Central Coast Fisherman

Thanks for the reply guys. What about Lake Wallace just up the road from TCD? Are there any trout in this lake? And can you use bait in this lake? I will probably bring my 9 year old son so I think maybe somewhere you can use bait may be the way to go. I'm not to fussed on catching monster trout, it would just be great to catch a feed of them. Cheers, Phil

Hi Raiders, Last year I managed to catch my first ever trout at Lake Jindabyne, and i'm now hooked. I would like to go on a day trip in the near future to target some trout again. Given that i'm on the central coast, I am willing to travel up to 4 hours. At the moment I am considering Thompsons Creek Dam as I think it should take me around 3 hours to get to. I have read that it is an artificial fly and lure dam only. I'm fine with that. Are there any other restrictions to this dam apart from not fishing on the dam wall? Are you allowed to take trout from this dam or is it catch and release only? And does this dam have a closed season? Or does anyone else have any other suggestions on where I can go for a day trip to fish for trout? Also, when is the best time of year to target trout? Cheers, Phil

Hi guys, I'm going down to my inlaws place at Menai for the long weekend and am thinkning about going for a fish. Now I have no idea where to fish around Menai. All I know is the George's river is close by. I'll be leaving my boat at home so i'll be shore based only. Can anyone give me a few spots to try that isn't too far away from Menai. Cheers, Phil

I havent been beach fishing for over a month but the last time I went on the Central Coast all I got was a 4ft bronzie. What type of sharks have you been catching?

When does the tuna season usually start and end around Sydney?

There is a fishing/camping store that is having a sale at the moment which has these rods for $45!!! If you want to know which store just pm me I'll be going this afternoon to get myself a new one

I went handlining for crabs last Sunday for the first time and managed to catch a few and had a ball with my son. We were planning on trying again tomorrow but i'm not sure what all this rain will do for my chances? Can anyone tell me if rain puts crabs off the bite so to speak? Or does it mean you just have to move further down stream in the creek/river? Cheers, Phil

I have never really paid to much attention to tides when fishing for bonnies. I guess I have probably caught most of mine in the afternoons but when the big schools are here I don't think it matters to much. For the last few years they have seemed to come around in the big schools around late January and they are smaller models which I think will be great bait size for big kings. Although I've never actually used them for live bait yet, nor have I caught a king from the rocks yet. What lbg gear are you using?

Hi James, Where on the coast have you been fishing? I too have bought some LBG gear recently and am hoping to get a few kings. With bonnies I only use 20g surecatch knights. I have tried lots of other metals in different sizes but have always come back to using the 20g surecatch knights. I only use my bream gear for catching the bonnies. Ie 2-4kg rod, 2000 size reel and 6lb braid. You can throw the 20g lures pretty far with this light setup and you can have a bit of fun catching the bonnies. Unfortunately the only bonnies i've caught so far this season have been massive. The big schools of smaller bonnies haven't seemed to have turned up yet. They should be here soon though. I've been hearing that the bonnies have been pretty thick at Avoca lately. I'm going to give Terrigal ago tomorrow afternoon. As for the yakkas, i too seem to be having trouble getting them to swim out. I've given up on them. I did catch a big squid a few weeks back and he swam out great. But didn't get touched. I'm hoping to go quite a bit over the christmas break. I think i'm just going to keep trying for the bonnies. If i keep catching the big ones i think i'm going to put some wire trace on and see if any sharks want to play. Hook size should be ok. Although i have been using the mustad hoodlums in 8/0 to 10/0 size. Hopefully some warmer water pushes in soon and the kings will come with it. Although is seems that there are some big kings around Sydney at the moment. Cheers, Phil

Top flatties! If you don't mind me asking where did you catch them? I took the boat out in brisbane water on Saturday morning and only caught small snapper and bream!

