pmak

Iceman/bassboy - will keep the tips in mind. I've never really tried topwaters in that area and don't know the best seasons for it but it looks like March is good. If I wasn't going away during the Easter break, I'd be down at the flats fishing for sure! Formosan - I was in about a metre of water casting to shallower stuff. I'd swap bream fishing for some kingy action if I knew what to do! Poddy Trapper - it's already March heading into April. Gotta unleash your Stratos into the bay man ....

Hi Fellow Raiders, Been spending the last few weekends at Towra / Kurnell as usual. Is it just me or has summer arrived a little late this year? Been trying topwaters at Towra this time during early morning high tides - really early morning as in just on first light figuring that fish would be freely feeding in the flats in the low light conditions. Well, what do you know, they were! I was targeting bream of course but on two occassions, really good sized trevally have taken a liking to my Berkley 3B Scum Dog lure. Both fish were in the mid 40s and fought really well. I thought the first trevally was a fluke but the second proved beyond doubt that the trevally were willing to take a topwater lure! There were bream to be found as well. There were more missed strikes than fish caught. The difficulty was not striking when you see the fish smash the lure. I actually caught the bream in the picture when I was fiddling with my Minn Kota and left the lure sitting still in the water! (gotta allow more pauses in the retrieve me thinks). I unfortunately lost the lure eventually to most probably a tailor or snook. Bream were definitely in Towra in numbers. I could see them in schools and many would follow the bream that I hooked close to the boat! Hope some Raiders get into the action as well before things cool down! pmak

cjchen, At least you got a feed to bring back. The weather was good last weekend - like summer decided to show up again for a while! There were a few trevally around when I fished. Flickbaits, wrigglers and topwater lures were producing for me then.

Bassboy. Great to hear you got out despite the weather lately and got some good fish! Well done on entering the ABT too. Must have been scary being in a field of pros but I'm sure what you learn from entering is worth it!

Aww. Can just tell from the way you told the story how special it was for you too. A moment both father and son can keep forever and treasure. Here's hoping there are more such moments as the boy grows up ... regards, pmak

Wow! That's a top catch for a slow day's fishing. Any legal snapper from the harbour is a real bonus and that's a really good size too.

Bassboy - living up to your name eh! Great catches and photos there!

Matt, I fished the lake for the first time for a few days over the new year and managed to get a few as well but on shallower water close to shore. You;re right - they are great fun to catch and are huge compared to bream and trevally I normally target! pmak

Sad to hear of the news of Jewgaffer's passing. Have often wondered why we have not seen his postings on the site for a while. Have not spoken to him or met him but have had the privelage of poring over his many contributions to the site, especially on the art of chasing his favourite jewfish. I shall miss the lengthy and often funny observations and opinions which he shared with all of us on this site. My condolences to his family.

Hey Bassboy. Sounds like a great experience with the tarpon. Show you've read the terrain well and adapted to the situation to get the bites and land the fish. Sorry about the missed barra but I guess seeing a monster landed in the boat would've been exciting enough. Learning to read the sounder is something the experts seem to do a lot of and is a skill I'll admit I have not developed at all. We spoke to a gun local at Windamere at our recent trip who was getting double digit captures at all hours of the day in the middle of the lake just by finding the deeper fish on his sounder. Definitely a useful skill to develop ...

Well done on your capture. What a fish to break a drought! Great pics too especially of the flattie swimming away in clear water with you very happy in that shot. Look forward to more reports in future ...

Happy New Year fellow Raiders. I normally lurk around the saltwater lure fishing section of the forum but have something to contribute to this section now. Just got back from a family camping holiday inland for a change. Stayed at a tourist park in Mudgee and made the half hour trip to Lake Windamere for fishing sessions when we could manage the time. I called into the local camping, 4WD and fishing tackle store to get some local advice on how to fish the lake and got some general advice from the staff there. Dark coloured bibless crankbaits and purple coloured deep diving hardbodied lures were the recommended lures. However, no general locations or time of day were given to help me target the local species the lake was known for - Golden Perch. Early morning on New Year's day, I launched from the Cudgegong Waters Park boat ramp ($6 gate fee) and made the fifteen minute trip to the north eastern shore of the lake. Armed only with some general spots on the AFN map of the lake, my youngest son, my Father-in-Law and myself began our first freshwater lake fishing session ever! Anticipation was high. We had an olive coloured twin blade TT spinnerbait (against local advice), a bright coloured lipless crankbait (against local advice again) and a matt black lipless crankbait which we cast toward the shore in a quiet looking bay. It wasn't too long before my FIL on the spinner bait was calmly saying he was on! A short fight later our first Yellowbelly was in the boat We were in awe of the size of these fish - it measured in at 48cm. Further down the same shoreline, I came up tight on one which felt heavy and fought in a similar way to a big flathead. It was soon in the net and my first Yellowbelly came in at 58cm . After some pics and admiring this beauty, I swam her next to the boat for a few seconds and let go when it began to flick its tail. A matt black Kokoda lipless crankbait was the lure that was its undoing. My youngest son who accompanies me on most trips was feeling left out at this stage and was anxious to catch one himself. He did not have to wait long before he too was playing tug-of war with a Windamere Golden Perch. It came in at a respectable 52cm and fell to a bright yellow and orange lipless crankbait. All fish were caught within 1 hour of sunrise and as the sun rose, we struggled to catch any fish. We had some fish follow our lures right up to the boat only to turn away without eating the lure. By 10am, the sun was beating down on us so we pulled the plug and headed back to Mudgee. A similar plan of attack was put in place for the next day, this time with my eldest son in tow to see if we can put him onto a fish as well. We fished the same bay at the same time but it was eldest son's day with the only fish for the session at 51cm . The fish was caught on a bright yellow lipless crankbait again within 1 hour of sunrise. As the sun went up and as we cruised the edges, we could see fish holding to the edges of weed beds and against tree branches only metres from the boat but were impossible to catch! I woke up on the third day to strong morning winds and decided against going out . However, by the afternoon, the winds had calmed down a bit and I made the call to fish in the late afternoon just before sunset in the belief that the fish might come on the bite then. With my wife and father in law coming along this time, I was hoping to get my wife onto a fish as well. It was not to be. We were back in the same bay right on sunset but could not get a bite. As we were packing up, my FIL says, one last cast and sure enough he pulls a 38cm fish in this time from the deeper water away from the bank. Thinking that the deeper fish are a schooling fish, I took the lure out from his fish and told him to fish on. Sure enough, he has on again immediately and after an extended fight, pulled in a 53cm fish. Both fish took the matt black lipless crankbait. He had time for a third 'last cast' and had a hit but failed to hook up. Light levels were dropping fast and we did not have time to take any pictures as we high tailed it back to the ramp. It was a nervous trip back to the ramp in low light conditions at full speed but I had the benefit of my GPS track that I could follow. I was cautiously optimistic before going to Mudgee of finding some fish but the trip exceeded my expectations. I really glad that most of us caught a fish and those that we did keep tasted fantastic!. We had daytime temperatures in the high thirties when we were there which led us to fish early mornings or evenings only. When not fishing, we lazed in the pool where we had camped and also visited the wineries in the area. Other than the extreme daytime temperature, Mudgee was a great place to visit and the great fishing made our holiday even better. I'm quite liking this freshwater fishing now ...

