ilkfish

Hi Jenno Good to see that you made a good fishing effort. As Yowie mentioned the whiting is a good length but a bit thin. I noticed this wirh some mullet i caught at grays pt. The mullet are thin. Could this be about time of year conditions?

Hi Yowie Well done on the bream.they look quite good. From ryour experience , is this the start of the bream season in the hacking.

Hi Yowie, Again good to see your posts. In regards to your above mention of the 23cm vic tailor size limit, I would like to share to you how NSW got its 30cm size limit. A few years ago at the south sydney amateur fishing club, we had a fisheries presentation. (We normally have a lot of presentations from guest speakers). At the end , we were asked if tailor should have a sizel limit. Majority said yes. The we were asked for what size. Someone said 30cm, and it was voted in.

Papafish, Thats a top catch. Trevally are great fighting fish. Make great sushimi. I guess the winter months is when trevally come to the estuaries

Yowie, thats a great catch of quality fighting and tasty fish.

Great observation that HooketBruce said in the earlier replies, that we should let the fish sleep in, every now and again.

Hi Larkin, Wow, thats a great landbased catch. Its always satisfying getting a good landbased catch. It was memtioned that the bonoto took baits, But has anyone recently caught these port hacking leaping bonitos on lures, if so what has been your biggest metal lure that they took. Normally i use 10grams from the boat. But from land i would use 40gms just to get a distance cast. Maybe an 80gm lure, or would that be too big

That striped tuna brings back memories of when the stripies were so thick. They are so rare now off sydney. With them there were millions of mutton birds , they too are rare or extinct off sydney . I loved catching those striped tuna

Hi Larkin, Thanks for the great report, it is a very good read . With the salmon and tailor, did you get them in a close gutter, or did you cast far. ?

Hi Corro, Yes again it was on the home made lures. This time i made them exactly the same as last time, but i scaled them up a bit in size (extra 40%), i am hoping to encounter some kingfish, and see how effective they will be to them

Hi Fish Raiders, Went for a late evening troll near lillii pilli and 600 meters in its vicinity. Managed to get 5 choppers, but they seemed to be quite fat. All just over around 33cm. Kept trolling till the moon rose, didnt get any night strikes normally i do. Never the less it was very tranquil.

Imagine if the goat fish breeded just as good as blue spot flatties. If so we could have even more stock of great table fish.

Great fish, especially when caught land based. Looks like you put alot of analysis behind your efforts.

Thanks Rebel. Also thanks Yowie for the reference of the lure based on a piece of white rag I place a long thin rolled white rag on a soft plastics jig head. On my belt i clip a half cut 2 litre milk bottle, of which carries used frying oil. I always put in some oil from a can of tuna. Every few casts i dip the white cloth jig into the oil. It really improves results.

Hi Corro, thanks for your interest. This is the lure. Please ensure that the head of the lure is made of something that is super light. Eg. Balsa wood. As this will give it great action. Mine swim just under the surface for between 5 to 10 seconds, then pop up for a second.

Hi fishraiders I have been trolling some homemade christmas tree lures between mansion point and lilli pilli during arvo to sunset. Normally getting a 5 to 6 fish (tailor and salmon). There has been little if any surcace activity. Doing 7km p/h. With 1 lure 20m behind and the other about 30m. Getting equal results. I have even caught tailor trolling at night (thu 14th dec.) This is my 1st fishing report and still trying to work out how to add pics. Really enjoying trolling in the hacket. One of the salmon was caught amongst the moored boats at lilli pilli. Was very hectic controlling the boat and fighting the fish. My home made xmas tree lures are mainly made from party streamer material from kmart. The material is categorised ad being irridescent. Reflects beautifully in low evening light

Hi Corro, thats a top catch of trevally. Good to see u put in the effort of berlying. Did the trevally come on the bite during the early morning, or was it later in the day.

Bruce thats a smart move, by getting those leather jackets Leather jackets are a great table fish. i simply skin them and boil them, they tast exceptional. offshore on the deep reefs i used long super slim round jigs, with a touch of bait on the trebbles, found that it was a great way of getting them (at times if just an old patternoster rig was not that successful, as the fish had time to inhale the bait, whilst still having their teeth closed). but the moving long jig forced them to chase it and be more aggressive, hence caught easier. i was thinking of making smaller versions of these jigs , for the estuary .

Hi Yowie Great tailor, just short of 50. You're doing well with these estuary snapper as well. The westerly wind has just really picked up now. Dawn it, I was just planning to test my new kayak.

Hi Yowie, thats a great catch. The snapper look great. By the way, did you notice any surface pelagics like slmon or tailor

I usually make my own lures. For low light conditions, i use irridescent material. (Usually found in gift packaging material , check out the party and craft departments of kmart etc l). These lures throw off and shine in very low light.

Hello Yowie, Thats a great snapper and whitting. It shows that the Hacking has great fish, even in winter. Especially for those who put in the effort to get there early (for the snapper).

Hello NutsAboutFishing I fish sand flats, and when i cast my livebait (mullet), near a drop off, i tend to get flathead, and kingfish. kingfish do come in shallow drop offs as they tend to be chasing whitebait etc. being sandy areas (with weed patches) if find going light usually is ok, and you end up getting more bites. hence i use 15lb trace and 10to 12lb main line. the current can get a bit strong, so i use a ball sinker of about 100grams. however i flatten the ball sinker a bit with a hammer so it wont roll around (dont forget to put a nail in the sinker hole so you wont squash its hole). in regards to the hook , i tend to use small hooks, just like light line stealth, i find that small hooks are less visible to the fish. you will be surprised that they still hook up really well. i use mustard viking 540 hooks size 8 to 1 and sometimes 1/0. yes, even on very large mullet live baits. some times i myself think to myself , hey is this too small, but so far they have really worked for me. (i play the fish and don't put too much pressure on them) In summary my rig for the sandflats near drop offs are light line, heavy flattened sinker so it wont roll into weebeds and small hooks , so as not to tire the live bait and not spook your target fish. have the drag on light so as fish can take off. have the rod in a holder, and dont make noise around the area you fish. (remember on sand flats , sounds travel )