Daniel Frost

G'Day mate , I grew up in Forster and my dad had a tackle store there, so I have fished it a lot. Fishing with Shallow diving atomics over the weedbeds and along the shorelines can produce some great flatties and bream , as for plastics, the gulp grubs and shrimp have worked well for me in the natural colours they are great to cast around the washboards on the oyster leases and off the shoreline . If your targeting bream I would cast along those washboards and over the patchy weed areas in the paddock, use light jigheads 1\16th or less . flattys will be found in the paddock as well but I would be using a heavy 1\8th or so jighead to maxamise your casting distance and contact with the bottom . Blades work well around the bridge and the sandbanks around that area , but fishing the bridge can be hard on a big tide due to the strong current . The whiting might be a bit tougher in the winter , but your still a chance . Usually I fish for them solely with surface lures but I only do this in the warmer months , it's just to cold for consistant fishing on the surface IMO. Consistant fish can be found around the oyster leases that you can see as you drive over the bridge , you are a good chance if you cover those areas with your plastics . The Breakwall at Forster is a great spot for jew , but you will need some really heavy jigheads or internally waited plastics , heavy leader as well . The current going out the breakwall is really strong so if you fish with something like a slick rigg it will often just get washed out as fast as you can wind in the slack , fish the wall around the turn a hour or so each side. Metals can work off there but im not sure whats around at the moment , anyway I would be casting for a jew , it's hard work but if you get one it will be 10kg plus , you don't see many small ones getting caught . Good luck and tight lines

Have sent you a pm with a few spots and ideas that may help you smack some of those squid Tight lines mate

When I was a kid my dad had his own toackle shop in Forster Tuncurry and I grew up building my own rods and having dad make me some crackers as well.We even had a rod building machine at home . They were happy days. These days I don't have any kids of my own so fortunately I can afford some Pretty nice gear , bought a Fireblood an Exist and a Exist Hyper Branzino about 2 weeks ago , now it's happy days again.

Roberta I've been looking for those and can only find them in the USA if you here of anyone bringing them into Aus let me know . Looks like I will have to make my own up , Cheers Dan

Thats a big call, and I would bet my left nut that they can see the line as over the years my catch rate for squid has dramtically increased as I have gone to 4 and 6lb leaders , inshore fishing daytime, at night it may not be as much of a problem but still you should fish as light as possible . Squid have huge eyes for the size of their body and great eyesight their downfall is more often due to their agressive nature an eagerness to attack a jig . They can be very spooky at times and light leader will help entice a strike .Generally I use braided line and at least 2m of leader , as A.Dawg suggested . Bubba

Slinky next time you go fishing with Grant take an Aerator so you can keep his fish alive and use them as livies for your big ones Grant I would have been putting myself in the good casting spots all day , it's your right as the boat owner , stuff the dekkie , they are lucky to be invited along , and if they catch a bigger fish then you they should be spending their time making you a sambo or giving you a Foot rub and praising your efforts as a Guide !! . Well done gentlemen Good report Bubba

Good to see some ep's bream and jew all on the bight , not sharing the biscuits....... mate I would have boarded their vessel pirate style and got stuck into them !!!!! Bubba

When my usual team mate couldn't make it I called on the Big Man, JBjew and he was keen as mustard to do his first comp . This was my 4th trip to Sussex,St Georges Basin and it didn't let me down . The first morning due to my late entry we started at the back of the 45 boats and headed off to try and get a bag for day one . First spot we had been casting for 5 to 10 mins when JB cries IM ONNNNN and this was a quality fish 34 the first of our bag and a great start for his fisrt comp . With changing conditions I pulled up stumps and moved to deeper water where JB yet again cried out IM ON and again brought in a beautiful 34 Fork bream now he was really smilin, we then had a good bight which helped us get our bag by 8.30, we then upgraded a few times during the day until the arvo when back in the shallows I hooked a horse . The fish didn't seem to know it was hooked and moped around for a couple mins while a just waited to get a glimpse as I could feel a lot of weight I new it was solid and hope to see a bream , finally when it came into veiw either the boat or our ugly heads gave the Horse a fright and it bolted and I just had to hold on chase him on the electric and wait him out , eventually we got him in close and JB scooped him up and I started screaming YEEEAAAAAAHHH, as I new this was a beast of a kicker fish in an already heavy bag with nothing under 33fork length . This bag was going to take some beating . We weighed in 4.65kg for 5 fish day 1 and were in the lead . Day 2 We headed out this time in the front of the pack and went straight to shallow water and fished it for a short period 10mins I made the call to move , conditions were to bright and we hadn't got a touch , so off to the deep . One of the spots we had found the day before had a good school of fish on it and I had left it alone on saturday in the hope they would be there sunday, and they were there and in numbers , we had our bag by 8.05 and although they were small they were on the chew and over the rest of the session we pulled close to 40 legals and had upgraded every fish in the bag , the only problem was that many of them were 31 or 32 cm and you would have to try and guess which one was fatter . The weigh in came and we had another decent bag of 3.6kg and had to wait for the second place team to weigh in , and they had a good bag of 3.9kg and took the lead and the victory by a mere 20 grams , 10 fish for 8.275 beating our 8.255kg . Well Done to them but it was a bit of a heart breaker , still it's hard to sulk when you come second . But my Big bream did win me an extra $500 so that put a smile on my face While there I met some good blokes and had a great time , see you at the BETS GF in SYD Gillie , and I will have a balance beam by then ,thanks mate!! JB you did really well and The start you had on saturday was awsome I was so happpy to see you catch the first 4 fish , you couldn't stop smiling and I could tell it really helped settle your nerves . You must have learn't a fair bit this weekend as your fishing did definately improve since we last fished together , well done , you did yourself proud . You may again one day be called in off the bench to help out Team Marineware ,Thanks again mate . Bubba

Mate I purposefully leave one under the floor in my bildge it's nice and dark and wet , in the hope that one of my mates will forget his inflatable on comp day and have to wear my mouldy old yellow brick , with that stinky pungent smell for the whole day !!!! But if you really do want to clean it I did clean a couple up out of my old boat and I used BAM , it was a mould killer version, I was worried about it wrecking the material so i put it on scrubed it for about 2 mins then hosed them off , they came up really well and didn't seem to have any obvious damage . Maybe you could just clean one up for the mrs and leave the other one in case you have a mate onboard ? Bubba

When you arrive early in the morn make sure you turn your headlights off while backing down the ramp , you don't need them and anyone else in the lane next to you who is also trying to reverse will be blinded . The other thing is depending on your trailer and the depth of the ramp you may be able to drive your boat on, this can really speed things up . Never leave your boat blocking the ramp unless there is no other choice as this can cause some major blowups and is a sign of ignorance and disrespect for other boaters . Check your battery and electricals ,nav lights bildge pump, fuel & oil before leaving home . Don't push in , ask if your unsure , people who push in are despised. Happy Boating

What are you trying to catch mate ? Im guessing bream , as the sx40's are pretty small , they work pretty well but are hard to cast long distance . Have a look at the Kangoku shads , Damiki mu45 and Atomic shallow and deep running lures. These have a bit more weight and cast quite well . The blades are great in the harbour just be carefull around craggy areas. Colours with blades can make a difference , but they all seem to work. Brands I like are Damiki Vault's ,Strike Pro,Ecogear and TT Tight lines , Bubba.

Dam im hungry after looking at that ,what a feed !!!!!! Well done mate a great session and it's great to hear the river is coming back . Cheers Bubba

Mate well done a solid fish , gotta love the blades . Shame your camera dosn't have a timer , it would be nice to get a photo of yourself with a crackin fish like that one . Keep Blading, Bubba

When this is happening it is often because the angler is winding on a loop or bit of loose line , this usually happens when winding up the slack just after your cast has landed , the small loop will be wound on and then you are winding the rest of your line over it , then next time you cast as the line comes of the spool it grabs that loop and you know have 3 strands of braid coming off your reel at once . Loose line being wound on can have a similar effect , usually a couple feet of loose line will come off the spool all at once and tangel as it leaves the spool instead of coming off in single wraps. Do what slinky said , grab your line and put a little tension on it as you start to retreive your slack , and this should all but eliminate your problem . Good luck and don't give up on the braid just yet .

Nice STINKY mate , they put up a good fight on the bream gear , well done . Bubba

Mate I have a 3500 HD Certate and think it would be fine for the application you have suggested , daiwa also do a 4500J capricorn which is a jig reel which would also be suited well to the type of fishing you are going to be doing and should come in under the budget with change for some extra jigs or braid . Bubba

When Craig and I were near Picnic point boatshed [8knt or 4knt zone ]there were two kids in a little tinny just flogging it through the moorings , half the time the front of the tinny was 6 foot in the air , and there is no way they could see half the time as they bow was so high and the kids looked like they were only 15yrs old or so . When we moved to the bridge as Craig said it was even worse when these race boats just flew past at 1000miles an hour in a 10 knot zone , so i had the shits and came back and took a few raiders for a burn in my boat , just not through the 8 and 10 knot zones at 1000mph. Back to Syd harbour for me , as I can't get out on the Georges on the weekdays , and thats when it would be at it's best . Bubba

Last night I only just escaped the grasp of a feisty COUGAR , whilst trying to walk past the East Hills pub . You can never be too careful..... Shame about the fishing Nanook , but at least you were out in the bush and fishing , it could have been a lot worse and good luck on the next mission , Bubba

Yes mate , I took Stewy for a run and we were pulled over for the exact same reason . Mate I am glad they were out there enforcing the rules . Not that I was not overly impressed with the way we were pulled over or the officers reason . We were also checked for fire extinguisher jacekts etc , whick is a good thing , it's amazing how many people don't take enough jackets for the number of people onboard. The thing that cracked me up was when the jet ski officer tried to leave and he couldn't start his jet ski up and Stewy yelled out to him " Do you want a tow?" . Bubba

They are some nice trout mate ,well worth the effort of the 13km walk ,impressive brown , but even more impressive is your nephew hooking himself in the head ! DAMMMM THAT LOOKS NASTY How did he do it ???????? He is smiling in the photo, but was he still smiling after you ripped it out ?

Nice Snapper mate , well done. It's always good to get a new P.B .

Never tried one but they would probably taste pretty good after 30 or so Schooners , other wise go for the pie !!!

Great work bubba i am really keen to fish the lane cove soon maybe try tackle a nice sized jewie as well Did you fish the sholehaven comp and are you doin the hawkesbury one commin up? i might try make the weigh in for that Pete Thanks Pete, the sholehavern comp im not sure? we fished one at sussex and won about a month ago Team Marineware we are called , and I won't be doing the Hawkesbury one as I am pretty sure it's this weekend,[ not a 100% sure ] and so is the soft plastics social but I am looking forward to meeting a heap of raiders and having some fun and sharing some info. Bubba

Well I havn't fished the area's you have been fishing for a while but it does sound like it's a bit slow , I usually find it pretty slow in the Georges compared to Syd harbour , but I have fished the harbour 1000 times where as the Georges i would have done maybe 10 or 12 sessions . The Jet Ski's kill it for me in the warmer months I hate going fishing whilst some tool hammers past me at 80kph in a 4kt zone with his gold chain and mullet flapping in the wind . The harbour is fishing well and if you get a chance then you should give it a go , the Parra river and Lane Cove both have a lot of fish at the moment . Cheers Bubba

Went out on the harbour over the weekend and enjoyed some great fishing and moved around a lot looking for new spots and was lucky to come across a couple horses . On Sat was fishing the Lane Cove and had a few half decent fish in the boat and started casting a plastic into the brown water near a rock section of shoreline when I got a hit that near ripped the rod out of my hands and then my reel started screaming like a smacked child , I was on 4lb leader and had to back the drag off and chase it aroung a while before it stoped having big runs , I used the electric to tow her out into the channel and get this solid fish out in the open away from anything that could bust me off . With the light gear I was really sweating and had to hold on for about 5mins until I got a glimpse HORSE , thats all i could think What a HORSE. Scooped him up and tried to take a couple of shots with the timer as i was by myself . The yellow ruler at 40cms was to small to measure this fish to the fork even and I had to guess it was about 42cm to the fork a solid fish and It really made my day . If you were in the Lane Cove on Sat around 1pm you probably heard me YAAAHHHOOOOOING . The next day went out with my mate just looking for new spots and trying a few different things when yet again a HORSE rears it's big blue nosed head , this time as the day before from the blistering runs , I knew that I was again connected to another HORSE and after 4mins or so of holding on and hoping , my mate put it in the net and I had 39cm to the fork . This topped off my weekend , what a great couple days fishing . Looking forward to meeting everyone down at the Social day on the Georges , Cheers Bubba