paulcha11

Hey Roberta, Great catch there! Good to see the fishing is starting to fire up there in the lake. Hope all is well. Charmo

Great work Zenman once again. Bloody beautiful eating at that size too! I dream of the day where I can catch my first Jewie! One day I keep telling myself, one day!!! Charmo

nice report none the same mate and great to see you got a few keepers to take home for your efforts. its days like those when it is raining and the conditions are bad that you can have one of the most memorable days fishing ever. bummer about the blue swimmer tho, he would have tasted beautiful next to the flattie and whiting on the bbq. you'll get him next time mate. Charmo

Well done mate on such a fantastic session. You wouldnt happen to be talking about Narrabeen fishing club would you? You could say Im a silent member as I never can get the weekends off! Glad to see the lake is starting to fire again. Well done mate. Charmo

Well done mate, that is a mighty fish you had there...they are such a beautiful fish too. The colours and markings on her look fantastic! And great to see you let her go, there is nothing like the feeling you get when you see them dissapear into the depths and out of sight. I know many fisho's on this site would agree. Once again, well done. Charmo

Hi fellow raiders, Just thought I would post a topic for general discussion. Just wondering if anyone rates the shovelnose as a decent eating fish and if they are eay to clean and prepare? I always seem to encounter them, either on the beach or in the lakes if fish. They can be a nuisance though. Any thoughts? Cheers CHARMO

Sounds like a great little session Roberta. Seems like the lake is starting to really fire up. BTW I attempted to use those mullet floats the other day and technically had no probs with em...the only thing I seemed to catch were little bream. I think it was the area I was in, but the floats went well. GREAT INVENTION! Cheers Charmo

Great fish catfish and well done mate! There is nothing like that feeling that only we as fisho's understand. And good on ya for letting him go for another day. Congrats, and great report mate. Charmo

Hey Roberta, Good to see those mullet rigs are working. I have put together some of what I think they should look like. Will be trying them this weekend, getting ready for my trip up to your beautiful area. Ill let you know how they go. Charmo

Thanks Roberta for the reply. I tend to go after the smaller ones (around 10cms) for live bait with the flatties and the larger ones I cut up and use for bait elsewhere. Nothing goes to waste actually! great for crabs. Ill get the map out and try and find the locations you gave me and go from there. Your mullet rig looks the goods too! That would be definately worth a try. What is the best type of wood to use? And I will let you know at a later date when exactly Ill be up in your neck of the woods. All the best. Thanks Again Charmo

What a fantastic trip! Its such a beautiful place up there, throw in the weather, the family and the kids catching their PB's....what more could you ask for. Well done. Charmo

Thanks to all for the informed responses. They have been a great help. Looks like the JW 'bow mount' might be the go for me. Cheers Charmo

Hi Roberta, Ill be heading up to Forster in about 6 weeks as I like to do at least twice a year. One thing has stumped me and that would be due to lack of local knowledge, is I can never seem to locate any live poddies. Would you happen to know any such areas in Wallis Lake where I can get some. Many thanks in advance. Charmo

Hi fellow raiders, Been a bit quiet over winter but looking forward to getting out there again this summer. SHould be a cracker! Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on what is a good electric motor for a 3.85metre tinny I have. Just need it to make manouvering a little easier and in case the 4 stroke wont work(which it has done on occassion). Are there any brands I should stay clear of? I have heard of Mini Kodas but thats about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance CHARMO

Thanks Flattieman, You are going to have to get up here and come out for a fish with us at some stage.....Pete should come along and make a day of it......in that case we could use both Poddies and WB! Im staying on the fence between those baits ATM. LOL Charmo

Check out post 20 on this topic Charmo

4 words come to mind.... COMMERCIAL FISHING, NETS and TRAWLING.......

