[Mixed Bag Off Dy]

Saltrix,

Nice work there!!! probably not as much as you hoped for but a feed is a feed...

Cant say much for myself though...

Congrats,

Regards,

Nathan

[Winter Inkers]

Well done on the inkers.

Ive been chasing them land based and managed a couple but nothing like what you scored.

Well done,

Regards,

Beginner

[More Salmon At Avoca]

G'day Ray,

Mate your on fire with the sambos well done,

You sure take a lot of pride in your fishing and the results show that!!!

Cant wait to get back up to avoca and have another crack....

Regards,

Nathan

[Salmon At Avoca Beach]

Well Done Pete Sounds like a perfect way to spend your afternoon.

I'm hoping to come up to avoca soon to try and catch a fish off the beach so far no luck but after reading your report I'm starting to think that my time is near!!!

Well Done,

Regards,

Nathan

[Mixed Bag Of Peir Delights]

Well done... I'm liking these reports It seems that the fishing is starting to pick up or i don't know what i am doing!!! Its a good sign anyway I am looking forward to posting my own catches when they start to happen again.

What a way to spend the night with great results.... good company and good fishing...

Congrats and i hope you enjoyed your feed!,

Regards,

Beginner

[New Pb Bream...]

Well Done!!!! Good Size Bream

I'm very happy to see people still getting fish, still waiting for my turn as it has been very slow for me for the past couple of months...

Hopefully it will happen soon I hope.

Congrats and enjoy the feed,

Regards,

Beginner

[Avoca Rocks A Beautiful Arvo]

G,day Ray,

Well done mate finally found some fish!!!

Also just wondering were you using the same setup as on the beach???

As i would like to have a crack at the rocks next time I am up that way...

Nice Salmon by the way!!!!

Regards,

Nathan

[Where Have All The Fish Gone!]

I agree about the fish not being on the bite but don't give up... probably give it a month or so

but me personally ill keep trying as it does get me out of the house.

I have been fishing around port hacking with no luck, I also had a crack at avoca beach which was fantastic because its a beautiful beach and the locals are real friendly. I did not catch anything but as i am only new to beach fishing ill keep trying.

Also had a crack at Lake Macquarie near Swansea with out a single bite in 4 hours but luckily for me i enjoy driving.......

My recommendation for you now is to check all your fishing gear out get your reels serviced if need be or even get stuff done around the house hahahaha well that's what I am trying to do but still a little bit of Fishing when i can. I'm sure things will pick up sooner or later,

Ill be sure to put up a post as soon as i start getting fish again!!!!

Regards,

Beginner

[Whats Going On At Port Hacking?]

Mate u described the Hacking down to a Tee!, Except for me thats the case all year round, hence i dont even bother. The fish probably seen u commin as u were parking ur car still and nicked right off! The clarity makes it difficult to get to fish sumtimes it seems.

Musty

That's funny as one of my workmates said the same thing!!!

Ill keep at it but i think a trip up to Swansea is in the books for me

And not to mention Avoca beach that's a beautiful spot also but i have to get my beach fishing up to scratch...

I guess the frustrating thing is yowie is very easy to get to from Toongabbie although there are probably closer spots i just seem to have less traffic.

Regards,

Beginner

[Whats Going On At Port Hacking?]

Hey Raiders,

Just wondering if any of you land based raiders are having the same frustrations as myself.

I have been trying to get squid and done a bit of fishing for about 5 weeks now at yowie bay and gymea bay but it has been extremely slow

I have only managed to get 1 cuddle fish and have seen crabs and the odd few bait fish cruising around but no action not only that but i have been speaking to the fisherman on the boats and they have also mentioned it being slow.

I guess my question is does the hacking go to sleep in July or is this just a combination of bad weather and the fact that it is winter????

I guess anyone that knows the area please shed some light....

Cheers Beginner,

[A Month Of Mulloway Madness - Part 1]

It all started on the 13th of June. An unlucky number for some, but for me, a date worth remembering. My arms were twitching from the cravings of an addiction that could only be satisfied with the feeling of a rod in one hand and a reel in the other. It was the begining of winter now, and so I headed out after putting on my winter fishing gear (6 tops and 4 pairs of pants), in anticipation of the cold.

My chosen fishing location for that day was The Entrance beach. The swell was a good 1.5 to 2.5 meters and comming from the south east. The wind too, was a good 5 to 10 knots from the north west. Perfect conditions in my opinion for a beach that faces the south east. I arrived just after sunset to find that a few people were already fishing. I spotted a decent area to fish in and settled down to the left of a person fishing with a float. It was the first time I had seen a person fishing a float on a beach and I shrugged the point off without a second thought. But little did I know at the time, that that float would be perhaps the most significant part of the trip.

