LuckyFil

Yeah I find the same area is best for the flatties and yes I've been getting a few lately in Brisbane Waters myself on Squidgy wriggler tails120ml - which are hard to get for some reason?

Yeah that's been my experience as well although I admit I haven't persisted with a trap in recent years. I remember catching them on a small hook using bread as a kid off a wharf but interesting to hear that's still the most reliable method. Thanks for sharing. I gave up using bait in Brisbane Waters because of all the pickers and have been using plastics for the last couple of years. Generally I'll get a few flatties but sometimes they've shut down and I suspect a live poddy would be irresistable for them! How do you hook the poddies so they don't die?

Sounds like a great session - some good demersal (bottom) fish and a few of the more sporty pelagics! If you don't mind answering a couple of questions - how do you catch your poddies - a trap or on bait, and how do you rig the live baits when drifting so they are close to the bottom but don't snag up? Also good on you for releasing the big flattie! Cheers Fil

Hi Bruce did you go to Weipa again on your travels? If so how did you fair? I was there again in late May - heaps of bluefin a nice cobia and a few spanish plus plenty of tuskfish on the bottom. Queenies were very scarce this year. Cheers Fil

I've caught a fish several times up at Weipa that looks very similar to this one - they call it a "blue bastard" up there and they pull like a freight train in shallow water! Does anyone know if its the same species? Fil

Yikes Scratchie they are some beaut reddies! Nothing like being back on home turf, you fish more confidently and obviously the fish are cooperating too with some lovely springtime snapper. That boy of yours is a lucky lad to have you taking him out and teaching him the spots and techniques, I hope he realises!!

ARC H As a matter of interest do you remember what phase of the tide you were fishing? I seem to do better on the flatties on the last part of the run out tide, but that may just be random. Phil

No, fished once on 'the island' (for zip although looked really promising but didn't deliver) and a couple of times on the hat side of the island , was hard to find wash - the nor-easter blew like hell but it was too calm on the south side

Just back from a few weeks in the van up the NSW north coast. Did a bit of fishing at a few spots - Hat Head, Broken Head (near Byron) and Wooli. The lack of rain meant the water was very clear, which is pleasant for swimming but makes the fish less willing to play. Like Scratchie I struggled to get anything of note at Wooli despite hitting the creek with nippers and plastics, and later the breakwall with lures and pillies. I had some success at Broken Head with some reasonable sized trevally and a couple of tailer hitting the metal slug. Pretty sure the trevally were small GTs. The larger ones were around 45cm and put up a good fight off the rocks. They tasted surprisingly good when filleted and skinned with a light dusting of flour on the BBQ. Managed a couple of good drummer at Hat Head on one outing but drew a blank on other trips. One plus of doing a few early sessions on the rocks is some great sunrises! If you do fish off headlands and areas where you go through bush be aware the snakes are coming out after their winter siesta - saw a few and nearly trod on a large one that was way more chilled than me - I think he's a diamond python, so not likely to cause any grief but I'm sure there's a few browns about as well. Missing the great locations but glad to be home and off the roads with all the school holiday traffic on the highways. Cheers Fil

Hey Scratchie I was at Wooli last week - didn't score any fish myself but the charter guy up there told me they had been getting jews off the end of the breakwall just after the bottom of the tide. There is usually a bit of dirty water around both sides of the breakwall end at that time and they were sitting in that - good luck! Phil

Ha, yeah persistence seems to be the theme with any method of targeting jews. Thanks for the tip

Great work on the jewies - you obviously have them wired! Mind sharing a little of your technique for fishing plastics for jewies? I gather they like slow retrieves as I've heard they are a bit on the lazy side and also like to sit in eddies out of the current flow but that's about all I know if this back art. Fil

Henry If it was bleeding from the gills it was almost certainly done for, so no point in returning him. My guess is that it was initially deep hooked and in the fight (which sounds quite protracted given the circumstances) the hook pulled out of its gills and then embedded into the mouth. The only time I've had a drummer bleeding from the gills its been hooked deep. I use the same simple rig as you. I notice that's a nice solid hook you've got on - you'll need it with the bigger drummer as they'll bend or snap the standard hooks . If the bottom is very rough and I'm getting hooked up a lot I use a bobby cork but prefer to going without if I can. Happy pig hunting! Fil