I hook them through the bottom and top lip. Just be careful not to put the hook to far back and through there head, as this seems to kill them instantly. Sometimes I'll just put the hook through there top lip as this can make them live longer. In my opinion, this way lets them swim as naturally as they can as opposed to hooking them through the back which can restrict there movement. Cheers Charmo

G'day Pete, Got your PM and email adress. Have sent you some of the pics of the day. Cheers again mate. We'll catch up again soon. Charmo

G,day Pete, I knew you would venture back there! There were thumper whiting the other week, just so tempting. I went down there yesterday myself, but this time armed with some live bloodworms AND some live nippers (cheers). Like you, the monsters were everywhere. The tide was nearing on high, about to turn. Geared up light and positioned myself to float the baits with the current straight over there noses...PERFECT. NOT! A few tarwhine, small bream and heaps of small whiting, but couldnt get the big buggers to bite. They were feeding though, I could see them burying there heads in the sand looking for food but they wouldnt touch my baits either mate. Fussy.... Not one flathead either...but good to see you got a few mate. Some days are better than others I guess. PS: thanks for the tip about the ray...i wouldve dropped my rod I think....never seen any rays on the flats there before but have seen a couple of shovelnose sharks.

Mate, I always take three types of traps out. Some days one works and the others dont get a mention and then its completely the opposite the next day. I have the clear tubular trap with the holes in the end, a steel meshed trap(about the same dimensions as a small round baking cake tray) with a hole in the top that works similar to the orange juice bottle you mentioned, and a maroon coloured rectangular mesh net with holes in either end. I think the secret is to burley up a heap and really get them excited around your trap. Mush the bread up so it disperses a white cloudy substance in the water. The clear tube trap I find works best floating on the surface. I have it secured with a sinker attached to fishing line to the trap and it floats naturally on the surface. The holes should just be covered by water in this position. This works better for me rather than on the bottom. The traps with holes in the top seem to work better in areas with less current and in shallow areas. Ideal depth for me is where the top of the trap sits about 20cm from the surface of the water. After burleying and mushing the bread in the trap, try putting a whole piece of bread across the hole. The poddies bite at it and swim forward into the trap. This works a treat... The rectangular mesh trap is placed so the current runs through one end and out the other. The bread sits at one end against the mesh and near the entrance to the hole enticing the poddies to enter. I have turned the trap the other way so the current runs through the sides but this doesnt seem to work for me. Go with the flow I say... The depth of water should just cover the holes. So in this case and with this style of trap the trap should be half out of the water. Anyway, hope this helps. Just keep experimenting and you'll be catching those poddies real soon. Cheers Charmo PS There is no real time to leave them in the water but if there is no action in or around the trap in 10 minutes try a different location. The areas can have current, be still, be near structures or on sand banks. If the poddies are there, thats good enough for me!

Hey Fisho's, Joined only weeks ago and thought I would share a fishing experience I had on Narrabeen Lakes last week. My cousin and I thought we would try our luck drifting for flathead on live poddies in Pittwater however the weather was a little too rough for my 12ft tinnie so we thought we would give the lake ago. (even though everyone I had spoken to told me there were no fish in there!) So we launched the boat about 5.30am and headed over to trap some poddies. Whilst we were waiting for the traps to fill, I decided to throw out at bright pink SP over the weed beds and on the second cast walla!...it was hit by a nice 50cm flattie...a good start to the day. Once we had ample bait we headed out to this spot where I had once been told holds a few lizards. We picked the spot and began to drift, though it did take about an hour to work the drift out. 2 hours had gone by and nothing, and all those memories and thoughts of people telling me Id be wasting my time here were starting to float to the surface. Then it started..... About 9.30am my cousin pulled in a tidy 45cm and only 10 minutes later it was joined by a 55cm speciman. Ok. Things were looking brighter. The poddies were being hit almost on every occassion and the average size of the poddies was about 15cm! They were coming back with only the head so we knew something down there was having a good feed. My cousin then gets hit by something but is not too sure....."im on, I think" he says.... "it feels heavy but im not sure" he continued. It was underneath the boat by this stage then as it approached the surface it decide to run, and run, and we knew what we had on. When we finally landed her she was a nice 78cm lizard! Took the pics then decided to let her ago to breed another day... Very next drift, Im sitting with my rod between my legs putting sun screen on then bang my rod goes down and straight back up. I drop everything and give it a tug then shes off. Straight up to the surface, shakes her head then back down until we land her in the boat. She must have been the older sister to the other...she measured 82cm and she was fat! Once again took the pics, then released her to fight another day.. The next hour saw us land another 2 flatties which were undersize and a keeper 47cm model. Not a bad day out and one we will always remember. And who said the lake was dead!!! Ill will send the pics in when I can work out how to transfer them onto the computer. By the way, thanks to all who post on here and tell there fishing stories and share their advice. It is very much appreciated by myself and to all who read these articles. Thanks for reading this far!! Charmo