Dave_

Yeah mate, you've been getting some great Bass well done. You've got the Bass bug now! I was using 10lb today because I knew I'd be casting in the dark and I wanted a little extra strength in case of snags. I usually run 8lb in the river though. Anything up to 14lb in impoundments. Bass are certainly not as fussy as Bream when it comes to leader so you can afford to go a little heavier.

G'day Raiders, I woke up at 2:30am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I checked the Barometer and it was 1027 which is the first time it's been over 1020 in a long time. I got up and got some gear together and grabbed my young blokes Freams 2000 and Gen Black Itchy Twitchy. I was really praying for some good luck as my last 2 outings were shockers. The first resulted in a busted reel and the second resulted in a busted ute, both of which I haven't got back yet. This meant that I was on foot, in the dark at 4am and with someone else's set up. I was keen. Got to the first spot and I couldn't see a thing in the dark and fog so I was casting blind with expensive lures. Second cast with a Megabass Siglett and it gets smashed at my feet and almost scares the you know what out of me.....but no hook up. Oh well, I was now awake! A couple of casts later and I hooked up to what felt like a 40+cm fish, big hit and hard first run. I still couldn't see a thing so I put it on the mat and he only went 33cm, it really punched above it's weight. The next half hour was really frustrating, I had about 10 hits and no hookups. The Siglett is a gun lure but the hookup rate is woeful with the single treble, I've tried dual stinger hooks but they were worse so I went back to the single treble, I'm thinking of using both. After this frustrating period, I hooked a nice little fish but it had to strike 3 times before being hooked. It jumped out of the water twice like a Barra hahaha! That's a first for me! Bassamundi??? It went 28cm. I then lost the Siglett in a tree, I'll retrieve it another day. I tried a few other lures including beetle spins with wriggler, small hardbodies and other surface lures but I wasn't getting the hits like before. I even caught a live cicada and put it on one of the trebles of my soft shell cicada lure just to see if it would work. It looked awesome in the water, just like 2 cicadas floating side by side....but they didn't want it. I was really impressed with the Itchy Twitchy and Freams 2000. Really nice for reasonably priced gear. As soon as the sun started to rise, the fish shut down. The Bass are really fussy this year but at least I'm getting a few and I didn't break anything else! Cheers Dave

Hahaha I noticed that after too hahaha!

Yeah it snapped at the base as you can see but I think something else went wrong up further too. All the oil leaked out so yeah, I done a good job of it!

Cheers mate, it was certainly one of my tougher outings...

Yeah mate, the Atomic hardz Crank 38 is a great lure. Bass love 'em too

G'day Raiders, Well, where do I start? With the nice weather predicted for today, we decided to give Stockton Beach a go instead of the usual breakwall sesh. Hadn't been surf fishing for a while and the reports have been awesome. I went and got some beautiful live freshwater poddies yesterday arvo and got up bright and early this morning and got ready to go..... This is probably as good as the day got. All set to go and I walk out the front door (too keen) and leave the keys inside...locked out and no car keys either! We had to wait 45 minutes for my mrs' sister to bring a spare over. Bugger! Oh well, we put it behind us and got on our way. Got to the beach and found a nice looking gutter despite the millions of tourists. I hadn't even set my rod up yet (I'm the deckie) and the mrs had a nice big Flounder landed on a poddy and my mate dropped another good fish. Beauty! Good spot! The day is back on track! Then, not 5 minutes later, the Mrs got badly crook in the guts....she tried to tough it out but she was busted so we had to pack up and leave.....damn...fishing trip was over...what next? Well...... On the way back up the beach access, there were tourists everywhere, all bogged in their little toy cars that should never even see the sand and they were all stuck on a hill so I had to dodge them all while keeping enough pace to avoid getting stuck myself (and I had to get the Mrs to the nearest restroom FAST!). I came up to 2 cars bogged side by side so I had to detour around them while keeping the pace on.......and I drove into a huge ditch and launched my truck and snapped a front strut! Couldn't believe it! Shocking day! I limped it to the servo and got the Mrs sorted and called the insurance mob and got my ute towed away. I was 2 hours from home so I had to get a hire car to get everyone and all my stuff home....But we didn't quit. We stopped at the park to try to save the day and got a 41cm Flathead. 2 fish in the bag and it was time to go home with our tails between our legs. It was just one of those days! Cheers Dave

Yep, Sunday is the pick of the days by far. Might try for a Jewie.

I didn't know we got these down here. Some different species turning up lately.

