hookerbruce

Hi Luke Great result for the conditions. You have to be very pleased. I can testify that it wasn't very pleasant last fri nite at como. I pulled the pin after 2 hrs without a fish. Your spot worked very well for you, I'll give my spot another try in better weather. The hole I was fishing went from 5m down to 8.5m similar depth range to where you were. I'll have fresh squid next time. Who knows ? Hookerbruce

Friday night looked like it might be Ok for jews so the plans were made. easy just get away from work early catch some live bait and anchor up before dark. Well plans never seem to reflect what really happens. Caught up at work not home till 4;30 ok plan B leave home just after 5 deckie had fresh squid and mullet fillets for bait. Deckie rang 5;15 couldn't go .... family matter ...ok I know how keen he is so it was ok Plan C I'll still go on my own Raided the freezer grabbed a blackfish and a kilo of large green bananna prawns. Hooked the boat up to the nissan and moved it up on to the driveway. This showed the trailer tyre a bit too low, the grass in the back yard had hidden how low. I was still going. I found the pump pumped it up and was on the way to the ramp just on 6pm. Got to the ramp and got the boat in with no dramas, didn't know how much water there would be as I don't normally use the ramp at Como. Pushed off from the ramp then started the motor just as the rain started to fall. Decided to fish an area where we catch a lot of blackies near Como, two reasons it was close to the ramp, had a bit of shelter from the south easterly that was blowing the rain and the jews could be feeding on blackies. Anchored up in 6m of water over a bit of reefy bottom with a dropoff to 8.5m just behind the boat and a few smaller fish showing on the sounder. After 2 hours with out a decent bite and thunder and lightning getting closer I gave up went home and cooked up the prawns with tomartos,garlic and some fresh spinach stirred in. The best part of the trip was eating the bait. But if I hadn't gone and tried I would have always wondered what could have been. I saw a couple of boats fishing under como bridge but don't know if they caught any. By the number of reports it doesn't sound as if too much was caught over the weekend. Still hooking Bruce

No ... I hope they've headed up the Georges I'm heading to the Georges right now. Really nice to see a good catch. Hookerbruce

Congratulations Not only a good report but a great result for sticking it out and getting the jew. Is there a photo. I might have to put away the blackfish gear and chase some real fish. Hookerbruce

Went for a fish this arvo and caught a new record blackfish for me smallest must have been all of 50 mm. caught and threw back 15 small fish kept 1 just legal which swallowed the hook. Will try them again next week Hookerbruce

Hi Thats sounds like a great trip, one that is still on my list of things to do. Great photos and report of what was caught. didn't realise they even got snapper up there. Any info on approx cost and the gear you used and what gear you would take next time ? Hookerbruce

The blackies have been pretty good in the georges this year but seemed to go quite last week. I'd been getting between 3 & 6 a trip after work but last week only managed 1 keeper a trip. Yesterday I managed 6 with the best going 38cm. My son managed 3 in 20 mins just on dark, he works later than me.There were a lot of small fish in between the keepers. So heres hoping the better fish stay around. There was an old bloke there with heavy fibreglass rod, centre pin reel and heavy float/line etc, he gave me a lesson in catching blackies. Just when I thouht I had them sorted out. He got 10, but then he was on MY ROCK. Didn't worry about a net just swing them up. Although he did a drop a fish well over 40cm and a few others. Son fished Port Hacking sat morning for three good bream the best going 39 cm 1.1 kg. He was fishing unweighted nippers on 1kg line. The water in port is about the clearest I've seen it, with plenty of trevally and blackfish visible along the edge of the weed beds. Need to fish light and either early morning or dusk. The blackfish reports are a little quite are people waiting to report the big catches or just being secretive.

Hi Could have been the same PJs kept getting caught. One day off cronulla we caught the same PJ four times and then we moved. First time swallowed the hook which we cut off while it was still in the water, second time the hook broke, left half a hook in the jaw and a piece of line on the other side. Third time took the hook out which left a mark in the jaw. last time it had half a hook a bit of line and a hole in each side of its mouth. You would think that after being pulled up lifted out of the water and then thrown back it would have swum away and hid, we moved instead. Bruce

Hi Kel I've found soft plastics can be effective up there as well as hard bodies and spinnerbaits. Try drifting around the dead trees snags etc and jig soft plastics (around 50mm size) as if you're jigging for kings but jig a lot slower. Also try working the soft plastics and small hard bodies slowly above the weed beds. Even if there is only a couple of feet of water over the weed beds. Good luck and hope to see a good report Bruce

