pburton

Those are good looking prawns, I would fish them as light as you can go. Tackle craft prawns are hard to find but work well for me. I fish them on a worm hook and a steady retrieve will keep them on the surface for summer bream. Squidgy bugs are also good fished the same way. Fish around structure or over flats and if the fish follow just stop and wait... keep waiting if you can and they will get smashed. If you dont get any surface action just let them drift past or under structure without weight and just the rare twitch. I find this time of year i have to go smaller, fish deeper and slower but winter fish are normally good fish.

Last Friday i grabbed the rod and wandered down to bash the flats. It was the bottom of the tide and i skipped a plastic across the surface just out from the weed and was met by stoney silence. So i cast out an unweighted plastic and just let it drift in the current. i watched it drift off the flat into deep water and saw the line dart off. I tightened up and landed a reasonable EP. So with the tactic working i kept at it slowly sinking the plastic in the current down and along the drop off. I picked up a small flattie as the tide started to turn and then i was casting out into the deep and letting the plastic drift up and along the drop off when the line stopped. I tightened up and felt a big angry head shake and then nothing. 4lb braid and leader,how hard was i going to go on this one. Well i gave it a steady lift and felt it come of the bottom trying to shake the plastic the she took off. With lots of luck the leader held untill i beached her and then it snapped. 64cm of flattie, my best on bream gear, was pointed back into the water to swim away. Soon after i got another at 49cm and another smaller one and then it rained... Saturday i fished the same tides for only a small flattie and not another tap. Sunday not a touch. I blame the rain.

Ive got plenty of bream at night on fly, and a few bass long after dusk. Who knows if they see or feel the fly move they attack it. Prawns, crabs ect are all more active at night and the fish move out of cover. Anyway half you life is night time and thats a lot of fishing time when no one else is about. Don't waste it get a head torch.... On second thoughts its cold and dark, strange things lurk in the water... stay at home drink beer and watch TV... the flats are mine all mine Ha Ha Ha.

G'day Jighead I wouldn't get hung up on distance, especially if you are fishing from a kayak. Firstly you need to realize that your rod tip has to move in a straight line to make effective casts and thats only about five foot from water level opposed to nine or ten when standing. Any long distance casts require your arm to move further in the casting stroke, a little tricky balancing on a kayak, and the line has to hang in the air longer on your back cast. I find any distance casting my back cast will tend to fall to the water from a kayak and you are limited in throwing your back cast higher. Your rod will load, that is start to flex to provide power to your cast, with a certain length of line out. Work on finding that sweet distance of line, the rod will load easily and you can shoot an extra few feet. Some people mark that spot on the line where their rod loads with a permanent marker. If you can pick up that length of line and shoot a little on the back cast and a little more on the forward cast you will probably have 5m of extra fly line out, that is a good section of water to cover. I want my fly in the water near the fish as long as possible and the best way to achieve this is no false casting, load the rod on the pick up off the water and shoot line on the cast, no waving the fly about above my head, and accuracy...... and that is a lot easer to achieve when you are working at a certain distance. You can practice on the oval but its much more fun to find some sand flats get some bread flies and a loaf of bread and berley up. Keep casting at the bits of floating bread and the bream, gars and mullet that are attracted to. Flathead are suckers for Clouser minnows over the flats and bream are a little harder but small unweighted fish patterns worked around the edges of weed beds work well, prawn patterns if you can find them are killers. Tailor, Bonito, Salmon, Kingies and Mackies will feed on schools of bait so anything that resembles the bait is a good start. Good luck

Check out Sydney Fly Rodders Club.

It has taken me a few years and I am pretty new to reliably hooking EPs so i am no expert. I use light bream gear, 2-4lb braid with 4-6lb leaders and pretty much stick to plastics. I have used blades a bit but without much success(a lot of weed in the system I fish and trebbles love it). I like fishing very light or weight less plastics because they hang in the strike zone longer. Use the lightest heads and prawn, wriggler, bugs or flick bait patterns all work. Look in deep corners with steep banks, cast in close and hop it down the bank. EP Rule 1 ....slow everything right down. Be paitent and let it get to the bottom but watch for a hit on the drop. Make a slow lift, a little faster and jerkier for flick baits and keep the rod tip up while the plastic sinks to the bottom again, if it makes it that far cause this is where i usually get the strikes. EPs will move around the system alot and like the brakish water in summer but be further down into the saltwater in winter and early spring to spawn. Hope this helps you release plenty of these fantastic fish and get smoked by a few as well...

