yakfishing

What a stonker! Well done mate. The pictures never seem to do justice as to how big a bream like that really is.

Thanks for the comments Raiders. Got the heart racing alright I was shaking for 10 minutes afterwards. Yep, it was the cooks river

Hi Roberta. I just heard about Keith, I'm very glad to hear he's on the mend. I get a buzz out of just watching big thumping fish like that. Still, if I've got a rod you can bet I'll be casting at them!

Sorry about the late post, this is from the weekend.... What a fantastic day saturday arvo was. For the middle of winter the conditions could not have been any better for a nice afternoon yak with some of my good buddies. Luderick Luke had told of some monster trevally in Botany Bay that he'd been stirring up on blades, so our mission was set to find some of these thumpers. Myself, Luke, Craigtempo and a visiting friend Lindo met up at the local tackleshop to beef up our arsenal of lures. I would have liked to have beefed up my line class too when I realised I'd only taken my 2 Symetres loaded with 4lb braid. Luke had been smashed up on his 8lb setup a few days previous, so I was expecting the worst and hoping for the best. We set out and I couldn't help throwing some plastics at the moored boats and was onto a bream first cast. As I yelled out to Craig that I was on he yelled back the same! I was feeling confident of a good session. We came across a boat fishing with plastics and I watched wincing as one of their lines peeled off at a blistering rate of knots straight into a bridge pylon. Not the first time it had happened to them either. My confidence kind of wavered as I looked at the silly string coiled around my spool. I flicked the blades around for a bit, but nothing was happening for me yet. Feeling like it would be better time spent flicking for bream, I went back to that. I came across Craig fishing a wall so I joined him and threw some gulps at it but nothing much was happening there either. Luke then came to join us, and in true Luke style first cast into the area we were fishing and he's on, loudly exclaiming his excitement as he pulls up a beeeeea-uty of a bream over the 35 mark. To add insult to injury, a few more casts later he flicked his magical blade along the wall further down and pulls up a BIGGER Bream!! What a big gob! Same with the fish! The plastics were promptly stored away for the duration of the afternoon, and we headed towards another spot were Luke fancied a chance at these big trevs. After about 10 minutes of flicking, Luke's on AGAIN!! "Time for you to go home now mate" I yelled at him as he pulls in a nice example of the target species. Nice, but a far cry from the thumpers we were promised. Shortly after that, it was my turn. Some nice weight was circling under the yak, but it was not to be, as he spat and bolted. Craig and Lindo shortly after, had a double hookup of some absolutely monster whiting. I've never seen them so huge. I was feeling a bit left out, but I eventually got the monkey off my back with a trev around the same size as Lukes and a comp legal breambo. Things got quiet and we decided to move spots with about an hour of sunlight left. Things really fired up at our new location under a bridge. I was almost immediately onto another 2 smaller trevs and it was who else but Luke who bagged the first AND the 2nd thumper of the evening, both around the 50cm mark. We scored a few more as the sun dropped. The secret seemed to be lots of fast little twitches followed by a pause, and the Trevs would even pick up the lure whilst it was sitting on the bottom doing nothing. Things eventually slowed so I tried a faster retrieve going buzz-stop-buzz-stop-buzz-stop etc and the first attempt was slammed hard. I felt some heavy weight, a few tail beats and then vvvzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz now I'm in trouble... I called it for a king, but in hindsight a king probably would have managed to ping me on the pylon, the crafty buggers they are. This thing went hard, but I managed to steer him away from the structure with the help of the waters current and wear him out in safer territory. Trying to net a big angry fish prematurely is a waste of time, but thinking logically with the dose of adrenaline I'd just received was not an easy task. Neither is using a net the same size as the fish. After some more clumsy fumbles with the net, and some more beating and thrashing from the fish he begrudgingly flopped into my grasp. On the lie detector, and whatdyaknow I managed to beat Lukes PB of the day by a MASSIVE 2cm! We didn't find the Big BIG fella that Luke scored last time which was on the 60 mark but I wasnt complaining as you can see from the smile on face. Great end a beautiful day on the water.

