Back From A Fishing Tackle Sale

Justin sms'ed me yesterday telling me there's going to be a Compleat Angler Sale. Damn, so tempting. But in fact, this morning I woke up and totally forgot about it until Chen msn me and asked me if I was going. I sms'ed Justin and he told me GULPS were going for like $7.50 a packet. I met up with Chen in the city after he met Jenny for lunch. The sale was pretty alright. I was trying to get some hardbody lures I've been eyeing but they weren't available there. End up buying a cheap Rapala and a packet of GULP. Since I've got my camera with me at work today, I took a pic and that's why there's this post! Hiak..! Ok ok, I'm going back to my work, stop judging me PLEASE!


Ronald

Jialiang's First Trip To Woolloomooloo

Catch Report 30/8/2006

Yesterday, Jialiang called me in the afternoon asking me about catch report from my night assault at Woolloo but I told him I didn't go again because Chen couldn't make it. He then said he's free and we were set to go for a night assault there. It was his first time fishing there and he hadn't venture to the restaurant side of the wharf.

I set off to pick him up from Randwick and proceed to Woolloo passing by Kings Cross's red light district. Not much happening but we were talking shit during the journey so I didn't realise much as well. Straight off we went to the wharf end and it was quite windy. I used the sinking lipless crankbait I got from ebay and had 3 tailors followed it to my feet! But they didn't attack it and the next subsequent casts had a few knocks but still no hookup! It was getting frustrating, and Jialiang didn't do well too. We changed lures after lures but that was it. As I was sitting down on a particular stretch, I saw millions of baitfish balling up under a street lamp. Then out of sudden, I told Jialiang there's 2 squids coming in for a feed! The visual of their attacking mode was spectacular. Luckily in my lure box I had a rusty orange squid jig which I attached on and tried for them. My skills were lousy and I couldn't get onto them. The squids took off but came back awhile later, this time I gave the jig to Jialiang. He's definitely a squid pro now, getting not one, but both of the squids we saw!


Later on, we cut up the squid and went on baiting on soft plastic jigheads! What the??!! Thought we supposed to lure end up baiting! Long story short, only got some pussy snapper bites with Jialiang and me almost foul hooking them! Hehe..

We wrapped things up and went for a hotdog at Harry's. Tried to cast at the water there but it was totally dead.

Ronald

My First 2nd-hand Lure

Yesterday night I was working late in my office till about 1am. When I came back to my room, Father had placed a small little parcel envelope in front of my door. Instantly I knew it was the 2nd hand lure I won in an ebay auction. In fact why I knew the packaging look so familiar was that the seller from Hong Kong had sent me a photo he took of the envelope before sending it out! Talk about dedicated sellers! Anyway, the seller listed the lure without a name for it. He probably had no idea what it was or where he must have gotten it from (shit, could it be a "water" goods?). The feel of the minnow-shaped body was somewhat different from other minnow hardbodies I've had. I remembered seeing somewhere in the internet that some particular hardbodies are elastic and can be bent. So I gave it a try on mine and it's quite true. So, a little search on the Duel website did yield some results and it seems this lure is called "Duel LiveBait Real Minnow" at 70mm and a floater.

Since it's a mat chartreuse(lemon) colour, I'll be using this for night luring. A pity it doesn't have rattles. Notice the pic that hand can bend it quite much, mine couldn't. Damn!

English description from Hottackle website

Ronald

Star Of Team St Mikes

Catch Report 27/8/2006

Team St Mikes had a good feast of hotpot at home base the night before our boat quest. Had wanted to take a pic of the spread but forgot about it, probably too hungry. Jialiang called me saying he wanted to go too after his night marathon of soccer watching of the EPL. He claimed he will be a guest in this outing, I teased by saying more as a contractor. Hehe..