Thanks for the replies. I thought i would STICK with the thread and let you know i have been out again and have mounted the STICK as a PERCH, sorry thats the best i can come up with. Well six between 27.5 and 17 cm and pulled the hook on the best one at the side of the kayak.

I have been hitting the water a fair bit in the last few weeks, I am luck enough to be five minutes walk to the water, and grab my rod at any chance and have a few casts. Well the last couple of weeks has been good to me. It started with a good perch inhaling a flick bait and then an elbow slapping whiting smashed a prawn pattern off the surface. This inspired me to get the boat out and travel further a field. I found a deep corner and got a few more perch on flick baits. I had planned on having a go at getting my third Jew on plastic but the tide was still ripping so i stopped at a spot i had spooked a few big flatties in my kayak. I thought about changing down from the 110mm plastic on my rod, but thought any flattie that has a go at that will worth it. Fired out a cast and a flick or two and i come up tight. It had that lump of weed feeling of a good fish and then it started to head shake. A quick run and another bout of head shakes and it throws the hook. "S..T" and i put out another cast and a few minutes the same thing happens but this time he gets close enough to the boat to spit the plastic in my face. "S..T" and out goes the plastic again and it happens again. "FU..nny" So i decided to change down to a 70mm to get it down their gobs and get the hook in, out it goes.... not a tap. So out goes a blade, nothing, then a 50mm plastic, nothing. So i grab the rod with the 110mm and put it out again and second cast .. well i can't say i hooked up but it got a good chew. So with the sound of laughing flatties still in my ears i walked down to the river after lunch and cast a few plastics over the flats. It was all pretty quiet until i felt a tiny tap and i struck. It struck back in the other direction, i got some line back and then saw its side flash and i knew it was a good bream and i backed the drag a little, and it took off again. A few nervous minutes later i beached him a nice fat blue nose bream. No camera, no phone, no tape measure so i grabbed a stick and snapped it to length and got him back in the water. With the stick in my bum bag i kept fishing with just a few bumps and taps. When i got home i measured my stick, a new PB bream on plastic 41.5cm. I am thinking of having the stick mounted on the wall with a spot reserved for one of those bloody flatties.

I fish the Wonie a fair bit and it can fish well. Summer is better... but where isn't. I fish from my kayak all the way up to the fresh. I fish light weight 7 foot rods and 4lb braid and two metres of 6lb leader. My best tactic for bream in the hot weather is to fish unweighted soft plastics, any prawn or bug type, and cast up onto the exposed weed beds or edges at low tide. Give them just enough movement to keep them on or near the surface and if you see movement behind your plastic pause and wait for the take. Plenty of whiting on the flats for some popper action and flathead in the drop offs are suckers for blades. There are bass and perch if you go looking and in the last week or so have got a few perch by fishing flick baits down deep drop offs. Post me if you want, i am keen to get out any time i can.

Hi Spent a weekend looking for Bass on Talowa dam and after several fish less hours sighted some big carp cruising the shallows and having caught them before knew i was going to be out gunned on the gear i had. I didn't want to sacrifice my hard bodies to them so i found these red 'wigglers' with gold tails and some pink 'fish' that i had never had much success with tucked away in the bottom of my bag...... these were suddenly my best lure as i spent the next few hours sight casting to big carp and they sucked them up like lollies. Make sure your spool is full cause if you hook a good one you might just need it!

