With warm, or should I say hot and humid, weather, we can hear the sound of black crickets.
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These insects can find their way into our houses through the smallest of gaps under doorways, in indoor lounge rooms or hallways, and their nocturnal chirping in some cases keeps us awake at night.
And worse, the smell of their decaying corpses is a bigger and revolting problem.
But as an angler, don’t direct all your dislike to black crickets because they are one of the best baits to use to attract cod and trout.
And, at this time of year and in these weather conditions, they are the best and easiest bait you can use and find.
Apart from being inside the house, the easiest way to catch crickets is to place a sheet of cloth or newspaper on your lawn.
Wet it down and leave it out overnight.
Then, first thing in the morning, you should find black crickets underneath.
Now, to keep your newly caught bait alive, a container with a few holes punched in the lid and containing a slice of apple should do the trick.
The apple is essential; it keeps the crickets alive, not just a meal.
But the crickets will become cannibalistic and will kill each other unless you provide them with an option.
I’ve always had the opinion that one cricket bait equals one trout.
For some reason, trout love a meal of a black cricket.
They are easy to bait up; you need a small long-shank hook.
Just feed the point through the mouth part so the barb and hook look like an extra leg.
This requires no weight — cast upstream into a slow spot and let it drift back with the current.
The same goes for cod, although if it is still water, you may have to do a slow retrieve.
So, the next time your home is filled with the chirping of crickets, don't rush for the fly spray.
Get the fishing gear ready to go after a good catch of trout.
Now, at this time of year, among the best places to fish are the rivers and streams in the north-east.
I mentioned a few last week, places such as the upper reaches of the Goulburn River, the Ovens around Bright etc.
All the rivers and streams in the hills are top spots for wading and catching trout, and the use of black crickets as bait is a dynamite way of catching them.
Of course, you can use lures and other baits if you like.
Apart from crickets, other baits for trout include both garden and scrub worms, which are the most versatile bait for freshwater fishing.
Then there are yabbies, shrimp, mud eye, bardi grubs, followed by the not-so-natural baits of cheese and chicken, which seem to work well at catching cod.
There is another bait that I have heard mentioned, but I have never used it as a bait for trout.
I would rather eat it myself, and that is saltwater oysters and mussels.
Mussels poached in white wine and oysters Kilpatrick are far better in my tummy than that of a trout; besides, they are far too expensive to just put on a hook.
Now let’s take a quick look at saltwater fishing down south to Queenscliff.
Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters said the winds had not been kind.
Most fishing has been inside the heads, which has limited what he has been able to catch, and in most cases, it has been whiting, which in itself is not bad, but some other species would be good.
Rod said there was the occasional snapper or gummy shark, as well as flathead along the shipping lane.
When he could go outside the heads, the fishing was great, with kingfish, snapper, salmon, as well as trevalla and an occasional tuna.
Rod said there were better size fish off the coast and around the dive sites, all the way past Barwon Heads.
John Liddell at Eden, north of the NSW border, said they too had rough weather to contend with, but when they could fish, they did.
They did well all the way from Boyd’s Lookout to Green Cape, with snapper, morwong, flathead, kingfish and more.
Further north at Narooma, Graham Cowley said it was the same around Montague Island.
In Bass Strait, James Luddington said he was bagging gummy sharks and flathead, and when the weather was windy, they could always find an island to shelter behind.
Well, good fishing and stay safe!