Burnsy

I ventured out for an early session up at Cowan Creek this morning. I was on the water by 6.00am and it was looking good with the tide running up. The first hour was quite with a few half hearted bumps and a couple of follows. The ever persistent leather jacket destroyed a few of my sp's as usual. I was casting at some yauhts near Cottage Point when I noticed something working baitfish in nearer to the shore. The boils looked like big tailor. My three inch power bait got scoffed as soon as it landed and I was into a decent fish. Several sprinting runs and headshakes down deep later and my second biggest bream was on the deck at 35cm. I spent the next hour working snags and submerged rocks along the shore line for nil. I was starting to think the "one bream curse"was going to haunt me for the third week in a row. I came across a little bay on the eastern side of the main creek that was copping some waves from the larger boats. It was stirring up the bank and causing a clay bank to collapse into the water causing a dirty water line along the edge. I hooked up solid on my second cast and a 29cm bream was in the net after a few anxious moments when the leader became caught in some weed. A couple of small Lizards followed pretty quickly and I saw more bream working some baitfish but they did not want to play. Both fish fell to Olive/Watermelon 3" power baits with 1/32 ounce jig heads. I am yet to have a really good session on the bream up at Cowan Creek, the fish seam to be scattered about and you put in a lot of casts in between. I would be interested to hear from anyone else who fishes the area who get more consistent results. Bursny.

Thanks Jewel, I am becoming a one fish wonder, my last three sessions I have ended up with one bream. Hardest part is getting to know the harbour. I have been fishing the area around Cockatoo Island up to the Lane Cove river. I am yet to have any real success pulling fish from the moored yachts, I have been mainly working man made structure and a couple of drop offs I have found with good water flow. Burnsy

What type of plastics did you use in the harbour on the bream? I spent four hours on the hardbour today throwing plastics for one 30cm bream and a couple of strikes. Burnsy

Cheers Hazza, I will be back out there on Sunday for another session. I might grab some gulp worms and give them a rip Burnsy

I noticed a lot of the ABT boats moving continually, they would scream over to a bay, hit it with a dozen or so casts and be gone. I figured they were working hard trying to locate the fish. One thing I have worked out with the harbour is that water movement is like a switch. The bream are there, you polaroid heaps but they are hard to get to play until the water starts to move. I am yet to have a good session on them in the harbour but the more time I spend on the water the more I get to know a few realiable areas that consistantly hold fish. I would be really interested to know what lures the boats who did well in the ABT were using. You can spend a lot of time on new water working it out. I am gettting to like the clear flickbaits, the last few fish I have caught them have been really agro strikes which is fun. Burnsy Yep, that's what keeps me chasing Bream on plastics, its hard... I was reading about an interesting technique last night were you have a spare rod rigged with a SP when you are using other types of lures and if you get a refusal you switch straight to the SP which often produces a strike on the second cast. I might try adapting it to having two differnt SP's rigged and if I get a soft take or bump on one put the second one straight on the fish. A 2 inch hawg on rod 1 and flickbait on rod 2 should provide decent variation. Oh well will just have to buy another bream spinning outfit Yeah its funny, chasing Lizards I will continually change sp's when fishing productive ground if I am not getting results until something works. With Bream I have struggled and have found that changing from a SP that has been consistant really hard. I guess as you spend more time at it and start to get results on a few different SP's you end up with 3-4 favourite pattens that you can work with. I had been doing well up in Cowan Creek on 2 inch watermelon hawgs over the past few months. Burnsy

I finally had the chance to get out and chase some Bream on plastics yesterday. I put the boat in the water at 6.00am and started working the trusty 2inch watermelon hawgs around some yachts and mangroves up near Hunters Hill. I had several bumps but nothing solid. After 1/2 hour I headed over an spent some time working the rock walls on Cockatoo Island, more bumps and a few follows and I was starting to doubt the hawg. There must have been a bream comp on as there were heaps of very flash bream boats charging all over the joint and the crews were all wearing life jackets. Time for a lure change, I switched to 3 inch squidley flickbait in clear and started working a drop off where there was a bit of current and heaps of baitfish. I got smashed on the third cast and blooded my new real on a very fat 35cm bream. The fish went like the clappers and four runs later and a couple of minutes slugging it out under the boat and it was in the net. First bream for the new year. I took a photo with my phone camera but it was pretty ordinary. I worked the same 30 meter section of bank catching half a dozen smallish Lizards and missing a few more agressive bream strikes before having to pull the pin. (an hour late but you get that) It was only my 3rd time fishing the harbour and I am finding that my trusty plastics that work up at the Hawkesbury don't seem to get hit as hard. Or was it the tide, or the moon phase or the water temp... got to love Bream spinning. Can't wait till next weekend Burnsy.

