oldsalty

Ain't no other fish shrouded with fishing dogma than the humble Jewy!

Old mate is smiling , but u would be pretty annoyed I think losing a Jew of that size. I feel for that poor bugger who got taken, last few years there have been so many attacks in Oz, hate to think it may have even been the same shark which makes this pick all the more gruesome.

Land based legal snapper best bet is rock fishing which u dont have the gear for, cause u are new to the area go to your local tackle shop and ask for a nice simple bait fishing spot in the area u can take ur missus to, they will be more than happy to help

Maybe sometimes but not always, seen big ones mixed in with small ones on top and also big loners caught in the middle of nowhere

Find your nearest FAD ( fisherman attracting device ) , get there as early as u can, before the rest of Australia gets there and throw a live bait at it .

The water quality up the back of the lagoon is pretty questionable I reckon

Mangrove jack, believe it or not, have also been caught up the creeks in there too, as well as in manly lagoon

I often used to see a well known northern beaches beach and rock fishing guide pulling worms out of the sand at curl curl. Collaroy has em too, I think most beaches would to be honest

They actually turn up in there quite often, there's footage of a guy on YouTube pulling in a whopper near the woolys bridge, pretty funny. I've had mates catch them in there over the years but I've never seen one in there. North narra beach is a pretty good jewie beach also so they are definately around sometimes. There's quite deep water out the front of the seafood restaurant and I know they've been caught there. Also up the back there's another deep spot where I reckon they were what I was seeing on my sounder but I couldn't tempt them.

Been recommended them as a cheaper substitute for the spanyid version, I never caught anything on mine but they seem to catch bigger fish, mainly Jews, flattys and jacks

When the water is clear u can snorkel from the mouth down to the boat ramp area and be pushed along with the tide, above the water u won't see much but underneath is another story, sometimes u will be amazed at how many fish u see, they are everywhere, but the water is shallow and clear, the local fish see a lot of pressure making them very hard to tempt. Many novices think there are no fish there! Back in the day the road north of the bridge was not there, now all the water has to run through the little bridge, they made a groin leading up to it, probably cause it was cheaper than having to build a bridge that would've been much longer, used to be 10 times as wide and if was left alone it would be much better fishing,. Old timers say it was a lot deeper throughout the whole lake as opposed to now where much of it is super shallow.

It's a lot easier than u may think. I had a really bad back lower back problem and could not use my kayak anymore, someone recommended SUP for core strength so I got one, my back started getting better but I noticed how much more I could see into the water as opposed to the kayak so I started fishing out of it. So my set up is very simple, a milk crate with two PVC tubes cable tied to each corner for rod holders. I occy strap the crate to the board about a foot behind where I stand, usually I take 2 rods with me and they go in the rod holders, u need everything at arms length so u can reach behind u and grab ur rod or put it back without moving around on ur board. In the crate is usually a fish bag, tackle box, net, brag mat, fish donger etc..... I strap a nail belt around my waste with lures, jig heads, leader, pliers etc all the stuff u need without having to reach into the crate behind, having everything at hand is the key to making it easy. Also a paddle where you can adjust the length is pretty important cause u don't wanna be bending down to pick it up all the time, when I'm casting, I shorten the paddle and rest the handle in a little loop on my belt, when I want to paddle I grab it and lengthen it again,picking things up off the deck of ur sup is pretty awkward so u try to avoid it. A short paddle is good also for paddling when ur kneeling which is sometimes how I fish. board size is pretty important to , anything under 10 feet would be tricky, mines 11'6 and does the job nicely. My biggest fish was probably a 4kg trevally, nothing too big as of yet, after fishing off it for a awhile I googled SUP fishing and found many people in Oz already doing it but in USA it's very popular with people fly fishing off them as well as blue water pelagic fishing where people are catching Sailfish, Marlin etc on them! Wind is the enemy of SUP fishing if there's a decent breeze forget it, but when there is no wind it can be amazing fun, I've had days fishing over the flats sight casting at bream, whiting etc it's kinda like being able to walk on water and fish at the same time , some of the most enjoyable fishing I've done

