The Poacher

Good work Flattie Fisher - love a decent beach report. I think there are a lot more fish available on the beaches and rocks than most people think. My theory is that rivers and oceans can get netted and trapped. but the rocks are untouched by Pro's, and the beaches usually only get targeted in the mullet run. THanks, The Poacher

Awesome work Gilbsta, sounds like it was relaxing enjoyable fishing too. Good range of species in a remote spot. Would be fun riding down there on the quad bikes too. Very envious, The Poacher

Unbelieveable fishing out of a capital city. Are they still there? The Poacher

Nice report too. Great to see some real people doing some real together. As opposed to TV, where you see fictional people doing fictional things together (mostly). The Poacher.

Prob just go up the development road, and take a few side routes along the way. Anywhere offthe beaten track to catch a fish is always worth a look, The poacher

Thanks Mack Attack much appreciated. A little bit of inside info can save you months of figuring it out the hard way, Cheers" The Poacher

Hi Raiders, I am after some advice re species/locations that you would encounter on the way to cape York. All I know is that there are stacks of river crossings and the water is fresh. Timing would be June this year. Am thinking a little 4-6kg outfit and some soft plastics would catch something, but I don't know what. Any help appreciated Cheers The Poacher

Plenty of fish on the beaches! Pittwater is reportedly netted and so can be hard work at times. However, plenty of salmon and tailor plus the odd flathead on the beaches. THe Poacher

Hi there, Pittwater gets hammered by pro fishers, so is not reliable for kings anymore. The yellowtail could also catch Jews in the broken bay, but I wouldn't have thought size was the big issue. They move around a bit, ESP with this rain. Keep trying, big fish aren't that easy in heavily fished areas. The poacher

Thanks for the reports, I am going up there early April,and I am so excited I am counting the sleeps! The poacher

Hi, That whole bay holds fish at times but they are itinerant. So you don't need to necessarily be in close to get them. They could be anywhere in broken bay because of the food washed out of the hawkesbury. Small rapala cd-9s are hard to beat, but many lures will work. Cheers, The poacher.

You go girl! Now you have the hang of plastics you will be catching fish everywhere. The poacher

Noodles - the fish economy may operate like the beer economy. GregL - Whilst I was embaressed at the boat ramp having to reverse a trailer with a treble in my head - several people (yourself included) have pointed out that i was "hard core" "wicked" and "not to be messed with" - all I was missing was some serious ink work on my biceps.

How good is my Dr mate. He picked me up from home, drove me to the surgery on a public holiday! Opened up the surgery, operated on me, then drove me home having bulk billed. He should get some sort of award for that. And people say service is dead. I did give him 2 kilos of fish fillets as a thank you.

Thanks Anthony - have certainly heard them all in the last week - "I've heard about live bait, but thats rediculous" - "catch of the day" - "hooked on fishing" etc etc etc PS - dont worry about me Mal, I am fine, and it could have happened to anyone. Plus my story is better than yours which is "hey, I caught a Seargeant Baker on a 60 gram metal slice". Cheers, The Poacher

Hi Morgs, I was about 10km from the ramp, and so I rang my mate who is a Dr, and I knew I had to fill in 2 hours, so we kept fishing. It was very pain free, but felt weird to have in your forehead. I am sssoooo lucky. Poor fella at Coffs. We used to use a 2 hook rig on Kings with yakkas, but now use a single as 2 hooks is too dangerous. The Poacher

Hey raiders, Thought I would post this in the interests of public safety - even though I feel a bit foolish over what happened. Basically, the short story is a mate caught a large Sargeant Baker on a Metal Slice - this was no mean feat in itself, and I am not sure how he managed it. But anyway, he called me to the side of the boat to view his strange capture - with the fish being "led" alongside the boat I stuck my head over just in time for the lure to come out of the fishes mouth, come flying up and lodge in my head. I put this up as a reminder for Raiders to be careful, and in future, I will be wearing glasses all the time. I have them on in this photo, but the photo was taken 10 minutes after the hook went in. I was just lucky that the hook didn't go in my eye, as I wasn't wearing glasses at the time. By the way, we caught 5 big bonnies, dropped 2 good kings, and a Dr friend removed the hooks for me 2 hours later. Stay safe, The Poacher

Good story jerms, I think many fishos go fishing against their better judgement sometimes. At least you got a nice fish! The poacher.

I agree, they are as good as coral trout, and prettybeasy to catch too!

Don't worry about being new to it Waldo, you have done well. Plus you will sort out the plastics sooner or later.see you out there, The poacher

Hi there Raiders, I saw the weather forecast for Saturday afternoon had co-incided with a reasonable tide. So I took my 3 boys down to the local beach here on the central coast. Bought some live worms from the local bait shop too. The first 30 minutes was slow, but then I figured out through trial and error that the fish were sitting on the inside of the outer sandbank (Hope that makes sense). Anyway, it turned out that if I put in a big cast I could reach the fish. Got 5 whiting and a bream, and dropped what I think was a very solid bream in the wash. Had a great time, even though the fish were on the small side. The Poacher

Well done on the PB, and must feel great to let the big girl go. Sure you will get the jewy next time. See you on the water, The Poacher

Hi snijang, You have all the basics right, so I would just try cronulla or other local beaches, they all produce fish at times. The beach isn't like the rocks, where one spot seems to be much more productive than others, hope that helps, The poacher.

Nice fish, so close to a big city too. Thanks for the insights. The poacher

Thanks raiders, I often fish out of south west rocks, and they loose plenty of boats on that bar too! I wonder why more people don't go to wooli? See you up there, The poacher