Category Archives: Fishing

Eucy Spawners

May

2015

by MKPhoto | 20 Comments

After an early start on Wed morning & the hearty bacon & roll & lunch pickup at Adaminaby I headed off to Denisons for a squizz. The usual crowds are up the top end, which I avoided, but also a significant number of cars at the bridge & right down at the rapids closest to the lake.

The howling downstream wind was horrendous, & giving me so much grief trying to cast that I crossed a muddy river which apparently had risen overnight by about 8-9″ due to torrential overnight rain. I fished the bridge pool & was super-excited to hook a 5lb hen within 5mins of the session. Unfortunately I dropped it at the bank when my globug got hooked, & the fish rolled off. Although slightly annoyed at myself I was not overly worried as I thought this is going to be a hot session after hooking a great fish first up. Despite fish moving through the pool I could only hook momentarily before dropping them. This pretty much continued all day. In frustration I thought I would have a squizz at Secret Creek. Mark & Roy told me to try the upper section so I scootered along until I started spooking big spawners. Long leaders & gusty wind is not a good combo & I spent more time sorting out tangled flies. Unfortunately it was not other fishos that get dropping in front of me, but bloody fat gutted pelicans!! There were at least half a dozen sitting in the water, & as you came around a bend they would slowly take off & skim about 2m off the water & fly upstream. I did this for about 300m & every time I thought I would get to clear water, another bloody pelican would be there. Gave up & dropped downstream closer to the lake to see if any action there.

Reports were that Sat & Sun were gang-busters, but Mon & Tues nothing! The rain had def triggered a run, but fishing patchy with either none or 15-20 depending on which sweet spot you happened to be. Interestingly most fish caught on nymphs.

Thurs I decided to have an early start, as the river would be full of fresh fish, & the previous day most of the fish were actually caught just after daybreak, & then went quite for most of the day! Given that a couple of the guys from the lodge had done ok down towards the lake I thought I might go & join them. Yes, on daybreak it was definitely happening. I looked downstream & most guys were hooking up! The river had dropped a bit & was a bit clearer too.

I ran into one of the guys from the lodge & said I was having no luck, but found out that everyone was really loading up on splitshot to get down in the fast moving water. He gave me some splitshot & within 5mins I was on. I went a bit hard on this fish as it was at the top of some rapids, but also so I would not have to push through the gauntlet of another half dozen or so other fishos. In hind-sight I should have just let it run as one of the guys downstream said it was easily 5lb!

There was one sweet spot that I saw a guy pull out 15 fish from, with guys either side only catching the occasional fish. I moved upstream & noticed a couple of large fish “porpoising” in one spot & decided to give them a go. Within 10mins I was hooked up. This fish just swam upstream when I hooked it. I just love when you snag the bottom, & then the bottom swims off! After going too hard on the previous fish, I am definitely going easy on this one. It has me steadily following it up & down this pool & it is either foul-hooked or a huge fish. After about another 10mins I get a glimpse of a log with fins!! Maybe not the magic double figure but 8-9lbs easily. It has snavelled the hot glue globug. I am still applying steady pressure only & the bloody hook pulls. I sit down still shaking I wonder what went wrong 🙁

One of the guys from the lodge walks downstream & joins me. Turns out he is an electrical engineer & does a lot of contracting work in the Qld UG mines, so we get on very well & have a lot in common. Pretty much rest of the day we take turns to land fish until around lunchtime when the fishing has shut down & a lot of the anglers have bugged out to relocate. Still feeling crook with the man-flu, especially in the disgusting wind the day before, I decide to head back to the lodge for some lunch a rest & regroup before the afternoon session.

After lunch I went back to find even less guys at the bottom stretch so decide to see if my spot is free. There is one or two guys below & he started catching fish & within about 15mins there were a dozen or more guys in that stretch of water… I stay where I am. I land a few more fish & end the day with again hooking something that does not realise it is hooked & continues to swim upstream. I apply a bit of pressure & the leader parts half way – must have had a bloody casting knot or some other line damage. Again BIG BIG fish but did not get to see it. The guy from the lodge joins me & drops another big fish for no apparent reason, was hooked up for at least 10mins & just applying steady pressure. All fish seem to be on globugs today.