Hi everyone, I'm planning on taking my boat from the central coast down to narooma over the holidays. I have been towing my boat around locally for the past 6 months with no issues. However since I'm going to tow it such a long way I have a few questions. Firstly, maintenance wise, what should I do/check on the trailer before I go? The lights are all working fine as I replaced the light board a few months ago. I'm going to change the wheel bearings, and am thinking about changing the winch cable as the current cable is starting to become rusty. Next, I'm a little concerned about the amount of rust that's on the axle and springs/shocks. The trailer is pretty old but apparently it is filled with oil so it won't rust, and there is no rust on the body of the trailer. But the axle and springs look very rusted. Should I be concerned about this and maybe look into getting the axle and springs replaced? Or will it only be surface rust and is nothing to worry about? Also, if I do choose to get the axle and springs replaced, how much could I expect it to cost?? I just want to make sure my trailer is in tip top condition before I tow it down to narooma. Cheers Phil

I've been doing a bit of live baiting off the rocks lately. I usually try for yakka first, then if no good I spin for bonito and if all else fails I try for squid. My problem is that there are no yakka at my local ledge yet and all the bonito I have been catching have been monsters so I haven't bothered using them for live bait. Today I ended up catching a big green eye squid but again he was rather large so I was hesitant to put him out. Now my question is, how big is too big for live bait? If I can only get big bonito and squid at the moment should I just put them out and see what happens or would I be wasting my time? I'm targeting kings mainly but anything big will be a welcome by catch. What size live baits does everyone else use?? Cheers, CCF

Thanks for the reply guys. LBG, where do you fish when you fish Terrigal? Do you fish under the Skillion or do you fish on the north side of the rock platform? Also, what bait do you use for the big kings? Yakkas, squid or bonito? Cheers, Phil

G'day Everyone, I've recently started to do a bit of land based game fishing on the Central Coast. I live near Terrigal so I have been just trying under the Skillion but havent caught anything yet. Can anyone let me in on some more LBG spots around this area. I'm not keen on dealing with the crowds at Avoca. I have heard of Winney Bay and google earthed it and it looks like a great spot. Has anyone fished Winney Bay before? Also, being new to LBG, can anyone tell me what type of fish I can expect to catch at each time of the year. I know when the kings will be around however I have heard that you can also catch yellow fin and blue fin tuna on the coast too at certain times of the year. Is there anyone that does LBG on the coast regularly? Cheers, Phil

Should you just use a single hook in the jaw of the bonito for live baiting or should i use a two hook rig with one hook in the jaw and the other in the back?

Thanks for the reply high speed spin. Another question, does anyone put small bonnies out as live bait? I've never really thought about it until I watched a DVD where they were catching massive kings at Norfolk Island using bonnies as live bait.

For the last three summers I have been spinning for bonito off the rocks. However I cant remember when they start turning up. Does anyone know when they should start turning up? I went for a spin yesterday off the rocks and caught tailor, salmon, silver trevally and a huge yakka which went out as live bait but didnt get touched. The bloke next to me managed to spin up a small king around 50cm so this gives me hope that the larger kings and bonito shouldn't be too far away. Any thoughts? Cheers, Phil

Congratulations mate. My wife is 38.5 weeks pregnant now. I've told her that if she goes into labour tomorrow that she needs to cross her legs until i get back from fishing tomorrow afternoon Cheers, Phil

I was due for some new line anyway so i decided to try the new fireline exceed. Got some 4.4lb. I cant believe how thin it is. And i like the orange colour. Hopefully i'll be able to get a few trout to test out my new rod and line. Another question, if its windy I am planning on using powerbait instead of spinning. I've never used powerbait before so can anyone tell me what rig i should be using? As in small running ball sinker to a small swivel then 6lb leader to a hook?? That was what i was thinking. What size hook should i be using? Cheers, Phil

G'day everyone, I'm going to Jindabyne this weekend and am dedicating one day to trout fishing in the lake. Can anyone suggest what line i should be using on my 2-4kg spin outfit? I'm thinking braid of around the 4lb weight. Not sure which brand would be best though? I've been using 6lb fireline for about a year now for bream, flatties, etc but am happy to try something different. I've heard powerpro is softer than fireline and it may cast a bit further. Can anyone let me know what line they use for flicking lures around for trout? Cheers, Phil

G'day everyone, One of the bigger chains of tackle stores are having a sale at the moment and they have Shakespeare Slingshot graphite rods for half price. Has anyone used these rods and can tell me what they are like. I've never tried graphite before so I am thinking about getting a 2-4kg one for lure fishing with. Cheers, Phil

