This past weekend

[reubs]

Got out on Friday night to watsons bay and met up with a couple of friends for a flick.. There was about 15 people already on the wharf when we arrived so we got a small spot down the end between us.. It was after high tide unfortunately so only got to fish the outgoing.. There were a couple of small squid landed by some of the other guys but no one seemed to be having much luck.. We started flicking some plastics around as there looked like there was plenty of bait around and managed to land 6 pike between us.. I caught a bite sized calamari so I put him on a 5/0 and sent him out live.. Got a really good run felt and then it got it's freight train on and headed for the harbour bridge and ping! Was fishing with a new penn conflict reel and it dealt out the damage really well though.

Ended up re rigging with a new hook and sent out a butterflied pike.. About 10 minutes later we had another runner and fought it back to the jetty. It was of course a ray but was a great way to test the new rod and reel.. Busted us off under the wharf as did the next one before we called it a night.

Saturdays evening high had me wanting to get onto the beach for a fish so headed to the northern beaches hoping to get stuck into some sambos or tailor.. No such luck nothing was touching the pilchards at all.. My mate caught one keeper whiting that went about 28cm and a small shark.. Looked a bit like a PJ but the head wasn't as boxy.. It was returned to the water with no harm.

Moved to a couple of beaches after the high but no bites..

Not quite sure where all the fish are this winter on the beaches but if anyone is a northern beaches guru and can help me with the best moon phases to hit the beach and best tides you'll save me lots of fuel!

Tight lines

Reubs

[thefisherman6784]

bad luck on the big fish mate

I'm sure you would of liked to get it in but thats fishing

at least you had some fun on new rod and reel combo on those rays

cheers thefisherman6784

[ginko]

go on the rising tide, and find either a good gutter (deep water running parallel to the beach, in close, and protected by a sandbar out wide) or a rip (water running straight off the beach in a deep/dark patch). Tailor usually hang out in the very middle of the rips. just watch out for the surfers riding the rip back out through the breakers.

also, I've found that I was setting the hooks too close to the sand - my hook up rate improved with a ~20cm trace set about 90cm above a star sinker.

There are a few around - I picked up two sambos at narrabeen on Sunday morning, around high tide, in a bit of a rip. (Narrabeen rarely gets good gutters).I've heard that tailor are more common on the beach in the late afternoon. I do seem to catch salmon in the morning, and tailor after dark.

re: the moon - try going just before the full moon.

[krause]

Go south! Ive only fished the northern beaches a few times and found them very underwhelming. I had 2 trips last week to wollongong beaches, got a nice meal from both. 1st trip I got a few tailor and salmon, second trip I was hooking up every second cast for an hour or so around twilight. It was a bit of a shame though, because the salmon were jumping allot (something I have seen for a while, good fun though) so I lost the first 5 or so to aerial acrobatics.

Do other than go south, do what is suggested above. Find structure, especially rips (though they're are rare to find in a fishable condition) and let your bait move. I prefer a running sinker rig with a small trace if conditions allow.

And fish at sunset (3-7pm) around the full and new moons. I don't think it has much to do with the moon, just that at these times high tide is on or just after dark.

Good luck!

[Paikea]

. I had 2 trips last week to wollongong beaches, got a nice meal from both.

Are you talking the beaches North or South of Wollongong?

I have had some good success fishing Austinmer and the next beach North of Austi but only at night.

Caught some nice Jewies there some years ago.

Cheers

Paikea

[krause]

Both directions if I'm honest. I like windang and corrimal (south and North of wollongong respectively) always have a bit of luck on any of the beaches, but to be honest is all about structure, I just dont find the same structure on narabeen/deewhy/etc.

I'm still chasing my first Beach jew, poor tailor are paying for it, so many have been turned into bait....

Cheers

[fisholb]

Stanwell park is a good spot...used to bagged out on d salmon during winter...

[krause]

Agreed. I used to fish there heavily before I found the other spots mentioned above. Its good, but lacks finite structure. The gutters there are massive, and harder to spot and fish. Sounds strange, but I think its true, the sand bar is a good 80-100m out. I battled a big (unknown fish, hopefully a jew!) over that sand bar for 40min!! Tough going. The biggest problem with the place is the ever present shore dump!!

All things aside, stanwell does fish well for salmon and tailor. I never had luck with bream/trevally etc there. But always worth a shot.

Cheers

[fisholb]

Agreed. I used to fish there heavily before I found the other spots mentioned above. Its good, but lacks finite structure. The gutters there are massive, and harder to spot and fish. Sounds strange, but I think its true, the sand bar is a good 80-100m out. I battled a big (unknown fish, hopefully a jew!) over that sand bar for 40min!! Tough going. The biggest problem with the place is the ever present shore dump!!

All things aside, stanwell does fish well for salmon and tailor. I never had luck with bream/trevally etc there. But always worth a shot.

Cheers

Havent been to stanwell since last winter...my mate caught a 18kg jew there a couple of years back on a whole pilly...we caught plenty of salmon n tailor there around the 2/3kg...we get flattys too...we target salmon n tailor always at stanwell...best time is in the afternoon. ..