Jake

Unbelievable!!!! What a great read and amazing capture. Not much structure around those parts either. Must have been cruising up from Long Reef?

Is the lake open at the moment Pete? Best to chase the Jew in the deeper holes in the week leading up to the new moon? I'm still yet to get a jew in the lake. Cheers

Great first report and a great Sydney EP session indeed! Can i ask what lure was doing the damage? Sort of looks like middle harbour in the background

Nice fish and nice release.

Hi Dave. Mate i was just trolling them at their depth range. I think the Trollcraft goes to about 6 foot and the CD9 to about 11 foot. So not deep really. The water was about 20-30 foot deep from memory. I caught the first king on my 30lb gear, then thought i would have a play on the light stuff. Luckly I got the ones on light gear a decent way from structure and kept the boat moving away after hookup. Cheers Nah mate. No room or money for a downrigger unfortunately. The squid strip was just very slowly trolled using a big bean sinker and 1 metre of 40lb Momoi trace to a double snood hook of 6/0 Mustad hoodlum hooks.

It was my plan to target Kingys seriously this summer as i had never really done so properly in the past. Well i headed to middle harbour with some squid i had caught and frozen from last week. Slow trolled my leccy with a big weight and a strip of squid just west of the spit bridge. After 2 mins tap, tap BIG BEND. I'm on!! I knew this had to be a kingy after hearing, reading and seeing so much on the subject. Went hard on it as i was very close to the marina. Got him up pretty quick with my 30lb outfit and you little beauty in the net! 59cm kingy. Although undersize i was stoked and did a fair amount of fist pumping for the next few minutes. Lost another near the boat soon after. Then went trolling back to a point where i had missed a good run trolling out earlier in the day. I had though it must have been a salmon. Well three more kingys later i sure proved it was no salmon. First one hit a 7cm cheap red and white Trollcraft lure on my 8lb outfit. Great fun on the light stuff. Second pass and DOUBLE HOOKUP!, one on the Trollcraft the other on a newly purchased CD9 pilchard pattern. Went hard on the 8lb to get it in quickly but snapped me off near the boat, the other i got in on the 10lb braid, 3-5kg rack raider. Another pass and CD9 does it again. Left them biting. The sounder was showing heaps of bait and a few arches. They must have holed up there all day. Now i definitely know what to look for! Heaps of fun, but only little rats all between 55-60cm. Monkey off the back, now for a biggun!

Wind knots in expensive braid. Gulp sp's (especially the shrimp) that come out of the packet bent out of shape, therefore don't swim as well.

Aahh makes sense, great set-up. In regards to the barra, it might not be that long with global warming that a barra takes a trip on the currents and pop's his nose into Forster, now that would be a sight Actually, do you ever get mangrove jacks in Forster? Maybe that could be an unknown skunker that does you in the racks sometimes? I know they get the odd one in Port and Laurieton around the breakwalls - watch out SX40's!!!

That was a great read Roberta, really enjoyed it. My Dad's also been done by big jewies a few times fishing with nippers for bream etc off the Camden Haven breakwall just north of you. Fun while it lasts anyway! Just a question - I noticed the four rods in your yak. I only ever take two for sp fishing. What's your different set up and ideas with the four rods? I suppose one was for the mullet fishing? Cheers PM

Wow, that's a heap of jew! How dirty is the water you fish in and do you ever use plastics with success there? Thanks

Just wondering what would be the best depth, size and colour for deep diving minnows on Kingys? Hoping to get a few around sydney heads this year instead of the usuall methods. XRaps the best? Cheers

Some good solid flaties there. Nice one!

