4x4fisherman

During the day smaller fish will look for better cover from predators and try and stay in the shadows. If you are trying to catch yakkas from a wharf, try and fish on the side that has more shadow for them to hide and closer to the pylons and beams. Also keep in mind that a lot of jetties are busier during the day so fish will stay further underneath. Think like a fish, where would you hang out to avoid being eaten by a bigger fish?

One thing for sure, it showed how absolutely useless alloy bullbars are.

I tend to think there was an event that led to the road rage, I'm guessing mr victim has upset the guy with his driving not that it justifys his behaviour. Some people simply need to be put down so they can't impact on other peoples lives.

I should give you my number you can ring me and I'll be at the boat ramp to greet them as. I've had run in with jet skiers when I fished from boats with one in particular a beauty at Bobbin Head. After flying in breaking the no wash limit he flew into the ramp area causing a wave into the side of my boat as I was driving onto the trailer causing me to miss the middle roller guides and taking off gelcoat. When I "politely" appraised his character he let fly with a mouthful and told me I was welcome to discuss it further in the park. His day got increasingly worse from there but I'm sure he's learnt the right and wrong way to behave at boat ramps. The great majority of jetskiers do the right thing but some just beg for trouble.

28th fishing Middle Rocks for jewfish overnight. Taking one or two forum members with me.

+1 I kill every carp I can. They along with rabbits, foxes, feral cats, dogs, pigs, goats, buffalo, camels and donkeys destroy the environment and habitat for native animals.

This Christmas period I'm planning an Overnight jewfish hunt near Port Stephens at least once with a forum member or two and maybe a trip or two further north, a 4 day weekend down south around Gillards Beach taking the 4wd and campervan and if I can squeeze it in a weekend up at South West Rocks. These should be a good warm up for the South Australia trip to Yalata early February which looks to be epic and well attended. So what's everyone else got planned? And remember, "if you fail to plan then you plan to fail!" so get the tide and moon charts out and make the most of your time on the water.

Seriously, if people want to camp in an area OK for drinking I'm fine with that. If you're keen to go we'll work that stuff out.

Never even looked like turning one of them! First couple of times I thought maybe small hammerheads or rays but I've been quick enough to get to the jetty without getting wrapped up and kept pressure on until I was just about spooled and there was a noticable tail beat. On 1kg line it doesn't have to be too big a fish to beat me up. I only every fished there Wednesday or Thursday evenings which are the quietest. Watching the sounder coming into the ramp there's a couple of sudden depth changes in there and I've heard of jew being caught on quiet nights off the jetty. Personally it's somewhere Ive overlooked when looking for bigger fish.

At a creek in western Sydney I caught and released 11 bass out of 6 square metres of water in 90 minutes at the base of a little rapid. I started to think I was re-catching fish so the last 6 got a tiny trim on the tail and no, each was another individual. I think bass are one of the easiest fish to entice to strike and most difficult to spook. I think conditions like barometric pressure, salinity, lighting and temperature are more likely to cause them to shut down butnot having fished a big cross section of locations for them it may vary from place to place. I think the dirtier the water the more brazen they are.

Hi Bill, there is a pressure wave in front of a bridge pylon on a moving tide which enables a fish to hold position with much less effort and behind the pylon will be an eddy which will also assist but I reckon would be harder work for a fish. I believe it's not so much the effect on current that attracts them to bridges but the structure itself. Structure will attract baitfish and in turn larger predators and having fought a few big jewfish I prefer to hook them as far away from a pylon as possible. When targeting jew think predator and ambush. Where would you anticipate a fish would hide? I find at night the lights on a bridge will cause a shadow and where light meets shadow is an awesome ambush position. Add a pylon in close proximity and all this on the up current side of the bridge and that's where the big ones will be. One night I was watching a dolphin and her baby hunt in exactly that way under The Singing Bridge at Hawks Nest. They would hold position in the shadow and when a mullet approached the shadow from up stream they would rush it just at the edge of the shadow and the mullet never had a moment to react. Same night I saw a BIG jew do exactly the same thing and later that night I caught a 45lb'er on you guessed it.... A live mullet fished back topward the shadow. Colour change in water is also another good ambush point, when there is enough rain to colour the water in the river the leading edge of that muddy water at any specific structure like a rock outcrop, breakwall, bridge etc is likely to fire. The other good spots are the edges of channels and the more pronounced the edge the better the ambush and rock ledges. At Appletree Bay at Bobbin Head I used to fish 1kg line for bream at the creek mouth near the cleaning tables from the top of the tide and the first 2 hours of the runout, I have been smashed up by jewfish more times than I could count. This is a good spot and they must hide in the shadow waiting for herring etc to swim out. I hope that offers you some extra option mate.

