Jake

R U guys going to downrigg the front deepwater ledges?

Don't know anything about the areas but have you seen the Adventure Bound episode on kingies at Jarvis. That got me PUMPED! I'm jeleous.

Night time makes all the difference. I reckon if it's dirty water or night time they are a lot less shy. I've caught some big bream on mullet strips made for jewies at night off the beach. And these bream have just sat and sucked them all the way down, i'm talking 4/0's in the gut. Clear, shallow water or heavily fished areas like pittwater for example i would not go any heaver than an 8lb. Yet i caught my biggest bream of 43cm just recently in a hole in sydney harbour on a 14lb trace, although it was flurocarbon and deep water. Cheers

Geez that's a nice bag of fish. Just a note on penguins - I allways thought penguins would be able to tell the difference between a real baitfish and a lure, or a baitfish with a hook in it. Well I was proved wrong a few months ago when i was trolling in pittwater. I saw a boil behind my lure, slowed down, gave a few twiches and i was on. This thing just did barrel rolls to the boat where i discovered to my horror it was a penguin. Had to get him into the boat to get the hooks out. He chucked a massive tanty but finally got a towel around his head, managed to subdue him long enough to get the hooks out and put him back in the drink. We were both a little shaken up by the experience, but I've learnt my lesson and i hope the penguin did too! Anyone else caught a penguin before???

Just like to say a quick thanks to Tony for the left over weed from that session with Steve. First go at blackies on weed got me a 28cm blackfish yesterday, i was stoked!! Also caught a few smaller specimens. I think i'm hooked on luderick fishing! PS - That's some nice bream right there! Cheers

Caught a few in pittwater off a wharf late last year around the 25cm mark. Go hard for there size. My dad lives up near Port Maquarie and the luderick fisherman up there have been hassled by these guys at times off the brekwalls up there. More of a pest to them. Is happy moments a different fish altogether?

G'day mate, I hit Pitty on Sat arvo with bonito fillets, squid and pillies. Only managed one legal bream and under sized snapper and large yakkas. Was fishing light and got busted off on what would have been some biggish tailor. Squid will be a bit quieter now but still around the seagrass beds of barrenjoey and the wharfs around there. I have had the odd kingy follow of late but no hook ups. There's less of them now but bigger specimens. I don't head around the corner much where you are going (only got a 3.5 metre v-nose punt) , but after this rain you should be in with a show for Jews. Would love to know a Jew spot inside Pitty where i can have a go with large sp's or live baits? Anyone???? While i'm at it i might as well ask where the wrecks are in Pitty? A PM would be greatly appreciated! Cheers

Hi AJ, I used to chase Jews or tailor/salmon/flathead/bream or whiting off the beach but not so much now that i've got a boat. Zenman's on the money. I love the run up to the high also and have seen jews caught around me whilst whiting fishing! Biggest on a humble frozen pillie on ganged hooks, not fair really but still great to see. I found some beaches have more crabs than others. Narra beach does seem to have more sand crabs than most. That spot you fished is very good (especially now after the rain) and gets busy in summer, but a soft fish bait like a pillie will get mauled quickly by crabs unless you fish with a light weight so it's not anchored to the bottom. Here's a little summary from my experience - Narrabeen - Great whiting beach in summer - i use nippers, but worms probably better. Best early morning or night. Great for Jew with sturdy baits like mullet and squid. Dee Why/Longy - Great for tailor, salmon, sharks, jew, bream, flatties. Pillies, slab fish baits. Curly off the sthn pool for tailor (keep the rig light) Warriewood - tailor, flathead Newport - Jews I fish a threadline 8lb mono straight to a long shank hook with a small ball sinker for whiting, 12lb mono threadline for tailor,salmon,bream, flathead and an alvey 20lb mono for jew. Have thought about braid but often you hit weed on these beaches and the thought of trying to untangle a braid/weed bundle of crap just scares me. Basically if you find a good deep gutter on any of the nthn beaches, have good fresh bait and fish around the high from arvo to night you will eventually score. Hope this helps. Cheers

Hi Peter, I fish Narra Lake all the time with sp's but was thinking of hitting the blackies this winter. Is weed or cabbage better in the lake? I know where i can get cabbage but not weed. Thanks

Nice one. I love the 3" gulp grubs for flatties and bigger bream. Although the small bream love to chop the tails off. Tried the 2" grubs to avoid this problem but get less hits on them and they just don't fit on the right jig head/hook as nice so back to the 3" size. Pumpkinseed colour my fav.

Top effort! I've only caught the one before in Pittwater. Which side of Pitty did you get them on the western or eastern? Cheers

Cheers Dan and Iceman for the good advice. If only there were Kings in Narrabeen Lake!

G'day Raiders, Just wondering if anyone out there has any advice on the best "walk the dog" style poppers to use on bream, flatties, whiting etc??? I use "normal" poppers, but was thinking that the hook up rate might increase on the slender, stick bait style walk the dog types??? Plus it looks like a fun way to fish. I'll be fishing with them over weed/mud flats and drop offs around the 1-3 foot depth. Is this the best place to use them? Natural colours best? Size? Shape? Technique? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks heaps. PS - Tried a silver torpedo style one sund arvo (brand Smiths i think) about 45mm with little wings on the side. It would do a slight back and forth walk the dog style by just realing straight in. Had a few hits and caught 1 small bream.

They love a bunch of worms, especially off the beach. Unfortunatley everything else that swims does too! Here's a gross generalisation ... but .... - I reckon in general we anglers "think" we know about 80% of fishes habits but in reallity i think it's closer to half that. That's why i love it, you never stop learning. And if I caught a stack of fish everytime i went out i wouldn't bother fishing at all. Great story though and very interesting.

