Lizardboy

You could be right about the moon JD, from reports the barometer didn't really seem to stir things up....bloody winter I chucked some large plastics around roseville bridge for an hour and a half either side of the tide, to no avail...as per usual....I've clocked up a lot of hours in the area over the last couple of years always concentrating around tide changes day and night and never even had a hit from a jew...I'm ready to give up on the whole roseville area and try either the lane cove or the cowan! Lizard

We seem to be right smack bang in the middle of a big f#$% off high pressure system.... its between 1035 and 1040 around NSW at present is anyone fishing? Stuck at work...bugger Bankstown airport is sitting at 1038.9 according to the BOM website Lizard

Predatek have confirmed that the products are one and the same, so I've ordered one will let you know how it goes Lizard

Real nice flattie there Twinfisher, its got a real shovel for a head! Good stuff Lizard

Thanks Guy's I've studied the pics and as you say they do look the same, I still haven't received a reply from my email to predatec. Lizard

Can anyone tell me whether the 2 lip grips featured in the links below are one and the same...I have an idea that the Predatek GOB-LOC is the same product rebranded for the Australian market? The lipper gets a really good review on the tackletour website and IF the product is the same I'll probably buy one. Ihave emailed predatek, but have not heard back as yet. http://www.predatek.com/gloc_eng.htm http://www.tackletour.com/reviewlippertoolslipper.html Cheers, lizard

Narra, Geez, 12 Degrees doesn't sound too inspiring..at least you got a few fish. The lake did look very glassy as I passed it on the way to work. Good to hear what's happening down at the lake Lizard

Cheers, The EP's seem to love dirty water and really use it to their advantage to feed. I'll be checking out that spot again sometime over the next month and hopefully will find a few more. Lizard

After a few fruitless session in recent weeks, mainly due to the colder weather it was nice to remember what it's like to catch a fish! With the recent rain the water was really dirty with muck an debris everywhere. The fishing was still slow overall and surpirisingly we didn't encounter any bream, only EP's. Pete managed the first one of around 20cm's casting a small plastic hard up against a rock wall. The second one was somewhat of a surprise I was casting a little rev head rigged with a berkley nymph to the inside edge of a marina berth behind a boat and hooked up briefly next to the canoe, next cast to the same place i got another hit, then as I gently lifted my lure from the water right under Petes nose and with a foot of the canoe a fish grabbed it, just breaching the surface as it did, after a short fight a nice EP was slid into the net for a couple of pics . Lizard

Cheers Mick, Will be in touch Gus

Just wondering if anyone know's where i can get some of these, preferably online or by mail order, in Australia or overseas if I have to. I'm interested in the medium (5 inch?) and largest size (9inch?) Surprisingly I haven't heard any reports of anyone getting jew on these, they have a wicked action, especially when rigged with a worm hook and belly weight! Cheers, Lizard

G'day Cameron, I had a Hobie Mirage outback for just over a year and I would definately recommend them, despite the fact that I ended up selling mine. They are a very versatile little craft and can handle anything from light offshore work to stealth missions up small creeks. I managed everything from bream, flathead, bass and even a few rat kings from offshore. The propulsion system is no gimmick, its very effective and gets you around at a reasonable speed with minimal effort, if you decide to pick up the pace with a bit more leg work you'll be quite surprised, they reckon it is capable of 6 miles/hour (not nautical). Having your hand free is a definate advantage, I remember jigging several small kings from the marker boys just off North head, I was fishing within a couple of metres of the boy and as soon as I hooked up, I'd peddle full pelt to get the buggers away from the buoys anchor rope/chain. I paid $2250 about 2yrs ago from memory, but the $A exchange rate is much higher now, so I'd expect they may have come down a little being imported from the USA. I sold mine for about $1700 second hand from memory. Oh yeah the only reason i sold it was to buy a 2 person canoe so i could take mates out and their better for river bassing/camping trips. I wish I still had it, but couldn't afford both. Send us a pm if you need any more info Cheers, Gus

Byron, Sound like you have bluewater fever! Congrats, good to hear what you've been getting up to. Gus

