Chef

Also try varying your retrieve each time. They work different on a fast or slow wind, stopping or jerking the lure. You can also try combinations of the above. It's all about practice.

Well done Andrew on draging him out of the shop or office, that got to be a bigger feat than any Bream catching. I don't know anyone who works as hard as he does, and yet he still smiles.

Well done. Any bream is a good bream, but a PB is tops.

Only ever use SP & some hard bodies. Will send you a PM re help.

I think the smile on the kids sums it up.

The Bay can be really hard, if not dam near impossible, in weather like what we had over the weekend. I heard that the ledge on the Sth side of the heads, as you head out but before you go round, was producing for some of the boys in the tournament this weekend. They figured that as it was out of the wind the bait fish may hold up there as well.Worth remembering for next time if the wind is up again.

No worries Shant, no offence taken at all. It is a really weird pic. Just for the record, all our sizes are to the fork, not the tail length. This makes it easier when doing ABT comps etc as it becomes a habbit and you don't forget how the different sizes effect your catch as per their rules. The one thing you don't see properley in the pic is Billy's smile. It was ear to ear all day.

Great company, good fishin and something to take home. Not too mention your three PB's. Awsome fun.

Your not kidding about the bait in there. At one time we saw enough small poddy mullet to fill the entire Pyrmont Fish Markets. Ok, a little exaduration there but you get what i mean, there is heaps. Anyone who has live poddy's is in with a HUGE shot at Jew's.

Had a couple of hours to kill this morning so Jason ( Known as Stafford to many ), and i went up the Cooks river to get out the wind. Found most of the river to be like glass and the fish must have loved it as well because in just four odd hours we boated about 25 Bream from just on legal to about 800 gr. We also got heaps of undersize as well as heaps of lizards and a by-catch of a 3kg Jewie in the same spot the Swordfisherman catches his. Love that bridge. Funny thing was we found them to be on the bite almost the whole time not just in a particular section of time. Hardest part of the session was having to go home for lunch and leave with fish still on the bite. Also had a great time at the ramp releasing the catch, after we weighed & inspected them, and watching the faces of the astonished onlookers who could not believe we were throwing them back. Watching them is almost as much fun as catching the fish. It's funny how many don't understand the concept behind catch & release.

Well done mate. Hope you bring that good luck on Saturday.

Well done, a nice catch. The Bay is working so well now it's a pleasure to hit the water.

It was really a day for hunting. You had to move around alot in order to find them and even then they were usually on the move and so the search continued. We started off on the flats in Iron Cove where we must have got 20+ flatties and just as many taylor. We picked up two legals, one kicker of about 900gr. We then moved to some flats up the river where we found a nice little sweet spot that saw three legals come over the side, again one of about 900gr and another of about 800gr. We kept on the move but apart from upgrading on flatties, taylor, whiting & undersized bream (lots of undersize bream) we didn't see another bream of legal size. Our bag went 3.108 and saw us take 7th place. As good as it was there were some cracker fish taken. The 3 biggest fish taken on the day were 1.47 1.43 & 1.42. Not bad when i think all of these came from the same area, LC river boat hulls, as best as i found out. All in all it was a great day, even with all those flatties. As for the prizes, i can tell you we got some really cool team Berkley shirts, rolls of vanish leader, heaps of power bait lures, stubbie coolers, gift vouchers for Gabes Tackle, Berkley & Gulp hats etc etc etc - really nice stuff. If i may take the liberty, i should also say a quick thanks to Tony at Fishfinder for all the help & support he gave the team. His rods made all the difference in being able to lock & load a fish in when you had to or go the opposite way and have it run with soft drag and let the rod do the work. It made it sooooooo easy to bring in the bigger ones in any water conditions and not have to worry about the rod go bang. Cmon guys we need more Raiders at these gigs. They are alot of fun and a great way to catch up with others. If your keen to learn plastic fishing you will not find a better venue than these events as you can ask the pro's questions, listen to the conversations and sometimes even get out on their boats. Apart from that you have a really good time - they become a little addictive.

Top work Ross. At some point us bearded ones need to make a stand against these rebels and show'em who's boss. May help to see Tony and get some more line.

Hit Rose Bay ramp around 6 this morning to see Flightmanager putting in as well, hi Ross.After a brief g'day we headed out in an attempt to give one of the regular Fishfinder customers a lesson on breaming with plastics. This is as usual a no bait day. Got out some of Tony's 1 - 3kg rods and started showing my passenger how to work the lure when the reel exploded and just kept running & running & running. We chased it down with the electric to find it was a 70cm king, not bad on 4lb line with 4lb leader. Restarted our bream lesson again only to hook up on anther king and get smoked. We hooked up many times over the next few hours with kings and huge frigates being caught. All the kings were on the 4lb combos and credit must really go to Tony for some fantastic rods that took the load with such ease. The Sustains & Stradics also had something to do with it. The next few hours saw a quantity of flaties brought up that even amazed me. We threw back anything under 45cm and still bagged out. By this stage we have a full load of flatties, all kings released except for two and same for the frigates and a single flounder that was about 45cm. GO THE PLASTICS. Decided to head into Watson Bay for a break and cold drinks and again bump into Ross & his son. Discussions led to some donated plastics & directions and soon we were both fishing back at our little hidy-hole. On arrival more flathead were found and Ross's son was delighted to have got a 50cm flatty to the side of the boat, unfortunately only to lose it, but that's ok as the fight is half the fun. As the wind had come up we left Ross to the flatties and moved to a new hole i had been wanting to try for some time. On arriving we found it to be out of the wind and full of bait fish just sitting there resting from the conditions out in the main harbour area. Within 40min i had bagged 4 bream of around 1kg each and a 5th of about 500gr. Now i ask you, why can't we do this in a bream competition ??? WHY ??? Headed back to the ramp having released heaps of fish & with enough supplies to fill a Saturday night bbq with flatty beer batter pieces and kingy steaks. I even got a thankyou pack of bourbon mixers to wash the salt out - how much better can it get ?

