josamill

Hope we get another couple of weeks - I agree it's been magic. For us in the last 2 weeks, lots of flathead in Pittwater on plastics and dolphin fish out wide. So much better than Summer for us.

Nice image taken by my mate's drone at North Avalon Beach on Saturday. Next step is drone fishing.

Caught a big flattie at Tuross in a metre of drinkable fresh water 20kms inland, but someone suggested the bottom 1/4 of the water column was probably brackish. Beautiful video mate - who couldn't love fishing after seeing that!!

Saturday - 6pm-7.30pm - quick afternoon session. Pittwater - Palm Beach end - outgoing tide. Caught a dozen poddy mullet earlier in the day and drifted them across some ridges and drop-offs for 2 flathead - 51cm & 55cm. Nothing bothered my plastics so my son caught both - and a really plump flounder that also took a whole poddy. Sorry about the sideways photo! Sorry

Just back from the annual family break to Tuross. Fishing was by boat in the river from near the entrance up to 20kms inland. Target, flathead, bream, whiting.......plastics, poddy mullet, nippers, live prawns. Results. I'm at the point now where I won't fish the river on a rising tide. 3 outings for pretty much donuts. 4 trips on an outgoing tide were really good.......average of 6 flathead per trip all over 40cm and up to 57cm, plus lots of legal bream - released these. Also a 6.6kg/83cm jewie on a live prawn. Just to reinforce this experience, I went to Careel Bay in Pittwater Saturday to get some poddy mullet. Arrived 30 mins before high tide. Gin clear, warm water over the sand flats.....waded for 200m without seeing any form of life - not even a toadfish. Just completely dead. Wasn't in a hurry so waited for an hour or so until the tide started running out. In came the baby bream, whiting, toadies, and I had 20 poddy mullet in no time. Fished with these in our favourite Hawkesbury spots yesterday morning for another donut - run in tide! I know people say run out tide is best - especially for flathead - now I'm convinced. Happy new year to fellow raiders and I hope you have a fish or 2 to brag about from the holiday period. Cheers

Great catch! I was smoked on Saturday morning mid Pittwater by one of these. Had a strip of 'just caught' squid on a bream rod, big whack then I chased it for 20 mins until the uni-knot gave out. Heartbreaking! Like yours, it was down deep.

Salmon are great for teaching kids how to fight a fish properly - set drag, don't panic, use rod flex, pump & wind, enjoy the tussle etc etc.

Hi Mate - squid off Palm Beach golf course, although we have had more luck off Currawong & Mackerel Beaches. Poddy mullet will show up in numbers in the next few weeks. Nippers in Careel Bay or Dangar Is. Yakkas West Head or the Seaplane jetty in Careel Bay or the wreck @ Clareville. Good luck!

If I was fishing Walsh Bay - especially at this time of year, but anytime really - I would focus on really good bait. Live nippers or live worms would be at the top of my list. Using frozen prawns and squid could be like trying to win the lottery. It is good water around there - quite clean, deep and lots of structure. A berley bomb loaded with cat food and sent to the bottom, 4-6lb flurocarbon leader, very small ball sinker, small, super sharp, long shank hook, live worms or nippers (most important) ......that should bring some bream up for you.

Looks like the offspring of a YF bream, black bream and with a hint of mangrove jack!

Well done! What system were you in? We caught some stonkers 3 weeks ago in Pittwater, but failed on Sunday. What I do know is that if I take someone who hasn't caught them before, they lose interest pretty quickly, whereas if you persevere and make sure that jig is skipping just above the weed, we nearly always get a result - can take over an hour though which tests people's faith!

Thanks boys - minimum 55lb it is. I love the idea of the iPilot, but it is close to $2,000 which is a stretch. I here mixed reports around the Watersnake, but if there is a warranty, I guess it's OK.

Hi - looking to set my tinny up with a bow-mount electric. Basically for stooging along the shoreline around Broken Bay and some South Coast rivers and flicking plastics. The boat is a Horizon Easy Fisher Pro (centre consol) - 4.65M with a 60hp on the back.....no more than 2 people on board when fishing. I need to watch my budget, but also need something that will work! Would really appreciate any experienced advice on minimum thrust

Sorry - no photos, but you know what they look like! 4 squid (southern calamari) on Sunday over the Palm Beach weed beds in Pittwater in 40 mins.........2 of them were monsters by my standards going 81cm and 83cm tip to tip. My 10 year old son and I copped the full ink blast from one of them and laughed for a fat 5 minutes. Calamari tenderised and eaten - magic. The tentacles, bodies and fins vacuum sealed and frozen in 15 bags ready for the next snapper or kingy outing. They are out there!

Nice fat flounder!

Yeah I reckon it's happened.......Broken Bay and Pittwater just seem to 'switch off' like a light when Winter kicks in. Still some tailor and salmon around. People talk about John Dory hanging around wharves in Winter, but I've never been good enough to get one.

Mate what a fantastic trip!! Love Mission Beach and Dunk Island. What size tinny/donk are you dragging? I'd never really thought of taking mine up there, but if you've got the time, I guess 'why not?'

I do a lot of beach fishing - Avalon/Palm Beach etc.....my young son looked at the beach on Sunday, in all its fury, and asked me where the whiting, dart, flathead and bream that live around the gutters would be. I've got no idea I told him - maybe out to sea? Maybe into Broken Bay - although the fresh water would probably kill them. Anyhow, I'm interested in fellow raiders' views & experiences re the effect on fishing (beaches and estuaries) after we've had 2 months' rain in 2 days....

That's great! Out of interest, what size are the mullet? Are they around the 30cm-40cm mark?

Fantastic work and a great report. You are in a club that I am yet to join!!

Fantastic fish!

Mulloway are called croakers in the US too pretty sure

Great stuff! Looks nice and glassy out there too - good to see the kingies still hanging around Sydney enjoying this weather.

Bad luck this time Nathan. I don't know that location, but I chase flathead regularly. At $60 a kilo, why wouldn't you! Sometime you can think flathead are a reliable 'go to' that will always be there - but I've had half a dozen zero outings this year. Yesterday in the lower Hawkesbury, we sounded out baitfish. They were being savaged by tailor, and the flathead were underneath, presumably picking of the bits of dead baitfish that made it to the bottom - that's my theory anyway. We got 6 keeper flatties (and 20+ tailor) on plastics in 30-50 feet in less than an hour. All fish 41cm-48cm. I know there would have been a big momma down there.... I agree very much with fishing deeper as the Winter draws closer, and make sure you are using the lightest possible jig head that still gets you down to the bottom. Heavy jig heads - unless the current is super strong - make the drop way too quick and unnatural. Good luck.

Wow!! I've got crab envy.... Put 3 pots out Saturday in Pittwater for a few hours for zilch.