The Rev

Thanks Bob - still having a good time but as you will see in my report I am about to write - fishing not still not so great!

Thanks Big Neil - unfortunately the fishing conditions haven’t imporoved much here in Port Stephens but God is in control and next time I am sure it will be better. The water has gotten increasingly brown in colour as the run out of the rain from the rivers affects the bay. But still having a restful time with my wife 😍. Am about to post about yesterdays trip - I did manage one good fish! Cheers, The Rev

Here are the conditions coming back in today . The water is browner than it looks

Here is yesterdays bream

Hi Raiders, After a less than successful first week of the holidays fishing Wallis Lake for flathead, I am onto week 2 at Port Stephens. On Monday, with the rain holding off (was predicted to rain most of the day) i headed out just before the high tide in the late morning. I fished the North side of Corrie island over the tide change. I caught one 35cm bream and lost two good 45-50cm flatties at the boat. They spat the hook both times. All fish caught on a 100mm Berkley gulp paddle tail molten green shrimp soft plastic. The bite was the hour after the high tide change. Today I went out again at gentleman’s hour, after a morning walk on the beach with my wife. She then had a study day on zoom, so i had to go fishing to keep the house quiet! Left from Hawkes Nest and headed out to the heads. Swell was 2M and period about 10seconds with 6-8 knots of wind. Beautiful out there with the sun shining, but the water was dirtier than yesterday and the fish weren’t biting 😔. Trolled around the north side of Boondelbah for nothing. Few some plastics and got a just legal Tailor. Water temp 24.5C. Went back inside and conditions were perfect except for the water quality that had deteriorated overnight. Tried off the island opposite Soldiers Point for nothing. Went back on the high tide change to where I got fish yesterday on the north side of Corrie Island also for nothing. I spoke to a the other three boats fishing on the water - they all got very little - just 3 small bream on one boat. I guess just not the day. I’ll be out later in the week. Thanks @Scratchiefor your assistance 👍🙏 The Rev

Thanks Jenno- that’s what i am praying 🙏!

Hi fellow Raiders, After a long two years of navigating COVID-19 at work that included three lockdowns on the northern beaches, finally the three week holiday. This was the first week of the three which was with my 25y.o. son. I planned it for this time of the year with no school holidays and hopefully warm water and great fishing. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas with the rain and massive seas. (I am not complaining though. I keep thinking of all the people who have been flooded and lost homes and businesses as well as those over in the Ukraine with the war and I feel very blessed in comparison as we had a great break). We arrived on Saturday 26 February at Seal Rocks hoping to fish there and at Foster this past week. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas. Of the seven days up there we managed two days on the water, and we’re restricted to fishing Wallace lake in fairly ordinary conditions. First fish was Sunday, 27 February for a Softplastics session in the afternoon chasing Flathead. PLots of weed and fresh water in the lake plus unfamiliar territory resulted in not one hook up. We spent the next four days mainly inside escaping the rain watching some TV, playing board games and reliving my sons childhood by building a 4000 piece Lego car together! (LandRover Discovery) 🚘 Given the weather forecast I thought I had to pack something to keep us off screens and having fun! Last full day of this part of the holiday was on Friday and it was stunning with the sun finally coming out! We headed off to fish the lake on the incoming tide with clean water coming in through the Wallis lake Channel. We managed to catch 12 livies in half an hour under the Foster bridge and went to the breakwall in search of the elusive jewfish which are often caught there. Unfortunately no takers this time so we came back inside in the channel and drifting a live bait and caught a 44cm Flathead. That was the only bite of the week but at least we took home a small feed. Today I have just arrived at Port Stephens staying at Hawkes Nest, having driven my son home to Sydney yesterday and picked up wife and driven back up the coast today. I never even unhooked the boat, just left it hooked up overnight. We will be here for 11 odd days and hopefully the fishing will better! So good to be up here after two long years of managing our response to COVID at the church I lead. I will keep you posted of any fishing success The Rev

Excellent - thanks!