Hodgey did a how to guide on bream poppering which is defintley worth a read. Has all the detail and info you need. But basically i cast out, let it sit for a few seconds, then do 2-3 short blooping tugs, let it sit for aprrox 3-5 seconds then 2-3 more blooping tugs, sit for 3-5 seconds etc etc. Most often they hit on the 3-5 second pause. If I see a boil or slight tap on the popper but no hook up, I let it sit and just slightly twitch the popper without moving it forward, this usually draws a strike. I never use snaps anymore on all my lures. With softies i use a uni not that's not drawn down all the way to the jig head so it leaves a loop. When the fish hits the knot draws tight, so it's the best of both worlds. Then you can pull the knot back again to create the loop. With poppers i tie a locked blood knot all the way to the tow point, i like the direct feel without the loop. Yeah when i used to yak fish i used the snaps for hard bodies, just for ease of change over. But with the small lures you use in the lake i think it does effect their action. Cheers

That's just an unbelievable capture! Congratulations on the fish and effort of a lifetime Would be very interested to know what was the plastic and size jig you were using? How deep was the water? Cheers

No prob's. Yep that would be the culprit for sure. Unless it was the mysterious giant herring! I've only caught two before in the lake, the other one was up the back around from pipeclay point. Not bad on light gear hey. Destroy the plastic though! There are also some decent garfish in the lake at present, might be worth a shot in your yak with bread. Been catching some big ones in Pittwater recently too. With the bream you are in the perfect craft. I used to yak fish the lake for many years before i got the boat 14 mths ago. I must admit i've probably had my best fishing for bream with nippers in the lake, but it's a lot more satisfying to get them on lures. Your definitly in the perfect craft to get them on poppers late in the summer arvo's. Just do long casts over weed/sand flats in about a metre or less of water, guaranteed hits. The bushy stiffy popper in clear with blue spots is working for me at present. With plastics for bream I find using light jig heads the best, around the 1/24 oz and lighter. Just slight twitches. The 2inch gulp shrimp is great, with a tiny treble stinger really helping on the smaller fish. Up the back of the lake at either ends i get a lot on 3" powerbait minnows in pumpkinseed or the 3" gulp minnow in smelt late in the day. Try and find the small shrimp fleeing the surface, guaranteed bream. Or just look for the little boils. A lot easier to cast to feeding fish. Up the back there its less than a mtere of water so i often go resin head or weightless jigs that go into the powerbait minnow plastic completley. Great hits and great fight in shallow water. Finally, funny enough up the back, compared to the eastern parts, i often get the bream on relatively open flats with no weed. It's almost like they've gone pelagic chasing down shrimp bait balls All the best. Roberta - Too true, it's always heart in the mouth with those big girls. You try and have a sneak peek when your fighting them to see (and pray) the you've hooked her in the corner, not in the throat

G'day boomer. Great to hear your thoughts and ideas. Yeah the 3" minnow is hard to beat, but never tried that colour in the lake, might give it a go. Handy because it's a good size and shape for both bream and flathead. I agree colour is the least important factor with flatties. Everytime i think i've found the best flathead lure i try another size, shape or colour and find that works almost as well. I think the best lure often ends up being the one you use the most. But when times are tuff i end tying on either a gulp 3" pumpkinseed grub, 2" new penny shrimp, 3 or 4" minnow in smelt (mullet look a like), with the 80mm squidgy fish in silver fox for the deeper parts. I've found natural colours, sizes and shapes imitating the natural food sources in narra lake to work best, more so than other sytems i fish. With prawns/shrimp, mullet and biddy/herring type things making up most of the bait these lures really "match the hatch". I've often thought about trying the worms. I've shyed away from using them as i thought it wouldn't give enough impact on the bottom to get the flathead fired up. Bream would be fine. I'll try them now for sure, cheers. For the shallows i agree, i don't go heavier than 1/16 oz and i often go weightless or use the 1/50oz type jig where it goes fully into the plastic. Especially good on the bream up the back with 3" gulp power minnows and with the 2" gulp shrimp on flathead. I've only recently been hitting the deeper parts with heavier jigs (1/3 oz - 1/8oz) after Hodgeys recent advice on winter flathead. It's really worked for me, especially with the squidgy fish type plastics. All my big flathead have come in Spring, which makes sense as they're the big breeders. Less in qty better in size. I agree, when the water warms up you get a lot of 40-45cm flathead (gooe eating size). Funny I've had my best fishing (especially for bream) in morning and especially arvo sessions (but maybe that's just because i fish those times the most). Tide doesn't seem to be such a factor in the lagoon compared to most systems, probably because it's minimal tidal movement, especially up the back. Interseting you use mono. Not tried braid? Heaps of fun on that light gear though hey. I used to do a bit of saltwater flyfishing in the lake with crazy charlies and the like for flathead and bream. Would like to get one of those big bulley mullet but i've heard they're pretty hard to coax onto a bread fly. Have heard of EP's in there but never caught one, only in sydney harbour. Have you got them and where/when? I've even heard of mangrove jack and giant herring in there, now that would be interesting. It's such a nice place to fish. On sunset up the back, even on weekends, you feel like you were a million miles from Sydney. And in summer it feels "alive" with fish.

