RexSenior

Great Idea mate. The best parts for me are the corrugated pipe so the lines are separated and the water tight container. I posted last year with the rig holder I use..... Just an old pool noodle however on multiple land based trips the rigs can come loose, get damaged and the tackle used can rust due to contact with salt water. So I'll be having a go at this idea for sure, thanks for sharing. Cheers, James

Hey Dave You've come to the right place! Most beaches are holding tailor on dawn and dusk at the moment & there's been a few jew caught (maybe as a result of the mullet run). Stockton is always the go-to if you're not too far away. There's been reports of all the summer species on worms / pillies plus some thumper tailor around the back of the mental health hospital. I've fished Belmont Beach recently on late arvo / night which has been consistent with flathead, whiting, bream, dart, gummies, salmon (& tailor in that 40min window after last light). The sweep is a pain there at the moment but if you can find a nice rip just before high tide your berley will stay pretty close to shore and bring plenty of action, just have to be patient. There have been a lot of times on that beach of a night where I get nothing for hours, then can't wind them in quick enough - then back to nothing. The sand shifts a lot in those gutters could be something to do with it. Let us know how you go anyway! Cheers, James

How awesome was that! Great video capturing some chunky kingies. I'm yet to see a skinny kingy from NZ... I don't know what they feed them over there but with the snapper it makes a worthy fishing destination!! Cheers, James

Well done Jeff! Sure makes my dart & salmon look good hahaha. Plenty of pinkies in Lake Mac however it's rare to get them much over the legal limit (probably all headed for Snapper Central). If they go as hard when they're older they would be a handful to get in! Cheers, James

Another great effort Charles. I'm commenting as I was trying to figure out which side of the salmon the 50cm tailor was, then I realised that one in the middle was a tailor! What a ripper!!! Cheers, James

Hi Raiders Just a quick report from Blacksmiths Beach this arvo. The beach was packed right down towards Redhead, mostly chasing tailor. I had a few old worms in the freezer which caught me a few bread & butter species including a bream, 2 whiting & a dart (and a few other ones not legal). I had to leave just as the tailor came around however managed a tailor and salmon. Every Pilly was getting hits just on sunset however the sweep and seaweed made it difficult. Anyway just about to batter and cook some of the fish, thanks for reading! Cheers, James

Hey Mate Not sure about the Central Coast however the Blacksmiths to Redhead strip has been quiet. Still Tailor around on dark and whiting if you have fresh/ live worms however we need a big swell before the jew come back I reckon. Seem to be more around when the gutters are deeper, the shore's flat as a tack at the moment! Cheers, James

I'll send you a PM mate

Yeah definitely the Hairtail - in Newcastle Harbour They have been thick for the last 6 weeks however my friends have not been getting them in any great numbers over the past fortnight with so many fishos having a go. About a month ago it got pretty hectic with some brawls of a night and groups of people camping on the wharf. As a result there are now signs up from fisheries and the local rangers stating no camping, no tents, no fires etc. plus info about the size & bag limits for hairtail (which was an average idea in my opinion as it advertised to the 3000 people that use the walkway daily that the hairtail are on!!)

I have the same picture in one of my fishing books from when I was a kid. I still remember as a 5 or 6 year old holding on to my handline so tight at Warners Bay jetty just in case one of these monsters came along! You know it's a good bream when it looks like a bloody dinasaur!!

On the topic of the Pro's in the Hawkesbury I think it's almost certain that their time will be up in the coming years. I Just want to add that the marine parks are not all bad news for recreational fishos, whilst inconvenient I think they serve a great purpose. We need to remember that the population in Australia is constantly rising at a rapid rate unlike our natural resources, I support any reasonable measures to counteract this so that my kids can experience what I've been able to. It's a bit scary to think whether or not aquaculture can keep up with demand though - we already import massive amounts from overseas!

Well done Charles Those two tailor on the end are rippers! I ate my first feed of tailor in a couple of years last night and they are one of the most under-rated table fish I reckon! Very quick and easy to make into boneless & skinless fillets - no picky bones! Cheers, James

Hi Raiders Not a great result but sharing for those in the area. Headed out to Belmont Beach (NSW) over the weekend with some worms caught earlier in the day and a kilo of very small pilchards. On arrival I realised I'd left my bag of leader lines @ home which was close to a "forget it and go home" situation. I had a few throws with the worms for one whiting 34cm (not bad with a 25lb Mono leader haha). Then on dark the birds started working so I went to change over to the ganged pillie rig for tailor and all that remained in the tackle box was 1 set of 6/0 gang hooks!! I threw 2 or 3 pillies on at a time and got hits each cast but the hooks were just too big. Lost maybe 4 or 5 before I switched to a single hook (1/0 baitkeeper) due to the smaller pillies and got 2 tailor in 3 casts. After this it all quietened down, a few hits here and there also lost a gummy shark @ my feet so I called it a night. It's a good sign for the stretch of beach though as the tailor were thick and keen to feed for around an hour. Cheers, James

That's a ripper! Well done mate, especially on being a part of the tagging program. It's not too often people give back such an awesome (and delicious) fish! Great effort. Cheers, James.