Thanks for the report - I will be there in a few days time and will be fishing out of Foster for a few days. thanks for the intel. the Rev

Awesome catch Scratchie. I am heading up to fish Port Stephens out from Hawkes Nest in 2 weeks for 11 days duration. Can’t wait to get there. Thanks for the report and the tips! The Rev

Thanks for the report - Very helpful to know what is happening off Sydney! Sorry you didn’t get more for all your travels!

Well done Bob - where did you catch it?

Great story - well done! Love the photos that you took! the rev

Well done Duncan!

Great haul - well done. Watch your fingers on those red rock cod. They are very poisonous! the Rev

Thanks Donna - done

Not a problem Yowie - but to be correct and slightly pedantic, LGA's on the coast include the coastal waters adjacent to them going out 3NM which equates to approx 5.5KM. This is written up in the NSW Health orders in the preliminaries (that Coastal waters are included) and when you check what the coastal water is - it is 3NM inc are you ever get asked. Here is the except... Division 2 Interpretation 3 Interpretation (1) The Dictionary in Schedule 4 defines words used in this Order. Note— The Act and the Interpretation Act 1987 contain definitions and other provisions that affect the interpretation and application of this Order. (2) A reference to a type of premises in this Order has the same meaning as it has in the standard instrument set out in the Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006. (3) For the purposes of this Order, the coastal waters of the State are taken to form part of the local government area to which the particular waters are closest. But i doubt that extra 500m is going to change much!! I hear from the Australian Fishing Trade Association's facebook page (AFTA) that they are in discussions to have that limit removed for fishers that can access coastal waters. They say that they have had verbal confirmation as of yesterday but there is nothing in writing yet. Cheers, The Rev

Was back in about the year 2000 off Trap reef that is east of Wollongong about 10km out in summer time. The boat sank in 60 seconds such was the hole that the shark put in his boat. Came up from below and rammed it's head through the hull.

Hi there fellow raiders, Like all of us I am in lockdown here in Sydney, and I am stuck here in Manly and the surround's - I do feel blessed! For the past few weeks I have been getting out on Fridays, which is my day off, and have been having success on the reefs and sand in the Manly to Dee Why stretch which is within my distance limit. First trip to Long Reef was on an afternoon with a 4pm high tide and managed a 4 nice pan sized pinkies. We also managed to hook up to a very large seal on the live bait. Thankfully he looked up at us after a minute and shook his head so vigerously they snapped the 65lb line at the swivel! That was a relief. Second trip was back to Long Reef but this time there just stacks of 28-30cm trevally plus barracoutta 😞 We also managed to find a large cuttle fish that was just about to die after spawning and netted it for bait for future kingfish trips. After a while catching and releasing the trevors' and cutta' we headed wider and caught some nice flathead, blue mowies and a banded wrasse. I have to say that the last time I ate mowies they were a bit bland, but these ones were fantastic cooked up in a beer batter. Third trip we just headed out off Dee Why to the previous spot and caught a nice mixed bag of pig fish, mowies, blue spot flathead and a large red rock cod. The excitement of the trip was when I had my biggest fathead on. I was winding it up and it felt like a 60cm+ fish and had it to about 12 meters under the boat when the line stopped and shook violently. I immediately knew it was a shark. We looked over the side to see a large shark had swallowed my flathead whole and it rolled over to show a large white belly. About 5 seconds later we had a 7-8ft white pointer at the boat inspecting my burley pot at the back of the boat about 3ft from my face which certainly got the heart beating!!! I'm in a 4.2M Quintrex Renegade. No pics were taken as I just started the motor and took off. I have heard of too many bad stories of white pointer shark inspections of fishing boats including a mate from Wollongong who had their 21ft fibreglass boat sunk by one (true story for another time). Here are the photos from the trips. Tight lines everyone and for those who don't live close to a boat ramp like me, hang in there, eventually the lockdown will end and we will be able to get back to all fishing. The Rev

awesome feed there - well done!

Awesome catch, well done!

Thanks for the update. I think i will take a rain check on going to the FADS then. Cheers.

At the FADS?

Hi Fishraiders Just wondering if anyone has had any luck off Sydney with dollies in the past few days? I went out 10 days ago and it was cold brown water. Was wondering if anything had improved as the water has cleaned up and warm water has pushed in close to the coast. Bruce

Thanks Bob - the good old Aldi vacuum packer does a great job!