Denisfisho

After about a month of many failed lure fishing sessions with no bites, and no action at all around Lake Illawarra I was feeling abit disheartened and made a post reaching out for help. Fellow Fishraider DerekD was nice enough to reach out with some much needed advice about my gear, and other techniques and after following advice from him and a few other pros on this forum I managed my first ever two fish on lures (a small tailor and a second legal tailor). I still remember fist pumping after catching that small tailor and a waiter nearby just looking at me bemused :D. After that me and Derek exchanged some messages and we managed to meet up last Sunday near Mosman so he could teach more in person. Funny enough, I think in the first 5 seconds of shaking hands and meeting up he was able to point out to me how to properly travel with a fishing rod and lure. The first part of the lesson was about casting which we came to realise was in serious need of correction, as I wasn't loading the weight properly before casting, some old habits die hard but towards the end of the day I was definitely getting better casts out and we were progressing towards accuracy on aiming casts, which was great :D. The second part of the lesson was how to properly create action on surface lures, which I saw was pretty much an artform in itself because of the life like swerving action Derek was able to create with his bassday sugarpen lure. Another useful tip was that he was able to point out to me when to spot a surface lure having interest from fish which was good to learn. We then swapped to atomic hard crankz and he took me to the side of the ramp to practice more of my casting where I managed to land a Tarwhine which was awesome, as I'm on abit of a mission to tick off a few common fish species and got to add that to the list that day. Alot was learnt and our next session will be soft plastics (If I remember right). We parted ways at 6pm but with all the newfound information and a new casting technique that needed practising I drove 30 minutes to a favourite spot of mine which I'd seen fish in but never caught before and lo and behold I was able to use my new casting technique to precisely aim in a few good looking spots and managed to land 2 small fish which I think are snapper that were let back in promptly. My battle to catch the elusive flathead (to me) took a serious turn when a hooked fish which I initially thought was an eel because of the way it was shaking the line, turned out to be a flatty, however, the day was lost as my leader snapped... another day. All in all a great day of fishing and was great to finally meet up with and speak with someone with alot of knowledge to pass on. Teaching doesn't come without it's risks though as I accidentally grazed Derek's arm during a cast but he was a legend and just laughed it off as a memory to look back on. People like Derek make this forum a really great place to learn and I'm greatful that he took the time to help me out both in person and online. Cheers Denis

Hey, I just bought some too (but for fresh water fishing), I noticed after buying them that the lure is detached from the hooks they come with so I'm actually thinking of trying them on with a different hook to what they come with. You can use price match to price match the hooks and maybe even the lures (looks like you were at the place I bought from which I cant seem to name here)

I fished all day around manly on Saturday and nothing was interested in biting the soft plastics. They just didn't care. Its a sad feeling watching a huge trav looking at my lure and then swimming away. Didn't see anyone catch anything proper.

Hi all, I have a fishing rod with a range of about 3g-15g for lures but I'd ended up with a 20g lure which I used to cast a few times, and the distance of my casts was insanely good. I know common sense says I should stick to the range of the rod but is it okay to go atleast a little over or is that asking for a problem? I guess its dependant on the quality of the rod too but was just curious about this because as a land based fisher, I care about casting distance.

Thanks mate. Very simple fish to catch too. I just do a slow to medium reel in (no jumps or anything) and they take it, zman grubs watermelon and midnight oil on each occasion. Haven't had much luck with flathead but conditions weren't in favour today.

At this point you might aswel call me the Tailor Slayer. Tried a few different locations, honestly was asking myself if I'm being stupid to try and fish in these windy conditions but whether or not the answer is yes, I managed to again catch a tailor. The fish are getting bigger and to be honest it felt good seeing others watch me catch a fish instead of a snag lol. Dont know if it's my technique or coincidence or just what's in the area but funny to see the second catch was a Tailor again. To be continued VID-20211113-WA0011.mp4

Wow in that case I may have to contact you later in the year to do a mentoring session with me and my partner sometime around December. I think she's keen to learn how to fish too, I'll be in contact if she ends up wanting to learn and we can do a training sessions together and work something out. Thx

Thanks mate. Yeah it was honestly tough, to the point I wouldn't even tell friends I was fishing because they'd start making jokes about me never catching anything haha. I mainly fish around Wollongong and I've been doing alot of scouting looking for my own out of the way dream spot but I also may try fishing at manly dam at some point as apparently there is redfin perch there. Cheers

After an afternoon nap i decided to have a look at Google maps to see if there were any other spots around the lake to try out for a last chance night fishing session. Went to the spot and it dead quiet with no wind and the edges of the water were showing some fish with black tail ends. I begin casting with no bites but I get mobile and when casting from the ramp I notice my first bite. I cast again and again into that same spot and lo and behold my first hookup and catch on lures has arrived. There was a waiter in the shop nearby watching me fist pumping the air in excitement at catching some tiny fish but oh man he doesnt know what it took to get here. Went to take the hook out from the fish but it had unhooked itself and was an easy throw back into the water. A small success but probably the most important one I'll have. Thanks for the tips all. VID-20211106-WA0024_1.mp4

Got some good news. Update later tonight. Yessss

Hey mate went out in the water. I definitely got bites and the plastic was even moved halfway from the hook from the bites. I suspect it was those little puffer fish you see everywhere but there was also whiting of small size who took half effort bites also. I really did spend alot of time out there and fished the drop off's from the flats but maybe going at 11am to 3pm wasn't optimal timing. Positive things are casting distance gone up and found the spot that all locals fish from.

6lb J braid daiwa , and sorry I meant 1/8 ounce. So you think maybe the 3 to 4inch zman minnows might be better to use for my first catch then the 2inch gulp shrimps, do bigger sps tend to get fish quicker?