We set off to our usual spot 1st and anchoring had no drama. This time, William had joined us for his first time boating. We helped rigged Willie and Jeff while Jialiang as usual skippered our boat. Berleying was done on the clear water and as usual, heaps of yellowtails came in hoardes. This time, I tried to use a sabiki rig instead of the LJ rig. It seems to work better than the rest using LJ rig, though it can only catch yellowtail I supposed. Jeff scored a good start by pulling in an almost 50cm flathead within minutes of anchoring. Willie did also managed a trevally and a leatherjacket I presumed. Both me and Chen tried bottom bash in hope of port jackson shark but none of our baits were touched except Chen had 2 of his hooks bitten off. Jialiang didn't do well on his squid bait and had slept most time at this spot due to his late night soccer marathon.

We then changed spot after almost spending 3 hours there. At Clifton Gardens, Willie scored a whiting 1st by bottom bashing while Jeff did get a flounder as well as Willie too. Then, Jialiang managed to score all the breams for the boat that day while the star of the day was Chen getting 3 hookups of silver trevallies and having the fight of his time with 2 fishes going 40cm. All hookups were presumably within the space of 10 minutes. By then, the boat man had called me that we must return the boat by 1pm as there was a pre-book for it. Seems that I'm the only one with no contribution that day until mayhem breaks loose. On a particular cast, I let out more line. While I was chatting about "deep-fried flounder", my rod buckled and I instantly strike. The fish ran hard and I had to stand up near the boat edge to fight the balance. It was very exhilarating and I could feel my arms sore from holding the rod. Anyway, it didn't surfaced enough to let me see how big it was, but for sure it was the fight of a big silver trevally. It went underneath the boat and probably got stucked on the berley pot rope and I could feel that my leader was rubbing against the boat hull. Guessed it wasn't my day and the leader just gave way instantly and that was it, with a point in time when Willie's line got onto my rod and fireline! I admit I wasn't impressed about it but that's fishing, you gain some and you lose some. Still, I'm contented to at least got the 5-6 minutes of thrill.


























Ronald

Chen's Personal Best Bream

Catch Report 26/8/2006

This morning I woke up early specially to go to the Videoezy sale at Stanmore. In the past I used to get good bargains at this branch but todays sale is totally bullshit. The selection is crap and very minimal, and the price wasn't that cheap at all. Maybe they changed management or something but I guess that'll be the last of me going to this sale, considering waiting ages for one to happen.

Chen sms'ed me last night to go for morning luring and I told him I'll ring him up after I came back from the sale. So we set off around 9.30am and reached a spot in Hen & Chicken Bay that I picked from the street directory to get away from the strong southwest winds. When we reached there, the wind was howling behind us at the jetty end. It was crap to lure so a change was made to the drain.

I thought since the wind came that direction, the golf course side of the drain could be shielded. I was quite wrong. And we had to cut through the golf course along the drain for a short cut. It was indeed dangerous as when we leave after zero bites, Chen tells me that we're near a couple of the golf holes and right one moment a ball landed just behind Chen. That's it, the last we'll ever fished near the golf course, especially on a weekend!

We shifted for the 2nd time to the stretch me and Jialiang 1st started out at Hen & Chicken Bay. It was quite shallow there by then. So I changed to the Cultiva lure. Chen used his goldie Smilin' Jack and scored his personal best bream at 37cm! The fish took strong drags and Chen had a very enjoyable fight since his last good tussle with the Watsons Leaping Bonito. I told him to guide the fish to the nearby steps and helped him lip grip from there.

Unfortunately, after releasing the bream, Chen snagged his goldie on the next casts. It was a devastating blow since it caught him his biggest bream so far. Still, we persisted after his good showing and moved to down the stretch. I saw some rocks near and told Chen it looks snaggy. 1st cast didn't look good and it landed quite near. I was like cursing about the crap casting when suddenly I got a pull on my rod and the drag sound went bonkers! Pardon me as it was my drag setting being too loose. Still, this bugger still managed to take a bit of line out after I tightened the drag. Moreover, I felt it was kind of heavy and thought this might be a good fish. Alas, the belly treble of cultiva foul hooked this 22cm bream's body and that explains why because I'm reeling in with its body providing the water resistance.

