mattfinn

Nice nice, bait fishing for cod is definitely more effective then bait fishing for bass I feel. If I had the chance I would be targeting with the lures and hoping for some surface fish. I shall thanks again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks Neil, these creeks are my escape from reality so to speak and really am going to miss it. That's a nice cod you got there, how were you targeting them? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Went for a flick yesterday arvo with a good friend of mine. Sadly he couldn't stay for long as his legs are all swollen from a parasite in the water. Anyway he left me to keep fishing and I managed to find some clearer water amongst all the chocolate milk that's in the creeks at the moment. Hardest part was finding water that wasn't running real hard. I put in the effort cause this is my last trip for a while as I'm moving to New Zealand to study. Was rewarded with a nice silver bass which is a good sign considering how flooded the creeks are in western Sydney. Only a small fella but good fight on a 1-3kg stick. He actually swam toward me which made it a whole lot easier to get him out from some tight stuff. Got him on a Taylormade nugget but was using a live target field mouse to bring the fish up. Saw plenty of movement in the few pools I fished. Hope to see more freshwater reports so I have some good reports to read to help keep me sane. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wouldn't ever cut a bass open... but yes visually we do not see the same amount of mullet or herring locally or hear of them being caught...

What is there to stop it from spreading when it occurs naturally in other countries. Birds eating the dead carcasses of carp can spread it just as much as carp, it's all a big cycle we just seem to forget that.... And when fishes diet is "small baitfish" these small baitfish can be anything when you think about it. After the carp they need to focus on the gambusia or mosquito fish otherwise we are going to lose a lot of small native fish that can't be found anywhere else in the world to competition. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where I live on the hawkesbury a few of us believe that carp are a main part of the diet for our bass. We don't see the mullet or herring we use to see which were part of their diet. That's just the condition the river and creeks that flow into it are at where that's what they feed on. Plus what big Murray cod wouldn't snack on a carp... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My only concern what happens to the native fish where carp are a main part of the diet... They should be stocking more bass, cod and perch because then no carp under 30cm will be able to leave cause they'll be dinner... I don't know thats just another way to look at it. Other then that I don't have an issue.

