Sussex Inlet and St Georges Basin

[Ocean Addiction]

I finally had a free weekend after several months of not going out fishing. Decided to head down to our place at Sussex Inlet for the weekend and what a great decision it was as the weather was fantastic. It took a while to work out what was firing but had a great time anyway.

Early Saturday morning I headed out into St Georges Basin to target tailor and if that failed maybe some snapper. I went straight out to the artificial reefs to see if I could find some bait schools on the sounder. While trolling some deep divers around using the electric motor I sounded out some smallish bait schools. Most were on the deeper side of the reefs and weren't worth concentrating on. After nearly 2 hours of nothing I headed over to Garden Island where I have previously caught some good snapper. Picked up a small flathead (released) and then headed home for lunch. Spoke with a few locals and they confirmed that the Basin was quiet at the moment. (A very big thank you to the guy in the tinnie who pulled me over and reminded me I had forgotten to put my lifejacket on.)

Saturday afternoon I headed across the river from one of the major boat ramps. Started berleying up with bread and in short time had fish chopping bread off the surface behind the boat. Drifted some unweighted bread baits back and was nailing mullet consistently for the next 2 hours. I love catching mullet as they fight hard on light gear. It would’ve been a fish-a-cast if 1) bread wasn’t so ridiculously hard to keep on a hook and 2) mullet weren’t so hard to get a hook into. They were so mental I broke out the fly rod and even got a few on that as well. I have no idea how many I finally landed and left them biting so I could get back to the ramp before sunset.

Sunday morning tried for some surface bream and whiting in the canals. I had several enthusiastic hits but failed to hook any fish. It’s possibly a bit early in the season but with all the warm weather lately it was worth a shot. Was a great trip and a good reminder that I should make time to do it more often.

[thefisherman6784]

Great job mate

Those mullet sound like they would be heaps of fun and not a bad size either

They go hard and to get them on fly would have been awesome

Bad luck on the surface bream and whiting but still awesome to see the takes

Cheers thefisherman6784

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[Yowie]

Look like sand mullet.

Keep one for bait, cut off the fillets, then cut off a strip behind the rib bones towards the tail end and across the body, about 1cm wide. A hook around 2/0 size into one end of the strip, no need to thread the strip onto the hook, just hook it once from one end, no more than 1cm from the end. At the other end from where the hook is embedded, cut a small slit along the length of the fillet in the middle, 1 to 2 cm long, no more.

Lob this out with enough sinker to keep it on the bottom, then jig it slowly back towards you, if any flatties are about, you should get a take from them.

[Guest Aussie007]

OA lovely place to holiday and great fishing, well done on the mullet

[Ocean Addiction]

Thanks for the tip yowie. There is definitely no shortage of them down there and at $0.89 for a loaf of bread it is certainly a cost effective way of getting on to a few fish.

[Sydneyfisher12]

Great work mate I love that part of the world

There are tonnes of those mullet around Jervis bay but no real big ones but still great fun

Bad luck on the other species but it's just great to be out there

Cheers sydneyfisher12