Matt

Depends on the size of the fillets really, its always worth taking a selection of different sizes. If the fillets are small or you are using smaller strips, then maybe a 3 x 2/0 gang is better. Larger fillets it might be worth using 3 x 3/0 or 3 x 4/0 (4/0 might be getting a tad big in my opinion). It's always a good bet to take a few different sizes and styles out, you never know what might happen or what might work. I even have a few smaller 4 x 1/0 gangs that travel to the beach with me. Cheers Windy

Heya, I almost never use a float when beach fishing. I tend to use as small a sinker as I can get away with, normally a ball sinker but will use a star sinker if there is a bit of a rip. Pretty basic setup, I run a ball sinker down to a swivel (with a small bead between them, I use braid and the sinker bashing up directly against the swivel results in the knot failing), then a leader of about 10 - 12lb to either a single hook or a gang depending on if there are Tailor around. I don't use wire traces either. I do know that a few people use floats on the beach, but I have never got around to it myself. Cheers Windy

Fillets of fresh Yakka is a top all-roound bait. Salmon in particular seem to love fillets or pieces of Yellowtail, use it a lot when fishing the beaches. You might be better turning the fillets into strips then using gangs, might look a bit more natural. One thing to bear in mind when using Yakka for bait is the 'scutes' along the fillet towards the tail end, they make baiting up a little bit of a pain. Also a very good bait for Bream, had a ball one day (a long time ago) drifting yakka pieces down alongside the Wedding Cake markers and scoring top Bream. Cheers Windy

Never really used scents on Trout apart from the old school Halco Freshwater scent years back. Trout get into that following mood fairly often, especially at TCD where I seem to get more follows than other lakes and rivers. What I tend to do is change the lure, that Trout will still be hunting the same beat (unless you spooked it) and running a different lure past its nose seems to work. Quite recently at Jindabyne I had the same Rainbow follow a minnow (Jackson Komachi) yo my feet twice, I took the time to change lures to a Vibrax and that Rainbow hammered it first cast. Another tactic that sometimes works is to get your hands on some small celta style blades that you can thread in front of the lure (you can find them around). Trout love flashy spinning blades (hence the success when trolling with cow bells) and that can sometimes turn a follow into a hit. I didn't end up heading up to TCD on Sunday, too much beer Sat night put paid to that idea! Cheers Windy

I use a Shimano Sephia Egi rod primarily. It doesn't break the bank (some of the other dedicated Egi rods are pretty pricey!) and has performed exceptionally so far. Cheers Windy

Thanks J0nn0, never seen them before. Always on the look-out for new Trout lures, I took a quick look at them online and they look good. Do they have a rattle in them? One of the photos I saw seemed to be a clear body with ball bearings in it. Oddly enough, I always think that TCS fishes better when the wind is up. Some of the best sessions I have had is when the wind is quite strong and blowing hard up against one of the shores. Makes the fly rod a bit of a pain but spinning can be very effective when its like this. Tossing up a few options though. Hit TCD or tow the boat to Lyell and see how its fishing there. Cheers Windy

Glad you popped this report up, I was considering a trip up to TCD on Sunday (if anyone else is keen, happy to meet up). Great looking Rainbow too, never used a Sebile Onduspoon, what are they like? Cheers Windy

Nice EP, don't want to be a party pooper, but remember though it is closed season shortly (June 1) on EPs in NSW so deliberately targetting them is a no-no. Mods, remove my post if its deemed inappropriate Its still open season though for a few more days - I tend to target them up rivers and estuaries looking for them deep in snags and cover. The best snags seem to be those in deeper water I find and I have a preference for 'hard' snags, ie rock faces and bars/walls. Always seem to do best on Pumpkinseed colours and smaller plastics such as 2" Grubs/Critter/Hawgs patterns or Prawn imitations. One of the best EP lures I ever used was a tiny 2" DOA Grass Shrimp but I can't seem to find them anymore. They also don't mind a bit of surface action, had some cracker sessions first thing in the morning with small poppers etc although for a fish that looks like it should be a surface feeder, they have an abysmal strike rate when hitting a popper! Cheers Windy

