Fishing Tales

Something stinks in this town and especially the Hunter River. I noticed some small dead fingerlings in the Newy harbour on Tuesday. Most worthwhile action is offshore as some big schools of baitfish are working up a feeding frenzy for larger pelagics and airborne hunters. My trusty binoculars noticed a few small "yakkas" getting amongst the swarm of baitfish off Newcastle Beach and the Cowrie Hole on Monday and Tuesday morning.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/13...s-murky/?cs=12

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/13...people/?cs=303

Usually around Hexham you get the same smell every summer February approx.

Due to the heat of summer the water evaporates and the mangroves that are usually wet are left to dry out die and thus rot away producing the smell.

This is a completely normal event and happes during spells of extended hot dry weather.

The only difference with this version of it is we have seen areas get wet due to high amounts of rain that normally don't get wet. These areas have been under water for a fair few days approx 10 days ago and have slowly been drying out.

What has been killing all the fish I will leave to the experts.

Could be material dragged into the river system from man or even from illegal activities or even too much organic matter.

Darwins theory of evolution is in full effect here.

the increased organic matter is due in large part to the higher flows

as it degrades it removes oxygen from the water, which kills the fish, further degradation of the organic matter in anoxic conditions creates other chemicals that kill fish

it's not pleasant but it is natural(ish) - the higher levels of organic matter in the river are influenced by land management practices in the catchment

very little to do with dying and rotting mangroves, as mangroves are in tidal zones and do not dry out and rot, particularly under conditions of higher river flow that we have experienced in recent weeks

dat BOD

Anyone been out and chucked a line in lately??
I'm thinking of having a bit of a fish down at the lake this arvo/tonight and was wondering if anyone had been catching much, if the water temp had warmed up yet, etc..
(Most of these "nighttime fishing" events turn quite quickly in to "sitting around a fire, drinking tinnies"..)

Anyone here go chasing bass?

Got a decent bream combo for Xmas and I've heard some bass anglers just change the soft plastic on their bream gear and go for it.

I'm well positioned to head downstream for bream or head upstream for bass and was hoping to do it with minimal gear changes.