[Qwik Flick Today]

Well done mate,

looks like a ranbow trout fish did the damage on the flattie?

Never tried one of these in the salt

Nice trev as well they always go hard

BM

[Forster This Morning]

Geez mate you must have deep pockets using $20 lures around oyster racks

I also have a fondnest for that little SR camion, in fact any lure that can bag a fish on it's first ever cast is an instant classic in my tackle box.

Well done on the bream

BM

[Winter Bassin']

Great Report Jewy and awesome fish

What is the water temp up north ? it is still much to cold for them down here

I grew up at Currumbin valley which is not far from mulwillimbah if you go the back way.

Fished the tweed a lot but never fished clarrie hall dam, real shame as it looks pretty as a picture and full of feisty fat bass what more could you ask for.

BM

[Help On Choosing Flick Stick]

I have a rack raider combo as well and for the money ($200) they are hard to beat. Have caught 50cm salmon and tailor as well as some big flatties and bream. I recon they would handle some rat kings away from structure of course

BM

[Beach Fishing]

hi frank,

whilst i am certainly no expert of the beach/rocks i have had pretty good success with both metal and plastics on salmon, tailor and bream.

Plastics I would not use any thing smaller than 3" in this environment, gulps, slick rigs and flick baits all do the job (flashy and blue is a fav colour). If targeting tailor and salmon work the top water column with energetic whips and flicks. Don't be afraid of a bit of whitewater on some spots this is the only place baitfish can hide. I have caught salmon and tailor casting into the faces of waves. Metals such as lazers or raiders cover more water and are more durable on tailor at least. Bream and flatties are more likely to be found on or near the bottom near structure, for them plastics rule and the retrieve should be slower with pauses ect. Squidgy fish or bass minnows and gulps all take fish.

Remember when beach fishing is look for the gutters with some top cover (whitewater) and on a making tide you should not have any problems.

Good Luck

BM

[Kingies Take Me For Another Tow!]

Wow what a catch!!!

poppers in winter is great if you can get it.

everybody loves kingies!!! they pull soo hard and just never give up, also fight dirty if given the chance, he he.

Yaking is definitely my next mission.

Well done again on two absolute pearlers

BM

[Lake Wallace Or Tcd]

Hey Mate,

looking at the latest dam levels below i would heading to wallace as it is full. Looks like they have pumped it from thommos. Wallace should be firing over flooded margins.

BM

Delta storage levels as at 15 June 2007

Dam

Active Storage (ML)

% of capacity

Thompsons Creek Reservoir

4,526

16.6

Lake Lyell

15,403

48.0

Lake Wallace

2,206

100.0

Total active storage

22,135

Total storage capacity

36.0

[My Quest For The Treble]

Well done Bream Mad on the treble, awesome catch, by the way just wanted to say thanks for the invite to the fish river before close of season, it really opened my eyes to some new techniques and new water. all the best troutboy

thanks Jamie,

Yeh it was a pleasure to have a fellow fishraider along for the ride. Can't wait to the trout season to open again i am keen to give a few other rivers a go.

Cheers

BM

[Thompson Creek Dam]

Great work guys,

Nice rainbows there, very good condition!!!

Pity about the low water levels and quicksand

I was up there the weekend before last and only fished the rivers for one dropped small brown

sounds like a good day by all. did you try wang dam (wallace), apparently it has been producing similar specimens and the weather is always nicer than thommos.

cheers

BM

[One Last Cast]

looks like my rod and reel you are using

rack raider and a sedona ?

Yeh the mighty rack raider has certainly caught plenty of fish so far the biggest has been a 50cm salmon and 55cm flattie but i recon it could easily go a jewie!!

I am actually going to buy the bream finesse model as well, because i recon they are a lot of rod for not much money

BM

[One Last Cast]

Went fishing this afternoon on Berowa creek hoping to nail a bream or two.

