SargeRX8

The thing I like about flathead is they demolish anything. Bloodworm wriggler has given success for many fish. I was fishing the other day with soft plastics on a sand flat. Slow rolling the bottom, I felt some weight on the line so I go to set the hook and it felt like I was on for about 3 seconds then just really heavy weight all the way. At first I thought maybe flathead, they usually are quite lazy to the last moment. It got closer and it wasn't surfacing so I thought octopus. I got it closer and it was a heavy as all **** solid ring of metal about the size of a pie. Such a buzz kill. My heart stops for a moment whenever I feel weight hit the line.

Lol at the guarantee about fishing the wharves at night. Ive spent years fishing the wharves and I'd take that guarantee very loosely. You'll catch throw back fish. Lots of them. If you fish the wharves closer into sydney harbour, you open your gates heavily to sting ray and lots of port jackson shark. I don't like the wharves anymore but they are great for convenience. If you're gonna spend the night fishing, I'd say get cracking at a beach and ditch the harbour. Having to deal with the people who swarm the wharves is an instant turn off for me. Most of them have no respect for the location, they keep anything and everything they catch(Ive seen a few using under sized bream and snapper as bait), 1 man carries 10 rods all spread out etc. Its not like this all the time but more often than not... Lets just say I wouldn't plan a fishing trip on a fishing wharf. Gear up and get to the beach!

If I did this 90% of the time I'd be casting into trees or parking lots lol. If you're using plastics while land based fishing and the wind is against you, pack and go home if heavier jig heads aren't an option. The weather this whole month has been bad with the main culprit being the wind.

Damnit I wish I had a boat.

I think its been a real hit and miss. Ive tried a few land spots only for salmon. This weather isn't helping. I was out yesterday morning, plenty of baits to be caught, plenty of bait fish swimming around but nothing at all. No salmon, no tailor, no nothing. The only sign of life were about the 100 leather jacket I caught trying to catch live baits + the annoying ****** sweep which pinch the burly off the surface.

Flathead are all over the sand flats at beaches you don't need a gutter. I usually I'd the gutter as the more gentle looking waters between all the waves and stuff. As suggested you should ask surfers or life guards to point them out. A gutter provides an effortless way for surfers to get behind the waves. If you aren't fishing gutters you reduce success a fair bit.

What are some good sized trebles for bream and whiting? Ive got some lures which are nice little trebles but nothing to replace rusty hooks with. I'd rather get opinions here as the local tackle shop didn't have any small ones.

Is it illegal to long line?

I can't see the photo but it doesn't matter, middle hole will do you fine.

C&R isn't a location, it stands for catch & release. Method of fishing where either you fish for the sport or the fish in the area aren't suitable for eating. The upper georges towards chipping norton has been productive for a few and jetski's aren't there in numbers but anything caught there is not good for the table. Catch it, photo, release it.

Top stuff. I was there yesterday during the day. We were the only ones there then it got packed as. Shit place to fish but close to home so may as well wet some line. Don't bother saying anything to the people who keep undersized fish. You'll either get ignored, cop an ear full, or be threatened. The fisheries are hopeless. What do they do, stand at popular boat ramps. They want their job to be easy as possible. Wait at the ramp and check boats. They need to be more active and check places by going to the spot, parking the car and getting down onto the jetty or wharf. They do have a direct number, check the sticky in fishing chat called illegal fishing. I used to fish the wharfs quite often a while back. 80% of the time the police boat would stop up at the wharf and check licenses and fish. Its hilarious watching people piss bolt to their cars. Ive only ever had success with telling someone to release a fish once. At that was after the dead shit was sitting there measuring it for about 10 minutes. 15cm bream is a 15cm bream no matter how many times you measure it.

Jet skies are ban throughout Sydney harbour all the way through parramatta river. Get amongst the various wharfs and jetties and have a crack. I've found nice bream around the wharfs near the harbour bridge. Tailor are almost everywhere but not too often are they legal sized. There are heaps of places far too many to list that you can try. I'd steer clear of over crowded spots. I was fishing today at a wharf off Parramatta river. I didn't catch anything good while everyone else there kept everything they caught. I recall landing a rat king at some jetty near Watson bay. Was tiny. Some guy asked me for it, I threw it back into the water and he was cursing me. Puts me off fishing easily accessible locations.

How big are these leather jacket? Jeez I'd like to get amongst them and rip some up. Love eating them and compared to other fish, they are awesome to clean.

Top stuff man and just to clarify that big lizard was caught on a smaller flat head??? They eat each other?

Someone raised the dead- 2 year old topic.

Just use the usual running sinker, swivel, 50cm trace. You don't need a big sinker either, you'd be surprised but there is fish almost everywhere where there is any depth of the water, just behind the breaking waves. On the bigger rod I'd use the setup with the 3 way swivel, big sinker on about 30cm and the hook on about 60 - 100cm. The bigger rod you want to get to one of the exit or entry points of a gutter. Again though, fishing doesn't follow rules, try different casts different baits different points and see what works and what doesn't. Make sure you've got at least a 80 - 100cm pvc pipe stuck nicely into the sand. You can lose rods if it isn't.

Most beaches which have good gutter formation should fish well. Stanwell is consistent for salmon, as with every other beach Ive fished. The problem I have found beach fishing is the amount of rays and shark that take baits. Try stanwell beach, but be warned it gets packed. If its a warm day be prepared to be swarmed with flies. Its the only beach Ive been to with a fly problem and its irritating as ****. The rock platforms around curl curl(north and south) are, in my opinion, the safest locations to fish off rock. Can get a mixed bag there, but again its full of rays and shark. Kurnell rocks are safe imo but the gates get shut at 7 or 8pm in the national parks so unless you're gonna do an all nighter its not a practical location. The beaches off wollongong have provided fish. I think you should lower your target, if you're only going for jewfish, you're gonna be let down on many nights. If I was fishing the beach I'd have one or two bigger rods pumped with jew enticing baits and another rod in my hand to target anything else on usually much lighter gear.

