Canning Bridge success

[da_houghsta]

Well I've just got home from a quick session at the Canning Bridge, those in Perth would have probably been there before, but I've only been there once or twice before.

I went down Friday morning for my first session, and met up with a fellow angler (not sure if he's on here are you Steve?), but was not expecting anything much. However I ended up with 5 or 6 bream, and quite a few dropped fish as well, sizes ranging from 22cm to 31cm.





So I went down again thismorning for a quick session. After stopping off and the scouts jetty on the way where I saw a couple of nice blackies sitting underneath (I like to walk the long way to the Canning Bridge to see if I see any flathead). However the Bream weren't interested, so I moved on.

1st drop with my new favorite Ecogear VX35, and was onto a solid Bream about 30cm long. After a couple of photo's, back in she went and my VX followed. 10 seconds later my lure came up solid again, but the fish must have not noticed - I thought I was snagged until it woke up and realised it was hooked! Fought very hard as well, but luckily it stayed away from the pylons. Got it onto the jetty and it went 32cm long - fighting well above it's size in my opinion - helped by the current as well.

I didn't think it would get much better that this, but on the third drop, about 3 minutes later, again I hooked up!! Short fight this time, but very angry fish, and I had a 31cm bream .

However I stayed another 90min after that, but got nothing else at all. Still a very good couple of sessions there and I'm very happy with those Ecogears

[adidaspeteman]

Ben, you are smashin' 'em! Go the blades, they are fun to use and produce the goods.

[da_houghsta]

Well a bit of a follow-up - I've been going to the Canning Bridge a couple of times now. There always seems to be something about, and have hooked a couple of things pretty big, although all of the bream have been no bigger than 30cm that I have actually landed. So far I think I have lost about 4 or 5 Ecogear VX's there, mostly to snags and tailor. Speaking of tailor, at times I have been getting one every cast - they are everywhere!

every chopper seems to be about this size - 27-28cm long:


The bream seem to be there as well, as I've been getting a few most sessions. I went today and braved the wind - for a bit, and landed 3 on some new Vault's and 2 on an Ecogear (had to pick up some more earlier today as some choppers ate all my others!!). No monsters, and i kept of getting snagged on old fishing line on the bottom. Some people had been bait fishing for hours with not a nibble, and seemed a bit annoyed as I pulled the 1st 3 fish one after the other .

Small Bream caught on a Vault:


Another caught on an Ecogear VX-35:

[ethan]

how do you rate the ecogear switch blades

[adidaspeteman]

Looks like the spot to hit Ben, I'll meet up with yah soon. I'm yet to unpack from my trip.

p.s. I can't see the attached pix mate?!

[da_houghsta]

how do you rate the ecogear switch blades

Do you mean the TT Switchblades? The Ecogears are called the VX35 or 40. I havn't had much success with the Switchblades to be honest - they seem to vibrate a bit slower than the Ecogears - requires more speed to start to vibrate. However I can't see them really being any less productive - I think I tend to get more of the Ecogears because I simply use them more. However i have just got a new 7g version of the Switchblade - similar size still - which should help with the current. I'll post up if I have any luck .

Pete - Yea not sure whats happening with the photo's - I used Imageshack, mabey the server is down or something as they were working earlier when I posted them up. By the way - looking foward to your report and seeing some photo's of the fish you were telling me about

[adidaspeteman]

I can see the pix now bro, I want to get into the choppers. Are they still around Ben?

[da_houghsta]

I can see the pix now bro, I want to get into the choppers. Are they still around Ben?

I'm pretty sure they are - last time i was into them was on the weekend at night. I recon they would turn on most arvo's to night, and most of the time I've seen them active, the current has been flowing through very quickly

[Yak Fisho]

I have heard of a South Ozzie yak fisho having a lot of success with river prawns threaded on soft plastics jig heads,might be cheaper than losing lures ? but maybe lures are more effective but ?

I will be starting my river sessions soon,,don't know a lot about river fishing have caught mulloway from Blackwall reach but Canning bridge looks good from a kayak,,might try over the weekend,,see you lads out there.

[da_houghsta]

Well just a quick update, I havn't been getting all that many at the Canning bridge as of late, although I have lost a LOT of lures there... I've been getting a lot of hits, and there are plenty of yellowtail grunters to keep me occupied - they pull quite hard for a small fish too.

However with Pete's post about a 40cm model caught nearby, I decided to go there again for a look. And i had a fantastic session. It was a slow start, casting my new ecogear up between the pylons, and sometimes getting a hit. I got a small Black Bream soon that pulled a decent amount of fight. It also proved they were mating as well as it was very, very fat, and squirted some sticky white stuff all over my hands when i picked it up.... yes, not nice.

I got a 30cm bream after a while, which fought well above its size and proved to be a very fat fish also:



I soon lost the Ecogear to a large bream dragging me straight to the nearest pylon, and lost another lure to a snag. I was thinking of packing it in then as I didnt want to lose any more lures. However the current was barely moving, so I decided to chuck on a Baby Vibe 35. A single hit, but by now there was a few people on the platform, most of whom had seen me catch the last bream and were casting near me.

I switched to one of my new Vault 35's in the Black Tail colour (I just call it 'Mud' colour.) and cast out on the opposite side towards some pretty plain country. I wasn't expecting much at all, just letting it sink to the bottom and giving it a short, sharp rip before letting it settle again. I got a huge hit on the first cast, another on the second, and 2 hits on the third. I was wondering if they were just rocks, when I got an even bigger whack on my 4th cast. My line started to scream off as i tightened the drag close to lock, and called it for a huge flathead as I couldnt feel any headshakes, just short fast runs. Eventually I got it close to me and saw it was in fact a big bream, and given the weight on the rod, was excited to have mabey hooked one in the high 30's or even a 40cm. However by the time I got it close enough to leader in I realised what had happened - It was a 32cm bream (but very fat), but I had hooked it in the belly. Still happy though.

check out the belly!!
.

Head shot:


After that I had a ball. There must have been a big school of grunters and bream there, and the lure was going through the school as I ended up with about 15 grunters, most foul hooked, and 3 tarwine - 2 babies and a 25cm. However some actually grabed the lure on the drop and were hooked even before I had done my first rip.

Soon though it was time to leave - there were about 20 people on the platform, and more coming over to my side casting next to me or over me.

One other point of note, when I got to the Bridge, I heard a commotion and saw a pelican with a shags head and neck half way down its throat (not just in the beak pouch)! I'm not sure who's the fish was originally, but neither seemed willing to give it up. They were like this for about 2min, and I was sure the shag was going to end up choking the pelican!! By the time I took a photo however, the shag had gotten away - I'm not sure if it still had the fish!