dfmdab

I am from the UK and try and come over for Xmas to visit my daughter and grandkids and a couple of years ago my Xmas present from her was a fishing trip with a company in Botany Bay, he supplies the gear and bait. We set off at 6am and got back in about noon. Had a great day, caught plenty of fish and he was a great skipper. Check out his web site as there are places available in December.

Here's my view from over here in the UK, however I have spent many a hour fishing Wanda beach, South Cronulla beach, Flinders Point, Salmon Haul Bay and Bundeena as my daughter lives in Cronulla and we try to get over each year, 9 weeks over last Xmas and another 12 weeks planned from October. I've had success with both and I just use the frozen ones bought at Fishing World at Tarren Point. If I want to present a full pilly I find salted are best if whipped onto a double hook pennel rig with elasticated bait thread. If I want a smelly bait, a half unsalted pilly bound on very tight onto a single hook again with bait elastic so that all the juices start to ouse out . Over here in the UK bait elastic is used to present all sorts of baits in a natural way and it has done well for me on your patch.

Dan / Matt Have been following this post from over here in the UK and it's great to see the intrest the topic has created. I do a lot of shore fishing both in the UK and Oz as my daughter lives in Cronulla and I stayed with her over Xmas just past for 9 weeks and got quite a few sessions in and managed to catch 24 different species. Due to luggage restrictions I could not bring over my favorite rod, a Century Tip Tornado, Power GP which is a type used by tournament casters, casting wise I cannot do it justice, however it's great for sending big baits out about 100 metres into very rough ground and being able to haul the fish back. It is a very stiff rod and it takes a lot of power to compress it during casting and that's where the pendulum comes into play. One of the best exponents of this is John Holden and he has his own channel on Utube, he also demonstrates more easier casting styles, OTG, Easy cast & Brighton cast. These are the most popular used styles over here and with practice distances of 150 metres should be attainable. Multipying reels, Penn 525 mags, Abu 6500, etc loaded with 12lb main line with 70lb shock leaders are the norm to achieve maximum distance. As earlier mentioned I could not bring over my favorite rod so I bought a Jarvis Walker 12ft beach caster for about $40 and used my Penn 525 with it, because it was so soft the most I could cast was about 80 metres which put me in the far gutter when I fished Wanda Beach. It also allowed me to pull out a Bronzy Whaler from the rocks just south of Shark Island. I'm coming back over later in the year for 12 weeks and will be wanting to buy a more stiffer rod so your recommendations would be welcome, it will also be interesting to see how far your casting then. Cheers Dave

Fernando, just seen your post so I've sent a pm. Been busy catching fish, 11 different species so far and I'm just about ready to post another catch report with lots of pictures.

Hi Fisho's Over here on holiday from the UK for 9 weeks and staying with my daughter and grandkids in South Cronulla and plan to get a few trips in whilst here. Landed last Tuesday and it took till Fiday to get over the jet lag so I took the opportunity to get to Tackle World at Tarren Point to get my licience and bait supplies. First session was on Saturday night on the rocks south off Shark Island, met a guy called Phil who was already fishing there and he said he caught a Stingray about 20 kilo earlier but his main quarry was sharks and that he had caught 2 on Thursday night. He the got another small sting ray before I caught my first fish of the holiday a Banjo Shark, sea got a bit rough and it was dark so I called it a day. Next trip was on Monday night to the rocks on the south end of South Cronulla beach, met Greg who was Squid fishing and he gave me a few tips about the mark. In the hour I was there I managed to get a stingray and a Shovell Nose Shark and with it being the supermoon night there were plenty of folk about and a couple from Canada took these photos for me. My next trip was to Finders Point in Port Hacking yesterday and I managed to get 7 Port Jackson Shark, 1 Bream and a Flathead all undersize and returned. Uptill now I've really enjoyed the fishing and the fellow fisho's I've spoken to. Lilli Pilli is my next planned trip but given my daughter live 2 minutes from the sea I might get a few additional casts before then. Cheers DFMDAB

Frank, over the jet lag so I went to Tackle World at Tarren Point and got my licience there as well as my bait supplies, I was like a kid in a toy shop, however I resisted the urge and convinced myself I brought enough equipment. I keep a 4 metre beachcaster at my daughters but I brought over a Shimano fixed spool as well as a Penn 525 muliplier which I use off the rocks. I'm going to the rocks just north of Shelly Park tonight so hope to be posting my first catch report tomorrow. looking forward to our trip out, just pm me when your ready. Dave

Thanks Frank that would be great, is that John you are talking about, I've never met him but have messaged him on similar fishing website's back home and I've read his reports on here. I'm trying to get over the jet lag and planning to get my bait supplies of frozen pilli's, squid & prawns today before an evening session tomorrow evening and hopefully I'll be posting my first catch report. hope too see you in a few weeks.

Good day fellow fishos, I've just landed today from the UK to visit my daughter and grandkids who live near Shelly Park in Cronulla. I'm here for 9 weeks and plan to do quite a bit of fishing during my stay. On my last visit 3 years ago I managed to catch 18 different species from the shore at Wanda beach, South Cronulla beach, rocks just south of Shark Island, Finders Point, Salmon Haul Bay and over the bay at Bundeena. I would be grateful of any advice as to where's fishing at present and if I could join someone on their next trip out. Cheers DaveMck

John Another cracking report but I think your misleading our Aussie friends into believing it's all sunshine and fish at the moment in the UK by posting a report from our summer. I live just up the road from you in Ashington and you'll know the it's been really cold with biting winds for nearly all of January. Mind you the fishing been good, I had 9 cod (3 keepers, biggest 1.5kg) from Pottery Bank yesterday. I was also one of the 515 anglers who fished the Amble open last week, caught 4 sized flounders and won a spinning rod from the prize table, however a 12 year old girl showed us all how to do it by catching 14 and winning the event outright. We both have an Aussie connection because like you my daughter lives there, she's in Cronulla so the wife and I try to get over every 2 years. I've got a 12 beachcaster there and I bring my Penn 525 to use with it. We had 9 weeks there for Xmas 2013 and managed to fit in 20 sessions, caught 109 fish with 17 different species. Wanda beach for tailor, rocks in front of Shark Island for anything (double hookup of sting ray springs to mind), Finders point in Port Hacking for night time float fishing for tailor and flathead (upto 70cm)during the day I also used to get the ferry over to Bundeena to fish the rocks and beaches there. Met quite a few of the fisho's during my stay and they were very friendly with plenty of advice and happy to share their beer (just like us Geordie's John). So if any of you can remember a 60 year old wearing a sun hat, toon top, shorts and who drank your beer, it was me. All the best Dave Mckenzie P'S next trip is 7 weeks for Xmas 2016