dirvin21

if chasing redfin small bream style hardbodies work well

Further up at Lake Cathie isn't to bad for flattties

been trying to take underwater shots have to say it's a lot harder than I expected but can make for some interesting pictures here's a few

"lesser queenfish" Scomberoides lysan

they can be difficult to avoid matching your leader and braid size does help when there's a big diameter difference the lines cast at different speeds and result in braid falling on itself causing the beloved wind knot try a different type of braid, I have found 8 strand braid is far less prone to wind knots than 4 strand

flathead yes, far better lures for whiting, you want something that runs shallower and a bit smaller, fish it over the flats (black magic bmax is my preferred lure) it can be pretty frustrating chasing whiting on hardbodies colour is personal choice, the AYU colours are my preferred

try a 5-6 inch soft plastic either grub or paddle-tail rigged weedless, in heavily fished areas a subtle approach can make the difference

around the flats especially with weedbeds the retireve can be take a bit of practice (I'm not particularly good at it) the aim is to rapidly twitch the rod tip while winding making the lure "walk" along the surface

Haven't managed a lot of saltwater fishing in the last few weeks, mostly just quick sessions with some random catches. Did a flats session down at Lake Cathie (south of Port Macquarie) chasing flathead on plastics with plenty of small flatties having a go, A big prawn went sipping arcoss the water so decided it was time to dust off the poppers, first cast first decent whiting on a popper for awhile, the hits came thick and fast just couldn't seem to hook up, then over a shallow section a solid whiting came from nowhere and inhaled the popper right at my feet, a skinny fish but good length going 41cm. The next session a quick pre work, casting the pathways around Nambucca, the water was crystal clear maing the bream very cagey. Kept getting hit by leatherjackets coming out from weedbeds trying to eat my plastic. With a bit of experimenting managed to snare one A pretty little yellowfin leatherjacket, haven't caught one for years, with a bit of practice managed to work them out just letting them pic up the plastic and swim off then strike hard manged quite a few jackets including a fan-bellied also got a solid yellowfin jacket pushing but dropped him back in the water pre photo, after the jackets found a baitball sinking a plastic through it got the familiar tap on the drop resulting in an average bream For the final 2018 saltawater session started having a cast around the marina at Coffs Harbour not a lot of action mostly just "happy moments" chasing my plastics in big schools After a tonne of casts a tap on the drop and into what I assumed to be a decent bream when I glimpsed the fish thought this bream must be on steroids but as it came bankside it turned out to be a spangled emperor a first on a lure heading back towards home pulled in at my favourite roadside spot, "the tree" and first cast a nice bream confidance beaming......... and then nothing tried big small hardbodies and plastics for zip, moved to the next tree again first cast was hammered but didn't hook-up, rolling the plastic back in it was crunched right at my feet by what I assumed to be the angriest moses perch I've ever seen but as I lifted the fish my jaw nearly hit the water RED SATAN on a bream plastic, only small but a prize at any size and my last fish of 2018 that's it for 2018 hope you've all enjoyed reading my 2018 reports as much as I've enjoyed writing them cheers Dave

Haven't managed as much freshwater fishing as I would like this month have managed a couple of sessions. A couple of weeks ago headed out west to chase cod. The river was up slightly making kayaking difficult and in some instances dangerous. The fishing was also slow, casted spinnerbaits for hours with nothing, desperate times tried a 5inch grub softplastic on a 6/0 weedless hook, literally 2nd cast and it was hit scared me so much I almost fell out of the yak. Fished the plastic for atleast a couple of hours for a few hits when finally one stuck never felt such relief for a fish With the river not improving headed for hoe early in the morning, had the light rod in the car so stopped at a couple of roadside spots on the way hoe looing for a trout, and spot number 3 a nice brownie to improve morale With the cicadas singing over christmas the blood was pumping for a bass session so early this morning me and a mate headed up Taylor's arm and launched the yaks on daybreak the river was looing good It didn't tae long for the jitterbug to get hammered saw the bowwave heading towards the lure an average TA fish the surface bite lasted and hour or so with 4 fish each mostly small and plenty of miss hits then the switch to hardbodies the fish came in fairly regularly mostly small to average with the odd better fish this fish was in a tiny pocet of clear water surrounded by weed against the bank kept woring along the river casting the edges with plenty of strikes and fish exciting when your lure hits the water and gets smashed before it even moves my biggest fish for the day was mid to high 30's not big but all the fish had some serious attitude absolutely smashing the lures and flying towards cover after 5 hours of fishing, paddling and portaging we simply ran out of energy, with a final tally of 34 bass landed at an even 17 each it was an awesome session and a great way to finish the 2018 sweetwater all my fish today were on the arbogast jitterbug (surface) and the taylor made "nippy nymph" hopefully 2019 will be even better cheers for reading Dave

