Jimbu

Amkr - did you have any luck? I fished landbased at oatley this morning for a couple of hours before the northerly kicked in ... For ZERO touches. Lovely morning tho and killer sunrise !

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Legend!

Buy some banana prawns from woolies, peel them and cut into small chunks that fit on a size 4 baitholder hook... I like the tail end the most as you can slide a 3cm long section all the way on to the hook and it looks most natural. Oh and ditch the sinker and go unweighted if you can. Make sure there is always a bit of slack in your line ... Enough for the fish to run without resistance before you strike, but little enough that you can still perceive subtle bites and takes. The bream will line up for that, plus your hookup rate will be much higher than when using a sinker, where most fish will sense something is amiss and you will generally have your bait stolen. Good luck!

I've only fished bass and flinders point once. It's easily accessible and there are grassy sections along the shore, some quite high above the water, to fish from. I opted to fish from a rock platform closer to the mouth of the hacking, where there was a 5m+ section of shallow kelpy Rock before the bottom became sandy. I landed a good sized squid and then wasn't having much luck until I spotted some mullet in my berley trail; I switched to bread just under a float and caught a huge gar, a few decent mullet and a solid bream. There's a fair length of terrain to pick a spot from here and it should be somewhat sheltered from a NE.

Maybe somewhere around bass and flinders point might be alright

Recently purchased some of these, and quickly lost a couple to snags... ive wisened up and am more careful about when and where I use them. I've cut off the bottom leg of the mid-treble for more snag resistance (some people remove these completely?), and I'm casting out as far as possible past the rocks in close at my local spot and winding in quickly before I get to the edge of the snags. I managed a couple of bream on Sunday morning with tiny hops and big pauses, however I was struggling to get the casting distance I wanted, which led me to order some strike pro hummers which are a little heavier. Anyone tried these out? Ive heard of people catching Jews and flatties on these as well, would they require the same style of retrieve? All comments, experiences and tips on blades and vibes are welcome. Cheers, James

Nice kingy and nice tat dude!

I feel ya, Adam but I guess at least you're catching something! I had a dry spell over most of summer with weeks of donuts and felt some similar frustration. I am finding that variety is keeping me entertained. Have you fished for pelagics yet? Spinning for salmon is great fun, the fight they give is exhilarating. I'm yet to land my first kingy, but there is a bit of organisation in making that happen from land - now is a good time to try for them though. Aside from that, fishing baits off harbour rock platforms can land drummer, large bream and groper that can also be high on the fun factor. Sometimes it is just a matter of wearing your Polaroids and seeing what comes past. A large school of tailor appeared the other weekend, and I tied on a small plastic, wound it in fast and had them all racing each other to get it. They were only small, but it was great fun! This weekend I spotted mullet in my bread berley trail and switched to bread a foot under a bubble float, landing a bunch of good mullet which were getting into a splashy frenzy even trying to hit my float, a big gar and a nice bream. Just some ideas from my experiences after feeling like I've have been on the same page as you in recent times.

Thanks, guys. It's a rock ledge but it's inside the harbour so doesn't cop much swell. All fish were caught on peeled prawn pieces

Drove to a landbased spot that I thought would be sheltered from the wind after work yesterday afternoon for a short session. Arrived an hour after low tide and navigated across rocks that are well covered once the tide is nearing the top. Wading to about ankle-knee depth, the incoming tide made things a little more sketchy, and I did have a little slip that cut up my ankle. I was able to stand near the edge of a nice dropoff into a mixture of rock and kelp. I had rigged a number 4 baitholder to 10 pound flouro and no weight. I had the drag set reasonably tight to prevent fish from reefing me in the rocky terrain. It was quiet for the first 5-10 minutes, but my berley seemed to do the trick, and sure enough, the line tightened up and I was onto a bream that looked close to legal. I gave the fish the benefit of the doubt and back it went. The next cast drifted down again and once again I pulled tight to a decent fish... Turning out to be a crimson banded wrasse. I decided to keep it, being the first of the day and being curious to test the reports of them being decent on the plate. A couple of more casts and I was on to something bigger again... A nice bream. It measured 31cm and I kept it for a feed. Another fish soon followed and it gave a good account for itself. A nice fat black drummer around 34cm. It was a hot bite, and I told myself "one more fish"... And sure enough, the next cast I was on to a good fish, which began to hightail towards Brisbane ... The drag sang... And sang... It wasn't stopping, the excitement building inside of me. Then it stopped. I wound it in, to find a fat 36cm bream which would be the last for the day. Nice to have a decent session and looking forwards to the next.

