New to fresh water fishing - Canberra

[cisco]

Hi All,

Great web site, very helpful..

I've moved to Canberra recently, and during a walk around the Murrumbidgee river yesterday, I almost walked on a kinda large (just over a foot in length) Carp (I think) in this still, muddy section in between some rocks until I noticed it because it splashed everywhere and darted off! This prompted some strong interest to explore the waters more and get into fresh water fishing in the area!

I bought a Jarvis Walker rod complete with reel from K-Mart that was $59.95 RRP but got 25% off in the after xmas sales today. It has a baitcaster reel, but I have no idea at all on how to properly use it. I kept getting those "birdsnests" as someone described them from the reel flying way too fast after my lure had landed. I had to abandon my mission and head home as the line was stuffed up and I didn't have any more.
I didn't want to go all out to begin with while I'm learning, but they also had rods with reels for $16, so I think mine was a little up from the bottom. Can anyone tell me if this rod will be good enough to handle anything decent and how good the rod is? Is the reel garbage or is it that I have no idea what I am doing!? Are baitcasters always more tricky to use than conventional egg-beater style reels?

It says: Cast Weight: 10 - 42Kg, Length: 5' 6", Line class: 4 - 8Kg. It has a solid fibreglass tip and feels nice and light.

I bought some "SQUIDGIES", and a few other lures resembling small crustacians and small brown fish, and this 4 pack of gillie's lures which were shiny little fancy metal lures. Most of the lures have the 3-hook gang/bunch thing on the end of them. Am I on the right track with these type of lures? I wasn't sure how easy it was to source yabbies or works around this area, so I just bought lures for now...

If anyone could please offer any tips with the baitcaster that would be much appreciated. I wrecked the line with too many knots and have to replace it tomorrow. Ahh holidays are so good! You can just go back and have another attempt every day without needing to worry about work getting in the way!

I live close to the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee rivers and was wondering if anyone had any success stories from around these areas. I've seen a couple of fresh water guys out and about, and read a few stories on the internet, but I have no idea as I'm just getting into things.

Please see attached images of the rod - Thanks for any help/tips from anyone here, your advice is much needed my way.

http://www.micra.hl.com.au/stuff/rod.jpg

http://www.micra.hl.com.au/stuff/reel.jpg

[jewies]

if you think that its going to happen just stop the line with your finger or if that keeps happenning then buy a reel that you are capable of casting.
cheers tom

[jewies]

hang on just before the lure hits the water then put your finger on the line

[cisco]

Ahh cool.
Thanks for the tip.

What about the correct tackle/lures..

Is it normal to use sinkers when freshwater fishing?
Or is the lure by itself enough? Do you generally want to keep the lures deep down near the bottom etc?

I'm going to have a yarn to the fishing shop guy tomorrow.

[jewies]

i am not sure about the lures as i mostly fish bait. Did you but buy jig heads for the sqidgies? I also had a baitcaster similar to that one and my honest opinion is that they are not the bestaround mine lasted 3 months until it broke but that was a $40 one not sure about the jarvis walker national
If you really want to catch carp you can catch them easily with a float with a 20 cm trace to a smallish hook baited with a peice of corn. Im am not to sure about the fishing in the area you fish as i live in Queensland but i would say there is some cod as there is some in Lake burley griffin. Cod are normally caught on deep diving lures such as halco poltergeisters although they are expensive normally about $13 each but you can never be so sure how well a cheap lure can be. So buy a couple cheapies

Tom

[cisco]

Yeah I think you're right. The baitcaster kept crunching/clicking today even before I went out fishing, I was just practising in the back yard after I wound fresh line onto it. It was very weird and didn't sound good at all, it had a lot of friction and crunched a bit. Then it kept chewing up the line in this tiny gap around the edge of the spool bit. So I took it back, got a refund, then bought a much better rod and reel from a local fishing shop :) It sure works much better, but its an egg beater too, so easy for me to have fun with. The guy reckoned that cheap baitcasters can be really nasty too.

Yeah I hear there are a few carp around the place here, the occasional murray cod, and a few golden perch and redfin etc. Went out again today for a hack, not even a bite - tried both Murrumbidgee River and Lake Guinninderra, but I think mainly I had no idea rather than there is no fish about :)

Thx for the tips.

[steelcat41]

Cisco,
Welcome to the wonderful world of fishing, i hope that you enjoy the experience as much as i do. You are lucky in a sense that you live in a region that offers a diverse range of fishing opportunities. Canberra has, in surrounding regions heaps of good places to wet a line, most of the under an hour away.

Lake Burley Griffin
Lake Ginninderra
Murrumbidgee River
Yass River
Wee Jasper
Burrinjuck Dam
Lake Jindabyne
Lake Eucumbene
Googong Dam
Batemans bay and Narooma
an literally hundreds of other places in between.Its just a matter of getting out there and having fun, I have found the Guys at the Fishing Hole in Fyshwick and Rods and Tackle in Queanbeyan more than helpful on local spots, whats on the bite and other relevant info....oh and dont forget to arm yourself with a fishing License for the relevent State you intend on fishing in.Good luck

cheers
Darryn

[basserman]

if you just want to have fun then the carp are the way to go with some of them nugeing 5kgs
best way to fish them is with some normal gargen worms threded onto a long shank hook under a float you may nee to wait a while but i have no dout that you will get into them
also it may be whorth your time if you want to chase them to make up some burley with a few slices of bread and a can of corn but you only need to cuck a 1/4 of a hand full every half hour or so!

[goodoo]

cisco it sounds to me that the spool on your baitcaster is to loose for a start onone end you will find a nob in the center tighten it up just enough to stop the spool having any sideways movement next on most modern baitcasters there is normaly a magnetic anti backlash component with increments usualy from 1 to10 adjust it right up to its highest[ being 10 ] now tie your lure on if you have not done so press the release button [dont try to cast it just yet ] if your lure drops to the ground freely adjust the nob a little tighter until it just holds the lures weight bounce the lure fromthe rod tip it should be able to just move line from the spool by its own weight if this is not so adjust the nobtill you get it when its right try to cast it may take alittle extra muscle at this stage but you will get less bidnests as you become more confident with what you are doing you can loosen your spool and learn to cast further dont feelbad about your efforts thus far i am 41 and have been using baitcasters since i could afford to buy one myself and i still blow a lot of money on tangled lines

[robb0]

I've heard mullet spinners work well on crap, oops I mean carp
Tim

[goodoo2]

If you start catching the odd cod, keep the locations to yourself :-X, especially if they are rivers.

The poor old Murray Cod, once the most common native fish of the region, is doing it tough.

(Doing it tough, that is, apart from the stocked ones in Lake Burley-Griffin which have it waaaay too easy).

And please absolutely practice catch and release with Murray Cod, especially river fish. They are simply too rare and precious to kill for an unnecessary meal.

I say too many sheep, not enough Cod, so eat the sheep - lamb cutlets tonight!


Simon