LuckyFil

An update to this post. Firstly thanks to all the Raiders for your responses and information. Interesting to hear that others thought the Knols Native were such a good lure. And unfortunately there seems to be no-one selling any these days. So plan B was to try to make my own copies based on the ones I had. I found a website that gives some guidance on making your own wooden lures and using those techniques and the size and scale of the existing ones I had a go. Given all the mucking around involved with carving the wood, making hook hangers, inserting a weight, painting and attaching hooks I figured I'd make a batch not just one. So here's the results. My artwork is pretty basic but hopefully the fish don't notice. The bottom one is the original Knols. I gave them all a test swim in the lake and was pleased (surprised!) to see they all swam quite well although I had to give the tow points a bit of tweaking with some to get them to swim straight. In the process I caught a small tailor on one of them so at least something likes them. Now all I have to do is get a bass on one. Interestingly every one of them swam slightly differently to the others, I guess 'cause they're hand made the exact shape, tow point, bib angle, weight location is slightly different in each one. Some had a more erratic shimmy, others dived a little deeper or faster etc. So I could see how lure making is quite an art. Now I'm back in lockdown I might make some more.. Cheers Fil

Great story well told. My uncle caught the biggest snapper of his life on a live pike many years ago in close to Lion Island at the mouth of the Hawkesbury. I recall it went 20lb. I've heard pike fillets are also good snapper bait - haven't tried it myself. Cheers Fil

Congrats on the pb a good looking fish. Sounds like a great trip with plenty of fish. The pics look like the stretch around Willawarin or Bellbrook. Were they taking surface lures yet? cheers Fil

The only problem with being retired is you never get a day off😬

Good mixed bag and one of those whiting is a real cracker! Cheers Fil

Yeah I've got the 9' Penn Prevail and I love it - you can cast a 40-60gm lure all day with minimal effort, it casts a mile and when you hook a fish it's got plenty of grunt in the lower half - perfect with 8-10kg line for tailor, salmon and bonito and even small kings Fil

From reading many of your reports over the years I think that girl of yours could catch fish in a puddle😄. Cheers Fil

Great report and top pics - congratulations ! Fil

Congratulations Scratchie, that's a trophy fish in anyone's book. Interesting that the big fella (and all the others in the pic) doesn't have the big snapper bump on its head? Well done. Fil

Thanks for all that detail. Also interesting to hear you were able to launch off the beach at Minnie - well done doing it solo! Cheers

Great report and pics - like the one of your rig on the beach. Did you get the longtails on lures or livies? Cheers Fil

Congratulations to you, and the new Mum and Dad! And as usual a great catch of reddies... Cheers Fil

That's a nice EP at 42! Just shows you have to be flexible when the usual isn't working, try different lures, techniques etc and sometimes you are rewarded. Well done, and nice pics by the way. Not after your spot but what general part of the river were you - looks a bit like the river around Wisemans or Spencer? Cheers Fil

Lucky to get out before this cold snap. I notice you caught the flatties on half pilchard, have you had any success lately on plastics or just the bait? Cheers Fil

I came cross this newspaper cutting from the Manly Daily fishing reports when doing a big cleanup lately - how else do we occupy ourselves at the moment. It's ancient history - I think around 1985 and not a fish I caught, but I was the driver, gaff man and supporter over the four hour battle. It was Steve's first marlin and the only one he's kept - all his subsequent captures were tagged and released. I've never managed one. That year there were heaps of small blacks so we thought we'd have a try off the shelf east of Barrenjoey. The pic is pretty fuzzy - sorry about that, but at least my kids know I didn't make up the story! If it's too hard to read the detail it was a 140kg black marlin, which equates to 308 lb and caught on 30 lb line so I guess that meets the 'ten to one' goal.

Some nice fish and in quick succession - great pics too. I've found this time year consistently good for fatties both in Pittwater and Brisbane Waters. Not sure why, maybe they're feeding up before the winter slumber? Well done Fil

Ahh so that's what I've been doing wrong....

