pmak

Way to go Jonny D Good to hear a report from Warumbul where I fish sometimes. There are plenty of juvenile snapper there so lure and SP fishing may be the way to go. Plenty of squid there at the moment if you want to try squidding. Other than the Squidgy secrets DVD, you should also check out the Berkeley Soft Plastics DVD - much more useful tips on Soft Plastic fishing compared to the Squidgy Secrets in my opinion. It covers retrieve styles, rigging and even suitable knots for joining braid to leader and backing.

Nice fish there Simonator. What bait were you using?

With the squid around at the moment in the Hacking, I'm also curious to see if there are kings around as well.

IFS, Frustrating when fish follow your lure but don't take it! That spot you mentioned near the entrance to south west arm would be Warumbul. That wharf was where I picked up a frigate a couple of weekends back. No such luck with them last weekend though I saw one follow my pink squid jig. No luck on the frigates but had fun catching squid. Seems to be plenty of them around at the moment.

to the site. Great to have people lurking around finally 'come out' and join the community. We need more land based reports for those of us without a boat and great to see your successful catch.

Please add me to the list too. Would love to learn more as well as meet up with other raiders. Peter (pmak)

shadda, Warumbul is in the Royal National Park. You'll have to pay for entry to the park or get an annual pass. I go to Warumbul to avoid the crowds at Lilli Pilli - practically no one there most times though after my post, this may not be the same again. I see this as a small sacrifice compared to the amount of knowledge gained from other Raiders sharing their knowledge so I want to do the same too. Put up a report if you give it a go. I may see you there too one day ...

kabz, You can try Warumbul where I caught my first frigate last week. That's not too far from South West Arm. I think frigates move around a fair bit cruising the edges for a feed. I've also seen them up at Audley. You just have to be prepared when they're around (and hope that they're around). Sponot - seems like having a boat's the way to go when fishing the Hacking. Land based spots are few and far between. You can chase the fish on a boat but have to wait for the fish to show up when land based!

Great report Beaver. Decided to take up membership and contribute - that's what makes this site great. Is kingy fishing this hot every year? Gotta consider getting a boat for next year ....

That's a great catch - squidgies really do work! I've fished at Tuross before land based in front of O'Brian's boat shed - awesome spot. Gotta try the lake proper from a boat some day. Keep those reports coming in!

Hi Guys, Been hitting the Hacking lately to try to get into some of the hot action fellow raiders have been reporting. Tried Lilli Pilli and Warumbul the week before with 10g chrome slices with no luck. Headed down to my local tackle store to try to get some Zoom SPs after reading Dan's (Luringbream) report on their phenomenal success. The store didn't have any but suggested a small 7.5g metal baitfish profile that they had success with at Botany Bay (virtually identical to the River2Sea "Sea Rocky" 7 gram lure in the article on this site on Frigate Mackerel). Saturday 24/02 I was down at Warumbul again. No surface activity like last week - wasn't looking good. I sent out a Bass Minnow (watermelon) first and was picked up immediately on the drop. After a short fight, I got myself my first legal snapper on soft plastic!! After catching so many throwback pinkies, this just legal one is destined for the dinner table. Decided to try out the metal baitfish profile soon after and on the third cast, I saw the lure get taken close to the surface. Didn't feel much of a fight initially but as the fish got closer, it started to zoom off. It got a bit chaotic as I tried to reel in, get the net, drop the net to reel in some more, get the net again (a few more times) before I finally had the fish in the net! It came to 40cm and was fat and healthy. In my relative inexperience, I thought it was a bonito but got that cleared up after checking though this site - frigate mackerel, my first pelagic species! There was nothing else after that though I got to see three other frigates close by in the shallows. They were gone in seconds and I had my lure out in the opposite direction. Also saw a 1m wobegong cruise the same shallows and a small eel at my feet as I was cleaning the frigate. Was at the same spot on Sunday but it was raining and windy. No fish. I brought my kids this trip and we stopped at Audley on the way back so they could have a fish. We saw 6-10 frigates near our rock but again, they were gone in seconds. Didn't know they would cruise so far upstream.

Nel, The spot is the Picnic Area at the end of Warumbul Rd in the Royal National Park. If you look at any map, it's not too far from Lilli Pilli (as the crow flies) but is a bit of a drive. Lots of little snapper at the bottom but was quite active on the surface in the morning when I was there. Access is only after 7.00am I think.