When we were walking back to our car after doing somemore casts with my popper, Chen told me I was right about going back to retrieve his snagged lure during low tide. It was right near the shore being stucked on some crappy concrete block. He walked down and easily regain back his goldie. All in all, a great day for him definitely.

Ronald

My 1st Proper Lipless Crankbait

Today when I went back to my room for lunch, there was a parcel from Japan. Konichiwa! It was a lure which I won from ebay for around AU$11. Hehe.. Quite cheap right? The brand is ZIP BAITS called a CALIBRA FINE lipless crankbait. I'll probably be using this sinking lure to jig vertical columns of water, such as Woolloomooloo wharf or during boating.

BANZAI!!!

Ronald

Got My First On GULP Sandworm

Catch Report 23/8/2006

Late last night, I MSN Chen asking him if he wants to lure in the morning and he obliged. My car couldn't start at 1st, probably the same problem of not enough petrol in the pump line. It was almost to a point that I couldn't get it started that Chen had to go grab Sam's car keys. Luckily it started and Chen U-turned back and we head off to Iron Cove reaching there at 7am. We spent about 1 hour there with no bites at all. So I suggested a change and we went to Hen & Chicken Bay.

We went to the drain only to get my halved Sandworm bitten up by a tailor. I re-rigged with a new 3" only to get it snagged in its 3rd cast. Nothing is looking good this morning, with Chen getting problems from his fireline. I changed to pinkie but the drain seems to be a fabricated shit story.

I moved along the pavement and had some bite on the ginger beer grub. Later, changed to the other halved sandworm and couldn't get any bites at all. Saw some splashes at a pipe and went there. 1st cast and I was onto my first fish on the GULP Sandworm.

This 24cm bream did not take any line but still provide some fun and a non-zero outing. Still happy as finally the sandworm proves its worth.

Back to work and a sleepy and shagged afternoon. Jialiang had called me earlier for a afternoon session and I'm still contemplating about it. Hmm...

Ronald

Rest In Peace, Laser Pro

Catch Report 21/8/2006

Yesterday morning, I went to Clifton Gardens to meet up with Jialiang, Justin and Kenny. Couple of Justin's friends and KL's friends were there also. Justin and gang had already caught couple of good size trevallies and yellowtails. I found out they had already went there the night before and fished throughout the morning! Using just pilchards as bait and berley but there wasn't anything for me and Jialiang at all. I left early for work while Kenny was still there and apparently they've caught cuttlefish and squid later.

Wasn't really productive yesterday, probably due to waking up early and not having enough sleep. But still, it was manageable. Came back to St Mike for dinner only to found out yet again, there was no plates left! Not only that, food was diminishing fast, and Joe had to cook up more fish and vegetables. I trust that Joe had definitely cook enough food just that there are some inconsiderate persons ( I don't want to named names ) who takes more than they possibly needed! I know some people eat more than me and have big appetites but it really is very inconsiderate to not think about others who are just slightly slower to come to the kitchen by 6pm. Talk about Kiasu-ism in Singapore (kiasu is hokkien for "scared to lose out"), in St Mikes is even worse! You should come visit St Mikes dining hall on Mon, Tues and Thurs "before" 6pm and witness the "MOUNTAINS" on some peoples plates! Unbelievable shit!!!

Anyway, enough of ranting. I sms'ed Chen asking him whether he wants a short night operations. He replied positive and after watching my SBS news, we went to Glebe. It was not a very cold night which was looking good, but on the fishing front, things wasn't looking well. We cast soft plastics at the spot which we had good success the 1st night we went, there wasn't any significant bites. It was looking bleak for the operation. We moved down the stretch, at the same time, I changed to the Humbug. Saw a plague thing and decided to sit on it and lure. After awhile, I had a strike and quite a good fight from a 28cm tailor.

Chen quickly changed to his goldie and cast around the area. Probably at his 2nd cast he too got a tailor. They were definitely there, as I've noticed earlier there was surface commotion.