Awesome Neil... ironically the river I cod fished early in the weekhad risen by about a metre and fished just as tough

they'll work just as good as saltwater caught

Good stuff Rah you've got me motivated to hit some bass on the weekend

thanks guys hopefully the fish will comply

Your rod combos will be fine i use a 2-4kg with 8lb braid and fluro Lure selection looks pretty good with the cranks (short fat ones) slow roll with occasional pause and with the skinnier ones (shads my preferred) try a twitch pause retrieve you just want the lure to do a small dart with a flick of the wrist and elbow From a boat or kayak casting towards the shore ahead of the drift is my preferred method cover as much area as you can bream do like structure but they also roam around in packs looking for food away from solid structure Keep moving bream wise up very fast most of my bream come from the first or second cast at a snag then they just get spooky Bream will occasionally stitch you up when fighting them but usually with a well set drag and some rod manouvering you can vet them in on resonably light gear the exception being around oyster racks and other really nasty sttructure which can turn into a lure bloodbath if you fish to light the old rule is match your leader to the structure Scents can also make a difference especially in heavily fished areas Dont get in too much of a bind about time of day some of my best bream have been caught in the middle of the day Look forward to seeing some photos of you holding a trophy bream Dave

looking at an overnighter on the Severn river around Ashford either Kwiambal NP or some TSR if anyone wants to join they are more than welcome Dave

Well said Rick

All my reels now have braid

I used to use platypus platinum

If you can get livies, herring and mullet your most likely.... theres plenty of fish along the breakwall this time of year bream, trevally, jew, kings and possibly jacks

My good mate decided we needed to have a fish on his boat this week so me working arvo shifts the only option was a good old dawn launch to get the most out of our free hours. When I pulled up at the ramp Andy had already launched the boat and got a 50cm big eye trevally whilst waiting. We basically started fishing from the macksville ramp casting hardbodies along the rockwalls using med-heavy baitcast gear and bigger than usual lures hoping for jacks. About 10 minutes in all the tiredness was shaken from me when my lure was nailed and loded up on a solid fish A 42cm black spot a new pb to start the day Not long after Andy nailed a 50cm big eye on surface then we moved onto a flat casting magic swimmers for flathead didn't take long to load up on a fish but instead of a flattie out came a big eye he was ambitious then it was back to a rocky bank casting hardbodies hoping for jacks when the lure was eaten I hoped but instead of a jack out came a very feisty bream he was keen eating a 80mm deep diver We worked some shallow edges casting small bream lures for a mox of small bream, whiting, flathead and trevs. Again we came came to a deep rocky edge and out came the bigger gear going for quality over quantity and again i was shaken awake by a solid take this fish went really hard and again another black spot this one went 43cm beat my pb thice in a session not long after Andy landed a small jack a high fives and fist pump moment (jacks aka red satan are almost a myth in the Nambucca river). We kept alternating according to structure and depth fishing shallow open country with bream gear and the nasty stuff with jack gear whilst working a muddy bank i hit a snag which I realised was a flattie just lip hooked on a strikeprop pygmy, a gentle approach saw it in the net a nice 59cm speci We got a few bream no real big fish but a couple around the 30cm mark We decided the jack casting was our primary focus so we casted the heavy structure Landing a perfect cast against some rock and timber my lure was nailed just after hitting the water had to jam my thumb on the spool I knew straight away this was no bream or cod... it's funny how time slows during the nervous moments of your fish avoiding the landing net... but then it was in..... Red satan was in the net The first jack I've caught in almost 2 years and only my 4th in approx 34 years of fishing.... happy was an understatement, not big but a jack, it was released after a couple of pics We worked a bit more deep structure and I was annihilated by what I'm assuming to be a maasive cod didn't even come close to stopping it. That was it for an awesome session spent the evening at work with a big smile on my face hopefully it's the first of many jacks for the summer cheers for reading Dave

Dont forget to check marine park zoning couple of fines have been dished out recently Pretty sure coffs ramp is open, I shoukd be able to find out for you if need be

The main advantage of a baitcaster is stopping power being you can thumb the spool and put hurt on the fish running heavier braids on smaller setups Not bad for bass yaking wouldnt recommend for trout as its harder to fish the lighter drags required for trout fishing Theyre not good for casting from the banks in tight or overgrown areas I only use mine for cod and heavy bass spinning from the yak or open bank when casting bigger spinnerbaits and hardbodies otherwise the spin gear gets better cast distance and is just as accurate If you do go for a BC setup spend the extra $$$ on the reel My thoughts Dave

if you're targeting bream at least 2m is preferrable, bream are very aware and cluey if you're using an FG knot you can safely go longer as it doesn't tend to loosen when wound on the reel like other knots

hard bodies work just as well. you need something that runs shallow preferably in a minnow or shad style between 40-60mm keep the rod tip high and a twitch pause retrieve seems to work best, you need to keep the rod tip up otherwise the trebles will catch in the roots and once they do they don't come out easily some lures I've done well on are black magic bmax, strikepro pygmy and pontoon 21 crackjack