Great effort Jeff! I was down the Hawkesbury 2 weekends ago and had the same species, with a Bronze Whaler Shark also. Those big puffer fish are a huge pest towards the Eastern end of the Hawkesbury. They have these weird crusher teeth at the front that come to a point and will bite you off constantly until you bring them in. We get them up here in Lake Macquarie, you wind your line in and the hook is gone with a clean cut of the line - very frustrating! Anyway great post. Cheers, James

Well done that's a decent Gummy! I caught a few about a month back and some fellow raiders gave me an awesome tip of freezing pieces for about a month to improve the taste. This worked a treat, the piece I had the other night was so good that I'll be chasing them again on my next trip! Cheers, James.

Cheers Yowie. I was hoping for a big jew as the live tailor bait was around 32cm. I knew it was something else though after the fist couple of runs it spent the rest of the fight on the surface despite hooking it in 15m+ of water.

Cheers mate, just got back had a great time & posted a few pics in the reports section.

Hi Raiders Sharing a report from the Hawkesbury last weekend where we got onto some quality fish! We were land based around Dangar / Wobby fishing in between the rain, BBQ's and the Anglers Rest Pub (Brooklyn). There were plenty of bream & flathead around however the jewfish were difficult to hook and get to the shore. Surprisingly most fish were caught around two hours either side of high tide and the bite went quiet on high (last trip it was the opposite???). Anyway we arrived home with plenty of fish and let go a lot also. The Jew were taken on Tailor slabs & live herring, most flathead and bream fell for the cooked prawns and hawkesbury prawns whilst an honorable mention goes to the chopper tailor that assisted me in landing a nice 1.1m bronze whaler (I think). Just using basic rigs with 6-20lb fluorocarbon leaders and baitkeeper hooks (sticking with the K.I.S.S. principle). Here are a few of the pics.... Cheers, James

Scratchie I bet you said "Watch this" to your mate then typed that post and had a good old giggle haha . Great topic. I've caught both and have found that the kings give a great fight and taste great, yet are a more common and can be caught sooner with the same amount of effort. For me the jew wins as the ultimate catch and I think it's more difficult to achieve, tastes better too! Perhaps some people are referring to the soapies - I've tasted no better fish in the ocean than a slab of jew on the BBQ! (Taste is a matter of preference lol). Cheers, James

Great timing on the post Krause as I'm heading to the Hawkesbury tomorrow morning for my annual fishing trip with the fellas, a few good tips here. I haven't caught a great deal of jews but the last year has been a good one. A few above have said match it with you bait and that's spot on. In my experience always make sure that the tip of the hook is clear of any bait when the line is taught. Looking back a few years, it was nearly impossible for me to hook a jew because when I would strike, the hook buried back into the livie making it very hard to hook the fish if they don't swallow it. I won't use circle & octopus hooks off the beach anymore as I've lost 4 or 5 suspected jews where the rod buckles and the line goes slack when the fish spits the hook. I know they are highly rated and people do well with them I've just found the off-set types like suicide (for livies) & bait-keeper (for worms) have a better strike rate for me. Cheers, James

Really? That's awesome. Still have a few pieces in the freezer happy days.

I did a bit of research yesterday, the best way is to cut off the head and tail, then gut the shark and straight on ice. As I was fishing on the beach I only bled the shark because every time I clean the fish on the beach I end up eating sand. There are a few reasons why the ammonia smell comes out, the contents of the gut and lactic acid build up in the blood when the fish is stressed (that's why killing them straight away is important). I will know for next time! I cut them into cutlets then cut out the backbone to butterfly the flesh then skinned it. Straight into some egg mix then a 50/50 mix of herbs & flour then shallow fry with olive oil - it was delicious!

Cheers Neil. I've heard they were good and did not disappoint! I think the best part was how easy they are to clean, very few bones and long flanks of juicy white flesh. It's funny you say that, I've been given the bum steer a few times. Some of them try and point you towards buying the bait or gear that they need to sell, not what will work for you. In saying that those are the first I've caught in that section of the beach - we threw out a heap of berely (which was our bait) just before we were going to leave and suddenly they were everywhere! I'm sure more would have been caught if it wasn't for the lost time trying to snag my rod back from the ocean!

Hi Raiders It's been a while between posts as the fishing has been terrible (for me anyway). I headed down Blacksmiths beach last night with a friend and a bag of pillies in search of some tailor (as I had no time to catch worms for other fish). We arrived around 6pm which turned out to be way early with the big tides - not much water left on the beach! We went a few hours without a touch then as the high tide approached I caught a flathead around 38cm on a ganged pillie. That was all for half an hour so we decided to pull up stumps and start packing up. Once the flatty was cleaned I reeled in my last rod which had a 45cm deep sea flathead attached. Curious about the possibility of more fish I threw another pillie out whilst I cleaned the second fish. Back to the rod to find a 1.1m gummy shark doing his best to spool me! (It was dark and my drag on that reel makes no sound whatsoever). We caught another two in the next 10mins all on pillies then I walked over to find my rod, reel and rod holder all gone!! As I had cast it out a fair way there was a good chance of snagging the line somewhere in the shorebreak. About 20 casts later I finally caught the line from the other rod further down the beach and saved it. I was expecting a big shark / jewie or something as my rod holder was about 60mm in the sand - nothing but gang hooks so not sure what happened there. Anyway we went home after that around 11pm, slow night turned good at the last minute. Just remember to stay for that one last cast!! Cheers, James