Bennyg78

I was keen to get my daughter down to Dolls Point as she has recently started using a blade and its been great to see her improve using it. We were both keen to get some fishing in before the Pirtek Fishing Challenge this weekend Dolls point is a pretty safe bet to throw out many lures as there's not a lot to get snagged on, so its a great place to try some reasonable risk free lure fishing. We arrived at 7.30 am ready for the incoming tide, and there was one other guy just packing up. She was keen to catch some flatties and so was I. I had a Vibelicious tied on and she had an ecogear zx 35. Within 3 casts she was onto her first trevally and likewise I hooked a small flattie. Both were returned to the water. Then on my next cast after a few lifts I get hit hard and the line is peeling and going out deep and coming back in, whatever I have hooked has a bit of power and oomph, after a 5-10 minute battle I pull on my fist ever King( only 53 cm) on my 3-6 kg rod. After a happy snap back in the drink he goes. Both of us keep casting and pull in a further 6 more trevally, and some are really putting on a fight. We probably had 3 that were over legal size but returned all to the water. Gotta say I was pumped to get that first King fish!.

Hey @LuckyFil I’m no expert but, yea little stabs of the rod with a few pauses, there’s some articles on here in regards to topwater fishing and MMD have a great video highlighting it for bream.

Headed up the central Coast to the family holiday home for the Easter weekend. Thought I’d go and hit the foreshore at Gosford for a bream hunt. Kinda been neglecting the MMD splash prawn and threw on the Banana green one for a crack. Second cast on I see a bubble and a half go at my lure , I give it another tug and something big hits it and runs, the reel was peeling and I pull in this monster EP. This was my first EP and to say I was excited was an understatement. Another two casts and bang another EP, same deal misses the first two go’s and I recast for it to hit and run, this one a little smaller at 32cm. Then another three casts later another one hits me but runs me under the oysters and cuts my leader. I’m going to have another crack in that spot tomorrow and see if I can get more. Does anyone know how an EP is as a table fish?

Looks like a great day out @Pickles. Looks like plenty of fish to catch. I see you're in the hawkesbury! I grew up at Glossodia and my folks are still in Richmond

Hi all, Thanks for your advice @Mike Sydney. I had a crack at dolls point this morning. The water was pretty dirty and a couple of local fishos said it was a slow morning and all they were catching were rays. I tried top water but nothing was hitting (maybe its the end of the beloved season). I then switched up to the trusty ecogear ZX 40 cast out and got hit on the fall, winding in a nice little trevally. Two casts later I got bit off by Mr. Flatty and bye bye ZX40 I then switched up to my 3-6 kg outfit and cast out a heavier ZX and it gets hit on the retrieve bringing in a nice looking flounder. I decide to rig up a vibelicious and cast it out and it gets hit hard by what I would presume by a flatty and the drag is peeling off as I bring him in he snaps my leader, and bye bye Vibelicious. Not the most successful day but I can see the appeal of the area with the flats and the big drop off at your feet. I will be upping my leader rating on the 3-6 kg moving forward Not the best photos i got.

Yeah mate I have a few different sizes of the zx I’ll be sure to give them a crack

Thanks @Mike Sydney& @motiondave for the advice and tips. I’ll give Dolls Point a crack in the morning,looks the tide will be falling so I’ll start on hunt for whiting! Excited to try a new spot and see how it goes

Hi Raiders, I have a late start tomorrow morning so looking to get a morning fish session in. I’ll be looking to target the bream, whiting on topwater lures with the option of hitting some flattties with blades & double clutches. I’m deciding between three locations I really haven’t fished before (try something new) the places I’m looking at are; - Narrabeen lagoon - Rose bay -dolls point. Cast your vote and help me decide on where to go, ps any information you can spill on either of these spots will also help.

