Gengar

Cheers thanks Rebel. Will do. Can't beat local knowledge!

Cheers thanks for heads up as I thought it might have been accessible by foot at low side. Looks like its gonna be a long drive but probably hire a kayak or something and do it that way.

Cheers mate. Where do you find snappers? In the lake? I have only once caught a legal snapper once and wouldn't mind catching more of those!

It would be definitely good if we can land a beachworm! We will definitely give it a go. For the nippers do you mean this area I circled in red? Do you know if that areas is accessible by foot from the south (eg from the Conjola boat ramp)?

Hi Raiders With winter gone and spring in full swing, I am heading down to Lake Conjola with the kids during the school holiday in September/October. I have never been there before and unfortunately when I searched for past posts there were a limited number of posts and all pre 2014. Therefore, was hoping someone has more recent experience in that area. We normally pump nippers and fish landbased though we might hire a tinny from the post office to explore the lake. Also happy to drive round to better fishing spots if there are any. (a) Any nippers in the Lake Conjola area? There seems to be some flats from google map but wanted to know if there are any particular areas we can find them. (b) Any worms at Conjola Beach? We am yet catch a beachworm so if we can tick that off the bucket list that would be great. (c) Any other tips/suggestions very welcomed! Thanks all!

I will sure be out again. This time will try suicide hooks and squid jig and report back. Hopefully catch it this time!

Mate do you also go with circle hooks or some other hooks when float fishing?

J hook you mean suicide? I dont think i have seen J hooks. Yeah it's thicker than I need for what's in the river. It was a left on from when I last used the rod to chuck yakkas for kingfish and was too lazy to change it!

Do you mean you use two float knots and then also two of those cylindrical stoppers?

That's the same knot I use but I find they knot slips after a while (say after a few sessions).

Can't hurt to try a squid jig. The only reason I choose circle hooks for floats is because I read that the fish hook themselves. I dont usually look at the float as I am flicking my plastic on the other rod. I only know something is on when the rod bbandstand by then I am hoping the circle hook would have done its magic and hooked on the fish. Having said that I usually use mustard hooks but ran out so was only using cheap jarvis walker circle hooks. Next time will try suicide and see if it makes a difference.

Ever since been converted to lure fishing its been a while since I have caught a yakka and used as live bait. Anyway given my kid's recent interest in getting live poddies I decided to give them a go over at Davidson Park over the weekend. Got there early afternoon. The poddies were about 10 to 12 cm and I would use two 2/0 circle hooks snelled together usually one on the back just behind the head and the other about 3 to 4 cm in front of the tail. I then had it about 3m below a float. So out it went while I was flicking soft plastic on my other rod. After about 10 minutes i noticed my float was lying on its side so reeled it back (see the pic). Dang, i didn't even see the rod bend probably because of the slack line. Anyway out went another poddy but this time i kept a careful eye on it. Soon enough saw the float bob go down the water....just as I was about to reel....the bob comes back up....and again just the head remained. That happened probably a couple more times during the day before I had to go. I also tried pinning one of the hooks through the mouth and the other between belly and tail but no avail. Oh well guess sometimes the fish wins! Not sure what fish it was but guess it might have been a big tailor? Anyway it get me wondering whether it was just my bad luck or was it user error (eg rigged wrong etc)? Btw what knots do you use as float stopper? I haven't done one for a long time but i think its a uni knot that i do but i find after a while it becomes loses and I need to tie another one. I also used those black rubber stoppers but i find they don't grip on the line enough.

Thanks little flatty and yowie, I know what you mean. Will be on look out next time I catch a whiting to see if it's a Trumpeter! Also thanks Larkin. Already looking to planning next trip with the kids over the winter holidays!

Thanks Yowie! I still haven't mastered the art of putting bread on hooks so will try your method next time. Stupid me just thought it was a sand whiting. It's good I posted here so I can learn. BTW how can you tell its a trumpeter and not a sand whiting? To my untrained eyes they look kinda similar.

I havent been there but looks nice! Guess I add that to my places to go for the next family trip! Usually we try to go where we can pump some nippers to get the kids involved and I find nippers usually land us legal size fish that we can take home.