A great day none-the-less & fish until dark & get back in time for 6pm dinner – not sure why so many are camping! Maybe not as many fish, but think the average size is definitely up to previous spawn runs.

Friday I got up at 5am but the rain was beating against my window & the wind was howling again & I felt too crook to go fishing so wimped out & went back to bed. I reckon Friday could have also been a good day, as there would have definitely been more fish running, but I was happy with my Thurs session & needed to be ok to drive home safely.

After fishing with some shop hot-glue gun eggs, & also knowing that one of my friends has been experimenting with the same, I think this is going to be my new “secret weapon” spawn fly…

All fish were returned to the water after a quick photo 🙂

I Feel The Need For Speed

Jul

2013

by MKPhoto | 33 Comments

I have posted blog entries before about Nick’s super-fishing boat (Looking For A Cover Shot) and how it is bristling with technology. I may have mentioned it is also very fast! The ride between fishing spots is generally short and thrilling. This week Nick invited me on to join him in another session out on the lake.

The lake is glassy-smooth. Nick comments that normally the fishing is better with a bit breeze. Later we find that when the breeze picks up we immediately start hooking fish. When it drops off so does the catch rate. Whilst not scientific we observe this behavior enough times to see a definite pattern.

Nick fishes in various competitions and has several different sponsors. The lures we are using are Atomic blades. They are skinny fish-shaped metal lures. You cast them out and wait for them to sink to the bottom. The retrieve is an erratic one. You wind to take up a bit of slack line then lift your rod. With braided fishing line you can feel the lure vibrating. After this lift you let the lure flutter to the bottom and then repeat.

I am still a newbie at this style of lure fishing but thrilled when I catch a very solid bream very early in the session, then immediately follow with a lovely snapper. These are one of my favourite fish to catch on light gear. They are a beautiful fish with the iridescent blue flecks, they fight hard and are good to eat.

Despite Nick insisting it is a slow fishing day I keep a snapper and a couple of bream for dinner and we return most of our catch. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Nick’s very cool very functional fishing boat

Marks first bream of the day

Those teeth munch through oysters and clams with ease

Nick at the helm

Just another beautiful day on the lake

I feel the need for speed

Cold steel…

The lake is glassy smooth

Last light – last cast

A great result

#fishing #bream #snapper #atomic

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Man vs Fish – Does Fishing For Spawning Trout Create An Ethical Dilemma?

Jun

2013

by MKPhoto | 26 Comments

Every year if the conditions are suitable the resident lake brown trout of the lakes in the Snowy Mountains make a pilgrimage up the source rivers to spawn. Two major lakes Jindabyne and Eucumbene are very popular fishing destinations. Does fishing for spawning trout create an ethical dilemma?

Every story has two sides, so this is a summary of the issues as I see it:

CONS:

Over crowding.
Amount of fishing pressure.
Not a subtle form of fishing, often an over-weighted rig is required (especially true of fly fishing).
A minority spoil things for the majority – unfortunately this is true of any pursuit there is always someone who leaves rubbish, is rude or does not follows the rules.

PROS:

Most of these fish sulk in the lake the rest of the year and are rarely seen by anglers.
Usually there is only a very short window between when the fish start their spawning run and the close of river fishing.
Seeing large numbers of fish (often very big fish) is very exciting.
Fishery officers regulate the fishery. They check licenses and enforce catch limits.
Taking of fish > 50cm is limited to one per day.
Very social and in most cases convivial fishing, you get to say hello and chat to fellow fishers.
Most fishers are happy to share a part of the river where normally someone “dropping in” on your part of the river would be considered extremely rude.
We catch and release all our fish.

Apart from the main rivers we also fished a couple of the smaller tributaries. In the shallow water the fish were easily spooked so we reverted to un-weighted globugs and waiting until we saw a fish to cast to. The fishing was as challenging as it was exciting.

It was interesting to watch the effectiveness of a “hybrid” fishing method. A standard fly rig of globug and nymph is rigged on spinning gear. The key difference was that it allowed the use of a series a heavy split-shot to make sure the rig was in contact with the bottom of the riverbed. With the recent rain the river flow certainly was up and it was very difficult to get flies down in the strong current. However, heavy spinning gear and braid just sliced through the water like a cheese-cutter down to where the fish were holding on the riverbed.

