Yowie

A long way to pull up one at that size.

Mother-in-law ?

I have found at times, that when you can see the whiting, they can see you and are hard to get on the bite. Squirt worms might be the best choice, and fishing early morning when the sun is not up too far.

Bony fillets, not the best eating. I have smoked the fillets in a shoe box size smoker, taste a little better than fried, but still not that good (though better eating than rock cale)

Good work there Jenno, with a bonus jewie thrown in.

Great work there Donna, nice fish. As for Swordie, if I could find a picture of a dummy, I would post if for the "Dummy Spit of the Month" award after reading his post.

I don't use braid, always mono.

It was a bit of hard work, with the wind slop and the wind pushing the drift too fast. Just had a swim at Wanda Beach, still a bit of swell (some good waves for a body surf) but bugger all wind today, so it would have been a much better day off the coast for a drift.

I prefer them to duskies.

A bit hard to tell in the photos, but the top left packet looks like prawns - flatties like those, and they are in a natural colour. Below that are Squidgee paddletails, look like black and gold, also good for flatties. Beside them are curly tail grubs, look similar to the Mr Twister style of years ago, also good for flatties. As miix said, cut the worms up as 6 inches is too long for the small hook used with them (never caught much with them anyway) The others a bit hard to see in the light shining off the packets. Some of the soft plastic hooks for mounting the lures I find are a bit too thin and flexible, so when fishing for flatties, I buy a stronger hook made with thicker steel, and these are less likely to bend out of the fish's mouth.

Drifted Bate Bay from sunrise, patches of little spikies from the start. After a while I headed past the lighthouse and pulled up 4 blue spots, then the wind picked up and buggered the drift - was too fast and hard to hold bottom. So I moved closer to shore and shallower water, and pulled out 2 more blue spots, then the wind picked up more speed, so headed home. A lot of spray over the side of the boat heading home across the wind chop. The biggest flattie was 45cm, but enough fillets for a couple of feeds.

Sounds like a good time down there. Depending on the locations, the run out is usually good for flatties, but in some places, I have picked up flatties on the start of the run up, as they start to swim over the shallow flats looking for critters to eat. On the high tide the flatties can be spread out over the flats and be harder to locate. On the last of the run out, the flatties will sit just over the edge of the flats, waiting for critters to swim into the deeper water. Many years ago, when I fished in Tuross up a bit from the entrance, I found the flatties bit best on the start of the run up.

Correct.

Those blokes are there a lot. Hard work pumping that many nippers for a living (my back is not what it used to be, just pumping a few dozen for bait) Whiting will be somewhere, but in hiding to escape the lunatics and their speed boats and jet skis.

Thank you guys, I prefer eating the blue spots to the duskies.

Don't normally fish on a weekend, especially in the silly season, however, the forecast was for a low swell and light winds. With the hotter weather coming along over the next few days, decided to head outside to avoid the lunatics inside Port Hacking, and beat the hot days. Tried trolling early near Jibbon for nothing, also threw around the squid jig for nothing. Just before sunrise, I headed a bit further out into Bate Bay and drifted for some flatties. Not much drift at all, and all spikies on the bite. After some time, I found a patch of blue spots. Biggest only 44cm, most around 40, pulled out 6 then the wind stopped, the drift stopped and the bites stopped. While waiting to see if anything was going to happen, something loaded up the rod with a good head shake, and I thought a big flattie. Then the line took off so I discarded that idea. After some time, I pulled out a kingie, but it was only 61cm. Headed for home with a couple of feeds of flattie. As a bonus when I was getting the boat ready for launch at mum's place, I pulled out a just under 30cm bream.

Unless they are poisonous, most fish are edible to some degree. Exceptions to that include Rock Cale and Morwong.

A good day out with the family, and fish to be caught as well. Better than Port Hacking at present, too many noisy boats, jet skis, skiers. And most fish are not very big at all. Jelly fish have been like that inside Port Hacking, but not for some years now. Dave.

While not the best eating fish, they are still edible. Have tried them a few times. Better eating than the stinky yellow fin pike. Quite popular for eating in Victoria.

Good work there Basil. A nice feed of prawns to go with it.

At least something to eat.

That many boats about, that my boat was rocking most of the time from the wash being generated from the passing boats. Tinnies, cruisers, ski boats and jet skis.

Happy new year Basil. Certainly hard work to find some fish.

Not far from the bathes.

Headed out early this morning, to find many boats out there. Not the best time of year to go fishing, but needed something different to Christmas food. Tried near Lilli Pilli for about 10 tailor on pillies, only one just over legal size. As a bonus, 2 blue swimmers took baits from the bottom, nothing else about. Pumped some nippers and drifted about in a few places. Not many bites at all. A few whiting but none over legal size. One legal bream as well. I also pulled out 2 long toms, both around 50cms, on the nippers in shallow water. Kept both of them. The fillets are similar to garfish in flavour, but I prefer the garfish slightly more. At least something to take home. Fishing will get better when the boaties return to work and keep off the water.