Hi Raiders Just wanted to report back after my earlier thread here (https://www.fishraider.com.au/topic/94927-planning-day-fishing-trip-with-kids-thinking-maianbar-wattamolla-greys-point-or-windang/#comment-716079) with day trip out with the family to Grays Point to trap some poddies and pump some yabbies on Monday. Special thanks to @Larkin who pointed me in the right direction and the whole family had lots of fun. Got to Swallow Rock Reserve at about 11am and the reserve was already choc a block with boats and kayaks constantly launching. So we moved down the river bank and decided to fish from the end of the beach area. Threw in some bread and definitely poddies around. Set our two poddy traps, one was a 4L clear bottle and the other a translucent one. Not sure if it was where we placed them or poddies like the clear bottle(?) but we trapped our first poddies within the hour. We tried catching some on tiny hooks on floats but didn't manage to hook any so maybe we were doing something wrong? I also chucked out a poddy as a live bait but had no takers. At low tide we moved over to the flats at Grays Point. It was a massive area with heaps with yabby holes though we didn't find that many yabbies but the ones we did find were either really small baby yabbies or these massive ones. The area we pumped was really muddy and hard to walk. Anyway before we went we caught a 29cm whiting after throwing a yabby in the deeper channel just off the flats. Overall a good day. Planning on heading over to Maianbar over the weekend!

Thanks mate. Will let you know how I go if I head down there. Cheers!

Got it. When you say the footbridge you mean the footbridge to the jetty beside the boat ramp?

Do you have any photos of these worm holes? Would the two holes be really close together? I searched online but there doesn't seem to be much info on exactly where to find these squirt worms. There was one youtube video that says I should be looking for these small fresh mound of sand and you pump them like you would nippers but I couldn't see two holes where he pumped.

Thanks Campr for saving me some $ as I always thought the fee was for entry and not parking! I had always presumed that you had to pay as soon as you enter the national park, didn't know it depended on where you park. Might be a stupid question but will it be clear where I park whether its within or outside the park? Just don't want to accidently get a parking ticket. Cheers.

Cheers thanks mate. Looks like they are all good locations. I still haven't managed to trap any poddies yet so keen to tick that off the bucket list. Any particular times/tides I should try for poddies?

Got it. I couldn't see any village but was thinking of parking at the foreshore reserve. Or is there somewhere else I should park? Also are you saying I don't have to pay the national park entry fee? How do I do that? Sorry for so many questions just want to be as prepped as i can. Thanks!

Oh I wasn't going to fish off windang bridge....just the area around the bridge. Sounds like nippers will be easy to get so thanks for confirming! Probably get some and flick them out to the deeper channels and see what I get! BTW what are squirter worms? Heard of Beachwood but never squirter worms. Are they good bait?

Hi fellow raiders Its that time of the year again...school holidays and my opportunity to plan a fishing trip with the kids. I haven't really explored south of Sydney so been scouring google maps to find some flats that we can pump yabbies and do some fishing nearby (ideally all within 1 to 2 hours of Sydney). I have done some research but wanted to see if any raiders have any specific advice for these locations. It will all be landbased. So far I have found: (a) Maianbar flats - I hear many people talk about this place on this forum but seems most people get there by boat? Thinking of just driving out to Maianbar foreshores reserves, walk down to the flats, pump some yabbies, put them on hooks and see whats on offer. It seems a decent place to spend the day. Would there be any poddies there? Still haven't trapped any poddies yet so keen to do that. (b) Wattamolla beach - Looks like a nice spot that is not far from Maianbar. Doesn't seem there are flats to pump yabbies but the creeks might hold some mullet to trap? I couldn't find much recent info other than a report back in 2014. (c) Grays Point (at end of Grays Point Road) - It seems you can walk from the end of Grays Point Road to the flats. I haven't found much recent info on this. The last point was back in 2014 and it seemed alright and perhaps less crowds but wondering if anyone has been there more recently and can comment? (d) Windang bridge - This one is quite a bit further and maybe we stay overnight nearby. Anyway there seems to be a big flat area just south of the bridge. We could also walk towards the area where river meets the ocean where there may be bigger fish. Only concern is whether this will be too crowded but at least seems big enough place. Thanks all.

Mate thanks for sharing your experience! Your sub surface work the dog is part of my retrieve arsenal! Yet to catch a kingie (my fault as I haven't been able to get out much last few months). If weather holds up I might go for an early morning fish! See you soon!