Clifton Springs Kayak - Monday 1 Jan 2024

[Andrews]

Happy New Years all,

Sharing a session off Clifton Springs chasing calamari then kgw amongst the shallows,

Fished 9.00am - 12.00pm, high run out tide, clear sky, full sun and clear water.

Started moving to the whiting spot by drifting for calamari in 2-3m, covered maybe 1km without a single touch.

We then moved into spot sitting in a depth of 0.5 - 0.75m over a sandy broken bottom with common eel grass patches.

First cast with the Gulp sandworm, 1/16 1o, #6 assist hook plastic and I'm into a pinkie (27cm). Next cast over the weed another (25cm).

I then kept casting the sand, two light hops and and wind and managed half a dozen kgw from the first sand patch, few were just undersize.

Next sand patch managed a few more, few undersize, and ended up dropping a few at the kayak as they'd spit the hooks once their head was out of the water.

Kept four kgw of good size, released all undersize.
Tested out my new stablizizers which are great at rest.

Cheers!

[Tim399]

Well done, interesting still no calamari. I wonder if this is due to an environmental change to put them off/migrate elsewhere. Good to see you still got onto a few fish.

I bought a pack of Berkley fat sand worms in clear with red fleck from Mario’s bait on the way home from my last session where we met, I am looking forward to trying these out on the whiting.
https://www.anacondastores.com/fishing/ ... gL6TvD_BwE

[Andrews]

Well done, interesting still no calamari. I wonder if this is due to an environmental change to put them off/migrate elsewhere. Good to see you still got onto a few fish.

I bought a pack of Berkley fat sand worms in clear with red fleck from Mario’s bait on the way home from my last session where we met, I am looking forward to trying these out on the whiting.
https://www.anacondastores.com/fishing/ ... gL6TvD_BwE

Cheers Tim!
Yeah it's real strange - spoke to a few other kayaks on the water later in the day and they gave up on them too.

Those plastics worked great today!
I was flicking them in the natural colour and honestly you'd cast, two hops and they'd be onto the plastic.
Majority of hookups were from the assist hook, I ran size 6 hooks and found I'd miss a few bites due to the fish either running and spitting the hook (with light drag), or shaking the hook at the kayak - either way not enough penetration despite good hook exposure. Will be upsizing to size 4 in future and see how that works. The other thing wasthe hook position, had to be dead centre and pretty much at the very end of the plastic - otherwise they'd just bite off the tail.

The plastics were great, but man they don't last! You'd get one bite and either they'd take half, or the whole plastic!
Found online (Aliexpress) some Sandworm profile plastics made from TPR (same stuff as ZMan plastics) and will post a review of them, they're a tad shorter at 3.2". 83mm as opposed to the 4" 100mm gulps. Hopefully a good buy, will see.

[Sebb]

Oh interesting, no squid...
Have they started the dredging? Could it be because of that?

I was thinking to go out there tomorrow or Wed, but says gonna rain pretty heavy. So probably not.

[Andrews]

Oh interesting, no squid...
Have they started the dredging? Could it be because of that?

I was thinking to go out there tomorrow or Wed, but says gonna rain pretty heavy. So probably not.

I think they've well and finished the dredging and the water clarity is pristine, there are squid that they're catching on the Curelwis Bank 3-5m, but they're spotty. Probs just not coming into the shallows at the moment?

I'll be out Saturday from 9am or so, chasing kgw and other species on plastics.
Winds should be well shetered and if like Monday I'll be in waist deep water anyway.

[Tim399]

Well done, interesting still no calamari. I wonder if this is due to an environmental change to put them off/migrate elsewhere. Good to see you still got onto a few fish.

I bought a pack of Berkley fat sand worms in clear with red fleck from Mario’s bait on the way home from my last session where we met, I am looking forward to trying these out on the whiting.
https://www.anacondastores.com/fishing/ ... gL6TvD_BwE

Cheers Tim!
Yeah it's real strange - spoke to a few other kayaks on the water later in the day and they gave up on them too.

Those plastics worked great today!
I was flicking them in the natural colour and honestly you'd cast, two hops and they'd be onto the plastic.
Majority of hookups were from the assist hook, I ran size 6 hooks and found I'd miss a few bites due to the fish either running and spitting the hook (with light drag), or shaking the hook at the kayak - either way not enough penetration despite good hook exposure. Will be upsizing to size 4 in future and see how that works. The other thing wasthe hook position, had to be dead centre and pretty much at the very end of the plastic - otherwise they'd just bite off the tail.

The plastics were great, but man they don't last! You'd get one bite and either they'd take half, or the whole plastic!
Found online (Aliexpress) some Sandworm profile plastics made from TPR (same stuff as ZMan plastics) and will post a review of them, they're a tad shorter at 3.2". 83mm as opposed to the 4" 100mm gulps. Hopefully a good buy, will see.

I’ll have to look at how to set up assist hooks. I wanted to buy a similar sandworm profile made by zman, but couldn’t justify the cost by the time it is shipped to aus. I’ve found Monroe’s soft plastics stay together better than gulp (different materials and purposes I suppose), but still not as good as zman. Let me know how the Aliexpress plastics go.

[Andrews]

Yeah, they're deintely worth doing and I was using your regualar tackle tactics jig heads 1/16 or 1/12, 1o hook and running the braid from the backside of eyelet to the assist hook. Then pinning that assist hook (size 6, will be moving to size 4 onwards) upwards dead centre of the worm towards the very end.

Yeah, agreed! I know Zman in the states make worms, but they're the chunky lunker ned rig, etc style that are thick and chunky.

These are what I picked up - went the coffee glitter from the first seller, and the orange glitter from the second seller (cheaper one).
Smaller length, same profile and hopefully more durable. Slap on some procure in bloodworm and we're set.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006 ... 1802nRLQoR
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005 ... 9608136%21