Madkanu

I think you're spot on @noelm. When I was a kid in Northern Ontario we used to catch frogs to go after bass or minnows and go after pickerel or perch, look for the structure and snags and do very well. My old man had worked out how to catch fish where we lived and that's what we did. Later in life I lived near a great rainbow trout stream and saw guys pulling out all kinds of fish but I never really had much luck. Bottom line was I didn't know what I was doing. Fast forward another 10 years or so and my first few sessions on Pittwater I thought I would try some frozen squid from the servo and of course, wasn't having much luck. But after a couple of sessions with someone who knows what they're doing and a whole new world has opened up. I'm now thinking a lot more about tides, winds, bottom structure and presentation. Now to practice and in-grain as much of that great advice as I possibly can!

Thanks @Little_Flatty. Unfortunately we didn’t land either of them. The first was a mackerel which hit on a GT Ice Cream lure I was playing with. I got it up to the side of the wharf but to be honest started to pull it up but then gave it a bit of room at the wrong moment and it got off. The second was a hit that @DerekD had soon after however I’m not certain what it was.

Sunday morning @dajayjay, @HawkesburyParadiseand I met up with @DerekD to continue our introduction to Sydney region fishing. Now a big first for me was the fact that this was the first time I’ve ever gotten up in the dark and driven an hour INTO the city to go fishing! I’m much more accustomed to driving away from civilisation. That said, I couldn’t argue with either the beauty or the apparent popularity of the location. Six and a half years now I’ve been living in Sydney and I’m still not at the point that I can take the Manly Ferry without taking a picture it’s a beautiful city and who knew the Harbour was actually such a productive fishery! We started out our morning practicing our lure techniques along-side a few other fishermen at the south end of McMahon’s Point facing into just enough of a southerly to make things interesting. As the morning progressed so too did the southerly so by about mid-morning we relocated to the McMahon’s Point Ferry Wharf so we could cast across the wind. This was a great spot and, for me, was strangely reminiscent of playing road hockey as a kid growing up in Northern Ontario and yelling “car!” as play was interrupted by a car driving through our “ice rink” only this time the cry was “ferry!” @DerekD covered a ton of ground with us sharing retrieves and techniques on a range of soft plastics, slices, blades, vibes, top water and sinking lures. My casting also got a further tune up (still not quite there but getting better). Watching the way @DerekD worked soft plastics and rapala-type lures that I’ve fished for years sorta felt like Daniel-san in the Karate Kid when Mr Miyagi had him do the “paint fence” move and all of a sudden he saw the magic happened. Ah-ha moment after ah-ha moment. It also clicked that there a few key retrieves that can be adapted for a wide range of situations so once we nail the proverbial side-side, paint fence and wax on/wax off, we should have a pretty versatile tool kit with which to work. …and the casting. (That must be like that crazy crane kick). Although we weren’t really there to fish so much as practice techniques, we did hook into a couple sizeable fish which made things just a little more interesting and we made some new fishing buddies along the way. Here’s a shot of us with one of those delay of play cars pulling away in the background. Thanks Derek for an awesome morning of learning and laughing and @dajayjayand @HawkesburyParadisefor being such great partners with which to take the journey.

Thanks @big Neil . Was bitten by the bug again after years away during my last visit to Canada and a very productive morning of bass fishing. Appreciate the encouragement. I’m having fun for sure!

All news to me as well @HawkesburyParadise I had never heard the term snook in Canada but it looks like a Pike and according to Google is also known as an Australian Pike.

Thanks @DerekD. Judging by the photos on google it could very well have been a long tom. Either way, those teeth made short work of the little guy.

Thanks @Yowie. Well if I come up with one big enough to make filleting it worth the trouble I’ll give it a try. I’ve found enough lemon, butter, garlic and black pepper can make almost anything taste good!

So this morning I got out to my local jetty on Pittwater (Salt Pan) to apply @DerekD's teachings and practice the casts of my dreams. Beautiful morning for it. The casting went much more smoothly after having a few nights to sleep on it and better yet - I was soon into the action. Nothing too exciting for most of the folks on this forum but I was pretty stoked about my first topwater lure catch on a sugapen. Although the only action I was getting were these small yellowtail snooks, it was quite interesting to watch how they were coming up and having a look at the sugapen, then lunging when I got it jerking away from them again. That was some good action for 15 minutes or so then it died down so I soon switched over to a bent minnow to give that a try. A couple casts in on the bent minnow I saw a small (maybe 20cm) little snook leaping out the water coming towards me from a different direction than my line. I first spotted him about 4m away and he did about four great leaps before I saw the much larger fish that was chasing him down. The little guy got to the jetty at my feet then made hard right turn in an attempt to get undercover. He didn't make it and I saw the 80cm or so snook (I think) hit him broadside and that was breakfast for the big guy. I scrambled to get my bend minnow in front of him to offer dessert but had no such luck. For me it was just a show, no meal. All up, I landed and released three yellowtail snooks. I'm guessing rats by the fishraiders' standards and nothing to write home about but I will anyway because my dad is interested in hearing how the Australian fishing journey is going. Thanks again @DerekD and @zmk1962 for getting me started!