Majority of success I've had with jewfish at Stockton Beach has been big fresh squid or mullet baits or live mullet and whiting. Tailor heads work well but are difficult to rig. The breakwall is the easy option but take a 12' gaff and especially take care. It's not hard to get hurt there. I prefer evenings, I find a good gutter with a distinct channel and fish there with enough lead to plant the bait. If you're using live bait in a quick current it might pay to bridle hook then through the nose rather than the tail. With co-op bought squid try and find some with flouro still in the eyes. Good luck.

There's good camping outside the Aboriginal area where you can drink, you just can't take it into the area and I'm flexible about the camping.

The distance from Sydney is 2200km so you could do it in 2 days driving, having driven the roads I'd strongly recommend a co-driver. There's a lot of flowing country road on cruise control but it's easy to get fatigued and lose concentration especially after sunset. There is camping closer to Fowlers Bay which is technically outside the Yalata peoples land and there is no ban on alcohol. I'll be looking to tidy up final details in December prior to Xmas and make decisions on camping sites and the itinerary as well as decide final numbers. It is the fishing trip of a lifetime if all things come together. The averages suggest it will be good but realistically you have to consider weather, local conditions etc. What I do know is that if it's not cloudy or raining it's going to be hot.. Very hot..

A heavier action rod will throw heavier baits further. I have a heavy action 13' rod I use for beach fishing and it is particularly good for throwing 60-80 gram lures a very long way. If you want to improve your casting distance there are other things you can try. I usually make a double using a spider hitch of about 1 1/2 rod lengths then attach a shock leader of 40lb mono again about 1 1/2 rod lengths. this allows me to throw big heavy lures and baits with 12lb line. I can throw an 80 gram halco all day well over 100 metres with this set up. When the gutters are quiet I can put on a heavy sinker and usually get a cast beyond the surf break which has helped catch some big fish over the years. As long as the shock leader wraps around the reel 4 or 5 times when ready to cast you can really load up the rod when you let go. If the knots get clunky through the runners you can always wrap them in some waxed dental floss to smooth them out. Don't be frightened of using light line, on the beach there is no reason you can't land a 50lb jew on 8lb line, just as long as trace material is up to the task. One night at Merewether Beach in newcastle I landed an approx 60kg whaler on 8lb after 1 hour 40 minutes, the gang hooks were in the corner of his mouth and the 50lb mono shock leader held up to the abrasion well.

Awesome, looks like this trip has legs as I have a couple of expert 4wd types who are very experienced fishos keen.

I've had a long chat with a very well connected and knowledgable SA local and he advises me that reasonable numbers of Jew will be around at this time but not many really big fish. His advice is the move the date closer to the end of January, does late January early February make it an option for anyone?

Sensational work mate, very impressive.

Awesome job, looks like a great day out.

That would be great, I'm looking for people with their own vehicle hoping for a small convoy for safety reasons as well as company. It's a massive distance to cover in a short time, last trip there for me was on a long holiday and took me a week from Sydney to Ceduna. I may be doing the Oodnadatta track a couple of months after this trip so it looks like a big year in 2013. The wife is even making noises about a trip to Hawaii so looks like a year of being broke as well.