All this rain has them close to the surface. Find some bushland with a really moist soil and some leaf litter on top in the shade. Just dig see what happens Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Can we photoshop either of these items into the image? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome sesh. Good job you'll prefer them skinny water bass to a kingie soon enough. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The popdog and the baby nugget were some of my go to lures for sure. Really am bummed cause they alone are $40.... It was such a convenient little case tooEdit: was not my popdog was my sugapen... Found my popdog in my brothers box the theiving rascal... Still gutted I only had that sugapen for less then a month.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The river2sea ones I have pictured above are pretty similar to the crankacrabs. I've been finding it effective by a very slow roll along a weed bed. I also think hopping it along a rock wall or hole would come up trumps too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Best crab imitation I've seen for a little while is the river2sea or crankacrab. I can pick up a pack of two river2sea crabs already rigged with doubles in them for $15 which is pretty good. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apparently bream still pretty active in the hawkes. I think I find the dirtier water easy to hunt in as they can't be seen by bait fish as day. It's all about the vibration and colour your putting out lure wise or the smell of the bait. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I tried bait fishing again the other day. Quickly got bored and rigged up a hardbody on the second rod I brought with me. Safe to say I'm converted to one rod only for my fishing. Also not one of those fishos with four different rods for lure fishing hahaha that's a pet hate of mine cause good rods and reels for lures cost a bomb these days. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah I know I'm use to losing maybe one lure a few soft plastics but not $80 worth in 5 minutes... I fish a 12lb leader just so I get the lures back in the creeks I'm normally in.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok so firstly this won't seem to big to some of you but when your only 18 with a small allowance left each week for fishing gear it was a big loss for me. Stopped in at Gerroa on the south coast on the weekend, down near the seven mile caravan park. Anyway while family went for a swim I went for a flick in the river as I've never had the oppurtunity to fish it when it's running in. Anyway was there for 5 minutes and all of a sudden a hook a nice little flattie on the 38cm mark. Went to grab my pliers out of my pocket...hang on I've got my pliers but what happened to my small container full of lures.... Spent half an hour searching for a small container full of 3 stickbaits and a crank.... I always keep a tiny container full of a few lures that I may use so I don't have to take my back pack off when I'm wading in waist high water. My theory is that the box floated out of my pocket when I was waist high in water. (Normally not an issue cause I wear boardies with a zipper on them but not this time) A real bummer seeing as it was all my stickbaits (popdog, scumdog and a sinking one) with one being $25 by itself plus my favourite bass hardbody a Taylormade baby nugget. so all up about $70-80 worth gone for 5 minutes worth of fishing. Atleast the flattie lived the fight another day.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As I travel a fair bit I like to have something I can pull apart and put in the car without disrupting the whole car space. Also convenience of 2 piece is you can put it in like a back pack and hike or get on your pushy. I've never had a one piece for my lure fishing so I don't have anything to contribute there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm no expert this is infact my first season of it!!! All I can say is you got to keep moving if your not finding fish. Can't go wrong with a jig spin attached to a soft plastic. Surface wise you can't beat a kokoda bat (cheapest and most productive lure ever). Other then that it's mostly crankbaits which anything with a wide action that's kinda fat is a good start. I highly recommend Taylor made lures or feralcatts as they are made for Aussie bass. Cast as close as you can to structure, if you aren't cracking timber every 10 casts then it's just not close enough. Weedless hooks and and a heavy leader, minimum 12lb are essential. You want those $15-20 lures back trust me. Or you end up like this And fish it as slow as possible but often a fast retrieve will get fish too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That creek looks mint. Persist with the bass definite a s*** load of fun! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pretty much it, really well summed up. All I can add is that getting down and scouting an area at low tide can help you find above mentioned gutters on sand flats that you can set yourself up in. Recently went for a session where it was almost the dead low tide in the back of a small bay on the south coast there was nothing more then a trickle left in this gutter running off into a deep hole. First cast landed me a flattie and a few casts later I hooked a decent kilo tailor that jumped and threw the hook. Scouting a sand flat on the low tide pays off! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Was still getting rats out at the banks early morning bigger legal sized hooked on jigs but dropped in fight. That was at Chrissy time though plenty of squid around too. If you can it's probably worth getting out to the shelf for some Marlin or dollies. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think it depends on what you're doing. Bait fishing I can't imagine it mattering much but lure fishing then yeah I understand the logic behind it and no matter how many times I've tried to give it a go I'm just not that coordinated. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For your bread and butter fish target drop offs and weed beds/sandy edges. I stick to this plan when I fish estuaries land based. I also tend to avoid wharfs to an extent unless it's very early in the morning otherwise they can just be too crowded and unpleasant to fish on. Often I locate an area that features weed beds that have a drop off behind them into a Channel. I gradually will work my way up and down these sections flicking soft plastics and various hard bodies until I find fish. There's a new moon around the 10th of Jan so another way to have some fun is get a couple of cheap head torches and some fine prawn nets and walk along weed edges catching prawns at night. Use these for bait as nothing beats a live prawn for bait when the prawns are running. I recently spent one night chasing prawns around in the shallows with my 14yr old brother catching them with our hands. We turned those prawns into some good fish the next day even as dead baits. Hope you guys have fun in salt as it's always amazing the diversity of fish you can suddenly get in salt. Also if bait fishing go as light as you can with tackle. You can't go wrong with circle hooks, tiny sinkers and 4-8lb line and a flouro leader. (Mono for bait, braid for lures). I'm sure this isn't much different to your set up for reddies. Good luck Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey all, Spending New Years and a few days after around wisemans on the macdonald river and am just wondering what it's worth fishing the area. I know of a "hole" on the mouth of the river at wisemans but don't know the location in the mouth. Is it worth prawning? there's no real weed beds like I'm use to prawning in, mostly mud and giant val. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk