AGP

Gday Raiders, Went to America with the mrs late last year and got onto some good fish. Went to 5 states whilst there but saved the fishing for Key Biscayne out of Miami city and the Colorado river out of Vegas in the Nevada desert. I did my research before going and wanted to specifically target Bonefish and Tarpon in Miami then have a crack at the BIG striped bass they get in the Colorado river. Did 2 full days on the Flats in Miami first up and that was incredible. Crystal clear water sight casting to big Bonefish that fight even harder than what you could imagine. 15 mins to subdue these bad boys they just dont stop. They would have to be the funnest sport fish I have ever targeted. Had the frustration of casting at a school of 100lb plus Tarpon that just would not feed. Was cool just to see these awesome fish though. Ended up spooking countless schools of Bones as if you dont land your cast within 1 foot in front of them they spook in the clear shallow water. My patience paid off and ended up landing 3 within an hour in no more than 3 feet of water. Even had a Bull shark chase a Bone in while I was fighting it which added to the excitment! There are sharks everywhere on the flats and we easily saw over 100 on each day in the shallows. Next off was the Colorado river to fish for Striped Bass (Stripers) using 10 inch stick baits on baitcasters loaded up with 50lb braid to try and stop these brutes. This has to be one of the most scenic rivers i've fished and the fishing was on another level. Landed 3 striped bass with 2 of them being over 20lbs. All pulled from a crystal clear mountain fed river. If anyone reads this is going to the U.S pm me and i'll point you in the right direction. Cheers

I fish from a boat only these days but still see the state of some of these Harbour wharves from the water when squidding. These scum bags leaving all their crap around are ruining it for the people that do the right thing. Its not only the wharves either, These types just chuck anything left over into the drink or leave it on the ground until the wind blows it in. A total wharf ban for a period of time would be a good start as they are just not getting it.

Wow mate well done!!! I was already pumped for a session with you but now I cant freakin wait! Cracking fish!

Yeah mate Bass and EP's go into the salt too.

Mate the area is Salt water and you get Flathead well up river past wisemans. Flathead are prolific through Wisemans. If land based try Hawkesbury Prawns for a shot at some bream and Flathead. You can also access the water from Singleton road easily.

Sounds good mate! Couple nights before the full moon! I'll message you on facebook mate, Cheers.

For sure mate, Hit me up on facebook. Am keen to do a night time Trag session!

Been going ok mate nothing of real size but getting a few on plastics. Gonna put some time in over summer and hopefully crack another big one. Nice work on the kings mate.

Your an animal Butcher! You squidding in the harbour mate?

It's wreaking havoc on my softplastics fishing... Autumn is the least windy time of year in Sydney. Summer always has the NE winds but I agree its been relentless lately. Especially on the weekend!

10m is fishable with plastics mate. However only on the tide change. You can use baits with heavy lead while the tide runs then on the dot of the tide change you can use plastics for up to an hour or so. Hard running tide will make getting your plastic to the bottom near impossible and if your'e not on the bottom you wont be in with a shot.

Went for a Jew session in the Hawkesbury last night. Was lucky enough to score 5 live squid and a tank full of livies so things were looking good with the high tide on its way at our regular spot. Thats when the fun began. A couple of blokes in an old Tinny with no Nav lights pull up to the shoreline an hour before the tide change at about 7pm. They then proceed to lay a gill net of about 300m from the shore to about 40 feet to the back of our boat. We had a spread of 4 rods out with live baits and were blown away by how close they dropped the net to us. It was strategically positioned to intercept anything passing that way plus obviously totally ruin our chances. 20 years of going to that spot and I have never seen anything like this. Rang fisheries who told us what they were doing is legal at that location etc etc.... Now I know these blokes are making a 'living' out of this but laying gill nets across an entire river mouth while people are already fishing there seems off to me. No fish moving by would be missed. I guess complaining about it seems kinda pointless as i cant see this sort of thing being banned in a long long time. To top it off we saw them come flying past us at about 9pm hugging a rocky shoreline with no lights at all on the boat in the pitch black. Dodgy as it gets. We all know fish dont survive gill nets. Why bother reviewing Jew size limits and still allow this sort of crap to go on? We obviously moved when they dropped the net on top of us, Only consolation was we did manage a Jew at the spot we moved to but thats not the point.

Mate I heard it on a fishing show so not from the DPI but i assume they know what they're on about (well some of them anyway!) A Sydney guide also told me.

Apparently baiting the 6 hook jig is considered a form of long lining! They are only legal to use bait free.

Yep i got the Elite5x combo and reckon it's a good unit. Easy to use gps and reliable sounder.

Also called Target Fish and are very common up North. Can live in Freshwater too.

Mate that's a nice little fish and a great pic too. Well done on getting one on SP and to get one landbased is a great achievement.

Carp will live anywhere and everywhere and tolerate an incredible range of water conditions all the while breeding in huge numbers taking over entire systems. Sure Trout may feed on small native species but Carp are far more destructive and the carp issue is a large one while the Trout issue would be confined to a much smaller amount of waterways. There are large scale efforts in trying to save Trout Cod/Murray Cod including hatchery bred fish reintroduced into the wild and Carp have had a devasting effect on the Murray river. The Trouts impact on Native fish and waterways would be very minor compared to Carp with them being in every state in just about every freshwater (some brackish) waterway. Hopefully one day science will see them extinct from Australia.

That size boat is fine for close in offshore fishing. However the Heads and even inside the Heads with swell is dangerous and you have to pick your days. Like any coastal fishing check a reliable weather site for swell and wind before even thinking about going near open water. You get breaking waves even inside the Harbour during big swells. Especially around Dobroyd.

They are pretty regular in the Harbour. I see them when scuba diving regularly around the Northern Beaches.

Cool, That was my pick too. Im sure the mouth being open and with decent depth is playing a big part in oddities showing up, Along with what seems like increasing school Jew numbers in the Lake.

I also contacted Dr Julian Pepperell who is a Marine Biologist specialising in Fish Identification. He says it might be a Big Eye but is unsure and is sending it to another specialist to ID. It also had very small teeth that were razor sharp.. Is that a feature of Big Eye's?

Hi, Went for a Plastics fish on Narra lakes last Sunday. Water's cold but still managed a few Flatties to 50cm and a couple Bream to 30cm but had to work for them.Towards the end of the session this little Predatory Trevally nailed my Zman. For such a small fish he probably went as hard as the 30cm Bream I had caught moments earlier! As soon as I saw him I knew it clearly wasnt a Silver Trev. I am thinking a small Big Eye Trevally? I know they used to live in Queensie lagoon which is a similar system.. So have I got it right calling it for a Big Eye? I know this sort of catch is a dime a dozen up north but pretty cool for Sydney. I released him in good health as I do all Narra lakes fish.

No they are not eaten. Not only due to mercury but also because Tigers are of zero eating quality.They are towed back for a weigh in only. The law is that the dead animal must then be towed a certain amount out to sea before being dumped. Some people love Shark fishing but not using the animal for any purpose seems a little pointless. Isn't that the reason nearly everyone releases Marlin?

From my experience they release fine, Especially if hooked in the mouth. I have released a fair few smaller Jews and they have kicked off with plenty of go. As long as you only have them out for 10-20 seconds and they have not been deep hooked then the survival rate goes up to around 80%. Have been out with a very accomplished Jew fisherman a while back and we got 4 soapies in 10 mins and released one after the other and kept catching without any spooking of the school. The only way they should go belly up is from depth. Anything over about 60 feet and their swim bladder will be gone.