Cheers Zoran.

I’m told I said a bunch of other incoherent things she couldn’t understand so failing out of NIDA might have been in there too. 🤣

Thanks @Bennyg78 . Hope you’re leg is doing better soon.

Cheers @big Neil and thanks for the well wishes. I am looking forward to it. Rob

Thanks again Derek. The pleasure was mine and while not quite shellshocked I too have come away with a whole new appreciation for what's possible. Looking forward to our next session! Rob.

Cheers @Pickles. They both are indeed!

I recently had the extremely good fortune of being introduced to @DerekD through a mutual friend @zmk1962 and yesterday Derek and I met up for my first saltwater fishing lesson. I grew up in Northern Ontario and did a lot of fishing as a kid so thought I might just need a few pointers on baits and lures and I'd be on my way. Yeah, no. I met Derek on a quiet stretch of shoreline in Sydney's inner west and after a minute of warm introductions we got down to it. "Ok, grab your rod and let me see a few casts. What have you got on there? A 15g Halco Twisty? Great, that'll work." I figured I had this part nailed. After all, I was too young to remember when I first picked up a fishing rod. The first cast was fine. It got out a reasonable distance as you would expect with the lure I had tied on there. The second did something a little weird and I could hear my line colliding with my guides. "Did you hear that?" asked Derek? "Yep" I replied sheepishly, knowing right away that noise was energy being converted into a form that didn't help get my lure out where it belonged. I watched a few of Derek’s casts sail light surface baits way out and realised I had much to learn. Now we were truly underway. I quickly realised there was a significant enough difference between getting my lure out a reasonable distance and maximising that distance and therefore the probability of catching a fish with each cast. That and accuracy. We spent a lot of the rest of the evening working on getting it right. I’ve got all the concepts but the execution was clunky. Apparently I fish the same way I swing a golf club. My brain was now crunching working on fixing them both. We moved on to some top water techniques which were a huge eye opener for me. This wasn’t send a cast and reel it in. This was full-on enticement with an overly dramatic bent minnow or clueless prawn. Although we didn’t catch any fish during the lesson, it was exciting fishing all the same, with a lot of action around our lures. This was all making so much sense. We wrapped up the evening with a bit more practice on the casting motions. Making that transition from backstroke to swing smooth and fluid and keeping both in the same plane (my old golfing problem). Getting both hands in on the action of a cast was entirely foreign to me. There’s not a lot of call for that style of casting where I come from. Speaking of that, the fact that I, like every other right handed North American I’ve ever met, cranks with their left hand was the one quirk I got to keep (for now anyway). I drove home with a head full of new information and slept very soundly - or so I thought. This morning when I woke up I was talking with my wife when she said, “oh, you were casting in your sleep last night!” Apparently sound asleep in the middle of the night I had both arms up over my head flicking them back and forth. At first she asked and unconscious me, “Are you doing ballet?!” and then clued in and said, “oh no, you’re casting.” Now I have no memory of any of this but apparently once my brain engaged enough to form sentences I said, “no, I’m just walking down the shoreline a bit and thinking about my next cast.” I guess my subconscious has taken the next steps in embedding all of that new information and hopefully I’m a step closer to being able to cast like the master without thinking about it. Clearly I’m already doing it in my sleep.

Great tips Derek. Thanks for the thorough write-up. Really like the idea of the tape marks on the side of the kayak.

Great article Derek! Thanks for pointing me at it. I see a quandary in my future, do I eat this or use it as bait? 🙂

G’day all, I’m Rob and grew up fishing mostly perch, pickerel (aka walleye to the Americans), bass and pike in Northern Ontario, Canada. My wife and I moved to Sydney a few years ago and then up to the Pittwater area more recently. Not knowing the first thing about saltwater fishing I hadn’t dropped a line since we moved but a productive morning of small mouth bass fishing during a recent visit home reignited the fire so I’ve started doing some jetty and kayak fishing around Pittwater. So far I’ve only managed a few small bream but have seen enough larger fish swimming past to keep me going including something in the half meter+ range follow my lure back to the side of the boat. (Maybe a kingie?) I’ve started checking out the site for hints and tips and am grateful for any suggestion. …and why not, a photo of my not at all impressive fishing rig attached. 🤣