After reading about all the activity at Lilli Pilli baths, I too decided to give it a go on Saturday 17th. Was the first one there before sunrise at 5am and set out 2 bait lines to see what was around at this time in the morning. The sun's glow was just peeping over the horizon and it was very quiet. I don't fish this early at all was enjoying the quiet serenity. I saw about 3 kayaks lingering in the area as well. A couple of guys showed up as it was beginning to get brighter and began throwing metal slugs with gusto over my lines and very close to me. Being a passive character (and with images of a fellow Raider with a slug in his eye still fresh in my mind) I took their hint and left the wharf to them. I headed to the rocks next to the wharf and threw some slugs out too as it was a lot brighter at this stage. No luck on bait and slugs and as the tide was coming in, I had to leave the rocks too. Headed to Warumbul next where I had the old jetty to myself. Heaps of surface activity there but nothing would touch my slugs and popper. Must try Dan's Zoom soft plastics next time. Also tried squidding with my el cheapo clicking jig and caught my first cuttlefish. Lost 2 as well - did not hook up properly. The water is so clear that you can see the squid or cuttlefish grab the jig! Had some fun at least.

If you want to try land based, I was at Apple Tree Bay last weekend fishing near the mouth of Apple Tree Creek with my kids. No waves or chops to worry about. Fish with a float and use bread / dough to catch mullet, bream, tarwhine or herring. Burley will help. The kids love it and can do it all by themselves. Here's my youngest (4 y.o.) with his self-caught mullet. I saw decent bream being caught there too on prawn.

You can also try Grays Point. When you are at the carpark at Grays Point, head to the rocks to the right. There is a rock ledge which is quite flat there which is great for kids. If you fish on weekends, I find Saturday better with less boat traffic. Burley to get the fish active and watch as your kid pulls them in by the dozen. Flatten the barb on the hook so that the fish are not badly damaged by the hook and use a wet towel to handle the fish to preserve the slime (and for better grip). I've taken my 2 kids there on many occassions float fishing and catch heaps of little fish and they've learnt to identify luderick, bream, tarwhine, juvenile snapper, leatherjacket, trumpeter, sand whiting, school whiting, mono and tailor all from that area. (See this discussion thread for fishing with wife and kids http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/inde...howtopic=18002). While it's great for kids, I have not managed to get any keepers in that area. Mostly small stuff (or maybe I am not fishing right). There are sand flats at the end of Grays Point where you can pump pink nippers at low tide - another great father / son activity. I have taken note of the suggestions posted by other members and will give them a go as well.

Thanks for sharing your depth of knowledge Flattieman. I have enjoyed your contribution to this section of the forums immensely. Like dailow and james1990 we have sampled a couple of the larger specimens and found them not too bad. The real surprise with this fish is that they were on sale at the aquarium shop for $35 each !!! We had a $70 snack of exotic ornamental fish!! (Imagine how much bream/flathead/snapper you can get for $70!!)

My kids were catching heaps of these fish at Grays Point (Port Hacking) recently. They seemed to be schooling with small luderick and bream close to rocks. I thought they were a dart or sweep species until I saw them recently at the local aquarium shop! Anyone know what it is?

My first post and how appropriate that it's on this particular topic. A little different to most on this site is that I actually started fishing (again after a long hiatus) because of my kids! We were given a copy of Squidgy Secrets Part 1 on VHS last year and it ended up being a favourite of my two boys. They have been bugging me to take them fishing since. Through trial and error, I figured that the best way for the kids to learn was to do float fishing off a jetty or rocks. The ability to see when the fish are biting and to strike when the float goes under are dead simple to learn and very exciting too. They use rods with no reels, just fixed line attached to a plastic spring loaded float and a size 8-12 long shank hook with dough as bait. Both the boys (6 and 4 years old) can bait the hook, cast out, strike, bring in the fish, unhook the fish and release it by themselves - which leaves me free to do my own fishing. No. 1 son can handle a reel as well and is quite good at catching whiting. Here are some of their catches: They still have some way to go before they can manage soft plastic fishing but they have a great time bait fishing ... As for the wife, she's keen as well but gets put off when we have few keepers fishing land based. She dropped a bombshell recently when she asked me to consider getting a boat . I nearly fell over! Not rushing into it yet though - want to get the basics right first. Maybe next summer .... Anyhow, great to be part of this friendly on-line community. Keep up the good work!