rjc123

Yepp, looks like a spangly to me! Not bad on the plate! Nice shark too!

Brisbane is loaded with sharks, big and small. Mainly Bull sharks in the rivers though. At the mouth of the river there have been Bull Sharks caught up to 10ft long! They used heavier gear than you have mentioned but it would be great fun to fight a beast like that on a TLD 20! Apparently whole EELS are the go... Don't know who worked that out, but it WORKS! Just about anywhere in the river with a channel, deepish water and plentiful food should mean sharks are nearby. Burley VERY hard and use fish frames as burely. Good luck, Tom

Thanks for that, I'm definitely thinking Jerusalem Bay now! I guess most of the channel markers in 10m+ of water wouldnt be bad either. I heard that around cottage point the water drops to over 30m. Would this be a likely Jew haunt?

Hey raiders, went out with a mate in cowan the other day (unprepared as i only had 1/2 hour notice...) fished with prawns and only managed a few bream, tailor and flathead. I'm sick of all these small fish, I WANT A JEWIE! I aim to fish in the cowan area with squid strips, mullet fillet and live yakkas. I have a few spots up my sleeve but could anyone please help me get that elusive fish! Any spots in cowan to get some yakkas would be great too! Cheers, Tom

Hey raiders, Haven't posted in a while and i can't believe it, its been about a month with NO FISHING! Unbelievable... Anyway, I don't fish the harbour by boat often but a mate has bought a boat and wants me to take them out. The Kings should still be around. I am wondering where my best chance at getting him onto some Kings, Bonito, Salmon etc.. are? The markers are always good but some are more productive than others. Bait grounds would be fantastic too! Any spots for the bread and butter species like Bream, Flathead, Snapper etc would be fantastic too! Cheers, Tom

Sure it's a barra mate? A fish that small could be anything. It actually looks like even a tiny EP to me. Not saying it isn't a barra but that would be something if it was!

I find one 6/0 circle hook to be better than a two hook rig. With one hook, just pin it above the lateral line towards the back half.

Hey mate, i have been going to hawkesnest in summer for about 12 years now and of course, do a lot of fishing. Whiting and Bream are at jimmy's on live worms. The sandspit right up near the heads of jmmy's beach is best with a full bag of 30cm+ whiting not uncomon. Winda Woppa further towards the river mouth is good too on a run our tide with the same bait. The beaches have loads of tailor atm and there are still plenty of bream, whiting and flathead too. Even the odd jewie and salmon too. The river is a great spot too. There are countless spots along the bank where you can set up and burley up a bag of bream and flathead. All the wharves i tea gardens are great for bream and jews too. If i were you and i am assuming you will not have a boat with you, i would hire one from tea gardens. Head towards the mouth and drift the channels with whitebait and prawns and you'll get loads of bream, flathead, whiting and flounder. The little mangrove creek entrances are worth a look for bream and i have even heard of a mangrove jack being caught there! Now to my NUMBER 1 flattie spot. Basically, you are heading downstream towards the mouth from tea gardens and after you have gone round the first bend near the oyster lease you will find a rockwall after a while. Somewhere along this rockwall you will find a little feeder creek. Not a big one but there are sometimes swimmers here so you should be able to find it. Here, the mullet are coming out of the creek on a run out tide and there are always flathead, big and small but plenty around 60cm aiting in ambush. Whitebait, prawns, plastics will all work. It may even be worth getting some poddies and sending one out where the flatties are sitting. They will sit about 10-15 meters out from the creek entrance. Good luck! Tom

Hey mate, i have done the palm beach boat hire a few times. I've fished for kingies all the way to squid. There are a lot of options. I woulod have to suggest getting a few livies at west head and shooting down to spots like stokes point, taylors point, portuguese beach and even off west head itself. Fish one on the bottom and one under a float and you will get flathead, kings, jews and big salmon! If you prefer you can drift careel bay with prawns and nippers for good bream and whiting. One thing i will say is that make sure you fish stokes point. Hopefully you don't bomb out a this spot under my advice but it is BY FAR my most successful spot in pittwater. I get Big flathead, Bream, Tailor, Trevally, Jews, Salmon and there are a few kings too. Anchor about 50m out from the point, slightly into careel bay and fish. It is a good spot for bream and tailor on prawns and other baits too. The moorings are woth a look for kings too! Good luck!