Nice catch in trying conditions. Were you fishing the hole out the front of the caravan park?

Thanks fellas. I usually launch at Jamison Park. No problem on low tide, although I have a v-nose 3.5 metre punt which can handle shallow conditions. I wouldn't take a massive boat out there anyway, doesn't suit it. The only issue is getting to the grounds north/east of Jamison Park because of the main weed beds in front. It's very shallow there at the moment. I used my electric to try and guide me through the shortcut but it was tricky. Might be better off at the moment to power over to wakehurst parkway side and go around the channel that way. Longer distance but easier, deeper water. Of course if your heading west from Jamison Park you will have no probs.

Hit Narra Lake at a cruizy hour of 9am with the electric purring for some light tackle spinning. Nice conditions. Went with a shrimp pattern as it was the lead up to the dark moon. Thought the flathead might be coming up to the shallows too with the warmer water arriving. Anyway within the first 20 mins had that great feeling of twitch, twitch thud! when you know you've hit a semi decent flathead. Hit just at the drop off in only a metre of water. Performed beautifully with multiple line burning runs. Result this 68cm girl. Caught on 2-4kg pflugger, 1000 stradic, 4lb fireline, 8lb vanish leader, 1/16th nitro jig and 2 inch gulp new penny shrimp After a decent swim sent this breeder on its way to go populate the lagoon once more. Then later hit the deeper water with heavier gear and jig head as the sun was high in the sky. Got this flathead at 49cm on a 100mm wriggler. Beer battered that night for dinner. Along with some tailor, bream and a big long tom is was a fun and satisfying half day on the water. Cheers

Excellent stuff. Great fun back there hey. Very atmospheric of an afternoon. Shallow water too and the bream go super hard. I caught some good flathead on sat futher east, check out the lure section, i'll post it now. Cheers

Those big bully sea mullett are hard to get on anything. I use to catch the odd 30cm mullet on bread flies, but would usually have to add a little actual bread to the fly to get consistent results. Trick is to get them into a feeding frenzy with the bread, then place your fly right in the hot zone so they are competing to just smack it. I've been noticing on TV, vids etc that a number of big mullett are accidentally getting caught on soft plastics.

That's a beautiful looking Jewie, great condition. Great fun on light tackle i bet. Nice work.

They are there in size but not quantity at the moment. I got my PB flathead for Narra Lake yesterday at 68cm. I will do a post in the lure section tonight with pics.

And they work on trout too. I went down for the opening season a few weeks ago and got smashed by a very large trout in a shallow stream. I think it was the 309 but i'll never see that lure again!

I have to agree with Slinky on this front. I think if you build up a relationship with your local tackle store it's definitley better long term. You end up with the right advice, you know what you are paying for and will most often get a discount anyway if you are a regular customer. I did my one and only purchase online for a mid-priced threadline and although it's fine, it's got a bit of a differnt play on it than the ones i tried in the tackle store. Maybe i'm being a bit paranoid but i think every rod and reel has it's own very subtle difference. Thats why i like to have a play with the exact outfit i'm going to buy before i fork over the big $. (Of course supporting local busines is very important but we won't go there). Jake