Madkanu

Thanks for sharing that report @big Neil. Loved seeing that peaceful looking river and those beauty fish.

Thanks @Little_Flatty! Yeah, they’re a great eating fish. Looking forward to many more! Thanks Zoran and yes. @DerekD is indeed a gentleman and a scholar.

I met up with @DerekD for a short early morning session Saturday on Sydney’s lower north shore. Beautiful morning for it! I got there before Derek and there was one other fellow bait fishing for kings so after a brief chat I started to work. There was quite a bit of surface action shortly after sunrise so after initially starting with a slice I switched to a slippery dog and had soon hooked onto a bonito which I managed to get back to my feet and played a bit to get a good look at but failed to land as it shook itself free. Still, this was a small victory as it was my first bonito. Once the surface action died back down I decided to try a soft plastic and fish some deeper water. Shortly thereafter @DerekD arrived and after observing how I was working the soft plastic he reminded me of our earlier soft plastics session… Argh!! I was doing side-side and forgot about paint fence! I needed more action in how I was working the soft plastic minnow I was using. We got that corrected and I started working the bottom with a 4” Berkeley power bait minnow and it didn’t take long at all before I had my first flattey on the hook. About 40cm. it didn’t take long at all until number 2 hit:This one also made it across the line at 38cm. I was pretty stoked! I had dinner covered for tonight. @DerekD then pulled up another which we measured at 50cm. @DerekD graciously offered his catch to the other fellow who was fishing near us as he still had an empty bucket. He was very grateful and before long Derek had another mentee who was curious to absorb everything he could about what we were doing. I had only planned to be out for a short morning session before getting back to other commitments at home so after some time trying some different things to go after the bream and flounder we expected to be around (several bites but none landed) I called it and head home to learn how to fillet flathead. (Thanks @zmk1962 for the tips on that! I managed 370g of filets off the two flatheads.) Dinner was flathead fillets cooked pretty simply but perfectly by Mrs @Madkanu with a bit of butter, lemon, capers and a splash of white wine served on a bed of Israeli cous cous. Thanks again @DerekD for the soft plastics tune-up session, retrieval and landing tips and putting me onto my first fish to make it to the dinner table!

Great report and result Zoran! Glad to hear that Maria didn’t suffer too long before coming good. Nothing quite like having fish on to reset the equilibrium!

Really like the look of the action on that rat lure. I’ve never seen one swim but that’s about how I would imagine it would look.

Thanks @DerekD It’s definitely starting to come together. Thanks again for all the coaching!

Thanks @Bennyg78 for reinforcing the idea for me to head there Saturday morning. I contemplated putting the kayak to cover more of Winnererremy Bay but in the end decided I still had enough to work on from the shore and glad that I did. Between yours and @DerekD’s recommendation that was clearly a good spot and I get it now that I’ve worked out a few more of the details (e.g. channel, weed beds, holes). Hope you made it out and the knee held up well.

Impressive session Zoran! Hopefully that leg heals up quickly and you’re just left with a little scar to point out when the fishing stories start flying around a table one evening.

In the end it wound up being calamari parppadelle carbonara thanks to the talents of Mrs @Madkanu who cooked the squid perfectly. Definitely one to do again!

Nice looking salmon!

Sounds and looks like a great trip! Thanks for sharing the photos.

Thanks @Isaac Ct Absolutely!

Thanks @big Neil . Definitely addictive. Already busy thinking about what I would do differently next session.

Haha. Yep, I think a feed at the Newport is in the cards for tomorrow. 🤣

I headed down to the Newport wharf for an early morning fish this morning. When I got there someone else was already fishing from the wharf so I decided to try from the shoreline for a bit. I pretty well had action on my sugapen right away hooked up my first fish soon thereafter. Unfortunately it was only a little snook. I noticed the guy on the wharf had pulled up a tailor so I kept at it in my section and pretty soon thereafter got a decent hit that stole my lure. When I pulled in the line it looked more like a cut than the knot failing so maybe a tailor? Anyway, at the time my theory was that it was another snook so not wanting to lose any more lures to fish I didn’t want to catch I moved out to wharf. Before too long I got to talking with the other fellow who turned out to be super helpful and gave me a several great tips about fishing that wharf. He also pointed out some squid that had been chasing after his lure. Having not caught one of them yet I decided to have a go and quickly hooked up. After having caught a couple squid (and managing to not get inked) I figured I had an appetiser of salt and pepper squid now covered so went back to work on the main course. There appeared to be a school of bonito (the other guy’s guess) popping up in the channel in front of us from time to time but unfortunately I didn’t connect with one of them before my great fishing spot turned into a busy jetty with a booze cruise boat coming in to get ready for a hens party, and then another loading up for a 30th birthday. Lesson learned - that wharf seems like a good spot early in the morning but once it starts to get busy it’s time to go find another spot. I went back to the shoreline and had a couple more hits of smaller fish on a splash prawn before calling it a morning and heading home to learn how to clean squid. So I’m ready for the next session with some calamari for the trying pan tonight and some squid heads and wings for bait in the freezer. All in all, not a bad morning for this newbie.

Great report Albert and great result with the bonnies! Congrats on breaking your dry spell!

Great report @Little_Flattyand great result! Love it when a short session produces a result like that!

I met up this morning with @DerekDand @Bennyg78 for a bit of a Pittwater orientation session. Beautiful morning for it! @Bennyg78and I got there a bit early and got started around daybreak fishing the shoreline around the Bayview Sailing Club. Unfortunately I didn’t exactly crown myself in glory as when @DerekDarrived I was climbing through a mangrove having been a bit too aggressive in my search for structure. My bent minnow lure now lives amongst the top branches of a lovely mangrove tree (Avicenna Marina?) Pride wounded and tackle box lighter, we set out working our way up the shoreline to Church Point and I got a great orientation on the sand flats, weedbeds and drop-offs in the area. High tide wasn’t ideal for the areas we were fishing but we still managed enough strikes to keep things interesting and @Bennyg78 landed a few little ones (whiting and bream). Thanks gents for a fun morning and giving me a bit of a tour of my local. Very much appreciated !

Cheers @Gengar! It was a fun morning and definitely a great spot. If you’re handy to the lower north shore definitely worth a try.

Nice report @Little_Flatty and a nice bream for a short session. Hopefully you find another source for the Power Hawgs!

Cheers @fish-aholic! Appreciate that. Thanks to @DerekD‘s patience we’re getting there.

Great result and photos!

You’re right @HawkesburyParadise That was very exciting!

Thanks @Ozzybass Yes, absolutely. It was actually a very productive morning of smallmouth bass fishing in the north-eastern part of Lake Huron during my last trip home that reignited the fishing bug in me. I’ll have a look at basssydney.com. Pound for pound they put up the biggest fight among the fish we would target in Northern Ontario.

Thanks @DerekD. I’m glad to hear I’ve been able to start to put some small dent in my debt with some entertainment value at least. The handle side debate is a fun one. I’ve proven to myself I can crank faster with my right hand so I’m already halfway there. Maybe once I get everything dialed in just the way I want I’ll make it interesting again by switching hands. 🙂 Incidentally, does the Fishing Station carry Brokkr & Eitri or will I have to send away for that? 🤣