Green Hornet

Pleading ignorance shouldn’t be an excuse because just like us line fishermen, he had to hold a license and would have been given the brochures stating the rules. If he didn’t read them that’s his problem and let’s face it, the non spearing of groper law would have been in place since before he was born. If ignorance is not seen as an excuse if caught fishing inside a sanctuary zone, nor should any other breach of the code. Sadly once solicitors and the courts become involved, this rarely seems to happen.

It would be nice to see the authorities make an example of this idiot and throw the book at him for others to see as a deterrent. Sadly, more often than not, they get a small fine, a slap on the wrist and are back reoffending before you know it. At least that’s what I’ve seen in the past.

Any beach will do then, just pick one close to home and work from there. I find flathead best when the waves are fairly small and easier to find around the low tide, when they move off the flats and into the shallow gutters. Work your lure all the way back as they often lay right in close in water shallower than knee deep.

Glad to hear you like the new 6 weight Mike and have already landed a nice “little flatty” (see what I did there) on it. For a simple whitebait fly, I like a smaller version of a gold bomber. Just different coloured materials, that’s all.

Pretty broad question @stainer10. What are you planning to spin for? Salmon and tailor, or flathead, bream and whiting. They’re totally different forms of fishing and different areas on a beach, or beaches themselves, often fish better than others. Also are you looking to fish open surf beaches or calmer ones, like those inside Jervis Bay?

Nice going mate. Good to see some nice fish out on the rocks.

I’ve been buying most of my larger tackle purchases, including braid, from Japanese stores for many years now. When the exchange rate is good you’ll get things for half the price you pay here and their shipping is not much more than you pay in Australia.

Welcome to Raider @Steve0. You and I appear to have a very similar history and current tastes in fishing. Looking forward to reading your contributions.

Doesn’t sound like you’re doing anything wrong, just wasn’t your day. Lure fishing can be like that, especially missing a few hits when fishing the surface.

You’ll probably find they were small fish. Schools of leatherjackets, toads and small tailor go nuts over the taste of Gulp lures and can strip them down to the jig head in seconds. Swap your lure over to a blade or small hardbody, but probably best just to move to a new spot.

Another really nice little hook for small assists is the Daiichi 2171-B, readily available as they’re popular with luderick anglers. They have a slight bend in the shank that helps them lay straight with a snell style knot. With a finer gauge wire, they’re not as strong as a panfish, but plenty strong enough for flats fishing with 6 or 8lb braid.

I take the offset out of the Panfish with a pair of longnose pliers and a little pressure on the shank. Doesn’t seem to weaken them at all Mike.

Merry Christmas and a happy 2024 to all Raiders. For all of you that are travelling over the holidays, please be careful on our country roads. So many of them are in a terrible state of disrepair after flooding and not safe to drive on at the sign posted speeds.

For smaller whiting and bream, surface lures Gamakatsu Panfish hooks are wicked sharp and strong enough to pull any bream away from structure. To stop them tangling in the tackle box I use tiny, dog grooming rubber bands I bought on eBay for next to nothing. Hook one over both your assists and the other end over your treble so the hooks lay flat along the belly of the lure. I do this with all my estuary hard bodies, assists or trebles, and can stack as many lures in the one compartment without tangling as I like. On larger metal jigs I use Mustad Hoodlums.

Sounds like a great little comp to be part of with a well thought out criteria. Congrats on the 6th place and a few nice fish under trying conditions.

That’s a really nice fish Albert, especially considering it was your first top water whiting and one you won’t ever forget, I bet. Personally, I like your top photo. It really tells the story of the capture, with the shallow sand flat in the background and the lure hanging from the fish’s mouth is the icing on the cake.

Great video Jason. Really good to see such nice size fish cooperate.

Great to see your plan come together along with some welcome bycatch. Well done both of you.

Yep as @Jiggy says, it’s cabbage weed. For the best baits try and find some growing in intertidal rock pools and shady crevices. Also take a look around the low tide mark where you can often see indications where the luderick have been plucking it off the rocks. Often good places to fish on a higher tide.

You can make a good little mullet float out of a paddle pop stick with a small rubber band at each end to hold the line. If the line slips through the bands just wind it around the float a few times between the bands and problem solved. Weight it lightly enough so it still lays flat on the water, as often the mullet will take the bait and stay up near the surface. When you see the float start to move across the water or sink, either a gentle strike or just start winding should hook them. Also works great on garfish.

Great fish and pics @big Neil. Always good to get out and bag a few with a mate. I couldn’t help but notice the cube of cheese on your paternoster rig. When I was a kid I’d often fish with an old fella who was a mighty good bream fisherman and he always used Kraft cheddar for bait.

Great report and very nice cod @Max Power. Congrats on the PB.

Nice going, there’s not too many species in the river that won’t take bread. In a way you answered your own question. A small float, the smaller the better, will help you keep your baits in the zone and make sure you weight it correctly so only the tip is showing. If you’re not sure how to rig and weight the float, take a look on YouTube.

A yabby pump is probably the best investment an estuary bait fisherman can make. Going by the cost of a packet of prawns, it will pay for itself in no time and fresh/live yabbies are a far better bait, improving the quality of your catch. I’m still using the same yabby pump I bought over 40 years ago and other than replacing the washer occasionally, it will last you forever.

Cool