Justin

First some pics... kayak lures my first bass / fish from the kayak catch at balmoral Hi readers, just a quick post about a few milestones ive reached over the last few days. First up, first fish caught from my kayak was a smallish 20 something cm bass from Tallowa Dam in Kangaroo Valley on Friday arvo. It was my 2nd bass session ever and my heart skipped a beat when i had my first strike. The size of the splash was massive! I had no idea what to expect from a "surface strike". Me and the gf were the only ones there on a dead still day, water flat as a tack, 1st cast into the snags and BOOM!! snapped me clean off. I think i had my drag too loose. Tied on another lure (cicada lure in pic 2) and tightened up the drag and ended up pulling in several bass of similar size to the picture above. I dont know if it was the excitment of my first strike or if the first one i hooked up was a very big boy but the stikes made by the smaller fish were nothing in comparison. guess ill never know. Headed out this morning to balmoral. Launched the kayak at 5.30am with the aim of spending most of my time trolling the 94mm hardbody and white dropbear plastic in the Lure pic above. Within moment of dropping them i trolled up a 49cm salmon followed shortly by a 55cm salmon both on the hardbody. So i pulled in the dropbear and continued on trolling in circles with just the one line out. Got 3 more runs (one of which was 50m or so) before spitting the lure. bummer. oh well. Just as the sun was getting too high for the salmon i hooked up what i thought was a very small salmon yet did not do any aerials for me. ended up being a PB trevally going 40cm on the dot. These last few days i have: a) broke my fishing dought B ) resisted the use of bait and continued my development with lures and plastics c) caught a salmon using 9lb mono (i have only previously caught them with 20-30lb from beaches and rocks and boy are they fun! the bigger salmon took a good 5-6minutes to pull in and i had to do some nifty backwards elbow paddling to avoid losing him around the barrel!) Problems i encountered / questions: a) is the drop bear not the right size for trolling / salmon as they seemed to prefer the hardbody? B ) I ended up with some HECTICLY twisted line from troling the hardbody and dropbear. Any idea what this is from? i know i pulled in the hardbody with the line wrapped around one of the trebles and this is probably the initial cause. Though, after i fixed it, the same thing happened and im positive i flicked the lure out without getting tangled as i wound it in a bit and felt it vibrate before starting my troll. Thanks all hope u enjoy the pics

HAHAHAH this was my experience exactly!!!! except we only got one tuna it did taste awesome when they bbqed it for lunch tho

Hey guys I went for a paddle out locally yesterday arvo after work went out planning on using plastics(still learning) but ended up using my hard body. Was drifting along the flats and flicking into the shore. Ive got to say im def liking it! Met another raider "Geoff" or "Jeff" and he helped me out with tieing the lure on correctly. I found with my 5kg 12lb mono rod that i couldnt quite get the feeling i wanted and im looking at buying a lil flicky 2-4kg braided rod now that i can take down out for lures only. anyways i think my transition to lures and plastics only well on its way Geoff picked up several small flatheads, whiting and one massive bream to my zero in about an hour and a half. he even let me have a flick on his rod, first time using braid and the diffeence is amazing.

thanks for your suggestions i ended up getting a Trollcraft 4g shrimp dirving lure cos it was about a third of the price of the other bass lures on the wall and im not gonna mind if i lose it on a snag! the tackle shop bloke recommended a this soft plastic spinner bait thing for trolling too so picked one of them up for 2 bucks! see which works the best! peace

Hello everyone I am after a bit of advice from all you bass fishermen out there I am heading to kangaroo valley for a camping/kayaing trip. kayaking from the bridge at kangaroo valley all the way down to Tallowa dam. Time will be pretty tight and i think i can probably manage an hour or two at the end of the day before sunset to flick for bass at the dam. However, can any one reccomend a model or type of lure i can troll on the way down whilst kayaking during the day? dont know alot about fishing for bass, done it a few tims with surface lures. Is trolling a diving hardbody a waste of time? thanks heaps

hey launching my yak at balmoral for a troll aim to launch about 6am PM if interested

Hi a little while ago i raised this question i have since bought a Dagger drifter 10.1 (sit in kayak) any one keen to get into some salt water fishing feel free to PM me I have already met up with a chap from another website to try bass fishing in lane cove national park i live in East Ryde, and will mainly be fishing around Fig Tree bridge and iron cove however will be looking to explore further when i can handle myself on the water better Ive always used bait to fish with, but am also keen to get into trolling hardbodies, metal slices and large plastics for kings and salmon around middle harbour as i have only ever caught these fish from rocks and beaches with bait. Ive so far added one scotty to front of my kayak and rigged up an anchor from a brick wrapped in a t shirt tied to the back of my kayak, will make a anchor trolley when i have time. Atm, my schedule is all over the place as i have just finished uni and looking to find work etc. if you see a yellow drifter 10.1 with a gift wrapped brick for an anchor come say hi thanks

yeah i catch poddies and yellow tails in ryde poddies under fig tree bridge yellow tails at any of the ferry wharfs with a light sometimes they are there, sometimes not. i think the poddies dont like the wind, and yellow taisl dont like the strong current

thanks roberta i havent heard of the perception minnow before, tho i know an outlet that sells the perception blast for 700 which has similar dimensions, maybe it replaced that model? its so difficult to find out about these brands and models as there is no one website or outlet that has them all available for viewing! i will deff be trying before i buy cheers

i checked out the Australis range and i dont think i like those much prior to the viking website i was leaning towards either Mission Access 280, Emotion glide, or the Dagger Drift 10.1 which are all sit ins and around the 900 dollar mark Tho i found a viking supplier at pymble and im going to test run a sit on top viking Nemo before i buy anything just to make sure a sit in is what i want ill pm you guys when i get one, im keen to learn about trolling methods and lures cheers

thanks for the replies my limitations are my car which is a small 4 door hatch, so im looking at one that can fit on the roof with soft racks attached. i live in ryde, so pretty much going to cruise around lane cove river, around gladesville, around iron cove could drive to narabeen or botany bay or anywhere really. ive been land based all my life so dont know alot about fish finders or trolling, but id be keen to get some of those hard bodied lures that have the plastic bill to keep them at a depth and paddle around until something strikes. or troll a couple of silver metals i have. im open to anything. ill check out those websites, i just finished a very long uni degree and taking 6 months off. hoping to catch some decent fish in my holiday cheers oh i was leaning towards a sit in kayak to have some shelter from the sun, or waves if its choppy etc etc.