Hi fellow raiders, This isn't a report of one fishing sessions but rather a collection of outings and reports from my last few months. I find myself writing this as I think its important for those newer or coming back to fishing to not give up on the fishing journey and/or wanting to better their skill sets. Now last year I really wanted to get involved and try lure fishing. I had no idea what our how to do things so I started reading things and came across this forum. Then....... Way back in January I reached out to @DerekD over the course of a number of sessions he taught me the nuances of casting distance and accuracy, top-water lures, working blades, working SP, working squid jigs, crank baiting and you name it he has probably given me some input on the topic. His tuition and reference have provided me with an excellent base as to improve and further my skills, I can be somewhat obsessed with improving and getting better at something. During February and March I have been hitting the drumoyne/fivedock, pittwater and northern beaches aimed at improving my casting , retrieving techniques and overall wanting to become a better fisho!! Being slightly obsessed this meant getting out when the weather was crap, or trying different spots that were crap and sometimes combining the two. But I was determined to get better Some sessions were donut sessions, but I always managed to learn or improve something on every session. I guess if I could some up some takeaways they would be persevere you're only going to get better by keeping your fishing going if you can get a session with a mentor take it, they will drastically improve your learning time. be versatile, even though top-water fishing is so damn addictive if they aren't biting switch it up i.e throw crankbait in or a blade if you can fish different areas as this will increase your knowledge and skills immensely. There are a heap of resources on you-tube, podcasts and materials out there. P.S Heres a flatty (37cm) I caught at pittwater. After the tide ran out and I was getting no more top-water hits, I switched to an ecogear ZX blade, 2 casts later and I was on. He went back in the drink after a quick photo and the kids had a look at him. Another three casts and I was onto another flatty, this one was big and a little angry with head shakes happening, I managed to reel her in and go to see the solid head peering back at e through the water and boom head shakes. Leader snapped and bye bye blade!

Hi raiders, Google earthing some possible sand flats (for that top water hit!) and eyeing off the tasty morsel that looks like bantry bay. Question can you get down to the sand flats from the land? I see there's a few walking tracks around but its hard to tell if leads direct to the water or if there ledges that drop off and the like. Any inside info appreciated

nice report! What a fish @Little_Flattyt I am killing to get a whiting on a topwater lure so may have to have a look at the flats there

My kids and I are in for this challenge!

@Chhayzor they look awesome, been looking at the base Infeet models atm. So many options currently to choose from

I’ll be hitting it Saturday and Sunday morning early.

Hi Raiders Looking at trying to nail that topwater whiting before the water temp drops off and was thinking that Clontarf might be a good spot to try. I’d be aiming for an early Sunday morning session. Happy to get some advice on some other spots or what this one fishes like? Ps also happy if other people want to come for a fish

Nice report @Chhayzor Awesome to see you getting something from the jedi master that is @DerekD Well done on the bream! Derek definitely has got the topwater addiction in me after some sessions together, its such good fun. P.S. how many bent minnows did you go and buy after that session?😉

Another weekend session with @DerekD and another tonne of learning. I met Derek down at Mosman for some fishing and learning today. We focussed on squid jigs, and working plastics. I met Derek at about 7 and he began to show me how to work a squid jig and pretty much he was onto one with his 2nd or 3rd cast in. We switched it up and I wanted to use a new flutter jig I had purchased, soon enough I was onto a squid after being shown how to effectively work it by Derek. We then switched it up to the old faithful grubs and practiced casts in various directions and retrieves (which I think im getting quite good at). Managed a little grinner fish and a number of hits. we then moved on and worked the area sweeping around the bay, getting hits but no hook ups. On one of the last casts out by Derek we manage to hook up to a nice little Frigate Mackerel. Really loving the learning and progress on this fishing journey. Still working on that perfect casting but I’m getting there.

Great fish!

