Repton,Bellinger River

[rabbi]

My father used to troll white tennis shoelaces below the rail bridge past the rockhole and used to get some big schoolies on a regular basis. S.P's in its earliest form I guess.
The old swimming pool used to hold some big lizards on the outside edge and also the mouth of the river.
Used to be a bloke who had a projector and used the side of his shed for a screen and used to show the latest reel movies for the local villagers when I was there.
I must have been around 10 or better and the local jew experts used come around in their old landrovers to pick up the old man n myself for the friday night jew trips. Saw a 67lb jew get caught one night and I always reckoned I was gonna get me one of them!!
Might have to go down there for a look one day and take the yaknrubbers.
cheers, steve.

[blackjew]

Wow stevetheres some dam good memrebilia,shoe laces,how do your dad rig them ,thats amazing.I recon between a mate and i when we were kids and expeimenting with squid jigs,wrapped some rag around the old wire fish jig,the less rag you wrap the faster it sinked.tyed of with some white cotton,then along came the yozurri,Oh well there goes another squillion
.sounds like my dad with the movie on the side of the shed ,but mine used the inside of the door with a sheet over it. ,i remember on friday nights a heap of blokes rocking up at our place ,and dissapearing to the shed ,lots of moaning and growning coming from the shed whats going on out there mum ,there watching a horror movie.And you know what my mate got the shock of his life one night,poor little bastard would have been scared for life ,oppening the door to find a sheet he asumed i was in there he lifted the sheet and went in to the shed to find that he had this blinding light shining at his head.with all these blokes shouting get out the way ,sit down .so he did i think he was 13 or so ,when he found me he had this big smile on his face whats up i said lol.
Going fishing with dad ,yep lots of great memories,mate i recon that one your holding must be close to 60lbs.
Cheers Rob

[blackjew]

Hey Steve can i send you a pm ,

[rabbi]

Yeah Blackjew,no problem.
Dad use to get an 8/0 hook and 1 white tennis shoe lace and loop it around the top of the hook and bind the eye end on with binding thread and then just cut the end out of the loops on the hook end and put whtaever size ball sinker was required on the attached line. Sorta looked like a poormans rubber squid but it worked on jew,tailor,flathead and the odd mudcrab from memory.
When we wanted mullet for bait we used to drive the boat along the edge of the island at night and they were so thick that we would often get as many big mullet jump in the tinny as we needed.Got smacked in the head one night so I got a bit gun shy after that.

[blackjew]

Hey steve ding i just had a brain wave what about the clooured laces they make these days ,im going to get a few different colours and give it a go .

Cheers Rob

[blackjew]

WoW Thats great info steve i cant wait to try it,so let me get this right there will only be 2 tags ,dangling from the hook.

if i set one of those bait traps on that side you recon that would be the go to get a few mullet.

Thanks mate great info

Cheers Rob

[rabbi]

One shoelace makes about 6 loops so when you cut them there will be 12 strings as a tail.
I havnt caught mullet for bait for years so Im out of touch there.
Rob, your mailbox needs clearing

[mylestom]

Lots of mullet in the system all sizes Lanos(Sand) not as plentiful. But all size of Bull.

Livebait on baitjigs is probably the quickest, last weekend about five minutes to score twenty or so.

Also in the old days, white feathers and white rags used a lot, large tailor also in the river. Salmon havent been as thick this year, but in previous up to about 8lb in old scale, some of them that thick mate Steve caught a couple in his landing net beside the boat.

The new sand barge has been in the last fews years and moves around a bit, but with the recent floods back up near the old Butter factory.

The shags and other bird life have been giving the baitfish a hiding in front of the village most days, with some large predator fish also into the mix. So the recover is usually pretty quick after a flood event with the water quality on top a bit murky, but lots of life below.

Beach has been fairly consistent, with most locals and tourist getting a feed each day. But take only what you need. Maritime will be around over the holidays and doesn't always put the boat in. Fisheries hopefully will be active as some people, still believe in catch and keep everything.

Beach worms have been fairly consistent with even the district pro wormers working one point for three days at the right time. Then some locals the next and still worms there. Not much debris from flood on North Beach but a bit on the Urunga/Hungry heads side.

The river bar this week had reasonable access with calm seas to outside, but this bar can get very dangerous very quickly.

One idiot in about a 4m dinghy with tiller steer this time last week, power out to the break at the south wall, switch off motor and then start casting. No lifejacket or anything. Yep have the photos, so if someone you know please advise them that all on the south wall were calling him a di##head.

Enjoy your fishing, your welcome, but please treat our area and its fishing with respect.

Trev

[blackjew]

Mate my box is empty,i keep getting a message saying its full,im getting really pissed off,i have sent 4 emails to admin with no replys,not sure what to do.Cheers Rob,oh yer now i get the shoelace lure ,thanks Rob,ill give you a bell today trev ,you be home
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[blackjew]

Thats real great info Trev,im getting twithchy just thinking about it ,cant wait to get down there,thats great your river recovers that quickly,the Clarence takes about 6 weeks to get back to normal,which is a bit of a drag.

[mylestom]

Rob,
Should be around most of the day, if not at home give a ring on the mobile, as usually go for a walk around the village about 3 to 4 times a day. Also whale watch time at the Surf Club.

Light showers again today, but the tides should be right for a fish or three. Raining as I post.

Trev

[mylestom]

The Bellinger/Kalang system is not a long system but with plenty filter systems in the catchment.

A quick trip up river after a flood will show how quick it can clear. Even after a 7 to 8 metre event at Bellingen/Lavenders bridge will see fish caught down here in some of the deeper holes within two to three days. The only problem would be the debris in the water.

The last event had river debris still going out for about 8 days, but the birds and the bait activity was active in river within that time.

Observation and history, sometimes we flood up to 9 times in a year, so suppose it just one of those things you get used to.

Trev

[stonecold]

Trev...I think Ballina got your share of the salmon this year!....Rabbi and I decided you can have em back

[blackjew]

Ok Trev give you a call soon,
yep Salmon ,i remember when i was down south on the west coast , even the crayfishermen didnt buy em,they just caught rock cod.lolI had to chuckle when i heard they are sending them south.

[nigelr]

Those salmon were here in droves Stonecold, thankfully a lot have continued to move north, although there will be more plague-like invasions between now and X'mas, unfortunately!
I haven't seen so many salmon hereabouts this early in the year as were about in April and May.
Horrifying!