Have sent you a message with a few details bruce

Hi Roberta I use similar prospecting method along the breakwall at south west rocks, it is very effective in finding where the fish are but can be a real scramble to the waters edge to land a decent fish. Quite often I will just see the fish from the top of the wall quite often they will be in shallow water near a single rock, I'll then position myself upcurrent berley and fish back to them I find this effective. That large blackie is a good fish. I fillet and skin all my fish and have only found a couple of blackfish with a worm. An ocasional worm is much more common in bream. Bruce

photo of the few fish we kept yesterday best nannygai for a while

Headed down south today for a bit of general fishing and bottom bouncing. Threw squid jigs around the rocks at the end of Jibbon beach first up for nil result. Then went and drifted off marley point in approx 40 m of water for heaps of small flathead but no keepers. Headed further south and drifted around in 40-50m of water and managed afew keepers (2 flaties, 2 chinamen jackets and a nannigai). the wind started to pick up so we moved a bit further south and in close and managed acouple more keeper flathead and heaps of throwbacks. The wind kept blowing so we moved in close to the rocks and anchored up. The berley soon had all sorts eating our baits. We had lots of fun even though we only added half a dozen fish to the esky(a good reef jacket, a red rock cod and some wrass). caught sweep,red bream just under size, baracoutta, wirrah, pike, yellow tail, mados,etc,etc sammy the seal came up to have a look, dolphins were feeding just nearby. Then every now and then a big gannet would divebomb the fish at the back of the boat. We had rat kings coming up into the berley trail on a regular basis, caught and released probably 20 up to 55cm while we were there. on 2 and 4kg outfits they were great fun even if we didn't get one legal size. We had a great day even though we didn't fill the boat caught a feed of fish in good conditions. Still Hooking Bruce

perfect squid to take out in the boat for a king today. Where can I pick it up ? Bruce

Hi The site administrators or someone is a magician the photo is now up the right way. Follow up reports Went back to Como yesterday and lost what appearred to be a bigger fish at the net, but no other fish. Went down again this morning and managed a 35cm and 38 cm fish, 2 fish from 3 bites. Tomorrow heading down south off the National park chasing flathead and other fish bottom bouncing. Hopefully I'll have a big report for tomorrow night. Keep on hooking ............Bruce

Now with pic It was hard enough for an old fisherman like me to get a photo on the report I'm not going to try and get it up the right way. Ill chase the blackfish again on thurs then down south from Port Hacking to chase flathead on friday. Got to get out on the water to catch fish.

Got away from work with about an hours daylight to have a fish. Last friday afternoon managed to catch 6 blackies up to 35cm. Hoped there would be a few better fish up in the shallow water with the rising tide. For once it paid off. First fish went 33 cm next was 35cm then a couple of throwbacks then all quiet. Next was a 30cm model which made 3 fish in the keeper which was all I could expect from a short trip. Another ten drifts then a down which I missed. Baited up and did the same drift again, same spot the float went half way down then very very slowly continued down below the surface. One of those downs that just look like the lines dragging bottom. Struck any just to set the hook, just in case. Whamo on to what I thought was a reasonable fish, it went to fast for a big one. I was very surprised to see the size of it when it surfaced, it looked enormous maybe its a while since I caught a decent blackie. It gave me some anxious moments on the four pound outfit around lots of structure before I managed to lead it into the net. It wasn't that big in the end just a good fish for georges river 41cm and tipped the scales at 1kg on the dot.

Went out chasing blackies yesterday afternoon decided to hide under a bridge out of the rain. Managed 1 fish 35cm and 20 throwbacks around 25cm. In the middle of the blackfish hooked up on a fish that I was calling as a bream by the fight, even first glance in the water looked to be a bream. Second look, not a bream and when netted and lifted ashore proved to be an estury perch. My first one and a new specie on weed. Yes it was released after a quick photo on the phone camera. Hookerbruce

Last friday I knew I would be busy all long weekend so managed a quick blackfishing session late afternoon. First 3 drifts nothing then a down and a fish just legal came to the net. Decision was made a couple more this size would make a meal. Next drift a down and an undersize fish returned to the water. for the next hour and a half bite after bite, I landed about 20 blackies all undersize all returned to the water. So the one fish only made a tasty snack. This friday 12th june had another opoturnity to chase the blackies in Georges river with my son and daughter in law. With the cool weather didn't manage to start fishing till 9 am. Guess what an identical start few drifts without a bite then a fish just legal kept it again. Then for the next 3 hours it was just bite after bite nearly every drift, difference was these were all good fish. We ended up keeping 43 between us including 6 over 40 cm (best weighing in at 1 kilo ) numerous fish under 30 cm were released and we only caught 3 fish that were undersize. My other son who had to work was quite happy to accept a share of the family's catch. This was one of the best days we've had in a long time and shows there are fish in the lower Georges. Some of the cleaned fish where I cleaned them in the kitchen

