dirvin21

He went 36cm played up on the bream gear. They stay in the system, they just slow down but I've seen them school up in certain areas during the winter months but only randomly, they're certainly a mysterious fish which just adds to tye attraction

finished my week of nightshifts, did the usual drag myself out of bed at lunchtime after the last one, seeing the weather figured it would be rude not to hit the river. Had the boat on the river in no time heading upriver looing for some bream. Went a long way upriver casting plastics along some timber and natural rockwalls, the fishing was a bit slow with a few small bream and flatties to break the doughnut. Did a bit of a spot hop changing focus to steep mudbanks hopping plastics from the very edge down the banks, didn't take long for a good take, straight up knew it was a good bream a nice fish to really get the arvo going, caught quite a few bream on the mudbanks. Drifting along the banks started to get a bit more structure mixed in and the small trevally started coming aboard mostly big-eyes, as the banks got a bit deeper the hits got a bit harder, finally the rod loaded up properly really fought hard considering how cold the water is, the small bream and trevs kept coming in, it's funny when you strike waht is assumed to be an ant sized bream and the fish strikes back again really fired up and fighting really hard, it tore my last greasy prawn grub as I left the spare packs on the bench at home, changed over to a slim swim hoping they'd still be happy eating the paddle tail, fortunetly the fish didn't care with a couple more smallies. Working across a big tree lure gets nailed then dropped then nailed again by another fish in the school, it happened 3 times before I kept one stuck and out came another GT always happy with a GT. With the light starting to disappear pushed along to fish a few more snags, landed a cast perfectly along a sunken branch and was instantly nailed and the fish immediately ran the line through a forest of sunken timber, having no idea what it was thinking maybe a monster bream, by some miracle managed to pull the fish back out without busting off only running 8lb leader, then the moment came when I saw the culprit, I buckled at the knees, scrambling with the net which the fish fought damn hard to avoid, nerves frazzled as the fish slid in the net then the mandatory yahoo, there's only one fish on earth that gets me this worked up....... Red satan, still can't believe I managed to get a bite from one at this time of year let alone land it on 8lb leader in gnarley timber, with a chaffed leader, a fuelled ego and every bit of life in the area evacuated with fear from my yahooing, decided to end the session on a all but unbeatable high. cheers for reading Dave

I'm in at this stage

you can pump yabbies at back creek near the footbridge, it's in SWR itself not far from the town centre

With my success on Friday and the kids spending the weekend at my place Declan was adamant he wanted to hit the river and catch his first trev. Trying to explain to an eager 12 year old that in colder months we fish gentlemans hours rather than the crack of dawn. Headed to the same area I fished with Andrew and started casting 2.5 inch grubz at the edges second cast and I get a take first called a GT but.... really solid bream instead, a good start to the session. After the bream and Declan getting a couple of small bream the small trevs started coming aboard and didn't take long for Declan to get his first trev Only a small big-eye but he certainly didn't care as the smile says, we kept casting and a mix of bream and better quality GT's started coming aboard they were terrorising baitfish along the edges and around the timber and pack a punch on bream gear, a mate came along in his boat drifting down casting the edges like us he'd been hitting big numbers of GT's further up the system, he headed off and when he's about 50m away my lure gets eaten right up on the edge, the fish immediately steam rolls out to the middle I knew big flattie, on 8lb leader, backed the drag off and let the fish wear itself out, when I finally got a look at it, definetely a pb flattie and how the hell is a kid supposed to net it, fortunetely Mick came over in his boat and netted the fish for me not a giant for most systems but at 72cm easily a new pb and incredibly thick and heavy, zman 2.5 inch grubz will catch anything. After a few snaps courtesy of Mick she was carefully released and we went back to casting. We continued witht he small bream and trevs then Declan loads up on a better fish, he did a good job of fighting the fish and soon had a nice flattie boatside The fattest 55cm flattie I've seen in a long time again the smile says it all, We finished the session with a few more bream and GT's including Declan getting belted by a decent trev and screaming unfortunetly it didn't hook up A great session seeing Declan land his first trev and me breaking a pb thats stood for nearly 5 years hopefully this is the start of a good winter/spring of trevally fishing cheers for reading Dave

Hit the river today with my good mate trying to crack some bream. It wasn't looking overly promosing at the start with a pretty much dead low tide and fairly cold wind. We headed up river hitting some edges that ususally produce with small crank style hardbodies for zip. Change in tactics to a 2.5 inch zman grub wasn't long before it was eaten by what I assume to be a big flathead ended up getting chewed off. With a bit more confidence we both started casting grubs and didn't take long to start landing fish a couple of miniscule bream and big eye trevs, we kept working the timbered edges and while cranking the plastic in for a recast get a proper take, called it for a trev straight away a nice little GT to get the day going properly, we kept working the edges with steep banks and deeper timber and the bream started to improve The quality of fish was better than ususal there were lots of mishits because the fish were ust sucking the plastic in rather than belting it subtle twitches of the plastic on the bottom seemed to be doing the trick. put a cast right up in the shallows and watched the lure get eaten the fish took off at speed thought it must have been a posessed bream turned out to be a better quality big-eye, we kept getting plenty of small bream, the water was really clear which doesn't happen very often up that far so we managed to scout a few rock bars for jack season. We came along to some really good deep timber a sure enough the lure was monstered didn't take long to realise it wasn't a bream A better GT, they certainly go hard on the bream gear, continuing along the bank the hits kept coming thick and fast mostly small fish but every so often a solid take the quality of bream kept improving we come to some more timber and Andrew puts a miscast that snags before we go in to retrieve it he sugests I put a cast in and of course it gets nailed ended up being the biggest for the day a really thick mid 30's bream, as the tide turned the fish started to slow down although we still caught plenty more small bream and a couple of flatties the days tally ended up around 40 fish between us, all released hopefully with winter the big bream will start to appear in numbers cheers for reading Dave

