Jewhunter

When I said local prawns I meant from Australia, not imported, & yes, that includes green kings from Coles or Woolies.

It always surprises me that people still by packet prawns. The sums don't add up. You can get local green kings for $25-$30 per kilo. A 200 gm packet of prawns costs $7-$8, putting those crap prawns at $35-$40 per kg. It's cheaper, & far a better bait to get fresh local green king prawns & be able to use whatever size bait you want.

Well done. Top report & it's great to see some nice pics of your trip. It's a beautiful part of the world.

Mate, that is exactly what I'm talking about. I know Stewy & Donna. It won't be a big slug for members. It will simply be a matter of covering costs, not to make a living out of. What they have put in financially to keep this site running is ridiculous. It has to change, & believe me that if we try this & it keeps costing them money the site will close. No one should have to wear the financial loss that these 2 have, just to keep open what is basically an information sharing site. I always relate back to the amount people pay for knowledge. Whether it be a Tafe course, Uni degree, online courses, etc, people pay vast amounts of money to obtain that knowledge, yet to improve their skills in a sport & passion that they invest so much time & money into they aren't willing to do that. It simply astounds me. Cheers, Grant.

I'm glad to see that this is happening. I proposed this to Stewy & Donna a few years back, as at the time I saw it as the only viable option to keep the site running. Out of the goodness of their heart, & to their own detriment, it was decided not to go down this path. If it's the only way to keep this wealth of information open to the public then it should be supported. People who don't want to pay a small fee amaze me. Each week you'll pay for a coffee, Maccas & god knows how much on fishing gear, but to source information to help you improve your skills you want that for free? Sorry, but it doesn't wash with me. Get over yourselves & go back to being the average fisho you were before sucking up all the info you could from here. Onwards & upwards Fishraider.

Thanks Jim, & thanks Donna. Thousands of people up here are displaced. 7 people have died & my heart goes out to their family & friends. I'll get Donna to post more pics soon if the devastation. Lismore has copped it badly. So many communities are going through a terrible time. It truly is heartbreaking. The amount of mud is unbelievable.

Hi Jon. I am a bit biased because I have 2 of them, but you really can't go past a landcruiser mate. I have a 4.5ltr turbo diesel ute for work, which I do things to that you should never put a ute through, & a 105 series glx wagon. I was close to buying a Prado instead of the wagon, but had heard about the problems they have. I simply can't fault them. They are the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. I'm sure you could find a 2nd hand great diesel or turbo deisel glx 80 or 100 series cruiser wagon around the $25k mark that won't let you down. They will tow anything, have 8 seats & are are built like tanks. Maybe not as fuel efficient as you would like, but it's a small price to pay for reliability. Good luck in your search

Sorry mate, my bad! It's the 11ft, 10-20kg Diawa CrossCast! Not the Crossfire. That crossfire sounds like a nice rod & should just about handle anything you come across. I cast 1.5 oz blades, 130mm squidgy fish on 1-1.5oz jigheads & 7/8oz berkley swim shads with it. I can go bigger & heavier if I want to. I used to fish a 7500 spinfisher ssv on it. Great reel & bullet proof, but I can get a bit more drag out of the Salt & it comes in 250gms lighter, which I find a better balance for the rod. Sorry for the bum steer!

Matt, haven't I taught you anything? That tailor was the prime jew bait. If tailor & salmon are around there's a good bet that Mr Mulloway isn't far behind Mr Mullit! Go get one tomorrow chap!

G'day Undy. I've actually got the 11ft rod & it's rated to 10-20kg! I run 40lb braid on the Salt 6000 on it & use it to spin for jew off breakwalls up here. It casts big plastics a mile. I'm not sure how they got that rating as it feels light & flexes way too much for a rod of that supposed line class. For mine it feels more like an 8-10kg rod. Maybe I'm not pushing it hard enough.... I'll have to check out the 3-5kg rod. It sounds like it would cast metals & pillies really well if matched with 15-20lb braid, & would be a good all rounder.

A pair of black womens undies in the Cooks when fishing with Stewy many years ago. We got some miles out of that one! Caught on a soft plastic as well!

11ft Diawa crossfire matched with a Pflueger Salt 5000 or 6000 is light enough to cast for hours & will stop anything. I've poled 6kg jew straight up a breakwall without a gaff no problems. I love this combo.

Well done Jon. Great pics as usual. The kids would have had a blast on those speedsters. It's a beautiful part of the world. Are you heading any further north? Mind if I ask what lures you were using for trolling? Cheers, Grant.