I ve caught plenty of bream on fly best was 43cm, in fact i am pretty new to this soft plastic game and it seems to have taken the place of the fly rod at the moment. If you take the wand out make sure that the flies you use have plenty of movement around the hook point. I find flies with moving tails get short takes, I make my own Crazie Charlies with a mylar body and rabbit fur wing on a short solid hook with plenty of gape. I would fish these around areas where i knew there would be fish, oyster covered rocks, under boats ect. Plenty of takes on the drop too, bream seam to hit flies much the same as SPs, so give them plenty of pauses. Good Luck

Good to hear they're bighting up your way. Are you finding fish close to very shallow areas or are you fishing deeper structures? I was out Thurs for the run out on the Wonni and got 9 bream, the best was 36cm the best bream i have pulled from the river. I have been using unweighted plastics and many of my fish seem to be coming from casting to shallow edges, less than a foot deep and twitching back over the edge.

I have a few left and haven't seen them for ages but they are a prawn with hollows for weight(split shot) and hooks or even line. You can push line down them and put a treble on the back, rig them on straight hooks or jig heads, and just hop them around patches of weed... deadly in summer.

Thanks guys for the tips. I'll certainly put them into action soon and let you know how i go.

I have been chasing Jews on and off for a while and have got a couple of schoolies(60cm) but often i go fish less. Actually the fish i have got are the only takes i have had, I don't think i have been missing takes but.. I fish flats on the Georges that i know hold fish. Its around 5m deep and drops into a deep channel. I have tried casting ahead and behind as i drift and bounce around a 80cm fish or shad off the bottom. If i was just getting the occasional bump... but nothing i seem to do seems to be of any interest to the fish. ANY pointers would be welcome... i am almost tempted to use bait...GULP!

Yep worm hooks are the ones without weight and the kink up near the eye. They ride hook point up. You would be suprised how far they cast. I use around 3 inch prawns and bugs as they have a bit of weight to them while still being fairly neutral in the water, and can cast them 15 metres give or take. Lighter lures are harder work. If you have too much trouble here's a trick i use to let my wife cast flies on her spin gear. Get cork, styrofoam or something, shape it into a bullet and drill a hole down the center. Glue in a suitable sinker, i use barrels, then play around with the cork size to get it to "just float". Secure it above your leader and you,ll cast a mile.

I have a fairly realistic prawn(3 inch) pattern i prefer but Bugs and Wrigglers work well. Bugs being bulkier seem to cast better and sink a bit slower than wrigglers. I have used flick baits occasionally but again they are harder to cast. I rig them all on a worm hook. I use two pound braid and six pound tippet.

The tides were good, no wind and some clear spots between the clouds. So i grabbed the gear and loaded the kayak and headed to the river. One minute i was plastering on the sun screen and the next i was soaked but in between i refined my technique on thirteen bream all around 25 to 30cm. I have packed away the poppers, i am getting better results using unweighted plastics and its just as exciting watching them get smashed. The plastics are much more versitile, i fish areas with alot of weed, even casting into areas with the weed exposed at low tide and i get a lot less frustration with the single hook than trebbles that seem to be weed magnets. A couple of hints for anyone who wants to give it a try. Fish drop offs. Cast onto the bank, rock or weed and keep the lure in the first few cms of the surface. Add a few pops and then some good pauses. Any hint of a fish behind your plastic on the surface give it slack and let it sink and wait, some times a long wait but 75% of the time they will smash it. Even on rocky deep shores, a couple of flicks out from the edge and let it sink and when you think it is time to move it again leave it to sink alittle deeper.

Quite a few small fish about but although no thumpers my average fish would be 27 to 30 cm, on pretty light gear they are plenty of fun. Most of my flatties are around the 30 to 35 cm range but i still get them over 40 occasionally, and i have spooked more than one that would have been approching 80cm. Fished yesterday for a few hours and got two bream at 29 cm. I have been fishing the river for a little over a year and was frustrated at first but now i seem to be doing better. I like to fish the low water with unweighted plastics cast right up to the edges, but yesterday i fished the high to low change, and couldn't get and intrest at the edges. Found fish sitting at drop offs from weed beds.

