[beach mulloway]

Good on ya mate, nice fish.
I kept my first metery and have thrown every other jew back since.
Beautiful fish which hopefully i'll be able to teach my kids ones day how to target these ghosts. 

Cheers
-Chris

[Central coast kings]

Good stuff mate,
Sounds like a fun sesh

[Trouble casting]

I'd say your line rating would be the major reason for your lack of distance on the new combo.
Downsize the rating on the new one to around 3-5lb mainline (i'm assuming you're using around 6-10lb on the 2-4kg outfit).
Thinner diameter will make a big difference for you.

[The estuary trifecta]

3 hours ago, tyrone07 said:

Yeah that wind was horrible all late last week/ weekend you did well to get one. Wind makes it very difficult. I fish the Hawksbury every now and then what boat are you in mate?

429 stacer nomad mate

[The estuary trifecta]

2 hours ago, tyrone07 said:

How big is that jig head mate? Definately invest in a tripod for your phone they are reasonably priced. Good to mix it up with your photos 

1/2 oz 

Would usually use 1/4 or 3/8th but upsized so I could keep contact with the lure with all the wind about.

 Looks like we caught two siblings mate??

[The estuary trifecta]

On 8/4/2017 at 7:55 AM, big Neil said:

Well Chris you certainly didn't waste the last few days of your Uni break, did you? Have to admire your persistence and the results were certainly rewarding. Good that you released them all too, to grow a bit bigger.

The only suggestion which I could offer with your photography problem would be a camera with timer mounted in a suitable position for the pictures. It wouldn't be too difficult to do and the cameras are fairly inexpensive these days. Good luck with your studies mate. BN

Yeah always that last minute cram to feed the addiction.
I've actually got a waterproof digital camera lying around somewhere, might have to blow the dust off it.
 

On 8/4/2017 at 9:10 AM, Rah said:

Some great fish there mate. 

Got to make the most of uni breaks.

Cheers

Rah

100%
The fish always seem to fire on the back end of it too, just my luck eh.

On 8/4/2017 at 10:38 AM, nutsaboutfishing said:

You sure know how to make a guy jealous. Congratulations on the fine catches and well done on the persistence. With the selfies, if  you've got an iphone there's an app called Gocam i think would help.

cheers

 

richard

Cheers mate, i'll check it out.

On 8/4/2017 at 10:44 AM, sam bros said:

Nice work mate 

Some impressive catches

which estuary were you fishing?

The old humble Hawkesbury.

On 8/4/2017 at 10:49 AM, Wellzy94 said:

Some cracker fish mate, well done!

Cheers,

Wellzy

Cheers Wellzy

On 8/4/2017 at 11:12 AM, Roylo said:

I use a cheap selfie stick as an adjustable holder and lean it against something in the boat. 

You can get photo apps with adjustable timers so you can set it at something like 30 shots with 5 second intervals for example. Then you just pose and move around and later go back and choose what picture you like. 

Yeah that might be the go, i'll see if i can find an app which maybe takes them every couple of seconds until stopped. 
Cheers mate

On 8/4/2017 at 1:27 PM, Aardvarking said:

I'm facing the same problem. It sounds like a stupid issue, but it's just nice to have a photo with me and the fish to remember... and maybe show off just a little bit.

Definitely second you on that last bit.

On 8/4/2017 at 3:35 PM, Rob81 said:

Another trick if your own an iphone is to plug in the earphone. You can use the volume button to snap your shot. If you're on an android, you can hold your hand up and a circle should appear to time a shot in about 2-3 seconds. Hand should be opened and the camera will pick up your hand image to do your shot.

Best you secure the phone on a mount though.

PS, I do the video thing too since my shots are far from phone but if I did closer shots would be as mentioned above.

Not a bad tip, might have to use the toe to nab the pics... fish held in one hand probably aren't worth a pic  

On 8/4/2017 at 4:24 PM, ARC H said:

What a good use of time bud

welldone

Cheers mate

21 hours ago, Regan said:

nice catch there greasepit

love the pics and video of the release,

you wouldnt even know you took the pics yourself

Cheers regan

21 hours ago, jenno64 said:

Cracking Trifecta....which system if you don't mind me asking:)

The hawkesbury mate.