I headed up to the Hawkesbury yesterday to look for some bream and flatties. It started flogging down rain when the boat slid off the trailer. My 2" hawg was smacked near some structure on the third cast but it did not hook up, I started to retrieve the plastic to check it when a fish bolted up to the side of the boat and smashed it on the surface. I was stoked... my first EP, only a little bloke at 27cm but I was suprised how solid the fish was. I picked up a 40cm flathead a few casts later then the rain really came down. Refuse to go home... Visibility down to 20ft. Should have gone home. I dropped not one but five lizards in a row, I think the jig head I was using on the 4 " power minow might have been to small, I would get weight, a couple of head shakes and then slack line. I was well and truly soaked by 10am and called it quits.

Yeah, my mum and sister moved up there last year so I will be making an annual pilgramidge up there from now on. The tides up there as hard to get used to I went to fish Eli Creek one morning and couldn't find any water, the creek mouth was 700 meters away on a sandbar. There is good fishing to be had up there. Next time I am going to chase Cobia on Soft Plastics, there is supossed to be heaps of them up there.

Many moons ago I use to spin the beach up at Fingal Bay were I lived as a teenager for flatties. I swore by Blue and White Nilsmaster Spearheads and use to take great delight in consistenly outfishing my mates sometimes working the lures side by side with there's to prove a point. Then to my dismay Nilsmaster stopped producing the colour. This was back in the early nineties. The other week I was in Otto's Fishy Business at Dromoyne and to my surprise there was a Blue and White spearhead sitting on the wall. Mine... I had been hanging for the chance to use it and was up at Kingfihser Bay resort last week. Dead low tide two foot of water of sand on the edge of a rock wall perfect conditions. Third cast and a big headshake put a smile on my face. Still working. The flattie went 71cm and I welcomed back on old favourite. I have some theories on spearheads. The work exceptionally well in two - three foot of water over sand. The reason is simple you can give them a few quick crants to get them down to the sand and then almost stop them and work them ever so slowley, they throw up heaps of sand and stay down because of the wings on the head force the nose down, blue and white just works. Probably because it looks so much like mullet. Its funny with all the crazes I am a dedicated SP man. But my faith in hardbodies just took a big step forward. Burnsy.

Hi All, I just spent a week in Hervey Bay and over on Fraser Island and had a bloody ball. QLD always suprises me with the size of the fish. Day 1 saw us out in the boat fishing for reds. I managed my first two fish on SP's, one 42cm and one 43cm as well as a small yellowtail king. Day 2 I was over at Kingfisher resort on Fraser Island. I was up a 4.30 keen to fish the wharf. I nailed a 71cm flattie on my third cast on a blue and white spearhead (Old favourite) , a 65cm flattie on a 5 inch Kokata minow, dropped two more in the fist 30 mins and then the tide started to run and the place went mental. I watched in awe as 1 meter long flatties moved in over the sandflats and horded up baitfish in bait balls, then Mac Tuna started working in two foot of water in front of me, followed by Spanish Makeral. I suceeded in getting blown away with Mac Tuna attacking my flattie plastics. I managed a 42cm Trevally to finish the session. Day 3 back for another early moring on Kingfisher Wharf. Things were a bit quiter as the tide was later, then the Mac Tuna arrived and the Spanish Mackeral. The big lizards were there but would not play point blank regardless of what I through at them. Got blown away my more Mac Tuna. Day 4 back out in the boat fishing the end of a rock wall that had current running hard. I was casting a 4 inch white squidgey and working it back when I was smashed and started loosing a lot of line. I saw the splash of a jump and called it for a queenfish, fist on a SP which I boated at 76cm. I had several more follows by the queenies, then managed a 60cm yellowtail kingfish followed by small fingermark Bream. New species for the trip on plastics were Squire, Queenfish, Yellowtail Kingfish, Fingermark Bream. I am still blown away at having the chance to watch the big flatties feeding. I have never seen it before and I was suprised at how quickley they were moving in over the shallows. I learnt one valuble lesson big flatties like big plastics. I lost my last 5 inch Kokoda minow at the end of the first day and could not get them to play on 3 inch power minows, squidgeys or any of the other array of soft plastics I had as they were all 3 inch tails. Burnsy

