GreasePit

If the gutter is in close and you're able to cast to it with ease, a simple running rig, hook (either ganged or single, i prefer single as it makes the bait look more natural), meter or so of leader to a swivel and ball sinker to suit the conditions. If the gutter is further back, try a paternoster rig as it distributes the weight better for your cast. I like to use a dropper of a long length, tied about a meter up to keep it off the sand crabs. I find dawn and dusk work the best especially on the rising tide at around 7pm, with some good size tailor a possibility at night time. In terms of bait, whole pilchards are good but are a bit crumbly in the surf, try using the tails, or even better, get your hands on some fresh mullet to turn into strip baits. Not only will they last longer on a size 4 baitholder hook whilst looking natural, but it will distribute the weight better, which you may need if the gutter if far, especially with your 6' rod. With your leader rating, i'd go 30lb, if there are some big choppers around, bring yourself some wire. Good luck mate -Chris

I've caught them really far up in berowra waters near the ferry approach on some big tides, not a regular occurrence but they MIGHT (its a big might) travel into the lower reaches around the new and the full.

Japanese line ratings break much closer to their stated weight comparatively to the lines we have here. I bought a 10lb power pro line from japan and it had the diameter of about a 3lb power pro here. I guess their system makes more sense, a 10lb line breaking at 10lb, where as our 10lb breaks much higher than the rating.

Not a guarantee, but checking the surf cams online for the local beaches can help you mitigate a useless travel or possible good conditions. Best of luck

Nice haul of fish as usual mate. Your neighbours must love you!

30 odd foot of water but there is a bunch of shallow water around it. By no means the deepest section, just good structure for the fish to keep out of the current. Didn't get it in the middle of the hole, more so on the edges.

Hey mate The soft vibes are incredibly easy to use. I was working them on a drift, so a simple drop to the bottom, lift about a meter to a meter and a half off the bottom which will impart a vibrating action on the lure, followed by a very controlled drop back down to feel any hits. The tap was very subtle so I think the key is to have constant contact with the lure. Best of luck mate -Chris

Awesome, might have to put the braid onto another reel then. The slides are baited and non return. Seems like my problem is the mono, a heavier anchor point and letting it set for longer as well as using dead bait. Thanks for the info mate, good write up. Yeah thats pretty much the sole reason i've purchased them. Seems like livies are definitely the go.

G'day Raiders, Just wanted some advice from anyone who has done a fair bit of slide baiting. I recently bought some weighted slider rigs mostly for use off of beaches so that i could fish livies in the far gutters without ripping them off the hook with a heavy cast. I'm running 30lb 8 strand braid so its fairly smooth and i get great distance off the initial cast but when i try and slide my bait down to where the sinker is it only seems to get a quarter of the way or so, which was generally quite close to where the braid made contact with the water. The bait would sometimes reach maybe 20 odd meters and get swept back into the breakers as soon as a few set waves rolled through. The technique i was using was casting a big star sinker and grapnel sinker, rigged up the slider and sent it down followed by a couple minutes of light whipping of the 12ft rods in back and forth motions to try and get the bait closer to the sinker. I was slightly elevated on shore but not significantly. Does mono make a massive difference for the slider to achieve its purpose? In very light swell conditions (by light i mean like a lake) i feel like it would work fine but the swell really stopped it from sliding all the way down. Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Cheers -Chris

Cheers raiders Yeah definitely the first purchase on my list. I think my heart will go into cardiac arrest if i hook a bigger one and i'm not more equipped to deal with it. I was in the creek. Plenty of smaller models under 60cm in there but this is the first time i've seen one over a meter.

The jew seem to be fairly thick no matter where you are at the moment. Good stuff mate.

The whole area is a pretty great fishery. Can't go past the tubes, i'd just spin for bonnies and mac's, had a blast with them whilst i was there, caught a few big dirty salmon as by catch which were heaps of fun. You just have to be wary of the swell and the walk down. Use the search function and you should find some info about the area. I'm no expert on JB but from what i've been told and what the local tacklestore owners have said, most of the ocean beaches produce fish. Best of luck mate

G'day raiders, Went out to berowra again today to target jewies for what seems like my 100th trip. Stopped off at my usual bait grounds to stock the live well with a few mullet and only managed one in two hours (usually have at least 10 by then). With the change of tide approaching I decided to go with plan b and drift for Jews in the deeper holes of the estuary with soft vibes. Tied on a dark natural coloured vibe with red eyes onto my 4-6kg rod with a 3000 reel and 10lb braid with a 20lb leader, mostly expecting to nab a few flatties. The wind was down and the drifts were very slow around that tide change and about 30 minutes after a flash downpour I start to see a few big blotches on the sounder down deep. 3rd drift through I feel the most subtle tick on the line and strike, followed by a blazing run and some big tail beats. I've lost fish before on vibes pulling hooks, so I loosen that drag up a touch and play the fish for the next 20 odd minutes, getting towed along about 60 meters away from where we started. I get the fish boat side and finally confirm it's a Jew. By that time it was exhausted and turned on its side, I try net it but the net wasn't big enough and it merely wakes the fish up again. A few more nervous seconds later I get it back to the surface and go for the gaff instead. After a few failed attempts using a blunt gaff, I sling it underneath it's gills and hoist it up into the boat. It measured 102cm and 10kgs.

What is your target species deetee?