G'day Squidboy, I've got a forester x (non turbo) and I tow a 4.5m fibreglass boat on a non braked trailer. The forester tows it no problem at all with 4 people in the car and boat loaded with fuel, fishing gear, etc. I have some very steep hills around my place and the forester slows down quite a bit going up these hills but once it drops down a gear or two it gets up the hills fine. Being an all wheel drive its tows my boat up the ramp very easily. However i have an unbaked trailer so the real test is going to be when i tow my boat all the way from the central coast to Narooma at the end of the year. I will be going up over Clyde Mountain which is pretty steep in sections, however if i take it very slowly on the decent i think it will go just fine. Cheers, Phil

I think i've solved my problem. I did what you guys said and checked the gear box oil and it was fine. I even went to the trouble of getting a bucket of water and putting some petrol, oil and gear box oil in the water (separately of course) to see if any of them produced the same slick as what was being produced when i was on the water and none of them looked the same. I checked this morning to see if anything was leaking and nothing had leaked out through the night. There were no liquids on my garage floor at all. I also checked the motor for any signs of cracking and couldn't find anything. Anyway i was just sitting here at working thinking about it and it hit me. Before i left my house yesterday morning, i used a spray lubricant on my steering shaft on the motor because it occasionally seizes up due to rust. I hadn't used the boat for a few weeks so i spent 10 mins spraying the steering shaft with the lubricant and turning the steering wheel. I think the oily looking slick that was coming from the back of the boat yesterday was the lubricant i sprayed on the steering shaft slowly leaching out of the steering. It would explain why the motor ran perfectly fine and why the slick seemed to be coming from the back of the boat rather than from the actual motor it self. And it also explains why the slick was getting smaller and smaller the longer we stayed on the water. I am 99% sure that this is where the slick was coming from. I guess the proof will be next time i take it out. Cheers, Phil

G'day everyone, I went to pick my dad up this morning to go fishing and as i was reversing my boat into his driveway I went a bit to far and reversed into the brick wall between the two garage doors. I was only going very slowly and didn't hit very hard. On inspection there was no damage to the wall or the prop on my boat. The only damage was too my ego!! Anyway we went to the boat ramp and put the boat in and away we went. Got to our first spot and dropped the anchor and was getting the rods ready and my dad noticed an oil/petrol slick forming on the water surface around the motor. We watched it for a few mins and it didnt stop. So we decided to go back to the ramp and have a look. We couldnt see anything so decided to try and go for a drive for 5 mins and see if the leak would stop. After around 30 mins of driving for a while and stopping to check if it was still happening we decided to go back in. By the end there certainly wasn't as much leaching from the motor as when we first put the boat in, however when we would stop we still noticed a small petrol/oil slick forming around the motor. When i got home i flushed the motor and noticed that there was some oil/petrol in the water that was coming from the motor. Not the water that comes out of the bottom of the engine block (cooling water), but more from the water that was not being sucked into the motor for cooling (if that makes sense). I then took the motor cover off and had a look around but i couldn't see any signs of where the petrol/oil could of been leaking from. Very strange. The motor is a early 1980's 2 stroke 70HP Mercury that has never had any problems since i've had it. The motor performed normally today and didn't skip a beat. Does anyone have any idea where the petrol could of been leaking from? And also does anyone know where i can get a corner piece of the black rubber fender type stuff that goes around the perimeter of your boat (not sure what its called). I lost the back left hand corner piece today somewhere. The screws that were used were completely rusted and it looks like the silicon job that was done to hold it on wasn't very good. Cheers, Phil

Talk about a quick reply. Thanks guys. As this is my first time taking my boat offshore (only bought it 4 weeks ago), i'm not sure if i would be confident enough to go right out to where the ships are just yet. But just out of curiosity, what would i catch out there? Because i dont have a GPS on my boat yet, can anyone give me some advice on where to start fishing once i have my livies? I'd be fishing for snapper, mowies and i know its a long shot but i'd put a livie out on my big rod just incase theres any big winter kings around. Cheers, Phil