Elkw

Thanks Derek! The part about holding the rod tip down was very thought provoking and I'll definitely give it a go the next time. I've \been holding the rod in a more upright fashion and definitely have had difficulties with all the things that you've mentioned like seeing the line and having a lot of slack.

Sounds good dirvin, thanks for all your help. Thanks so much for the tips and encouragement Neil. Right now I'm using a Sienna Viper combo at 7 foot, 2-5kg.

Makes sense thanks. I guess the problem is that I’ve caught a grand total of one fish on plastics :p. So would you say it would be more conductive to just try and set the hook whenever I feel a tap?

Yeah, using braid with 6lb leader. For the taps are they just really light taps? I’m not sure where I was told this but whenever I have light taps on my line I wait to feel the weight of the fish rather than just setting the hook immediately. So normally if I feel light taps of my line and nothing happens I assume it’s just small bait fish messing with the lure.

Also on a side note does anyone fish around deepwater park? Seems like an interesting area but I'm also worried about snags and whether the area is any good at this time of year, not to mention some of the more unsavoury rumours about the place.

Recently went on a fishing trip in the parramatta river trying to learn soft plastics and was having some difficulties discerning between actual fish bites and what I think was movement of the water. When I first arrived I immediately hooked into what I think was a small bream which came off quite close to the rock wall. Later on while I was fishing I kept feeling a sudden pressure on my line and setting the hook into absolutely nothing. At first I was pretty confused since these occurences happened while I was letting the lure drop and thus couldn't have been snags, but eventually I came to the hypothesis that these 'tugs' must have been from the water rebounding off the walls. Since I felt pretty silly setting the hook into nothing over and over again I started to be come more hesitant to do so and this later resulted in me missing two fish (I could tell they were fish not just the water as after retrieving my lure I saw that it had been pushed down the jighead). Overall it was pretty frustrating knowing I had lost at least three fish and possibly more, but I guess it is an improvement seeing that I've finally been able to improve my technique enough that fish are actually willing to hit my lures. Does anyone have any tips on how to tell a fish bite from current or snags and also when and how hard I should be setting the hook?

Unfortunately no luck, fished from 1 hour before to 1 hour after peak tide from the bridge to Timbrell Drive. Saw a few fish jumping out of the water but didn’t get a single hit. I’m fairly certain it has more to do with my technique rather than the location itself and at least I got a nice morning walk in 😅. Will probably try again sometime next week maybe around spit bridge.

Hi all, thanks so much for the tips. Will be going out in the morning to try.

Hello! I've recently picked up fishing and am planning on going to Iron Cove soon to have a go at it. Would love to hear any of your tips for fishing around that area and any general tips you might have for lure fishing in general. In addition would using a 1/8oz jighead around the cove be fine and is the area unfishable during low tide? I have been told its best before and after high tide however due to time constraints I won't be able to fish during those periods. Thank you.