eaglesilk5

Thanks guys for the replies just a shame I was using 30lb so I reeled it in really quickly and missed all of the awesome fight that these bream would give

I have only fished afternoons before, never in the morning or night. I had a rare opportunity to fish early morning as I was living in a hotel next to the water for one night, I planned to fish 20 minutes from the first light into the morning. I woke up feeling bad as my bed was really uncomfortable but I couldn't go to sleep as I was too excited about fishing early morning for the first time. I walked to my fishing spot and it was still dark outside with no people around. I only had chicken, prawns and squid for bait and I decided to start by using chunks of chicken. This produced a few snapper and some small cardinalfish. Some of the squid started to defrost to a level where I could actually put it on the hook. The squids I had were very small ones. They were about 15cm from the top to the bottom of the tentacles. I decided to split it into two parts; The squid head and the hood. At this point, it had already started to turn into day. For squid I used the hood on a 30lb rod and the head on a 10lb rod. The 10lb had tons of action with a few runs and it resulted in a few snapper. As I prepared some bait my 30lb rod started bending over and I ran over and struck, but the hook didn't connect with the fish, frustrated I reeled in my rod with a destroyed squid hood really quickly and as soon as I was about to lift the bait, I saw a flattie chasing it that looked 60+cm. Frustrated, I decided to cast a new squid hood out. As I was preparing more bait again, my rod suddenly bent over like crazy and the drag started going off. I ran towards my rod and quickly grabbed it and tightened the drag. I set the hook and I was on the fish! At first the fish felt like a big flattie as it just felt like a weight with some resistance and a few headshakes but as I got it closer the headshakes started getting more powerful. Then suddenly I saw the fish, it was a massive fish. That fish was miles bigger than any bream I had ever seen. In my excitement, I nearly lot it on a pylon on the wharf but thankfully I was using 30lb line and after catching the fish the line was frayed a bit. There was some difficulty bringing it up as there was no-one in sight and I didn't have a net. I didn't want to lift it as I really wanted to land it so I put the rod on the ground and leaned over the edge. I managed to barely grab the fish and bring it up. I let out a sigh of relief. Also I must have been lucky as what I did was risky and the bream could have dived and disappeared with my rod. After getting the bream up, I knew it was a very special fish. I went and measured it and it turned out that it was 45.5cm!! This was absolutely massive compared to my previous biggest bream which was 32cm. The bream was massive, miles bigger than any bream I've seen before. After getting a nearby person to get a picture I went and released the bream. I had hooked the bream on the back of its tongue and I could still see the squid so I just cut the line at its mouth. When releasing I feared that I had left it out for too long but after a minute in the water, it swam off. After that I continued using squid hoods and heads for a few more snapper and some tarwhine. There was a few big splashes far away where I couldn't cast to and it wasn't too eventful after the bream. Also nearly all the snapper were 25cm for some reason.

Does anyone know what this fish is? Caught in Sydney harbour

You can try the outer tubes. I went there recently using prawns and I caught some legal trevally and leather jackets. Also there were yellowtail and lots of baitfish everywhere.

You could have a look at these two.

That is a really good bream for bobbin head. Did you catch it behind the marina?

Condolences to you and all of your family Ash. Your dad seems like a very inspiring man and he will inspire the next generation of fisherman. eaglesilk5

Hi everyone I am quite new to fishing as I started in 2021 April. I have been to a few places to fish at. Some of these places are the harbour, Hawkesbury, The entrance, Windsor, Canberra, Tamworth, Botany bay and Port Hacking. I mainly fish in saltwater but if I am given the opportunity I will fish in freshwater. PB Flathead 55cm(Bobbin head), Whiting 31cm(Botany Bay), Bream 29cm(Harbour)(May have caught bigger ones at Apple Tree Bay).

Hey Mike you need to walk further down the path and you will see after the train depot a small wharf

You could try the tiny wharf at the part of the bay closest to the train station. I have seen people fishing there before.