sebcox

Good to see someone getting some action on the fads after a lot of reports with no luck. Might have to give it a go this week. I was lucky enough to have your dad take me out there in his boat a while ago

Because 'wont see it again' was my thoughts exactly. It hurt when it happened but planning a trip out this week hurt even more thinking of the cost of replacing my gear this was kind of a last hope I might actually get it back

Hey guys. A month ago after a fish on my birthday we dropped into woronora boat ramp to clean the boat and clean the catch on the fish cleaning table there. There was another boat that turned up while we were finishing cleaning and they ended up placing buckets either side of my tackle bag (accidently I'm sure) Unfortunately when we went to leave we didn't notice the bag still sitting there and left without it. I came back 15 minutes later and they were gone. If anyone knows anything or has heard someone mention that they found a bag there please please contact me on 0426205750. Just about all my lures and tackle were in that bag and I haven't been able to get out fishing since. anyone who can get the bag back to me is more than welcome for a trip out with us to get amongst some fish. thanks guys

Good stuff mate, I fish bundeena wharf fairly regularly but that sounds like one of the better nights there! Normally I have only caught green eyes there until my last session where I picked up only arrows. Maybe they are moving through there at the moment??

Trying to catch the big fish under wharves will drive you crazy! I've made the mistake many times. Only hope is sending a small bait down slowly, unweighted and with very light line and small hook. If they don't take after a few shots, there not worth the bother aha. Also with the Kings, best to use a quick retrieve as opposed to lightly twitching it around them. it gets them excited and if there's a few around they will race at it and hit it hard. Sometimes even just out of aggression, not because they are hungry

There are definitely some stupid people out there. Just this weekend I was tied up to the public moorings in Port Hacking and had a group of older guys cruise up and start tieing their boat up to the mooring... Obviously I asked them what the hell he was doing to which the driver replied (quite agressively), 'I dont see your name on the mooring, do you? You cant just hog the mooring, you fish that side of the mooring and i'll set my boat up this side' I had to double take, trying to work out if there was any sense to this moronic statement but nope.. This guy seemed to think the currents didn't affect his boat. I ended up going with it saying yeah fair enough mate, aslong as you keep the boat over that side we should be fine (with a huge grin on my face) Watching him realise just how much of an idiot he had made of himself when his boat swang around was priceless. They were very quick to untie and drive as far away as they could after this hahahah.

Yeah same number, and papafish, that sounds perfect!

for sure man. if youre free tomorrow night you should come to bundeena. heading there to hopefully get a few squid

Quick report on my first beach fishing session in nearly 2 years. Went down to garie beach for gates open at 7am armed with my new 10foot shimano catana 3-5kg rod very excited to give it a crack. Arrived to a guy hooked up to something big but after a long fight and the assumption of a shark he snapped the line. Although I wasn't there to catch a shark, it was good to see some action. Worked my way along the beach using a 2 hook paternoster with size 1 bait holder hooks with Coles cooked prawns. A bait I immediately regretted. Very lazy of me but the whole idea of the trip was to get a feel for my rod. Managed one 29cm bream, not big by anyone's standards but it's always so sweet catching a fish trying something a little bit new. As most fishos do, I checked it's stomach to see what it had been eating and was very surprised to see it full of weed. This is a first for me but would be interested to hear if anyone else has seen this before? Would it suggest a lack of food for the fish in that area? Looking to fish stanwell park beach next, excited to get a hang of it a bit more and hopefully get amongst a few more fish. Anyone that fishes beaches regularly from Cronulla down as far as Wollongong, feel free to hit me up as work is very flexible at the moment and it's always better fishing with a mate Cheers, Seb

Cheers guys, yeah I had heard that the trip back up the hill can be pretty feral! Might start back on the beach at Garie and see how I go from there

Hey Lads, So ive just moved to Engadine this week down near the RNP (unfortunately no longer a few minutes from my gun bream spot). Being that bit closer to such a beautiful part of the world Im looking to make the most of it and was hoping for a bit of guidance from any fishos that know the area well. Ive had a look in the safe rock fishing section and though theres an amazing amount of info on other areas, the RNP seems a little left out. Ive fished Garie beach a handful of times and have done very well on Salmon up to 70+ and even managed to get my first and only Jewie off the beach there on a night session about 2 years back. From anyone that fishes the beaches through there, would you recommend sticking to Garie or is it worth trying out Wottamolla or some of the beaches that take a bit more of a walk to get to? Also, Ive never been real rock fishing, nor do I intend to without knowing what im doing or by myself. I know there are quite a few spots along the coastline there but I was hoping someone might be able to give me an idea of the spots worth a crack that are reasonably safe and a good place to learn. Ive researched bits and pieces, but hard to find the right stuff (alot of outdated info) but have heard Burning Palms Point is worth a crack? Im still young enough for the treks through the tracks to get to the spot, infact I see that as all part of the fun Thanks to anyone that can help out, and even anyone that might want a fishing partner down that way just shoot me through a PM. You dont need to hold my hand or tie my knots and I have my own gear haha. Im competent enough with everything, just looking to gain a bit of knowledge and make the most of a beautiful part of the world. Cheers, Seb

I'm assuming you mean something like the swellnet cams for the beaches. Haven't heard of them anywhere in the bay but would be very helpful for guys like me with just the little tinny

Yeah man hurry up and finish your exams so I can take you out. We will either go down to that spot landbased or ill take you out in the tinny. You woulda loved it on the hacking the other day http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=77093

Hey Guys, Hit the hacking solo today with no plans . On the water at 2pm, then spent half an hour chasing squid to no avail. Maritime was on the water today which was fantastic to see after spending a summer on the hacking watching absolute d***heads keeping mass amounts of undersized kingies. They did however inform me that i needed to be wearing a life jacket while solo in a boat of my size. That was a bummer as my only lifejacket was the HUGE yellow foam ones... With them ducking around the corner from lilli pilli I decided to stay in at the baths there and just tie up to a mooring where I would have a bit of freedom to take it off for a bit. Still no real plans but set up a paternoster rig with pillies and dropped it down in about 20m of water. Now normally the bait would get picked at straight away by little pinkies but not today. Got a little dissapointed at this stage thinking maybe it was gonna be a donut day until I got a tap tap struck and I was on.... for all of 15 seconds. Brought it up to find no hook. Re-tied, re-tried and same thing happened. Tied on larger gauge long shanks after this and from there, the fishing started. Brought up a nice 36cm tailor to start the session and they just didnt stop! Was getting a fish just about every drop from there until the end of the session. There were 2 boats of young guys just watching in awe, after they hadnt been able to get anything. I got them to bring their boat right up next to me and drop down but they just didnt have the gear to fish 20m deep while drifting. Ended up giving them a couple they could take home though which had them very happy. The big one came right at the end as last fish and went 51cm The 2 (what im assuming are) watsons leaping bonito came in on a really light outfit just free spooling a piece of pilly down. Man these things went hard. Ive caught heaps of bonito before and I know they are obviously very similar but these things kept going when from my experience bonito get lazy and just tail thump in circles. Also a 31cm snapper and 34cm trevally to make a nice mixed bag. Had a great afternoon and although Ive been doing very well land based on the georges river, nothing beats being out on the water in Port Hacking, Such a nice system and of course a session like this is a bonus

That video is perfect! Exactly the idea I was getting at. I think I saw the same thing done on iFish once. Now to find some pylons holding some of the little suckers

That's a big mullet! Sounds like a great family fishing session. Well done

Cheers Scratchie! RexSenior, that's some top notch research and thanks for answering my question! Makes sense. On the topic of the big bream eating hard shells, (in this case mussels) I've posted in fishing chat on collecting mussels for use as bait or other prime bait for big bream with no replies just yet but if anyone sees the comment here any tips would be great! (Mussels/crabs etc)

Agreed Rigga! I always pack very light though. 2 rods in one hand, bucket in the other and a bag on my back. Though being an agile 21 year old does help. Especially hopping along the oysters either side of the beach.

