NoMoreDonuts

So my lure fishing has been put on the backburner for the last while as most of my fishing opportunities have been family oriented. As much as my 7y.o. son loves lures, he doesn’t have the patience for it, so back to good old bait it is. The whole family headed down to Birchgrove Warf last Sunday afternoon with my son’s fishing obsessed friend in tow. When we got there my son decided he didn’t want to fish (perfect, considering the trip was his idea) and he just wanted to dance to the music blaring from the booze cruises on the harbour. So my wife, my son’s friend and I tried our luck with pilchard cubes as Tiny Dancer practiced his moves. Forty minutes later, with no bites for anyone my son decide he’d like to start fishing. Second cast and his rod buckled over, I told him just to wind and keep winding. Whatever was on the end tried to head under the warf and the rod looked like it was about to snap but my son held on and eventually reeled in an almost legal trevally. It was his biggest fish by far and I was pretty proud of him because on his rod (a 5 foot Shimano Kidz Stick) it was like fighting a GT. Needless to say, the little guy was pretty pleased with himself and after a quick release he announced he was finished fishing for the day. The rest of us persisted for another hour and we had a 15min hot patch where we pulled in another couple of small trevally and a not quite legal bream. It was great arvo out and hopefully we’ll get in a lot more family sessions over the summer. And the occasional lure session if I’m lucky 😉.

No more photos I’m afraid @Mike Sydney. The little guy was very keen to release it so I had to work fast. Looking at all the photos though, I think @Bluebenbomb was right after all. Sydney cardinal fish it is. A new one for the knowledge bank. Thanks for digging deep on this one guys!!! I appreciate it.

Interesting. They do look very similar. I think the warm afternoon light vs night head torch makes them look different colours. Sounds like they’re a bit of nuisance when you’re bream fishing!

Thanks for the suggestion! Not totally sure that’s it. Would love a second opinion.

Hey Raiders, Can anyone help ID this little guy caught by my son on the Nelson Bay breakwall last school holidays?

Amazing fish. Great write up too!

Great report! Good to see the fish are biting on the Cooks again. I had a couple of sessions there over the school holidays without a nibble… to be fair to the fish, the water was beyond filthy!

Nice work. Love your dedication to the cause. Sometimes 15min of pure concentration can be far more productive than 2hrs of zoning in and out of the task at hand.

That looks like a great session. I’d take that bycatch everyday of the week!

The second model is a quality fish! Nicely done.

That’s a cracking flathead! Nice work.

Congrats! Nice looking King.

Nicely done! That’s a session you won’t forget.

Just finished one of those myself. Torture. Hope you can get some IC action again soon.

Headed down to Iron Cove for a cold and wet session this morning. Arrived just after sunrise and worked the section from the Hawthorne Canal bridge to Le Montage. It was only my second time fishing there and I’d originally planned to target bream but seeing the tide (last 2hrs of the run out) and the barely covered flats it looked like it was going to be more of a flatty session and so it proved to be. The rain bucketed down at times but in 1.5hrs I landed 3 fatties (2 just legal and a tiddler that I didn't bother to measure) all caught on a neverfail 2.5inch paddle tail in motoroil. I was soaked by the end of the session but it was well worth it.

Dang, that’s an epic flatty your little guy will never forget! Amazing.

That’s a nice lookin’ bream!

Thanks for the clarification! That’s a super subtle difference… I hadn’t even noticed those dots.

Didn’t notice any bust ups. It was caught on a standard running sinker rig.

Totally agree. I was more pumped seeing my wife bring in the mackerel than landing a fish myself. It’s been awesome watching her develop as a fisherperson. She’s got a knack for landing a new species every session. Just can’t get her onto a humble flatty for some reason 🤔

A short session yesterday afternoon on the Yeend St pontoon with my family and the family of my son’s school friend. Sensational weather but it’s definitely getting chilly when the sun gets low. I was on soft plastics and everyone else was using servo pilchards. Ten minutes in and my wife hooked something quite sizeable and was fighting hard. Thought it was a trevally but after longish battle (which my wife played like a pro) it turned out to be what I think is a 40cm frigate mackerel? Five minutes later I was onto what I thought was hard fighting bream but turned out to be very healthy 36cm trevally. It went a bit quiet after that but it was a great afternoon and nice to break a recent run of donuts. Only dampener was in their excitement to see the trevally one the kids stepped on my rod and bent a guide.

Great post. Love the toadfish on the brag mat… not something you see everyday. My mate’s kids love catching toadies too, they call them ‘Banana fish’ because apparently they feel like banana skin.

That’s great how your daughter is strategising about catching fish. What a legend. So good when a plan pays off too! I was down at Birchgrove Warf this afternoon with my 6y.o. and some of his friends from school… we’ve got little fishing posse going on. Must have pulled out 10 of those yellow tail between us (and some micro bream). Didn’t realise we’re they were good eating. We’ll be sashimi-ing them up next time 😀

Thanks @Little_Flatty. So much great info in there. I’ve been paying attention to some of those factors when scoping out spots but I’m going to start paying more attention to current and eddies.

Thanks for the sinching tip @JamoDamo. I was definitely going way too hard. Guess I just need some good old fashioned practice to nail it. If I can’t, I’ll hit you up for some more advice 🙏