A trophy grunter?

My friend told me that he apparently caught a 30cm over grunter on a lure last year.

This one was around 27cm, I would say.

Not big enought to beat my friend's trophy grunter, but it was still a good size fish for grunters found around here.

I am aiming to beat my friend's record this summer.




Swan River Grand Slam, landed on the weekend.

Rain clouds

The sky was looking threatening, but we went to have an afternoon fishing anyway.

We decided to fish around the bridge so at least we could get a shelter from rain or lightening for the worst case.

空には雨雲がびっしり、予報では夕方から雨もしくは雷雨の事。川に行った頃には、もう既に雨が降り出していましたが、雷は鳴っていません。





We didn't get a thunder storm luckily, but the rain came down quite heavily from time to time.

It was interesting to see the sky as the rain clouds moved in and out. One part of the sky was bright, and other parts was dark, and they kept changing.

Fishing was OK, I guess. We caught a few grunters, one bream, and one flathead, and everyone got something at the end.

時々、雨が激しくなったりもしましたが、心配していた雷は無く、釣りの方も全員がなんかしらの魚が釣れたので、まあまあの結果でした。

EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro

Flatheads are back

To tell you a truth, I am not a big fun of these guys.

クロダイを狙っていてたまに釣れるのこの魚。



They look and run like overweight snakes, I think.

見た目も、引きも太り過ぎのヘビの様で（と言ってもヘビを釣った事はありませんが）、あまり好きな魚ではないです。

釣るのよりも、リリースする方が難しい魚です。いつまでもネットの中で首を振って暴れますし、頭には刺されると痛い刺もあるので、正直掛けた瞬間に「針がばれてくれないかなあ」と思ってしまう、ちょっとかわいそうなやつです。

We don't usually see them during the winter. They are summer fish, and it looks like they are back in the river.

It is not very difficult to catch flatheads. Use a big and heavy fly like Clouser minnow, and keep bouncing it on the bottom. If fish are there, they will hit it soon or later.

I actually believe it is harder to release flatheads than catching them. They got sharp points at the back of their heads, and they can give you a very painful spike.

Anyway we went out on Canning River after work today. On the second or third cast, my friend hooked up a big size flathead. It was a very good fish, and it fought well for the flathead, I thought.

Mike's big flathead. It really looks like a snake.




EF 24mm f/2.8

Summer is here

It was our first summer day of the year. It became very hot after the lunch (I think temperature passed 30 degree), and it felt like I don't need waders anymore at least during the day (the weather forecast says it'll be mid 20s next week though).

先週末は、冬に戻ったかの様に寒かったのに、昨日、今日は突然の夏日和。ウェーダーでは蒸し暑いくらいでした。

We went to the Point Walter in the morning as our source was telling us that fish were found there last week. We didn't see anything apart from a few cormorants sitting on rocks, and they also looked like being told a wrong information.

午前中は、河口に近いポイントへ。先週は釣れていたそうですが、今日はアタリすらありません。


Checking left and right.


A lot of food for fish, but no fish in the area.

After having lunch (a bakery in Rossmoyne makes an excellent roll for $5), we decided to fish around Shelley area. We checked a few spots here and there, and it looked like the water has cleared up bit compared to what I saw two weeks ago (although it is till siltier than normal).

We saw some schools of small bait fish, (first time in two months), and hooked up a couple grunters at the end, which suggest fish are moving back to the area now.

お昼の後は、今年の冬の大雨のせいでこの二ヶ月間まったくだめだった上流のホームエリアをチェックしに行きました。

アタリが数回の後、Grunterを２匹釣りました。クロダイが釣れなかったのは、ちょっと残念でしたが、魚は徐々に戻って来ている様です。

Breams caught at Mt Henry bridge last week.


They should start moving upstream anytime.


I'll also need to go trout fishing before it gets too hot.

Club casting Day

Today was the club's (Saltwater Flyrodders of WA) casting day.

It was windy and cold, however, a number of members were there to test different rods and lines. Some people were having a lesson on how to became a certified casting instructor as well.

I am not a strong fun of those stiff tomato sticks, but there were a few rods I found interesting (SAGE 290gr Bass taper was my pick). I also tried a rod which apparently is designed for sailfish. I almost fell over from firing that heavy cannon (it was 15 or 16wt I think).

今日は、クラブのキャスティングデイがありました。

メンバー２０数名がそれぞれ竿を持ち合って、それぞれの竿を振り比べたり、キャススティングのレッスンを受けたりしていました。

色々と違った竿（といっても殆どがSAGEでしたが）を試しましたが、中でも友達のセイルフィッシュ用の竿は驚きでした。ロッドもリールもそれこそヘビー級。慣れればフォルス・キャストをせずに、バックキャストからそのままシュート一発でフルラインを飛ばせるそうです。

Photo by Ross



Although casting different rods was interesting, I was more interested in fishing the water in front of the place where we were having the meeting.

I was working around two jetties next to a restaurant, and a small bream then hit my fly under one of the jetties.

The tide was fairly low, and many weed beds and sea shells on the bottom were exposed in shallows. I also saw a lot of mussels on the jetty pylons.

I think the area looked very interesting, and I would go back there on a high tide as more fish should come into the area to feed.


色々な竿をキャスティングできて良かったのですが、やっぱりキャスティングよりフィッシングです。ミーティングがあった場所の前のエリアに桟橋が二つ。いかにもクロダイが居そうで、どうも気になったので、さっさとウェーダーを履いて自分だけ釣りを始めました。

思った通り、桟橋の下に小さいクロダイが隠れていました。


The Jetty at Jo Jo's Restaurant where the fish was hiding.

Only small one, but any bream is better than no bream.








A coffee shop allowed me to be inside in waders.

EF 24mm f/2.8

Grunter Highway

If trout and bream had a baby between them, I think it would look like yellowtail grunter.

They have trout like spots, a bream like spiky dorsal fin, and their body is something like a half way between bream and trout. A streamline head and shoulder finished with a stocky tail end.

They only grow to 28 cm or so, but fun to catch on light rods as they put a fair fight for their size (they pull harder than trout and bream of the same size, I think).

Yellowtail grunterというWAの汽水域でよく釣れる魚です。見た目は、トラウトとクロダイを足して二で割った様な感じです。大きくても３０cmの魚ですが、同じサイズのトラウトとクロダイよりも引きは少しばかり強いです。　





We found a big school of grunters on Canning river yesterday. The place should be called Grunter Highway because we could see so many of them feeding and cruising in a relatively small area (they were almost lining up in one big line).

Sometime we catch them on every single cast, but other time they can be very picky on fly patterns and how they are being fished. Today they were bit shy but we still managed to land few at the end.

この魚はアグレッシブなハンターなので、ストリーマーを早めの短いリトリーブで引くのがポイントですが、稀に極端にセレクティブになったりもします。今日、橋の上から見つけた群れは底で何かを掘って食べているみたいで、ストリーマーに対する反応はとても渋かったです。

A hitchhiker found on the high way today.



Pentax Optio WPi

The best of both worlds

I will be on a stream today, and on a saltwater flat tomorrow.

Twice amount of challenge, twice amount of fun.

My fly boxes are rarely full, waders are always wet, and lovely bamboo rods don't event get time to go back straight.

EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro