Central Coast beach fishing, gear and tips

[scottyd]

I am looking to learn to fish from the beach between Norah Head and the nthn headland at the other end of the bay. I would like to know basic tips such as, rod type length, tackle etc and target species and bait and rigs. I currently fish from a small tinnie in lake Mac and have had success with flathead, brim and small snapper. Any help or advise would be appreciated.

[muttski]

As the weather and water has cooled I've recently turned my attention from the estauries and lakes to targeting salmon off the beach.

Are you talking the long beach that runs almost to Lake Munmorah? If so, there is a lot of beach to find some decent gutters that should hold fish.

My beach outfit is a 9ft graphite spin rod, 6-8kg rated. With that I have a 4000 series reel loaded with 16lb fireline braid. I use a 20lb fluorocarbon for a shock leader- 1 rod length plus a few wraps of the reel the knot (the tag from the heavier fluoro) can get caught on the braid still on the spool, which causes a mess. A work around is to use some clear nail polish on the knot to smooth it over. With this I flick 40g metal lures - spanyid raiders and the like. I find the ones that are purplish turning to blue go alright.

I'm not much of a bait fisherman, so can't help too much on that. With lure fishing you can pack light- a knife, a few lures and a pair of snips. This way you can cover more beach. The first few hours of a run out tide, especially on dusk and dawn will yield salmon, which fight dirty.