cooper

I wont be swimming there for a while!

I conned my wife into letting me buy her a new beach fishing outfit as we needed one. So on Saturday afternoon I encouraged her down to Long Reef Beach to see how she liked her new rod. I picked up some live squirt worms in the hope of finding some whiting/ bream. After locating a deep green gutter I had the first go at 'testing' the outfit while my wife settled down on a towel with her cross- word. Minutes later I got a nice hit and settled in for a 5minute battle on 3kg mono. Didn't catch any bream or whiting but did catch a nice little fat salmon- and put him back! My wife got to see her rod works well and she took photos to prove it!

Thanks zenman, it seems they are more common around Sydney than I thought!

It pretty well sums up what keeps me fishing- the speculative nature of it all- not really knowing whats coming next!

My mate went for a fish yesterday up Smiths Creek (an arm of the Hawkesbury) and caught heaps of small snapper and bream to throw back. Anyhow, he decided to troll a shallow diving bibbed minow for tailor slowly back to Apple Tree Bay in the middle of the day. He was out in deep water in the middle of Smiths Creek when he got a good hit and pulled in a 7kg fish he had never seen. He kept the head and tail to show me to ask what it was. I was more than a little surprised to see he had caught a Cobia. I have fished this system for years and never caught or heard of people catching cobia there- especially in the middle of the day with all that boat traffic around on the surface. Anyone else caught any in the Hawkesbury?

Hey southerly, I reckon the fish busting up the surface were probably tailor. I was down there having a spin during the week and caught a dozen or so slightly under size tailor by casting a small metal lure out to the surface activity.

Great effort mate! Sure beats another lousy day at the office.

Mate, it sounds fun even if you caught tiddlers. About five years ago I was spinning when a guy bait fishing nearby foul hooked a small muddy so there might be a couple around.

I was feeling gripped by a bad case of cabin fever yesterday afternoon so grabbed my beach rod and mate cooper and headed down to Mona Vale beach for a session with the pillies. Driving down the rain was so intense that cars were stopped along the side of the road waiting for a break in the weather :1badmood. I slowed to 3km per hour as I just had to keep moving towards my destiny with the beach. Cooper kept sleeping with his head on my lap. When we got to Mona Vale we discovered not 1 gutter or hole and a semi head wind that made me think about trying anti depressant medication. So we switched to halfway along Narrabeen which didn't look much more fishable but decided to give it a go anyway. First couple of casts yielded zero with just one good thump and pillie gone in an micro second- hallmark tailor thuggery. Third cast and cooper waded in after me and nearly got sucked into the washing machine like water. A lot of unpleasant words and and a homemade grabbing manoeuvre usually reserved for landing jewies and the like and I had my mate back on the beach where he was relegated to keeping the flying satans (sea gulls) away from the remnants of my bait. Shortly after the wind and the impending monsoon like rain conned me into calling it quits. I caught no fish but did manage to catch cooper on the collar as I was packing up- contolling a flying set of ganged hooks in that wind is an experience in and of itself. My mate jumped around for a moment in fright until the hooks came loose. Even though I caught nothing edible (although cooper would be a delicacy in other parts of the world) I had a great time watching the angry ocean and ink black clouds taunting each other. You cannot put a price on the smell of the salt air and the wind through your hair and nothing but your best mate next to you, a rod in your hand and an ocean full of speculation.

G'day Dave, I went up there land based this arvo casting from various spots with 3 inch spuidgy shads and caught 2 small bream and a small tailor. Looks like an area that could be productive so will persevere more as time permits. One interesting thing did happen which was a not entirely small bow wave followed a plastic I was retrieving weightless near the surface. I did not actually see any fish but I do wonder what might have been. Cheers Soren!

Being rather new to the area I was wondering if anyone know's whether it is worth chucking soft plastics around upriver from the Roseville bridge or is it better baitfishing after the rain?