Koalaboi

I find that flatties much over 60cm are a bit on the chewy side anyway…that’s duskies as I am landbased. So my slot limit is up to 60 or thereabouts from legal minimum. I put my fish in a keeper net and if I have plenty of fish, can release the bigger fish but keep it if it’s the only one. kb

Hi I really enjoy watch Gido's fishing adventures: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-3xwKttEqBysIYVztng-w This links to his homepage where you can access them. He catches some great fish, his videos feature spectacular scenery using good photography skills and he has an adventurous spirit! KB

$100 for the setup that Frank is offering is a fantastic deal JamoDamo. Take it! Maybe ask your folks to get it for you for Christmas. Look after that gear and it will last you a lifetime,moreover,because it is from someone who is supporting you, the gear comes with a story and connection and so it becomes a special part of your fishing lore. Such gear brings good luck I reckon! KB

Without looking too much at your casting technique and rod etc, the advice above to change to braid is the simplest and quickest way to make a difference. Perhaps start with 8lb braid and maybe go a little lighter once you are confident. You'll need to tie a mono leader to your braid and the breaking strain of that will depend on your target species. Mono to braid needs good knots so ensure you learn one for this purpose. KB

Hi, I don’t know Illawarra but where I fish, Tuggerah Lake, I have a set of spots to go to where I can fish with the wind at my back regardless of its direction. Have a look at a map of the Lake and work out a range of locations you could try in different wind directions that give access to fishing flats and channels with the wind more or less at your back when you cast. Good luck. KB

A lot of opinions on this thread and interesting to read the different views Raiders have on this question. I wrote a long reply to this the other night but lost it before posting. My two bobs worth: tides are very, very important, especially for fishing estuaries, beaches and rocks. The intertidal zone is one of the richest food sources for fish and tidal movement not only gives fish access to this zone and its resources, it also washes food into deeper water making it available to fish. Of course other factors come into play such as the time of the year and day, cloudiness, wind and swell conditions, recent weather especially floods and heatwaves and so on. Many of these are factors which only become apparent on the day you go to fish whereas the tides can be predicted well in advance. I always plan my fishing around the tides. The other factors I mentioned above help me to determine what fish I will target, what bait to collect and where I will go to fish. As usual, it's a matter of fishing often in a range of conditions throughout the year at a variety of spots till you get learn how things work. Eventually you get to the point where you only go fishing when you have a good chance of getting a feed. KB

Hi, I cast left handed but reel in right handed. Hold the bottom grip of your rod in your left armpit with your left hand holding the grip above the reel. The rod tip should be pointing in line with your float. I use my left middle finger to support the line coming off the reel and my right hand feeding line out manually. This is never a problem unless the drift is very fast. Just the same, line can still come off and slip under the reel but that’s more likely a problem if the spool is spinning too fast. To counter that, ensure the spool is touching your chest and it acts as a brake. Another cause can be line that is not firmly wound onto the reel so that loops easily pop up and slide off the spool. Be sure when retrieving your float to wind on line with some tension and evenly across the width of the spool. The other cause for this is being distracted! KB

Hi, You haven't mentioned a number of things: What exactly are you trying to catch? Where exactly are you fishing? Ocean rocks? beach? In the estuary? What sorts of live baits will you be using? Species? Size? I feel that if you could be a little more specific in your questions, your feedback will be a lot more useful. KB

Scratchie's on the money. Sometimes it's an intuitive thing, you just know that the fish will be on. That being said, I do believe that intuition is informed by years of experience. Honestly, sometimes it just smells fishy. Just recently I had been checking a local possie on a daily basis but did not fish it for weeks then one day it just felt like it was going to happen. And it did. No-one had been catching any fish there for some time. But time of year, wind. possie and tide are my basic go to criteria to determine what I'll fish for on any given day and where I will go to find them. Like Scratchie says above, you can make things way too complicated and still miss out. Keeping It Simple Stupid is a good way to go. KB

Hi, If choppers are around they do smash the poddies but also smash the plastics too. Small bream can also be a problem. If there are too many about it may be better to try somewhere else or just give up. An occasional by catch can be long toms and Australian salmon which can certainly provide some thrilling action! KB

