NSW - SQUIDDER VS CUTTLE MUNCHERS 27/7/10

I heard Jason was going fishing today; stupidly I sent him a text message...

"Hope you went fishing:)" I enquired, staring at my work wall that so badly needs a new colour scheme. The reply went a little something like this "Got a 70cm and 45cm Snap and dropped 2 other good ones. About to head home :-)". "Sweet! Monday bliss! Very jealous :)" I belted through my iphone, bashing the keys a little too hard with texting passion. You see I was envious, jealous and inspired all while taking just a single breath. Call me a mate stalker but the spawn is running a little later this year and with my daughter moving into position there is no way I can go and play with the big reds (Missing out, just a tad).

I’m not even sure the exact South Coast location plays too much of a role, while the area Jason fished holds large fish I would bet my Hobie Quest (Notice I didn’t say PA) that areas in and around the bay proper would all supply great fights and even greater feeds. Keep in mind silly string, whilst fun, has no real place out there. The rewards and fight would be second to none but the pain and anguish could be a little unbearable. Keep on slugging the good battle Jason, lovely fish mate but don’t let Stu's influence cost you even bigger ones! :)

Just joking, finesse tackle FTW!

NSW - JINDABYNE ADVENTURE 17/7/10

A few members of the Canberra massive relocated to Jindabyne for the day in anticipation of some hot trouting action. With -7 degrees forecast for Thredbo we dressed for the worst, but on arrival we were delighted to find quite mild conditions lakeside.Paddy broke the drought very early with a stunningly marked brown taken trolling a jointed rapala in brown trout pattern.

I headed off to fish an isolated bank and dropped two fish on plastics. After a fruitless hour casting with no hits I met up with Derek and Tim (our guest from Canada who made us a wicked chilli for lunch ), who were riding tandem in Dereks Outfitter, and learnt that Derek had caught a cracker of a brook trout, also on the troll. I persisted with the plastics for a while but soon the lure of coffee, lunch, and the dreaded powerbait lottery proved too much, and we hit our favourite bank. My numbers came up and I landed the only land-based fish of the trip, a nice rainbow of about 40cm on chunky cheese.

It was very cool to have caught all three trout species between us. I gave the plastics another chance, but after dropping yet another fish I lost my enthusiasm, Paddy and I left soon after lunch, leaving Derek and Tim to plough the lake in search of more bars of silver - I hope you got that fish! Thanks Paddy for carting me, and Derek for carting my kayak to the lake and providing us with a veritable bounty of drinks and food to warm us up. It was quite simply a stunning winter's day in the snowies with great company, and I look forward to many more before the thaw.

THE 16,000KM HOOKUP JINDABYNE FISHING TRIP

Winter in our capital city has hit hard this year, meaning the local fishing has been tough (Natives don’t rate the cold). A couple of major life commitments have kept me off the water interstate for far too long (Completed our house build, Brother got really sick), mind you now personal items are sorted/repaired it’s something that is all about to change for the better. Recently I received an email from Tim Allard, a prominent outdoor sports enthusiast from Ottawa, Canada (http://www.timallard.ca/). Tim is currently a field editor for Ontario Out of Doors magazine (http://www.ontariooutofdoors.com/) which is one of, if not the top outdoor magazine in the nation. I love emailing people who share the same passion for Fishing/Journalism/Photography so was quick off the mark with my reply.

Turns out he has moved to Canberra and through a mutual acquaintance 16,000km’s away (Thanks Don) and was looking to hook up for a Kayak Fishing Adventure. Hearing he had been struggling land based (locally) I suggested moving further afield and joining us on one of our numerous winter pilgrimages. We are heading to an even colder destination (Yes, crazy I know), the township of Jindabyne, to fish the lakes depth and edges proper. It’s a great place to fish from a kayak (Trolling) and the lake itself offers many prosperous bank side locations (Soak some Powerbait). Reports show the lakes level is 58% and the fishing is great, with the Trouts natural food lacking in abundance during the cooler months artificial offerings can prove far deadlier than any natural presentation.

There is nothing better than chewing the fishing fat with mates, especially ones waiting for their baited donation to load up. The landscape scenery is also spectacular, giving off a really weathered, arid like feel. Given the close proximity to the tumultuous Kosciusko conditions it can be either pleasant or nasty, switching up faster than any snow bound car. Being from Canada I kind of expect Tim to be at one with the environment, given the extremes he lives with day to day (Think -30 degrees people) I fully anticipate him relishing in it. Here’s hoping his acclaimed photography skills can brush off on me, even if its just so I can provide the UGLY FISH HQ (And KFA readers of course) with some corker images!

