LuckyFil

Aargh! I feel for you mate that would have been tough. But as you say he's still out there waiting for you.

Good to hear of someone still using handlines. I grew up using them. Still use them occasionally and I love the sound of a spinning reel as a fish takes off with your bait! Those tangles can be a pain, as well as the line burns when you get something bigger, but all part of the fun. Great mixed bag of fish. Cheers Fil

Wow Bob that a great catch 3 decent jewies in 24 hours. Juno obviously still produces after all the fishing pressure over the years! Fil

Some decent sized mullet! Were you using a float to catch them? cheers Fil

An interesting read. It's a fine line between an 'adventure' and an 'ordeal'. The entrance to Brisbane Waters has claimed plenty of boats and a few lives, especially on the run out tide and a southerly swell. Give it respect. Glad to hear you got through it ok and of at least one bonnie showing up.

Yes they are great fighters and there’s nothing like that surface strike! Looks like a few in the 40s , a good morning’s fishing I’d say. Fil

Sounds like a great finish to a good days fishing 😃

Bloody good advice. Loved the story Fil

Hemmingway was an American writer from the 40's and 50's, a big game hunter and game fisherman as well as a writer. That book talks about an old guy I think in Mexico who fishes from a small dory and catches a marlin on a hand cord line. He battles it for a full day and throughout the fight he talks to himself and the fish who he greatly respects about life etc. He finally wins the fight but the sharks eat the fish as he slowly returns to shore - yeah sounds like a tragedy but a great story well told. They made movie from it staring Spencer Tracy. Reminded me of your respect for Whiskers....

You’re sounding like Hemminway’s Old Man and the Sea. The man’s got to be the man, and the fish has got to be the fish. One day…

To be honest I don't know a thing about catching red claw or even that they were in St Clair!

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Hope you all get the chance to have a crack at the bass as there seem to be good reports from a few places!

I'll send you a PM

I'd been inspired by Pickles recent posts of some good bass fishing up his way on the Hawkesbury and had planned a day trip there for Monday this week. Fortunately Bob tipped me off to the impact of the recent heavy rains and dump of water from Warragamba which introduces a lot of cold water and shuts down the fish. So I postponed that outing for a while. My wife was keen to visit her sister who recently moved to Singleton so we did an overnight trip there Tuesday/Wednesday. I thought I may as well throw in the bass gear as I may be able to swing a visit to Lake St Clair which is not far out of town. I got a leave pass for the morning so ventured out looking forward to exploring a new waterway. Not having a boat/kayak with me I was limited to shore fishing in an impoundment I was not familiar with but thought I've got nothing to lose. Anyway it turned out to be a great session with 8 hookups and six fish brought to shore and released, the best (first fish) went 42 and most being mid thirties and one about 28cm. They were hitting the lure like a train and I'd forgotten how hard they can fight often pulling plenty of string on the 10 pound line. A great outing and all the better as I had no expectations of actually landing a fish. Cheers Fil

Well done to the young fella on his first king and for Dad putting him onto it and starting the passion. If you are still at SWR it's worth a try at Black Rock as well . I picked up a couple of good kings there a few years go on the western edge using live baits and soft plastics Fil

Great story about the eagle rescue (and some cracker trout !). We had a similar experience in Weipa a few years ago, we were having a break from fishing and the heat enjoying a coffee/beer on the houseboat when someone noticed something odd floating on the water about 50 metres away, we watched it for a while seeing some movement but couldn't figure out what it was so two of the crew jumped into one of the tinnies and motored over to find a kangaroo with just his head above water and obviously struggling. They put a landing net beside him and he latched on straight away. They slowly motored into the shallows and eventually coerced him into letting go as he could easily stand by then. He slowly hopped away. We had seen a dingo on the beach earlier so assumed that had spooked the roo into the water. We were amazed he hadn't been attacked by the many sharks and odd croc we often encounter up there. Strange things happen on the water and yours is a great story to remember and tell the grandkids one day Cheers Fil

wow a very productive day and the wind we've had all week was gone too so would have been very pleasant fishing

Those sambos would have been great fun at that size, especially in the surf. As I'm sure you and the pro fisher would know wobbies have no trouble bending around to bight their own tail (or hand holding it) so this is just to warn others who might catch one to be careful when returning them . They are a bit like a bull dog - when they latch onto something they don't let go! That's got to be one of the biggest wobbies I've seen. Great to see a report from down south again. Cheers Fil

wow impressive session on the bass! Did you get them on the live prawns or lures? Cheers Fil

You’ll know it when you do, they pull twice as hard as most other fish their size! But be careful drummer fishing is addictive 😀

Yeah I’ve been there more than once and was a little surprised to get this one out. I suspect it wasn’t a proper cave he’d gone into

As others have said yes they are top eating but essential to skin the fillets. I like to coat the pieces in egg and panko crumbs then fry till golden brown, but I'm sure there's other good ways to have them.

Despite being limited to local rock fishing of late I haven't managed to catch many drummer this winter, a few outings with one or two and plenty with zero. A lot more fisho's on the rocks mid week this year I guess due to covid they can't travel and work hours are obviously flexible, so my local rocks have had more fishing pressure I reckon . Anyway I decided to have another go on Thursday arvo and it felt a bit weird going drummer fishing when the temp hit 30 degrees here - I'm used to cold winds and even colder water when chasing the pigs off the rocks. When I arrived I was disappointed to see two guys already on the wash I wanted to fish. The swell and tide were both low enough to try a wash that is usually unfishable so I thought may as well give it ago and see if the other blokes leave after a while (they didn't but that didn't matter as it turned out). It took a few casts to work out which way the wash moved the bait and where the shallow rocks were but after a while a got a few bites and sprang off a fish that could have been a drummer. I re-baited with a prawn and cast into the white water and quickly came up tight on what was obviously a drummer as he went straight down for the nearest overhang. He jammed himself in and I wasn't optimistic of getting him out but I lay the rod over in the opposite direction and kept steady pressure on as a few waves came through and must have dislodged him and he took off in another direction looking for the next hole. I knew this was my best chance and lent heavily on the rod and lifted and wound as hard as possible and just got him to the edge of the rock shelf in front of me. That's when I had my first glimpse of the fish and got really stressed as it was way bigger than I'd expected. I paused till the next wave came through that lifted him over the lip of the shelf and onto a long ledge below me with enough water to bring him back another 8 or 10 meters to where I could jump down and lift him up. If you've ever tried to pick up a wet cranky drummer you'll know how slippery they are. So it was a few tense moments till I could step back up to dry rocks while hugging the drummer in an effort not to drop him. It was a good length (measured later at just under 53cm) but ridiculously fat! I don't take scales with me but reckon it would have been 3-4 kg. I put my knife next to it to give some scale. I fished on for another hour catching one more smaller drummer that went around 38cm but the sweep had moved in and then the southerly buster came through so I called it quits but was very pleased to finally have a decent fish to bring home. Cheers Fil

oops meant 42cm😬

Good story with a happy ending. I love the double clutch but they are a bit exxy so I'm wary of using them in snaggy country. yeah I enjoy using the lighter line for casting and fishing the small lures and it makes for a challenge when you get a better fish! A 42" EP is very decent size!