Saltwater Flyrodders

Happy 2017 everyone!!
The new year has arrived and it is now time for a "Herring & Whiting bash" !!

The field day will start at 06:00am on Sunday the 15th January and ends 01:00pm. The start and weight in place will be the park next to Waterside drive. Google Maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/DKiCXeBXnXT2

I plan to be shore based for this field day so anyone is welcome to tag along.

Rod setup:
- 4, 5 or 6 WT rod
- Floating line for fishing the flats, Intermediate line for the deeper channels. Some might even use fast sinking lines for the main channels where there is a lot of water movement
- Standard 9ft leader

Fly box selection:
The following flies have proven themselves in the past so this should be a good starting point.
- A selection Clousers and Crazy Charlies in Tan, Yellow, Chartreuse, Orange, Root-beer, Gold, White in hook sizes 4 to 8. These will work well on the Herring, Tailor and Bream
- A few poppers or Gurgler flies in hook sizes 2 to 6. Mainly for the herring and Tailor
- Disco Shrimps for the Whiting on the flats. http://saltwaterflyrodders.com.au/wp/?page_id=529
- And if you are feeling lucky bring along some Giant Herring flies just in case you find them among the Mullet schools. http://saltwaterflyrodders.com.au/wp/?page_id=600

Make sure you wear proper shoes when wading the flats. You will might find some broken glass and Rays on the flats, it is Mandurah after all...


Field day challenges:
- Largest Tailor
- Largest Mullet
- Largest Tarwine (Silver Bream)
- Largest Black Bream
- Largest Whiting
- Largest Herring
- Other Species (minimum size of 20cm)
- “Popper bonus” – Just "1" bonus point if you catch a fish on a floating fly with a floating line.


The boundaries for this field day are:
- Mandurah Estuary
- Harvey Estuary
- Ocean side between Victor Adam Park and Yalgorup Echo Park (Beach fishing only)
- Harvey River till it meets the Forrest Highway
- Murray River till it meets the South Western Highway
- Serpentine River till it meets Goegrup Lake

Encountered some surprises fishing surface flies to snags in the very early mornings last weekend on the lower reaches of the Murray - Tailor up to 40cm behaving like Bream - the takes were tight into the snags and on hookup the fish were heading back into the woodwork - all too weird. Not till netting stage did the realisation of the species occur

The boat ramp beside the estuary bridge is now open too.

Please post a reply if you are thinking of attending the field day.

Weather looks to be nice and warm with the wind picking up around lunch time and low tide at 9:30am.

The first field day im actually back in Perth for. Will try and make it, at least for the morning.

Hoping to fish it. Will probably head to the south end with the yak and start early so I wont be at the initial meeting point for the start. Dont really fancy being blown around like the last time while I fished the north end! lol

Cheers, Dee

Don't know about getting there for the 6.00am start. See you at the round up.

Diarmuid O Laoghaire wrote:Hoping to fish it. Will probably head to the south end with the yak and start early so I wont be at the initial meeting point for the start. Dont really fancy being blown around like the last time while I fished the north end! lol

Cheers, Dee

Yeah, If I go down I'll be fishing from 5:00am to get the light and beat the wind. I'm sure the 6:00am start was a typo, since we normally start at midnight now.

cheers,
Graeme

I'll be shore bashing it somewhere... Maybe south yunderup or heron point. Mainly sniffing around for whiting- yet to nab one on a popper... Fingers crossed.

Any field day prizes for most wind knots?

Will be putting the yak in at Murray bend. I've been getting a few bream in that area in the mornings. There were A few mulloway caught on bait around the Ravenswood bridge last weekend, might give that a try also (until the pub opens). Get some chips for lunch at Pelicans. See what the wind does , probably take a wade around North Yunderup in the arvo.