Well done on the cod Matt. It's never easy fishing new water. You're right, surface hit's from a cod are something else. Thanks for popping in to say g'day. It was great to catch up after all these years. I hope the lures I gave you catch a monster cod next time!

I hope you would have enough food & water. Depending on where you are, which way the current is running & the sea conditions you could be waiting a while. But hey, if you want to put yourself & whoever else is onboard at risk that's your choice...

Agreed. No power, no motor, no radio? What do you do that far out? Let off flares & hope for the best? You can't tell me that's not a situation to use your epirb.

Usually not. I found that if they are there they see & hit it pretty quickly. At night they are usually higher up in the water column. If it's a bit slow it's worth a shot going deeper. The funny thing I found is that once you find a couple they mostly seem to be at a similar depth right along the pier.

Hi Steve. Jetty hopping brings back a lot of memories for me. I used to handline the Pyrmont & & Woolloomooloo wharves heaps when I was younger. You're on the right track by only fishing at night. The later the better, when most people are in bed. The trick is to keep mobile. Bream will hang around some pylons & not others. A size 1 hook, unweighted, or with a tiny splitshot just above the hook is the rig. Live bloodworms are the gun bait & worth every cent. Simply slowly feed the worm down as close to a pylon as you can get. When you get 10-15 mtrs down bring it back up slowly again. If you don't get a bite go to the next pylon, then the next & the next. If you work a whole pier like this you should get loads of fish. That technique works just as well on a marina, if you can find one you're allowed to fish. Fish a heavier line than normal. I've been busted off by big bream on 15lb mono fishing like this. Go hard as soon as they hit or they'll get you on the pylons. Good luck. Cheers, Grant.

Hi Anthony. I grew up around HC bay & it's one of the best bream spots around. There are some cracking fish in there. Here's some spots & tips to target bream there. At the end of I think it's Cecil st or Reginald st, Wareemba, there's a small boat ramp. Just to the right of that is a rock ledge running parallel to shore. Wade out & stand on that ledge on a high tide & cast out in front of you. There's scattered rocks, mud & a weed bed there. Plenty of good bream. I also got my pb whiting on a hard bod there. My other fave spot was at the bottom of Friend Ave. Park there & walk the foreshore casting. Another great bream spot, along with flatties, whiting, flounder & I even scored a 5kg jew there while chasing bream. Top spot in a southerly wind. Then you can head over Concord way. There's a canal that runs along the back 9 of the golf course. Fish the entrance of that canal on a runout tide. Another great bream spot. You can also walk along the edge of the golf course. I've score plenty of fish there as well. The canal entrance & to the left of there is a good winter spot in a sou' wester, but works all year round. After years of fishing down there I found that a big tide of 1.6m was always the best, as most of these spots are exposed at low tide. Fish the last hour of the run up, the top & 1st hour of the runout. A barometer of 1010 & higher is best. Tide there is far more important than time of day. I've had top sessions there in the middle of the day when the tide was right. You will catch fish on hard bods, but I always found 3' powerbait bass minnows in pearl/watermelon & small bloodworm squidgy wrigglers on a 1/16th to 1/20th jig head fished very slowly to be more productive. Follow those tips & you will catch plenty of fish. Cheers, Grant.

It's also called Fisho. Anyone that stocks Tweed Bait should have it. It's chicken gut soaked in aniseed & red dye & it's the bomb on bream in dirty water.

4 lb fireline. I still reckon it has the best knot strength in very light braid.

There are jackets that self inflate once in contact with water. Not sure how they would go in heavy rain though!

My all time fave surface lure for bass is the bubble pop 35 in black. I've had some very memorable surface sessions with these. They have a white, silver feather off the back treble. Tara made some very good points about surface luring. Letting the lure sit until the ripples disappear is spot on. Also just a wiggle of the rod tip instead of a pop works well & keeps it in the zone for longer. The golden rule when surface fishing is not to strike. Wait until you feel the weight of the fish. Doing this, if they miss it once or twice, they usually come back for another go.

I can just hear it now. Plus a few more comments that can't be mentioned on a family friendly site!! Jeez, no wonder he won't take you cod fishing. Plenty of rocks out there for him to hide under lol!

Yep, short sharp pops at a good pace for whiting. Sometimes you have to go a bit quicker to stir them up. I find that if you have 3-4 fish fighting over the lure the more likely you are to hook up.