Jackal TN60 in the brown dog colour is an absolute ripper on flathead, especially if they have a rattle. They're a bit heavier at 13 grams but it makes them great for fishing deeper sections of water (still catch plenty in shallower sections above 2 meters). The action is a simple lift and it just makes it too easy sometimes. If i ever have a bad day targeting other species, i tie one of these on and spend an hour to leave the estuary on a good note, only thing is if you lose one its $30.

Yeah one of the other blokes there hooked up to a good king on an uneweighted belly strip, got reefed fairly quickly though. Yeah that's the idea Cheers Neil.

I know chicken gut is what you're after but if it is too difficult to source, i've had great success with bream and flathead on stripped and cubed chicken breast coated in cheap parmesan cheese and a few sprinkles of aniseed (works better if its prepared a day before to let it soak into the flesh). It's a cheap bait, stays on the hook fairly well given its not too soft, a large range of species will take it (used to catch aussie salmon on it) and its beyond convenient. Great for dirty water, bream will take the small cubes and flathead will take a small strip about the length of an average finger. Best of luck -Chris

Not a bad upsize from the bonnies and macks. Nice fish mate, your face says it all.

G'day Raiders, My missus has only learnt the full extent of my addiction to fishing quite recently, so I've decided to merge the two as she has shown some fair interest in my favourite past time. (She checks the tides before she comes round and asks if I'm going fishing first and has learnt the best times to go, top lady). So for our first outing, i took her to my local waterway in Berowra for a quick bream session. After a few short instructionals on how to rig the bait and where to cast she was baiting and casting herself and being rewarded with a few undersized bream. Of course being on the water I was going to drop a line in myself, had a little poddy in for the chance of a jew and the rest of my time watching and giving her some tips on what to do and what not to do. I saw a few bumps on the livey, went to check it expecting a pike eel and pulled in a nice 60cm flatty and after a few quick snaps, she went back in the drink. Later down the track and a bit closer to the top of the tide it goes a bit quite in the spot we were fishing so we moved back down towards the boat ramp and stopped at a few spots in some deeper water which can hold a few more sizeable models. First cast into this snaggy area, bang on target where i said the big one may lurk, she gets a hit, it peels some line off and she drops and winds like a pro, letting the fish run when it wanted to and fighting it tooth and nail all the way back to the boat. In comes this nice blue nose going 36cm's and her new PB, she was stoked, few very happy snaps later, the old bruiser was released. A week or so later an impromptu trip to Jervis Bay pops up for myself, the missus and a bunch of mates from uni. Given the information from a post i made, it seemed like my best option would be to go to the tubes. I drove down at night early, slept in my car so i could wake up at first light and do some prospecting. The weather for the weekend was perfect, a light NW was blowing, swell was flat as a tack and the sun was out just enough to lightly kiss the skin. First few casts with a 40gm slug comes a frigate mackerel, followed by the next few hours seeing about 10 or so bonnies and mac tuna in the mix as well up to about 50cm, all thrown back as i'm too lazy to salt them for bait. A big seal came through at one point and did see a big dirty king being very intrigued with a smaller frigate i let flounder around near my feet, though couldn't tempt it with the stickbait at all. Come night time, i convince the missus of an early wake up so she can get stuck into some real fun catching a few bonito. We wake up a little later than expected but she does manage to catch 4 small mac tuna and had a ball casting for them and experiencing the speed of these guys, regardless of their size. We were getting about one every 20 minutes, but it died off as the sun rose further and given her experience, we packed up as i didn't want her interest to stagnate by not catching fish (key to beginners is to make sure they're always catching). Cheers for reading guys, sorry for the long post. -Chris

It's tough getting through those pike's sometimes, god they're thick in the system. Nasty critters, learnt not to put the fingers too close to them fairly quickly. Nice Jew though mate, should be thick at the moment near the mouths given the mullet run.

Cheers for the info guys, got stuck into plenty of bonito, frigates and mac tuna, all caught and released.

You'll be in with a chance for a jewfish around the tide change at night If you get time, head over to little beach just before sunset and catch yourself a few fresh squid, try keep them alive I'd send them down with a sinker Do keep in mind the current runs pretty hard through there especially given the sizes of the tides at the moment so keep a good eye on your lines as there's plenty of reef down there If you're there Monday morning and have any squid left you'll be in a chance for a kingy around sunrise Be prepared for a ton of banjo rays as well

Holy shamoley Would love to manage a tuna from the stones Probably a little bit undergunned though Regardless I'll give it a crack Cheers for the info mate

G'day raiders, A trip to Jarvis Bay has just popped up and i'll be going down in a few weeks time. Anyone have any advice on where to fish as i've never been to the area. I'll be landbased and happy to fish off the stones and beaches. Keen to get stuck into some kings and spin for some pelagics (any bonito around this time of year?). Maybe go for a jew off one of the beaches, so if anyone knows of any areas to catch squid or slimies/yakkas that would be a godsend. Any advice and tips would be brilliant. Thanks in advance raiders -Chris

Add the Shimano Cranx to your list. Theres a certain site (won't be hard to find) which is selling them for $100 down from $170. Nice and light, only thing is they use SEA guides. I've had a raider in the 4-8kg, fairly fast action, been a great rod, i flick my big soft vibes with it and its been great but i have heard the cork starts to wear on them pretty badly. Hasn't happened to mine yet though but i do take care of it. In saying that though, if you have the cash to splash, can't go past the revolution.