Holls I had exactly the same experience at Narrabeen Lake on the Northern Beaches of Sydney a week ago. Was fishing the same stretch of shoreline I usually do (sometimes get one or two flatties, but lately none) then last week my son and I caught seven in an hour on SPs. Kept two and released the rest. We were getting hits every few casts. I don't know why either but it was I nice change. Fil

Dead right it's all about the relative size of the gear compared to the sized of the fish. I love the way long toms will dance on their tail when hooked - very much like a marlin

Firstly, Scratchie this was a great idea giving us something read and think about other than the big C! Secondly thanks to all the other Fishraiders for their great stories and pics. I'm 63 and I've been fishing since I was four years old. My father and grandfather were very keen fishos. That partly came from the depression years when they were fishing to help put food on the table. Consequently they fished for eating fish mainly bream, snapper, flathead, tailor, whiting etc, which was my grounding in what to catch and how. All my fishing was in Pittwater and inshore reefs near there for many years and I caught some decent snapper and flatties in those days many flathead in the 7-8 lb range and one of 10lb - we didn't measure by length much then. Unfortunately not many pics then and none I can find at present. So when thinking about my best fish I tend to go for more recent catches. I've got into drummer fishing in recent years so my most memorable fish was caught at Seal Rocks a few years ago and I recall it nudged 60cm and was around 4.5kg. I was fishing off a high rock and had seen the drummer take my burley a few times before he finally took my bait. After a long fight I managed to wrestle him away from the barnacles and lift him onto a ledge about 2 meters below me. As soon as he landed on the rock the hook fell out! Luckily my quick thinking fishing buddy jumped down to the ledge and held onto him until I could get down. So it was a drama filled catch as well as being my best pig. I do annual trips to Weipa (apart from this year) and while we catch a shed load of different species, many bigger than this fish, but for for me my most memorable from up there was a 5kg back spot tusk fish. We were in shallow water maybe 6 meters deep but with coral heads all around us. As soon as you hook them tuskies go straight for cover which means under the nearest reef. So you have to lock the drag and pull like buggery or you lose them. It was a mammoth effort to get this one clear of the bottom . I was fishing 80lb leader which while badly shredded as the fish did his best to reef me held on long enough to get the fish into the net. So that tuskie would be the other fish I often think about. (Not sure if the pic of this fish has loaded, if not I'll add it separately)

Thanks for all your feedback guys - lots of good info and insights. Given all that I suspect barometric pressure wasn't the issue but other factors such as bait sources like prawns (the dark of the moon as Green Hornet said) and I did notice plenty of swirls as we waded around - probably poddy mullet, which are both prime food for flatties. Whatever the reason it was nice to have a fun session for a change! Cheers Fil

Went for a fish with son Pat yesterday arvo ( more than 4 meters apart most of the time) at Narrabeen lagoon. It's probably our sixth session there over the last few months - we often go for a late flick there at sunset after he's finished work. It has been real quiet of late with only a few hits and mostly coming home with none. But yesterday was very different - we landed 7 flathead and had a few more hits in just 1 hour of fishing! All fish slammed the plastics like there was no tomorrow. Only two fish were keepers 1 about 48cm and the other around 45cm, all the rest were very small around 20 - 25 cm. But the puzzle was why they were suddenly on the bite after so many dud sessions of late? I noticed before we went out the barometric pressure was 1025 which is quite high. I know bass and jewies are supposed to be heavily affected by air pressure but hadn't heard of it affecting other species such as flathead. Any comments from fellow Fishraiders? Cheers Phil

I was due to fly out to Lord Howe last Saturday morning - been looking forward to it for months, had bags packed, fishing charters booked then phone call Friday night saying the island was going into lockdown so trip cancelled.... Ah well others have much bigger problems but we were pretty devastated. Hopefully get out there next year once this craziness has passed. Fil

Good report and pic of the fish and flotilla of other fishers behind you. Nice to hear a good news story with all this doom and gloom around us - god bless Fishraider!! Fil

Great report and lots of good info. Many yers ago I was fishing the Macleay river out the back of Kempsey at night. It was a new moon so completely dark. I had a lot of hits and a fair few hookups of good sized bass on a Heddon Crazy Crawler which I discovered glowed in the dark after being exposed to my fluro lantern. It was black on top and white/pale green underneath and it had a better success rate than similar surface lures that night. Don't know if they still make them but they were/are a good surface lure. You've got me inspired to have another crack at night time surface luring! Cheers Fil