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Posts posted by paul.kenny
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Well done in that wind - glad to see some bream back in WB and I can't wait until they are ready for some surface action
. Sorry to see you lost the bigger Flattie, but that is the risk we accept when using lighter leader.
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Wow - that is a jewie session that us mortals can only dream of
.
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Great report buddy! Especially with the ep's
I got to get into some of them soon!
Pete
Pete - thanks mate. Pm me if you want some advice.
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Pete - great to see you had a chance to get out for an arvo session and appears that Botany Bay is starting to fire again. Hopefully those bream will start moving into the shallow water so we can start working the surface lures
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Congratulations hamerz.....the Georges is certainly going off. By the looks of the location you caught some of those EPs within about 100m of where I caught my 38.5cm EP. I am surprised with your good results considering it was a weekend, should I assume that there was little boat traffic in the area?
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Hey great session there - looks like you had an absolute ball of a time with the EPs and flatties.
How did you unhook the numb ray? I got one on a squidgy fish before and got a series of mild jolts when I used my stainless steel pliers to try to get my jighead back. Had not come across them before. Maybe the first jolt got to my brains first so I could'nt figure out what was happening ...
pmak - I was a bit of a coward and decided the numbfish could keep the SP and jighead
. I just cut the line close to the jighead after a couple of photos.
Cracker of a session mate!!!! Crongrats
Thanks Mick - it was your last report from the upper Georges that inspired me to focus on the EPs for a session. I think I have identified where they are schooling at the moment.....my next session will confirm whether I am correct. I will also have to focus on the Jewies in the same area of the river.
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Couple of good sessions there
You should have tried the surface lure when you found the school of EPs
Iceman - I considered it, however there was a lot of vegetable matter on the surface (leaves etc) and I didn't want to sppok the school. In light of the aggressive strikes on the HBs I will give the surface lures a crack next time
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Hi raiders – I have had this week off with the school holidays and decided that whilst supervising the kids (teenagers) I could also get a couple of days fishing in. Unfortunately Bassboy could not join me as he is busy studying for his HSC.
I decided to give the long weekend a miss due to the usual increased boat traffic, which was fortunate considering the inclement weather. Instead I spent the weekend servicing my reels, boat and trailer. I planned the remainder of the week based on the weather predictions. First off was to fish Botany Bay on Tuesday and then chase EPs and Jewies in the upper Georges River on Wednesday. Thursday would be family time and if the
permitted I would finish the week with another crack at the upper Georges River on Friday....noting the best time to fish the Georges is during the week when there is minimal boat traffic.
I headed out to Botany Bay early Tuesday morning in near perfect conditions. I started at Towra Point in mirror flat seas for this 55cm flattie on my third cast. He was taken just on the turn of the tide in 3m of water via a blade and released to be caught another day.
Next cast a tiny squire jumped onto my blade.........it was only a couple of cm longer that the blade!! I kept casting a mixture of lures off Towra Point for no other hits. After 30 minutes of no action, despite trying SPs and blades in varying depths I had a final cast (yep it was my final final cast for the Towra session – all seasoned lure fisherman understand this concept) which resulted in what I thought was a plastic shopping bag, only to be surprised when it got close that I had caught a numbfish. My first Numbfish and a PB
LOL.
This convinced me to move on and I decided to give the draining flats of Woolooware Bay a crack. By this stage it was about 10am and becoming quite hot and humid. As a consequence I tied on a surface lure and threw the lures up onto the flats to prospect for any bream, whiting or flatties. I had a couple of follows by some medium sized whiting but none would strike the lure......too early in the season I reckon, but it was worth an attempt. I then switched back to my trusty MF40 and SPs to work the flats and associated drop offs. I had limited success with a 20cm and a 40cm flattie being boated.
After 45 minutes of trying the flats, drop offs and oyster leases for no further success I decided to change it up a bit and head for the deeper holes of the lower Georges River with larger SPs to target large flatties in the deep water.