Richie, I have been fishing Apple Tree from my boat a bit lately. I have found that 2inch Power Hawgs in Watermelon are producing the best results fishing on a 1/22 jig head. Also, try going down in leader size to 5lb clear as the water around there tends to be very clear. I have found anywere you can find large submerged rocks just off the shore produces the best results. Burnsy A big fat zero for me this morning at ATB. No biggie though as it was a scouting mission. I got there at 5.00am at low tide so I could spy out any likely looking structure I could hit on another day when the tide was high. I found enough to make today worthwhile. Geez there was a thick fog aound though. Anyway, during my wander (I made it around to the next bay along the path) I spied some monster bream. Casting 1/16 was splashing enough to spook the fish so I changed down to 1/22. Now I could cast to these leviathans. All was well until I started to retrieve, it would scare the larger fish away! Didn't matter what retrieve I tried, or what sp I used. I left at 9.30 as I promised SWMBO I'd be home at 10. Atomic Avocado 2" fat grubs got a really good reaction from the smaller bream. Watermelon 2" and 3" power minnows aroused the leatherjackets as well. Anything with a red or brown tinge got a cool reception. Has anyone else noticed that a 1/16 is not enough to get a squidgy paddletail or grub to work on the drop? I need to work on my technique - are there any sp fisho's going out next saturday or sunday to ATB, Figtree or anywhere else Northside (as long as they can tell me how to get there... I only know ATB and FTB) and wouldn't mind a curious onlooker? Cheers guy's, Richie.

Riggy, I live in Rozelle and have a 3.9 V Nose punt with casting decks and electric. I am yet to fish the Lane Cover River or Parra River, as I have been launching from Apple Tree Bay to get away from the crowds. I normally get out on Sunday mornings from 5am to Midday. If you are keen to catch up for a fish let me know. I could use some help from someone who knows the harbour area Burnsy

Hi All, I am heading up to Hervey Bay for a week in mid October and was hoping someone might know the area or someone who lives up there and would be interested in meeting up to fish the area. I am really keen to chase some big lizards on SP's and Golden Trevally on the flats. Burnsy

Dulp... that would be a 1/16th... I think a stand up 130 might be needed for the 16 ounce jig heads.

Yeah, I was Breamin. I used a 16 ounce jig head. The retieve was just letting the jig sink, slow lift of the rod, then repeated with a couple of quick double taps. Most of the hits came about half way back to the boat. It is bloody good fun on light tackle.

I got up before the sun and headed up to Cowan Creek to catch the last half of the run out tide on Sunday. I spent a couple of hours in pristine conditions working my way along the rock walls with the electric and throwing 2" watermelon hawgs at any cover I could find. The day started well with a respectable fish on the second cast and ended with a Pb of 40cm. Three fish in all, with a few missed bumps along the way. Each of the fish came from on the edges of large submerged rocks that were in around 10ft of water. Sorry no photos as I don't own a digital camera yet. Bursny

Fished the lake yesterday in my mates new 4.5 Bluefin. Blooded my new bream spinning rod with my first bream on a 2 inch pumkinseed power hawg on the 5th cast over the weed flats. Dropped a couple of fish and then headed over to a power station outlet. My mate nailed one more bream on a 3 inch power shad. Two decent flaties escaped courtesy of the wanker that pinched me mates net. Pretty quite day, but given the 20 - 30 knot westerly we fished in that was to be expected. Burnsy

Does anyone know if any of the Inner Harbour ramps have a tap nearby where you can flush your outboard from. I live in an apartment complex which is a pain in the arse because I can't flush my outboard Burnsy

If anyone is interested there's a pair of new Stalker Malibu sunnies finishing on ebay today.