Fishing Australia

Keen angler and expert on fish biology Simon Kaminskas. is well known by regular followers of this column, but he’s been missing in action for a while so I am glad to welcome him back this week with some great info and important fishing tips. 

Here’s Simon:

Bushfires and Fish

After the disastrous bushfires in the Canberra region in 2003, I wrote a column where I hoped the impact of the fires on local streams wouldn’t be too severe.  I mentioned an experience where a small bushfire in the headwaters of one of my bass streams didn’t seem to damage it much.  Unfortunately, my hopes were unrealistic.  From the many catastrophic bushfires we have now had in south-eastern Australia, severe degradation has resulted to our streams.  I have seen many of my favourite fishing streams, small and large, have their catchments absolutely destroyed.  Severe ash-induced fish kills resulted in many from the first post-fire rains.  They have filled with up to several feet of stinking silt and ash, and their flows have subsequently reduced to a trickle or stopped.  Interestingly, recent historical research has added another perspective to this, showing that severe bushfires and severe ash-induced fish kills, after which introduced trout were restocked but upland native fish were not, was one of the main ways our magnificent upland native fish Macquarie perch and trout cod became extinct in many upland rivers in the 1920s and 1930s.

The current bushfire impacts will be in place for at least several decades for a number of reasons, including the fact that regrowing eucalyptus saplings use far more water than mature trees.  The number one thing that can help these streams recover, as they recovered in the past, are some good wet years that help catchment vegetation and soils recover, and generate regular flooding to help scour and blow out the silt filling them.  Unfortunately with dams, weirs and a permanently dry climate appearing to settle into south-east Australia courtesy of climate change, who knows when these wet years and floods will come.  It’s hard to say what anglers can do to help except keep in mind that the fish in these streams are now more vulnerable than ever.

Knots

Recently the value of experimentation in fishing was brought home to me.  I have always used the traditional 6 turn uni knot for tying on terminal tackle, and it has been featured in this column in the past.  The uni knot does have its drawbacks — it can be hard to pull up and form (I often use pliers) and has to be snugged down with care not to burn the line.  And in heavier lines becomes difficult to the point where I will use a different, very modified version which is easier to pull up/form/snug down.  However, for light tackle fishing it is fantastic, easy and very strong.  But how strong?  I was aware that various knot books rated its breaking strength at about 80% of the line’s breaking strain, remembering that theoretically all knots weaken your line.  (Only the Bimini Twist and the Plait, which tie a loop or “double” in your line, are recognised as keeping 100% of your line’s strength and therefore not weakening it.)

One evening I was mucking around with a mate and we did some uni knot tests.  We tied some 12 lb Maxima Ultragreen (my standard bass leader material) to the eye of a hookless bass lure, stood about 8 metres away from each other, put the pressure on (one holding the lure, one holding the spool of Maxima) and slowly walked away from each other until the line broke.  We did this at least half-a-dozen times, probably more, and every time the line broke in the middle, not at the knot.  In other words, the knot appeared to be acting as a 100% strength knot!  This was really surprising, as the rule is all knots weaken your line, and plenty of other people have tested the uni knot and generally found it to be an ~80% knot.  I can’t explain why my results were so different, but what I did learn from these experiments is that the uni knot is fantastically strong, that I am tying in a way that really works, and that it should continue to be my standard knot for terminal tackle.

Single Hooks for Surf Salmon

Rob and I have always thought it is important to be environmentally responsible fishermen.  Hence this little tip.  A couple of seasons ago, lure-fishing for salmon off the beach, I caught a good sized tailor which was terribly damaged by the treble hook on the 25 gram slice I was using.  I didn’t actually feel like keeping the tailor but I felt I had to because of the hook damage.  Right then and there I decided to do something about the problem.  I went to a tackle store, bought a packet of small split rings and some straightshanked single hooks (Mustad 2/0 Tarpons).  I took the treble hook off my lure, put on the extra, small split ring and then the single hook.  It worked fabulously, and I now use the same single hook rig on all my salmon lures.  I think it hooks and holds fish better, but more importantly it makes releasing salmon and tailor undamaged a breeze.  The single hook never causes any damage and comes out easily every time.

Simon.