Welcome to the craziness of the spawn run

Our fishing is about enjoying the company of friends as much as the fishing

A beautiful brown trout in full spawning colours

Mark about to release a beautiful brown trout

Just about to release another beautiful brown trout

Mark releases another fish

What a big mouth!

About to release my biggest fish of the trip

#fishing #flyfishing #Eucumbene #trout

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Fly fishing Photos to be Published in FlyLife Magazine

May

2013

by MKPhoto | 11 Comments

My friend Paul Miller has written an article about fly fishing for trout using float tubes and wanted me to take photos to include in the article. We have taken our float-tube fishing to an extreme technological level, where the float-tubes are fitted with depth sounders. An earlier post “Float-tube Fun” explains a bit more about float tubes. Anyway, Paul submitted his article to FlyLife. The editor thought my photos were great and is intending to publish the article.

Several friends have also got depth sounders fitted to their tubes. A small motorbike battery powers them. The sounders are cleverly attached with a strap that wraps around one leg of the tube. It is threaded through a plastic box that holds the battery and a plate where the sounder is mounted. The transducer is also looped through the same strap. The pressure in the inflated tube holds the strap and entire assembly in place.

We enjoy having sounders fitted to our float-tubes. Others claim this is nonsense and is simply cheating!. Yes, it is true you can often find fish sitting at a particular depth. For example in summer fish will find a depth of water that is a suitable temperature. Lakes can have stratified layers of water. In this case it would be pointless to fish a dry fly on the surface if all the fish are sitting at a depth of 3m. In this circumstance you would start with a buzzer array under a float indicator. However, there is still no guarantee that the fish will be biting!.

Fish are naturally attracted to underwater structures. These include sudden changes in the lake bed, weed bed edges as well as logs and rocks. The best use of the sounders is to find these structures.

I managed to hook a very solid rainbow whilst I was taking photos. As I have mentioned before it is very difficult to fish AND take photos! Also thanks to Nick for getting me back out on the water. My float-tube developed a small hole in a fold (on a seam). Nick had a tube of UV wader repair glue. This ended being a very quick fix.

Paul prepares his flyrod for fishing

Paul and Nick prepare to launch float-tubes

Nick and Paul prepare to launch float-tubes

Paul hopes a trout will take his fly

Paul casts in the early morning light

Float tube flotilla

Mark Kelly lucky to catch a solid rainbow trout

Nick and Paul are serious about their fishing

Looking For A Cover Shot

Apr

2013

by MKPhoto | 21 Comments

After sending some NZ snapper photos to my fishing buddies, Nick offered to show me a similar style of fishing here in Oz.

Nick is a very keen fisherman, who fishes various competitions. His boat is something to behold. Definitely not your average tinny. It is more like a racing boat. Apart from the seats & cockpit it is all flat casting platform. Even with Nick, his brother John and myself casting from one side it was extremely stable. The boat is bristling with technology. The sounder has maps and GPS built-in. It also features side to side sonar, so as well as the sounder looking directly below the boat, additional transponders point out the back to cover some 25m either side of the boat. The amount of detail it can resolve is astounding!.

On the front is a bow-mounted electric. This unit is linked to the GPS system and has a remote hanging on a pendant . You can get it to plot a course, or just press a button and it will maintain the current position – automatically adjusting for changes in wind and current.

Overall it was a relatively slow day on the fishing front. However, I still caught my personal best bream and on a lure as a bonus. I also caught several other species. We had fun and I got some great photos.

I generally like the shallow depth of field with a high contrast washed out colour in post, but this is not mainstream fishing magazine cover style.

Will one of them be a cover shot? – probably not , but I will keep trying….

John waits for a hookup

John shows off his 71cm flathead

Mark with his personal best bream

Nick prepares to unhook his first bream of the day

Nick shows off his 37cm bream

Nick shows us how to pose fish for cover shot

NZ Snapper

Apr

2013

by MKPhoto | 18 Comments

At Easter I was on Waiheke Island (just off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand) to shoot my mates wedding. Mark had organised me to stay at Villa Pacifica. Cliff and Gaye are wonderful hosts. Cliff is a photographer and fisherman, so we hit it off immediately! He generously offered to take me snapper fishing. So naturally I assumed deep-sea fishing miles off-shore. However, I was completely wrong as we fished between 100-200m off the rocks in less than 10m of water.

