Hey Chunqx & Yellow Door 1

[michbau]

Guys for us novice fisher folk, I know that people dont like to divulge their favorite spots, which is fair enough yourve done the hard yards and deserve the peace of a private spot.

But as you head out around Melb which essential baits and lures do you take, or would not be without.

Michaelb

[CHUNQX]

Its not so much where you fish or what you use because very often we fish right under the noses of everyone else. I'm very flattered to be mentioned on the same line as Yellow door though I don't believe I deserve that honour. What I know so far I have learnt from others like Swank_E (Yarra guru), Yellow Door (Docklands and Yarra on bait) and many more.
There's only so much you cn learn from theory, I found out when I fished with Swank_E it was worth 100 magazine articles in just a few hours of fishing with him. I don't mind passing on the little I know but its better to meet up and fish together rather than telling you what to do. I won't be telling you what you haven't already heard. For example... use high quality graphite rod, 4lb Fireline with 4lb fluoro leader, light as possible jigheads, small, dull coloured scented SPs, VERY slow retrieve, cast next to structure, and PERSIST even if it seems dead. Showing all that is a whole different matter altogether.
Tell you a funny story. I used to fish the Docklands extensively with bait and was quite successful. I met another cahp who was really keen somewhere else and after a few sessions he wanted to fish the Docklands too. I brought him there and this place was an old unused wharve with railway tracks in the middle. He proceeded to go to the end where the water was. I stopped him and asked him to fish in BETWEEN the tracks instead. He refused thinking it was ridiculous and asked me to fish while he watched. 15 minutes and 3 fish later he was convinced! Before that he was adamant you couldn't catch bream like that.
Hope that helps. We could meet up sometime for a fish of the Yarra. Also, the guys on this site organises unofficial comps. they're more like get-togethers of the bream luring nuts. Go for them and you will pick up heaps ..*personal experience*

[yellow door 1]

I'm with Chunqx - Swanke's the man for plastics in the Yarra. Very glad I hooked up with him early on. Chunqx seemed to have been a better student than me when it comes to plastics in the CBD.

I'm still much better with bait. What ever you use make sure its alive or as close to it before it goes on the hook. Even though you've caught bream on frozen baits before they dont compare to livies. The $8 you spend on a punnet of live worms is more than worth it. Nothing worse than spending $4 and not catching anything when for $8 you could have had a ripper. P.S. Bream are a protected species in the CBD and all must be released

I remember when I started trying for CBD bream this tackle shop owner was telling me I had to get livies or I was wasting my time. He was flogging a dozen Bass yabbies for $5 and after pumping my own there was no way I was paying that. I'd caught heaps of bream on frozen prawns so I was like - yeh what ever dude just give me the prawns. CBD bream will fall for frozen prawns but for consistancy go for the livie. Marine worms represent the best value for money in my opinion.

[michbau]

Gentlemen, thanks for the response, some time in the future (not to far away hopefully), I would love to catch up and see how you guys do it, I am available any time on weekends, but fishing is a personal thing and I appreciate that having learners like me can be draining, so any opportunity and I'm there. I'll keep an eye out for any gatherings.

Michaelb

[CHUNQX]

Glad to help anyway I can.. just paying it forward to the great help the Swank_E has done for me. he's the chap to get hold of. Unfortunately at this moment, the snow is calling out to him louder than the water is. can't blame him; fishing with plastics in the Yarra at the moment is really slow but you still stand a good chance of landing something if you persist... Or you could go the bait way...

On not paying $5 a dozen for yabbies I can understand the unwillingness there. I wasn't even about to pay $4 a dozen! But lately I find myself having no time to pump for yabbies or to travel for 3 hours (return trip) just to get yabbies for the next day's fishing and ended up buying a miserable dozen for $5.50 because its not all that worth it after some intense calculation to get them myself:( :(
Its the hardest $5.50 I've had to part with.:( :( I'd gladly hand over $10 for plastics or anything else I might never use but for yabbies which I used to pump for 45 minutes and get 80..... Some downsides to working full time.. Upside is I can now afford to buy bait but geeee whiz.. is it hard to part with once you've gotten it yourself!

Doesn't help that my lower back has been causing me some grief too..