Haha I've never caught a redfin so I'd actually be pretty happy with that! I'm going to talk to Daiwa in the morning and find out what it will cost to service and repair the reel. I've heard the Stradics are a nice reel. I don't know why but I seem to have a few Daiwas at the moment (Luvias DA Custom 2000, Freams 2000, Caldia 3000, Caldia SHA 3000 and Saltist 6500H) but I'm not opposed to Shimanos as it probably seems I am haha. I guess I'll wait and see what Daiwa says.

How big are the Tailor fillets? If they're really big ones and there isn't enough hook exposed, the Jew may be swallowing the bait without being hooked and then spitting it out. Also, are you using circles? If not, give them a try. Jew are just real buggers sometimes.....

Mate, I'm using 8lb Power Pro and 10lb Siglon F/C on a 2-5kg T-Curve Tournament. It's an all rounder set up and heavier than what I'd ideally use for river Bass. 6lb braid on a 1000 size reel and 1-3kg rod is more suitable imo. The big ones still give me a run for my money in tight cover though!

I've heard that it is possible to target then on surface but you've really gotta match the hatch or annoy the hell out of them. I've caught Silvers on surface but never Goldens. Keep it up!

Thanks Ryder. I was just looking at the schematics for this reel and you're right. The rotor has detached and a part has come loose or gone missing. I can't buy a new reel right now so I guess I'll send it in to Daiwa to get a service...bummer...Bass season over for me.....unless I can steal my young blokes set up hahaha!

G'day Raiders, It's been a while since I done a Bass report, the barometer has been down and they've been hard work. Today was no different, the barometer was only 1007, I haven't seen it at 1020 for a long time but I went for a flick anyway. I tried a beetle spin when the sun was still out with no luck and I knew they were really shut down so I turned to a Megabass Siglett when it got darker. This lure has a knack of working when nothing else does. Too many pinpoint casts later, I hooked up to a small Bass. Nice, they were finally on! Next cast, I got the Siglett stuck on a log and lost it...bugger...it was too dark for a swim so I'll get it tomorrow. I put on a black Tiemco Soft Shell Cicada and first cast got crunched, line was peeling off and it was a good Bass. It was taking me toward a snag so I grabbed the spool and steered it away. I started to wind but suddenly my reel was jammed! I couldn't wind at all! The big Bass went into the snag and it was all over... I checked my reel and the whole thing fell apart! Wtf? The reel is a Daiwa Luvias DA Custom 2000 and is about 6 years old and has been the best reel I've had. I understand it's an old reel but I've always washed all saltwater off after every trip and sprayed it with reel deal. I don't know much about reels so could someone tell me what happened please? Shattered. Cheers Dave

Nice mate, I've never got a Yellowbelly on a surface lure before. Awesome.

Awesome fish mate. Aren't they fairly rare down this way?

Interesting fish. They're said to be excellent eating.

I fished the breakwall in early November, I got plenty of big bream, a few flatties, Dart, Whiting, Flounder, forktail catfish, and we had a couple of unstoppables too. My suggestion? Take your biggest gear and chain yourself to a rock. I haven't seen line peel that fast off a spool for a long time. Good luck.

I've heard this too. Never tried them though.

Yeah mate I was there in May, best place ever. There are some good fish to be caught at the sugar wharf but it can be tough. I got into a school of small Big Eye Trevally on the bream gear with plastics, that was fun. I also got some small Javelin fish there too but none were size (I think legal is 40cm from memory) When I first got there, I got a load of bread and threw a bit in the water to see if I could attract anything. After about 10 minutes, 4 or 5 huge Diamond Scale Mullet swam into the berley trail but I didn't have my gear with me! They go hard and are awesome fun. The herring there are in plague proportions and one throw with your net will have you more than enough bait. I was talking to some local guys and they said that you could get a few decent Barra there of a morning but it's since been dredged out through there or something and it's not as great as it once was. It's still worth a shot. Honestly though mate, hire a BBQ boat and head up the Dickson Inlet with plastics and hardbodies. I went with a charter and then went back to all his spots by myself and got onto Barra, Jacks, Pikey Bream etc. The Jacks there are as common as Bream are here. It's just an awesome place for everything. If you have any more questions, just PM me. Cheers Dave

I was always told these were trumpeter.

Yep, I agree totally here. I was in tears too mate. This whole topic is awesome! Defo no offence to the OP at all.

Hahahahahaha!!! Oh man, this topic made me laugh in so many ways! I'm dying worse than that fish was hahaha! Thank you so much!