Tough is an understatement. We fished Saturday starting on the boats in Lane Cove but after catching half the pinky population for the entire harbour we left the boats in the hope a tide change later may improve them. We then moved to the flats with lots of Bream caught, however all were about 1cm from being put in the bag. From here we hit the shore line and pontoons hoping the incoming tide would bring them in. We caught a few, two in particular that were dropped and two in the bag. Hit the boats again but nothing happening with bream, lots of flatties and other by-catch but where's the bream. Day two saw us hit the Eastern side of the bridge and some great fish caught in beautiful rain & windy conditions. We saw many bream over the kilo but no matter how much we negotiated with them they were not playing ball. Put two nice fish in the bag early and heaps of by-catch. Michael caught a great kingy between boats that took him for a nice long run on 4lb line only to get snapped off a meter or two from the side. We then hit some legal marinas and boats but the wind was up too much, and the rain - well it was wet as usual. All in all it was a great weekend with some really nice guys, and as usual i came back with a head full of new found knowledge. Lookout Berkley Summer Series here we come.

If you want to hit some bream i recommend the following. After the second bridge you come to a fork. Take the right side and go under the next bridge where on the left you will see a heap of ivy growing over the top of the rock wall. Where the ivy finishes you start throwing 6" sandworms at the wall. Fish it all the way up to the next bridge and then hit those pilons. make sure to stay on the left side as the right has a car body & fridge that your boat may not like too much. Take a good supply of jig heads just in case.

We have found that on any given day their colour choice changes as quick as the tides. If we were to only take one out with us it would prob be # 307. It seems to do the damage on a more consistent basis, but then i'm not sure where you are. As a sideline, you may want to look at the Strike Pro range. They are half the price and work just as well if not better in some waters. If they are not in your local shop, call Tony at Fishfinder and he mail send them to you if you mail him a money order, worth a call.

Preperation is the key, the more time you put into it the better the end result will be.This will either confuse you more or hopefully may help: 1. Use a quality primer as an undercoat, don't just apply the paint. 2. Use a roller with a very fine nap, short hair, finer the better. Also a quality brush with longer hair as the standard hair length is usually for water based paints. 3. Better to apply in several thinner coats than one or two heavy as this will only increase your chances of runs. 4. Always finish the edges with the brush and always in the one direction. Long even & level stroke not small short ones. 5. The big hint. We use a paint additive, that slows the paint drying time and helps the paint flow better. This allows the paint to gell or lay smoother and gives a more even surface. Most may not believe, but when we do speciality finishes such as fake marble, granite, pearl looks or wood grains etc, we use brush's and have no brush marks - just a glass look. Talk to your local specialty paint shop, not a Hardware shop, and get some advice relating to the type of paint you want to use. Drop me a PM if you like as i'm not sure what type of paint you want to use and this would have a bearing on the type of gear you can use. Remember, you can always sand it off if you don't like it. Maybe try a sample job on a old car bonnet that most panel beaters will give you for free. Tony.

Call Tony at fishfinder Bait & Tackle as he has an extensive range on the shelf. New ones are coming in all the time, espically this time of year. 96617967

What a great way to meet everyone for my first social. Lots of new friends, great food & a fun time. All of which helped to make the weather fade away. Thanks & appreciation to all who put in the effort to make the day the success it was, and a big thanks for helping the new boy on the block to feel welcome.

Everyone has a theory & it can be confusing but this is what we do. Dark plastics for overcast days & light ones for sunny days, however, if this is not working to well we always try the reverse for two reasons. 1. matching the hatch at the time. Each day their food source can change so today may not work tomorrow. 2. Mother nature does not always play ball the way we want. In most areas we have a favourite lure / sp that we always start the session with. Once you find yours it will tell you what to try next if it's not working on that day. I start the session with 3" Pearl Watermelon minnow & or Camo worm. From there we re-colour the plastics with one of our kits, on the boat, to suit the food source they are feeding on at the time. Hope it helps & does not confuse you more.

Hi Ross, You can add me, Big Tony from Fishfinder and also '1975', Billy, as he will be on our boat. We will be at the meeting point from 5 with all the pre-ordered bait that has been phoned to Tony at the shop. People should look for the yellow boat with silver scales on the front. Should be a great day, look forward to meeting everyone.