stormgazer Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 Hi there, Let me introduce myself, i'm Stephanie (age 41)and i live in South Wales, United Kingdom, myself and my husband Richard (age 44) will be flying into Sydney airport at the end of October for a 6 week tour of the East Coast of Oz, we are hiring a camper van and am hoping to find some great fishing spots from Sydney to Cairns, any recommendations will be greatly appreciated including type fo license required/ baits/lures/where to fish/species etc... For the last 5 years, we have travelled to the USA and fished the whole of the coast of florida (east and west) we usually fish off the piers/bridges and take on a couple of boat trips for backwater fishing. Also, anyone know some good (inexpensive) camp sites we can stay at up the coast thanks in advance Stephanie
Guest Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 to fishraider Stephanie. We have had a few overseas travellers in the past and even made a great friend from Finland called Jani who we stay in contact with all the time. I am sure all the raiders will help you and your hubby out and get you onto some nice fish in the process. Regards Stewy
stormgazer Posted August 13, 2011 Author Posted August 13, 2011 (edited) Hi Stewy, thanks for the welcome I got all excited when i just received a notification that someone has replied, have just spent the last hour on the net trying to find fishing spots - not having much luck, only one place coming up so far and thats Old Tathra Wharf, nsw - hopefully some others will have some suggestions for us it must be early there in Sydney now stephanie Edited August 13, 2011 by stormgazer
mrsswordfisherman Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 Hi Stewy, thanks for the welcome I got all excited when i just received a notification that someone has replied, have just spent the last hour on the net trying to find fishing spots - not having much luck, only one place coming up so far and thats Old Tathra Wharf, nsw - hopefully some others will have some suggestions for us it must be early there in Sydney now stephanie Welcome Steph you have come to the best site in Oz to find what you need to know. Our members are very friendly and willing to help. Have a look through our forum and use the search button for particular things you want info on. Roberta is one of our members who travels around up and down the coast and knows lots of places and I am sure she will help you Donna
Guest Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 Stephanie, Add some details like where you will be and when so that we can hook you up with some keen raiders and show you around their areas. Cheers Stewy
cheap charlie Posted August 13, 2011 Posted August 13, 2011 In relation to Tathra, Tathra is located approximately 5.hours south of Sydney. If you take a look at the fishing reports section on this forum, you will find reports from members. Most of which are in and around Sydney. In relation to spots to fish between Sydney and Cairns, the distance is several thousand kilometres. as such there would litrally be thousands of locations worth fishing. some towns that I could recommend you visit and fish include: - Forster nsw - Yamba nsw - Urunga nsw - Tweed Heads nsw - Noosa qld - Bundaberg qld - Airlie Beach qld - Prosapine dam (best to use a charter) that's all that comes to mind at present. Should you have the time, I would recommend your start yor trip by heading South of Sydney. The fishing along the coast line south of Sydney to Tathra and beyound is excellent. I would recommend you only head as far South as Tathra / Merimbula. one place not to be missed is Jervis Bay ( Google it). South of Sydney is loaded. with inexpensive camp grounds. one note worthy camp ground with great fishing is the Moruya heads camp grounds, adjacent to the air port. planes only leave the air port 3 times a day.
arpie Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 Hi Stephanie & Richard to Fishraider!! You'll enjoy your trip up the coast from Sydney to Cairns - the weather should be fairly stable by Oct too, with just the odd cool evening - so bring some warm gear, just in case! It's terrific that you have allowed 6 weeks to get up to Cairns, as you'll need every bit of it!! It IS a long hike up there, especially when fishing as many areas as you can along the way!! Our National Parks often have inexpensive Camp Grounds in some very 'Fishy' areas - so check out their site for info - and use the NP guide download to help plan your trip (Sydney & North Coast.) (or you can request a booklet be sent to you with all the parks info in them.) http://www.environme...uidetoparks.htm camp sites in NSW (many names http://www.environme...ampgrounds.aspx I am sure that Stewy & Donna will put you onto some fish in Sydney - then, just north of Sydney is the Central Coast area - The Entrance is a lovely spot, with Dunleith Camp Ground right on the water's edge for some good fishing. We had a 'Social gathering' there earlier this year that was terrific fun! We all caught heaps of fish in the lake and from the Beach, just a few minutes walk from the caravan park. I live up at Forster (4hrs north of Sydney on the Mid North Coast) and it is a beautiful spot. Wallis Lake is about 5 times the size of Sydney Harbour & has lots of fish in it. Forster Beach Caravan Park is a great spot to stay, here - right on the water & the Manager (Chris) gives Fishraiders a 10% discount, so mention that when you book! Chris is VERY knowledgeable about our local fishing & will surely be able to put you onto some fish. If I am available, I would be more than happy to wet a line with you! http://www.forsterbeachcaravan.com.au/ Port Macquarie is just over an hour away from here & is another lovely waterway to fish. Brunswick Heads is another lovely spot. As Charlie has said, lots of magic spots basically 'en route' to the border Up in Qld, you can access their National Parks cammping info here - they have many pristine spots too along the coastline - for the whole trip, try to allow a few days at most spots & do them well, rather than trying to fit in a different place every day & 'rush them'. http://www.derm.qld....ping/index.html Just be aware that the further north you go, care must be taken re being stung by water borne stingers (north of Bundaberg) or the very real possibility of crocodiles, the further north you go. http://www.derm.qld....er/p01100aa.pdf You will DEFINITELY have to try for Barramundi whilst up in Qld (either in dams or rivers ...... regularly refer to the croc info tho if near ANY RIVER!) If you are running out of time by then, you can always try the Barramundi Farm in Townsville (like I did 18 months ago) & you still get an idea of the power of these fish on light gear! You will have fun planning your trip - and we will enjoy following your trail! Cheers for now Roberta