Great read and a great trip guys! Looks like lots of fun with PBs thrown in as well.

IC is a great place to scratch that fishing itch - to do it on surface lures is a bonus! That R2S Rover is a great lure.

Dan, Big flatties do make a meal of the smaller ones - I've had it happen to me and my son before where we know we've hooked up to a little flattie only to have additional weight and a big fight when we're reeling it in. In both instances, the bigger flattie spat out the smaller one before we could see her and all we got was a smaller flattie with a distinct bite mark on the body. I'm waiting for the Bay to fire up too - signs are promising ...

Hey bassboy. Looks like you've uncovered another EP secret. Their big eyes must mean that they like to hunt at night. I'm sure hardbodies would work well at night too.

I agree with everyone - great looking boat. Good luck chasing the local fish!

That is one massive eel! Congrats on landing it - must have been very difficult. Things can twist and turn all over the place I'm surprised you got it to 'pose' so elegantly next to your rod and reel. Great pic though - give us a sense of how big it was.

Great fish again Rob. For a 2 hour window you sure can get plenty of fish! With 3 lines out I can see how maximise your chances. Kayaks are a great stealth machine ...

What an epic report. Congratulations on those great captures and sorry for the ones that got away. You were fishing pretty extreme conditions! Glad you made it back safely on all those days.

Ah Joco and Stewie again! Great catches there especially the jewie but I reckon the trevally would have put up a great fight!

Wow! Those are really good quality flatties plus a really big girl! You've got the HB trolling pattern down pat I reckon!

Great report guys. Always look forward to reading about your epic trips. Even with tough conditions you guys seem to manage to catch Barra anyway. I remember the big bass you guys caught last year at the river below the dam wall.

Thanks for all the kind words fellow Raiders. Our loss is a personal thing which hesitated posting. But our love for fishing invariably leads us to share our stories, common goals, ups and downs with like minded people and the Fishraider community is one where I'm comfortable enough to do this. To me, fishing is a pursuit that allows us to connect to nature and each other on so many levels and it's a passion that I hope will be passed on to the next generation. So thanks for sharing guys. Tight lines everyone!!

Hi fellow Raiders, After a long hiatus over winter and a recent trip overseas, the boys and I finally got back to the bay last Saturday morning. The new ramp at Kurnell was great and allowed us to keep our feet dry after many years of launching off the beach. I was watching a programme on television a while back showing how weather reports nowadays are getting more accurate due to real-time data from weather stations all over the country. The forecast was for cloudy conditions with rain later in the afternoon. It was cloudy alright but someone didn't tell the clouds they were not supposed to rain until later!!After moving around a little, I finally got a decent hookup and pulled in this 64cm flathead which is 1cm better than my previous PB! After a few happy snaps and a Facebook update, she was sent swimming back to her hidey hole. Things went quiet for quite a while after that. Plenty of snook kept us entertained but were costing us dearly with biteoffs and damaged plastics. We found patches of just legal trevally around but no big ones. Eldest son takes his usual nap in the boat while my youngest perseveres with cast after cast but is getting tired of catching snook. The intermittent rain was also making conditions miserable. I start hearing requests to head home but made the call to move up the Towra flats as we were dead on the top of the tide. It was a good call as the bigger fish were right up the shallows. I started the account with this early 40s trevally. Eldest son now awake starts fishing with more commitment and snares his first trevally of the day. Youngest son tries and tries and finally lands a keeper! Eldest son outdoes us again and lands the biggest trevally of the day at 45cm. It was a great session which started off with promise, panned out slow but finished up with a hot bite. We also got a tailor and a mid 30s bream in the mix and about half a dozen decent sized trevally. We kept some for the table and released the rest to grow bigger for us to catch next time. We had just returned from Malaysia where we spent a few weeks in hospital visiting my Dad who eventually passed away. Spending time together with the boys while enjoying fishing was a great way to reinvigorate our spirits and a great way to remember my Dad who was such a great influence on me. It was nearly a year ago that I took him to the same waters where we had a few great fishing sessions which I had posted on Fishraider too. So this trip and report is for him as he watches over us from the heavens. Rest in peace Dad ...