Then, the most disastrous nightmare ever to happen to a lurer. I used a lure which I got from Kmart, the Halco Laser Pro. I cast and cast with ease using this lure and probably due to my continuous strainful casting, the leader broke at the mainline joint and sent the lure flying out to the far water. I was devastated, but I know it was my stupidity for not changing the leader when a point of time I used force to retrieve a snagged plastic and must have given the joint a bad pounding. It's so far been my 2nd hardbody lure to be lost, but I know this is common for lurers. There goes my $9 without even catching a fish at all. Rest In Peace.

Ronald

Bloody Wind

Catch Report 20/8/2006

Woke up late again today at almost 12pm. Nowadays had no idea why I needed so much sleep, I think I'm feeling unhealthy. As usual, when I woke up late, I sort of skip lunch, as I definitely need my coffee fix. So, a coffee and 2 piece of kaya toast (st michaels standard, not the Ya Kun style) is needed to curb my stomach from growling. Washed some of the fishing equipments since the last boat trip, yes, that's how lazy I am. Then, next stop, just you'll expect, my office! That's how "no-life" I lead. Anyway, had to try and get some results from my final simulations. End up didn't do anything, surf net. Sigh..

Looking out of the window I knew I was gonna go fishing again. Well, I planned to anyway since yesterdays quite good showing. I met Chen outside my room corridor and told him I'll be going again in the late afternoon. He said see how as Jenny was round the corner. I didn't want to get him into trouble and proceeded to go. Upon reaching the drain, the wind was suddenly howling! And it was done "in my face" pattern! The water was choppy and I knew I would not stand a good chance luring when I had to cast against the wind. As it was blowing easterly, I went to La Montage side. Long story short, big fat zero bites for 45 minutes being there.

I said to myself, heck, I'm gonna go back to the drain no matter how the wind is. 1st stop, pelican's home, indeed, I tried with pinky and it couldn't land far. So I made my way to the joggers track and 1st cast with pinky, I got a 22cm bream. Good stuff!

The take was quite far out, probably just 5th to 6th turns of the handle. After releasing her, I cast back the same spot and yet again there was a hit but no hookup. I re-cast back and same thing again, a take and a short burst on my spool! Damn, no hookup! That was it, after the 2 misses, it was no use after throwing back the same spot again and again. I'm a lousy angler!

It was almost dark by now, I tried with watermelon bm and jig slowly because of the wind working against my line. I felt there was some continuous bites and I slowed down, keeping my line intact but not in motion. The bites were more confirmed and I striked. Yeap, fish on. A few super-mini short bursts made up a lousy fight from a 27cm bream.

That was it for the day, Jialiang called me to confirm out morning outing at Clifton Gardens as well as check up on my catch. It was already past St Michaels dinner time and I knew I had to get take away, which I did knowing I wanted to boycott nancy's. Coincidentally, I met Phillip at the Glebe Thai with his girlfriend Amy.

Ronald

Test Drive Hardbody Lures

Catch Report 19/8/2006

Wake up a bit late today as it was saturday so I thought might as well sleep in. Had been itching to go luring this week but the tide wasn't ideal so waited till the weekend to do some fishing. Sms'ed Jialiang and Justin as it's been awhile since I last went luring with them. Didn't get a reply from Jialiang. Justin had to do some music rehearsal for his church and he couldn't make it in time. I went to Iron Cove anyway. Was first using a bloodworm bm near the drain but there wasn't anything, not even bites. Then, I switched to hardbodying and tried a lure I bought cheap from ebay. It's a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap and it's like its second time in water. Probably until the 5th or 6th cast I got a sudden take which was very near where I was standing. This 36cm flathead was weird, as it decided to body roll itself and wrap around my 6lb leader and trapped its own tail. Thus, it rendered itself un-swimmable! As you would have know, I was just reeling in a dead weight without even the slightest struggle!

Then, a disastrous thing happened! While I was reeling in the rapala lure, I felt some weed clinging onto it, then a stupid move was made as I started to crank it back fast. Suddenly it got stucked! I was terrified, as it was not quite a cheap lure (AU$9). I tried my usual lure retrieval methods but it seems like gone for sure. Then I walked further and did one pull and suddenly it came free! Thank God!

