Stapo

It's been the best prawning season for years up here, they have been running since the September dark. It's a lot of fun with great rewards, fresh live bait and great sandwiches. They have some very good underwater lights out now with the batteries in the handle witch put out about 700 lum. You can wade around in the channel which is quite shallow or prawn from a boat which is more comfortable. This weekend the tide will be good and it will be a week after the new moon, weather permitting cheers and good luck Steve

Being a local a can't really understand how they can fish like that and not get tangles. I fish the run a lot,Black fishing with floats and when it gets crowded we cast over the top of each other but it works ok sinker fishing must be difficult using this system I think they must us huge sinkers. I have been told they use riggler worms bought up from Sydney.The bait and tackle store at long Jetty usually has blood worms but you have to get in early. Anyway there is still plenty of fish around, If you have a boat we have been catching Flathead every day on the Western side of the bridge fishing the weed beds using soft plastics or baits will work ok. There are Whiting on the flats using poppers or prawn shape surface lures. Just past the bridge on the Eastern side Flathead and Whiting early in the morning, the run out tide seems to be the best. Under the bridge at night working the lights from the Bridge Flathead, Bream Whiting and a lot of choppy tailor. The Flatties have been good size this year we are letting go anything over 600mm because there is plenty there, Unfortunately I saw the remains of one at least one metre long last night left at the boat ramp for every one to see. Even the pelicans couldn't eat it. The prawns are still running I got 5 kilo last night mostly king prawns some as long as your hand which is pretty good for the Entrance.It's very crowded wading the channel but there is still plenty of room for all. Fish early start at 5am finish at 9 30 after that the boat ramps get crowded with these huge boats that take forever to launch. cheers Steve

You won't get cold if you have good waders and a jacket. Weather conditions look good with slight winds and no rain,the biggest problem is the moon phase the full moon is next Thursday. The best time is 4 days after the full moon for 2 weeks. In saying that the tide is ok it should be running out at 8.30 Friday night. I have caught them in a full moon so the answer to your question is nobody can really say for sure you just have to be there. Reports during the week were 1 to 1.5 kilo which isn't a lot but it is a feed. I'll be there, I just can't help myself. Hope this helps Cheers Steve

Hi guys This Fishing report from The Entrance is mainly from local retired friends who fish most days while I'm working. Good luck to them. The flathead are picking up, reports of nice catches in the South Channel and main Channel near Pelican Island using soft plastic's. Also the North Channel a few came in near Three Way's with live poddie mullet as the preferred bait. ( Lano's not Bullies ) Black fish are still being caught in the run to the see especially when the swell is up and the tide is rising, soft weed or cabbage the best baits. The big flatties in the run haven't come on yet but when they do it's live poddies under a float. I caught 2 nice Estuary Perch ( 38mm ) on the wall floating live prawns ( same as your Black Fish rig )they will take live shrimp but the prawns work the best, They must be alive if you put a dead one on they won't touch it. No reports of any good Whiting catches yet either in the lake or on the beach. There are still some nice Bream taking variety of baits at night under the bridge. Not really worth making a special trip this way yet unless you want to catch some prawns. It's been a great season so far. The last couple of darks have resulted in excellent catches of School Prawns.Just using scoop nets catches of up to 15 kilos in 1hour.They ran that hot you didn't need a light and the net was just held between your legs. The Pro's caught 2 tonne that night. Now a freshly cooked Tuggerah Lakes prawn is hard to beat. The Dredge is still working on the Eastern side of the Bridge, It should be finished soon

Unfortunately I gave up trying to sharpen my knives,cleaning Black Fish takes the edge off real quick so I bought an electric filleting knife I can fillet, skin and debone the luderick in less than half the time and a better job.But they are not for everybody,just for some of us that have a hard time sharpening knives.By the way I have had it for 2 years now and it's still going strong.

Big Neil I'll have to agree with hawkesbass braid will float ok but because it's so thin it would be hard to control your stoppers and it has no give.If you don't use a floating line then normal mono is fine but you will have to grease it with vaseline so it floats on top. I fish the estuary at the Entrance land based with a side ways drift the depth is about 6 to 8 foot my line is fairly heavy as I don't want to lose my float and sinker because that's where all the time and effort has gone,still catch plenty of fish.The float is long and thin home made about 300mm long the beads stop the stopper going through the float and also stop the swivels working their way into the sinker.Try to use one sinker and don't use any shot. Now this is my set up everybody has their own it might not be correct but it works for me. Starting from the top 16lb main line stopper,bead,float,bead then swivel Intermediate section where your sinker is 12lb fluorocarbon bead sinker bead swivel.(this section is about 400mm long leaders 10lb fluorocarbon 800mm to number 8 size hook ( I like to use long leaders some times up to 1 metre be careful not to go too long as when you cast they can get caught around the top of your float ( jockey ) I also have a 2 hook rig so a 3 way swivel is used and I put a small piece of bicycle tube on each side of the swivel to keep the lines apart also the lines are different lengths. cheers Steve

Thanks Poacher no probs

Hi all New member and this is my first report,sadly it is not a good one. Had the day off work so I took the boat out The Entrance flicking a soft plastic from the bridge to Pelican Island for some flathead,caught nothing. There was heaps of taylor around and mullet but no flatties.It's not only me I have been getting the same reports from other locals and the Pro's. The strange thing is we have been catching heaps through winter June,july and August then they shut down,even bait or live poddies have no result. Now we do have a dredge working the channel the other side of the bridge to the mouth which started around September but could this be the reason? The prawn run has also started with great catches so far, are they to well fed at the moment? Is the water to cold? well it was a lot colder in June. Do we need rain to flush them out of the creeks? That's what keeps us going back I suppose you have to keep trying. I wonder if anybody has and thoughts. On a positive there are a few estuary Perch being caught using live prawns or shrimp and nice bream under the bridge at night and like I said excellent prawning at the mouth of the channel just with scoop nets,the pro's got 2 tonne in one night two weeks ago. cheers Steve

John The Wilson have a special rod for the Alvey the forst runner is further away from the reel so at cast a bit better bit like a beach fishing rod cheers Steve

I use a wilson live fibre about 10'6" very light and is a dedicated blackfish rod.I use it from the banks and boat,you might get one for $150 if you shop around, think I paid about $160 three years ago. your biggest decision is weather to use a centre pin reel or a spinning reel. Cheers Steve

They tell me it will be there for another month at least.It's about 65% finished it will continue on the northern side till it reaches the boulder They need more sand on the beaches.It sure has effected the fishing in the area but the prawning has been the best for many a season.