Apologies for this written report without pretty pictures only just managed time to write it. Will try and post some pictures in the next couple of days. Got back from Weipa end of May only just finished doing all the jobs around the house to settle the debt and then broke the news I'm going for two weeks next year, have to go now the boats booked. Spent the first couple days fishing the Emberly and the Hey rivers fishing was a little on the quite side. Perservered with lures and managed to get fish nothing to boast about, a barra just legal, queenies to 60 cm, bream ,flathead,trevally, mangrove jack, long tom and a barracuda. Managed to break the good graphite rod 1 hour into the first morning with the steering arm on the motor, not impressed. Went to the sports store and bought a make do rod, just didn't have the same action. Day 3 we got on board the boat and travelled about 30 km down the coast to picturesque spot called Red Cliffs, anchored up for the night the headed out fishing. Threw soft plastics around the reefs for an hour or so and caught about 30 fish to 35cm in length, coral trout, fingermark, tusk fish, black brown and red oglies, cod and spanish flag. Then went ashore and fished near the rocks where there was a lot of surface action in very dirty shallow water. I cast surface lures while couple of the others fished fly. After about a dozen explosions on my lure(most witin 2 meters of my feet) I finally connected with a barra around 70 cms which ripped about 10 m of line off the reel before throwing the lure on its second set of jumps. My next hookup was a barra of just under 60 cms which was landed and released. The next one that connected was a bigger fish looked 80-90 cms this ripped off 40m of line as it charged out to sea in series of half a dozen jumps before throwing the lure back at me. The fly boys landed a couple of giant herring 1 legal barra and 1 undersize. Back to the boat as it got dark for T-bones and prawns (and liquid refreshments) Next morning went ashore and found a lot of action in a little bay just round the corner from the previous afternoons activity fish landed for the morning included salmon, giant herring, queenies, golden trevally and a selection of reef fish. Those not landed included spanaids, GTs, sharks and others we diddn't get to see. Back to the boat and cooked up a big breakfast while we headed further down the coast to a spot known as Boyds Bay. Anchored up and headed out to chase the big ones while the fly boys went in to fish the beach. WE hooked up four times to what we thought were spanaids using metal slugs in bait school but bitten off each time. Back to the boat to be greeted by the big cod and tawny sharks that hang around under the boat the whole time we are anchored there. One day we had five cod from 1m to over 2m long at the back of the boat plus 8 or 9 tawny sharks. Live bait is easy to get with hundreds of trevally between 5cm and 40cm swiming round and round, plus garfish a little wider. We had another 6 days of fishing lost 20 fish (tuna cobia and spanaids) to the sharks in 1hour one day. We landed a lot of fish including queenfish 110cm x 3, longtail tuna 8 kg spanaids to similar size mack tuna and various reef fish. Spent a lot of time fishing the beaches and another first the fly boys outfished the soft plastics. The fishing this year was a lttle quite two things I think contributed we had very small tides hence not a lot of water movement. Also the inshore water temperature dropped from approx 27 to approx 24 in 36 hours this was when the big storms that hit south Qld forced very cold air up to north Qld we had to sleep with blankets which just dosn't usually happen in Weipa. If any one wants more info on Weipa let me know.

Thanks for an up to date report on Weipa. We will be there in three weeks. I'll spend a couple of days fishing the river then a week on the house boat. The rail bridge is fantastic spot where we've lost a lot of lures and had a great time when the tide is running. Some of those bust offs in near the pylons could have been the resident cod you just can't stop. If you get down the coast a bit the fishing around the bait balls is unbelievable. Were you on tillytoo or Tillymay Bruce

Hi Matt If your'e using public transport another option would be to catch the train to Como station, walk back across the old railway bridge (now pedestrian bridge) and fish of the rocks under the bridge. You have deep water in close on the north side of the Georges River and might even come up with an elusive jewfish. I can't catch them you might. Just watch the descent down from the bridge it's fairly steep. Bruce

Those are great fish and make us very envious and keen to fish again. We fished Como Bridge Monday night 5.30 to 8.00 pm for one throwback jewie, and no other runs. Used squid caught in Port Hacking last weekend,tailor fillets and large green king prawns for bait. That was our sixth jewie trip this year (between Port Hacking and Georges River) and the only one that produced a jewie even if to small. Other trips have only produced flathead bream and tailor. Without giving away spot X can you say whether you fished east or west of the bridges or in between the two bridges. keep hooking em Bruce

Hi I'm heading to South West Rocks for easter and made the decision not to take the boat, so the bar should be flat as. Up there the week before last and there were a lot of blackies moving along the breakwall so even with the current flood conditions they should move into the river with the run in tide near the mouth. Likewise the bream fishing should be ok. Also try the mouth of the creek for blackies on the run in tide. The other place worth a try in the flood conditions is the northern end of Smokey Cape Beach for bream, whiting and flathead which accumulate after being flushed out of the river and creek. Big problem will be if the council open the flood gates on the lower Maclaey. This will release toxic water into the river, a mixture from acid sulphate soil and the decomposing organic matter thats been rotting above the flood gates consuming all the oxygen. There have been some huge fishkills in the river in some floods. One time the water was so bad it killed everything including the weed beds and after about 8 years these are just growing back in many places. Lets hope the weather backs of and lets us fish. Bruce