Michael Hatte

Hey mate, mainly lizards during the spring and thumper whiting during chrisy hol's. Flicking along the v-wall from a boat is always fun, mouth of warrel creek and the island opposite the golf course are always gun areas for big flatties. Might head way up warrel this next trip and target some bass in the fresh. I love it up there, i could live there very easy Cheers, Mick

Hey Peoples, Fished The upper Georges Yesterday afternoon and early this morning with Musty for some good catchs Yesterday i managed to hook two Jews But only landed the one fish of 70cm, also managed a few nice bream on atomic hard bodys and minnow plastics, One fish going 39cm. Returned very early this morning to have another crack at a Jew before work, Knowing there was a few good fish in the area it was only a matter of time before the lure was belted, 20mins in the session the 2000 series reel came to life and i was into a good fish, Sun was just poking it head out and the river was a sheet of glass with a mist coming of the water!!!!! Does it get any better? A few Smoking runs and a couple mins later it was in the net and i was cheering!! Musty Christend the yak on a nice little fella of 60+cm but i did'nt manage to get any Footage of the catch, 20-30MINS later i just about had given up when Musty hooked anther solid fish so i began to film the catch, called it for a small stinky but turned out to be another Horse BlueNose bream 39cm. Bloody Great fun as always with plenty of laughs, cheers for the company Mussa!!!! Bare with us guys, Just need to upload a short flim onto youtube and will pop it up either tonight or first thing in the morning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3iCKV-FXM0 Cheers, Mick Nambucca booked for mid November!!!! Cant wait to get up there........

Georges River is a pretty good area to start, Woranora and upper reachers of the system is where you going to find them. Any light Flick stick, 2-4kg is great, 1000-2000 series reel, 4-6lb braid with 8lb leader. You can go much lower on the braid and leader but you will catch bream, flathead and Jew all in the same areas you will find the ep's so you may aswell cover yourself if you do hook something big. Lure choice - Cant really go past small blades, Stike pro cyber vibes 3.5g are my pick. Areas- Deep holes, rocky shorelines, bridges Boat choice- One of those 50k+ bass/bream fishing boats!!!!! Just kidding mate, anything that floats will have you into the action. Plenty of guys on this site target them so there should be plenty of info for you. Hope it helps Mick

Cheers scoop, the fish ladder is there but i will give the National Parks a buzz today. Just targeting bass mainly mate, wont to get a few areas sussed for summer months. I will let you know what i find out. MICK

Hey Guys ive just recently moved down south and im after a few fishing spots closer to home, i was in the national park on sunday and drove over the weir at Audley there were a heap of people fishing the salt side but i was wondering if anyone has been up the fresh side to fish for bass during summer. I have heard of people Catching Ep's up there around the weir but never much on Bass Reports from the area. Am i better off sticking to Nepean and upper Georges Or is the the National Park worth a shot. Mick

Adventure Bound all the way, no nonsense, best locations around australia and very informative fishing advise. Their earlier series was amazing!!!!! And for Dave B, how that guy has a fishing show is beyond me! I feel sorry for poor charter blokes who have to put up with that guy everytime he films a show.....All the gear and no idea!!!

Cheers boys, Yeh cant beat the yak in the shallow water, im hooking lots of fish right at the front of the yak which is a good sign. Low profile and no noise on the flats is proving very deadly Cant wait till the water warms a little more so i can get back into some surface action. Hamerz, First time i have filmed a session mate but if conditions are ok i will be using it alot more, ive made it so it swivels 360deg so should be able to get some great footage of some surface action over the next few months...... Mick

Holy Molly how did i miss this post!!! That is one crazy session on the jews guys..... Great post, Crongrats!!!!!! Mick

Never did any good with the slick rigs mate or any pre riged soft plastics, i find them very over weighted Stick with deep divers if your going to troll or Slugo plastics if you wont to cast at channel markers during the warmer months. As mentioned Rapala x-raps are a top lure, Salmon,tuna,tailor and kings love em

If your going to mainly hit the rivers keep you lures small and your tackle light. 1500-2000 size reel with 1-3 or 2-4kg 6'6 7'0 rod is perfect, 6LB braid with a 8lb leader will just about land anything you come in contact with. Bream and Flathead are going to be your most common catch. If i could only take two lures out with me it would be a Squidgy fish and Strike Pro Cyber vibes, i always start my sessions with them and very rarely need to change them during a fish. Golds,reds and pink seem to be great colours in the Georges River and Botany Bay. Good Luck mate and stick at it, you will get the hang of it in no time Mick

Cracker of a session mate!!!! Crongrats

Way to go mate, top effort and a heap of fun on light gear!!!!!!! Wish i still lived out that way i miss my cheeky afternoon flicks on the river. Mick

Most of them are coming out of the weed beds mate, just work the small patchs of sand that break the weed up. All the trevs were caught mid water over the weed. Been up Mackay for a few days so hav'nt sorted out the footage yet, also found out i need to buy a program to download and edit footage so will pick it up during the week when i get a chance. Cheers, Mick

Fished sunday with a good mate of mine that has not done alot of lure fishing, the plan was to hit the georges in the morning to see if we could find some Ep's to play with. Got on the water at 5am and we were fishing by 5.30am, tried the same hole that was kind to me on a previous trip for no result then moved up river a little for a shot at a jew but an hour of flicking still had us both at a big fat 0 and down 2 blades. Next plan of attack was captain cook bridge, within the first few cast we were into some action 2 small lizards to 45cm and a solid trev that went 35cm. Things went a little Quite and as the morning grew on also did the boat traffic so we got up in the shallows of Towra and worked small paddle tail plastics. Fished the same area till around 1.30pm for 6 nice lizard to 60cm and a couple more trevs, one going 47cm and my best on plastic so far. Fished the exact same areas yesterday afternoon out of the yak with similar results, from 3pm-sunset i managed another 3 nice Lizards,one going 60+cm 2 Trevs and a couple stinky pike. Plastics that have been working well for us over the last few week on the lizards are shaker and squidgy paddle tail, killer tomato squidgy prob accounting for 80% of the catch. I dont know what was up in the shallows on sunset but the place was alive, there were large Garfish getting smashed all over the place and the whole area started to look alot like Weipa, everywhere i looked there was baitfish getting smashed. I could'nt fish any longer the sun had gone down and i still had a long paddle back to the ramp so called it quits. Sorry Guys no pics from the Weekend But i did manage to get some Footage of yesterdays session with a HD handycam that i have attached to the front of the yak. Got some great footage!!! As soon as i work out how to retrive the footage i will pop it up, i thought it might be as easy as downloading pics but i was was wrong Sorry for the long Delay guys but here are the youtube links. Dont ask me why they have turn out so small on the screen, me and computers dont mix. Im sure i will work it out eventually http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXIT8n2Mxeg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAyIHH3KbSI Mick

Awesome stuff guys!!! Wish i could get a week of at the moment to do the same thing, i love it up that way. Mick

Fingers crossed they stick around for a few weeks guys Hamerz, i know what you mean mate the winter was awful, if it was'nt for blackfish and squid i would have gone crazy. Cheers, Mick

After the shocking winter id just about given up on the Georges River for the year, so many sessions and hours put in over the last few months for little or no fish on some occasions had me frustrated. Received some messages From Musty over the weekend whilst up in the mountains that the fishing had picked up and id better get on the water during the week. Conditions looked great after work yesterday so did'nt take me long to get the Yak on the back of the car and hit the river. The Ep's were out in force and the first few casts resulting in instant hook ups, the fish were averaging from 20-25cm Fished that area from 2.30 till 4 and for well over a dozen Ep's. The tide was just about done so made my way to a Bridge to fish around the pylons on the slack water. First cast and the tiny vibe was belted by a nice fish of 32cm Things went a little Quite and a couple of our Jet Ski and ski boat friends were making life a little tough, stuck at it for another 30mins and just as the tide started to run the lure was belted again by this time a better fish of around 40cm Fished the same area for another 20mins for no result so started to make my way back to the car. On my way back i could'nt help myself and tried for a stinky!!! It was the start of the run in and low light so i thought why the hell not, this would top the afternoon of nicely. Positioned the yak on the edge of a reef that drops of into a deep hole and started pluging away with 100mm plastic,two cast in and the lure took off for a screaming run unfortunately the lure was spat out it had me yelling a few harsh words. Next few cast and you would'nt belive it but it happened again but this time the plastic came back with a surprise attached This to had me yelling out like a crazy man but i knew the little devils were down there so i stuck at it. Just on dusk the lure was belted again and the little 2000 series reel was humming, a few tight moments around the anchor line but manage to leed it into the net after a few minutes. 80cm and my best effort on plastic so far!!! No Doubt there were more jew in the area but with the sun gone and no lights on the yak i called it quits for the afternoon. All up it was a great little session and a bloody big thanks for Musty For giving us the heads up on the Ep MADNESS!!!! Mick

