Denisfisho

I dont know about making but I think I'd enjoy modding my lures for example with different colour patterns, weight add ons to turn a floating lure into sinking etc

damn I used to come here after work sometimes and pickup some soft plastics Id never see elsewhere, will miss the shop.

No photo but by that description must have been long toms of which I foul hooked another today. Decided to buy abit heavier setup so went in and bought a cheap rod that can throw 28g lures along with two 25g Jarvis Walker twisties and headed off to the spot where everyone fishes shoulder to shoulder but are catching fish. Don't normally fish in such crowded spots but I gave it a go and it went very nicely, the tailor were firing and even though I seemed to be the only one using lures I was luckily enough to also quickly catch two legal tailor and then headed off home. Twisties proving themselves today and may try a halco streamer tomorrow morning. Lets see how the wife cooks them up.

Thanks for the tips all, especially regarding fish profiles, matching size and the abu toby. I've been trying to catch a bonito, mackerel tuna or just a tailor. I believe I had hooked either a tailor or maybe aus salmon with the streaker before I lost it due to not tying the knot correctly. Always land based. Didn't have much luck on the halco streaker in port kembla (not ideal conditions and time) but went to wollongong harbour off the breakwall with an arma chisel 14g and the gar were filthy hungry for them, they went after it again and again, if it was an assist hook on instead of the treble I would've caught many more than just the one. It also gave me a good opportunity to see which types of actions got them more hyped up (for example, doing some quick twitches made them fired up to bite). There's just something fun about building up a tackle box with new lures.

Hey all, recently I've been giving metal spoons/slugs etc a go as they cast a mile and they give me a chance at some of the bigger fish I haven't caught yet. What are some metal spoons you enjoy to use or are your go to? I bought the halco streaker (https://www.halcotackle.com/products/halco-streaker/) today and got a hookup one of the first casts which I lost due to a badly done knot. Tried another spoon for the rest of the day and not even a bite. I've tried the halco twisty but haven't had much luck. One thing about spoons aswel is that I often get to see when the fish take a random swipe at them from the surface which is interesting to see when you were thinking the fish didnt have any interest.

Im not sure the line just snapped even though I had drag set very light Yes, they can't all be bad but hard to think that way once you've been burned. I think the aggro behaviour in both our cases came from people not wanting to share the water with others. Glad you got your stuff back, losing my lure is annoying but the real concern is them damaging their own property and/or starting a fight from something they caused themselves. I had drag set light but I felt the jetski pull the line and quickly snap it afterwards. A silver lining is that the line came back with the leader still attached, a small mercy hah

Thanks for that and your condolences, im mostly just looking to get it out of my system as while the smartest and best choice is to always walk away from such things you still feel abit down you didn't stick up for yourself and someone cost you money (the lure) and gets away with it. I was also abit worried his jetski might get damaged and he'd try to hold me liable in some way even though it's his fault. Just a crap situation which will probably make me avoid fishing near jetskis for awhile

Yeah there was a sign for the 4knts and I was sitting right under it ironically. Can't say what 4 knots looks like but it looked like he gunned it fast as he could because I always keep my eyes on the boats, kayaks etc to reel my line and give everyone their space especially as I'm new to the area and looking for mates not enemies.

Just wanted to ask if anyone else has had a bad experience with jetski riders while fishing? Noticed a jetski rider and myself were sharing the same space (I was there first if it matters) and he seemed to be getting agitated and definitely exceeding the speed limited posted and doing circles and another annoying stuff. Then all of a sudden he gunned it over my line and as fast I could reel it back I had no chance and he snapped my line came over to me smiling asking if he'd snapped it and apologising to me giving off the vibe he'd done it on purpose. I just said all good and walked it off as I wasn't looking for a fight and my wife was nearby. Would a jetski rider run over someone's line intentionally? It seemed like but I would think it puts risk on damaging his own vehicle ? The worst part is that before he ran over my line I was trying to convince myself to remain chill and that everyone should share the water together right before my line snapped.

Thanks guys that was really good info And im land based motion

Hi all, I normally lure fish each time I go out and I can definitely say I have put in alot of hours and have been lucky enough to catch both legal fish for a feed and small fish for fun. I've logged about 68 catches since May last year the majority of which have been small live bait. I was thinking to start using the live bait for fishing and just wanted to ask what do you normally catch on live bait and what rod ratings and line is the usual go and the setup etc? Is live yakkas usually giving a good chance for a catch or is it more or less the same as dead bait ? On a side note I caught a legal trev today with lures and found a red hook inside its stomach contents which indicates good survival rates even if a fish shallows the hook entirely.

Fishing windang bridge same as me but with a sinker swivel and whole prawn. He was slaying them while I was snagging redoing leaders in extreme wind hah

Back in the harbour today and coming first light and beginning of night proving to be key to getting bites again. Caught a small snapper with the squidgies ifish wriggler which came in a pack with scent for $5.00 proving effective along with a 1/22 jighead working nicely. Saw big fish around the harbour so tried a spoon but no bites at all. I spent hours on this but no luck. Still worth to try though. Went to the other side of the harbour and in the span of 5 minutes saw two blatantly undersized fish kept but fisheries seem to be aware and taking action. An exciting day and well worth it.

Agreed and I am starting to get a clearer picture of what I need to do with some small results. For me it's just not working with the rainwater anywhere but I did walk past and chat with a kid who in the span of my two snags caught 3 bream and 2 flatty. I've never really baitfished before but seeing him slay the fish while I was struggling was a good reminder that the fish are there I just need to keep learning. I'm new to the area and it's only natural locals have the knowledge. I've found lake illawarra is a really difficult lake for me to catch fish and you can see in my previous post nearly made me quit lure fishing but I'm still keen to keep trying. The wind and rough conditions is probably not helping a newcomer to the area also. In the meantime I may go dam fishing for redfin and return to gong fishing when the waters are abit clearer.

Thanks for the advice mate. I do see some people throwing spoons in my marked area and wonder what they are targeting. I have so far caught 2 bream 2 trev 1 snapper and 1 gurnard plus live bait. There are underwater ropes on that corner of the restaurant but damn I can't help casting there every session haha. I have atomic deep but it doesn't go that far down even if I fixed it to go straight and just don't feel confident catching anything near the surface, always end up losing confidence and swapping back to plastics. Very hard to get bites with anything last 2 days.

I did see a video on youtube which seemed to show the action on baitjunkie is easier to create than on zmans. I have been using 4lb, its what helped me get the first bream there I think. I love crankbaits too, I've bought atomic, cranka and some others but cant get a bite with them anywhere. I really do want to get good with them. I can see the bream in the structure and know their usual spots there so I dont have to spook them now but still hard to get them to bite. Cant wait until the water clears up. Thanks for the offer, maybe you could suggest me your favourite crank? and thanks for both your replies.

The gulps get absolutely massacred here by the smaller and probably bigger fish too, usually lose the tails within 3 casts but even they havent been getting bites the last few days. I like them but I prefer zman as they dont get ripped easier. I did have a cranka but my wife snagged it when she was learning how to cast, thats my own fault actually hah

Just here.