[Rod and reel advice]

With your price range, i'd go a 5000 Shimano Nasci. 
They're as good value for money as you can get out there at the moment.
Super smooth with 11kg max drag strength, and if you look in the right place you can find them down from 200 to $130 and then you add an extra 15% off on top of that price. 

[The estuary trifecta]

video-1501771742.mp4

[The estuary trifecta]

G'day raiders,
Dusted up the last few days of my uni break with 3 trips over the course of a couple days targeting the 3 notable fish of the estuary. 

First day started off with some seriously windy conditions. After a fair few useless attempts, the wind played ball and dropped off half an hour after the tide change. Managed an 80cm jew in that small window. 
Caught on a 5 inch paddle tail.

 

 

Second day, decided to whip out the snow gear and brave a rainy day of fishing (would much rather torrential rain than wind any day of the week).
Managed a nice 70cm flathead. 
Caught on a 130mm soft vibe.

After that bit of rain, the next day cleared up nicely. Went and had a flick around some structure for bream with some small blades.
Best for the day went 35 odd cm. Love those blue lips on them in winter.

 

 

Couple of days well spent, all fish were caught and released.
I'll attach a video of the release of the jewy below.

P.S. Does anyone have any tips for taking solo pictures of fish? (held in hand, not just on the brag mat)
My methodology at the moment is to set my phone up on the perspex of my console, put it on video and hold the fish and move it around to make sure it gets in frame, only problem is the quality when i later take the screenshots. 

Cheers
-Chris

[Hawkesbury Flick]

2 hours ago, seasponge said:

Awesome catches there and great pics! I'd been looking at soft vibes that size but was concerned they were way too heavy, but you eased my concerns there!

How were you working them, were you drifting or anchored? If drifting, were you casting ahead and hopping back to the boat, or dragging the lure behind you?

I'll usually have three rods set up, each with different sized vibes. 
One with a 20g, one with a 33g and sometimes i'll use a small blade on the other or a 15g.
You can work them so many ways mate... The only reason i have multiple ready is to suit the speed of the drift and the current.
As im usually working the deeper sections of the river, ill pull up to the start of the drift and drop the vibe right at the boat, once it hits the bottom, just lift and SLOWLY drop it back down as you want to be in contact with the lure the whole time...Any ticks on the line, strike.
If the drift is too fast and my 33g won't hit the bottom for longer than 1 or 2  lifts without me having to let out more line(given im not just drifting into deeper water), ill just move spots out of the current or the wind. 
In contrast, when the drift is too slow, ill get either the 20 or 15 gram out ( i find when casting the 33g, the action just isn't quite right, you want to feel the vibration through your rod tip) and cast in front of the drift, let it hit the bottom, gentle lift up, wind the slack and let it hit the bottom again. Repeat all the way till the boat. 

Don't go past the eBay vibes mate, they work just as well as some of the name brands.
Cheers
-Chris

[toss of the coin]

Nice work on the cod rick, seems like they really like those neon coloured lures... and I can see you're quite fond of the cod given your shirt as well mate ?

[Sydney Sunday.]

6 minutes ago, cogo44 said:

One sage on board claimed that the current is slow on the dark of the moon but picks up around the full moon. Not sure about that! Any ideas? 

Not sure about offshore but in the estuaries i highly doubt its accurate.

Big tides around new and a full moon, same amount of water needs to enter and exit.

Interested to see if this has any merit elsewhere though.

Cheers

-Chris 

[Hawkesbury Flick]

3 hours ago, Regan said:

nice release videos greasepit

 

my favourite shots

great work

Cheers mate

Tried to do something other than the usual brag mat shot.

[Hawkesbury Flick]

Cheers folks

Was one of my better sessions and the best way to end the uni semster.

 

3 minutes ago, ARC H said:

that would have been a great session well done mate 

is that a starlo classics rod combo in some of the photos

It's a classix 2-4kg squid rod and a Sedona 2000. 