Haha nice one. Cheers guys. Bloopin: yeah I've got a pic of a big breambo with the same. I always thought something had taken a bight out of it, but with a lot of injuries in the same spot on other fish it must be as Luke (or Pete) said Roberta: The old story, I've gotta see what the work sitcho is, but I'd like to come along to the blacky challenge. Sunday really fired up my interest again, I got a real kick I haven't felt in a while. Luke: I thought you'd get a giggle from that

Gday all, long time no post. We went out to the Hawkesbury to chase some blackys on sunday and weren't disappointed. Getting fresh cabbage off some local rocks was a bit dicey as there was a little bit of swell around. Dismounting the boat went without incident. Garry at the helm and myself and Dylan jumping off. Got a good tub full, but our departure from the cabbage grounds didn't go without leaving a sizable chunk out of said rocks. Fishing this area was not working for us as we couldn't position the boat in close enough, so we head back up river to calmer waters. I wouldn't say I'm a fantastic luderick angler. It's been a while and I couldn't remember the rig, however after a laborious effort I came up with a laughable concoction.... which then had to be untangled. "Jeez I hate blackfishing" I said to no-one listening. Dylan was on in the first 5 minutes, which lifted my spirits and his. A nice 32cm fish. I finally got my odd arrangement of cork and lead in the water, and I too was onto a similar fish in the first 5. We fished for a couple of hours producing some more as big as 37cm, getting downs and inquisitions on every drift. There were many missed takes, most likely due to our inexperience. One take I did not miss though, but almost did... As Dylan strikes a down and is onto another fish I turn to congratulate him, looking back to find my float completely inconspicuous. I struck to solid run toward the rocks. My Snyder Glass 11' Mag Bream pole did me no wrong and I easily had the muscle to turn him away from the rocks in close proximity, and the flexibility to absorb the thumping tail beats that ensued. After allowing him to exert himself in safe water for a while I led him to the net without much drama, and I could finally start breathing again. He measured a nice fat 39cm. Just short of the 40 mark but still a PB for me. Funny he went a lot harder than the 37. “Jeez I love blackfishing!” I said, I think they heard me that time

Nice work Roberta! Happy new year, you're already off to a great start! You just made me think of it, I got my fist fish of the decade this morning. A 31cm blacky followed by a 33cm. Will put up a report if I get time, but that's what I said about the last few sessions. I'm holidaying in feb sometime, I'm over this work crap!

Awesome job on topwaters mate My PB bream of 44cm was caught about 100m behind you in that 2nd shot.

Left it too long for a report. I got this nice bream a couple of weeks ago around quarantine bay, my second place lure PB. Took a powerbait minnow on 1/16th jighead using a slow pull with lots of tiny flicks and then a pause. Measured 40cm on the dot. Anything over 35 I let go.

Nice work mate! Your lure may need to be tuned, I have a trollcraft lure that craps itsself and swims to the surface and rolls around. Type "tuning hardbodies" in google and you'll probably find something. Other than that I'd say loose the mono and go for braid. If you've been working the squidgy or any other soft plastic with a heavy jighead in the standard agressive double flick action, the constant stretch and contraction of the mono will warp it and turn it pretty ugly. Either way if you're getting into lures just go the braid, you'll never want to use mono again except for backing and leaders. The action you impart on the lure will be so much better, and you will feel every bump when something has a go at it. Nothing wrong with the size of the lure they can chug that down easy. Some days they will go for a bigger lure, sometimes smaller, sometimes shallower, sometimes deeper, sometimes red, sometimes blue.... you get the picture.

Nice one Roberta! I should've gone to the front of the lake the other day. I couldve caught 16 in the time I spent there!

2 fish over 70 - bloody good stuff mate. I'd be stoked with 1 over 60!

Waters very murky in the back of the lake at the moment. I flicked everything but the kitchen sink in there on sunday and couldn't pick up a thing untill last cast not 10 metres from my car a keeper flatty finally found my lure. Gulp 3 inch minnow in p/seed did the trick. Roberta: I finally had a chance to give the surface lures a go in the lake. There were bream smashing stuff off the surface and everything, but I did not get one sideways look at my popper or pencil. I could see bow waves cruising right past them. Maybe if I persited a bit longer. Gotta leave the plastics in the car again!

Couple-a stonkers, gotta be happy with that

2 x 70cm + fish in one day and a good swag of feed! That's an awesome spot you've found there, nice work mate

Thanks Jewgaffer. Yeah the occys are perfect as I dont want the rod leashed when I'm using it, it just gets in the way. I did try a rope with a caribeena around the reel neck, but it would scratch the reel and would be difficult to get off sometimes. This solution was perfect. Thanks for the advise mate, I'll be doing much more of this type of fishing from now on and need all the advice I can get comming from a mainly quiet estuary fishing background.

