rjc123

i fished here last september amazing!!!!!! in september you have your mackerel and gt's n with the barra and jacks starting to fire up too! these are only fraction of the species you will come across. I would however highly recommend a guide for a few days fishing. They know the place so well and put you on all the fish! if you decide to go with houseboat then it will come with a tender (dinghie) that you can take out to the reefs. It will set you back about $650 a day. I have to go now even though there is so much to say but ill flick u a pm later today. look up a few guides, we went out with 2 different and they were fantastic!

Yeh, i would prefer to do it some time this year. I think what we will do is catch some livies, pop down the river for a few hours and then finish the day with some flathead for a feed or tailor in pittwater. Its a good charter, i might pop you a pm if it goes ahead if you like

Hey Raiders, i plan to have a charter with a mate some time this year. They offer specific charters like kingfish charters, jewfish charters, mixed bag or sport fishing. I plan to have a crack at landing my first big jew on the jew option that fishes the Hawkesbury with live bait and fresh bait. I have been out with this charter before for the mixed bag and we caught snapper, tailor, blackfish, bream, flathead and slimies. It was a bit simple but i know that this jew option is very successful! have seen them pull in a 20kg jew next to me at the vines! he knows his stuff. Ideally i will book for the start of September before I leave for the US for a month. Can anyone point out the best times of the year for jewie fishing in the estuary?

I recognise this charter now! we went out with him a few years back and during the trip the boat caught queenies, goldens, jacks, Grunter, Bream, fingermark and small barra. He looks like hes lost it a bit now! Fingermark are absolutely amazing eating. He should have put it on ice for you!

That really would be something... The fishing is mind blowing if you know when and where to go. They say that you can catch 50 species in a week of fishing these waters. Not to mention some of the tastiest fish on the planet. One session we had we managed about 7 different species in 20 mins when fishing a little drain that was about 1 meter deep! We even brought up a half eaten queenie (big queenie)! you dont want to swim up here though! Croc and shark Galore!! Great fun!

Make sure if you fish an unweighted squid bait that yo get a small piece that ha a tentactle or something on it. There are a lot of small bream but you get the odd 25-30cm fish. Loads of legal tailor too!

Still a nice fish mate, i got one of that size up at weipa last year. They are great fighters!

Agree aswell, i fish with one hook and not only do i get yakkas, i get the odd flounder, leatherjacket, trevally, snapper, bream and flattie! with a jig you will jig it up and down and not have the chance of hoking as many fish!

Mate, i fish yakkas under a float but the rig i would use is this: A leader of maybe 30lb attached to main line, a heavy ball sinker, 4/0 Mustad live bait hook. Thats all you need mate. Paternosters are mainly for offshore fishing but if you stick to that rig i would either shorten you dropper loop or lengthen the distance between your hook and sinker. Tom

I have one called guide to sydney and hawkesbury. Very goood info and i find it very helpful. I got it from Borders

Mate, Ive been on 2 up there. The first i only got 1 catfish the whole time. the second i got queenies, trevally, Fingermark, Grunter, Bream and Mud Crabs. Both of them were bout 3 years ago. Big difference in the charter quality! I went on two different boats. PM me which charter you went on so i can tick it off the list for next time! Are you sure it was a fingermark? They only grow up to a maximum of 85cm. I may be wrong but that would be the biggest by a country mile i have ever heard of!!

Yeh, thanks mate. ill try salted next time!

Mate, head over to the opposite side of the river near the picnic area and follow a track about 25m further up towards the bridge and thee is a big rock high up. Fish off the rock with unweighted baits loke prawn and squid for Big Bream, Tailor and the occassional trevally!

Ive tried those pellets but they seem to sink a bit too fast! i got a few bream that were just undersize aswell when fishing for them. Its amazing that next to Balmoral wharf at low tide when the water is about 3 meters deep that you can pull out 3 different species on cat food in 3 casts! Very healthy system!!

It does the trick mate! I found that slimey mackerel wont eat slimey mackerel though. Tried with pili on on eline and slimie bit on the other. Got 5 on pili and the slimey was not even touched! strange..

I caught a few big yellowtail yesterday and kept em for strip baits. Would a yakka eat a small piece of itself or is there something that turns them off it?

Interestingly enough i use cat food a bit for them. I caught a yakka, trev and snapper this morning on catfood with a size 8 hook and small splitshot! I tried a recommended berley yesterday that consisted of Catfood, pilchard, bread and fish oil mixed in a blender. Looked hideous but the fish came on the bite the second it hit the water. Strong scent!

Hey Raiders! Catching live bait is a big part of our fishing these days! At times it can be easy and at times it can be hard! I have based this on another post about jewfish! Share your tricks (rigs, bait, burley) on how to catch them and even fish them for bigger predators. I have only just got into yakka fishing and have managed 7 in hard conditions in the last week! I hope to start to catch kingies and jews on them so comment and share your knowledge on how to catch these little wonders!

Yeh, i thought it was a bit odd......

Mate, is it true that yakkas grow into kings?? i heard this the other day?

Yeh mate, had another crack today for half an hour or so cuz the family went out for a coffee. bad weather but still managed a yakka, trevally and undersized snapper! Droped a slimie when lifting him up too!! Damn!

I have a rough idea of what butterflying is but not too sure. What exactly is it?

Yeh mate, i just love being out there! By the time i stopped fishing i coulnt move my hands! Those Cowanyoung, are they good for livebaiting or stip baits or butterflied??

Yeh mate, there were actually a few people around fishing too! surprised me as the rain was quite heavy!

Hey all, most would call me crazy for fishing on a day like today with pooring rain and howling winds. I fished at Balmoral for about 4 hours this afternoon and caught 4 yakkas that were quite big with the biggest 28cm an the smallest 20cm. They were too big for live bait so i kept a few for strip baiting next time im out. Also managed Bream to 24cm, Snapper to 27cm and saw a few flounder and silver trevs caught. In 4 hours also saw 3 octipus caught on pilli cast out into open water. They seem to be common around there. The yakkas are still around but burley is the key! Tom