Hundgie

Can't be that hard to work out what to use guys (and girls), try 60-80lb mono or braid and the biggest damn live sqiud (or slimey) you can find and start fishing.

Now thats something to be proud of.

Take off the two fillets as you normally would and then get your knife (make sure it has a sharp tip) and work it under to head end of the fillet until you release the skin back about 15-20mm. Then, grab the tag with your fingers and, whilst holding the fleshy part down, gently but firmly, peel the skin off. You will be left with a a skinless fillet save for the fat layer which tends to adhere to the flesh. This is good as it keeps the fish moist during cooking. That method works even better if you leave the fillets in the fridge for 2-3 hours and let the flesh firm up a bit also if you like boneing flathead here is a good video demonstration to look at (sorry to the mods if this is not welcome on this site)

Gday skunka, not sure about buying on line but if your ever down the south side of sydney there is a very large tackle store at taren point (not sure if i am allowed to mention the name) that has a very good range of larger sp's.

Thanks for that IFS, i have also had some problems with the fireline knoting up neer the spool and losing line as a result, i will definately go and check out the lines you have mentioned. Do you or anyone else have any thoughts about the quality of the reel you are using and how this effects fireline getting knots.

Gday fishraiders, just wondering if someone could give me a little advice. I am currently using standard 4lb fireline on a 1000 size real, what is the differance between that and crystal fireline and what do you guys think is the best 4lb braid for tossing lures?

Finaly got me some of those clear rebel poppers the same as starlo was using. Pm me if you want to know where to get them.

Sounds like i'm a tad to early then, but i think i will still keep giving it a go every so often just to get those lures working spot on.

Gday Iceman, dont think i'll bother with anything other than surcatch for a while, have been trying to get one of those clear bodied rebels but had no luck, was thinking that the surcatch poppers are deffinately made of plastic and if that plastic was clear before they were painted i might be able to rub some of the paint off with a scoura or something similar to acheive the clear affect i'm after. Jimmy C, friday was my first attempt at whiting on a popper, as i said the water was a little deep so i was just casting to the edge of some weed patches, i also have caught plenty of whiting ,bream, on nippers and worms in the same spot and heaps of flathead on softies further out towards the main channel, so you know the fish are there. Might be worth a try for the whiting further up the river where the flats have more mud mixed in with the sand making the whiting stand out less compared to the really clean sand and water closer to the mouth of the river.

Fished some nipper flats on friday arvo for a couple of hours trying to get bream and whiting on poppers. Tide was a little to high for the spot i fished but i gave it a go anyway. Managed to land 1 decent bream about 35cm (released) before the sun disappeared and it got to cold standing in waste deep water, was fairly happy for my first attempt with little poppers. Any one who's keen to try this out don't be fooled as to which poppers to use, i bought a couple of rebels and river to sea at about $15 each and also some surcatch poppers which were $11.95 for 3 and came with a nice little plastic storage box, i tried all of these lures and ended up getting the bream on the cheap surcatch ones which i think had the best action of the lot.

Gday trentski, as the other guys said it is oppisite little turreill bay and the best time to fish it is the incoming tide from about halfway in and onwards. Stealth is the name of the game at this spot so make sure you anchor well east of the rocks (preferably with a bow and stern anchor,this makes life easier so you can fish out of the side of the boat and also stops the boat from swinging around causing your baits to move around to much). Try and make as little noise as possible when anchoring and moveing around the boat as these fish spoke really easily being such shallow clear water. The ballast heap itself looks like a reverse L shape with the bottom or base part of the L faceing east, not sure about the other guys but i have had my best results fishing into the right angle or 90 degree point of the rocks which has produced my pb bream at 43cm in the middle of the day. good luck mate and one last thing, don't use to much burley or the fish will just sit there and fill up on your burley and not touch your baits.

Mate you can try a foam box with a lid on it for darkness, put a little salt water and some sand in it and then tilt the box up at one end slightly to create a beach effect, this way the nippers can come and go from the water as they please. You definately need to change the water as often as possible and also remove any dead nippers when changing the water, good luck.

Sounds good buster 1, were you fishing east or west of the reefs?

Lets hope so mondo, just need those beach worms to come back in better numbers, i have been struggling with them since the storms have washed most of the beach away.

Gday all, a mate called yesterday to let me know he had some left over beach worms from a trip down the coast, so i decided to have a late arvo session down at wanda beach. Started fishing around 5.45pm with my old man and another mate, didn't take long for the sun to disappear, fishing was very difficult with at least a 3ft shore break running, managed to land three whiting 2 of which were good size and kept for tonights dinner the other returned. Fishing would have been really good if not for the large swell, gave up about 7.30pm, but i'm sure there are some nice fish to be had given the right conditions.

I been there and fished the reefs of the gold coast when there is that many boats around, they would nearly all be targeting spotted mackerel with the odd spainard and cobia as well. Plenty of action and arguments to be had.

Gday morgo, i have fished once or twice down that way, was only in a small tinnie, launched at bendalong boat ramp and just fished sraight out from the boat ramp about 500 meters or so, drifted around for some flat head and drifted over some reef, took a few land marks and kept drifting over the same patch and ended up with a nice bag of small snapper.

Jewgaffer thanks for that awsome information (priceless), i have spent many years thinking and trying to work out how weather patterns and preasures affect my fishing and what you have just written adds a whole lot more to what i have learnt. I spend most of my time on the hacking or down the coast from bate bay, do you have any special thoughts on those waters?

Gday mate, Im no beach fishing expert but still i have done my share and i think a 9ft stiff beach rod would not be ideal for chucking lures in the surf. I think you need something with a lighter action to assist in flicking the lure out as far as possible, thats just my opinion and who knows all the fish may be right at your feet but it is not always like that. GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY FISHING.

Quite cheap with 60hp yamaha 4 stroke, and the trip only took about 20mins.

Tassie

Hi all, this is my first post on fishraider, fished south of port hacking on saturday morning didn't start untill 8.30am due to not being able to launch the old mans boat which requires the tide to be at least halfway in so there is enough water at his boatshed. Went straight to the spot and the livies where at the boat within minuets, caught a few and they went straight back in, 10 mins later first kingie arrives found my livie and were on. In 1 hour we managed 8 fish ranging from 2 fish at 65cm and the rest at around 75-80cm, little buggers were takeing anything put in front of them with us loosing a couple of fish whilst try to get more livies on the bream gear, my mate did manage to land 1 on the bream gear but would have only bean about 50cm. Awsome morning on the water and back home by 11.00am, sorry no pics yet, will get to that tomorrow, cheers josh.