I have been using Spanyid Sniper Vibes and the Fish Candy vibes quite a lot lately. Although they are a bit of a hybrid between an SP and a Blade, they probably have more in common with blades that SP. They have the same tight vibrating action of blades, just with a soft body which increases their profile a bit. I fish them with gentle lifts to get the vibration going and some smaller twitches at the top of the lift. But they are pretty versatile and can be fished in a number of ways, I picked up a nice 50cm+ Flattie at IC on Sunday when ripping the Sniper Vibe in to get weed of it and then got a similar fish whilst I was dead sticking the vibe on the bottom. Are they any better than SPs or Blades? Well, I don't think any one type of lure is better than the other. They all have their place, one down side is the cost and having a soft plastic body they can get destroyed by the toothy brigade. I have a couple of Spanyids at home missing the back half of them from Tailor. Thinking about super gluing some Bass Minnow halves onto them to see if they can resurect them. Cheers Windy

One of the best berleys for Yakkas I find is grated potatoe oddly enough. Mix in some oily fish flesh pieces like Pilchards and you can up your chances of getting some Slimy Mackerel mixed in too. I use a single small size 10-12 hook and a piece of squid for bait. The squid stays on for ages which is a bonus. The Sabiki bait jigs work well too, I just don't use them that much. Any structure will hold Yakkas, I perfer wharves in clearer water though with some nice reef, rubble or kelp around. Cheers Windy

Last time I was in Port Douglas the charter I booked took us out to the reefs poppering for GTs and Red Bass. Fishing wasn't great but had a blast and the guy knew his stuff. My wife got an epic Red Bass on a popper and she had a ball spinning up small Coral Trout etc. I got a sore arm from casting a popper all day! PM me is you want the details of the charter. Windy

Fish Cakes, they make great fish cakes. Like has been mentioned, bleed 'em and put 'em on ice super quick. Cut that Red Meat out and they aren't all that bad. They go pretty well in a Curry too, you can get some nice solid cubes off a fillet that seems to lend itself well to a mild curry. I think we get spoiled a bit here in Aus with the amount of quality eating fish. Cheers Windy

Black Drummer, been wanting to catch one for years. Caught Groper, Silver Drummer, Luddies and Bream whilst fishing the stones but never a Pig. Although not strictly what you are asking, I want to get a Jewie off the beach. Caught quite a few on lures in the harbor and other rivers but never managed one off the beach. As I spend a great deal of time chasing Trout, I would add Brook Trout. Despite being a Snowy Mountains native and fishing for Trout all my life I still don't have a Brookie to my name. Cheers Windy

Kind of desperate too but more rain will make the harbours and rivers here unfishable again so even if I was brave enough to get out in the rain I would expect the water to be shot. Kinda desperate, maybe the Trout lakes at Lithgow perhaps? Cheers Windy

Yakka's freeze OK and make good bait and Salmon love a nice strip of Yellowtail. Slimy Mackerel are a top one too but require salting as they don't freeze real well. Striped Tuna also a top salted bait but doesn't freeze well. I would recommend trying salting, best way to keep some of the flesh baits long term. Another method (not as effective as salting) is to freeze the flesh in a block of Saltwater. Works wonderfully for prawns and pretty well for flesh baits. Cheers Windy

I don't think you will have an issue up to 20g, they aren't really that heavy and as long as your casting action is smooth it should be ok up to 30g. 40g may be a tad heavy though. I would start out with the lighter end of the metals you have and work up from there once you have the feel of the rod. The only thing I would do is ditch the snap swivel and tie direct to the metal, never been a fan of snap swivels and lures. But that's just me, for now it will make it easy for you to change lures. Cheers Windy

Not for spinning, I always attach a bead between a free running sinker and the swivel to stop the sinker cutting through the knot when bait fishing and I used small red beads when I used to target Whiting on beach worms.. I have heard that a lumo bead is popular when fishing for big Tailor at night on pillies etc. Personally I wouldn't used a bead when spinning, would impact on the action of the lure I would think? Cheers Windy