Mick, Bluecod, I fished the area on sunday from the canoe, and was told to move along a couple of times, I simply motored down the next isle and kept fishing. The first guy was very reasonable and just asked us to fish down the ended where he couldn't see us, the second guy told us it was illegal to fish on the outside of the marina. They have no fishing signs in and around the marina, but I wonder whether they have the authority to declare the are no fishing, I think probably not. Apparently whether a marina has the right to exclude anyone depends on whether the lease only the water the pontoons sit on or the entire are contained within them. It would be handy to know your exact rights when it comes to marina fishing, perhaps create a database detailing individual marinas. on the other hand maybe its better to move along when asked and go fish another or a different part of the marina...that way no specific law gets passed to exclude bream fishos from targeting marinas. There are sh#$%t loads of bream in there by the way Lizard

I Dusted off the waders for a couple of Narra Lake sessions this week, with the recent rains the water is icy cold...i'd estimate it at about 16-17 degrees..but hey I'm no thermometer! I managed a few choppers and an Estuary perch. I was very relieved to get another EP from narrabeen...it's been just over 2 years. It took a jig spinner interestingly enough, I'd be interested to know what peoples thoughts on using jig spinners for EP's is...are they as dynamite on EPS as they are for bass, because I don't often hear about people targeting EPS with spinnerbaits/jigpinners/revheads. Maybe its because people generally fish deeper tidal waters for EPS than they do for bass? I was surprised to find that despite all the recent rain and flooding of the wakehurst parkway the lake is still closed to the sea The water level is very high and given a bit more rain the mouth could open. If the lake opens in the next month or so, could someone shoot us a PM. Cheers, Lizard

I Headed down to the Goon for half an hour right on dusk yesterday evening with a few surface lures. I decided to fish up the back for a change and the number of Mullet I saw jumping was ridiculous, at any one point in time if I was to have taken a picture showing my field of vision it would have shown at least 5 mullet airborne simultaneously. Anyway I'd been casting various surface offerings with no real sign of significant predatory activity when my Heddon's tiny torpedo was snatched from the surface as I was working it in long steady pulls. I was using slightly heavier gear than normal 10lb fireline, 12lb fluro and What ever I'd hooked felt solid and went on a few short bursts before slowing and a stand off begun, broken up by intermittent bursts of power. I figured I had the fish in open water and pretty under control although not gaining much line so I fumbled for my head torch while maintaining pressure with the other hand, by the time I'd got it on line started to feel weird although it was rubbing against something before finally It held firm and I lost the feeling of the fish...bugger, I shouldn't have been so complacent. I played around with it for a while, but ended up having to bust it off. I wish I could say I thought it was some form of exotic but the fight was reminiscent of a large flattie, despite the fact it took a surface lure. Lizard

G'day Jeff, Great pics and report! That swimming hole looks tops! Lizard

Cheers Guys, Pedro, Yeah, I feel for Pete. They're building up pretty good range of camping and outdoors gear at Gowings now, so still drop in for a bit of a wander in my lunch hour. Thanks for the compliment Knapers, I wonder if that's how some the guys who write for magazines get their start. Chris, anytime. We were mainly fishing a rocky shoreline, with a few snags and overhanging trees at the head of the pool as it began to narrow. I was having most of my success on a small Koolabung cicada fizer. I have one of those bubble pops, I must give it a try, I tend to use fizzers and surface crawlers for bass generally. Gus

Good work Chris I haven't managed to get one on a lure yet, one day. How do you like that dropshor rod? Gus

