dirvin21

When I was far younger I used to fish with my uncle in Copeton and Pindari dams and the surrounding rivers, the prospect of releasing a fish was unheard of, some massive cod used to end up in my uncles freezer not to mention cricket scores of yellabelly (70 being the biggest haul I personally know of). I will always remember his disgust when bag limits were introduced. This was a generally accepted practice as most people like my uncle had been raised where fishing was a food source.

nice work mate......... you're more likely to get a surface cod at night or early hours of the a.m. I know plenty are caught on surface in the lakes this time of year not sure about the rivers though

I reckon it's doable

I have caught trout on it... never tried in saltwater but I reckon it would work

if you're feeling really bold "cranka crabs" are dynamite on the leases just expensive when the fish refuse to give them back

awesome mate

Got out on the river yesterday with a mate on his boat. The weather was beautiful a nice clear warm winter's day. We headed straight up river casting snags with hardbodies for atleast an hour we didn't even get a follow, tried different lures deep shallow changed sizes and colours for zip. When we came up to a mud bank resorted to a soft plastic and second cast it was eaten, a very subtle take but once it loaded up felt like a decent fish A nice 30's bream to start the day we wroked our way downriver catching a few tiny flathead with a bream thrown in every now and then not overly big but they fought really hard We made the decision to head for the oyster racks hopefully to find some bluelips didn't take long for a hit new straight away it wasn't a bream The racks weren't firing but after a few good casts the fish started coming they pack a punch on the racks these guys really went hard spotted a couple of bream feeding in the middle so did a suicide cast into the middle of the rack plastic was eaten instantly had to literally rip the fish into the air before it knew what was going on but managed to pull it off we ended up landing quite a few bream between us and pulled the hooks on many more on the racks but if you don't fish a tight drag they'll never come out all fish released bar the flathead which found his way to the frypan cheers for reading Dave

nice fish mate especially on 6lb leader

caught the fish on a ecogear sx40, my other trout lures are blackmagic bmax, rapala tennesse shad and strikepro baby archback

Using a combo of google earth and the stocking data from NSW fisheries found a promising little creek that should hold loads of brown trout. Brownies are a bit of a prize around the Dorrigo-Ebor area as there are only a few streams with decent populations of brown trout. The weather turned it on with a beautiful 10 degrees and a breeze that made it feel like 5. The creek was not what I expected instead of a flowing stream it was a series of overgrown swampy pools. Thinking there can't be any trout here had a cast under the bridge and straight up the biggest wild brown trout I've seen followed my lure right to my feet, atleast there were fish. Hiked upstream casting the pools which was very difficult, most of the pools were only a couple of metres long and surrounded by shrubs. a view of the creek it's running up the right hand side of the photo saw plenty of fish as a worked my way along mostly good sized fish too it was just near ipossible to get a decent cast in finally after many pools and frustrating follows and miss hits came up tight on a fish a beautiful brownie the picture doesn't quite show how densely overgrown this pool was the fish came out of had a couple more follows but no more fish landed next season I'll head to the creek again with either lightly weighted soft plastics or bait which I think will suit the creek better cheers for reading Dave

There's a fishing club based out of Nambucca and also Coffs The Scotts head ramp is ok as previously stated your boat may be a little heavy a mate of mine launches a 6m boat out of Scotts regularly, you can rule out Shelly beach in Nambucca for the forseeable future as theres a huge sandbar formed about 50m out, there are a few guys that regularly go through the Nambucca bar but as said not the safest crossing apart from Coffs you have Urunga although I don't know anyone that heads out off there Let me know when you move up and I'll connect you with a couple of fellas that fish off here regularly and if you're ever up for a fish I'm happy to share a few spots Dave

you should recognise that spot mate

nice fishing mate

I opened the picture with paint to edit the size and used the drawing thingy on there