It should be epic, the dates looking the best is the week before Easter so I'd say depart Sydney Saturday 23rd March and drive to Renmark then to Fowlers Bay or Friday arvo and drive to Cootamundra then Saturday to maybe Port Augusta then arrive Fowlers Bay on Sunday. A 3 day drive would be less fatiguing and I'd prefer it. The trip home would be similar and getting home on the Sunday would give everyone a day to remove the crust of a week on the sand. I'll put together an itinerary and guesstimate on costs soon but I'd say $1000 per person would cover it comfortably. Here's some links if you want to research it http://www.yalata.org/camping.htm http://www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/ipa/pubs/video-yalata.html http://www.environment.gov.au/indigenous/ipa/declared/yalata.html http://www.yalata.com/

I think we're going to see a huge backlash from the greens and see it soon. Anyone who follows politics regarding the environment knows the greens will likely get smashed at the next federal election so I'd expect them to tread quite heavily on all of their agendas until then. Fishing exclusion zones and marine parks are not the only way we are being locked out of some of the country's best fishing, National Parks & Wildlife Services are steadily closing access to big parts of the coastline around Australia Recently there was a rally and protest over track closures to some awesome fishing, camping & 4wd'ing in Tasmania. The politician that signed off on the closure had NEVER BEEN THERE! Their excuse was NPWS didn't have the resources to look after the area which was very lame as 4wd clubs and individuals which included a lot of fishos helped keep the place clean and tracks clear for years. Currently there are considerations to limit access to the Stockton Beach area, possibly charging camping fees above the vehicle beach pass we already pay for but also a possibility is no camping and no access to some areas. Since NPWS handed management to the traditional land owners after spending a fortune on access and traffic control, there has nearly always been someone checking window stickers at the Anna Bay entry to make sure everyone has paid their fees and considering the amount of noise made about introducing camping fees I'm sensing a revenue raising theme. I know most of us lead busy lives but we should all do our part to make sure government and NPWS don't lock us out, just sending emails and voicing your objections to being denied access to your country and resources helps considerably. These organisations use a formula where they consider for example 1 in 400 unhappy voters will take the time to send a complaint so this means 1 person DOES make a difference. I have taken dozens of friends, mostly new to fishing to Stockton Beach, Bennetts Beach and a few others up the North Coast over the years and had many awesome times, if all of a sudden some of these are closed it puts enormous pressure on the other areas and effectively locks everyone out because 4wd is the only way to access the area. Something the freshwater fishos know well is Sydney Water's ability and willingness to keep everyone away from waterways. We have dams with farming in the catchment area, houses and in some cases light industry yet nobody can get near the fishing. Along the southern shoreline of Lake Burragorang there are picnic areas and huts and all the infrastructure you'd expect in a national park, you and I pay big dollars for our water so they can build this but you're locked out. Lake Burragorang is the worlds largest private fishing pond full of trout, cod and other species and believe me it gets fished... Just not by the general public. Yep it's so very generous of them to open up the 1% of Australias fishing that we're locked out of, I think it gives me a warm feeling... Or maybe I just peed in my pants.

That day was special, we kept the fish that were bleeding heavily and let everything else go. Had we kept everything it would have been 200kg of fish possibly more. We were throwing Halco's into acres of fish, there were at least 6 large schools along the beach and all you had to do was get a cast close to them. Nobody needed to be an expert that day just fit. My advantage is the 4wd, I can take friends fishing and if it gets cold they can get in the car, tired they can sleep in the car, hungry go to the fridge in the car and nobody gets sea sick. It also helps to be able to cover 35km of beach in an hour.

I'm a bit busy for the next few weeks but I'd be happy to take you guys beach fishing mid to late October and pass on what I know. Mostly I'll fish Stockton Beach so it could be a big day but it would be a good lesson as there's 30km of drivable beach. Alternately this time of year Garie Beach and Warilla beach down the Gong usually have some hungry fish. We have the odd bit of success from the sand

What makes you say that Shakeel?