Later I moved away from the drain, and proceeded to the joggers stretch. Changed to Smilin Jack pink and on a few casts later, a 24cm bream was caught. The take was strong as well but the fight was unspectacular. The beauty of using hardbodies.

It was almost getting dark. I then changed to GULP 6" sandworm rigged with 1/0 Gamakatsu hook on 1/16th jighead which Chen helped me buy it from ebay. Man, this GULP is awesome, almost every cast I can feel bites, with a few occasion of a big pull but no hookup. It was very frustrating as there were occasions I felt some bites were like from breams. Anyway, somehow it broke in half when the part I glued with superglue came off. Then I tried with a watermelon bm and moved back to my starting point. Along the way I saw some surface action quite near the drain. One particular cast I decided to jig slowly near the bottom. I felt some bites and slowed down my twitch. When I felt the bites were stronger, I striked, and a half hearted fight from a 28cm bream was experienced and brought up for a camera shot.

The light was almost gone by now. I had a dinner appointment with Choong Han and Maurice at 7pm in chinatown. Thinking I still had about 15 minutes to spare, I went back to the drain again. Since it was dark, I didn't want to risk a soft plastic. I tried with a bright coloured lure which I bought in Singapore. It's a River2Sea Humbug 65SP. It's probably it's 3rd time seeing the water and I knew this lure couldn't dive deep as it has a very short bib. So I thought might as well kill the 15mins and anyhow crank the lure and I cranked it very fast. Around the 3rd/4th cast, it had a take very near where I stand! This flathead gave a good fight taking some line out and I was totally blown away! I tried to lift the fish out by my rod but I felt it was kinda heavy and still struggling. So I grab the leader and lift it out. I was so happy that this lure can catch a flathead as Dexter told me this colour is killer for Peacock Bass and Humbug is damn popular for them, never expected it to work in Australian waters. Took a shot of its underbelly as the lure was actually stucked below its mouth in an awkward way. She was 46cm.

Somehow it was a good feeling to see that Humbug catch quite a good size flathead. But because of the flathead's relentless head shakes while lifting her out of the water, the Humbug sustained some paint damaged and now it looks battle scarred. Doesn't matter, hehe..

Ronald

The Dark Side Of Team St Mikes

The other day, William was asking me through MSN if I can make him a logo for the dark side version of Team St Mikes insignia. I said if I can I'll try. So, yet again, instead of doing my thesis, I strayed into Fishnet yet again and scour for some illustration. Voila, I found a menacing looking Jewfish trying to eat a plastic lure! Edit away the lure and add in a frightening looking Chinaman Leatherjacket and there you have it willie, your own version of team stmikes logo.

Ok, back to work. sianzz...

Ronald

Not A Good Trip For Team St Mikes

Catch Report 12/8/2006

It was supposed to be a fully exciting and anticipated boat trip for the boys after the previous one. This time, Maurice decided to join us for his 1st time fishing experience. Chen is now getting more experienced in getting all the stuffs prepared like berley and bait. I met David at Rose Bay whom we encountered in Fishraider forum. He brought his friends out for their 1st time boating. The weather was good and the water conditions were excellent. It was thought to be a great day, but the day before, Jialiang had went out and told me it was very bad in terms of catch rate, where he only got 2 LJs and couple of Port Jackson sharks. It was indeed true to our extent as well. We only managed 1 trevally and a single Chinaman. After telling Chen about Jialiang's expedition, he tried to get the PJ sharks too, preparing a rig he learnt from his fishing encyclopedia! True enough, he hooked onto a PJ using a dead yellowtail! The bend on his kmart rod was looking scary! He engaged the fish slowly, but at times, the shark was very heavy, gaining line was not easy. However, the fighting capability of this shark was totally zero. It was like pulling in a dead weight, but in a very difficult way. Anyway, we saw the huge shark on the surface but towards the final moment, his 10lb fireline couldn't hold and it snapped instantly. After that, I've finished rigging and proceeded to drop my filleted yellowtail. Within less than few minutes, my rod bent and the drag sang slowly. I had hooked on a PJ shark as well. My Surecatch rod was also bending ugly and I knew it was a very heavy shark. My 1st time engaging such a heavy creature that I was totally blown out from its weight. Many times I could feel my arm sore since I'm only using a light 6 foot rod. Still, I was able to bring it up and Phillip helped me net it but the net frame seems like it couldn't hold! My next reaction was to grabbed its tail to support its weight and both of us coordinated to bring it up at the same time. Yeah! My 1st Port Jackson Shark!!!