Well, I've been keen to get the yak in gear for chasing pelagics for a bloody long time now, but bad luck with my trolling rod holders and work commitments have postponed it until now. I sorted out my rod holder issues and on thursday I hit Balmoral early morning to test it out hoping for some action and to break a drought that has lasted for weeks (mainly breaming). I didn't know as I set out watching the sunrise that this day I would be wishing there was no action. DAY 1 Trolling a 4 inch gulp minnow for 10 minutes I get smacked by a good sambo, who promptly jumps and throws the hooks on me. Oh well out she goes again and I continue on the troll where minutes later a boil of kings erupts before my eyes I started to reef my lure in to have a cast into the boil and it gets smacked again, line peeling off before a gut wrenching ping ruins the moment. Alright, forget about it, just tie another leader and lets get back into it. Check my gear and *shit* I left the 20Lb leader back in the car, all I've got is 12! Decision time. Try my luck on 12 or haul arse back to the car and pick up the 20. I opted for the latter, as I kinda felt like I'd bought a water pistol to a gunfight and those kings were in quite close to the rocks. I tell you, I've never peddled harder in my life, and in retrospect I pushed it too hard as seconds from the beach my mirage drive breaks down, and I don't have the tools to fix it Ok bugger it I'll paddle then. Ran to the car, grabbed the leader and head out there again. I soon worked out that trolling was no longer an option as the rod is right in the way of my paddle stroke. Great... Alright lets just find the boil again. Paddling a Hobie Outback is like paddling a barge. I was already a bit drained from the all out run back to shore, and paddling this behemoth was quickly sucking the life out of me, but a fierce determination drove me forward one stroke at a time. I got back out there after what seemed like an eternity, but there were no boils to be seen. I continued out a bit further and started casting metals towards the shore to no avail. Some good blokes in a stinker (wonder if they were Raiders?) passed me and told me they'd seen a boil back around were I was before, so I headed back and found them. 30 minutes of them ignoring everything I threw at em, and then they disappeared. Gutted, broken, sore and weary I headed back to shore a beaten man. I had a day of rest to regroup and have a good think about my tackle and tactics. I fixed the drive and prepared for saturday morning where I was going to meet up with Craigtempo at Balmoral again. DAY 2 I struggled making casting distance with the light lures on my 20lb outfit, so this time on some good advice I took out my 8lb setup too. A Tsunami bullseye 2-5kg and a Shimano Sienna 2500 with 8lb fireline and 20lb leader. Very cheap rod, cost me all of 45 bucks. Don't let that fool you, it's an awesome rod for the price and it proved itsself yet again today. We begun the day with a troll along cobblers, I used the 20lb gear on the troll. I'd picked up some cool looking plastics, again on good advice – a clear sluggo type of lure rigged on a weedless, weightless hook. This was soon hit by a good sambo and after a good battle he was in the boat, I was stoked to have finally broken the drought. I LOVE smoked Aussie salmon and here's 54cm worth, a new yak-based PB! Craig was soon onto his first of the day too, and on 6lb gear he got some good fun. We trolled for a bit longer, I got hit again but dropped it. We headed back down toward the navy base, and Craig spots some seagulls working the surface. Woohoo here we go, and I whipped out the light gear for some fun. Tied on the same gulp as yesterday and we chased the boils around. They would come and go in under a minute. Often we would only reach them as they disappeared. A few other yakkers were around too, couple of them casting flies which was interesting to watch. I after a while I eventually got onto a nice tailor measuring a skeric under 40cm. Craig got onto another sambo which took him almost half an hour to boat, and then he got another nice one. I wasn't getting anything else, so I switched to a smaller 3 inch powerbait minnow on a 1/8th jig head and eventually picked up another smaller salmon at 47cm. One of Craigs fish I was more than satisfied with the days effort as the bight seemed to slow, but little did I know the best was yet to come. We were entertaining thoughts of packing it in and Craig says he just wants to have a few casts under the navy base for bream. I didn't have any finesse gear so I just kept using the little minnow on the 8lb gear and had some casting practice at the structure. All of a sudden behind us the water starts churning under the navy wharf as the salmon return and start smashing a huge ball of baitfish. Now I'm used to puling bream outta structure like this, but this was a whole new ball game, and I've gotta say it was the most exciting fishing experience I've ever had. We had to chase them again as they boiled then moved. They were always boiling right under the wharf, but the wharf is big and in a 3 sided square shape. I got drawn around to the inside of the square (not sure if you're supposed to be there, but no one told us off). Inside the square, there are lots of other mooring pylons, which I didn't think of until I lobbed a pinpoint cast under the wharf and directly on top of a thrashing boil going absolutely ballistic! SMACK and I was on and I immediately put as much much pressure as possible on the fish before he had a chance to turn. I got him out in the open, and it was then I noticed all these other obstacles I had to over come. Blistering runs toward anything nasty looking had my heart in my mouth and I was sure I was gonna get smoked at times, but I kept more pressure than I thought my knots could handle on the fish and my cheapy rod gave me some good leverage to keep his head pointing where I wanted it. The wind would blow me around and into dangerous country but I managed to keep him away until he tired. In the net and we were both exhausted after that experience. The biggest of the the day at 55cm and broke the PB again! Awesome day, I'll never forget it.

