GORRRN

How far inland are you talking? Because they have a section for each state, and they also have another one for the Murray-Darling Basin, which will be allocated 3 species so you never know.

Any predictions on species? I think last year it was flatty, whiting and tailor. You would assume flatty is always going to get picked, will be interesting to see what else they choose keeping it to common species because of the land based / family entries or if they will chuck something different in there for the more hardcore fisho's lol (Thats for NSW though)

Just wondering if there are any other Fishraiders who have signed up for the Pirtek Fishing Challenge. Seemed like a good excuse to go fishing (not that we need an excuse lol) and if weather is nice should be a fun day of fishing.

Hey guys, Headed down to the shoalhaven river this morning in the hopes that the water might have cleared up with the break in. Sadly that wasnt the case and it was brown as anything with debris everywhere. So no suprises that we had very little success from spots that have always resulted in fish. So all in all a pretty disappointing trip, although its always good getting out on the water even if you don't catch to many. Was the first time i would be trying some home made soft plastics after getting my starter kit during the week from u-make-emsoftplastics, which i will admit has been a lot of fun experimenting with and seems to be quite addictive (great another fishing related expense that's addictive, should have never taken up fishing lol). Anyway i stuck with the home made soft plastics all morning but my brother bailed on them probably half way through the morning and went to gulp SP. Finally managed to get some action late in the morning and hooked up on a small flattie, which fought very hard for the first 15 to 20 seconds before basically giving up, so initial thoughts was at least a legal fish, but instead turned out to be a strong 28/30cm little tacker. I didn't bother with a photo but regretting that now as the catch was with a home made soft plastic and was the first fish on one as well. So despite a disappointing session it was pretty satisfying getting a fish on a home made plastic, even more so since it was the only fish for the session. SP was a paddle tail made with a colour that actually wasn't from u-make-em, as we made a few with a blue glitter that is meant for car paint, we had no idea if it would be successful but thought we try a few different designs. Also made my own (well stole the recipe from the web) sp juice. In the sun this thing sparkled like crazy lol.

Anyone?

Hi guys, I usually get my poddies from minnamurra river using both trap and rods with small hooks and floats. Anyway i now live closer to lake illawarra than to minnamurra river so its a hassle driving down there for podies. Went out this arvo but i couldnt seem to find any, came across quite a few small schools of the bigger mullet (30+ cm) but couldnt find the bloody poddies. Any spots from the locals would be very much appreciated. Edit: Its land based not from a boat. Cheers Carl

Hi Matt, Definitely no expert here, as my jewie count stands at 1 lol. But we have been hunting them for the last few months before we finally found them, this is down at the shoalhaven river (not sure where u fish). When we did find the jewie spot the boats that go there all drift with the current using livies (poddy mullet). We dont have an electric on the boat, and it would make things a lot easier, but we just get to the top of the drift, shut it off, livies in and let the current do its work. You have to find the right spots or the jewie will probably be few and far between, flattie and chopper taylor are usually greedy by catch on the shoalhaven though.

Unlucky with the reels mate, look forward to hearing the outcome of this as i have a 4000D 6000D (brain fart) that's only a few months old now, biggest its done is a 68cm jewie and no problems so far. Edit: My brain failed me, mines a 6 not a 4, still interested to see what the outcome is though as its still a D series.

You seem keen on having something run off a battery in the boat which is cool, but figured i would throw this out there, my brothers boat is not suited to having a built in live bait tank (hopefully upgrading boats soon) so we have been using a surecatch live bait bag, which is basically a foldable bucket with 2 lids, one is mesh so that you can empty and refill without any fishies escaping and then a plastic lid to start any spilling when carrying it or from movement in the boat(both have zips to open/close). Also has a pouch on the side for a battery operated aerator to sit in. We where using an aerator that used 2 x D batteries but the switch broke so you had to take the battery out to turn it off. So i bought a $12 jarvis walker aerator from grrrrrrrr that uses 1 D battery (its also 2 speed). This has been used for a total of about 18-24 hours and no signs that it needs a new battery yet. Generally have 12 to 15 poddies in the bucket and never had one die while using the new aerator or the old one, never had them in there more than a day or 2 though. The upside is it takes up very little space when not being used as it folds flat, and we go and catch the poddies the night before then just put the bag in the boat ready for the next morning. Easy to change the water, and no need for having things wired up and using the boats battery.