Chen was so closed to taking a photo of his personal catch so it was decided that everyone in the boat should have a picture with this creature, and seems that they wanted to have a logo of PJ?? What the??

So, it was not a total disastrous day, at least we got to take photo with a shark! But this shark is so friendly and basically no teeth! Still, it was damn heavy, estimated about 20kg perhaps? Sadly, the hook was swallowed deep and I had to cut the line with the hook still inside its throat. Hopefully the hook will rust away and she was released into the sea back to her home. Cheers.

Ronald

Mmm... BEER...!!!

Oh my goodness! What the hell?? I saw an ad in the papers Dan Murphys having a sale of Tooheys Extra Dry at $30.99 per case. As I've been buying the 6 pack regularly from Broadway for $13.50, it's so much cheaper buying a case since I'm drinking it regularly! I don't think I'm alcoholic, I reckon I'm just a beer lover, because I really liked the taste of it. So sad, imagine when I'm going back to Singapore for good, I'll miss TED very very much...

Ronald

Happy Birthday Singapore

Today 9th August is my country's national day, where we gained our independence from Malaysia in 1965. I dedicate our team logo, the chinaman leatherjacket, with a high flying Singapore flag from its multi-purpose horn! What the??!!

Ronald

Cultiva Rip'N Minnow Rips!

Catch Report 8/8/2006

Today was an anticipated day to go for a late afternoon session, because the forecast predicted a fine sunny and mild wind day, and it turns out to be true. Upon reaching Iron Cove, we were greeted by a slight breeze. This time round, we headed straight to the drain. It was supposed to be high tide at 1.9 meters at around 7 plus but when we were there, the water was not very high. Anyway, I tied on a hardbody first and used the Cultiva Rip'N Minnow 65Sp since I've had success last time and also because it's suitable for shallow water. On the 3rd cast, a few slow cranks later, I had a strike. The rod buckled big time and I knew it won't be a flathead. It did make some line bursts but I was disappointed it wasn't a drag puller. However, it did make my job tougher to try and guide it without abrasing my 6lb leader. Up came a good looking healthy bream of 32cm.

As usual, after a good start, the rest is pretty much shit. I changed to a GULP 6" sandworm in camo colour which Chen helped me buy it in BigW the other day. I used a squidgy 1.5g size 2 jighead and had difficulties trying to make sense how to rig it properly. Anyway, I used the whole 6" and the bad thing about it being long and wiggly is that the casting is shit. Nonetheless, the bite rate is hot, with many hits and misses and a close call right to my feet and I had a strong pull and slight dragness but could not get it connected, damn! Long story short, it got snagged without even getting a fish, there goes $1.50 in less than 10 minutes! Worse still, Chen had lost 2 sps and even pinkie! It was a disastrous day for him but he did get rewarded towards the end when he hooked up a 47cm flathead on a silverfox squidgy wriggler.

We went back to St Mike for dinner and I suggested to Chen if he wanted to go Glebe after dinner for a short while, he agreed. So we went to check out Glebe and it was opened finally and it's been such a long time since my last visit there. They have renovated the park and new benches and walkways had been installed. Not much wind was there but it was still freaking cold. We had quite a good session there, with Chen getting 2 flatties and 1 bream while I had 3 flatties with one at 38cm. My camera had ran out of battery and so no pics. Good ol' Glebe, it still produces even after such a long absence.

