008-09-23 18:12

Is your bait sitting at the bottom where the fish arnt? Try different depths as fish sit on different depths depending on where they are.

Yes heavier line puts off fish, but if your leader is light there shouldnt be a problem. 

Maybe try smaller baits , when i use a prawn i get 4 bits of bait out of one prawn.  But i tend to use squid over prawns anyway.

Give them sabiki rigs a go, stick a few tiny peices of bait on and have fun :) the rock of the boat should be enough to entice bites and as the rig is long, you cover different depths.

Hope this helped

 

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tango and cash's picture

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Date Joined: 05/07/08

Interesting

Tue, 2008-09-23 18:19

I will have to get into the Tackle shops and have a look at the sabiki rigs as I have not heard of them.  I am currently using small bits of bait so it's not that but will try some squid.

Also I do not use a leader, I just tie straight onto the line as I learnt to fish course style in the UK.

Thanks for the advice and thanks for the PM Jody I will be in touch when the kids aren't hanging off my leg!!

 

Faulkner Family's picture

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Tango & Cash

Tue, 2008-09-23 18:26

come along to the TACKLESHACK / FISHWRECKED OPEN NIGHT THURSDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER  heaps of guys will be there who can help you out i am sure

http://fishwrecked.com/node/15966 check it out here mate

RUSS & SANDY

 

"A family that fishes together stays together"

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tango and cash's picture

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Date Joined: 05/07/08

Thanks, I am working

Tue, 2008-09-23 18:43

But I may still pop in and see if I can throw money at the problemSmile

tango and cash's picture

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thanks mate

Tue, 2008-09-23 19:17

what size rigs should I be buying?

harro's picture

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dude drive south

Tue, 2008-09-23 19:17

mate if ur ever down here, i,ll take you out fishing and show you some fishing techniques that may help you..

you can go from hooking a gardie to kingfish in no time..

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The mustard sabikis are two

Tue, 2008-09-23 19:24

The mustard sabikis are two strings of three hooks, saves pissing around with the others. I think I use 10s for gars and then 4 or 6s for herring.

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Colin Hay's picture

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I don't think you have a problem with your line being too heavy

Tue, 2008-09-23 19:53

but you might find that you might need a bit more weight to get down deeper in the water if you were trying to catch some skippy. The guys on the rocks would most likely have been fishing on the bottom.
If you are chasing Gars it might pay you to get a pencil float.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

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tango and cash's picture

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Date Joined: 05/07/08

Thanks for all the advice

Tue, 2008-09-23 20:20

Harro, if I'm ever down your way i'll definetly take you up on the offer.  Looks like I will be in the Tackle Shack on Thursday night buying Sabikis

 

 

flangies's picture

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Beats making rigs aswell

Tue, 2008-09-23 20:28

Beats making rigs aswell ^_^  What burley did you use? just the bought crap?

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tango and cash's picture

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Date Joined: 05/07/08

shop Burley

Tue, 2008-09-23 20:40

Yeah, don't know any better, it seems to take ages to break up.

tango and cash's picture

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Date Joined: 05/07/08

Burley cage

Tue, 2008-09-23 20:55

Is that the small ones you can attach to your line?

As for wogs, not sure what they are here but they are something VERY different in pommy land.Smile

 

flangies's picture

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Shop burley? Soot and poo!

Tue, 2008-09-23 21:03

Gah!!! Pick up some pollard my friend its much cheaper, then add your own stuff to it. Once i made my own burley i never turned back.

Pm Sent! (My death brew secret recipe) 

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You couln't wipe that grin fom my face even with a hammer.

tango and cash's picture

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cheers sounds tasty

Tue, 2008-09-23 21:09

Smile

Faulkner Family's picture

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when you make your own

Tue, 2008-09-23 22:09

go down to your local fish and chip shop try and get some of their batter bits which are verry oily add a bit of fish oil as well with the pollard ,mix till its just holding together ,not to wet as it will not hold in the berley cage verry well .every now and then throw a small amount out by hand as well and that will keep the fish around or even bring them in

good luck

RUSS & SANDY

 

"A family that fishes together stays together"

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sid's picture

Posts: 104

Date Joined: 09/11/06

burley cage=swimfeeder don't

Tue, 2008-09-23 22:38

burley cage=swimfeeder
don't let it settle wind in slowly when it hits the water
forget what you ever learn't about fishin
do the opposite!
youll soon catch fish
sid

Andy Mac's picture

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Gardies from Mindarie

Tue, 2008-09-23 22:54

T&C, if you want Gardies and herring from a tinny up there, you should head out to the first little reef and anchor on the inside about 40 to 50 metres away over broken ground. burley up there and you will be inundated with gardies in no time.

Best to use the smallest long shank hooks around and tiny specks of bait (prawn works well) no weight just very lihgt line to hook and let it drift down. Or use a burley blob and retreive slowly as suggested. You will be catching those mini billfish by the truck load.



Cheers

Andy Mac

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Bodie's picture

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For skippy, Whitebait and

Wed, 2008-09-24 09:30

For skippy, Whitebait and snall pieces of mulies work very well.

Same with what harro said, if you ever down my way aswell (Rcokingham area) i will take you out to some spots close by where there are plenty of Gardies, herring, whiting, squid, skippy.

The skippy ive found not as big as out in the open ocean, but well over size.

We quite often do a tinny run out there with 2 or 3 tinny's and have a ball... except when the seals hang around hey Scano :)

Remember the people who are catching the fish from the rock walls are bottom fishing, so a different suggestion might be to tie on a sinker and see how you go. This more thank likely wont catch you Gardies, but may get the skippy.

The thing with fishing, is if one technique isnt working, try another IE: Different rig, different bait, different action.

I find Burely in the packets from the shops (Usually around $4 a pack) is fine, and you wouldnt need anymore than 1 packet for a whole day.

tango and cash's picture

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Date Joined: 05/07/08

All Golden advice

Wed, 2008-09-24 15:25

I can't wait to get back out there now.  I feel very confident, famous last words!!  I think I will invest in a little fish finder as well so I can see what the bottoms like.

Bodie, thanks for the offer.  I would love to come out.  Let me know when your next planning a trip.Smile

 

schecky's picture

Posts: 1645

Date Joined: 25/08/08

what i do on my boat and off

Wed, 2008-09-24 16:08

what i do on my boat and off the rocks is buy one of those asian bait catcher rigs, they usually have 6 hooks so cut it in half and you have 2 rigs.

then put a swivel at the top if it doesnt alredy have one and a star sinker at the bottom...size dpends on the conditions but id say go with a size 3

use bits of prawn for bait

 works a charm for me evrytime i catch skippy, herring, yellowtail, tons of whiting and herring

if your on your tinny burley up tons and get a slick going and ull be catching squillions of fish in no time

                                                              

reuben.

Colin Hay's picture

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Burley tip Tango

Wed, 2008-09-24 16:13

Make up some sloppy burley with some pollard, water, tuna oil, cat food, old bait, etc. Get some chinese food containers or old margarine containers. Pour the sloppy mixture into the containers and then freeze them. When you get to a spot just flip the frozen block out of the container.
Works great as a slow release burley bomb if you are going to anchor up in reasonably shallow water for awhile.
Also works well if you are fishing from the beach or rocks. Big benefit for fishing from rocks or beach is that you can toss it a fair way.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

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