dirvin21

haven't owned one but haven't heard anything positive from those that have

I have a cazna and a sienna (both in 2500) there isn't a great deal of difference between the 2 the cazna has 2 handle bearings where the sienna has bushes, the cazna has taken a lot more punishment and I have only serviced it once n the last year

most of the fish came from fishing rockwalls landbased in the upper river casting along the wall and twitching the lure back against it, the 2 fish on cranka crabs came from casting bridge pylons and letting it sink down against it , I have used lighter leader in the past especially with soft plastics, but I have found with hardbodies I still consistently catch respectable sized bream and the occasional big one with 8lb fluro and given I generally fish structure my favorite being submerged mangroves at high tide plus there are a lot of bycatch species around the system like estuary cod, GT's and moses perch so I prefer the bit of abrasion resistance

shimano catana soft plastic spin 7 foot 2-4kg, shimano cazna 2500, 8lb braid power pro, 8lb Berkley vanish flurocarbon leader this setup covers me for 90% of my fishing

as a self confessed bream luring addict its been a tough few weeks but finally the fish have started to cooperate, no monsters but any bream on a lure is a good bream lures of choice, cranka crab, ecogear sx40, atomic hardz deep shad happy breaming Dave

mostly use diving hardbodies in the 40-60mm size range for bass (and most other fish) most of my local freshwater is fairly small and clear and I find hardbodies a bit more versatile, don't use a lot of plastics in either fresh or salt although I have nabbed some nice bass on 2.5" zerek live shrimps and I know plenty of guys who use nothing but and do well and as for spinnerbaits they are the bane of my existence I have seen many bass caught on them just not by me

no cod, they are only in the Clarence catchment apparently they are quite thick past Dorrigo way I will hopefully be heading up there in the next month to have a crack at some XOS bass and maybe a cod

Got an invite to camp on a mate's aunt's property to spectate the World Rally weekend, and as I am not a big racing fan the property also backs onto the North arm of the Nambucca River. Once the cars started on Sat morning and the crowd was occupied, grabbed my gear and off to the river, the water looked incredible literally as clear as glass, the bass were everywhere but had a severe case of lock jaw and after numerous frustrating casts of follows it was time to switch tactics. The catfish were thick, and so I decided to sight cast some vibes the trick being to land the vibe as close to the fish as possible without spooking it (not an easy feat) and then twitch it as the fish is facing towards it after some frustration and near misses finally had a willing taker, he went like a demon Some kids came down to play in their inflatable boat just as I hooked the fish and like any responsible adult I told them I had a bull shark on the line. As the weather heated up (pushing 40) the river became popular for other Rally spectators to come and swim so I moved a little further upstream, the fish were very spooky but after a while managed to crack another cattie another solid specimen Then it was time for a beer and a swim with the kids and wait for the arvo session hit the water again late in the arvo again lots of activity with people swimming, found a few secluded pools and tried a popper and behold after lord knows how many follows a single bass not big but still satisfying With light fading and a spit roast lamb calling one last go at a cattie and managed one final fish a really striking golden coloured fish a very satisfying way to finish a tough but enjoyable days fishing for each fish caught I would have dropped 2 catfish are very difficult to set trebles in all the catties were caught on a "Sebile flat shad" and the bass a "Sebile popper" cheers for reading Dave

not sure about the Sydney area, in the estuary up here the bigger kingies seem to be caught more at night they seem to lose their day time inhibitions, most of the fish I've seen caught have been actively feeding on baitfish under lights on the breakwall

for the lake fishing for yellas and redfin shad style hardbodies in 50-80mm size you can go bigger the biggest consideration is probably depth you want something thats going to get down deep if you intend to troll casting the back edge ot weed beds is also a good option medium sized spinnerbaits are also a good option lipless cranks are very popular but are also snag magnets and can get very expensive Thompson creek dam is trout fishing, minnow style lures (long and skinny) are my go to for trout again 50-70mm are a good starting size although my pb trout was on a 35mm lure, my favourite trout lures are "black magic" bmax, Rapala husky jerk and strike pro baby archback get yourself a reasonable selection of lures, you dont have to go out and by a heap of the most expensive hardbodies out there, brands like Zerek, Rapala, Atomic and strikepro have a lot of lures that wont make you cry everytime you lose one hope this helps Dave

choose your target and match lure size accordingly (if you tell me what your chasing I can give you some more specific information) slow roll retrieve loop knot for line to lure when choosing a lure its all about action, if it doesn't swim properly it wont catch fish lots of casts, freshwater fish tend to be territorial so give a snag multiple cats before moving on don't give up the more casts you make the more likely you are to succeed hope this helps Dave