After opening up a 45cm bream last night I found a belly absolutely chockers with mussel shells. With pickers being a pest in my spot using dead/strip baits/prawns etc and poddy mullets just getting munched by little tailor im now looking to find out how to overcome that issue and get a bait out there that the big bream obviously love and (hopefully) will be left alone by whiting/little snapper/little bream etc. Im open to any suggestions on where I can go to collect a few for each session (and where it is/isnt legal to do so). I live just up the road from tom uglys bridge so anywhere along the banks of georges river/port hacking. If it puts me in the potential of fish like I got last night I may even go to the extent of chucking on a wetsuit and snorkel to go grab a few. Also I know there are quite a few of the little crabs you normally see around oysters and in mud there. They are very quick to hide but when I luck out and get bigger ones (4cm wide) they get hit hard! Im normally lucky to find 1 in half an hour so I dont normally look for them too long since they only last about 2 minutes in the water but does anyone have any tips on how I might be able to make it a little more productive? I cant imagine it being legal to pump them out of their holes in the mud with a yabbie pump? For those that didnt see the report, the photo below is of all the shells.

The poddys didnt come from the spot there. When I need poddies I normally go to scarborough park, beleive it or not. Very very dirty system but full of mullet of all sizes and plenty of bream. Ive caught mullet to 30cm there and bream to 28cm but you would NEVER eat a fish caught from there. There are plenty of mullet at the spot the bream came from (and big ones at that. 40cm+) but have never targeted them there. If you go down for a long session your bound to see (or hear) atleast one free jumping.

Cheers everyone, I'm still over the moon! I had always wanted to crack the 40cm mark on a bream after having caught atleast 10 coming in at 36-37 over the last year but I never thought if catch one this big. The photo truly doesn't do it justice as I'm sure most people that have got amongst bream this big will agree. It was absolutely freakish. Great to see you can still get whopping fish in a Sydney system. Fingers crossed that this isn't the last time I get to break a PB on bream. Will be taking a photo next to scissors and will enter it in COTM

Hey guys! So after tides/weather/work were no good for me the past week to fish my favourite LB spot that some of you will know from my previous reports, today I decided to get out there before the long weekend is over and its back to work. First I made a trip to catch a few little poddy mullets which were nice and easy to get today. I forgot to bring a float but made a a makeshift one by tying line to the back ring of a surface lure. Managed about 10 perfect sized poddys in under 20 minutes including hooking one through the mouth on the lure the size of the mullet itself. Got down to my spot at about 2:30pm giving me just enough time to rig up and get baits out before the rain came pelting down. I took cover in a little cave formed in the rocks right near my rods. It was absolutely pouring and I was still getting wet in my cave, watching the rods bounce lightly but not enough to get me out of the shelter. About 20 minutes it took for it to stop raining and I was back out fishing. Sent a poddy out only to be smashed as soon as it hit the water. The rod buckled then quickly snapped back. Sat it there for another 30 seconds with no action before bringing it in to find only a head on the hook. Repeated this about 6 times coming back with only a head until I decided to hook it through the back... Well that just meant I brought back the head plus the part of the back with the hook in it Instead of wasting another mullet i put on the little bit left behind the head, cast to the same spot and brough in a nice 34cm tailor. Since the poddys were nearly out it was a releif to get some more bait. Next few casts resulted in pesky little snapper then everything quietened off, I had a bit of a flick with plastics for nothing before going back to my rods and rebaiting for the famous last cast. I only had a size 1 hook but chucked on a big chunk of tailor about 5x3cm and lobbed it out while I packed up. Before I even got off the rock to go to my stuff the rod bends over hard and screams off with a big first run. My guess was on a big flatty after catching a 60cm model there last week, After a solid fight on 4lb I got a big silver flash on the surface which ruled out a flatty and got me even more excited. After assuming a soapie in the dim light of the sunset, I got it up to see this monster. Ive never in my life seen a bream this size! I was sure it was a snapper a little bit far from home when it first came up. It wasnt till I got my phone out to take a photo that I saw it was a bream! With the mozzies starting to come in I quickly packed up the last of my stuff with a huge grin on my face and took the big girl home to measure and show the family. The second photo is after gutting it and everything you see next to the fish is mussle shells. I couldnt beleive how full she was! Also how long does it take a fish like that to break down the shells? There were far more shells than food in the stomach. This is by far my biggest bream to date, smashing my PB by 8cm! Coincidentally my previous PB came from the same spot only 3 weeks ago. Hope you enjoyed! EDIT: The fish went a huge 45cm and 1.35kg after bleeding