Awesome report and great effort on the king! Bravo!

You don't Have to use a swivel, longer leader is ok, just keep an eye on line twist. Also, in my opinion your line and leader strength is fine unless you hook something huge. There are plenty of people out there who overkill their rig up and it may spook some fish if their line is too heavy, but it also makes for boring fishing if you hook up to something decent. The bigger fish you saw were most likely mullet. The larger mullet put up a great fight however you need to keep the hook size down as they only have a small mouth (I find size 8 to be a safe choice). They will take bread, but if not, try a small bit of prawn or chicken.

I have fished the oatley side a fair bit (landbased); there's good access along the shore there as well as under the bridge. It drops off deep quite quickly and the current runs very fast once it gets going. What's it like on the Como side? Have caught plenty of decent bream and I'd imagine it's also good flathead territory, and have read that there are whiting on offer too. Often the place gets swarmed by annoying tiny chopper tailor. It's quite rocky along the shoreline so it's easy to get snagged, but it also gives the fish a chance to ambush bait floating past.

I've been struggling for ages too. We are all losers! Hooray!

I only have a little info - I caught them at the taplin park boat ramp in drumoyne a few months ago from the Jetty. I don't usually fish that area but had a couple of hours spare after an appointment out that way. It was mid afternoon, there were heaps of them, they were boiling up. I was using stale bread so kept losing my bait but I managed to catch a couple. Can't remmever any more details

If fishing unweighted and there is current, you may struggle to get the bait down to where the fish are... I usually leave the bail arm open, and gradually feed line so the bait continues to sink and you have a controlled amount of slack in the line. So you cast up-current, feed line to keep controlled slack... After it has drifted past you and we'll beyond, close the bail arm and wind it up and start again. The beauty of this is the bait is drifting and sinking naturally through the current, and bream tend to smash it rather than nibble at it. If you see the slack suddenly start tightening up, close the bail arm, wind half a rotation and raise your rod top firmly and you should be on.

Thanks for the offer saltwater dog! Might have to take you up on that sometime soon. I'm usually limited to the georges as its on my doorstep but have been venturing further recently to keep things interesting.

Your posts make me want to learn the hacking, yowie! Great mixed bag, i would be over the moon to have a session like that. I'm landbased, I did some exploring and found a spot at the end of willarong road in Caringbah recently that opens up onto yowie bay... Was some steep bushland and a Rough climb to get out. It also seemed like it would be difficult to avoid snagging on rocks at my feet if I were to fish it at high tide. I fished around the low and caught a gazillion pinkies and two bream, one was a keeper. Struggling to see any similar spots on the north side of the hacking that won't be overcrowded and drop into fairly deep water.

Judging by the gazing going on in the second photo, it looks like it could be love?

Thanks for the tips, Witha!

Thanks for your wisdom, Pete! Your thoughts definitely make sense; more to think about next time I get a bite...

1. Land a kingy is #1 on my list 2. Jewie on SP 3. Improve SP technique 4. Explore more landbased spots instead of sticking with convenient ones, and experiment with fishing techniques with both bait and lures 5. Catch squid (currently have caught 1)

Hi all, I've dedicated a fair amount of time to plastics over the past year with varying success. Flathead seem to come easily, but I'm yet to fully master other species. Much of the literature I've seen suggests striking as soon as you see/feel the slightest touch, particularly when chasing bream and jewfish. This definitely works for flathead, as they simply grab the entire lure in their mouth. The theory behind bream is that they mouth a bait and spit it out quickly, so if you're not fast you will miss the hook up. However, a couple of attempts in the harbour had me striking at a number of touches and coming up short each time. A couple of weekends ago, a friend took me out in the harbour on his boat. He fishes the harbour regularly, always with plastics, and suggested that instead of striking at bites, that I should pull back gently and only strike when I feel weight. On the day he had a fair amount of success, boating several species. I also caught two undersize pinkies using this technique. It got me thinking, when do other successful anglers strike when using plastics; particularly when you're not certain what species has touched your lure? Does it depend on what species you are targeting? Are bigger fish less likely to bite and more likely to engulf a plastic straight away? Curious to hear everyone's thoughts. Cheers, James

I did some googling, and this seems to explain what you experienced: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/248659.html Can indicate lightning is about to strike!