Nice and bendy in the tip for the vibes.

 

Cheers

-Chris

[Hawkesbury Flick]

I was fishing mostly the run out tide so when i first arrived i stopped off and had a go with the little blade and picked up two little flatties (first photo) and a tiny bream. 
I would have targeted the flats more given if it was the run in tide.
In saying that though, i pulled one of the 60's out from relatively shallow water of 2.5 meters.
No discernible holes or features apart from being just around a point in which bait would be pushed over from a nearby bay. 

[Hawkesbury Flick]

Here's a couple videos of some of the releases. 

Cheers for reading
-Chris

video-1498474875.mp4

video-1498475018.mp4

[Hawkesbury Flick]

 G'day Raiders,
Went for a flick the other day at Berowra, fishing exclusively with vibes and blades. 130mm 30gram vibe for the sections with the heaviest flow, 90mm 20gram for average flow and a little 4gram blade for a little bit of flats fishing. 
Managed 3 flatties at 60cm, some a touch over, 1 at 50cm and about 10 or more at under 50cm. 
Topped the day off with a 60cm jewie around the tide change with a baby at the start of the day. 
Ultimately jews were the target species, but the flatties were a very welcome by-catch. 
Let 2 of the flatties at 60cm and both jews go back to the depths and kept a couple of the 40-50cm flatties and one of the 60cm as it was hooked in the gut and the gills.

 

 

 

[Jervis Bay Winter]

Anyone have any info?

[Jervis Bay Winter]

Yeah it's literally never been used.
The drag on it really has some stick.
-Chris

[Surf on the beaches, how big is too big]

Depends on if there are good gutters formed or not.
If there is a fair amount of swell (anything reported from 3-4ft), but it has some deep gutters in close, the swell will generally just wash over the gutter lightly and your baits won't get washed ashore. Anything above 4ft is usually frugal unless you really know what you're doing (i don't).  

In terms of no swell, you can still catch fish, i just find you need to burley to bring the fish in. The purpose of fishing in surf is there will be gutters or (deeper sections of water). This is typically the structure which fish will congregate along an otherwise formless length of coastline. 

-Chris

[Winter Beach Fishing clothing]

Plus one on the wetsuit pants

[Slide baiting dead baits off the beach]

I've tried it and it was a real struggle with the dead baits.
Surf held my bait well out of the deeper water and washed it quite close to shore. 
Though i wasn't using mono, which apparently plays a significant role as well as not using a heavy enough sinker, recommended is 6-8oz, let it set in the sand for a couple minutes before you clip your bait on and give your rod some hearty whips to get it out there.
May work if there's only shore dump though.

[Jervis Bay Winter]

G'day raiders,
I will be heading down again to Jervis Bay at the end of July, staying at a mates place in Vincentia. 
I went up for a trip a few months back and had a ton of fun spinning for bonnies in the northern end of the bay.
I'll be land based for the whole trip, mostly wanting to have a go from the stones.
I've dug up an old Policansky Monarch 2020 overhead reel in great condition and was wondering whether it would be worthwhile taking it for any possible game fish which may be around. 
Apart from that i'm assuming snapper and kings will be the main species on offer, can anyone shed any light on snapper off the stones?

Cheers Raiders
-Chris

[JEWIE LURES]

Jews have a lateral line which is quite sensitive to vibration.
The vibes really play on this and i've had great success using them.
Ikuza vibes in the 130mm and the 80mm in the BO and BGF colours have done most of the damage for me.
They're also very affordable in relative terms for vibes which are usually up around that $20 mark. 

[Soft Plastics on paternosters]

I do this when chasing salmon in the surf, just with a surf popper on the top and a bait on the bottom dropper.
Surf popper usually does the damage over the bait as well. 
I've put a zman grub on for the same application to see if any surf bream would have a go but nothing. 

Interested to see what people have to say about flatties on the SP paternoster.
When i chase them in the estuary, i'll have one casting rod and drop one out the back with a soft vibe when i'm drifting, it gets a hook up here and there.  

-Chris