Robertos87

Very nice bream mate, well done. Just a question, round about what stage of the tide did you get her?

Hi guys, looking at a new combo (late chrissy present to myself) and wanted to know people's opinion on the Abu Garcia veritas range. I'm looking at the 6'4 1-3 kg rod coupled with the 20s orra spin reel, or perhaps the same reel on the 7' 2-4 kg merits rod. I will be doing both land based and boat fishing with this setup, ranging from bream and flathead to perhaps school Jew. What are people's thoughts on this setup??

Nice catch. They would've gone down well.

Hi guys, looking at a new combo (late chrissy present to myself) and wanted to know people's opinion on the Abu Garcia veritas range. I'm looking at the 6'4 1-3 kg rod coupled with the 20s orra spin reel, or perhaps the same reel on the 7' 2-4 kg merits rod. I will be doing both land based and boat fishing with this setup, ranging from bream and flathead to perhaps school Jew. What are people's thoughts on this setup??

We have caught a few before and always threw them back, but iv'e heard they were good eating so we thought we'd give it a go. I didnt find them that hard to prepare, I cut the wings off with scissors then cut straight down either side of the spine and was able to pull the meat out without the skin. Taste wise they were ok. I battered and fried them. I found the tail flesh was much better then the wings. Next time i will be trying it on the grill, the flesh seemed more solid then normal fish so I think they may hold up well on the barbie. The leather jacket was very nice, i'm with you, not many nicer tasting fish out there.

Our catch

Photo coming soon

Hi guys, Merry Christmas to all, hope Santa got you all the fishing gear you asked for! Last Saturday my Dad, my brother and I decided to head out to Sydney Harbour to drop a line and have a nice day out on the water. Lately we've been hitting up the Hawkesbury for not a lot of action so a change of scene was needed. Was an interesting start to say the least.after dropping the boat in at Rose bay we headed out to find spot. As soon as we stopped the boat we looked to set up. We started looking for our tackle boxes.....and it dawned on us we didn't have them on board!!! Bit of miscommunication better my dad and me, and long story short we both thought the other one had brought them along. After some words I probably shouldn't repeat here were shared, we decided to make do with what we had. And what we had were four rods already set up. That's right, we couldn't afford to lose any tackle whatsoever. I was crossing my fingers we didn't come across any jackets. After catching almost two dozen baby snapper, we finally found a decent spot. As soon as my dad hit the bottom he was on to a nice flathead. That's when we had a nice run of fish come on board. Between the three of us we ended up catching 4 flathead between 40 to 50cms, 2 nice trevally, 2 flounder with the biggest going close to 50cms, 2 eagle rays, and a very nice leatherjacket. We also caught 2 octopus We caught the majority of our fish between about 1130am and about 130pm. Can you believe it, we did not lose a single bit of gear. I think the fishing gods were looking down on us! Probably with some sympathy! All in all a great day out on the water and we may give the Hawkesbury a rest for the time being. We will be heading out again this Sunday, and hopefully we can get into some kings this time. Sharnee well. Beats working!!! Tight lines, Rob.

I find metal spinning lures work a treat. It'll give you that extra casting distance to. A very fast retrieve is best, especially on those bonito. I like to troll bibbed minnows out on the boat as that brings me great results, but won't let you cast that far. Let the metal sink a bit before you start you retrieve to cover a bit more water, and so you're not just fishing the surface. Also don't be scared to buy big metals for bonito, being an aggressive fish they wont hesitate to hit a bigger lure. Good luck!!!

Agreed. Annoying when fishing for other species, but gee they are a nice fish to eat. There not being a size limit says a bit about how plentiful they are.

Ok guys. I was wondering what everyone's biggest fish on light gear is. Now light gear would be relevant to the fish caught, for example a 35cm bream on 12 pound line wouldn't be considered light but a 1 metre Jew on the same line would. Ill go first: a 60cm Australian salmon on 4 pound braid with 10 pound fc leader. Lot of fun andreally made me determined to fish as light as possible. Look forward to hearing everybody else's.

Thanks for all the replies guys. As far as freezing and salting, do u find a big drop in effectiveness as opposed to it fresh? And do u think they would be a good bait to target kings?

Oh ok, see I have been persisting with the Hawkesbury and just don't seem to be having the success others are. Been varying my techniques, trolling, drifting and anchoring up. Using hardbodies, soft plastics, live and dead bait. What system do you fish Hull?

Shame about the big on that got away, but the kings that you did catch are still pretty impressive! Great work guys!

Hey guys, I have heard that bonito is a pretty good bait. Decided to give it a go on Saturday. Fished the Hawkesbury, caught a bonito on the troll and decided to fillet it up, chuck it out there and give it a go. Had a small hit here and there, but that was it. Didnt have much luck on saturday with anything else so im still unsure as to how good a bait it really is. My question for those that have used bonito as bait, is how effective do you find it? And what species do you find it attracts? And lastly, how do you rate it's effectiveness compared to other fresh baits? Any replies will be appreciated. Cheers, Tight Lines, Rob

Very nice fish mate. Especially on light gear.

Hey guys, long time listener, first time caller. Ive been stalking these forums for a while, and finally created an account so i can become part of this great fishing community. Just wanna tell you guys i love the site you have here and have gotten many a good tip from most of you! Very keen fisherman, i have my location set at Central Coast, although am living in Western Sydney right now. We are in the process of buying a block of land in the Wyoming area to build on. As it is, pretty much every day im off work we are up there anyway! Anyway just thought i would introduce myself before i started posting. I am hopelessly addicted to this sport of ours and love that i have found a place full of people with the same problem. Look forward to getting to know everybody. Tight Lines Rob