Yeah it's tom uglys in the background. I've never used yabbies there but have done really well on cooked prawns, mullet and chicken. There are a lot of snags there but so far I haven't had much trouble with it. I don't throw out a cast as far as I can. I cast just past the rocks and bites are pretty consistent. I haven't done too well there on high tide but low tide has always been good especially after the turn

Recently I found a landbased spot no more than a 4 minute drive from my house and after scoring my PB Sydney Bream there last week I decided to see whether it was a lucky catch or if the spot produces consistently. Tuesday arrived about an hour before low tide and chucked the bait rod out with some peeled prawn and sat it in one of natures rod holders, amongst the oysters while i rigged up the plastics rod. Not one second after i let go of the rod the tip starts bouncing around so I grab it and await the strike but by now my prawn is gone so I bring it back in, rebait, recast and sit it in the oysters and again it starts bouncing around as I go to rig a lure. Stupidly I repeated this process over and over for about 10 minutes before I realised they werent going to hook them selves. Next cast I held the rod, struck on the right bite and man did the little rod load up. Little bit of manouvering through the rocks and oysters and i had a healthy looking bream (i didnt have anything to measure but assumed to be around the 32-33cm mark. I was landing a bream off most casts now and all would have been legal, most around 30ish and some a little bigger. The point of low tide came and the bream turned into whiting. Landed about 6 of these in 10 mins with none going close to legal. After having enough fun with the whiting and keen to try get some on lures I tied a 4" minnow in pumpkinseed and started working that but it felt like it was just pulling through mud the whole way so I changed to a little Berkely 3B hardbody. First cast about 3 twitches in the rod bent and I thought F#@$ there goes $15 to the oysters. I pulled the rod up and all of a sudden my oysters made a run for it. Drag coming off for around 10 seconds then turned the fish and started working it back to the shore. Few more runs after this and finally got it close enough to take a peek. A 70cm+ flatty touches the surface just long enough for my jaw to drop and enough time for him to decide he wanted out so off he went between a big cluster of oysters then 'pop!' busted off on the oysters. Was pretty bummed after this but was still great to see the spot holding big fish. Tied on another 3B hardbody that landed me 3 more flatties between 40-50ish cm then the mozzies came so I was gone. Ended up with about 7 legal bream total and the flatties, all fish were released and sorry no photos, phone was dead flat. Wednesday Only went down for about an hour starting on the low tide, very keen to get myself one of the big flatties. Using a mullet my brother speared off cronulla that morning for bait it wasnt long for the bites to come but could only manage a couple of little bream and the dreaded pinkies for the first 40 minutes. Thinking about leaving at this stage i chuck a nice big strip on then soon after hitting the water the rod goes tap tap tap then very gently loads up strong, I struck and insantly knew it was a decent fish. It took a nice first run then after a short fight I had it close. Another good flatty but not as big as the previous days. To land it I knew I had to beach it as it was gut hooked and i didnt want to try picking it up by 4lb leader not knowing how much damage the teeth had already done. There was a little gap between the rock i was on and the rock next to it so with some delicate guiding I got it through, and brought him up. She went 60cm and a Sydney PB for me, Biggest ever being 62cm in SWR when I was little. Wasnt the fattest fish but was still stoked. Thursday was just another quick one and with low tide being very close to dark (prime mozzie time) I fished the last hour of the run out with prawns. Nothing too exciting but every fish caught was legal. My dad told me I was crazy for not bringing any bream home for a feed the other day so I managed to bring him home 4 bream from this session ranging from 29-32cm. Loving my new spot, so peaceful, great view, lots of fish and so convenient being so close to home. As much as I love it as a sport, fishing is my way of escaping everything, relaxing and taking in nature. Some of you may be able to find this spot from the photo posted here but if you do go and fish it please take your rubbish with you as theres often rubbish scattered along the beach, (though judging by the makeshift bongs not all is from fisherman). Tight lines! Seb

Geez Mark that sounds like a fishing throne more than a chair. It sounds pretty perfect but how much would one of those set you back?