I'd been planning this trip for a while, but somehow didn't manage to get around to it until May. Pete, a good mate of mine joined me for the trip and despite being late in the season we were both very keen to explore some new territory. We drove down to Nowra early Saturday morning stopping briefly for supplies and the mandatory trip to the local tackle store. With a bit of local knowledge and a handful of new lures we headed West 30 odd k's to a place called Coolendel, a camping area/nature retreat which would be our starting point. The canoe was loaded and after some deliberation and minor adjustments to the weight distribution we set off upstream. The river was quite low and only flowing gently, which meant a fair bit of dragging needed to be done between pools, but at least we didn't need to unpack and carry the canoe. The afternoons fishing proved very slow with only a few tentative bumps as we stopped to cast at likely snags along the way. Late in the afternoon we arrived at our campsite, a sand bank that had formed opposite a steep rockface at the base of a rather promising looking pool. We quickly unloaded the canoe and pitched the tent before venturing out to explore the pool. Despite the good looking territory we only managed a couple of small bass on jig spinners and spinnerbaits. The wind had died off through the afternoon and the pool had glassed off nicely, with the occasional Nepean herring breaking the surface. I tied on a surface lure in the fading light and second cast, the little fizzer was nailed by a feisty little bass, a few casts later I was on again. Pete soon got the idea and followed suit. Over the next half hour or so I experienced some of the best surface bass luring action I've had. What was unusual was the hook up rate, the fish were onto the lure seconds after it hit the water and they rarely missed with most strikes resulting in a hook-up. The session included a double hook-up and a tiny bass that repeatedly smashed the lure within inches of the canoe. Whilst many of the fish were small I managed 10 in total with two nice specimens of approximately 35cm's. Pete also managed his fair share from the back of the canoe. One of Pete's better fish My best for the trip Several Beers were consumed around the campfire as we reminisced about past trips and planned new ones. We were up early the next morning for the surface bite, but it only lasted briefly. The mornings fishing was slow overall, but we still landed a few as we made our way back downstream. The campsite On the drive back to Nowra we stopped off at a promising looking little freshwater lagoon (see last pic), surrounded by reeds and Lilly beds called flat rock creek, which we had spotted from the road. We had no idea if there was anything in it but it looks so bassy so we unloaded the canoe and gave it a shot. The water was even colder than the river and all we managed was a few bumps, but we were informed by a local fisho that he'd caught bass up to 40cm's in there. Flat Rock Creek/Dam All in all it was a great trip. Thanks to Chris aka "the Lure" for some tips on the area. Lizard

Sounds like a good morning Narra, The Nepean is on my to do List! Lizard

It was my first bream ABT and I had a top weekend, despite only weighing in one fish which happened to be a PB Thanks to my Boaters, I fished boats with John on saturday and rocky shoreline on sunday with Ross ( what a sweet boat) both of which I haven't really fished much before, it was a great learning experience. Congrats to all B's and NB's who entered. Gus

Jeffro, I'd say avoid it over winter and wait until spring, but the water was still warm, so it may fish well for a couple of months yet. It's big river country, The Clarence runs for miles and miles, much of the water I was fishing was a quite a way upstream, according to Aaron my host you tend to get larger bass, but not as many in these areas. A few bass may choose to hang around these areas over winter, as do the protected eastern cod as I understand it. but most of the bass would have started their annual pilgrimage downstream to the brackish, where they school up and breed. You could probably do ok over the cooler months if you fished the river closed to Grafton, but upstream may be a bit slow and I'm told the area gets quite cold over winter as does the river. There wasn't heaps of planning as I mainly did day trips and Aaron new and had fished many of the areas previously. There would be a lot more planning for a put in and take out canoe trip as you need to have cars at either end, and take a lot more beer...i mean gear :1prop. Gus

Bit late...its already started, but I'll be there...I mean have been there Gus

Cheers Guys Jethro, We mainly fished the Mann and the Nymboida that flow into the Clarence. I checked Copmanhurst out briefly, but ended up fishing a bit further upstream around the Lilydale bridge. The Gorge was mentioned and sounded amazing but I didn't get to fish it this trip. apparently the access point for the Gorge is private property, but the old bloke who runs the cabins there lets you launch and camp there for a small fee. The best thing to do when exploring on my own seemed to be...visit a local tackle store, buy some lures and a topographic map and get them]to point out the good spots and access roads. If you want to get to the real sweetwater you have to be prepared to do a put in and takout trip, covering several km's of river a dayfor few days, which I didn't get to do, but next time for sure with a little more planning. Extasea, Thanks for putting me in touch with Aaron...couldn't have worked out better Sorry about the herring i needed an excuse to go back. Lizard