sashkello

Thanks everyone! Well, no surprises here Daytime fishos have to fish smarter, that's for sure.

Yeah nah, solunar activity is kinda like astrology. Well, maybe not astrology, there might be some scientifically-justified pattern, but it's way lower than other influences. 1. Dusk / dawn. 2. Tide. 3. Everything else. Plus of course things like surf and wind which fish might not care about too much but which are important for you as a fisherman...

Well, we all know how pretty much any kind of fishing is best at dusk or dawn. There is no question that fish activity significantly shifts when the sun is near the horizon. However, are there any kinds of fishing which are better in the middle of the day, or at least indifferent to it? Off the top of my head, leatherjackets don't really care about time that much. Same for flathead. Luderick is another one which I think doesn't follow this schedule, or at least that's what I've heard from someone. Anything else?

Casting distance will definitely suffer if it's too much below your rod rating. Nevertheless, metals still would cast pretty well, if your rod action isn't too stiff. Halco Twisties and other similar ones are pretty popular for any predatory fish... I think bonnies like those striped Nomad jigs, but I haven't tried that yet... That's just what I saw people are using off the rocks for them.

A short report from my trip to Lemon Tree Passage. Was staying in the south part, opposite Tilligerry Creek. Yabby holes all along the shore, but where I was they were kind of sparse. Still, pumped enough yabbies for a good session. Planned to walk along the shore, but bite was happening within seconds, so just stayed put. Had to walk quite a bit out in the water, as it's very flat and shallow. Was looking for bigger fish, so didn't bother with small hook and expected the bait to be taken off 90% of the time. Got rewarded quickly with this almost 40cm bream on 5-6th cast. After that changed the hook to a smaller long shank because I'm still to catch a legal whiting (never really targeted them before). After two more smaller bream (maybe barely legal, didn't measure, let go immediately), hooked up what felt like a good-sized whiting, but turned out to be just below the limit. After yabbies ran out, switched to plastics (Berkley prawns, paddletails) to try for flathead, but after 20 minutes with no takers rain started in earnest, so I wrapped it up and headed indoors for a nice whole-cooked bream dinner. A word of warning: there were a few rather big (>1m) rays in the water, which spooked me quite a bit. Wouldn't want to hook one of those on light setup (or any setup for that matter), and definitely wouldn't want to step on one.

Are there yabbies then? Can try pumping some for bait... Thanks for the info!

Hi all! Heading to Lemon Tree Passage this weekend for a relaxing stay and wanted to try fishing there, in particular the south side facing Tilligerry Creek. Can venture to Karuah River as well, if it's worth it. No boat, will stay onshore. Apart from walking the coast and casting for flatties any other tips for the area? I guess there'd be some whiting around as well? Would it make sense to take a surf rod and cast squid strips & pillies farther out for something bigger? Or is it all shallow anyway? Cheers!

Hello everyone! I've been trying to perfect my squidding game for the past year and it is going with some success. Recently I wanted to explore different ways to do it and try catching squid off the rocks for a change. I've got quite sick of frequenting popular jetties and Spit Bridge where more and more I find myself shoulder-to-shoulder with noisy crowds, while there are so many stretches of rock which seem potentially holding some squid. I've spent about 10 hours trying all I can think of around Rocky Point Island at Balmoral and a long stretch of rocks to the north of the beach, up to the point where it turns towards Chinamans. The first problem which I have is of course the rocks themselves. After losing a couple of jigs I decided to only cast in the areas where I can clearly see the bottom. However, it limited me to 3-4 spots around the island itself and 2 spots on the north rocks, with the second one being a long walk almost to the limit of where I was able to reach on foot without some acrobatics. My successful outings always included covering the ground casting every 20 meters along the shore until I find the squid, but I obviously can't do that in such situation, and so end up casting for hours in one very small area, which is probably pointless... The second problem is the waves & wind. I've chosen days when the foretasted wind and surf is low, but still the waves are there and it pretty much destroys whatever retrieve you are trying, and the jig mostly just goes with the flow of the current + gets tossed around by waves + gets dragged by the line in the wind. I kind of feel like I have very little control over it. I watched some videos of people rock squidding and the seas seem pretty flat... I don't know if it's just an illusion when seen on screen or whether the video is shot on the kind of day you can get once a month... I mean, yesterday wave height was predicted at 1.2m in open sea, and I have only seen numbers below 1 maybe twice since the start of the year. I've chosen Balmoral specifically because it is not exposed to the elements as much as open-sea beaches - and The Spit is just around the corner after all... Lastly, I've realized that I have not only not caught, but haven't seen a squid in the water not at night or within 1 hour from sunrise or sunset. Again, there are videos of people pulling them out in bright sun, so it must be possible, but I just wasn't able to replicate it... And I'm quite reluctant going out on the rocks at night because I get snags as is, can only imagine what a nightmare can it be when I don't see the bottom... Well, that's my frustration poured out, dealt with that. I'm sure there are lots of experienced squidders here who might have faced same problems and learned to deal with them. Any advice? What am I missing, ladies & gents?