Way to go guys, top catch of flathead!!!! 81cm model is a cracker fish, she looks nice and fat too. Mick

Certainly wont be forgeting that fish for a while, i pretty sure that thing went 94cm to mate, 30cm across the head and of course she was released unharmed. That system is full of monsters,spoked bigger fish while cruising around the flats with the leccy and had a couple fish grab hold of a whole whiting while your tring to reel it in. Shame about the Mouth of the Warrel Closing up slowly but im sure i can get the yak over it somehow

Those areas you fish are the exact areas i fish up there,spring time and after a little bit of rain the place fires right up!!! Ive heard the mouth of Warrel is almost closed up,you can only get up there now on a high tide. Check out this beast my old man got last spring very close to the mouth of Warrel ck Im itching to get up there in the next month or so!!!

Look at some hand held gps units mate, im fishing out of a yak and im trying to keep it free from all the add-ons and wiring. TThere are some great hand held devices on the market and are very similar priced to fixed models. Good luck up there anyhows, i bloody love it up there!!!!

Fished the rocks at scotts head and there fantastic, Bream,Drummer,Huge Dart and also caught a few small Jew. If you get can get some Gps marks for some reefs offshore im sure they would be worth a shot. Seen plenty of people troll the headland for Tuna during the warmer months. I get muddies from Nambucca and kalang river which are only a little north of where you wont to try,so i cant see why they would'nt be the that system. All the local guys launch there boats from the beach near the caravan park, should be nice and safe to launch you yak from there to. Drop Rickb a message, he fishes offshore up ther a fare bit and might give you the heads up on a few areas to try offshore.. Mick

Gotta get up there during the wet and run off mate if you wont good size barra,we had the same problem in June. Lost count of how many barra we caught between all the boats but no one cracked a legal fish. We were there a couple days before we boarded the houseboat and we got some great feed back from the locals. Steve's a bloody legend and is in contact with all the commerical fisho's up there, he will let you know where its all happening. Hand held GPS is a must if your going to have a poke around offshore and try to find some of the reefs out wide. Give em heaps!!!!

Bloody hell how many people are going to weipa this year!!!!! Fished weipa in june mate on the tillitoo and had a top time , we headed south and fished off pera point. There is a series of reefs around 3-4km off pera which holds some massive creatures. When you get on the houseboat there is a log book that fishos from previous trips write up reports in, steve(houseboat owner)will give priceless information when you get up there and has GPS co-ordinates of all the reefs that are worth a look at offshore. Fingermark,gts and cobia are pretty common offshore in that area and i hope you like sharks because they are certainly going to love you. You honestly dont know what your going to be in for until you get up there mate,the week before we got up there there were football field size schools of longtail working offshore and during our visit we did'nt see one,go figure!!! The rivers are pretty consistant, we fished the Hey River, Live baits and smaller lures worked a treat in the cooler water. Have a great trip!!!!! Mick

Was up there a few months ago mate and the fishing was awesome!!!! Sept could be a little tough going mate because the water will still be cold(well cold for up there)and most of the fish shut down. We had most of our success on smaller lures and live baits in the rivers and fishing the offshore reefs south of weipa, down near pera point.(hope you like sharks) Chat to the local boys up there when you arrive, they will point you in the right direction. Weipa caravan park has boats for hire and great place to talk to people that have been fishing the area. I can pm a few areas that were fishing well when i was up there if you like. Mick