Lots of km's and a new PB

So yesterday afternoon I was getting ready for a few afternoon beers with the boys when I thought to myself, it's way too nice a day to be in Melbourne, I'm going fishing! So I cancelled my plans, chucked Louie in the car and headed straight to Lake Tyers:



Unfortunately, it was almost unfishable. It was FULL of this filamentous green algae that made it almost impossible to drag a lure through the water:




I toughed it out and threw a bent around until dark but I didn't really expect to catch anything, and when the mozzies appeared I'd had enough. It was clear I had to rethink my game plan, and with Marlo only an hour down the road I just couldn't resist. So I jumped in the car, drove to Marlo, and found a nice quiet spot to spend the night, ready to hit the flats in the morning:







And first cast, I was on. I was sure this was a flatty, it just sat on the lure and shook it's head, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a big bream surface:




41cm to the tip, not a bad way to start the morning! I thought I was going to be in for a ripping sesh, but two hours later I hadn't caught another fish. Dang. I decided to have one last cast before heading up for breakfast, and after a pretty lacklustre fight, up popped this monster:



This guy was easily the biggest bream I've ever caught - 45cm to the tip. And thick! Check the girth and the head on him:



This pic gives a bit of an idea of scale:



How bloody good! I went back to my car feeling pretty smug and smashed a couple of sandwiches in record time, and after pulling a couple of these bastards off my legs:



I went straight back to the flats, and first cast I was on again:



A nice flatty in the mid 40s, and beautifully coloured:



I had a few more casts in this spot for nothing then started exploring. I covered a fair bit of ground but the fish had gone quiet again. By now it was almost midday and although it had turned into a beautiful day:



I had to get back to Melbourne, so I decided to have a cast in one last hole then head home. And I caught this cute little guy:



A great way to end what had been a killer day - those big bream definitely made the 800km's in under 24hours worth it.

Cheers!

My first wild trout

Sunday I drove up to my mate Goody's place, on a mission to catch my first wild trout in some of the beautiful little streams around Healesville:



After a quick tutorial we started casting and it didn't take long before Goody drew first blood:



A beautiful little brown - not a bad start! While I spent the next hour or so retrieving snagged lures and untangling myself from blackberries, Goody scored couple of beautiful little rainbows:



Thankfully I eventually started to get my shit together and after putting a few casts in the right spots, I finally came up solid:



A fat little rainbow, and my first wild trout. You little ripper! By this stage we'd almost reached the end of the stretch of stream we were fishing, and just as we were about to leave, I had another hit:



A brown this time, and another first for me. You beauty! Goody also managed to land a nice little brown while I was de-hooking mine, which was a perfect end to this little session. However, the day was still young, so we decided to explore some other streams with the hope of finding a bigger fish:

We explored some beautiful areas but, despite a heap of strikes, follows and hook-ups, we couldn't land another fish. Goddamit. But no complaints here, I'd had a ripper. Thanks Goody - you're a legend.

Cheers!