Mate, awesome read and even better fish From a heartbreaking ping to a heartstopping monster, thats what it's all about!

Nothing like fishing out of a yak mate. Good stuff

Nice bag there mate Those breambos can really mess your lures up

Hey Dylan, you've still gotta catch up with the other species yet matey . You should do a report next time, you're getting some nice fish! Seeya soon.

Great report Roberta! Yeah I've been itching to get out and try the topwaters at Narra. Funny, before I got that fish I was saying to myself I doubt I'll be doing this again. Amazing what just a bit of confidence can do, it's a psychological game as much as anything else. Jeez that fish is nice! I'd never seen a bluenose before. They look chunkier than the yellowfins.

I managed to pull myself away from work for 4 days and needed to get away from the rat race for a bit. So on Roberta’s invitation, I opted for a trip up to Forster with the plan to give HBs a go for a breambo. I grabbed some ridiculously expensive surface lures including a Luckycraft NW-42, a bubblepop and another walk the doggy lure that I've never heard of. Even the guy at the shop said he likes everything about them but the price, and I said I don't care if they catch me fish and I don’t loose them in the first 5 minutes (I can hear Roberta giggling right now) It was a real snafu leaving Sydney as the were a million things to do and most of them went wrong, so I didn't get up to Forster until Saturday arvo too late for a fish. Figured I'd still get all sunday and most of monday, so it wasn’t too bad. Roberta came and visited me at the caravan park and we went over the map and planned out an early start in the morning. We met up at around 6:30 am and had a quick practice of the walk the dog technique. I cast out no where in particular to gave it a go and *smack*. All I saw was the splash, I never felt any weight but I pulled in a frayed leader missing about a metres length...... you are kidding me We reckoned there must have been a nick in the line. It was a new leader tied the night before, but maybe something happened when I pulled the rods out of the boot in the morning. Also bad idea using 8Lb. Roberta very kindly gave me one of hers to replace it and we set off to her secret spots around the racks. I was enjoying using the surface lures to start with. We got a few hits but failed to hookup. I'd heard this about surface lures. As time drew on this grew more and more frustrating. And it was so hard to not strike when I saw a splash, I’m sure I missed many because of my reflex actions to strike hard and fast at just about anything. We did both manage a couple of little bream and a flatty, but this appeased me only slightly (I don’t count undersize fish). I desperately wanted to go back to familiar grounds and put a plastic on, but I left them back at camp so I was forced to get used to the HBs. After about 4 hrs I was slipping into the no fish depression, but my hopes were raised as Roberta finally pulls up tight to a solid fish. I will let her describe the battle. This raised my spirits, but after a while longer, a few more hits and by now even having better discipline not to strike, I was still not being rewarded. I just felt like throwing my rod in the water and going home. So I took some deep breaths and said ok, bugger this. I’m just going to enjoy the beautiful surrounds, enjoy the company and forget all about catching fish. This was not a strategy to help catch fish, it was purely to prevent myself from ruining a day out on the water. I settled down and started to enjoy myself again. And in 10 minutes it happened. I couldn’t see the lure as a light chop had formed and sun was starting to disappear behind a developing storm cloud, but I felt it. I felt the weight, and good weight. I almost struck, but held out a split second longer and it went slack. I did a couple of jiggles. Another tap…..……... Leave it……………… then it took off for real and it was a good fish. After an admirable battle I netted him, heart pounding and grinning from ear to ear He was a nice solid 32cm. After a couple of pics I sent him packing. That was as good a fish as I could have hoped for, and all I needed was one to scratch that itch. The stupid thing was, I was still excited on the next cast and wasn’t thinking straight. I got another tug and whipped up my rod feeling like an idiot that I’d already forgotten the golden rule. Oh well, I was still happy. We continued flicking for a bit too long and eventually the storm caught up to us. Needless to say from the pic we got soaked to the bone. Plan was to have a blackfish the next morning, but the crappy weather persisted and I had already been wet all night sleeping in a leaky tent. I opted for home instead. So only 1 fish, but it was great learning the ropes and the territory with a great fisho. Thanks Roberta.

Great work fellas That's either one HUGE blacky or is it's an optical illusion. Personally I think that is one HUGE FAT BLACKY! Well done!

That sounds great Roberta Youll have to teach me a thing or 2 about surface fishing I haven't persisted with it long enough to get a result yet. It's always hard getting away from what you know but a change in scenery is a good excuse for a change in tactics