[carltonbreamman]

Hi Guys, as you might have guessed by the name another inner city breamer, does any one know a tackle shop close (by train or tram as have no car) that I can get bait from ?

[pw-bream]

JM Turville in Victoria St Nth melbourne would be your closest live bait stoickist I think. It isn't a bad shop, but not as good as it was years ago. They normally have live Bass Yabbies, etc.

[yellow door 1]

malones in newport under the west gate bridge usually has worms on the weekends

[carltonbreamman]

Thanks for that pw-bream that is real close and won't be to hard to get to.

hey yellow door where do u get ur bass yabbies close to melbourne, is the thing about cbd bream being pretected made up or for real?

[yellow door 1]

I personally havent pumped any productive yabbie banks in PPB. The Yabbies are there in small numbers at the river mouths I've tried but not anywhere like the numbers and size you get in Westernport. I think bait collecting in PPB intertidal zone is now illegal.

Some of the Bream fisherman I've seen using them say they pump them at Altona and Werribee but I dont know exactly where. They also get some great big black worms from down that way.

My Yabbies come from Westernport.

I forgot to put a smilie face after that "bream are a protected species comment"

aohh ok, i brought home about 50 from torquay and we were planning to use them in docklands but they died cause the wehter tuned and we didn't get to use them the weekend afta. hey lawrence i get off skool completly next week, u up for a couple of docklands sessions at some time, i am gunna do some real early sessions during the up and cuming weeks, u interested in doing a couple of sessions some time?:D

[yellow door 1]

Yeh I'll be in it. I usually do my bream spinning after work as getting up early is a massive effort for me. So if you'd consider the last few hours of light I'd be keen for a bash. I dont work week ends so we should be able to work something out.

[yellow door 1]

Originally posted by fish_man
aohh ok, i brought home about 50 from torquay and we were planning to use them in docklands but they died cause the wehter tuned and we didn't get to use them the weekend afta.

I get a bit more life out of them by wrapping them in a small section of wet towel. Once a couple die in the bucket of water it turns into a death soup.

If you dont have an aerator and you want to keep them in water make sure its in a shallow tray. The more suface area - the more oxygen gets it. A deep cylindircal bucket full of water has very little surface area. This turns the bottom of the bucket into an oxegen free zone

[CHUNQX]

back from the Gold Coast and I'll put some comments up later...

Bass yabbies... when they die the water turns murky and stinks of rotten prawns. This then causes the other yabbies to lose a bit of life in them and then eventually lose their life altogether...
What I usually do when I get yabbies is I bring a spare bucket and store a lot of saltwater in them so I can change the water regularly. I do that even when I have an aerator. Its amazing how quickly they come back to life when you change the water...
In Gold Coast they sell live bass yabbies for $3.75 for 25 yabbies!
If that's the price they sell it in Melbourne, I would stop pumping for them too...

[Conehead]

I have a secret spot where I pump bass yabbies in the bay, and they are all like purple and green and red and pink and yellow, it's realy wierd:confused: LoL.:p I han't used em' for bait yet, but I rekon they'd be pretty good!:D :cool: I don't even have to pump them, you can just see em' underneath rocks trying to swim!

I don't know why they aren't digging away as they usually do:confused: But if you are fishing in the docklands, I'd say frozen prawns and worms would do fine for the moment.:D ;) Even a peice of fresh mussel will do better than all of those baits put together!:D

sweet as i am sure we will work something out lawrence, :D just put some 6lb pink fireline on my cappy, and for the other spool, left over 30lb braid from my baitcaster:D watch out big ass carp or cod:D :D :D

[Bream Addict]

can u pm me with spot please?or at least give me clue,i cant afford 10$ for 2 dozen anymore!!!
i didnt even know u could get bass yabbies in the bay
Bream addict

[breamaddict]

The bass yabbies you get from the tackle shops around melbourne are all supplied by the one bloke named ross from western Port, they cost money, but last longer than the ones you can pump locally, which dye real quik for some reson, they're very sensitive in comparison to their western port brethren. jees thats cheap on the gold coast chunks, must be easy to get from the beaches up there
Dave

[breamaddict]

where do ya get ya bass yabbies from Bream Addict? NOel clarks has em for 4.50 per doz and if you pik em up on a friday arvo or a saturday arvo,when I'm workin, I'll give em to ya real cheap, (how cheap depends on weather the boss is wqatchin or not!!:D

[Bream Addict]

i usually get mine from western angler in footscray or malones in newport.
next time i go to fish the nong ill call in and get me yabbies from u,even if i dont get a discount id rather give the business to u.
thanks

[User Removed]

i pump mine at a secret spot never buy them
rember there are lost of good bream bfishers out there that dont post

[yellow door 1]

I previously typed it might be illegal to collect yabs in port phillip - I just checked and it isnt.