This tactic immediately paid off with 6 flatties caught ranging from 39 - 57 cm. All of these fish were taken in 6 metres of water using 80 – 100mm SPs. Thus ended a slow but beautiful day on the water and all the fish were released to grow into breeders
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Wednesday dawned as another glorious day, both because I was fishing rather than at work and weather wise. It is the first session in months that I didn’t start the day wearing thermals and a jumper. The plan of attack was to work the area between Picnic Point and the M5 bridge, mainly targeting EPs. As the sun rose I realised that the water was very discoloured with a lot of rubbish (both vegetation and man-made) flowing upstream........mmmm no wonder I don’t keep any fish caught in the Georges River. The first hour was focussed around Lamberth and Sandy Point for a succession of small tailor and tails bitten off my SPs. I then tried a couple of locations near Picnic Point for a couple of small flatties on blades. This is where things started to get interesting........noticed a piece of bread floating on the surface near a rock wall being attacked by small fish so I cast a lightly weighted small SP on my finesse gear (3lb braid and 4lb leader) at the bread and as it sank it was immediately attacked by a nice 25cm bream.
I kept working the same rock wall with the ‘silly string’ casting small SPs tight against the snags. As I cast into one of the many sunken trees the SP was hit by a solid tap as it sank down the drop off and the fish ran for cover. The reel screamed as a I tried to put pressure on the fish without snapping the line. Fortunately I was able to turn the fish and it ran away from cover and into the deep hole. After about a minute of short runs I was able to get the fish to the surface and was delighted to see it was the target species, this nice 38.5cm EP – yippee a new PB
. After a couple of quick photos it was released to continue breeding.
Knowing that EPs are usually schooled up I cast the SP back into the snag. This time I was surprised to catch an eel.....an interesting fight. As I placed the net down and prepared to take a photo it slithered out of the net. I captured this image before it escaped over the side and snapping me off against the motor. Another PB on SPs
The area went dead after the eel and I decided it was time to move up stream to work the area between Voyager Point and the M5 bridge during the turn of the tide and the run out tide. I worked a number of locations for small flatties and tailor before finding a school of EPs. During the next 45 minutes I pulled 12 x EPs ranging from 18cm – 30cm from the same location
. The fish were mainly taken on small SPs, however I did take a couple of feisty EPs by HB. The EPs hit the SP with a very light tap, whereas they take the HB very aggressively. I had an absolute ball and all of the fish were released.
Both days were just fantastic and I am looking forward to my next chance to fish during mid-week.
PS - I apologise for the essay, but thought I should share my experience in our local waterways with you all.
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Wow what a great croc.....4lb line...the fishing gods were smiling at you
Good on you for releasing the big breeding female
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Looks like a great day despite the colour of the water. Well done getting on to some nice bream - I have noticed a few more bream are starting to show up in the Georges
it looks like a good bream season ahead.
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Mongo , well done on a great first post and congratulations Bekki on your first real fish
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Great to see the Bass making an early appearance and well done persisting in the wet weather.
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Another great session roberta and I cannot wait for your reports of some top water action.......I just hope the birdlife stays clear
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Nice work Kel and great post. The fishing is starting to improve with the warmer water....I guess the water was probably warmer than you were after the trip across the Bay
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Great report Mick -sounds like Towra is producing the fish at the moment. Pity you couldn't stay and target the fish hitting the garfish....would have been great fun on the yak
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Just curious to know what you think the 81cm one weighed?
I've never seen a fish that big in the wild....
As soon as the electric motor is finished i'm hoping to change that.
Hi JET01 - I didn't weigh the fish, only measured it's length. As depicted in the photos it was quiet fat and certainly fought hard on my bream gear. I was surprised she didn't bite me off, however she did straighten two of the hooks on the rear treble and I was lucky to net her. All the best once your electric motor is finished.
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Mick - Excellent report and outstanding session
. The 40cm EP must have been a great fight near the bridge and congratulations on your persistance to capture a nice jewie.
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Another great report mate and some awesome pictures. Glad to see that Dean was able to accompany you and get onto some quality Trout.
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Finally woolooware bays is coming back on!
Fantastic flattie mate what a cracker! I hope its only the start of things to come for you this season
Not long untill the surface action starts to come on too
Cheers
Pete
I was tempted to try the surface lures as there were small tailor chopping small bait fish on the surface, however the flattie action was too good to change tactics......I reckon mid-October should see the start of the surface action.