Plenty of boils and baitfish but as it was high tide i could not reach the best spots

After fishing for an hour without a hit things were looking grim

Tied on a squidgy fish and pelted out my last cast, on the first lift it was nailed by what i thought was a bream, although it felt a bit different. I certainly did not expect to catch this guy in two foot of water

A pretty little Estuary Perch, of cause he was released

Cheers

BM

[Is It Too Cold For Bass]

Went fishing on yesterday for Bass in the fresh and i can tell you the Bass are well and truly hibernating for the winter

4hrs for not one hit, not even on a plastic

Fished the same pool that yeilded 8 fish in March for zilch.

Also that definitely was and EP congratulations on you first.

They are a lot more silvery than Bass and have a scooped head.

BM

[2 Pb's On Sp's @ Iron Cove]

Hi PF and

That sounds like a good session, 40cm trev on 4lb is a serious catch

Trevs certainly do go hard. Good to see the 2" grubs doing it for you. Bloodworm is my favourite colour when the water is a bit clearer, just adds a bit of flash.

All PB's are good but 2 in one session is fantastic

Cheers

BM

[Tcd, How Is It Fishing ?]

Hi Bream Mad,

I fished TCD at the end of April. It wasn't a pretty sight -- and the water levels were still falling as Delta Power was drawing water off for the power stations. Word was Wallerwang Power Station was about to close down and cease power production, so the water level might now stabilise. Few fish were being caught in Thomsons.

Best fishing was in Lake Wallace (near Wallerawang), where big rainbows were being caught, and Lake Lyall (should be less alga now the weather is cooler) for smaller browns and rainbows.

Don't even think about Oberon Dam: Huge mud flats have trapped quite a few unwary anglers of late. Fears were that Oberon would be empty by August if there isn't substantial rain before then.

All a bit sad really.

Regards,

Bob

I think i might give the dams a miss, i don't have any confidence fishing Wallace from plenty of past donuts.

I think it is time to hit my favourite stretch of the Fish River, it is flowing nicely at the moment

See if i can't get some nice Browns before the streams close

BM

[23 Flattie Salute]

Thanks mate, and nice work with the bass!

I picked up the loomis today.....its unreal.

I may post some pics soon....

Ive been hitting the flatties for months now, and ive got them well and truly sorted, but im after a new challenge....Bream on lures .

I feel like im beating my head against a wall Any tips Bream Mad???? (or any of the other pro's out there????)

The main difference between catching Bream on lures and flatties is where you cast it!!

Bream are probably easier to catch on SP's under most situations, but you still get many more flatties than Bream. Using HB's I generally catch more Bream than flatties but it is slightly tougher.

Basically just cast you lure tight to structure and tweak it with plenty of pauses watching the line for signs of a take. To give you an example there is a shallow sand/mud flat i fish often that has plenty of good current flow but structure is limited to a few small sea grass patches and mangrove edges. I ONLY cast to these places if i am after Bream, because i know this is were they live. If i am after flatties i cast to the edges of drop offs. Structure is definitely the kew to catching Bream on lures, also a bit of current flow tends to congregate the fish to structure.

BM

[23 Flattie Salute]

Great work to send off an old favourite

23 is a serious number of flatties, i don't think i have ever caught that many in a session, great work!!

Speaking of the Procaster i just bought a 6"0' Procaster Z and i just love it!! christened it on sunday with 2 Bass in two casts he , he

Go the flatties

BM

[Tcd, How Is It Fishing ?]

Just got this info of Delta's site

Delta storage levels as at 14 May 2007

Dam

Active Storage (ML)

% of capacity

Thompsons Creek Reservoir

5,584ML

20.5%

Lake Lyell

5,435ML

16.9%

Lake Wallace

977ML

44.3%

Total active storage

11,996

Total storage capacity

19.5%

Maybe fishing from the dam wall will be out of the question (20% !!!)

Man that is low, at least the fish will be congregated and probably pretty hungry

BM

[Floating Lures]

I often tune the bouyancy of my lures by changing hooks and split rings to achieve that SLOW float that bream just love!!!