Hi all, I've recently made it a mission of mine to try and catch legal bream inside of a protected harbour in which alot of people especially younger kids tend to fish but seemingly not catch much of the bigger sized eating fish. This place is about 5 minutes drive from me and Im looking for work so I have pretty much been going there daily testing out different ways to get the legal size bream to bite. So far results are showing me that theyre biting best 2 hours before the peak of high tide and if i go at low tide im basically wasting my time. Scent is proving to be necessary, 80% of my casts after applying scent gets a bite, probably not a placebo but could be. two bream so far caught approx 23cm but not legal in NSW. THey have been caught on 1/20 jighead 2 inch and 2.5inch grubs both times. Zman slimswims no bites, zman grubs 2inch plenty. Amount of bites diminishes significantly after heavier than 1/20. The rain was seeming to help at the start but now the bite is almost non existent. Just wanted to ask when fishing small harbours off jetties etc where you are basically dropping the lure into water what conditions are you finding help? (Including jighead, soft plastics or other lures etc). Maybe in the harbour I just shouldnt expect legal bream? 4 bream all too small to take home and its getting fustrating at this point :D. Any advice appreciated Will mention Im also thinking about whether the smarter thing is just to catch live bait there and send it out, I dont think Id have trouble catching the smaller stuff with what knowledge I have gained.

people will convince themselves to justify the easy option most of the time - in this case catching from the west of the bridge as theres more spots and a shorter drive for most fishos

My favourite fish by far ! Sounds like a great trip. I think I may have seen you do a few youtube videos with a fisher I watch, but I could be wrong

I saw these down Wollongong way too, not interested at all in my zman 2.5 grubs unfortunately

Oh man, I did try with the picnic idea, she was entertained taking a few pics for her blog then the fish Gods decided to forsake me and the 3 times she's come out with me were all doughnuts resulting in her quickly asking to go home lol. I noticed when you only post your catches, people sometimes think you're some great fisher catching all the time, but the reality for my wife ended up being different Funny enough, I am finding it much much harder to catch fish in Wollongong compared to Sydney. It did make me realise that alot of my knowledge was tailored to Sydney and now I'm starting fresh with scouting for new spots etc. I had my own half secret spot in Sydney I'm already starting to miss.

Hey mate sorry for the late reply. Fishing is a little harder to find time for due to the financial controller now coming with me to fishing then getting bored when I catch nothing haha. When I first started lure fishing there was a whole world of basic information which I had no idea about then the more I learn the more I realised I dont know. These days I'm having alot of fun trying to target bream as I find them intelligent and not easy to catch at all. There are people on the forum that can get you sorted straight, highly recommend Derek. There's alot of basic stuff that even watching endless YouTube videos won't teach you as sometimes you need personal help. Don't worry about people laughing at you etc because once you start catching fish they'll be the ones asking you to use your lures, for help etc

Hey all, Its been a few weeks since I last posted and I have to say, I've been having a blast fishing and feel so much more confident now thanks to all the help I've received from this forum, especially from Derek. Since I made this post, I can proudly announce that not only have I finally caught my first flatty, I've actually caught about 8 in the last two weeks, including an approx 49cm flatty (picture included). The funny part was the biggest flatty came after I had given up fishing for the day and just wanted to be an idiot and let my lure drop along the boat ramps water and just walk back to my car..... felt a bite from what I thought surely must be a bream or something small so I stood still and bang.. I couldn't believe it something was hooked up and out comes a big 49cm flatty. In the last two weeks I've also managed to catch two bream about 20ish cm each and I know for sure I only managed to catch those after Derek's advice on how to present topwater lures and what behaviour you are trying to replicate -- used that in the soft plastics and it worked nicely! I also recently went on a fishing trip a few hours west of Sydney and caught 5 redfin on lures and also convinced my friend to try lure fishing, gave him some lures and he caught 5 too on a light $25.00 kmart rod, so it was a great trip for all. I have to say I probably enjoyed fishing for redfin more than saltwater fishing. I also think swapping from Lake Illawarra to instead scouting new places in Sydney also helped, atleast for me, I don't think I was having much luck at all in Lake Illawarra but I'm keen to try it again sometime with abit more knowledge. Looking back a few months when I was struggling with motivation to continue lure fishing to where I am now is an honestly great feeling and look forward to keeping up in the hobby. Special thanks to everyone in this forum with the advice they've given and special thanks to Derek for seeing someone struggling to fish and putting him on the path to catching fish and enjoying the hobby. Also a thanks to Shroom for his youtube videos which I enjoy watching. Cheers Denis