3000 is a bit on a bigger size for this kind of rod and fishing. I'd go with 2500 or 2000. Since my fishing journey started, I find myself gradually downsizing everything instead of upsizing, and in Middle Harbour I mostly use 2-4 kg rod with 2000 reel. It would suit 6-10lb braid pretty well. I don't know about Ultegra, but other two are very good reels for their price, try them out at a real store and see which one you like personally.

When you fish in the surf, salted bait is the way to go because it stays on the hook way better. There is no point in all the benefits of unsalted bait if it got off the hook when hitting water and you don't even know if it's there at all... Sure, use fresh at other times, but I find myself not having any fun when beach fishing with bait which crumbles easily.

Hi all! I've got some leftover squid pieces frozen from my squidding sessions (heads, flaps, other offcuts) and I thought to use them when going out on a boat next time to try and catch kingfish. As far as I understand, they mostly hunt near the surface? Does it mean the best way is to float the bait freely unweighted? Or do I suspend it under the boat 2-3 meters down? Any other advice? Cheers!

That spot is always so crowded, I gave up going there... Never peace and quiet, just people casting over you from all sides. It must be quite overfished. Quite hard to go from the shore as well, due to very strong current - your jigs just get swept along. After sunset you can sometimes see tiny squid under the lights and they would take small jigs, but get scared easily and tbh are so small it's barely worth bothering. Maybe it's better off the boat, but then I see them tangling with people who cast off the bridge all the time and it must be infuriating... Saying that, I always manage a couple of small ones for bait there, but enjoyment is limited due to crowds and rubbish.

Reporting back. Abercombie River around campground is not too shallow, but very sluggish and very murky. No luck there and haven't seen any fish activity at all. With a lot of debris in the water, prime for losing your lures. Other than that, it looked like it would be very fishable on a better day... Campbells River is basically 10cm deep at bridge crossing, even though the flow was good and clear, didn't bother walking along. Oberon lake good as expected, got a 40cm rainbow within 10 minutes and walked away to envious looks of dozen other fishos who were still casting for nothing... Beginners luck...

Regarding colours, yeah, another thing to catch people rather than squid... 90% of the time pure white works just as well as any other (or even better than any other). Black might be better at night. Pink or other bright maybe with a pattern is an option for higher visibility in murky water. If going out in the dark, good glow is more important than colour, so get a UV torch if so and make sure your jigs glow. I'm hardly a seasoned squidder, but all I have ever caught was on the three aforementioned colours, plus red/white half-and-half which is also pretty popular. I've noticed pink sometimes scares smaller squid away, but on the other hand when they seem not to see black/white, pink produced a reaction, but that happened like 2-3 times for me. Would guess other bright colours might work similarly in such situations... But as I said, white should be your go-to and the probability that colour change will be essential is not high... More important is the size actually - don't stock up on those 3.5 giant ones, they will scare majority of squid away. To start, you want to get the feel for it and catch something instead of targeting giants... Get a range of sizes from 1.5 to 3 - any squid would typically take 2.2, even tiny ones, but also you will find that in different conditions you will prefer to use different sizes based on how quickly they sink and where and how fast the current is flowing. Tiny jigs can be used in still water with extremely sluggish retrieve. I.e., if it's shallow and the weed is like a meter down, then large jig will sink too fast and you'll have to pull it at a very high rate, and get snagged all the time anyway. But if there's current, you'll have to use a heavier one to be able to work it properly.... A lot can be said about it, just try different ways and see how it goes at your location. Sometimes you simply suspend it off the edge and they take it, sometimes they will not commit unless you speed it up and make them think it will flee unless they grab it in earnest. For places, they can be found almost anywhere with weedy bottom / kelp forests - just look at satellite images on google maps. If you're looking to go to a pier, then they like structure, and in all likelihood any pier would do. I reckon more important is to cover some ground - from what I've noticed they can hang in water static or move around 10-20 square meters area for hours, so if you cover all area around and get no touches or follows, then move. Take polarized sunnies if it's daytime and you'll be able to see shapes moving after your jig if they are interested. If they simply aren't there, they won't touch the juiciest jig you've got...

Hi all! I'll be heading from Canberra to Oberon this weekend and will surely fish Oberon Dam (and then proceed for Duckmaloi & Lake Lyell), but I also thought to check out whether there is any place I can stop for a quick flick on the way? Looks like the road is crossing Campbells River before entering Black Springs. Is that section of the river next to the bridge fishable? NSW anglers access map doesn't show any access points on it... even though I did encounter some fishing reports from the river (but nothing in past few years). Any other streams I can check out on the way? Cheers!