FATE, MY POOR STEP BROTHERS KEEPER (O.T)

(Actual reference Image has been taken from http://www.medscape.com)

I have stared at the ‘Off Topic’ header on KFA for a few months solidly, sometimes I wonder why I even put it there and other times I ponder on what fits its bill here. As you can see not much gets posted under this header, nothing that interests me outside of fishing is deemed worthy. There are a few exceptions to the rule and this one (In particular) is a real dozy of a tale that relates to a family missfortune.

I have a few stepbrothers and sisters from both sides of my family, notably two red head brothers called Nick and Chris. Over the years we have grown quite close, they both share some common ground and interests and both boys get along well with my partner Claire. Recently the younger of the two, 31 year old Nick ended up in hospital; and things took a turn for the worst.

Nick loves MMA (Mixed martial Arts), mainly Kick Boxing and has participated in a local Gym’s Fight Club (Basically training then entering tournament). Nick loves the discipline and my once giant brother turned into a lean, mean fighting machine. The training toned him up and gave him a passion his lifestyle so rightly deserved. I think as a young adult this helped him mature quite a lot, along with the influence of his partner Bridie (Loving nature and ultimate respect, thankyou - ed).

A recent tournament bout brought about some usual swelling of the shin; traditional blocking methods incur massive damage. Nick was heading over to Thailand to develop technique and study the sports heritage but even upon his return the swelling hadn’t subsided. Unable to train in Thailand and feeling bummed he visited a local Sports Doctor at one of Canberra’s hospitals, getting fluid drained from his lower leg and taking the advice of the specialist to avoid training.

Knowing Nick can be quite stubborn I was surprised to hear he was heeding the Doctors advice, in the interim I am sure he was focusing on what was required to commence physical training. Six weeks came and went and his training commenced, albeit for one day only. Saturday’s workout brought intense swelling and pain on Sunday, following bouts of nausea, headaches and fever. By this stage his leg and swollen to immense proportions and he admitted himself to the same hospitals emergency department (Before being transferred to another public service).

Nobody can stipulate what had exactly happened and the Doctors couldn’t diagnose a problem, meanwhile the swelling was killing tissue and infecting his right lower body. After moving Hospitals it was determined Nick had a condition known as Cellulitis, and in his virulent case a extremely aggressive case of Streptococci. Normally associated with sore throats, Scarlet Fever, and other diseases it can affect skin tissues (Mainly in the arms and legs). Things weren’t getting better and the infection started to spread.

He was told he could lose his leg and only the right dose of antibiotics could save him, my once fit brother looked pale, sickly and mentally destroyed. Our family was worried stupid, we rallied around Nick as often as we could and so did his close mates, work colleagues and Gym buddies. We all fought reality as we knew they always gave you the worst case scenario, luckily for Nick things finally started to take a turn for the better (It really was faith and fate, I prayed insilco everyday).

Antibiotics cultured started producing results worthy of cautious celebration, things were still dicey but the outlook provided an exit point. Nick had never really been admitted to hospital and after six operations and a skin graft he was allowed to return home. Constant bed rest is required for a couple of months and the scars on his leg will remind him to take it easy.

My own Initial research shows this severe infection can be traced to wounds, surgical procedures and helth issues. We cant really pinpoint how this happened (Nor can the Hospital staff) but we thank our lucky stars Nick is still with us today. It killed tissue, causing necrosis through his lower leg and amputation was a real possibility and was on the cards for many days. Now the worst is over its good to know that this is preventable if one understands what conditions it can thrive in.

There is no way one can tell this may happen to them, but it pays to understand the consequences of lingering wounds exposed to the constant risk of staph infection. Despite being harmless in most individuals, S. aureus is capable of causing various infections of the skin and other organs. S. aureus infections are common in people with frequent skin injury, particularly if the skin is dry. Staph. skin infections are seen most commonly in pre-pubertal children and certain occupational groups such as healthcare workers. But they may occur for no obvious reason in otherwise healthy individuals.

Most staph infections occur in normal individuals but underlying illness and certain skin diseases increase the risk of infection. These include:

• Severe atopic dermatitis
• Poorly controlled diabetes
• Kidney failure, especially those on dialysis
• Blood disorders such as leukaemia and lymphoma
• Malnutrition
• Low serum iron
• Alcoholism
• Intravenous drug users
• Medication with systemic steroids, retinoids, cytotoxics or immunosuppressives
• Immunoglobulin M deficiency
• Chronic granumomatous disease
• Chediak-Higashi syndrome
• Job's and Wiskott Aldrich syndromes (associations of severe Staphylococcal infection with eczema, raised immunoglobulin E and abnormal white cell function)

For more information on staph infections, please visit (With good fortune):

http://dermnetnz.org/bacterial/staphylococci.html

http://dermnetnz.org/bacterial/cellulitis.html

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1053686-overview