Very sad, but i agree with days, there are to many people using boats that just don't have a clue. I fish on the shoalhaven river with my brother and we watch boat after boat coming down river cut in between the red marker and edge of the river. The marker is there because it gets shallow bloody quick on the inside of it and we watch boat after boat go flying through cutting the corner and going straight over shallow sand flats.

Nice report and good catch You can never spend to much lol, Im lucky in the fact that my mrs doesn't mind me spending money on the fishing stuff, in fact she wants to come out fishing with us when her back injury is sorted. My brother caught a kingy in the shoalhaven river about 18 months back, measuring about 30 - 35 cm. Put a soft plastic next to one of the red buoys and bang kingy on.... ripper of fight from that little tacker so 80cm would be awesome.

You definitely have some issues there, we tow the easy rider 156 im guessing at least 500kg with my brothers mitsubishi magna vrx. It definitely has an effect on the car and you will always have a loss in performance when towing. But the magna pulls really well, he even over takes lol, and before the lecture starts there are a lot of old grannies that drive at 70 - 80km/h sometimes even slower in a 100 zone on the way to the shoalhaven river, tends to be a touristy road so most of the people that use it have no respect for anyone else on the road. It cruises nicely easily at 100km/h. I have a navara 3L turbo diesel which we dont use much for the boat, but its done a fair bit of towing with the horse float, tows well but once you have the 1 tonne horse float and 2 500-600kg horses it starts to show lol, it pulls hard but it just doesnt like holding big speeds (100km/h) up long hills (melb to sydney) but that is understandable. The down side of the diesel is the $$$ to repair if something goes wrong, especially the common rail, my dads been a mechanic since he was 16 although its not his main job now be he reckons the common rail is an awesome engine and puts up good power but if you have problems its massive $$$ for repairs.

No kids, but that was the aim of the title lol And yeah ive gotten to the point now, where if its raining next weekend im contemplating just chucking the old rain coat and taking the boat out anyway lol. At this rate we will have to get used to rain fishing.

Random new thread, but the rain is really starting to annoy me. Was hopinh to go out on the boat this morning but we called it off because we couldnt even go and get the live bait last night. Is there an opposite to a rain dance? Or whoever is doing the rain dance marathon could they please stop? Summer my arse.

Dont worry been itching to get out there again, just hope the weather is kind this weekend (doubtful). Now i just need to learn how to catch some squid (been failing miserably so far) so we can try some fresh squid as bait as well.

It certainly seemed to be in good condition, and put up an awesome fight, even though i had a decent sized bait runner and a 6foot boat rod it pulled hard and stipped line (decent drag set to). Not really sure how they are meant be in terms of the meat, but my brothers was a bigger fish only by 7cm and was definately a bit thicker, although we noticed it had quite a bit more fat where as mine had very little. Not really sure what that indicates, so if anyone knows And yes i have definately caught the jewie bug, not sure if thats a good thing though, been checking the weather all week to see if we can get out there this weekend lol.

Thanks guys, all the comments are much appreciated. And just a to everyone as i feel very welcome, awesome atmosphere and every seems friendly and helpful. Way to many forums (not just fishing) that are the opposite.

Thanks guys yeah we definately wont be forgetting those fish. Edit: We where talking to my parents neighbour (he rocked up shorly after we caught ours and pulled in 2 both at 65cm's) apparently the week before a local pulled in a 47kg jewie. No idea how true that is but if it is thats absolutely insane.

Hey Guys, New member here, so be gentle lol. Anyway thought i would share a photo of my first Jewie!!! Been trying down at Shoalhaven River for a while now with my brother for the Jew's but we never had much luck. Anyway 2 weeks ago we got up nice and early out on the water by 5am and headed out to try and find a spot. Did our usual drift twice with only my livie getting chomped in half. So we moved up to another spot where the sprat where going crazy so the livies went out and within a couple of minutes the line started screaming out (bait runner) let it go for a sec then picked up the rod and cranked the handle. Got a big pull and then it went loose, waited a couple of seconds and bang the rod bent over. As soon as mine was hooked my brother grabbed his rod to get the line out of the water, 1 crank on the reel and his went screaming off as well (he has caught 2 Jewies off the beach before) but we had a double hook up Was pretty hectic but I got mine to the boat and netted it (awesome fight was absolutely stoked). Turned out the buggers had done some zig zagging and got the lines wrapped, anyway we stayed as calm as we could i cut my line and my brother was able to land his as well. Mine went about 68cm and my brothers went 75cm. Not the biggest out there, but i was pretty dam pleased about that for my first Jewie. Not the best or most exciting write up so hopefully that will improve as we get a few more fish.