That's some fantastic results and drag pulling fun. I've done the N.T trip twice, with the second one 2 years ago at Melville Island absolutley out of this world variety and quantity of fish caught, with amazing scenery thrown in. I recommend it to anyone. You can't beat the north, you have me frothing for more!!!

That's great advice!! I'll put it to practice. Thanks Jewgaffer!

Raiders, I'm off to Byron Bay tmrw for a week and was wondering about the fishing potential. Surfing trip but i know i won't be able to help myself and have a cast. I'm staying in the middle of Byron just opposite the main beach there. Not offshore, just estuary and maybe light beach fishing. Don't have a car so something local. I'll just be taking a telescopic 6'6 rod and a light threadline and some lures and a few hooks and sinkers. Any estuary/jetty fishing close by? Any local tackle stores also? Cheers

Hi Jewgaffer, Would you use a treble or a single stinger hook for a live pike bait?

Sounds like it could have beeen a tailor. They seem to have a habit of bitting either side of the hook.

I do a bit of brekwall fishing up mid north coast on holidays targeting bream, flathead and whiting. You could use your jew gear to live bait with herring close in to the wall for big flathead, just find a good whole (and a good local ) With the blackfish and gar use a 7-8 foot slow taper light rod and either a small threadline or centrepin reel. Then just use a quill/pencil float and small (approx size 10) hook. Obviously weed is the go for blackies and bread or pices of prawn for gar. The trick for these two species is to find a good eddy in close to the wall. That's where they hang out and also your burly (blackies - sand/weed mixed together, for garfish- bread) won't float away with the current. With bream, whitting, smaller flathead etc the key is to keep moving WITH the current. Don't put out a massive weight and just sit on a rock. The best thing is to "walk" your bait along the breakwall. That way it looks natural, you can use a lighter weight and you don't have to re-cast every five seconds. You'll need a bit of a stiffer rod for this but still light and around 7-8 foot. Light threadline and just a ball sinker straight down to a number 2 long shank hook. Nippers are my number 1 bait for this. But any firm strip bait like mullet etc will be good. Sinker weight should only be enough to cast out, most fish are pretty close to the wall itself but be carefull of snags. These bread and butter fish can be anywhere along the wall, no need to get too close to the mouth. With pelagics though, they are usually at the end of the breakwall near the entrance. High speed spinning with metal lures or a floated whole pillie should get you some action. I usually stay a way from this area as it can be a bit dangerous out there. Maybe could use your jew gear for this. Hope this helps.

Thanks guys. Although i love releasing the big salmon, there is so many of them around these days i wouldn't mind keeping a few for bait. Do you think bream, trevally, tailor, bonito or even salmon would take a fillet?

Cheers!

Just want to know if Aussie Salmon are that good for bait and what species would you traget with them. I'm not talking whole little livies but slabs or filletts of the larger salmon. I heard jewies like them off the beach?? But i'm more interested if they are worth using as cut baits in Sydney Harbour, Pittwater etc. Or do they not even compare to pillies, slimies etc as fish baits??? Thanks

I agree. Although i don't fish the hawkesbury, more pittwater (although i suppose they are sort of one in the same). Even though i live right near Pitty, I have chosen the drive to Sydney Harbour this year as I am doing 3 times as well in that fishery. I prefer to fish Pitty from an asthetic point of view but the size, quantity and variety is just no comparison to my Sydney Harbour results. Even the charter guys are saying the same thing.

Went chasing Kings in Pitty after hearing that a few had moved in. Got some live yakkas at my fav wharf and hit the heads around 7am. Towed them all around for zilch. Then anchored up at my fav point inside Pittwater on western side and started a bury trail and set out a live yakka. First little pesky snapper coming in on my light threadline got followed right up to the boat by a solid Kingy (est approx 70-80cm). Water was gin clear and was amazing to watch this Kingy follow my little snapper around right near/on the surface. Tried to switch bait him with the yakka on the heavy stuff but not interested (was actually more interested in my bean sinker!). Maybe the 40lb mono leader put him off?? Next little snapper came up and it happend again! Exciting and frustraing. Never caught a kingy before so my knees were shaking and the heart a racing! Put down a fresh frozen squid head but not interested either. Anyway gave up on the king and started bringing in a few 30-35cm breams and a nice trev of 35cm on pillie fillet and squid. Was getting cut off without knowing it occasionaly so thought there might be some good tailor or bonito around. Then had a massive run on my 6lb outfit that spat the hook - felt like bonito for sure as it came up high in the water column. So put out an unweighted strip of squid and lef it in the rod holder. After a while the rod starts sparodically zinging. Thought it was just an ok snapper or trev as i picked up the rod but as i brought it in it went ape s#@! near the boat. Looked like a bonito or maybe even a spotted mackeral in the water. After a great 5 min fight on my little 1000 stradic a Watsons Leaping Bonito hits the net. I was stoked! I had heard they come into pitty occasionallly but a pretty rare capture non the less. Jeez they go hard and even more eratic and fast runs than a normal bonnie. Went 45cm's. Such a pretty fish too. Had a mate swimming with him so kept him for the table. Hope it eats ok? Try one fillet and if ave use the other for bait! Totaled 5 legals, kept three which is a lot better than what pitty has been producing for me. No sydney harbour but at least the pros haven't got them all. Maybe I won't give up on this fishery just yet. Cheers Jake