Morsie
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Phil all the very best for the future, great working with you, one door shuts and another one opens. Keep the glass half full.
All the best,
Morsie
Mike I’ve used them a bit over the last year, mostly on barramundi. I like using them very much specifically with the lines they come with, they do everything they were designed to do. I note a lot of guys getting excited at throwing long lines with them but these are not what they were really designed for – the line that comes with them is only 85 feet long, they’re made for shorter casts with big flies where accuracy is at a premium. I don’t think the tight scrub situation is all that warranted, tight scrub is tight scrub after all and in my opinion loop control with any rod is more critical than the actual rod – I also know the kayak guys love them for the close in fish handling.
In 2005 I had an incredible week in New York that included a couple of days of striper fishing. It was the best two days they’d had in decades. On the second day we fished Jamaica Bay – triple hook ups while being watched by a fleet of blacked out suv’s and guys with binoculars, I think they were keen on watching the fishing. We forgot our lunch that day; on the way in to Jamaica bay we’d passed a big waterfront pub with a dock. At 3 in the afternoon on our way back out of Jamaica Bay I said to the guide “Can we stop in there for a burger and a beer?”
He said “You’d get in alive but I doubt you’d get out alive”.
I really loved New York and never felt in any danger.
Morsie
PS I don’t know anyone who’s died from a snake, or spider bite, or who’s been bitten by a shark, but I did know someone who was killed by a crocodile.
Just a few weeks ago I was in Arnhemland in the Northern Territory. We were fishing a beautiful small waterhole about 200 meters long that was inhabited by one crocodile about 12 feet long who was watching us with intent. I asked the guide how deep he thought it was – the water was very clear and we couldn’t see bottom – he didn’t know so I poked my 8′ Bass rod down to see if I could touch bottom with it. No bottom. As I lifted it out it slipped out of my fingers and headed for the bottom. Without thinking I dived over after it and in mid air thought “Holy shit what are you doing. Its a floating line you’re using” – all of that in the time before I hit water. I did manage to grab the rod and get back on board very quickly. I’d done a somersault in mid air and my left arm was still dry.
That’s the second time I’ve swum in a billabong with crocs in it – the first time they were bigger and there were two of them, don’t think I got wet that time……….
I still think bears are badder though. You have to be bloody silly to get taken by a croc.
MorsieDaryl, By removing the background you also remove the shadow the subject might throw onto the background. When shooting close-up just by moving the background even 30cms from the subject it will be a complete blur with no shadow regardless of lens and f stop.
Focus everything on the subject. As Dave Anderson told me (via Annie Liebowitz) “take care of the subject and let the background look after itself” – or words to that effect.
Morsie
Perhaps cattle have a genetic memory of that incident and from that day forth have a deep suspicion of the intent of fishermen.
How about an angler preparing himself for a “cowing” session.
Or…….
Morsie
Daryl if you want the background in the image (which you generally don’t in a macro shot) then have it close to the subject, if you don’t want it to be a feature (preferred) then separate it from the subject by a foot or so, the very shallow depth of field in macro photography will just blur it right out of the image but the subject will be sharp and will pop out of the pic.
Morsie
;D ;D ;DThanks Zach, its a great hat isn’t it. Yeah its an old Aussie witch doctor thing to bring on the mayflies and damselflies for the coming summer.
Guide Chris Bassano is a great guy and a really fine angler with a lot of experience from his travels – salt and freshwater.
Morsie
This is a favourite subject of mine.
What magazines need to consider is how to hold the experienced angler/readers, those who have gone through the beginner cycle and just can’t stand to see (or write) another piece on basics. Its like a conveyor belt, the climb on one end, go through the process and unfortunately drop off the other end and/or move on to other publications.
Problem with the internet is it doesn’t pay and if you want good writing and good pics you need to pay money to the guys who are prepared to put well researched and photographed stories together.
Morsie
If you’re looking for a lightweight reel the 2580 is a great piece of tackle. I have 3 of them and 6 spools and use them in many saltwater and freshwater situations. The spool change is incredibly simple AND SECURE, you don’t need to worry about that. I did burn out the drag on the first one I owned but I used on things it was not meant to be used on – tuna, mackerel, and lots of bonefish and this golden trevally. The drag was replaced by Kurt van Wyck and if you think of Sage as just a rod company you need to ask why they would employ Kurt van Wyck a rocket engineer to design their reels and why they hired Jack Charlton a few years ago to design the drag on their 3000D series reels.
Probably one of the reasons it failed was its constant submersion for underwater pics.
Lets just say I tested it to destruction but in the end was so happy with it I bought two more because I know that for the everyday hand to hand stuff I di, (barramundi, saratoga, snappers etc as well as lightweight pelagic fish its just perfect.
Spanish mackerel are one of the fastest fish in the ocean – this one on a 2580…..
Morsie
Great pics Andrew, you’ve been practising mate!!! Isn’t it great when the seasons reverse and its our turn. I’m heading off for a week of barramundi fishing tomorrow and I’m thinking about the stories the Idaho guys told me about snowdrifts 20 feet deep. Ha!!!
I reckon snakes strike at movement.
I’m just back from a trip to Tasmania, the island state to the south of mainland Australia. This place is famous for its high country lake fishing. Mosy of these lakes are shallow tarns and in spring the fish feed right in close to the edges,in water so shallow that they are often found tailing like bonefish. They are mostly browns but there’s also some great rainbow fishing in some lakes. Plenty of snakes there too, especially tiger snakes one of the nastiest. There’s a great river flowing through the highlands called the Pine river which has such a huge population of snakes living in dense tussocks along the river banks that no one fishes it.
There’s some big hatches of mayflies on the lowlands in spring on the rivers and also in summer in the highlands on the lakes.
Fishing the margins.
Fat triploid rainbow.
And a fit spring brownie.
Guide Chris Bassano and his “hatch hat”.
Casting to tailers in the dawn light.
Some good rivers i Tasmania – this is the Meander.
Tailing fish working the edge.
Tassy brownie.
Casting to a tailing brownie.
Cheers and beers.
Yep the full flush of spring Zach, just had our coldest October day for 14 years after the coldest winter in 68 years………
Some king parrots dropped by this morning.
The bird on top of the feeder is a juvenile king parrot. The full red head is an adult male.
Morsie
We have a bird feeder several species of parrots and cockatoos come into and also feed some red wattle birds. These are usually a nectar feeder but in spring eat anything including mince.
These rosellas were waiting for some seed. These are juveniles just breaking into full adult plumage.
Spectacular things really but as common as sparrows around where I live. We sometimes have 20-30 in the backyard. These photos were taken without leaving the house.
