Mattyjs

I don't fish the Coxs much but I know people that do and they always seem to catch fish. As with most places in the central west access is an issue with private property surrounding most of the waterways. Having said that, there are three main access points offering limited access to the River. These are where the Lithgow, Jenolan Caves and Coxs River Roads cross the river. All roads come of the Great Western Hwy, have a look on Google maps for more detail. Hope that helps.... Matt

Hi Ben, I regularly fish the Northern beaches, I spend most of my time (during summer anyway) targeting Kingfish off the rocks with lures and catch plenty of other fish in-between to keep me occupied. Been an ok year with plenty of fish, if you can't catch a bonito at the moment you should give up fishing, and plenty of kings too but most of the Kings have been well short of legal size. I work 9-5 Monday - Friday but often sneak in a couple of hours fishing after work which in my opinion is the best time (low light and low crowds). I am also free on weekends. Get in touch if you keen to tag along one time... Matt

Managed to land some 50cm+ Browns at TCD on Christmas eve on soft plastics. Lyell, as mentioned is full and looks great but if you go on the weekend it's full of water skiers. As for the streams, the Coxs River and Fish river will have plenty of fish. Matt

Hi Guys, TCD has been fishing great all year, I am yet to have a bad day and I have been there more weekends than not since April regularly landing fish over 60cm. Flycaster, take your time scanning the water, you will see fish (false spawners) but they are usually right on the limit of being visible so make sure you have a good pair of polaroids and take your time. These fish have been taking olive wooly worms and olive wooly buggers with little if any hesitation. Having said that, as troutboy said, the glo bug under an indicator works well too. There have also been big brownies (60cm +) around in the shallows of the newly flooded bays, particularly after it's rained and there is quite a bit of run off running down the hill sides. They are moving very slowly, hard to see and even harder to catch. All the best, Matt

As forliano (Ben) said, use single hooks, you will be amazed at the improvement this has in landed salmon. Trout guys have been doing this for years on tassie devil style lures. Also use low rod angles when fighting salmon (or any fish that jumps) as this reduces the likely hood of the fish jumping which is the most likely time you'll pull the hooks. Matt

Hi Troutboy I'll try and give you a few pointers on where to start. Flathead: Flathead will grab anything that moves but if I had to choose one fly it would be the Clouser Minnow. Lefty Deceiver is not a bad second choice. As for colours, yellow/white, pink/white, and green/white are always what I tie on first but as I said before Flathead will grab anything that moves. Keep in mind that on a 6/7wt casting these flies can be hard work, particularly if it is a little breezy so don't go any bigger than 1/0 flies (I usually use size 1 & 2 on my 6wt) Bream: Bream a temperamental little buggers, but probably the best all round Bream fly would be the estuary BMS(this topic is probably well and truly still open for debate). These come in various forms to fish various depths as well as various colours. I can not really single out a single colour thats consistently performed better than the others but olive and chartreuse are typically the first colours I reach for. As for other flies, Baited Breath's can be great on sand flats and around shallow weed beds, small natural coloured clousers (size 4 & 6) and there are any number of shrimp and crab imitations that can work in the right situation. Also don't be afraid to throw around an olive wooly bugger if you got one, particularly if it has some flashy material in it. Whiting: I have never specifically targeted whiting on fly but have caught a few here and there generally on sand flats or near weed beds on flies that have a similar appearance to nippers and shrimp (small clousers, Baited Breaths). Leaders: 15-20 pound for flathead, as light as the situation allows for bream and whiting, I have used 3 pound on the flats for bream and it is always amazing how the big flathead come out to play when you go so light. I usually go for 6-8 pound for bream, with a max of 10 pound in rough country. Fluorocarbon is best.. Hope it helps Matt

The false spawners you mention where very common at TCD during the first few years of this decade. Schools of 10 or more fish were a common sight. This has certainly been a lot less common site in recent years. I believe this is more a result of fluctuating water levels than the actual water level. Two years ago, one weekend I found a group 10+ of false spawners only to come back a week later and find that area where i had seen them high and dry. As for what time to go, if its going to happen then September will be the month. Again when the dam was higher the false spawners seemed to stay in the shallows for much longer, back in 2000 there was still the odd pair of fish around into November. A few people have mentioned how frustrating these false spawners can be to catch, and anyone tossing lures at them are in for a very tough time. The fly casters tend to have the most success on these false spawners but even they need to have a lot of patience. I often say to people that you are often better at TCD trying to catch the fish you can not see than the ones you can see. However, all the rules are broken when the rough weather rolls in. If the water becomes muddy or cloudy where the false spawners are, suddenly the become willing to grab just about anything. I've had consistent success in these conditions using Baltic Minnows, any minnow type lure like a rapala CD5 and in recent years its all been about soft plastics.