dirvin21

had plenty of short sessions over the week, started out with some trevs in the gale force southerly winds following day a long canoe paddle in the upper tidal reaches only ended up with one fish but always good to avoid the doughnut next day back to chasing trevs started on the kayak getting a few ant sized big-eyes, switched to a landbased spot with some bigger lures resulting in an immediate size upgrade A change in retrieve style to a big rip pause made the GT's fire up as well some nice high 30's models next session was chasing flatties trialing the sebile magic swimmer only small fish landed but think I've wored out a successful retrieve to finish the week hit the marina at Coffs for nothing, heading home stopped at one of my reliable spots again terrible weather, first cast smoked by a trev on the light gear pulled out some heavier gear again casting Jackall's and again more fish the Moses perch have appeared early this season this one was really red thought it was a jack at first last fish of the session was an equal pb mosie a solid fish that's it for the week hopefully more fish to come Dave

The fishing on the Nambucca is pretty good at present about 1/2 north SWR.... plenty of landbased options can certainly put you onto a few spots

Thanks mate..... I love this area get the best of both worlds with northern and southern species

I was supposed to go cod fishing this weekend but due to some unforseen circumstances had to pull the pin and probably dodged a bullet as far as weather goes. My paln B was to hit the river today for a long session on the kayak which the gale force southerly winds made me reconsider. So it was plan C, hit the tree in Nambucca which is one of the few places to hide from a southerly. The water was a bit dirtier today but could still see reasonably well, the mullet were present with some trevally hanging in the shallows on the edge of the school, chucked plastics at them for very little interest, tied on a 40mm atomic shad and second cast one of the trevs fired up swiped and missed but the treble caught him in the head, and out came a respectable big-eye thought I'd put the rod in the shot, the fish kicked after the photo nearly took the rod in with him A few casts later working over the sunken timber and a flash followed by a singing drag, a bit of a run around the timber and out comes another decent big-eye two casts later working the lure as deep as possible on a submerged stump and it was monstered with a big deep run and big thumping tail beats can mean only one thing and sure enough eventually out comes a quality GT 40cm a new pb, for such a closely related fish the GT's and big-eyes fight very different Thinking big trevally decided it was time to up the ante, the bream gear was swapped with the "satan stick" 20lb braid and a Jackall Squirrell second cast and it's hit caught multiple more big-eyes and GT's around this size, they really wanted the bigger lure Finally the smaller trevs settled down a bit and managed to get the lure down deep around the timber and sure enough absolutely nailed this was another good fish took a lot of effort to avoid the timber which he did bury once but managed to get him back out after what seemd forever out came another quality GT he measured up 41cm so bested my pb again, this fish was thick and mean he really gave me a run around even on 20lb with that fish the wind changed gears and some dead limbs above me which made me call it quits but not complaining an awesome trev session cheers for reading Dave

Heading up to Kwiambal np on sunday for an overnighter chasing cod... if anyone wants to join you're more than welcome

Shimano classix.... and shimano ballistix gold.... both have a short butt section and aren't overly expensive

Yeah mate the everfaithful pygmy

Awesome Rick..... good to see the river still ok..... gives me a bit of confidence for my cod spot hopefully it'll get some sort of rain before I'm out there next

From my interpretation the by-catch loophole for commercials catching and selling undersized mulloway is gone regardless of where it is netted....... I personally welcome the changes molloway get pillaged in my local system by both commercial and recreational

Another opportunity for a landbased session on the Nambucca river, unfortunetly the tide wasn't ideal being dead low. Started hitting a cree mouth and a couple of casts in first fish on nice average flattie to start the day Moving along to the tree with the dead low tide didn't leave much water to fish over the timber, working plastics just under the surface the bream soon appeared and on a pause instantly eaten A nice leagal sized fish would have preferred to hook one of his mates launched a wayward cast and while cranking it back in over some timber watched a solid trev come from nowhere and nail it he put on quite a show in the nasty snag filled area but after some convincing out came a solid 38cm big-eye always happy with a trev like that the fish went quiet so move along to the next tree casting plastics again this time multiple short strikes hitting the tail of the plastic, switched to a hardbody and first cast absolutely crunched a bit better quality bream although a bit on the skinny side. No more fish willing to play ball ended a good little session. To keep the mojo going stopped off on the way to work for another cast under a bridge there were fish everywhere hearding bait under the lights and sure enough another take similar length bream to the last but in far better condition a good way to top off the days fishing The bream seemed to have moved back upriver from their spawn run so hopefully this is a sign of things to come over the next couple of months cheers for reading Dave

managed a session this afternoon kayaking a section of upper Warrel creek I haven't fished for atleast 12 years. The weather was pretty ordinary with a cold wind blowing, the water looked pretty good though, very clear for Warrel creek. Casting zman grubz at the edges the first half of the paddle produced nothing but the odd tap. Eventually noticed a shallow gravel bed running up the middle, a cast over the gravel and almost immediately a hit and miss, followed by another and a hookup after quite a fight up comes a bream. Things always seem better when the doughtnuts busted. No more hits on the gravel bed, put a cast along a deep bank, half way through the retrieve a subtle tap then weight, too awhile for the fish to realise it was hooked then it was on. The fish ran me all over the creek, eventually it came yakside a solid estuary perch, not something I see very often. I've no doubt it's a perch, the angle of the picture doesn't show how concave the forhead is The EP was quickly released being spawn season Kept working my way up with little interest until finally casting another gravel bed another take. Straight away called a flathead it ran deep and gave me a hell of a run around and eventually a mid 50's flattie came up yakside No more fish played the game and with light fading it was time to end the session. Only 3 fish landed but they all fought really hard and always good to catch something different. The zman grubz was a copper penny colour just to mix it up cheers for reading Dave