This is not exactly a fishing report as I wasn't fishing, but I was on the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay and return today . When I went through around 11:45am there were a few large schools of pelagics (almost certainly salmon) working just off Old Mans Hat. On the return trip at 3:45pm same thing only they appeared to have consolidated into one massive school with hundreds of birds over the top. They are right on cue as late August is usually when they turn up. Not sure what bait they are taking but probably small glassies at this time of year, so small white soft plastics or flies should be the go. The wind is due to drop tomorrow , so if you've got a boat get out there! Good luck Fil

At 56cm that's a big drummer, so you might wait a while to improve on that pb! Well done to get one that size in any circumstances but out of a kayak sounds even more challenging

great couple of sessions mate. What waterway were you fishing? (not asking for specific location)

I friend just forwarded me a story on the Swellnet website including some pics, which is making me feel a bit weird, reckon I'd have been a grease spot on the shore if I'd been a bit slower - see link below http://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2017/08/12/north-avalon-rockfall-triggers-local-earthquake

Went for a fish this arvo at North Avalon rocks. No luck with the target species (Drummer) just a few kelpies and other reefies. But I was VERY lucky in another respect. On the walk back along the base of the cliff I noticed a few small pebbles landing near me and I thought some kids must be throwing rocks off the cliff above, I looked up but no sign of anyone. I had another thought that maybe some of the overhead rocks might be starting to fall away so quickened my pace as much as I could, but having to scramble over and down big and small boulders meant I couldn't go that fast. I then head a massive 'BOOM' like a huge wave hitting the shore but the swell wan't that big. I looked back and didn't seen anything but knew it wasn't a wave and must have been a large rock falling onto the platform where I'd just been. I then raced as fast as I could manage as there was a lot of rocky overhangs where I was walking and no other way to walk other than close to the cliff wall. Another 20 or 30 meters and then another massive BOOM. I look back and saw an enormous amount of rock and rubble falling and sliding down the cliff face across the path I'd been on 20 seconds beforehand. I was shitting myself by now and kept belting along as quickly as I could while trying not to trip and fall and was soon past the worst section of overhangs. Not long after I met anther fisho who was on a clear platform and he commented on hearing the crashes and saw the splashes as the rocks hit the water. So no fish today but feeling pretty bloody lucky. I always assumed that rock falls followed periods of heavy rain or when huge seas were pounding the shore but neither was the case today, so don't know what to think of it. I won't be fishing there for a while but am interested to go back at some stage to see what I missed, or more correctly what missed me! LuckyFil

the rocks at the northern end of the Northern Beaches - can't be too specific as places get fished out quickly with drummer, but most ocean rock ledges around Sydney will hold drummer, just look for a good amount of wash (white water) but with deeper drop offs and plenty of weed and cunjevoi (cunje) growing on the rocks. They don't like still clear water so you need plenty of wave action but this means risks so practice safe fishing i.e. rock cleats on shoes, consider a life vest and most of all watch the waves!!

we were using bread and cunje with no float and small pea sinker - both fish were caught on cunje. The silver had a belly full of our bread burley so they will take both baits

Thanks Recurve and Blackfish - I had a look at the DPI site for Black Rockcod and it matches . The black blotch in the saddle of the tail seems to distinguish it from other cod. It was a handsome little fella and gave quite a tough fight for its size. Fil

Went for a drummer fish this morning but they weren't playing as there wasn't enough wash. Bloody pain as yesterday my son Pat tried the same spot and it was too rough! 24 hours can make a big difference. Apart from plenty of kelpies and a few wrasse we caught what I think is a baby estuary cod. Can any of the FR fish experts confirm this . It was returned carefully after taking the pic. As a consolation prize Pat had a fearsome tussle with a decent silver drummer which just did not give up and he gave it everything to get it clear of the barnacles. I gather they aren't much to eat but more than make up for that with fighting power ! Will give the drummer another go once the seas pick up a bit Fil.

Couldn't agree more Recurve! Well done on your catch in tricky conditions. Calm seas are pleasant for the fisherman but often don't produce fish, especially with the water being gin clear. Fil

They get some monster flathead up that way casting SPs up against the break wall towards the mouth of the river. Were you down near the river mouth or upstream? Drifting or anchored up? Fil

Scratchie Great pics of the fish - nothing like the colour of a big reddie straight out of the water. And even better to be 'catching' rather than 'netting'!! I had a similar experience with the biggest red I've caught down the south coast (5kg) it was on fairly light line (20lb) so I had to take my time and it was a long fight. By the time he was in the boat the jig head had been crunched several times (tooth dents in the lead) and the hook looked like barbed wire, so I was lucky to land him. The plastics I use are similar to yours - Gulp 6" grub pattern in Pink Shine. The snapper seem to like them. Congrats on some top fish Fil