In fact often he fishes from his kayak and when the tide cover the cockle beds will catch large snapper in about 1m of water!

Cliffs technique is to jig soft plastics with light gear across the rocky bottom. The snapper are not shy in taking the jigs and certainly a lot of fun to catch.

If you are planning a stay on Waiheke Island I can highly recommend Villa Pacifica.

Cliff holding an nice snapper caught on soft plastic jigs

Cliff holding a average size snapper

Mark holding his personal best snapper

A fine catch

Cliff prepares a snapper fillet

Snapper fillets

Rule #1 of Photography

Apr

2013

by MKPhoto | 13 Comments

We all have heard various rules of photography such as don’t shoot into the sun, compose on the thirds, watch for distracting background elements etc. However, I think the first rule of photography should be :

“DON’T LEAVE YOUR CAMERA BEHIND”

After fishing rivers around the Lake Taupo district, my mate Roy and myself stayed a couple of extra days to explore around Rotorua. During the day we checked out various tourist spots. The distinctive Hydrogen Sulpide smell certainly takes a bit to get used to. However the geothermal activity is just astounding!! Apart from the tourist spots where you can see geysers, bubbling mud and multi-coloured pools there are so many spots around Rotorua where the lake edge is bubbling and steam is venting in parks and even out of the gutter where roadworks are being carried out!

At night we tried our luck for trout in Lake Rotorua. It is reported that the lake has one of the highest populations of trout in New Zealand. Apparently in summer the water temperature often gets to warm for the trout so they seek respite in the cooler currents of spring-fed streams that empty into the lake. Advice from the local tackle store said that you would need to wade out some 100-200m from shore. Even here the fish are able to take advantage of the subtle temperature changes. I thought that carrying a backpack that far out into the water then trying to wrestle with a rod a camera and a flash would be a recipe for disaster…

As we left the unit at the caravan park I joke to Roy about leaving the camera behind would almost guarantee that we would catch a big fish. When we arrived at the stream mouth there were about half a dozen other locals, all lined up fishing a largish pool that marked the junction of the stream and the lake. There were also considerable numbers of sizable fish jumping, just to add to the excitement.

It certainly is a different fly fishing experience to cast smelt (baitfish) patterns in the dark. After losing a few fish Roy lands a very respectable brown. I am not sure why, but I keep losing fish by snapping my leader. Each time you curse because you have snagged the bottom, but then the bottom suddenly takes off. These are very hefty fish indeed!

Finally I stay connect to a very solid fish. Roy tells me to hurry up and land it, but at this point it is still stripping line off at an alarming rate. A local offers to help land the fish, as neither of us has a net. The fish is huge and almost does not fit in the net. In old terms it is 12lb – a double-figure fish. Generally a fish this big is regarded as a “trophy fish” and you get it taxidermied and hang it on your wall. However, I have no intention of killing such a fine fish and the only thing I would like to hang on my wall is a great photo.

Dang – No DSLR!

Luckily I have my iPhone, so at least a get a “record” shot, but not a great shot.

We end up having a brilliant session, with several monsters lost and some “smaller” 4lbers landed

Ah well – I guess next time I will have my good camera with me…

Mark’s personal best – a 12lb brown trout

Roy’s 7lb brown trout

Float-Tube Fun

Dec

2012

by MKPhoto | 17 Comments

I have recently been fly fishing lakes from a float tube. This inflatable water craft is best described as a tractor tube with a seat fitted. However, they are much more sophisticated than that, being purpose-built as a fishing platform. The float tube comprises two separate bladders that surrounds a built-in seat. Propulsion is provided by the angler kicking away with swim fins fitted.

These are very stable and comfortable. I think the rated load is in excess of 130kg! I certainly do not feel concerned about taking my DSLR out on my tube.