Nice kingy mate

My theory is with the cold water the plastics are generally a slower more subtle presentation that presents an easier feed....... in general bream are the most fickle frustrating soul destroying target because they just decide to eat or not eat a lure for no apparent reason.... about 5 weeks ago they would only take a white grub style plastic and only white didn't matter up river or down even oyster racks no reasoning for it.... that's what i love about bream spinning there's never a sure thing lure

loving the grubz at the moment can work them really slow and subtle for the winter fish ..... that bubblegum tail was the same one for all those fish it has since gone to a snag .... might chuck on a motor oil next to mix it up

I used to use a catana combo for bream/trout spinning.... currently using a ballistix gold with a stradic fk.... go braid and don't skimp on the quality stuff currently using daiwa j braid 8 strand

This winter has been a major hit and miss affair, with multiple doughnut sessions for not even a looker. One session that produced was a 15 minute pre work under bridge lights that involved 2 dropped bream, pulled hooks on a small jack and finally a drought breaking flathead about low 50's Another session that atleast produced was fishing the boatramp at Port Macquarie with the better half teaching her how to use soft plastics we both managed a silver trev not monsters but fish atleast yesterday I hit coffs marina loaded with anticipation and of course nothing not even a follow, stopped at my beloved highway tree on the way home last time I was here a submarine took a 79mm jackall squirrel fortunetly pulled the hooks before burying me and to my amazement the likely culprit was cruising the edge harrasssing mullet a approx 60cm juvenile queensland grouper absolutely magnificant fish, being protected I left him be and with 8lb gear would have been irresponsible the trevs were absent, but seeing a nice cormorant crap oil slick put a cast on it and straight on A nice high 20's bream loads of mates followed him out thining they're all spooked put a cast hard up against the log letting the plastic sink beside it and it was annihilated the fish ran me straight up into the timber and by some grace I got him back out a solid 33cm bream lot overly long but in solid condition again the cormorants lift their tails and a well placed cast and more bream all the fish were atleast high 20's all the fish were caught on zman grubz 2.5" they're just not into the hardbodies at the moment as always looking forward to spring cheers for reading Dave

When I was younger we used to target them (prior to being protected) fish around the gutters on a rock platform start by catching bait we used fo use a prawn and aim to get a small wrasse which was dispatched belted on the rocks a few times to break open the skin and put out on some 20lb mono and a wire trace. The rod was only fairly light... not a great fighter but on the light gear they have a go....

When it gets warmer herring are a good option you catch them on a bait jig along rockwalls, bridges etc... smaller creeks berley up mullet with bread and catch them on small hooks baited with bread under a float and in summer you can also get garfish via the same method

That's a bass.... head body shape etc....

You're always welcome Neil

When they were croaking at me I'm pretty sure they were saying "we want Regan to come and catch us "

Good on ya for braving the cold.... any jew wouod be worth it I reckon

With a break in the rain this morning decided to have a quick session to see if any fiah had stirred up from the rain. The bream were completely absent all the first few spots produced was a lone flathead. Stopped at my favourite tree on the way home this spot hasn't produced for awhile expectations were low. Third cast working deep against the timber a take followed by a short run and pulled hooks. Another cast in the same spot and solid fish on, straight away I thought trev and after the familiar burning runs and fancy rod work to keep out of the timber out comes a nice GT. A nice mid 30's fish Couple of casts later and on again this one really took off thinking a monster he turned out to be a low 30's just fowl hooked he also managed to rip the rear treble mount from my sx40 thats 3 times this has happened ecogear have really dropped their quality Went to a slightly larger and deeper diver a Maria DSP 45, with plenty of hits and a couple of smaller fish casting out to more open water these guys are the average winter GT normally seen up here With the rain prmosing to return thought I'd put the last few casts up against the timber again hoping for another of ther bigger fish. After a few casts another solid take this fish like a rocket after the usual run around again this fish was really testing my skills and finally out came a solid big-eye he measured 40cm a new pb and a beast of a big-eye for the river the rain started so session ended nothing lie some trevs to get the blood pumping hopefully these guys will stick around as they didn't make much of an appearance last winter/spring cheers for reading Dave

a workmate invited me out to have a fish in his dam, he's stocked it with plenty of silver perch and yellabelly. Put a lot of casts in with soft plastics working the bottom searching for a yellabelly (he hasn't seen any since he stocked them 3 years ago) for no joy but the water was like ice. Saw some movement around the weeds on the edges so swithced to an sx40 and after many many casts finally a take After being wrapped up in the weeds twice a nice silver came bankside. He measured up 40cm been atleast 15 years since I;ve caught one of these guys forgot how hard they go. Only ended up with one fish which was released did have another couple of hits but the water was probably a bit cold, I've been invited to return when the water warms up the aim being to catch a yellabelly and prove they're still in there. It's always good to catch soemthing different cheers for reading Dave

When I was a teenager fishing in knee deep water a little octopus casually cruised by me so I gave it a poke with my rod tip..... I'll never forget the moment it turned that amazing blue.... and I walked on water