BrassRoots

So I have a bunch of 2" gulp floating shrimps I bought ages ago before I knew anything about fishing. Fast forward to now and I'm looking to get some use out of them in Sydney harbour (up near iron cove or cooks river) but I don't have the right gear to cast lightly weighted plastics around. I'll be using a Bushy Legends 742 which is more of a bait rod with cast range of 7-21grams with a medium action. Anyway, I've been reading about how some people rig them with unweighted hooks to use as surface lures. But I was also thinking: could they be rigged as a drop shot/paternoster or even a sliding sinker style? Anybody tried different rigging methods to work around equipment limitations?

It's not really fishing at that point is it though. That's more harvesting than fishing.

There are definitely flatties in Rose Bay. I spent most of last summer fishing it and sussing out the ocean side, which is on the other side of the ferry terminal stuff to where you were fishing I think. Most of the local old blokes who fish for whiting there told me they don't really take anything but sand worms, so change bait for that one. The smaller whiting will also take a bream hard body lure too with a moderate retrieve. The flatties will take anything hitting the bottom. I was using a fat crank lure and blades to pull them out. It's easier if you want to go wading there but be VERY careful as the bay is full of little sting rays that will mess you up. This is a good little hole if you are there on a low tide: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/33%C2%B051'54.3%22S+151%C2%B016'10.6%22E/@-33.865095,151.2690595,179m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d-33.865095!4d151.269608 But I found the bay generally fishes on high tide or just either side of it. Round the boats you will get small tailor and flats and what have you here: https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/33%C2%B052'12.5%22S+151%C2%B015'56.3%22E/@-33.87013,151.2643325,426m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d-33.87013!4d151.265638 And wading the flats between while casting will get flathead and whiting. Good luck!

Whoops. Missed the part where you mentioned pairing with a baitrunner. Those are spin sticks. Sorry bud.

I was in the market for something exactly like what you describe. Decided that the two best options were the Daiwa Sensor Surf 10' and theShimano Aerowave Graphite in 9'6". The new Aerowave. It's a 3 piece but seems well up to the task.

So the wife wanted to spoil me for my birthday and got me a Daiwa Sensor Surf 10' but at the tackle store they had the new 3 piece Shimano Aerowave Graphite in 9'6". Wow. It's a damn good rod. Almost got one over the Sensor Surf cause the price tag was only $169 instead of the $279 of the Daiwa. Line weight and cast weight is about the same but the Shimano has a shorter butt and is slightly heavier as well as a few extra guides. Still, it was very tempting. I reckon if you have been on the fence about a good rock/surf rod for launching lures and have to get one on a budget then this will be a ripper.

Sounds like an epic session. That's a great little tip with the metal assist hook. i like how you have one with a split ring and then an assist hook just behind.

I used the 6 lb recently on a light lure rod and found it to be excellent. Not much more to say really. I found I got less tangles than with cheaper braids but that could just be technique too.

har har. spoon for scale. I put some clear nail polish on the big lure and the foil on the inside is showing up nicely. Now it just needs a test run to adjust the tow point.

Went down to La Perouse today thinking that the swell might not be getting in and that some squid might have gone into the bay to escape the big swells outside. Well, it was gross. Debris everywhere and murky water with big surges and waves. With so much junk washed up I went beach combing instead having found a number of floats tangled with weed on other beaches. It was a decent haul with the big lure being the best find. I'm hoping to breathe some kind of life back into it be evening out the bib. What's the general consensus? Will it still catch fish? I was also thinking that some clear nail polish might help to bring back the translucency as the body is all scratched and opaque now. Has anyone done this before?

Yeah just off the rocks. I find there is a nice little ledge just slightly into the bay that doesn't actually get much swell.

Beautiful looking fish! Sometimes it's good to be in the right place at the right time.

There's always plenty of garfish in Gordons bay and I've seen multiple species of little silver bait fish in small balls while diving. There's plenty of good food around for them at the moment.

Went to my local again today with some cuttlefish bait. Not much biting the bait today but saw an amazing bust up run through the bay. Large tailor or maybe salmon jumping away from something large. Proably should have taken the bait off and thrown some metal at it but thought I could have still temped something with the cuttlefish. Oh well, next time. After the bust up left I put the metal on (I know, idiot) but got lucky with my first tailor ever. Pretty happy with this one.

cool video. thanks for posting.

Finally got him! I've had 2 lures lost from king bust off here so feels good to land one. Was spinning a few metals and caught a garfish so put it on a hook. Kingfish was taken on whole gar using 6lb braid and 8lb leader. Yew!!! big fight. The ruler is just over 60cm long and this little fellar measure in at 55cm, so he went back to the deep. Cant wait for the next one. Went for a snorkel there too. There are some monster luderick and bream hanging about in Gordon bay the the moment.

A bunch of green angel hair style weed has been washing in to Rose Bay in Sydney today if anyone is chasing it

Went down to Coogee beach with the Mack Tuna I caught the other day as bait/burley. Didn't take long to start getting hit in the northern corner. At first I was running a sliding hook above a fixed end line hook to rig some larger pieces of bait but found that a small bream just swallowed the whole thing and one of the hooks was too far gone to retrieve. Poor little bugger, my fault really. Re-rigged with a single hook and went with smaller pieces of bait to encourage a lip hook. Only took me 30 - 40 mins of fishing and I pull out a 40 cm flathead. I think its a bluespotted. Well, that was dinner so dropped it home and went to Gordon's bay to use the rest of the mack as burley and throw some poppers and metals. No luck there but saw something big bully the bait fish on the rocks about 100m from me but had my popper on and couldn't get the distance. Exciting stuff. Rushed to put the metal on but couldn't get lucky. Then the divers showed up so I called it a day. Wife was happy to finally eat something I caught instead of just hearing about me throwing back undersize fish.

Looks like a damn tasty feed.

Can't wait to take my kids fishing. Looks like a really special moment.

Oh yeah, i see the dots you are talking about. The Mrs just got me a fishing encyclopedia (after telling me I'm spending too much time on fishing, go figure) and I looked it up. Thanks for the info.

Spent the morning at coogee with some soft plastics trying to repeat some success I had the other day landing a 40cm flathead but no luck. There are some pretty nice gutters formed up in coogee at the moment if you can get a good high-tide at sunrise or sunset. Once the crowds showed up I walked round to Gordon's bay and started with the soft plastic near the divers ramp area. Not much interest in the Gulp except for toad fish but I could see plenty of Luderick swimming around. There are some big ones hanging around the bay at the moment if that is your thing. The excitement for the day though was catching my first frigate mackerel. It chased up some bait fish right around my feet so switched to the metal. It took a little while for it to round up some schooling fish again but once they started jumping it was just a matter of throwing the metal in its direction and i was on. A nice little 34cm frigate and a good fight. I thought it was a bonito at first as I'm still not very familiar with fish types and was excited for a good feed. However, looks like it will become bait for my next session.

OK. So looks like doesn't matter too much then. I just put 2 singles on each lure of the size 8 Gamas. Will let you guys know next week if it works out or not.

Nice looking fish. Which rocks in Sydney were you fishing?

Nice round up of the year. I always get interested to see what set-up people are using gear-wise too. Thanks for sharing.