gibodfisho

Fished Cowan on the Sunday 2 weeks ago for a nice bag of bream. All fish were on bass minnows, mostly on 3' models but some as by catch on 4' watermelon. Also went out into Broken Bay looking for West Reef but my gps must be on a different datum and could not find it. A lot of boats were further east and I presume they were on East Reef. Mossied over there and caught 2 slimies that I spotted on the sounder. Tried Patonga on the way back for flatties Headed back into Cowan to fish a reefy area. I stopped prior and fished the shoreline and got smoked by another good bream. I had stopped in front of another boat fishing sp's (couple hundred metres) which turned out to be Wacko in his new Boat. Hope I didn't step on your toes mate. Then continued on to the reef. The cruiser fleet was out in force and the wakes drove me away lookin for some better oppurtunities. Headed up river but the tide had just about bottomed out but I did find some promising possies (see next report). Took the bream for dinner for my uncle & me.

Thanks guys, glad I did not wait till today to have a fish

Had enough brownie points to sneek off from work early on Friday and headed to the Hawkesbury. Had not been back since the ABT comp but I had this idea that I may have stumbled onto a jewie spot, whilst fishing for thoose bream. Tailor were present but after half an hour with not much action I lost confidence and moved to try and find some bream. Nothin doin there either so I came back to my Jewie spot and nailed 2 little blokes about 49and40cm in 4 casts, using 4'bass minnows. I was rapt to catch them but even happier knowin my little plan had come together. Kept an eye out for birds or fish workin in Pittwater but none to be seen.

Bass pics

I was going to wait for the photos but had to tell of the luck I had on Saturday. The plan was to take some family skiing and wakeboarding on the Nepean after work, so I made some extra room for more bodies by taking out tackle boxes nets and rods from the boat. The plan went astray and only my brother could make it and he was running late. So already being on the water with the missus I grabbed one of the only two rods in the rod locker, which was rigged with a 4inch shad and moderately heavy sqidgy jig. (the other was a flyrod). Perfect for flatties but bass??? Well it turned out to be a great Bass lure by casting along the edge of the weed beds and slow rolling it out like Pukka and Rick had described in there posts on St. Clair, I was on. The Bass did everthing right making it back to the weeds where as I did everything wrong. Some how I got it to the side of the boat and my wife grabbed the tiny bait net and we got its head and shoulders in just as lure has come out. After a few deep breaths I realise I don't have a camera. I ring my brother to get a disposable from a servo and also my brother and law to bring his digital. A top surprise from such a pressured fishery. Can't wait to see and post the pictures. Cheers Dave

G'day Rick. I heard on 2KY radio that the pros were waiting for the run to start at Lake Macquarie and that strong westerly wind is the trigger. Dave.

After watching some guys hook some Kings on fly in Pittwater I was keen to get into some myself in the Harbour. Went out with only a general plan of finding some fish on the surface but most of the surface activity was from baitfish only. Stopped at a marker buoy and first cast with a 3'bm. come up solid with something solid. Thought I had the upper hand when it makes a b-line for the marker and the hook pulls Then I manage to wrap about 20m of fireline in the electric Decide to anchor and dangle some squid . Pull the hooks on 2 more good runs and starting to get peeved. Pull up anchor and decide to drift past and finally stay connected and land a little King of 55cm. Headed off again and notice a colour change stetching from Middle Head and decide to troll along the edge and start pickig up slimeys. On the third fish I try to shake it off and the leader snaps and away swims an unfortunate fish and a rapala. Went looking for the reliable bream. Found plenty but were real touchy in clear water, heaps of taps and pulled hooks. Went down to 4pnd and 2"minnow and finally stayed connected. In Middle Harbour one boat had over a dozen bream feeding along its edge but managed to spook them. Had one follow and probably one run from a King up here as well but on light tackle Met the missus and had lunch at Clontarf then went back looking for more bream but they were no longer there or past Roseville in any numbers or size. Thats when I rememberad I had a bannana on board

Thanks Rich, Mitch & Joe. Firstly that was the fish I had spoken to you about Rich. The Barra put on a great show and had me burried in the snag early on. The Barra was caught on a beefed up crazy charlie pattern as the water was quite clear. In the billabongs we were using a black foam popper with a strong wire weed guard for surface fishing and a black and gold clouser for subsurface.

Saratoga

Spent a week in Darwin and had three days fishing with a guide. Had a great time fishing Cooroboree Lagoon and Bynoe Harbour. Here are some of hte better pics.