Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I caught two Tommy Rough (Australian Herring) on soft plastics the other day from the New Port Quays Marina (SA)

The second one, was after my brother made a single malt bet that we'd never see it happen again

Tommies are the new Bream!

You can catch them on almost anything when they are biting... We used to use a treble and a piece of drinking straw..

Did you eat them, Bull? Although Ive caught many Ive never actually tried one. Bream on the other hand are one of my favourite eating fish much to many peoples discust.

Yeah, we caught some back in July at Gnarabup beach just using a plastic wall plug and a SINGLE !

Hell yeah, herring are great to eat...

Yeah there not bad as long as they hit the ice slurry straight away, and you eat them fresh.

I also love bream but they take sooooo long to grow I dont feel so good taking them. My rule is I get to take one, and I try to make that one that isnt a big breeder. So one at just over the minimum. And once I've caught it I stop fishing for them. All easy rules when your catching other fish I guess. But it's always easy to switch to targeting flathead or yellow fin whiting. You can still get bream, but not as often as when you're fishing around the marinas.

I'm adding one to my tackle box

I had a white soft plastic with a tail that had a body shaped a bit like a large maggot. I cut off the tail and stuck it on a small hook and I always have that on my rod rigged at home so it's the first thing that goes in the water before setting everything up. I've caught perhaps 6 fish on it so far. There's no sign of any damage to it yet.

I suspect schooling fish are always easy to catch because there is a bit of competition for the bait, but a green hard plastic tube doesn't look like much of a meal.

I love it.

What made you even try it???

It was a mate's and a friend of his gave it to him for a birthday present a couple of years back (glad he's not my friend). Said mate had always kept it in his tacklebox to just "have a go one day". He finally thought of it while we were down there. It caught a half dozen herring in about 45 mins

Tommies are beautiful when smoked, if you've got the time !

apparently it's a WA "secret" about catching Herring/ tommy ruff on lures.
I use a piece of drinking straw witha long leader under a plastic blob float.
Small ones are my fave live bait for salmon

Did you know tommy ruff can change colour. I caught some from a sandy beach with the brilliant green colour on their backs and put them in a rock pool. 10 mins later their backs have become almost brown.