hi i am thinking of buying a kayak for fishing/recreational fun for those of you raiders with kayaks, what do you look for in one? i realise an open kayak would have more room for bucket, more tackle and bait but i was thinking 2 rods, small tackle box, using soft plastics or lures and having my catch in a catchers net over the side would all suit a sit in kayak looking about the 2.8-3m range, no rudder, possibly a single access hatch if any one could provide pros and cons of the two types of kayaks based on thier own experiences to help aid my decision that would be appreciated thanks

Hi ray just had a read of your other thread, nice work shame they were just under i was wearing a straw brim hat that day hodgey but i dont think thats me in the reflection! good spotting tho the pelican didnt eat my yellow tail in the end ha. i packed him up and headed down to the beach after i saw you. fished the only gutter i could see for about 300m either side of the shark tower (i think it is?) was getting numerus bites on pilchard, hooked something very solid that wouldnt budge and eventually let go (could have been weed? i dont know) but end of the day ended up with 1 x 28cm bream which i let go. and made me believe all the other bites were bream of similar size hope to see you there again

hi ive read clifton gardens wharf is going to be out for some time though is it still fishable from the far right hand side of the baths? or has been baracaded off totally? just wanna drop a line down at my feet for some of those leather jackets that should be building up if not, can anyone recommed a wharf with similar depth and numerous lether jackets in that area? last time i went to balmoral (i think) there was no wharf at all cheers

Thanks for your replies... oh yeah i wasnt talking about ganging the soft plastics, more like just tieing a big one on with the usual jighead/big hook and have it suspended in the current instead of a ganged pilchard. I have these 5 inch Squidgie Pro things that have a tail that should create alot of vibration in the water

Ive been getting into the beach fishing lately and learning a lot as i go Is it possible to replace a whole, ganged up pilchard on a "T" swivel rig with a large soft plastic on the same rig? Ive never seen anyone do this, but thought it might work as the current, and a short leader would hold it in suspension with the tail wagging like crazy making it appear as a live bait. You wouldnt even need to check if your half melted pilchard has been washed off your hooks! it would be handy to know for those occasions that you cant find a bait shop, or are semi-unprepared. Thanks

hey everyone im heading up to Bonny Hills (near Port Mac) for a 4 day camping trip. taking a rod up to do an arvo of fishing google maps shows two large rock masses and a bay between them havent got enough room in the car to take all the gear so... just asking if i should be targeting the rocks, if so how dangerous are they? or the beach? Thanks

Thanks mate I gave it a search before making a new thread but couldnt find what i was looking for ill prob get some squidgie slick rigs cos i have seen them before

I fish around Gladesville about once a fortnight for Jews usually have a live yellow tail out if i can get one, or a fresh butterflied mullet on a heavy set up. I have a smaller 4kg rod with 12 pound line and I was going to start throwing a large soft plastic around instead of just playing the waiting game or squidding. So question 1. Has any one caught a jew on soft plastics in the Parra River recently? and Question 2. Could you post a link to the variety, type or size of plastic i should be using. I only fish land based so id prefer something with a bit of weight for a decent cast. And when im using it, do you just bounce it along the bottom like a normal smaller flathead/bream type plastic? Thanks very much

Hi my friend caught this fish at balmoral i think not sure what it is thinking a pike of some kind? are they edible? he threw that one and 2 others back that day thanks

Thanks Tan it certainly does!

Hi everyone ive been enjoying reading all the gamefishing report cos work is very slow atm ive noticed everyone is catching mixed bags of very large fish at a place called Browns just asking what or where it is? im a land based fisherman so a vauge description of distance from shore, general location, or underwater structure will do me to cure my curiosity! the place looks like a goldmine!

Hi went up to The Entrance on the weekend with a bit of weed i had collected the week before caught this 32cm luderick - my first legal luderick caught him at 10.30am along the lakeside wall with dark green thin stringy type weed - i think the local weed is thick and light green around the central coast pic is a bit dodgy cos i took it on my phone before i caught this fish i pulled in several other smaller ones around the 20cm mark Thanks to roberta and greg whom i bludged much knowledge off in the lead up to my fishing milestone! enjoy

cheers! thanks Roberta! ill check it all out, we have limited space in the car with tents and luggage and all that so only taking the basics but tackle box will def be included looking back at google maps, Brunswick does look better for a relaxing arvo fishing, the only problem is that some one is going to have to be DD now! As for my entrance trip, im heading up this coming weekend. I'll PM you how the blackies are up there, looks like there is some mid week rain coming too.

Hi all im heading up to the Splendour Music Festival in Byron on the 24th and 25th of July we are staying a few more days in Byron to wind down after the festival looking at taking one rod (7 footer) for a spare arvo of fishing (within 30 min drive of Byron ) with my friends who have similar sized rods Any tips would be appreciated, eg. if the rocks are dangerous/accessible? if the beach produces any fish? if there are any calmer spots? if we are wasting our time with 7 foot rods? haha its hard to tell from google maps but there looks like a small inlet from the beach, is it worth a shot? Thanks all