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Day 1 started off slow and we could only manage flattties and small bream for the first couple of hours, i had a go at some hard bodys (first time in salt water) and pulled what i thought was a nice bream out of some cover but it ended up being a nice bass in really salty water! there you go basscatcher one for you
Thanks for reading guys
Pete
hahahaha - good one Pete
. Sounds like a tough weekend, although it could have been worse.....the flattie count looked good.
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Congratulations on a nice haul of lizards. The water was obviously colder by at least a degree at Towra compared to Woolooware Bay. Did you find that the flatties were just softly tapping the SPs when they were stationary?
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Nice catch of lizards:thumbup: Top marks for releasing the girl.
Regards Jeff
Jeff - thanks,we mainly practice catch & release and always release the bigger lizards to ensure we have breeding stocks for the future.
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What a great day for you guys...you certainly found the big flatties and that 81cm model is outstanding!!! I went for an hour troll this arvo and only got one 40cm flatty and a couple of near legal reddies. Were you guys fishing the eastern drop offs near the leases?
Rob - yes we were fishing the eastern drop offs of WB.
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Hi Raiders,
After some tough weekends fishing the Georges River I decided to capitalise on the good weather this weekend to chase the larger flatties in Botany Bay. Sunday dawned with very slight winds and myself and the old man (visiting from Central QLD) raced out to Woolooware Bay for the run out tide to work the drop offs with SPs and soft blades. The old man had never used SPs before and was keen to learn.
The conditions on Woolooware Bay were near perfect and on my third cast with the MF40 I hooked our first fish. The flattie hit the lure with a soft tap, followed by a great head shake and a powerful run. After a brief but fun fight I pulled up a solid 48cm Flattie....a great start to the morning.
We continued to work the same drop off, which consisted of a sandbank covered by 1m of water dropping off into a weed bank in about 2m of water. About 10 minutes later I had another soft tap (Squidgy wriggler this time) and a short run from the sandbank. I then thought I had lost the fish as the line went slack, however the fish was still connected as it had swum directly at me. As it was spooked by the boat it ran strongly back towards the sandbank. This fish was an improvement to the first model at 50cm.
My old man, who was fishing with SPs for the first time (he was using a 80mm squidgy fish) got a good strike by another flattie. Unfortunately it threw the hook just as it got boat side
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The sandbanks then became quiet as the wind completely dropped off, so we decided to try the deeper water in Woolooware. This paid off with the old man hooking this nice 49cm flattie....his first fish via a SP
.
For the last half hour of the run out tide and with a slight southerly blowing we decided to work the drop offs again. Again I was rewarded with a nice fish that hit the MF40 hard, followed by a powerful headshaking run with the tide. His run was short lived and I boated another upgrade...this time a healthy 51cm flattie. I was lucky to keep this fish hooked as he had snapped the rear treble off the MF40, fortunately the front treble stayed connected.
I replaced the damaged MF40 with a new one and five minutes later on the same sandbank I felt another small tap followed by a dead weight on the line...I thought I had missed the strike and had collected weed. Much to my surprise the reel started to sing as a large fish took off, testing my bream gear to the limit. I knew I had a large fish, as it peeled line and I chased the fish with my electric as it ran for deeper water. At one stage it took a sudden change of direction and took me under the boat, thereby forcing me to pass the rod between the bow-mount electric and the bow of the boat to ensure the braid did not touch the keel or the electric. After a tough five minute fight it surfaced briefly allowing us to identify it as a large Croc (flattie). I was concerned that my 6lb leader would not last much longer as it took another long deep run, however she was spent and we were finally able to boat her. Heart thumping I carefully placed her on the brag matt.....oh yeah a new PB of 81cm.
After a couple of quick photos she was released to continue breeding (as were all of the other flatties).
Kernell On Fire
in Saltwater Fishing Reports
Posted
Pete - yahoooooooooo what an insane session and I am very jealous
, I am glad we weren't having our fishing comp! With such a hot bite did you try any surface lures?