Ronald

Fishing After The Rain

Catch Report 5/8/2006

Had a sleep-in today since it was saturday and I woke up almost at around lunch time. Watched the IFISH on channel 10 and was so impressed with the way they catch black drummer off the rocks. I didn't really had lunch today and went office straightaway.

It was almost about mid-afternoon and I wasn't really productive. The fish bug hits me again and what did you know, my team mate Chen came online. So a quick message asking him for a luring session and obviously he said let's go.

Seeing that it has been such a long time since we go back to our old playground, the Iron Cove, we hit that place. I was initially juggling between Glebe and IC and since Justin told me that Glebe had opened, I still chose IC. Upon reaching there, the wind was relentless. We gave up the idea of Justin's jewfish spot and so opted for the more sheltered Jialiang's "slopy slope". Cast cast cast, no bites. Feeling that the wind was blowing sort of westerly, I asked Chen if a move was the go and so we proceeded to the drain. When we were there, Chen said that the water was dirty and it was! Damn. Not only that, there seems to be a current flow that was causing eddies around the drain mouth. With that, basically the fishing line would not stay straight as I wanted to. Suddenly, Chen said he had something but felt light. A few moments of cranking the fish let go, probably a really smallish flathead. I was still jigging my pseed bm with no bites at all, until when I was at one point of time started to crank in the plastic fast. Then, a shadow appears and I saw a wide mouth opened and next thing, I hooked on a tailor right below my feet! Good stuff!

It went 31cm which was definitely legal and my biggest on soft plastic! So a theory was set, there were indeed heaps of tailors around, and the key was to crank it fast, because the second tailor came on the next cast. Just a small usual "chopper" size.

The poor bm had been totally terrorised, because they are called choppers due to their very canine sharp teeth. I lost so many potential hook ups and so decided to change to hardbody lures. I told Chen to change too and he tied on mr pinky. He cranked fast and was suddenly rewarded his personal best flathead of 48cm!

Well done bro! However, he had a messy line situation on his spool and couldn't cast really well after letting this flathead go. My Cultiva Rip'n Minnow 65SP lure had a few hits and misses with a couple of drop outs which was really devastating. But, all's not lost when I suddenly had a solid take which I thought it could be a big tailor. Surprisingly, a 37cm flathead decided to give me the short thrill.

Chen had a call from Jenny and so we had to leave, nonetheless, it was a good luring session which we both had long had such fun. Not forgetting Chen is edging towards bigger fishes as he is now getting better at the art of angling.

Ronald

Team St Mikes Logo

What the??!! Too much free time on my hands isn't it? Instead of focusing on my programming, I stray off to fishnet.com.au and saw an illustration of the specie we always catch, the humble Chinaman Leatherjacket. Then with my itchy fingers, I do a little cut and paste and voila, a hastily made Team St Mikes Logo. Now, when is the next free time? Because, the archangel Saint Michael has really cool pics of him slaying the devil, it had me thinking...

Ronald

My 1st SMITH Lure

Today went luring with Jialiang and Justin. Jialiang wanted to fly fish and suggested Hen and Chicken Bay. It was not really an ideal tide to fish there today but nonetheless everyone still gets to wet their line. I snagged a bm soft plastic but caught a smallish flathead on the ginger beer grub. At least I didn't get to eat "egg" today! Jialiang passed me a lure which I asked him to help me buy in Singapore. It's a SMITH LTD JADE MD. Haven't tried it yet but will definitely give it a go. The same goes for my only Lucky Craft lure, it hasn't touched the water yet! The colour he got for me was a mat. orange, another funky colour! I circled it in red in the catalogue pic.

Ronald

My Associate Supervisor Is In Sydney

Prof. Jose Romagnoli, my Argentinian supervisor came to Sydney to visit our PSE group today. We were so delighted to see him after his absence more than 6 months ago. We had a chat about our work as well as his reunion with our ex-collegues during a conference in Germany this year. He is going to Singapore next to teach the control course in NTU. Hope to catch up with him again soon.

Cheers

Prof Romagnoli LSU profile

Romagnoli awarded the 2005 John A. Brodie Medal