Casting is surprisingly still fairly straight forward despite that you are sitting just above water level. Two main fly fishing methods deployed are:

1. Fishing a team of “buzzer” flies under an indicator using a floating line.

2. Fishing a “Woolley Bugger” or similar lure style fly using a sinking line.

The first relies on trying to represent an aquatic invertebrate known as a Chironomid. These are more commonly known as midges or gnats. Unlike mosquitoes they do not bite. They have a very short lifespan and a considerable amount end up as a snack for hungry trout. After adults lay eggs on the surface, bloodworms emerge & sink to the bottom of the lake to live in the mud. Then they float up to the surface film as pupae (or buzzers). As they try to break through the surface tension they are an easy meal.

Bloodworms spend most of their time in the bottom of the lake but often wind and wave action can move them up the water column. Trout often can be located at a depth of 3-5m. This is a zone where any deeper and the water is too cold and de-oxygenated, or any shallower can be too warm or bright. A long leader with a team of two or three flies spaced at 1.5m are used to locate a suitable depth were fish may be holding.

I am still learning to fish the “buzzer array”, but if the fish are switched onto feeding Chironomids it can be a very effective method!

The second method involves using a sinking fly line which is cast out. After counting-down the fly is twitched and retrieved. A variation is to let the line sink all the way to the bottom, then retrieve up through the “strike zone”. This method can be deadly when a small nymph is used.

All the photos have been “tweaked” to some degree or another using a combination of LightRoom and Nik Colour Efex software. In general I will make any exposure adjustments and crop/rotate in LightRoom, then use the Colour Efex plugin. I currently like the grungy “bleach bypass” filter, although it is easy to over-do the effect. Also, as it brings out a lot of detail peoples faces are not generally flattering. I find I am now nearly always using a “subtractive” control point, so that the filter effect is not applied to faces.

When Colour Efex is done it creates a duplicate image and then proceeds to automatically load that image back into LightRoom. I find that I will often use the graduated filter to balance out the effects especially in the sky. I may add a vignette or even use a brush to selectively lighten or darken areas.

Paul Miller has recently published a book about fishing. Not necessarily a “how to”, but more a collection of interesting fishing related stories. It is available from his website as both a standard edition, or a leather bound limited edition. It is also available from Amazon as a e-book from this link: Paul Miller Ebook.

Float Tube Fun – A Change in the Weather

Kevin Booth Float Tube in the Mist

Nick Reay Thinks Strategy to Trick Trout

Nick Reay Ties on New Fly

Nick_Reay_float_tube_fun_waits_for_a_trout

Nick Reay Waits For a Trout

Paul Miller Float Tube Hookup #1

Paul Miller Float Tube Hookup #2

Paul Miller Float Tube Large Rainbow Trout #1

Paul Miller Float Tube Large Rainbow Trout #2

Fishing and Photography

Oct

2012

by MKPhoto | 22 Comments

I have several mates that are regular fishing partners. We all enjoy fly fishing for trout. Whilst we all fish dams and the larger more popular designated trout rivers our preference is to fish the smaller Alpine streams of the Snowy Mountains region. On these smaller waters we practice “catch and release” and record our activities through stills and video. Yes, we have our fair share of “catch and grin” images were the happy smiling angler shows off his catch, but increasingly we are trying a more artistic approach through capturing images of the landscape in which we fish, abstracts of fish or gear, and more contemplative portraits.

Our approach to fishing is probably different to what most people would expect. We enjoy just being out in the environment sharing each others company. If we do catch fish it is an added bonus. No matter what you do there is no guarantee of success. The water conditions,weather, the choice of flies and their presentation – not to mention the “mood” of the trout all conspire against you. Sometimes the fish are just “on” and all you have to do is land a fly anywhere on the water. Other times fish will refuse the most beautifully delicate presentation, or ignore it completely.

I must admit this behaviour can be frustrating at times, but if you are stressed or anxious I believe your chances of success are less than when you are calm, controlled and focused.

It is interesting that I find myself applying this philosophy to my photography as well. Just enjoy begin out shooting images, not being too worried about having “to catch” the perfect image. If you are relaxed the images will come far easier than if you are stressed.

I have recently been playing with Nik Color Efex primarily with “Bleach-Bypass” and “Detail Extractor” filters.