Jake

You gotta love it up there. I lived in Bonny Hills for a year and we have owned a holiday house up there since i was 6. Caught some nice tailor off Grants (shark) beach and a few off Rainbow. The Camden Haven's got to be one of the best estuaries in NSW and the best nipper grounds i have ever come across in my travels. Nice haul! Jake

Aww sweet, sorry boyz. For my own reference, any fish caught off the beach (in NSW) would be sand or tigers? Or can you just tell by collouration? Say around the mouth of lagoons/lakes that enter the sea (i.e narrabeen beach) )wouldn't duskies come out and cruize along the beach at times? Cheers Jake

Nice session. Noticed that you said first flattie was 34cm. Legal size is 36cm so next time that little beauty should go back in the drink.

Nice report, although a little too much detail Top fish though!

i'VE BEEN STRUGGLING TOO! Just the odd bream on sp's, no flatties. Might be the drop in water temp. Did hook a massive stingray on a sp but broke off after 10 mins battle.

Hey Josh, I fish Narra Lake a lot. Use to from the banks, then moved into a kayak and now from a tinnie with a bow mounted electric. Pete's on the money re his suggestions. Basically anywhere where you can find intermitent weed and sand patches. Most of my fish i get in less than a metre of water hard up against the weeb beds - where the little shrimp/prawns/baitfish are. I use to kayak around pipeclay point and most often scored flatties and some bream on small hard body lures (small attacks in pink/black my fav). I got my biggest ever whitting off the flats on the wetern side of ocean st bridge (44cm) on peeled prawn at night. But most success on nippers, with dusk and night time the best (shallow clear water so they feel more comfortable coming up on dark). If you can get small live pody mullet you will get into the bigger flathead. I release any over 55cm as they are mainly all females at that size. Whitebait is great though. I use a long shank 2 hook. Go thru the tail and out the eye, then do a half hitch around the tail - this secures it nicely. One of the simplest and most fun methods i find is just taking some bread (and maybe a few frozen prawns), a few hooks and split shots down opposite the caravan park just on the corner of the weed beds at the bend. Use 4lb line, small #8 hook and small split shot a meter up the line. Chuck out a bit of bread on top and under the water. Put a little on your hook (bread or prawn) and you will get good mullet and legal bream and occasionaly whiting and blackfish. Great fun on light line and no weight. Now it's all soft plastics for me in the tinny - around the main weed bed opposite wimbledon ave and up the back of the lake. Lot's of flathead and bream and on sunday scored a 36cm whiting on a softy. Narra lake is probably the most underestimated bit of water in NSW i reckon. I get more legal fish out of there than anywhere. And it's the most prettiest and quiet place to fish in Sydney, especially on sunset. Hope this helps mate. Jake

Thanks to all for the reply's and advice. Can't wait to pop my Kingy cherry The kingfish social sounds good. Cheers, Plastic Man

I'm a new member and I would just like to say G'day to everyone. I've just cottoned on to fishraider as a forum. I use to read the articles but didn't realise the depth of this website - it's bloody fantastic! Definitley beats the other forum websites I've checked out. So after reading a lot of reports and the like I decided to become a member. I'm a long time fishing fanatic from the nthn beaches who fishes the harbours, estuaries, beach, freshwater streams, out of kayaks and a newly purchased 3.5m runabout. Basically anywhere for anything. My main goal this summer is to get a Kingy (no surprise there!). Just started trying but with no luck yet. I think I have to focus more on Sydney Harbour than Pitty. I've learned a lot from all of you guys/girls so thanks heaps and the reports certainly wet the appatite. If anyone has more specific info on Kingy spots in Pittwater (wrecks/ markers etc) and Sydney Harbour it would be GREATLY apprecited - Just send me a personal message. I'm aware people don't want to give too much away but any info would help. I'm trying to nail one by myself before i resort to a charter for help. Thanks Jake (Plastic Man) PS - Sorry for the long winded essay!!

I agree with all of that inhlanzi. I alo think the fact that Pitty is such a clear and reasonably shallow system causes the fish to be a lot more shy than the harbour fish. It would be interesting to compare fish diaries of sydney harbour before the commercial guys left and Pitty at the same time - say 3-4 years ago. I reckon the catch rates would be a lot more similar back then, than they are today. I agree though about the bait fish situation - that shouldn't be affected as much by the commercial guys should it? I use to see a lot more bait fish, especially in the bays on the eastern side than i do these days. Any tips on the the wrecks or kingy spots i talked about. Or is this hush hush - if so that's fair enough i reckon. Cheers Plastic

I'm with both you guys! I just bought a runabout 3 months ago, after doing a lot of years kayaking in Pitty. I though the boat would give me a lot better chance at the Pittwater kings. However, it's been zilch so far after quite a few outings. From what i've heard if you don't downrig with live squid it's going to be tuff, and so far that seems to be true. I've had the odd follow on slug-os around markers but that's it. I've heard of "the supermarket" and "Kingfish Alley" but don't know exactly where these are. Plus i've heard it's all about the wrecks and I've tried dsounding for these but haven't found any yet. I think these spots are mainly around Clareville. Can anyone tell me where these spots are???!!! It will save me a LOT of time. Also, I use to catch a lot of bonito, salmon, tailor and frigates out of the yak and they seem to have dissapeared this summer. Maybe all the commercial fisherman who had to leave Sydney Harbour have netted out Pitty.

Yeah, it was a hot day and I forgot the ice so that wouldn't have helped the taste.

I got into a school of them the other day in north harbour. They were all about that size and were caught on slimmy fillets. I did lose a bigger one trolling a CD7 copy minnow. Released them all bar one, thought i would give one a taste test. Can't say I was overly happy with the flavour, ok, but not great. Might have been the preperation. Will release anymore I catch as there a great fight on light gear.

Hey guys, i'm a new member, how's it going. I agree with all above. I find if they are a bit finicky to drop down in size of the jig and it usually does the trick. Also the first colour i put on is pink. Cheers