Hi all A bit of a prelude to my report. I spent Saturday morning with @DerekDlearining and practicing some topwater techniques around Drummoyne. As some homework I watched the articles from @Niall in topwater bream fishing which was awesome. We went through walk the dog techniques with the sugapen, the mmd slash prawn and the bent minnow. Whist I didn’t land a fish I had some awesome follows and hits, the appeal of topwater fishing is bloody exciting and I can definitely see it becoming highly addictive. Anyway on to the report, my kids love to fish and we had planned to fish in the Arvo. We picked out echo point as previously it’s pretty easy for the kids to drop a line in (they were on Hawkesbury prawns) I wanted to spend the time practising with each of the above lures and getting that technique a bit better, in between bating up, untangling and unsnagging kids lines. To the left of the beach is a lot of structure and oysters set up and I figured that would be a good area to target as it filled up on the incoming tide. ‘First up was the mmd splash prawn, a few flicks and retrieves with some bubbles of interest and little hits but no hook ups. Then 5 th cast in I get a solid hit and reel in a juvenile long Tom . After rerigging a kids line I decide to switch to the sugapen now I really didn’t have this technique nailed for this lure and wanted to improve so that was the task I didn’t care if I caught a fish but wants that little lure dancing left and right. Well 2 casts in I get hit by tailor then next cast another tailor. I noticed that there is a big rock structure mid way out to the left of me and I cast over it and retrieve back and get hooked up with a small bream. It’s at this time the kids are getting a little restless and I beg the missus for 15 more minutes the gods are smiling and she approves. I switch up to the bent minnow and really want to cast over that rock structure as I figure it’s big enough to hide a few other fish. 3rd cast out and reel in bang I see a massive splash and the minnow is gone and my line is peeling off, this must be something solid as the bend in my rod is telling me it’s got some fight . Gotta be a solid Bream! After a brief fight where the bugger tried to wrap me off around the rock I pull in this nice 31 cm black bream. We kept him for dinner! just a word to the new people(that’s me) into lures and soft plastics, you don’t have to spend the world to get started. But my advice would be suck in the knowledge here and if you can get a session with someone who knows their stuff then take them up you’ll learn more in person than on a forum.

Hi all This is not a report where I caught any fish ( someone else did) but caught a heap of learning and knowledge from the guru @DerekD I am relatively new to lure & soft plastics fishing and have been messing around and making some progress. The amount of information, helpfulness and learning on this site is impressive from a lot of the community but I felt I needed some hands on help. Through my trials and tribulations I thought it would be a great idea to reach out someone who can put me on the path to lure fishing enlightenment. Enter one Jedi fishing master by the name of @DerekD After exchanging some messages on and off here, and a phone chat about some of the gear I had we met at one of the many fishing wharves around Sydney. Derek was great at explaining to me the hows and whys of the way he does things: - such as leader length - tieing a leader knot using a ridiculously small amount of end line(something for me to work on) - why he uses certain retrieves - and probably a 100 other things during the evening. Derek's first mission was to look at my casting ability (or lack of) throughout the afternoon. He had me focus on different aspects and utilise different casts forehand, backhand, overhead and baseball style casting. Whilst I am still not 100% proficient I gained so much from him imparting his knowledge and instruction that I improved quite substantially in this session and looking forward to continually improving this. We had a brief chat on squid jigging and how that works but the main focus was on casting and retrieving lures. Derek then showed me through a few different retrieval techniques on SP and lures (including a Derek secret technique) some of these I picked up and some will need to be worked on til I get comfortable, during this time Derek also showed me to tie an FG knot which I will be working on. We also rigged up Dereks bigger rod to get the bigger lures and casts happening which was a heap of fun to see and experience. In the four hours he spent with me I learnt a heap and improved my casts and retrieves. I feel like I owe @DerekD a case of beer at least for his tuition and help. This guy is so patient and I am sure he has helped many a Raider here. I am looking forward to our next catch up ad thanks again!

Thanks for your help @thecosbykids I’ll give those a crack and try my luck in the next few days

Hi Raiders! on the Xmas break up at Davistown and wondering if anyone has some good spots try on the plastics for flattie/bream. Had a crack at Amy street wharf, davistown wharf and Saratoga nature reserve with little success so far. Any tips or help is appreciated

Hi guys Long time lurker first time poster Today! My names Ben I am in Sydney (north west). Through your awesome forum and some youtube videos i have began my foray into soft plastics fishing. Having been using bait for a long time I am pumped to start practicing and get better at this. Sorted myself out a beginners rod, reel and kit. I just wanted to say thanks to all the people on here, as you offer a lot of great information Ben