Yakkas at Balmoral Baths and island. Kingie grounds to try are North Head, Quarantine Head near the Buoy and at times, the deeper water off nielsen park. You rigs sound okay but another option instead of having the bait unweighted is under a float. Just suspend it maybe 1.5-2m under and away you go!

Thanks mate, I will mainly be fishing deepish water (10-20m) in the harbour and pittwater with no too much structure so 15kg sho0uld be fine.

Yes, Definitely. More so than below them! Anything staying between the surface and say half a meter off the bottom will do but the top half might actually be better..

Should be fine mate, unless your just targeting flatties. Another option are some poppers. The waters you talk of seem to sound like they would hold some bream and whiting. In the summer poppers will get you some great fish in skinny water!

Yeh, thanks guys. The Live Fibre is a definite possibilty. Will something like 10-15kg be too light?

Boat/Jetty but don't want to go longer than 7'. Anything up to $180 would be ideal. I'm happy to go for something sub $100 if it will do the job well. It will mainly just be used for livebaiting.

Hey raiders, need a rod probably around 7' long that can handle jewies and kingies. It will be matched up with a Shimano Baitrunner 8000D. Can anyone suggest something? Cheers, Tom

If i were you i'd go west. I was out a couple of weeks ago and nailed a 44cm bream and a few flatties at Milson Island. There are Bream and Jewfish at the vines but as usual, they aren't easy to catch. Bar point with livies and squid for Big Bream and Jewies on the tide change. Back to Milson Island, It fishes best for most of the run in. When there is no run here you will just get catfish and eels etc.. Mullet fillets, striped tuna, squid and even prawns are the go here. The North West Corner of the island about 25m off the channel marker is best. Good luck!

hey mate, i fished the hawkesbury the other day and found the vines to be very quiet. Just a few rays and catfish. No Bream at all? Had a run on the jew rod that i misses though.. Scored a 44cm Bream for my troubles later on at Milson Island atleast. Catfish are the one BIG problem with the hawkesbury. Even if you use a l.5m leader they still pester you... I've found that i get one decent Bream/Flattie for every 8-9 Catfish. Pretty ridiculos.. Anyway, thats a lovely jew and sounds like she did a good job on bringing it in! Cheers, Tom

I'd probably say that the fish makes up for the broken rod!

Hey raiders, headed out to the hawkesbury today. Hadn't been out in a while and decided to go for the jews and bream rather than the flatties and whiting. Headed upstream and had a go at the vines. A few catfish and a bit of a disaster. The one second i turn my back something takes the bait and heads straight under the boat without me noticing. Next thing i know, SNAP. $140 down the drain..... Having a bloody shocker with rod breakages. 3 in the last year.... Anyway, Headed up to a favourite spot at Milson Island. Fished the run in tide near the Red marker where there are some nice holes and eddies. Fished with mullet fillet, prawns and half squid. A few catfish and undersized flatties until i get a big hit on the mullet fillet. Peeling line off a locked up Okuma V-System i knew he wasn't bad. I was expecting it to be a jewie until i got a glimpse of my PB bream! Measured 44cm!!! Pretty stoked so it didn't bother me as much about cutting the line on 20 catfish and eels...

1/8, 1/12, 1/16 are the three sizes i like. Just basically have the minimum weight required to get to the bottom and a suitable hook size. 80mm wrigglers in bloodworm hands down! Squidgy flick baits arent bad either if you are fishing around oysters or structure.

Depends on where you were fishing but a blistering run like you described is typical of a mackerel. Sharks can run hard too but they generally feel a little like a big jewfish. A few less head shakes but it is very possible that it was a school of spanish mackerel or spotties!

Might be late but i fished wide of the harbour today on a charter boat and nailed a 12kg dolly at one of the fads. It was only a few km's out from North Head. A Marlin was caught today straight from the same FAD. It was a 110kg stripie. They are right in close with the warmer currents!

Burley and just use a jig. I get 12 in 5 minutes doing this.

Mate, West Head isn't too bad unless you pick a day with a big swell and an onshore wind. I've been there in a hire tinny of about 4m and had no problems. You can get yakkas back at the railway bridge but its a bit trickier. Just Burley and hope for the best. Whiting are another option. A big Jew or flattie would happily scoff down a just legal whiting. Tailor are even better!