Thirty minutes had passed with litttle to no action around the beach. All the while I was sitting watching the hypnotic bob of the light stick on the float of the guy to the left, as it slowly drifted to the right and out towards the ocean after each cast. By now it was 7pm and the guy subsequently retrieved his line, packed and left. I looked around the beach and didn't see anyone else left. Now I was on my own. Another thirty minutes passed, it was 7.30, and I pondered whether this was going to be another of those dud nights that inevitably comes with jewie fishing. Either the fish were going to be there or not. I got up and had a look at my line. It had moved off towards the left. It was at that moment that something clicked in my head. I remembered that the dude that was to my left had a float that drifted to the right, and my line was drifting towards the left... It only just struck me then, that right between us had been a point where the gutters flushed out. A rip perhaps. This had to be a place were a jewfish would likey wait in ambush to feed on anything that flowed out with the water. I roughly estimated where this rip would be and cast straight out. I set my rod in the holder and stood there watching the line. It was deadly still. Satisfied with where I had placed my bait, I sat down.

Only a couple of minutes passed, and in a flash of lighting that was the glow stick on the end of my rod aiming for the ground, I was on. I sprinted to the rod and set the hook. I adjusted the drag and watched as the reel screamed and spun at high speed. For sure this was a jewie I thought. The high speed at which this fish was going on its first run coupled with the huge jerks of its head was a tell tale sign. A continuous pump and wind tactic ensured that the fish had to work harder in its runs due to the changing momentum generated by the increase and decrease of drag pressure from the rising and dipping of the rod.

Ten minutes of the fight passed and from the angle in the line, I could see that the fish was close. I dared not force it in. I patiently followed its movement as it went up the beach. The best chance at landing a fish on a beach is to wait for a wave to push it up and beach it. Finally the moment came and I was able to gill and drag one of the few species of fish that are worth their weight in gold. Or should I say silver? Because that was what it was. There lay before me a beautiful specimen of the elusive mulloway with its shiny coat of silver armour, and a new personal best.

I now faced a dilemma. Within the first one and a half hours of fishing I had caught what I came out for. I had to supress the urge of racing home with my prize to measure and weigh, and fish on through the night in the cold to potentially catch something better, worse, or nothing. Of course staying on through the night made clear sense in the end. After all, I had driven 2 hours for an overnight fish and to end the trip so soon would be a waste of a long drive.

The rest of the night saw lots of action. For the next few hours to high tide salmon were on the bite. Three salmon were caught and thrown back. I decided to move to a different spot on the beach for the run out tide. Having found another gutter, two more jewfish were caught and released. These I estimated to be about 2 to 3 kilos. Towards day break a stingray was caught and thrown back.

With the sun above the horizon, I decided to packup and head home. On the way home I was excited to have caught an awesome fish but also disappointed that the climax of the trip was near the start and not the end. Much like this part of the story. HAHA.

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3

The stats:

12.6 kg

112 cm

Well Done On the Beach Jewie he is a beauty!!!!

I am only new to the Beach Fishing Scene and I hope to post up something like that some day,

once again Well Done!!!!!

Beginner,

[A Cry For Help!]

Hi beginner I think you should start off fishing all types of beaches, even beaches with only an even 3 or 4 foot of water for a hundred metres out and see when and what species you can catch there.... next look for beaches where the character of the beach front and the water varies, and partcularly where there arer wash areas near rocks etc as well as obvious drops drops into deeper water in and out of casting range... It's a good idea to fish to the side of the wash areas at night....

Cheers

jewgaffer

Hi Jewgaffer,

Thanks for your advice and you reply.

I had a crack at Avoca Beach this afternoon with Ray R who showed me a few things that i either did not know or was doing wrong. unfortunately did not catch anything but I feel that im on the right track now and ill use what i have learned today plus you & Ray's advice and ill see what happens,

Cheers,

Beginner

[A Cry For Help!]

cheers mate,

Actually i saw a couple of people heading up towards the rocks but it did look a little dangerous if your alone but ill keep it in mind one day when i can convince my friends to come along as they are not very keen on fishing but ill keep working on them,

Regards,

Nathan

Cheers RAY R,

Ill try and get up there this afternoon around 3-330 if the Mrs authorises the time off...

ill pop down and say g,day and have a quick fish and hopefully grab a fish or 2 if i am lucky enough,

Thanks for your reply,

Nathan

[A Cry For Help!]

Hey beginner,

don't feel too dejected buddy!