Pretty simple really, I run 6lb braid on my surf spinning gear attached to about a rods length of 10-12lb fluerocarbon leader. Jig heads and plastics will depend on the conditions. There was roughly the same discussion last week: http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=77181 Cheers Windy

Been using the Emeraldas Nudes for a little while now and have never had a weight snap like that guimaras? The other jig I have been using a lot of lately are the Rapala Ikado range with the interchangeable nose weights, been rather impressed by them. Cheers Windy

If using metals, then generally a fast retrieve is a good starting point. But it always pays to mix it up a bit, sometimes a slower retrieve interspersed with some violent whips of the rod work well. Also depends on the metal lure a bit, some don't always have the best action when retrieve flat out. Its a bit hard though to judge it in the surf as you cant see the lure a lot of the time! Not sure if it would be worth spinning the beach for a few days just yet, might be a bit rough and dirty still. Salmon seem to like it a little clearer, at least in my experience. Although with all the rain, floods and massive swells all of the beaches will have changed a lot and its kinda exciting to see what new holes and gutters have been formed. Cheers Windy

I use a Daiwa Air Edge surf 11', its a specifically design surf spinning rod. Got a 3000 Stradic on it but I might change that. Before I got the Air Edge I was using a Shimano T-Curve Inshore 7', it was pretty good but a little short for surf spinning. There are some top notch surf spinning rods out there now, real light weight so you can throw lures with them all day. Daiwa do a lot of different models for different price ranges and I am sure the other big tackle brands have their own. Cheers Windy

Heya Camo, I am based in Sydney in the Inner West. Tend to do most of my beach spinning on the northern beaches like Narrabeen and Dee Why or way down on the south coast of NSW at Tathra or Tuross. Haven't really fished the beaches north of Sydney though. Windy

Haven't used metal vibes or blades much in the surf myself but I would think they would be great too. I know what you mean about using metals in the beach and being tough to not use them, they are very effective and very easy. The trick I found was to not take any so I was forced to use plastics, that way i wasn't tempted to go back to casting a metal. Allowed me to concentrate on what I was doing and it worked, started to get fish and learn what worked and what didn't. I will do the same thing with the Soft Vibes when I start hitting the surf again (when this crappy weather buggers off hopefully). Cheers Windy

Heya krause, it depends on how big the surf is, if there is a rip and how close the gutter or hole is. I tend to start with a 3/8oz head (normally a Nitro Bullet) and judge from there. The heaviest I go to is about 1/2oz, if I need to go heavier I start to question if its worth my time. I have gone down to a 1/8oz in flat conditions and a close in gutter, this was very effective as the plastic washed around realistically and the Flatties loved it but its a bit light normally. Its amazing how far you can cast a 1/8oz on surf spinning tackle too! As for action, the good 'ol standard douple whip/hop is normally good. But dead sticking the plastic for an extended time has been effective as the wave action will get the in-built action on the plastics going, the only Bream I have caught on plastic in the surf came this way. Salmon and Tailor respond well to a faster retrieve of course, but I have caught a couple of nice Salmon at Narrabeen double hopping. Going to try some of the larger soft vibes likes Transams and Spanyid Sniper Vibes next, I reckon they will be a gun lure in the surf. Hope that helps Cheers Windy

Dont forget to take some medium sized plastics as well, surprising how many big Dusky Flathead can be caught spinning the gutters on beaches especially near a river or estuary mouth. Had some good success with 4" Berkley Rippleshads and 100mm Squidgie Fish or Whip Baits doing this, Salmon and Tailor love 'em as well. One tactic I find helps when running plastics in the surf is to use a Rev head jig head, one that has a small celta style blade on it. I tend to stick with 6lb braid and 10-12lb leaders and haven't had an issue landing any fish yet, although I am yet to hook a Jewfish in the surf on this gear and I may be a bit under-gunned! Cheers Windy