North Pine Monster

[Little grey men]

After entertaining the family all day Saturday I was granted leave to fish for a few hours in the afternoon, so I asked my boy, where to mate?? The reply was quick and confident " The Muddy Place " Five year old speak for North Pine Dam.

We arrived very late and decided to head for an easy to reach part of the dam which usually produces a fish or two. As I neared the end of our walk we turned the corner to be confronted by a very large extended family who had set up camp right along the bank to the no go zone, which held the deep water. There must have been twenty rods set up to harvest a feed.
Looks like I'll be fishing the shallow water, not to worry, better than no fishing at all.
Started the session off with a Jackall...not a touch, next came a 15gram slug..nil
how about a spinner.....nada....My son in a trumpet loud five year old voice" DAD WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHINESE PEOPLE HERE " Shut up, don't be rude !!
clip on a spro...without any luck...oh well, I decided to try an Atomic Prong with a bit of scent sprayed on.
Cast out and very slowly rolled back to the bank.....FISH ON !!!!!! Don't panic...you've been catching freshwater fish for over thirty years now. Play the fish...don't rush it....keep the rod up....loosen the drag a little.....where's that camera....
I'm yet to get my fish of a lifetime. come close a few times and this would rate right up among them........enjoy

[Plastic_Magic]

Thats a record breaker. Good to see the hooks are sharp. Do you usaully do well on the slug?

Cheers Plastic_Magic

[Whitto]

Poor little buggar, looks like in the right place at the wrong time, although if you are real careful with the knife you should get two feeds out of it,LOL, Great photo , Cheers Whitto

[Little grey men]

G'day Plastic Magic, the slugs are effective at North Pine if your fishing the deeper water and you have to cast out a long way. Last week I used Jackalls and slugs all morning. Only five fish taken, but I fished in the one spot without moving along the bank. They certainly are effective if you work them right and cheap as well ( that's the appealing bit );)

Can anybody ID this little fella.

[jamie martin]

a fish is a fish , besides they get bigger if you add alchohol !

[bdowdy]

what is it thats unreal

[Little grey men]

a fish is a fish , besides they get bigger if you add alchohol !

Geeez Jamie, I'd have to be drunk as a monkey for that one to get any bigger.;D

Hey Bdowdy I reckon it's some type of gudgeon.I was getting a lot of weed on the jig head. Little fella must have been minding his business down in a weed bed and YAAAAARRRGH....I was the mighty fisherman that day.

[StevenM]

Hey thats a cracker of a fish

What lb line were you using and have you still got all the terminal gear together as there could be a reconrd pending.

[Little grey men]

Hey thats a cracker of a fish

What lb line were you using and have you still got all the terminal gear together as there could be a reconrd pending.

I was using 10lb braid with a 12lb flurocarbon leader. When chasing fish of this calibre you don't want to take chances.....I think he may have straightened the hook a little bit though !!!

[bdowdy]

good stuff lgm its one great fish.

[Tropicaltrout]

just say 40 but don't mention mm?

[fishytales]

What a ripper fish. Would have loved to see you fillet it. ;D

Chris

[Sean]

i bet the large extended family thought you were mad throwing it back....they would have kept it!!!!!

[Little grey men]

enough is enough, seen them asians breaking the law probly same group. without been vigilanti can anything be done, they are $#$%%% and wont play by the rules.

fisheries wont go near them what is the go with that>???
I know what your saying.
I kept an eye on them. There were a lot of rods set up but there was also a lot of people to claim them if anybody asked. When they finished, they pulled a net bag out of the dam with about six fish in it. They all looked to be of a good size.
People keeping undersized fish does make my blood boil..but it's not all bad, I fished there a few weeks ago early in the morning next to a Chinese guy named Tony who was very friendly and approachable. He was using some really nice Megabass gear. This stuff was like alien technology ( AWESOME )and he was making me look like a beginner. He was very willing to share his technique's and knowledge. His style was very very different but it was getting him some good bass, which were all released bar one which had a little slug right down it's gut. Even keeping that one fish, he kept looking at me nervously. Perhaps he thought I would take the fish from him. One thing I did ask him to do was to kill the fish quickly as he had placed it in a bag to flip around until it croaked. :-/

[DJ77]

fire tail gudgeon great live bait put 3 or 4 on a hook and you cant go wrong

[oldboot]

Sorry mate that one doesn't count....... its foul hooked;D ;D ;D