I agree

any mullet species under 15cm must be kept live for bait and thus dead mullet of any species (eg sand, yellow eye, fantail etc) must be at least 15cm long (legal size 15cm). except sea (aka bully when in the river) mullet which have a legal size of 30cm that is my interpretation of the rules I hope its not to confusing Dave

I use the Albright knot just make sure you pass the braid through the loop of leader twice at the beginning otherwise they tend to slip under pressure

use a snap for the twisty as previously stated as for plastics and hardbodies I use a lefty's loop, it doesnt affect the lure action and it also reduces the temptation to constantly change lures I watch people starting out especially with hardbodies and they spend more time changing lures than casting them good luck welcome to the lure side

I am burning with jealousy, some crackin fish

its a Cox's Gudgeon (Gobiomorphus coxii), they are a very common species in the system I have seen them close to 20cm long, I targeted it under torch light dropping the bait in front of it I love native freshwater fish of all shapes and sizes and I wanted to show the kids one up close

you can run it out with nothing attached to it either behind a boat or just in an open space and wind it back on and some of the twist will come out

your fish pic labeled rainbow is actually a brook trout quite a good capture

The last week has seen the fishing really fire up on the Nambucca most of my fishing has been done via quick sessions whilst travelling to and from work started the week working my favorite tree baits was everywhere and second cats a decent Then with nothing for a few casts I sped up the retrieve speed and the GT's came most around the 30cm range Then the moses perch started with about 25 landed in a short period of time the next couple of mornings I hit some local bridges on the way to work for more trevally this time mostly big eye the bigger ones around the mid to high 30's they really pack a punch on 6lb braid then finished the week with some night casting under a local bridge which resulted in some very frustrating bust offs form large jacks, a couple of small flathead and some quality bream all up a week of quality fishing a rough tally come to around 48 fish landed hopefully a sign of things to come over the summer cheers for reading Dave

I agree they are good value for money I've caught everything from trout to kings on it and its still going strong

I'll start with 90% of my fishing is catch and release this is personal choice and I have no problem with people keeping fish for the table provided they follow the rules and exercise some common sense bream are very slow growing whwn compared to other fish, this means very large bream take a long time to replace in the estuary system, if I keep a bream (very rarely) I usually take something in the 30cm range, I generally follow this practice with most fish I keep (mostly flathead) I have read a theory that with fish migrating to spawn the larger fish lead the smaller fish and thus the knowledge is passed through the species hence I dont generally take the really large fish. hope I haven't preahed to much Dave

we released all the fish on this trip, we do eat some when we go out to copeton or pindari

Headed up river to a mates property for some school holiday camping, we had some pretty high expectations the fishing was gonna be epic, so after a setting up the kayak was on the water and I was into it. Unfortunetly the fish had other plans and after an hour of solid casting for zip it was looking bleak, then out of nowhere my lure was smashed and after a nervous fight through some terrifying terrrain out came a solid 40cm bass a decent start atleast headed back to camp a little disheartened and decided it was time to switch tactics and sit in the banana chair with a bourbon and and fish some unweighted worms, and sure enough 3 small bass in 20 minutes. After drk headed dowm with some more baits did manage a couple of small eels and a 30cmish cattie the nex day tried some more lure casting with again not much just a couple of half hearted hits again resorted to bait this time some big freshwater mussels in an attempt to put the kids onto some entertainment and sure enough the eels obliged with some solid ones caught including this beast of approx 7-8kg then did the same thing after dark but with nothing biting I decided to sight cast some gudgeons under torch light with tiny hooks and baits and after a few attempts out came a beautiful Cox's Gudgeon appox 12cm long a cool fish to show the kids Then I hear a noise and look over to the rod i forgotton about to find it buckled over and screaming and after a hell of a tussle out comes a proper tandan measuring up at 49cm next cast and on again almost instantly another solid cattie this one 47cm then decided another cast was in order and after a short while off again with another solid tandan this one 48cm only managed a few smaller catties after this then the next moring it was time to head not a bad trip in the end cheers for reading Dave

jewfish, as soon as they feel weight they'll let go hit them hard to set the hook