As my last report said I've been getting quite a few bream just no real size to them. Headed down to the river this morning for a bit of a landbased session to have a bit of fun with some more feisty little bream. Probably casting for about 40 minutes with no sign of a fish when a familiar tap came during a pause on the lure and the rod loaded up allowing for how hard the bream have been fighting lately felt like a better quality fish than I've been getting, gave me a good run around the structure then came ashore, still not big but a better quality fish than I've been getting lately a couple more small fish landed and the clear water came with the run in tide and the fish were off, back in the car and headed to a spot further upstream. Stopped for a quick cast at a footbridge home to some very wise fish but always worth a shot, as soon as the lure hit the water it was smashed again fish went hard going for submerged shopping trolleys and again a reasonable fish a bit smaller than the first these urban fish wise up really fast you generally get one shot and this was no exception. Decided to finish the session casting a spot I haven't fished for awhile the cormorants have started nesting again above the water for some reason bream love cormorant crap. First cast went wide with nothing second cast landed inches from a fresh cormorant crap two twitches and the black shapes were allover it. The take was brutal and straight away no doubt it was a quality fish nothing like fighting a solid bream from a 2.5m embankment covered in branches but unbelievably manged to keep him clear and bring him up the bank a beautiful mid 30's fish not overly long but solid for his length, been awhile since I've caught a solid bream certainly brought a smile to my face Just to give an idea of how fickle these urban bream can be I've marked where the cast landed and fish hooked basically I'm behind overhanging vegetation so the bream don't spot me as they cruise around that's it for another breaming session can't wait for the next one cheers for reading Dave

remember Neil if you make your way further north your always welcome at my place and we'll hit some fish

you can never predict it, I've caught most of my trevally (all the northern species) in the middle of winter, thats what I love about fishing you never know what you'll catch next

36cm no monster but one hell of an opponent on bream gear

one of my favourite places to target I use hardbodies ecogear sx40 and strikepro pygmy being my 2 favourites working the water over weedbeds or off the edges I personally prefer a twitch pause retrieve to imitate a wounded baitfish or prawn poppers worked over shallow weed are also really effective in the warmer months

could be a hybrid, certainly can see featres of both species

cheers mate, your right it's a "thicklip trevally" a mate said the same thing this arvo, I can see the difference now just as attractive as a bluefin and I'll never complain about catching something different

Got out on the kayak around Nambucca chasing bream on the high tide started with the usual technique of working the mangrove edges and shallow weed beds for zip. After a lot of frustrating casting started woring some deeper weed edges and lamost immediately the bream started coming, most were small but they were really aggressive and fighting well above their size. these were the bigger fish needless to say the average size was low but still fun, got a couple of small big eye trevally, pike and flathead to complete the kayak session. With a bit of time to spare had a bit of a ladbased session to finish off, working along the rocky edges a black spot came out and nailed the lure right at my feet which turned into a tug of war trying to keep him out of the reef but finally convinced him to come ashore he measured up 36cm probably about the limit of cod on 8lb leader any bigger I would have been dusted continuing to work along managed another reasonable bream a long pause seems to be doing the trick at the moment hit the breakwall to finish off the water was crystal clear and the bream were there in good size and numbers but not playing the game then over a big piece of shallow reef a school of blue-fin trevally appeared, these guys can really be frustrating they love to chase lures but often refuse to hit them after about 20 casts I'd all but given up and then all hell breaks loose, the fish took off along the wall somehow avoiding all the other fishing lines in the water then back down again, I'd forgotton how stubborn trevally can be but if you guide them rather than bully them you can bring them in on quite light gear a beautiful fish breaking a pb which has stood since 2014, a really nice fish to end an awesome session cheers for reading Dave

don't waste your $45

I started off with a shimano catana/cazna combo 2-4kg which served me for a few years from memory about $100 since upgraded to a ballistix gold 2-4kg and a stradic 2500 which Im more than hapy with

don't worry mate I learned the same lesson exactly the same way