Thank you - Yeah, I could make it there in the next few months, if I'm still not catching anything, I will let you know. I will be fishing around Lake Illawarra probably this weekend. I have bought some 8lb flouro leader, 1/8 1h tournament tt jighead hooks and 2inch gulp baby shrimps camos to try out. Wish me luck

Lesson learnt. Unfortunately, the first guy who spooled my other reel did it great and even sat down and showed me his favourite knots but today it just seemed like younger blokes wanting to clock off.

I think it does have backing on it because the other reel I did before had it put on and I can see a tiny tiny section with the backing showing through. Should I just take the loss and go and get it re-spooled by my usual guy or is what I've got good enough? I'm pedantic aswel so I'd rather get it as efficient as possible.

Hey all. So I went to the local tackle shop to get the reel spooled with 6lb braid and I have to say I'm pretty upset because when the reel came back I could see it now has less braid than it did before I gave it to them. I specifically asked the guy will the 150m braid be enough to spool it and he said yes then it took them 30minutes to do it because they said something was wrong with my reel then when they gave it back it's now got less braid on the reel. I have posted a photo of it here. It doesn't look fully spooled to me. Should I go and complain tomorrow or is this okay? Really frustrated at the idea I'll need to spend more money again to spool it.

Thanks all for the help and wealth of information. My set-up is as follows : shimano revolution ultra light 1 to 3kg rod Shimano sienna 2500hg reel 15lb braid from memory 12lb flouro leader leader tied with a double uni knot (I know there's better knots but I'm new to tieing leader. hooks are tied with a rapala knot. Sp used are in attached picture. Most of it is zman but I also have gulps 4inch worms Jigheads are a range of weights and can't remember their sizes (do I am for the hook to pop out half way through the sp? Usually mine are closer to the end of the body. have used sp in: Para River, botany Bay, Lake Illawarra and connecting creeks and lake tuggerah. and yes I think barley does help with lure fishing as I noticed my mate who was bait fishing attracted a small school of tiny bream which were then chasing my sp too. YouTubers like Windsor and shroomz actually sparked my interest to sp fish and I have been watching his videos and using some of their lures. Any ideas let me know

Thanks mate. I've seen a few of your posts and we have fished the same spots, except you've caught fish lol.

Hey mate. I use zman plastics (tried the usual grubs and minnows so forth) using the standard 1/4 1/8 to 1/12 etc jigheads and also tried weedless hooks of different sizes. I use about a 1m leader and my sp colours are the usual fan favourites like motor oil. I have been using zman grubs mainly chasing flathead but I've thrown lines near structure hoping for bream too. Infact I have spotted bream but only tiny ones. My technique is just to cast (I do get good distance because a helpful tackle shop set me up with a good rod and reel) and then do the double flicks. Locations are known performers because I've geolocated from YouTube, watched other fishers and read through forums etc. Im thinking either my times aren't right or I'm wasting time casting too much in the same spot and not moving enough or it's just not hot enough or maybe since they're spots within Sydney its just slim pickings. All shore based. I went boat fishing yesterday with some mates who turned out they just wanted to drink and party which isn't the best for catching fish hah.

First off sorry if the post comes off as negative but I've been trying lure fishing soft plastics, hard body (all depths), different jig heads, different locations (parra river,lake Illawarra, lake tuggerah) and I haven't had a catch of anything at all in like 20 hours worth of fishing the past month. I know nobody can tell me what's wrong without watching me fish but is fishing meant to be this hard ? Lake Illawarra I've gone twice in the morning 6am in good spots and nothing. First few times I can just enjoy the experience but now it's just frustrating because I'm questioning if legal size fish even live in these lakes in large enough numbers for rec lure fishing. Is it because summer hasn't fired up yet? Are these lakes fished out because they're driving distance from Sydney? Are there any known beginner mistakes that people make that I might be doing and not know of. Just need any sort of feedback because fishing has just become more anxiety inducing than relaxing.

On a dry streak at the moment so taking the time to address errors I've been making. The major thing at the moment is whenever I cast I get good distance but my line is always loose after the cast in that I cast 30m for example but 40m of braid came out. Is this a typical mistake with an easy fix ? I also have a side question. Would fishing with sand prawns give better hookups rates for bream,Flathead and whiting compared to sp lures (lake Illawarra) I've been waking 5am every Saturday to fish lake Illawarra and don't think I've even had a bite yet to be honest. It's abit depressing

Yeah, I was curious what would entice a bite more , a small lure that looks like an easy meal or a lure that's bigger and therefore probably easier for fish to see. Too bad fish don't talk hah

I'll be going out with zman 2.5inch grubs hoping for flathead but maybe bream too. I have watched those zman videos in depth theyre great info. Im tossing up between using 2.5inch or 3.5 inch grubz what would you go with for flathead, size doesnt matter for now I just want to catch and release

I've just recently gotten into fishing with lures and I've been finding that I'm constantly hooking up to weed and this has been in a few different lakes. Is this just a part of lure fishing? I also want to ask has anyone who's swapped to weedless hooks - do you get less hookups of the fish when they strike due to the shape of the hook or is that a non-issue, I tried to google that but couldn't find much.

I expect it will get really busy down here once the fish are on, which is why I'm enjoying scouting out places etc. Im not really sure on space etiquette either. If someone is fishing a good spot can I go next to him and fish if there's no where else working out and it's a known good location ? I always keep what I think is a respectable distances from fishos but places like wollongong harbour and Port Kembla are too full to get your own space. I'll be fishing there too early November. I think Lake Macquarie has no commercial fishery which helps with fish numbers I wonder if tuggerah is the same. I haven't had a bite in so long that I don't have any confidence in any particle lure so I keep swapping around