Middle harbour is a great place with heaps of different spots to choose from. It's a big area though! Afew thoughts off the top of my head, would try for king fish no further upstream than bantry bay, u might find them further up but not in big numbers. Spots amongst the boat moorings like sea forth bluff, the spit, sugarloaf bay, etc all produce, and there's afew wrecks (and reefs ) in middle harbour too! A down rigger is great to drag a live bait around these areas to locate fish, just don't be annoying and drive too close to other boats! Or just drift around..... I wouldn't start looking for squid until the spit bridge and further East, u might find them before that but not very regularly. Balmoral is good for bream, flattys, luderick etc...... Each bay in middle harbour usually has a shallow sand bank at the end of it, say Bantry bay sand flat on the high tide is good to look for flattys, plus all the other things that may be there, Bluefin tuna have actually been caught there! Lol Upper reaches, Roseville bridge onwards, the bridge itself never really did much for me, I'd start at the end of the picnic area and plenty of spots further on, mainly bream, flatty and Jew at the right time of year. Really same as any new territory, look at google maps, look for structure, shallow spots, drop offs, bait schools, surface activity etc

I've had afew boats and kayaks and these days I think the best boat too fish out of is someone else's! Just my opinion though kayaks are great for many reasons, stealth and no motor noise or banging hulls, no rego, no fuel, no worries! Plus u get exercise, my back doesn't like kayaks anymore though so I fish off a stand up paddle board, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.....

Some people hate them some love them, I like them on blades and poppers but only for lighter stuff. I throw the standard jig head attached to a plastic at fads for dollies etc, seems to work, but 2 hooks means more chance of a hook up

Gars can be fiddly to hook, if their not in a feeding frenzy they sometimes swim around with the bait in their mouth before letting it go. the top of the mouth is small and kinda of a hard little plate that can be tricky to penetrate, the bottom and side of their mouth has much more surface area to plant a hook (unless they completely swallow it) so when I see the bait disappear in their mouth a little flick or pull of the rod to the side or down as opposed to the standard upwards strike gets more hookups. Garfishing is all about watching, u can see everything going on so it's abit different to other forms of fishing, reasonably shallow weedy areas is where to look but they turn up anywhere at the least likely places sometimes

Lol, this is GREAT!! What other household items work? Let's put the tackle industry on their knees ( like that's ever going to happen) , !!!!,

And hold the rod in ur hand not the rod holder

I've been wondering this lately, what house hold items can be turned into a lure? I know kitchen tea spoons with a hook drilled into them work, as do ring spanners for jigging kings, also I heard the guy who Sussed out whiting on lures used the clear hexagonal body of a biro pen to imitate a prawn, what other lures are lurking around our houses!??

Fish light, if it's a good fish u will be on , no striking

What a wank the media just love sharks at the moment, more chance of fatality driving home from fishing

Was there over Christmas, fished land based @ smiths lakes just down the road from Forster, next to the frothy coffee restaurant is a small sand spit that drops off both ways, the lake is shut at the moment and has unusually high water and no tides, a quick session produced 5 flattys on plastic and a horse bream on an ecogear zx 35, pretty sure whiting are there too, and when ur done walk over to the restaurant for a feed, nice little spot

Hey, So i dont think a single lure has impressed me so much in recent years. So far flattys, trevally, big bream etc ...have nailed this lure . They actually bash it and run.....their a bit snag proof due to there hooks and cast a mile. Supposed to look like a prawn but im not so sure tha5s what the fish r seeeing

You can still catch a big fish on ur current outfit but when you start throwing bigger lures around you will want a heavier outfit as opposed to just respooling ur current one.

I love catching garfish, I spent a year on Lord Howe Island where they are lots of them, all I ever used to use was dough ie mix up some flour and water and take a lump down with you. Nice easy bait not smelly, just enough to cover the gape of a small long shank under an adjustable float,. I found sight is the key as they feed on the surface and u can see when the white of the dough disappears in their mouth so u can hook em, they go great in the frying pan or the BBQ , once cooked the backbone can be peeled out quite easily, very enjoyable to catch and underrated to eat! bit fiddly to clean though