LuckyFil

Headed down to the Northern Beaches rocks yesterday arvo as the swell had finally dropped enough for a fish. Tried last Tuesday but while the swell wasn't that high it still had a lot of power and was sweeping over the rock I like to fish off so I had to can it that day. There was still a bit of colour in the water but it was definitely clearing up. I started burleying with bread and prawn heads left over from Christmas (kept in the freezer since then). First cast I was onto a big bream of round 37cm. He took a bread bait. Then lots of nothing. A few kelpies and wirrah for an hour or so. When I wasn't concentrating enough I thought I'd got snagged but it turned into a 'moving rock' - a lot of weight and couple of tail beats and he'd wrapped me round a rock and as soon as I put pressure on the leader cut on a barnacle. Almost certainly a drummer. Bugger. As the tide started rising and it got a bit darker around 6:00pm the activity improved with some better bites. I tried a peeled prawn and bang was straight onto a good fish, he had a lot of weight and went straight for the underside of the rock ledge so I'm thinking a good drummer or maybe a groper. I lent heavily on the rod to get him out and up into the wash and up pops a big drummer. Mercifully a small wave provided enough wash for me to get him onto the rock beside me. The fish went 49cm and was very fat , I'd guess around 3kg. A short time later I tried a large bread bait as I'd run out of prawns . A gentle bite then weight had another good pig diving for cover. I didn't give him enough straight away and he had me under a rock and the line chaffed through. Bugger bugger. Anyway two nice fish to go home with after a long time since my last trip to the stones. Fil

Sounds like there's a real mix of pelagic species around . Well done on the kingie too. A good sized fish, especially having to deadlift it up the rocks on relatively light leader. Fil

Hi cogo44 sounds like a good day out despite the conditions. What species made up the catch? I've seen one of those fish in your pic a long time ago when fishing with my Dad, he called it a Ling. Cheers Fil

Thanks to everyone for your feedback on my request. Getting excited now especially after seeing Houdini's pics!😁 Cheers Fil

Sure - understood, but thanks for the reminder

Love those grins!😀

I'm heading out to LHI in March and was wondering if fellow Raiders had any tips on on either land based fishing options or which charters are worth a go? Any help welcome. Cheers Fil

Excellent - you should be writing scripts for comedy! As previous responses have said its funny 'cause we've all done similar stuff, but not always got the lure back!! Might get myself a sugarpen - and find a place with no trees behind me to try it out.

Ditto to Waza's comments. A very detailed and interesting report. A bit like the stories you hear of Barra feeding where run-off drains meet the main rivers following the wet season up north!

They're nice Reddies out of an estuary.

A great read on what sounds like the perfect day!

Thanks Paddy and everyone else for your ideas on how to minimise weed and hopefully increase catches! Cheers Fil

Thanks for those tips - the wire up the line sounds like an interesting trick! Fil

Thanks - yes that makes sense I'll give it a go

Hi Paddy sounds like you've got this flattie trolling sorted. I tried it recently in Brisbane Water on what looked like a fairly sandy bottom but spent most of the time stopping and removing weed from trebles - how do you minimise that? Cheers Fil

Those blue swimmers will go down nicely!

Wow that's a whopper brown! Fil

YES! the black one at the top is the same as mine Fil

I think its called a Knolls Native . Its about 40ml long fat body towards the back and dives to around 2 meters. If you need more info I'll take a pic and post it. Cheers Fil

I know the Knolls lures haven't been available for many years but I find the old one I have very effective on bass and was wondering if anyone knows of any similar lure that is on the market? Thanks in advance for any info/suggestions. Fil

Just had a weekend away with my son Pat chasing bass in the upper Hunter. It's hot and dry up there and the river was full of weed and algae so not ideal but we managed ten bass over the weekend, one yesterday arvo and the rest this morning. Casting at snags was proving unproductive so we turned to trolling which while not as much fun it got results. The fish were all fairly small averaging around 25-28cm with a couple of 30cm and a few tiddlers. They seemed to be in small groups and the very old and basic sounder on my punt proved invaluable locating the fish and we had hits and usually got fish whenever it showed a few around an area while many similar looking areas were devoid of fish. We travelled down to the brackish water for an afternoon session and while trolling from one side of the river to the other had a good hit on the little bass lure, but this was clearly no bass as it did some long runs and had plenty of weight (at least when you're using 8lb leader on a little 2500 Daiwa Sol!). I was expecting maybe a decent flathead as we were now in semi salt water, then after a slow patient fight through the muddy water came a nice Jewie! After a few nervous moments we got the head and shoulders of it into the small net we use for bass and lifted it over the gunnel. We didn't have a measure on board but guessed it was between 65-70cm. After a few quick pics I sent him back for someone else to catch (maybe me) when he's a bit bigger. Quite a by-catch when targeting bass. Cheers Fil

Yeah "red bream", or for the real little guys "cockney", are terms for smaller snapper . You don't hear these names as much these days. That's a great pic of the big flattie that got too greedy. Which lake was it found in? Fil

anyone can catch snapper and flathead, but it takes real class to get quality fish like banjo sharks and pike. I usually cap off such trips with more winners like sergeant baker and blue spot wirrah 😳 Fil

Good story Bruce. I had the same thing happen years ago when I caught a small reddie in Pittwater, halfway up it suddenly grew. I slowly brought it up to the surface and big John Dory opened his mouth and let the cockney go - wasn't happy...

So true - its a great site, not just because of the reports but all the info shared and good will from guys like you. Sounds like an exciting session but I'm sure there's some mixed feelings with those big bust offs. I'd be tempted to go a bit heavier with line and leader but I know you like the light stuff and it clearly pays dividends with top class fish.