I did it on some Camion SR's because i felt it floated to quickly and not level, and it is now an absoulute brainer on Bass, Bream and soon trout

Ron's right though no need to touch an SX40 they are perfect from the box!!!

BM

[Tcd, How Is It Fishing ?]

This is a private dam run by Delta Electricity and the sign was there last yr as well.

There are strict conditons on entry and exit times as well and security guards patrol the area at times

If you go up that way please adhere to the rules set in place as its good spot close to Sydney and the trout fishing can be very good

Cheers Stewy

I did not know that you were not allowed to fish from the dam wall?

I have fished there several times before and never had a problem with fishing from the wall?

Even spoke to the sercurity guard and he did not say any thing, never noticed the sign

Having trouble sourcing celtas and vibrax's any ideas who stocks them in sydney

BM

[Tcd, How Is It Fishing ?]

Fished there a while back for no a lot of fish ,but last yr around June we scored some beauties including my PB Brown of 64 cms and grants Pb Rainbow of 53 cm.

When we were last there the water levels were way down.

Good luck and try rapala 5 cm floating rainbow pattern and tassive devils in pink or red celtas in no 3 size.

Cheers Stewy

Yeh,

I remember that Brown was a horse!!!. Thank's Stewy I was actually was planning to give some big squidgy fish in rainbow trout a go along the base of the dam walls (are you allowed to use SP's?). Never fished celtas or tassies, how do you fish them?

BM

[Tcd, How Is It Fishing ?]

Well the long wait is finally over and next weekend i plan to fish TCD, last time i was there in June 2006 it was 34% but still managed a 50+cm rainbow.

So raiders has any body fished it recently, what is the water level, and whats catching those mega thommo's trout????

BM

[Nepean River]

I did get three bass off the surface a week ago using Buggie pops, so it is still possible.

But you really had to pick the eyes out of the snags to get a response.

They are definitely slowing down with the onset of winter, bring on summer I say!!!

BM

[Sx 40]

Yep Ive lost quite a few bream lures to mega flatties and I have landed a few luckily hooked in the lips

I now use 10lb leader for my HBs

Well i have not got lucky with a lip hook yet , i think the current score is crocs 5 me 0

I just have more confidence with 6lb vanish, also i generally fish pretty clear water

BM

[Sx 40]

I have a similar story but a different kind of snag,

I was fishing Iron cove about a month ago with my brand new SX40 (306) at it was just nailing everything, i must of landed about 3bream, 3 flatties and a tailor on it before the inevitable happened, SX40 gets nailed, I strike and nothing, feels like a snag? then the snag surfaces, a mega flattie 75+cm, he looks at me turns away and casually bites though my leader, with my SX40 in its gob

I actually waited for a while afterwards hoping he would spit it out but no luck

BM

[Sharp Hooks]

I agree, done properly a sharpened hook will pick up those finnicky hits...

Most hooks, especially lure hooks come out of the packet so blunt they would struggle to hook up even if the fish swallowed it down to its bum.....For this reason i choose to use a combination of Gamakatsu and Black Magic chemically charpened hooks, i also change my lure hooks to gamakatsu single chem sharpened versions. When going for Jigheads, i prefer TT or Nitro that are built on Gamakatsu or Owner hooks, the berkley ones are horribly blunt from the packet.

If you are going to start sharpening hooks you need to do it correctly, and then check it after every fish as the thinner, sharper point will bend or become blunt more easily.

The method i like is to get a 'fine' diamond lapping stone and stroke down from the point to the barb, doing it parallel to the shank, then at 45* to give a sharp point.

Single hooks for HB's interesting, spoke to a guy who recomended singles for oyster rack bream, the kind that straighten the #12 owner trebles in a heartbeat. I would be interested to know if you feel you are getting more missed strikes with singles, and which way do rig them facing forward or backward??

On jigheads i like the nitro ones as well in #2 and larger. For my #4 size i have a big stock of the now discontinued Berkley Jigs, which i really like the shape of (not to long)but they really need a serious touch up with the file let me tell you!!

BM