There are somethings you cant collect from the intertidal zone in PPB and I got confused


Port Phillip*
You may collect only marine worms and Bass yabbies and only with an approved hand held bait pump from the intertidal zone of Port Phillip. Catch limits apply to marine worms, see page 53. All other invertebrates (animals without a backbone) are protected.

* Special conditions may apply in Marine Parks, National, State or Coastal Parks and Fisheries Aquaculture Zones.

Intertidal Collection Methods

You may not use shovels, scoops, forks, rakes or any other digging implement in any Victorian intertidal zone. You may use a fishing line, speargun or hand held spear to catch fish, squid, cuttlefish and octopus. Where collection in intertidal habitats is permitted, the following methods are allowed:

an approved hand held bait pump where the barrel does not exceed 8.5cm in diameter. A sieve may be used only in conjunction with the pump;
by hand or feet;
use of a hand held spear or speargun, recreational hoop nets, bait traps or recreational bait nets, (specified waters apply);
use of up to 4 lines whether attached to rods or not, with no more than 2 hooks per line. A squid jig is considered as one hook.

[yellow door 1]

Intertidal Protected Areas

Intertidal collecting is not allowed in any Marine National Park or Marine Sanctuary. Restrictions may also apply in some areas of other parks.

Central Victorian Coast*
There are restrictions on the taking of molluscs (shellfish) from the intertidal zone on the open coast from the eastern side of the mouth of Thompsons Creek at Breamlea to Arch Rock at Venus Bay including the intertidal zone in Western Port. In this zone you may take Bass yabby, crab, sandworm, pipi, rock lobster, sand fleas, squirter, squid, octopus, cuttlefish and dead shells by approved methods only (see page 24), but collection of all other mollusc species is prohibited. Size and catch limits may apply to some species, see page

[Piscineidiot]

You know, I've a feeling that locally pumped yabbies seem to die sooner because the fishos who pump them use seawater from the local area to keep them alive.

The plankton and other microbes in the water die REAL quick when removed from the ocean, and just fill the water with nitrates and ammonia, which kills the yabbies quick, smart.

The yabbies sold to tackle shops are kept in 'sea-water' that's been mixed using salts and tap-water. It keeps them alive for longer, and doesn't cloud up either. I don't exactly reccommend fishos out there go and buy any of the water just to keep their little nippers alive though, unless you have a salt-water fish tank at home already. It's about $7.00 for 22 litres...

Cheers,

Owen

[CHUNQX]

I've kept my yabbies alive for up to 2 and half weeks and I don't have a complex filtration system or anything like that.. Just a small aerator..

Say I collect 60 yabbies which is enough to give me a backache for a few days... I usually carry another pail just to store clean sea water which I collect from the same area as where I get the yabbies from...

I bring it home to a large foam box (ex-vege foam box or otherwise). Pour it all in carefully trying to bruise the yabbies. Put in the aerator. After a day, about 4-7 of them will die no matter what i do. I immediately remove the dead ones and look out for nearly dead ones too. After that initial death plague, the rest will live for a week at least with mortality rates way down to maybe 2 yabbies a week. 3 to 4 days later, I throw away all the water in the box and replace them with the water I collected in my spare pail. Doing this every 3-4 days tend to exten their life. I use about 25 -30 yabbies per session so I pump once for 2 sessions.
Seems to go OK doing it this way. Often I'm tempted not to go collect the water in the pail after getting yabbies because carrying 15 - 20 litres of sea water in a pail from the end of the jetty to the car is no joke but after a few days you realise its well worth it. Why end of the jetty? Because there's where the cleaner sea water is and its clear. the ones you collect on a sand bank is a little murky because of the bottom stirring up.