dirvin21

Decided to take the kids out for some sweetwater fishing this morning unfortunetly when we arrived it was obvious all the rain we have had was not up in the catchment the creek was down. Didn't take long for us to realise lures were not working they fouled up instantly on weed or any other stuff in the water. Luckily I had brought a bucket of worms in case the kids got sick of lure casting, not feeling confident when the first bait hit the water. As soon as it hit the bottom it was hit and out came a bass not big but atlrast a fish the kids took over for awhile catching small bass and catfish having a ball enentually they let me have a turn. And straight into the action followed by The catfish were coming in freely and then the line took off with far more force and after solid tussle out came a better catfish Then a slow take and as soon as the hook set if was off all I could tell the kids was "BIG" eventually a massive eel came to the edge I'm guessing around 110cm he chewed through the leader at the edge and swam off- perfect release. The last bait went out it was a small worm and was taken almost immediately and the line tore off at first I thought another eel then there was a huge flash of silver and turned out to be a massive mullet not an everyday catch we had seen a few swipe at our baits as a dedicated lure fisherman it can be hard to go to bait but I am glad we did because it turned a potential doughnut into one of the best freshwater sessions me and the kids have had in ages cheers for reading Dave

for plastics you would go better with a lighter graphite rod, probably around the 4-8kg range you want to hop plastics along the bottom working the lure with your rod then winding up the slack working metals for pelagics you're correct in a quick retrieve but you can vary it up by slowing it down or adding some twitches

from what you are describing I think you are going to be casting metal slugs from the rocks for pelagics ??? for this a 12ft rod would be fine, personally I would go 10ft but its all about personal preference. Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe "jigging" refers to working a lure vertically generally from a boat, that would be why your searches of "jigging on a 12ft" wouldn't have come up with much hope this helps Dave

I actually saw a 36 gram crab lure at the tackle shop it was close to a legal size blue swimmer

The opportunity finally arose to hit the river with a mate on his boat. Its been nearly 6 weeks since my last bream which can really create doubt regarding fishing abilities. Hit the water and the weather was perfect water looked great and anticipation was high. Of course the fish didn't realise the text book said they need to bite so after 2 hours with only a small flathead the decision was made to hit the oyster racks. I decided desperate times so tied on a cranka crab (not a cheap option) to cast at the racks, first cast went wide and ripping it back in a pack of 70cm+ GT's tried to eat it beside the boat after i recoverd from that heart attack I landed the crab bang on the edge of the rack gave it a bit of slack and was immediately nailed the trick with rack fishing is don't hesitate and pull hard and to my great relief a bream cane up beside the boat If you look closely I'm sure you can see the bream monkey falling off my back. this started one of the best bream sessions I've ever had my mate was fishing plastics and soon tied on my spare cranka crab. These rack bream really pack a punch a lot of the fish were sight casted feeding under the edge of the racks. and they just kept on coming unfortunetly I got a little ambitious and sunk the crab down next to a deep nasty rack and was busted off by some form of beast probably a jack. Finished off the session casting hardbodies along some rocky bottom for a couple more fish. Which ended an exciting session I finally feel my bream mojo again anyone thinking about casting cranka crabs at oyster racks up your leader next time I'm going up to atleast 15lb fluro maybe even 20lb it is such a reactuon bite the heavier leader isn't likely to put them off cheers for reading Dave

Nice work Matt

well done mate a well desreved win

on a boat I drift and cast ahead and retrieve against the current landbased I normally cast up current and work the lure back with the flow the main aim is to keep the plastic near the bottom

that's right, they are listed as far south as Sydney I have heard of plenty being caught around Forster in the lake