rjc123 Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 welcome to fishraider! You will have a blast fishing eastern coast of Australia. CheapCharlie has mentioned some very good spots indeed. Here are a few others! * Port Stephens- Arguably oen of the best Game fishing Areas in New South Wales. You can catch a very wide variety of fish in both the rivers, bays, offshore islands and the continental shelf. Either Nelson Bay or Hawkesnest are the places to stay. Nelson Bay is a bit busier and more tourist attractions while Hawkesnest ( my personal favourite nsw holiday destination ) is a bit quieter and a classic rural town. There are caravan parks in hawkesnest and i am pretty sure that they have one in or near Nelson Bay. Fishing wise Nelson Bay is your best bet. Most fishing tours leave from here and there are places like the breakwall to fish from the shore for a wide variety of fish. * Coffs Harbour- a few hours north of Port Stephens is Coffs Harbour. It is a popular tourist destiniation and the fishing is good too! Once again you have your river and estuary fishing and the offshore fishing. Definitely worth a look if you are out for 6 weeks. * I definitely second Noosa! Noosa is by far my favourite place in Australia! It has world class fishing, beaches, shops and everything you need. It has a nice temperature for most of the year and a very pleasant place to be. I am heading up here in December for a few weeks. Fishing wise both offshore and river are great. I definitely encourage you to go on an offshore fishng charter ( tour ) here. The river however, is my favourite! There are countless areas to either lure or bait. Near the river mouth there is a breakwall. About 500m upstream from here are a series of tiny beaches ( aka " the snags" ) that are very small ( 10 meters wide ) with lots of trees and fallen timber around the edges. These are the perfect place to set up for the day with a couple of fishing rods and some bait. There is a lovely cannel about 25m from the shore. If you fish the baits in here you will definitely pick up a feed of fish! It is also worth having a cast with some soft plastic lures at night for a sought after fish called the Mangrove Jack. All the bridges, snaggy areas and deep channels with some structure like a rockbar will hold these toothy red fish! They are also one of the tastiest fish in Australia! Also, you should pay a visit to the local fishing tackle shop for some fishing advice, gear and bait! * Hervey Bay is great too! Loads of Tuna are around at this time of year aswell as other predators. Mark Bargenquest is a guide up here. A fantastic guide too! It is well worth the money to spend a day out with him! A day your to Fraser Island is worth a look too! If you can i would strongly urge you to travel an extra hour or so north of cairns to Port Douglas. Fnatastic fishing, lovely scenery and a fantastic place! You'll love it!
helliconia Posted August 14, 2011 Posted August 14, 2011 (edited) Welcome to Fishraider! I would encourage you to post your itinerary here as you flesh it out. One thing about the Fishraider crowd is they're happy to share and help out, so if any of us have the time when you're in our local areas I'm sure someone would be happy to show you some spots. Give us some ideas of the kinds of fishing you prefer and if there are ay species you'd like to target too. Once we have an idea what you're after I'm sure we can offer better advice. As for what you'll need? The fish are so big here that most of us use the electric winch and 5 ton cable on the front of our 4WD's Seriously though, in NSW you'll need a Fishing License. Fees go directly to improving recreational fishing so don't feel like its the government just grabbing your money. They get that from the 10% GST you'll pay on everything here Queensland has a different system and rules - Info here We also have size and bag limits for many species, and there are closures and restrictions as well. Info here Finally, check out the Fishing Trips section of the forums, often Fishraiders are looking for people to fill their boats chasing various species. They're generally spur of the moment trips though so you might not get a lot of notice. I'd also recommend reading the Recreational Fishing Guides, they have a lot of useful general information. Edited August 14, 2011 by EmptyHooks
luderick -angler Posted August 15, 2011 Posted August 15, 2011 Steph Theres plenty of folks here who will offer great advice. I have PM'd you with an offer to chase some luderick! It's also about the time the kingies should be starting to school back up so hopefuly someone can get you on a boat for a day on the harbour!
stormgazer Posted August 24, 2011 Author Posted August 24, 2011 (edited) Hi everyone and thanks for the messages and pm's - have finally actually booked my holiday, we leave the uk on 27th october for a 3 night stay in hong kong and arrive in sydney on 1st november - campervan hire until 30th november and fly home via fiji for 5 nights, finally get back to uk on 7th december so far we havent done our itinery as to where we will be going but we are intending travelling all the way up the east coast to Cairns and all the way back down again, stopping in various places on the way, my family live near Lake Munmorah so we will be visiting them while we are there, they arrive in the UK on 9th september and my cousin is going to go through our map and give us some idea on itineries, will post them on here after i have checked them out. any/all suggestions are more than welcome as my cousing is not a fisherman apart from fishing, any suggestions for anywhere cool to visit on the east coast would be appreciated also 64 more sleeps before departure, lol Stephanie p.s forgot to add, sorry for not replying sooner, i work away a lot and only get chance for browsing now and again, must work hard for more fishing gear, lol Edited August 24, 2011 by stormgazer
tuffy Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Hi Stephanie, you just mentioned another issue, and that is the one re your tackle. I would assume that you are not carting loads of fishing gear on your trips from home, so I just wanted to let you know that reasonably good rod/reel combos are sold here through many different retails outlets at relatively inexpensive prices. Good enough at least to get you by for the month. Major retailers like Target, &&*&*&, Big W etc and also the large tackle stores can provide you with reasonably priced equipment and not bust the bank. Just thought I'd let you know. 64 more sleeps, hey? You're gonna love this place. Cheers, Tuffy
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