java script:emoticon('',%20'smid_18') Put in three hours on the kayak, fishing the last of the run out tide. I was tossing small poppers and unweighted plastics to the edges and slowly drawing them out. Got too many hits to count, most happened just as the lure hit the edge of deeper water. I have been using 06556-0(i think) prawns and Squidgie Bugs a lot with the occasional flick bait or wriggler all on worm hooks. I keep the rod high to keep them on the surface and if i see any indication of a fish i drop the tip to give some slack and watch the line. I find some fish will smash it on the surface as soon as you pause and others like to let it sink a little deeper. The hook up rate on the worm hook isn't great but I feel the bigger fish inhale it and i am missing mostly smaller fish. I landed 6 average bream and was too slow on at least that again, still I'd rather miss a few than miss out all together.

The bream have realy started to come on to surface lures around my area(Georges River) in the last week or two. The next few weeks, with school back should be great. As others said poppers or walk the dog style lures are the goods. With whiting i use a quick almost walking pace retreive. i pretty much use the reel and just add some action with the rod tip no real pauses. i find if its not moving whiting wont hit it. Bream are a little harder and i use a slower retrieve with just enough flick to make the popper spray a little water, do this a few times and then a pause. I have heard waiting for the rings of water to get to about 20-30cm but recently i have been just keeping the lure moving very slowly on the surface. Watch the diffrence in the action of you popper doing this, (I am trying to mimmick the slow wobble a good hard body has when you let it rise on a pause.) My number one at the moment is fishing plastic prawns or flick baits unweighted on a worm hook. Cast these over the weed beds and move them just enough to keep them on the surface with the occasional flick to make them dart, if you see a swirl pause and let them sink and watch you line for a twitch. I like to fish light 2ld braid and 4lb leader and use small poppers, plastics are usually used with the least weight i can cast (1/16 or 1/32.)

You will need around an 8wt rod with a wieght forward floating or sink tip line. Cost .... Get the best gear you can afford all the better rod makers give a lifetime warranty. People get into it and give up quickly, look on the net for a deal, then get some casting instruction. I use floating line and start with 10kg leader and go finer if i need to, and a range of weighted flys if i need to sink them, but mostly i fish on the surface to feeding schools. There are hundreds of flys to choose from, clousers in white/chartruse(bright green) are good as well as smaller "eye" flys. A pair of sissors lets you customise the fly by trimming it to match the bait. Cast at the edge of the school and just let the fly sink, after a few attempts i will try a diffrent retreive fast, slow, jerky,until i hook up. Set the hook by pulling the line sharply, the rods are to soft and fragile to get the hook in, then hang on. Most reels aren't geared so look at the size of the spool of the reel you buy, it affects the line capacity as well as the retreval rate. The great part is with an 8 wt you can learn to throw flys from tiny white bait to a small yakka, but when they are shy and taking tiny eyes its the only way of getting some thing close to them.

Guides are great but an expensive way to learn the basics. There are quite a few videos that are very helpful and you can keep going back to them to brush up every season. A 4 wt is a good stream rod for trout but will handle bream no problems. Lines can get complicated, there are different configurations in the same weight range. If you chase trout some say use a double taper line. This is a line that is cigar shaped, starts thin and gets thicker to the middle and then gets thinner again. Good for light presentations but harder to cast. I now use a weight forward line as the heaver part of the line is close to the end and you can cast easier. Thats simplifying it a little. Do some research and ask questions. Fly fishing is not hard but confusing when you start, find some one who fly fishes and be careful of some one who just sells fly gear. Make your first goal to learn to cast then catching fish is easer, my casting improved when did a lot of fishing at night and i had to feel the line rather than see it. Too many people that take up fly fishing never get over the first hurdle before they give up, don't give up.

Put in my first serious Jew session with plastics on the George's this week. Fished two days on run out and only came up with one fish of 46 cm thought I also scored a 68 cm Flattie. No real idea of technique so I tried plenty of options in plastics, stick baits, shads, fish as well as wrigglers and prawns. Used jig heads up to 1/4 to keep the bottom but also fished mid water. Got a few taps that I missed but I think it was Tailor. Bad moon maybe?