Hi seasponge, I hook them through the lips from the lower jaw and run them under a float on the moving tide near the mouth of the estuary in the summer months. I always used to fish the runout but this year fished the run in with great success. For more see here:

Hi, For chasing and landing big flathead I have done far better using live poddies and wide gape hooks than I have using SPs. In fact for all flathead fishing, I have found live poddies to be far more reliable. The only trouble is that getting the poddies can sometimes involve a fair bit of time and effort. KB

I think the important determinants are tide, wind, swell, location, time of year, time of day, target species and bait. A diary sounded like a good idea but in my case I struggled to maintain it and did not bother to go back and read it as I remembered the information anyway. The goal is to work out where and when to fish for what species. I mostly target flathead and luderick so not too hard. I now know at this time of year that I should target luderick and, depending on the tide and wind and swell, I know where to fish with the wind at my back and the fish on the chew. That being said, as conditions change eg the floods of the last two years have completely altered the structure of channels and sand bars in the estuary I mostly fish so atm, I am having to do a bit of exploring to see if I can find the fish, but using the principles I have learned to help me decide where to look. ATM, the blackfish are very hard to find in Tuggerah Lakes! Talking to other locals, I know I am not alone. KB

Hi, On the identification of the fish you have caught, they look to me like rock cale. Eastern kelp fish and wirrahs are different species. If you are catching cale you are in the right spot for targeting luderick. Some days you catch a few cale but in my experience I’ve never found them in big numbers. KB

Not too sure about Brisbane Waters but in Tuggerah Lakes poddies seem to disappear once the cold sw winds blow in winter. You may need to wait till October or thereabouts! KB

Hi Everyone, Well the water's got a bit cooler and there is now soft weed around the shores of Tuggerah Lake in the shallows near Long Jetty's Saltwater Creek boat ramp. I'm sure there's plenty all around especially heading out towards the Wyong side of the Lake. In a while the weed will improve with wire weed available as well. No blackfish biting though! KB

Hi kracka, It’s not worth coming up here to look for weed or blackfish atm...both are scarce. No weed yet in the lake and I can’t turn a scale on the blackfish front despite a couple of efforts. Still too early for the winter run and the lake is still settling down after the floods. KB

Hi, I have found that weed grows really well in the cooler weather and dies off over summer in Tuggerah Lakes. As you have found, cabbage on the open ocean rock platforms is much more reliable but even it can suffer in very how weather and little swell. KB

I only use the mustad 540 in size 8. Have tried the green hooks but don’t like them. Used to use size 10 but stick to 8 now and have done for many years. I usually find that lots of missed downs are usually bites from undersized fish. Try lengthening your leader, varying the depth, adding a little more lead under your float and the time you wait until lifting the rod to set the hook. These tactics may help but little blackfish are generally very hard to hook! KB

A mate of mine keeps all his split and damaged SPs then glues them back up with superglue. KB

Cabbage often grows well as the weather cools in autumn. The summer heat seems to bleach it on exposed platforms during hot dry weather and it dies off but it comes back in autumn. I find the same with the stringy weed, both soft and wire, in Tuggerah lakes. KB

Hi JamoDamo, Your post was so well written...I am an English teacher, now 43 years at it and still teaching. You write so well. It's a strength, indeed a talent that you have and you should remember that. At your age I too was keen on fishing and found a job working in a fishing tackle store. What fun it was and what I learned too. At the time, high speed spinning off the rocks for pelagics (1970s) was the fashionable fishing trend and to find myself working in a tackle shop with a fisherman like Lyn Donoghue was heady stuff. I ended up running a factory that produced a range of fishing tackle (Key West) for sale both here and in NZ, mostly landing nets and fishing bags. We also produced ping pong tables for a well known retailer. Some funny stories from those days too. I learned how to make rods and was given access to a huge range of fishing experiences I would not otherwise have had. You have got so many good things going for you: go for it. Your written expression is so good that I think you can perhaps aim really high long term. KB

Well done! Shame to have to go back to school. KB

Ist world problem ay!

Hi, It probably won’t make much difference. Try it out and see how it goes. If you remove the bent tip of the rod it looks like you’ll only be shortening it by at most 2cm. I’ve done that in the past with rod tips broken and it seems to work ok. kb