XD351

Congratulations young fella ! Thats a stonker ! I still remember my first big lizard ( not that big though !) like it was yesterday but that is now going on 40yrs ago !

A couple of lizards is better than nothing at all ! I just watched a video on YouTube by Windsor bait and tackle and he pulled a few bream out of the canal around iron cove yesterday and got busted off by a big bream so they are around . One thing he keeps mentioning is the schools of mullet and he follows them along fishing under them . If the canal drains right out at low tide fishing the last quarter of the run out where it drains into the bay would be a good technique for flathead and jewies - sooner or later anything swimming in that canal has to come out and the predators will be there waiting for them !

It looked like the commercial guys were doing it tough as well , never seen them work down into cowan . I did think about going up river but with the recent rain i thought i would get pestered by catfish . I spent a whole Sunday arvo researching the breeding cycle of yakkas , squid , garfish and flathead - while i believe water temps are what really triggers it the general consensus was November to march as the peak breeding time for these fish so its not far off ! For Bream i used to have a simple system M.A.M ( March . April. May ) as the main breeding run or when these fish start to school up to breed anyway . The last two hours of the small morning run out tides this weekend would be ideal to fish places like the icicles , bar point , neverfail etc for bream as they would be working their way back up river . The upper river has had two big flush outs this year and i’m extra keen to see how this effects the summer season for fish and prawns . Might be a bumper season for mulloway also ! Only time will tell !

Nice catch ! I could just about smell that leatherjacket frying in a pan with some butter 🤤 I have the same problem - a lot of travel to get to the rocks to get my bait then all the way back to go fishing the next day - unless i fish Narrabeen lagoon or pittwater which i can get my bait at low tide and fish the run up straight after . Have you tried keeping the cabbage wrapped up in paper in the bottom of the fridge ? I used to do this with weed and it was good for a few days in there ,i have done the same for live pipis and they clam up shut and go to sleep but come back to life when i put them in a bucket of sea water - this is only overnight though !

If you haven’t done any rock fishing before and cannot find someone who is experienced i would recommend you go with a guide like Alex bellissimo , might cost a few bucks but better than drowning ! You will also need a pfd along with a rod and reel- i’m not sure if alex supplies these but a phone call will sort that out . That way you will learn how to read the conditions ,learn when it is not safe to fish,find fish and what gear you really need before forking out your hard earned cash .

If you don’t want to eat the fish you catch ( or not a lot of them anyway ) the parramatta river has kilometres of walk/ cycle ways from parramatta down to meadowbank and there are all sorts of flats and snags to fish ( The guy on YouTube on the windsor bait and tackle channel is always pulling bream , flathead and jewies out of there ) also there is a sand flat at cabaritta point And around the putney boat ramp but i would be careful wading there in summer as the place is crawling with bull sharks , there are some options up behind the iron cove bridge also . Wading the flats at rose bay is another option along with the beach at balmoral , the creek upstream of roseville bridge had a good walking track and a few flats and snags to fish . Up behind halvorsens boat shed at bobbin head also has a track that follows the creek and it has some goos flats and drop offs . 2 hours drive from castle hill ( not in peak hour !) would put botany bay within range and there are acres of flats there - just watch out for the rays and numbfish - shoes are a must in any of the places i have mentioned . One thing i like to do is jump on google maps or even better goole earth and look for sand flats , then i get onto google street view and hunt down access points and parking . Don’t forget Narrabeen lake or the bays on the eastern side of pittwater either although finding free parking can be a challenge ! p.s you have some good bass fishing right on your doorstep - just follow the creek up from berowra to newline road . Ian.

Still had a good day out and got to play in my boat 😀😀😀

Fished the last of the run in and most of the run out this morning drifting over my usual haunts which start at broken bay ( north side between Patonga and lion island and end up at little wobby on the edge of the drop off . I also did a few drifts around juno , gunya and the mouth of Cowan, l fished half pilles , whitebait and prawns on a bottom rig ( running sinker rig with 1m of 10 lb fluorocarbon trace 1/0 longshank ) and another rod with a set of gangs out as a floater with a whole pillie. Only managed two flatties to 30cm , one reasonable flounder and a banjo ray . All of these were caught up to high tide in the broken bay possie mentioned above and then the joint shut down . The water is still a bit tea coloured and a bit murky but most of all it is cold - my sounder was showing 15.5 first up and the highest i found during the day was 16.6 . Sorry no photos as i knew i was releasing the fish once i saw it ( either undersized or not something i like to eat ) so they were released without removing them from the water . I spoke to a guy at the ramp and they were fishing flint and steel , they had trouble getting yakkas - he said there were plenty there ( under the pillboxes) but getting them to bite was another thing ! They had a bleak day also - well that’s what he told me and he didn’t clean any fish at the ramp ! The area might need to cook for a month or two until the water starts to warm up!

Thanks Scotty! I used to have an XD but only a six banger , i have been a Dick Johnson fan since i first watched motor racing and my favourite race car was his tru blu falcon XD .

Thanks Rebel and mrs swordfisherman! I know many think that living in western Sydney is a disadvantage but when i think of i have fishing options all around me ! Go west and hit the nepean for bass , north west and the upper Hawkesbury for bass , bream ,flatties and jew , south for the georges river , to the east is the parra river and the harbour . A bit further away to the south east is botany bay and to the north east the northern beaches and lower Hawkesbury . All within about an hours drive ! An hour and a half and I’m over the mountains fishing for trout and bass in lake lyall !

Nice fish ! where from ?

You could also try around the marina on the west side of the spit bridge .

G’day Fishraiders🎣 Ian here , New member from western Sydney and looking forward to participating on the forum . These days I predominantly fish off the beach and in the estuary - either in my boat or stalking the flats and mangroves using both bait and lures mainly for Flathead . Started out 40yrs ago as a jetty rat in Sydney harbour then spent a few years chasing Luderick in Narrabeen lagoon , from there i was either stalking trout in the rivers ( when they had water in them ) or yellow belly In the dams out around Lithgow ,Bathurst or Mudgee .Then i spent some time on bass in the dams in the hunter valley and when I wasn’t doing that i was out fishing for flathead between Port Stephens and Batemans bay .

Its been a long time since i fished the harbour but we used to get them at Quarantine wharf because we launched at Northbridge and it was only a short trip from Quarantine to the channel markers in middle harbour. . The ferry wharf at Neutral bay was also good But any of the ferry wharves can have yakkas on them also clifton gardens . I have also caught them around the private jetties between neilson park and rose bay , you will have to anchor up just out from the jetty and fish back towards it - they really don’t like it when you tie off to their jetty ! You will need to check the marine park zoning for quarantine - it didn’t exist back when i went there . Squid was over the kelp beds that are below the old fishermans shacks around dobroyd .once again check the regs for this area before you go fishing there ! I’m wondering if all the rain we had has put them down a bit deeper ?