After the last few weeks I have become tired of moses perch everywhere I've been fishing there have been plagues, they are fun to catch but even the small ones have a habit of chafing up leaders and its gets frustrating retying almost every cast. Fortunetly I spotted a new tree down on the side of the road in a deep section of river, my thoughts were if there are mosie's they'll atleast be big, second cast lure gets bumped with a swirl and a flash couple of twitches and its nailed followed by a screaming first run it ran up around some timber but with a bit of steady pressure and some cursing the fish came out and turned out to be a mid 30's GT Manged a few more GT's from the same spot they really go hard for small fish Heading home with a nice high tide thought I'd have a crack at a bream unfortunetly the bream are still shut down but did get a reasonable big-eye trevally hopefully with the change in weather the bream will be back on soon cheers for reading Dave

up in the mangroves is a bit of an exception, they are up there to feed, I have caught some of my best bream casting amongst the mangroves from public pathways in the middle of the day, however you get one shot try and get your cast right up into the shallows to where the water only just covers the mangrove roots small 45-50mm poppers in prawn style colours are the go in my experience they seem to work better than stick baits, a nice blooping retrieve with the occasional pause if the fish charge your lure and stop pause it and don't be afraid to have a long standoff the big tides on the new moon phase are the best but any high tide will work the main thing is to be stealthy if the fish spot you its over, although don't go under gunned I use atleast 8lb leader a 30cm+ bream in 20cm of water filled with mangrove roots will make you nervous good luck looking forward to some photos of solid mangrove bream Dave

there are a couple of road crossings near Emmaville that would be worth a look, depending on how far you are heading there are loads of access points around Inverell

they look the goods might have to get a couple

that was an entertaining read

nice work mate, you should try poppers at the top of the tide amongst the mangrove roots

think you might have the "black spot cod" (Epinephelus malabaricus), confused with the "black cod" (Epinephelus daemelii) regardless of the species I love cod and they are all released without harm

I'll start with I don't know the area. If I was exploring what's on google maps I would target bream, either casting around the moored boats in the bay (the hulls covered in barnacles are the best) either with small hardbodies or cranka crabs, and then I would paddle up into the narrow sections and cast hardbodies at the snags along the edge that's what I'd do Dave

If you want to broaden your horizons try lure fishing, I cast "cranka crabs" at any crusty old pylons and let them sink down like a dislodged crab it can be a little nerve racking because they are expensive but they work on some very wiley old bream

The week started with the Moses perch getting bigger, the fish consistently in the mid 20's and some are strikingly coloured Otherwise this week has seen loads of black-spot cod, only fairly small but still keep me entertained until the bream come back on the bite

Decided it was time to try somewhere new for a day trip, a camp site in the Nymboi-Binderay NP known as "cod hole" looked appealing, from the turnoff on the main road onto dirt it was obvious this was somewhere wild, 35km of extreme dirt road later (which involved seeing a lyrebird, turkeys, snakes and loads of other wildlife) we arrived at "cod hole" did it look the goods, yes..yes it did I had heard there are bass here but also loads of small Eastern cod, the placed looked fishy. Started hammering casts at the back of a boulder and fifth cast in my spinnerbait was hammered with a brutal first run after a tussle a small cod surfaced and spat the hook. Worked my way downstream, then watching the spinnerbait come over some rocks and disappear in a green flash, had to grab the spool and pull hard to get it back and out came a solid cod, measuring up at 53cm happy was not the word the fish was handled with absolute care and released after a couple of quick picks and a good revive The trip only involved one fish but this Eastern cod was my dream catch thanks for reading Dave

if its an extendable gaff, make yourself a shoulder strap and carry it while you fish

good to see you hitting soem fish Neil

Bass are one of the few fish that are just as happy to eat the cheap surface lures I had one of those soft shells once and it went away with a water dragon nice fish mate they fight damn hard for their size wait until you get one over 40cm they enter a whole new class looking forward to reading your report when you tangle with one

red morwong Cheilodactylus fuscus I used to have issues with the Albright knot until I started using a second pass through the loop before wrapping the braid around the fluro since then I haven't had one slip

I'm far from an expert when it comes to targeting trout in a lake, but in general I target trout with a 7ft 2-4kg rod, 2500 sienna and 6lb braid with 8lb fluro leader I personally use minnow style hardbodies and celtas, you will also catch trout on worms as far as I know there are brown, rainbow and brook trout in jindabyne