He advised you to buy a down rigger and you didn't. You want to get your lures down deep right? If you caught rats with pilchards, then keep trying and you might get lucky. Like I suggested before, get some yellow tail. Its not hard to get them before a kingfish outing. I still don't understand why you have it fixated in your head you can only catch squid at 4am. What time do you go out to seek the kings? 7am? 8am? Plenty of time to get squid in the tank. Sorry dude but you aren't going to win this argument, fishing for me is fun, enjoyable and relaxing. Something I do when Ive got spare time, its not like I live to fish. I do it when there's nothing to do. If Ive only got two days off in a month, ill spend one collecting bait or hell even both and just have a good supply of frozen squid in the freezer ready to go any single time I wish to go out. You want to get your lures deeper, get a down rigger. Theres no simpler answer. You buy a 2m diving lure, you can't make it go deeper due to the physical limitations of the lure. You need something to drag it down deeper. The concept is simple. You've got the lures, there is nothing more you can do to improve your catch. Like I said above, if you're in the right spot at the right time, they work, otherwise you've reached the end of the stick. Maybe try rub some s factor on your hard body lures. Maybe try start a burly trail and use a lure matching what you're using for burly.

Dude don't hate on the guy. Fishing requires dedication and relying on easy lure fishing won't put fish on your line. What makes you think you gotta be up at 4am to catch squid? Why can't you go the day before on sunset or even at night. Its all about location. You can put me anywhere and if there is squid there, ill catch it any time of day or night. If you can't catch squid, try yellow tail. They are a piece of piss to catch and do quite well. Drop them on the side of the boat and wait. Lures are only really an option when the fish are really going at it. You gotta be at the right place at the right time. I don't think what he said was meant in a negative form. If you're too lazy to buy some materials to do some renovation work at home, then you're too lazy to do renovation work. Catching live baits, in particular squid, is a part of catching kingfish. Ive seen the effort people put into catching fish whether it be a king, jewfish, flat head etc If they come home empty handed, they are even more committed next time to do something different to get the fish. Bringing a lure down deeper requires a down rigger and a lure diver(its a weird shaped plate made of plastic). Unless you buy deeper diving lures or use full metal lures or plastics to sink, then sinking a lure with a bib or what ever its called really is up to the lure. My advice, catch the squid the night before then go out in the morning. You can even try your luck with fresh squid from specific tackle stores.

Hey you never know they might catch a fish with their propeller if they're fast enough!

Hey Roberta thanks for your reply. Although it is very hard to see in the video(the fly mesh gets in the way), when the sunnies are turned 90 degrees you can still see through them. They don't get any darker than wearing them in the normal way but the polarized effect only kicks in(behind the window is dark too so its hard to see the blinds behind there) and you can see the blinds on the other side perfectly. Ive read that polarized sunglasses are a special film either on the plastic or inbetween layers of plastic so there is a chance they're the wrong way. Ive sent Fuglies an email(I bought them off their site) with the video and will wait for their response. If they decide not to do anything, which isn't likely, I'll be getting a pair of spotters or costas in the new real tree frame!

Its a two sided situation here, some swear by saving up and buying the better brand while others get away with the cheaper pairs. Ive read that other thread Hodgey posted up and it seems fuglies perform quite well. I did some testing of my own just now and I think I have a pair of faulty sunglasses. Ive uploaded a test video on Youtube for you to watch: http://youtu.be/Un9UoxOLymg (video will be live shortly) What I did was look at the reflection on the window outside mine and you can see this in the video. I then put the glasses infront of the camera and start rotating it 90 degrees then back. Moving the glasses out of the way so you can see the reflection then putting them infront of it again. From conclusion it seems the glasses only work when at 90 degrees. Did I get a dodgey pair? Even when I am wearing them on my head looking at the window like normal it looks like no difference, merely some shading out. When I turn my neck 90 degrees I can see almost perfectly past the glare and it looks exactly how I want them to be. I have no reason to supporting that these glasses are not faulty. It seems the polarized film might have been applied the wrong way and this can confirm why I started the thread and the glasses not working. Anybody able to confirm with me that these are in fact faulty? I can't go fishing standing there with my head tilted at 90 degrees...

Holy cow look at the size of that thing! That is HUGE. Look at the head! Honestly I think that thing could crack the current record for flathead.

Hey all, Well this topic I'm starting is in relation to a pair of polarized sunglasses I bought. Before buying them I looked at the range and they went from say $10 all the way to $300+ I didn't have much to spend and after looking at a bunch of youtube videos and pictures of comparisons I went for a pair of Fuglies which Ive read some good things about and they were pretty cheap. I bought them in smoke with pale gold mirror. I took them fishing a few times and find my self never using them as they don't seem to do anything. I put them on and the everything goes a little darker but refractions don't seem to be cut down. There is a small portion, maybe 20% of the field of view which seems to have more effect but more or less, they almost feel useless. I went to the shops to try on an expensive pair but how on earth do I see if they work in the real world situation. Ive seen alot of pictures of comparisons and I would like to believe what they claim to do but most of what Ive seen seems exaggerated. e.g theres a picture of someone looking at a glass window of a building and you can see a big reflection from the light and a mirrored surface. Then they show a polarized version and they can see through the glass, as if there is nearly no reflection at all. Do I need to wear and adjust to them or are these cheaper pairs no comparison to a more expensive pair.

Top stuff and they sound like some big salmon too. What kind of lures were they taking?