Its a long learning curve. Keep an eye on all the posts and articles on Fishraider!

We all learn from each other.

Avoca is a beautiful place,,,, great people,, and I love the rocks near that rock gutter on the south side... but don't go there without a buddy who knows the spot well... we need all the raiders keepin on and posting ... not the subject of horror stories in the newspapers.

Best of luck mate

Chris

cheers mate,

Actually i saw a couple of people heading up towards the rocks but it did look a little dangerous if your alone but ill keep it in mind one day when i can convince my friends to come along as they are not very keen on fishing but ill keep working on them,

Regards,

Nathan

[A Cry For Help!]

G,day Raiders,

As a amateur Fisherman and my 2nd post as a Fish Raider in over 6 months, I've done quite a lot of Fishing I've been fishing at places like Swansea, Narrabeen Lakes, Port Hacking all Land based of course and only managed average fish in the likes of Bream, Leather Jacket, Tar whine and recently Squid in the hacking which was quite stressful as they were either not around or too many fisherman etc...

managed to catch my first 2 on a Thursday night after a bad day at work!!!!

Sorry for the sob story but i really enjoy my fishing and can do it at a amateur level now what my main objective of this post is that i want to learn how to Beach fish of course experience is what is going to get me there at the end I have read articles books etc etc....

I have of course purchased the beach rod, The Length of 50m Pvc Pipe and upgraded my Tackle from the light tackle used for Bream Etc...

This morning i went to Avoca Beach in the search of gutters as they are so mentioned in the articles books and all of that. I did manage to find one but it was out of my casting range or perhaps my casting is not up to scratch... so i casted near the rocks where no waves were breaking but there were too many people in the water so i eventually gave up.

The positive to all of this is that i fell in Love with Avoca Beach not only for the Scenery but the people are very friendly and I struck up several conversations which made the day much better than it actually was.

Anyone who fishes Avoca Beach or another beach spot in Sydney that has the patience for me to tag along with is more than welcome to send me a private message I will gladly supply the beer of your choice in return for some advice and general know how and hopefully put me onto my first catch off the beach would be greatly appreciated.

Tight Lines,

Beginner

[Birthday Bream & Bonous Leather Jacket]

Yellowtail bream, Black bream, Snapper, and tarwhine are all in the same family classification,ie SPARIDAE, but are different species.

The legal size for tarwhine is 20cm, and for for both bream it is 25cm and bream and tarwhine are lumped together for the bag limit as you said.

Information from Sea Fishes of Southern Australia (Hutchins and Swainston), and NSW DPI Regs summary June 08.

They are a couple of good fish.

Regards and Happy Birthday

Thanks and I hope I can bag a few more of these beauty tarwines as it was quite a good fish to catch and the feed was even better the only complaint from the kitchen was give me more!! give me more!!

Regards,

Beginner

[Birthday Bream & Bonous Leather Jacket]

The bream is actually a tarwhine an a very good size one too, well done.

Ok thanks never knew that... I should go fishing more often..... hopefully catch some more..

so tarwhine is that a bream species or a whole different fish?

your last session at swansea was awsome might have to fish with you one day might learn a thing or 2.

Cheers,

Beginner.

[Birthday Bream & Bonous Leather Jacket]

Well Today is my 25th Birthday and I did not have any real plans so i decided to go a do a Morning fishing session at Swansea,

It almost ended up being a short trip as I started to feel sick in the stomach... But luckily there were ammenities not too far away so fellow fisherman always take note of where the ammenities are....

Now for this fishing part of it.. Actually the fishing started out to be quite poor.

I got there around 4am but did not start fishing till around 5.

I was catching small snapper and bream way under legal size so I was releasing them back into the water as you do, I was then contenplating packing up and going home then suddenly I felt a decent pull on my rod and to my surprise I had a 35cm Leather jacket on the end of it. so the fishing continued...

It was now around 7am and I was getting bored of catching small fish when suddenly I felt my line pull It was just a average one and then felt like a snag so I was quite upset and wound the rod up in a frustrated manner but to my surprise the snag fought back hahaha I must have a heavy fish on the line but I did not expect anything special as when you catch toadfish they are quite heavy so I thought I had one but I fought the fish and to my pleasant surprise had my first thumper bream ever on the end of it.

The Bream is about 45cm in length and just over a kilo.

The Leather Jacket is 35cm in length but i did not bother weighing it.

I was all excited now so I kept fishing but kept catching small fish again.

I decided to call it a day around 8.30 allthough I did not bring much home but at least its a feed & I was very happy with my catch as I am not a real experienced fisho and I hope to get better over time.