Walk the edges casting, experiment with different lures, sinking lures like celtas, spoons and soft plastics will let you work all depths You can also by artificial trout bait in a jar i think its berkeley that works fairly well and of course garden worms neither of which stink

as Derek said, start slow with short trips to get used to the yak and what you're capable of you'll find once you get a good paddle rhythm going you can paddle for long distances without too much drama a good quality paddle makes a big difference without the electric and battery you'll have a lot more $$$ to put towards a better kayak and other accessories not to mention the weight you save the cheap kayaks are a good start out I had one originally but they tend to not track straight, I've since upgraded to an "Old town" and can easily paddle twice the distance with less effort, dragon and Viking also produce good quality kayaks for the price

Nice trev

fished for them when I was younger for fun find them in shallow water and cast 1/2 pillies in front of them

Nice video mate

I've got a 13 creed k 3000, it's had a rough life bushbashing, kayaking, trips up north and hasn't missed a beat despite all tye punishment

you can fish/exercise with another person just have to follow social distancing, separate yaks you won't have any issues

Saratoga has been on top of the bucket list for a long time.... planned a trip to central QLD in October hopefully the restrictions will be lifted by then Best part is don't need any gear upgrades to do it just a bass setup should be sufficient, did buy a couple of surface lures and 1/4 oz spinnerbaits specifically for the toga trip

For your saragosa?, probably a good quality 30lb braid, I've used quite a few brands and the sufix 832 braid is all I use now it's smooth enough and doesn't deteriorate after a few months, Leadee doesn't need to be too long, as already said learn the fg knot

Jacks definetly warmer months November to April, GT's are around throughout the year, I catch most of my GT's and big-eye trevally through winter and spring when they seem to form into big schools

Mangrove jack.... In the NSW they are a real challenge on lures, you can spend hours of casting waiting fora hit only to be instantly blown away, When I've watched them just cruising around you can tell they rule the estuary they strut around the shallows and snags From me they've earned the name "red satan" because of all the pain and lost gear they've caused but no matter how many times i swear never again I can't even comprehend not chasing satan in the summer

With magnificant weather at the moment and hearing there's loads of bonito in the lower Macleay river at the moment thought I'd give it a go from the kayak. Launched at SWR early to fish the run in tide, the tide was really pouring and it was a tough paddle downriver looking for bust-ups, wasn't long before a paddock of fish started busting first cast and on, a bit of a tussle.... a leaping bonito, a good start to the morning, the fish disappeared as quick as they arrived so kept slogging on aiming for some busting fish that seemed to get further away eventually reached them quite a few fruitless casts and switched to a smaller lure on a light outfit and straight away, it was quite the teeth gnashing fight on 6lb braid and a bream rod but finally a little mack tuna, they go hard for their size, after that a couple of boats arrived determined to troll them by running right through the middle and of course the fish vanished, so with that started floating back with the tide, came to a creek mouth and the fish were busting again, cast in the middle and on again, they really are something else on the light gear and strong current gettting down deep got a mix of leaping bonito, this one was hooked awkwardly so it was safer to paddle to shore to dehook, and mack tuna, they were really keyed in on the small baitfish, after a couple of hours and my arms falling off headed into shore. Heading for home pulled up at one of my jack spots hoping to tangle with a late season satan, third cast get monstered after some fancy rod work I reel in half a tree with a solid mid 40's black-spot attached try another tree and right at my feet it gets nailed another solid black-spot to finish the session, fishing certainly isn't "passive exercise" hopefully get out again in the next couple of weeks cheers for reading Dave

Weedless grub style plastic I use a 5" zman streakz curley tail with a 5/0 hook tt chinlockz

6 fried green tomatos ?

look at the lure weight rating for the rod and check it against the lures you intend to use

answer your first question the handles are fixed and can't be changed try and buy the best quality reel you can afford the cheaper ones just don't perform or last long I use a shimano curado K for most of my cod fishing and also doubles for snag bashing jacks get a really good quality reel for the price

When I lose a fish I generally say something along the lines of "OH DEAR THAT'S A REAL PICKLE"! apparently Amy and the kids only hear a weird mixture of expletives

Most likely the main bearing has seized, you can get a replacement bearing or find a tackle shop that can do it

bit of a belated post, caught weeks ago with all the goings on forgot to post it After 25+ years of bass fishing finally cracked the 50 went 52cm on a jig spinner and a 2.5 inch grub