Pea Soup

Recently I went back to one of my favourite spots. Unfortunately the tide was lower than I would have liked and as being near low was pretty murky. I was not feeling confident about the fishing but threw in some pilchard and had a go.

I remember reading an article by Craig Worthington called fishing in the muck where he used bright flies in murky water so I tied on a nuclear chicken Clouser. This proved to be quite successful as I managed to walk away with 6 small snapper. No keepers but certainly saved the day.  Now I need to try this colour combo on clear water and see what results I get.

I will also be experimenting with other fly types in this colour combo e.g. Interceptors, Deceivers and Half n half's. 

Nuclear chicken Clouser

Hook: Size 2-1

Dumbbell: Small on size 2 or med size 1

Wing: Pink over chart buck tail and Krystal flash

I tend to use the size 1 for the deeper water but you could go up to a 1/0 and maybe put on a large dumbbell if you need the depth.

Hip Shooter

After my last go at a stripping tray I had a few issues I needed to iron out. One was line hanging over the sides which caught up under the tray or on rocks as I was walking. This made it hard to walk around the rocks casting. The other issue was it was very light which in some ways was good but in windy conditions was hard to get it to stay straight.

Thus after seeing an old thread on the blow link and wanting to be able to walk while ready to cast I started looking at the hip shooter. There is the original manufactured one on-line but this is no longer being made.

Basically I got a cheap 15 litre bucket from plastic box and set to work. You can put spikes in the bottom or as I did just use a piece of foam and slip cable ties in them. This can then be taken out and used on a boat if needed. All up it cost $10

I also added a hole and a groove for sitting my rod on while changing flies. The result I can have all my line in the bucket ready to let fly as soon as I spot a fish with no resistance.
The key is to have the bucket sitting low on the hip so that you can strip long strips into it rather than feeling cramped like the ones that sit high on your waist.

On my first outing I was almost into my backing with my cast. So wading and casting is now a breeze. Kingies here we come!

http://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/hip-shooter-mark-3_topic101150.html