Loco Mofo

It's tough out there in the Hawkesbury at the moment. Briefly chatting to some other fishos at the boat ramp, we've all been struggling this past month. I think the fishing will pick up in a few more weeks when the water gets warmer. I took the dhingy out for a Saturday morning fish too and only managed a couple bream, one was just over 40cm which was a nice surprise.

What a monster bream, gratz man.

Yeah I'd try some different baits too mate, see what works in the area. I haven't been beach fishing in a while, but on the northern beaches, I almost always had success using squid strips. Not only do they stay hooked pretty well, but the salmon and tailor up there used to love it. Usually had the most success at dusk or dawn.

Gday guys, I know the council web site says the Parsley Bay boat ramp re-opens in September, but just wondering if that's still the case? Hoping the renos were finished early. Anyone driven passed lately?

Palm Beach up the north end used to be great for salmon around a year ago when i used to fish there. Tailor should be making an appearance now too I'd imagine.

Well construction starts 30th of May and finishes at some point in September: http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/council/noticeboard/latest-news/parsley-bay-boat-ramp

I think there's only 1 spike on it's back? That's what my buddy told me anyway when he stepped on one barefoot

I've been fishing the Hawkesbury a lot recently and haven't been finding many catfish up closer towards the mouth (Flint & Steel and Patonga area). For instance, they were almost always a problem at the rail bridge. I'm also targeting mainly flathead, so do a bit of bottom bashing. Now I tend to mainly fish the sandy bay areas with minimal current so my burley has max effect. Been working a treat lately, my buddy and I caught 16 flatties yesterday morning with a few bream to top it off. 2 flatties were 80+cm which were PB's for us both. Only catfish caught was by me, which was the first cast of the day...

Last couple times I've hit the area, all I've caught is salmon. Lots and lots of big salmon.

When I use prawn, I just buy the frozen Hawkesbury prawn packs and they go pretty well. Obviously the fresher the better, but if you have to fall back on the frozen stuff, it'll do the job.

Congrats Mick, it's great feeling. Soak it up mate

Fish of a lifetime! Congrats mate, its awesome when you try something different and it pays off. And holy shit did it pay off for ya...

Some awesome information in this thread, thanks for sharing these tips fellas. I've been trying to pick up lure fishing for the last few months with not a lot of success. These tips will definitely come in handy next session. Cheers!

And many more die from car accidents, but that's not gonna stop me from getting in a car. Just be sensible about it, if you're really worried about it, stick to popular beaches with nets, life guards and swim between the flags.

Caught 3 stonkers off Palm Beach yesterday arvo

Holy crap, look at that monster! Congratz on the catches

A mate and I had a short flick there last week catching a bunch of pinkies and an undersized flatty. My mate had a good hit on a live yakka which seemed to be plentiful, but didn't get the hook up. Some other blokes there had some success squiding catching 3 cuttlefish. Nice spot, but it's a bit too popular these days for my liking. Make sure you park outside the gate as parking is $$$ and the rangers seem to always be floating around.

Good call on the tuna oil, absolutely agree.

I'm no expert, but I think you're on the right track there. I'm making some this week, mashing up some white bread, chook pellets and pillies (as that will be my main bait). Keep persisting mate, it'll pay off sooner or later.

A mate and I went out on one of the more popular charters we could find in Koh Samui about 2-3 years ago, I don't think we can name names here, so I'll leave that out. Our experience was pretty dismal to say the least and I wouldn't get your hopes up for any awesome action, sorry to be the bearer of bad news if this is the area you're holidaying in. I'll try and keep this short. We both had a big night, but figured what could be more relaxing than a fish... How wrong we were... The boat you go out in is both slow and old. I tried to catch some shut eye on the trip out as it was supposed to be about an hour to reach our destination, but I just couldn't get away from the sun (next to no shelter) or the petrol fumes from the motor. Already feeling pretty seedy as it was, this didn't help us get in the mood. Well we finally reached the spot and were giving our rod and bait. Now I don't know what bait they were using to catch the monster fish I saw on the marketing shots, but we were not going to catching anything of the sort with the bait we were given. I thought as long as I catch some half decent fish, I'll give it a go. I think there were about 14 or so people on the charter fishing, the record breaker from our group was maybe a 15cm specimen. All in all, got a mad sun burn, but not much in the fish department. Maybe 2 tiny fishies that I tried to throw back, but the crew weren't having that, that was lunch!

Thanks for the responses guys, definitely gave me something to think about. I ended up going for a lighter outfit in the end, choosing the Lateo L86LL-S and biting the bullet and matching it with a 2013 Certate 2500 model. Can't wait to get out there and try the new toy now! Cheers again

Thanks for the reply 4myson. I think you're right, these might be underkill. The other reel I was looking at was the Daiwa Procargo, which is a 4500, but I wasn't sure if it was overkill for a bit all rounder sort of rod. But now that I think about it, I'll be hitting the beach/rocks more so with this set up, so maybe it is the better option. The Procargo only has 7 bearings as well compared to the SOLs 9, but has a higher drag rating (12kg) and a bigger spool and comparable gear ratio.

Hey guys, I finally decided to take up lure fishing and am looking for help deciding on a reel to match my rod. I'll mainly be fishing the rocks and rivers and maybe some surf so was looking at something with a good casting range. For this purpose I decided on the Daiwa Lateo L106M, but I can't decide which Daiwa reel would suit it best. The choices I've narrowed it down to are: Daiwa Blast Daiwa TD Sol II Daiwa Freams If anyone with knowledge or experience with these reels could offer their input, I'd appreciate it. Mark

Hehe was also going to say those are salmon, fat ones. Always good action. The cold water seems to be keeping the tailor away from the beaches at the mo.

Seems to be a whole lot of salmon around and not much else when ive been hitting the northern beaches the last month or two. I still catch the odd fat bream inbetween, but the tailor have really dried up for me. Could just be unlucky, but a few months back all i could catch was tailor.