Cicadas...my new friends!

[stonecold]

After a quick assessment of the weeks work I decided that I could shoot through early yesterday afternoon and have a quick paddle on the yak...maybe even catch a fish.

I decided that I'd give Ballina a miss as my fishin mojo has deserted me there...dont know what I did to deserve that but things are just not happening for me in that part of the world at present.

Landed in Evans Head with the rain drizzling down...hmmm the work desk looked comfortable at that stage.

Ahh well I was there might as well have a crack...paddled up to a deep hole and proceded to throw all sorts of softies at the snags, bank, drop offs for zilch... I drifted with the current and continued my assault..for zilch....at 40 and about 36 years of fishing wisdom under my belt I was stumped..not even a wiggler lizzard. At this stage I was starting to think my mojo had deserted me all together...even consoling myself that it was great just to be on the water wasn't working...The rain helped that thought.

What the bl##$dy hell have I got to do to catch a fish? I guess you get into a habit and just stick with it until something happens to change your thinking.

I started thinking a bout a few of the young fellas here abouts what would they do....Dunno!

It was about that time that the annoying drone of a million cicadas became to much....noisy little buggers..hang on thats it where'd I stick those poppers.. four casts later and I'm on to a fiesty little bream, and so it continued. I can catch a fish woohoo!

I rounded the next bend and snuck up on a snag that I'd expect to catch bass on much further up the system. The popper landed right at the back...flick pop.. pop crash.. hang on this isn't a bream..its RED with teeth and it had MY popper in its gob...well its taken a bloody long time but I finally caught a jack, only a little tacker maybe 23cm (at a guess) but a jack none the less...this is more like it.


I continued on and caught another half dozen little bream all the while listening to those fantastic little cicadas..my new mates.

Thanks to the younger fellas on this site that taught this older bloke a thing or to...I'm stoked

[Pistol_P]

Good work mate,
The cicadas are loved by many species...Bass,Toga,Bream and Jacks....
Keep throwing those poppers around and you will nail some good fish.

Pete

[chris_lure_man]

good job mate.. but i do have to ask is that a bait caster rod on your spin reel??

[bdowdy]

when you start hearing cicadas i start throwing poppers, crawlers around for bass and cod its so much fun. congrats on the great fish. cheers bdowdy,,,brett

[stonecold]

Very observant Chris yes it is. Its an old silstar traverse X that I made up 15 years or so ago for a baitcaster, I was fishing out of a 10 ft punt in some really skinny water back then. I cut it down to close to 5ft and it worked really well for chucking lures up under the vegetation on the banks.
I had forgotten I had it actually but then after 6 months or so fishing for bass off the yak I discovered that I had the need for juts such a weapon, only I wanted a thready...I looked at some of the samurai options then discovered that little gem in the back of the cupboard. Thought I'd see if it would do the job before I took to it with the hacksaw and rebuilt it. After 2 trips I think its going to do the job fine so I'll start pulling it down over the Hols and start from scratch.
Thanks Pete your one of the young blokes responsible for this;D

Brett I'd always had the thought of chucking top water lures but as I said you get into a habit and more often than not fall back on tried and tested methods first..I'm a little wiser now.

[84mick]

Thats 23cm bigger then my PB! Congrats on your first red. Yaks seem to be the go these days..... I think its time to get one ;)

Cheers, Mick.

[Dorado]

So I'm assumung here that the popper resembles a cicada or have I missed the point altogether? Anyway, congrats on your first Jack mate! A jacks' a jack and you're one up on me! :)

Cheers,
Dorado

[corby12]

sounds like a good day and congrats on your fist jack, still hav'nt got my first yet. I fished Ballina yesterday for about 7 or 8 Bream 25 to 30, 2 mosses, abt 10 flatties, and a luderick abt 10cm lol all on a hard body. so i think you would have had a good day no matter where you went. but you got that red one and thats the one that counts.

cheers

[nuggstar]

well done love them surface jack attacks

[stonecold]

Thanks Lads

Dorado, personally I don think the popper looked much like a cicada at all but it obviously cause a disturbance o the surface that the fish though was close enough to a cicada.
I saw it with my own eyes while crabbing the same stretch of river last year. A big fat juicy cicada fell out of a tree and landed on the water flapped around and within seconds was eaten by something hungry.
I guess as the old saying goes find the bait and you'll find the fish. The water was bare of anything that looked like bait...I guess the bait was in the trees.

Corby what part of the Richmond were you fishing in?

Mick the yak is stealth fishing at its best

Nuggstar your another bloke responsible thanks mate

[corby12]

along the jetties near the rsl, went again today but didnt get a touch along there. bet went accross the other side near deadmans creek and got 9 bream on a wisedog, largest 34 fl.

[stonecold]

Had another crack at the poppers yesterday managed 3 nice bream to 28cmish and a bigeye trevally. Lots of little bream that are hard to get a hook to stick in. The lack of a jack was made up for by a muddie the size of a dinner plate.
All (except for the muddie) caught on a $3 surecatch popper, thats good value for money.

Managed to get a show albeit fuzzy of what all the fuss is about. Rounded a creek bend to find this little fella buzzing around on the surface. I sat back and watched for a few mintues and low and behold he dissapeared in a boil. My popper landed about a meter from where he was sitting. Two pops later and the little bigeye trevally was on the yak.