# South esk day of the small fish.



## wrasseman (Jul 28, 2006)

Hi all, 
Headed out on the south esk for an after work sesh on wednesday. 
The river is looking a bit low so it was borderline for the yak with normally submerged snags exposed and very shallow water better suited to wading than yakking at present.


















Still I scored a few fish, and though all were small I even scored a little rainbow, a first for me in this river.


























As expected for this time of year, the little reddies were out in force too.










It was a nice little sesh and a great way to unwind after work, but with water levels continuing to drop, I might have to find another yak spot for the immediate future.
Cheers
Col.


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## sam60 (Aug 30, 2005)

any session on the water is worthwhile..... and in the yak is even better. Looks a bit low and yeah I know we need the rain.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Reddie on a spoon aswell Col? :?:


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## chiefshaka (Jan 29, 2007)

Col,

With the water levels dropping :wink: you might be able to find a bit of that lost gear :wink: :wink: . Good job on the fish


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## wrasseman (Jul 28, 2006)

sam60 said:


> any session on the water is worthwhile..... and in the yak is even better. Looks a bit low and yeah I know we need the rain.


You're not wrong there, this stretch is so low that its now a wading proposition rather than yakking for the present.



Redphoenix said:


> Those bloody reddies are everywhere. Do you reckon their numbers have significantly affected the trout catch around there?


Really no idea but I guess they could have as there must be a biomass limit to any given stretch of river, however as they stunt and consequently there are heaps of littlies they also must provide a good food source for the bigger trout.



PoddyMullet said:


> Reddie on a spoon aswell Col? :?:


Yeah they eat anything.

Chief, what lost gear???

Cheers
Col.


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Beautiful scenery. Does it normally flow when at its usual height? If it normally has a flow in it, how do you handle it with a yak? Okay to paddle against?

I ask 'cause here in Central Qld, our creeks usually only flow in flood time and then they are ripping down. Other times, paddling up or down the creeks is easy if they have water in them. But they are usually muddy sorts of things. Not like north in the rainforest areas or south where there is clear water creeks.


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## wrasseman (Jul 28, 2006)

troppo said:


> Beautiful scenery. Does it normally flow when at its usual height? If it normally has a flow in it, how do you handle it with a yak? Okay to paddle against?
> 
> I ask 'cause here in Central Qld, our creeks usually only flow in flood time and then they are ripping down. Other times, paddling up or down the creeks is easy if they have water in them. But they are usually muddy sorts of things. Not like north in the rainforest areas or south where there is clear water creeks.


There's normally a fair bit of flow though the rapids aren't to full-on in most of the places I go. Paddling against the flow can get tiring but you can use the eddys and boundary layer effects to work upstream against even quite strong currents and when the rivers are really high you can stick to the sidewaters with only occasional ventures into the main flow to go around otherwise impassable areas. The main problem is the tendancy for the yak to vere (spelling??) off course when paddling against strong currents but practice with paddling solves that one. In summer when its warm and if the water is shallow and slow enough I tend to drift fish downstream and wade wade fish back up with the yak tethered to me by a couple of meters of rope however if the water is too deep or cold or the flow to strong I'll paddle back up as well, stopping in eddys or wedging myself against the bank or trees to get a cast or two in.

I've only had one serious incident (about 2yrs ago??) when I hit a tree side on whilst trying to land a fish in some fast water and flipped the yak , losing my rod and tackle box (and the fish obviously) but I managed to retrieve the yak and paddle. I also lost a paddle to the current on one of my first yak trips but hopefully those experiences are in the past. The main trick when yak fishing in decent currents is to prioritise obstacle avoidance ahead of landing fish, though this can sometimes mean hook-ups take you a long long way downstream. Being able to steer and paddle in at least some fashion with one hand helps too. 
Cheers
Col.


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