dale91 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Woke up at 7 this morning with my brother, planning to get straight on the water with our 2 man kayak. We ended up reaching mainabar by 8:20ish and pumped all our yabbies in 30 mins Started fishing from the east most beach facing easy but the water was moving to much, do we hoped backed in the kayak and paddled a bit further west and fished facing north. In a few hours I had caught one tiny flatty and my brother was on the big 0 We ended up moving into burraneer bay and only catching some tiny snapper. Had two catana rods with light set ups ( braid and fluro with 1/8th jigs) mainly with SPs We also had a crappy rod set up with a long shank hook for the yabbies... There is probably a long list, but what did we do wrong and can I have any tips?!?!? Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Ray Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Where is mainabar?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Where you pumped the nippers at Mainbar is a really good place to stay for a while and fish. Pumping the nippers stirs up the food in the sand and acts as berley with the rising tide. Next time try throwing unweighted nippers around the shallows where the nipper holes are. We use light outfits ( 1kg main line with 4lb fluorocarbon trace) and fish the flats for whiting, bream and flatties. We have landed flatties over 4kg up in the shallows. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale91 Posted March 4, 2014 Author Share Posted March 4, 2014 Awesome Bruce, thanks mate I'll give it a go. I thought for flatty it's best to chuck it out over the drop offs? Never thought about how pumping yabbies turns up food, very good point. Mainabar is in the port hacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fab1 Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 (edited) As bruce mentioned fish as light as you dare with as little lead as you can get away with. A moving bait will catch many more fish than one anchored to the bottom with a lump of lead. Thats why drifting works so well and you also cover more ground. I use a size 6 hook for whiting with no to very little lead and a long trace. Try fishing the edges of weedbeds, sand patches, dropoffs etc in otherwords think like a fish and find some form off structure and work the tides. Early morning and late afternoon are generally the best times to fish when there is very little boat traffic churning the water up. Sent from my GT-I8730T using Tapatalk Edited March 4, 2014 by Fab1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filthmonger Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 If your pumping yabbies fish the flats anywhere above 0.4m will produce fish!! Dont fish yabbies in deeper water unless you enjoy catching baby snapper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 +1 for unweighted nipper, you'll have no problem achieving a cast with very light braid, if required a very small ball sinker running down to the hook will help Harry If it's to good to be true, it usually is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tumra Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 My recommendation is to start early. Be fishing at 6:30. The fish in the hacking seem to drop off once it gets too bright. If you are fishing later in the day fish the shadows - moored boats, pontoons etc. The fish tend to hang there in the brightness of the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale91 Posted March 6, 2014 Author Share Posted March 6, 2014 Thanks everyone, awesome tips. We will get onto it and give it a go. Regards Nelson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaki10 Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Woke up at 7 this morning with my brother, planning to get straight on the water with our 2 man kayak. We ended up reaching mainabar by 8:20ish and pumped all our yabbies in 30 mins Started fishing from the east most beach facing easy but the water was moving to much, do we hoped backed in the kayak and paddled a bit further west and fished facing north. In a few hours I had caught one tiny flatty and my brother was on the big 0 We ended up moving into burraneer bay and only catching some tiny snapper. Had two catana rods with light set ups ( braid and fluro with 1/8th jigs) mainly with SPs We also had a crappy rod set up with a long shank hook for the yabbies... There is probably a long list, but what did we do wrong and can I have any tips?!?!? Thanks guys Mainabar I would fish with live worms for whiting and chicken for flat head as it works the best I find. Try that and let us know how you go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 I was there over the weekend, stayed for about 5hours, and only caught a 40cm flathead, and a good sized octopus. I think the stormy weather last week didnt help . Mainabar is really beautiful though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpasqualie Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Mate , fish the little drop offs and use circle hooks, don't strike, the flatties will hook themselves, if undersize they will be easily released. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Great advice here from other readers. Fish early, fish light, fish the cover. The Port is a clean and crystal clear fishery so you have to fish accordingly. I have been fishing the area from Maianbar to Bundeena for nearly 30 years. Been camping at the Bonnievale camping area for just a long. Sounds like you were originally fishing Simpsons Beach and then perhaps opposite Burraneer Bay I swim there all year round ( tough in late winter/early spring I gotta tell ya!) In the warmer months I always fish from Simpsons beach all the way up to the spit and then wade (or swim) across the other side to fish the flats on the other side of the cabbage tree creek inlet. My main strategy is soft plastics, or for the larger flatties, whole pilchards on ganged hooks. I make a few casts, mix up the retrieves and if I don't get a hit I move along the beach maybe 20 meters and then cast and repeat. If I get a Sand Flathead, I work the same place for a while because they often loosely school up but if I get a Dusky Flathead I move anyway because they are more solitary in my experience. 5 Years ago I used to get a feed for a dozen or so campers by the time I reach halfway down the beach. Now it is much harder. I have noticed a gradual dropping of of the fishing particularly in the last 5 years ever since a few significant storms came through and changed the bottom along Simpson Beach. It seems that there is no longer any depth to the sand covering the bottom. It's a mixture of partially crushed shells and hard compacted areas with a really closely cropped cover of some sort of weed. My theory is that this makes it hard for the flatties to conceal themselves so it is much less attractive an ambush spot for them. I guess what I am saying is that this specific spot has declined in recent years but the port still fishes well for the local fishos. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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