Fishing Georges river, heavy wind, location and setup

[mattyhatty90]

Hey guys new here,

So I'm Matt, 25 and this aint a dating site so I will bite the hook.

Been fishing the Georges River (Kelso, East Hills Bridge and Georges River national park). Recently with the crazy wind it's been a nightmare and not catchibg anything, maybe the recent floods? Anyhow I only use bait currently as I Want to get good at that before plastics. With casting in heavy wind what's the best rig to get Bream ect?

I'm using a 2-4kg Shamans rod, 6lb braid woth a 40cm leader on pilchard (tail, head, cubes) with a size 2 hook. When I had my old Jarvis Walker setup i got HEAPS of Bream (15 in 1 day 3 good keepers) but now nothing, plenty of bites ect i never even used to set the hook.

Should I use a heasier running sinker to the hook and swivel in the wind ect just abit lost. Btw old setup was mono

Any feedback would be great

[mattyhatty90]

Excuse the terrible spelling. Dam phone!

[big Neil]

Matt, just a couple of things. Your leader may be TOO heavy. Fish as light as possible. Berley...that's what's going to bring the fish around and increase your chances of catching a few. Vary your rig. Running sinker, down to the hook, on 1 rod. A sinker set a metre from the hook and an unweighted, baited hook. Try these and I'll be surprised if you don't catch a few. Neil.

[laddercat]

Hi mate, your old jarvis walker was probably fibreglass, fibreglass loads much more slowly through the blank giving a very 'sloppy' feel. What this means is when fishing bait a fish bites and takes a run and the slow sloppy action of the rod allows the fish to more easily hook itself. Any input or 'strike' from the angler is recieved a fraction later at the fishes end because of the slow nature of the blank ( blank meaning rod blank ).

Now that you have a new graphite rod you are feeling bites and runs more easily as the graphite communicates these more subtle interactions from the fish more easily through the blank to the angler. Any input or strike is much more immediate, meaning you are literally pulling the hook from the fishes mouth before it gets a real good run on it.

The second element is monofilament versus braid, first of all braid was not designed to be fished with for finese bait presentations. Bait fishing is generally not considered a finese approach however when fishing for bream whiting etc sing finesse presentations such as light leaders minimal lead and 'delicate' bait. Braid can assist as it provides much higher breaking strain at lower diameter. Lower diameter means increased sink rate and harder for fish to see.

The negative of braid in this equation is its no stretch nature wherebv when you strike if the fish is running you exert maximum force on the hook resulting in pulled hooks in some situations. Monofilament in this scenario may stretch providing that split second longer for the hook to set rather then pull.

Therefore going from fibreglass and mono to graphite and braid anglers will often strike too early or strike on bites rather then on runs. To remedy this try and give the fish more of a chance to take and run with the the bait before striking. Also remember not to strike as hard.

6lb is a great strength of braid for bream bait fishing i would suggest matching it to at least 1m of 6lb flurocarbon the FG knot is widley considered to be the best for strength however a double uni will suffice for starting out.

Goodluck mate

[mattyhatty90]

Thanks Neil,

How will casting go with heavy wind go with the wind? I usually end up pretty close to the shore. What size sinker would you recommend?

[Fab1]

Hey guys new here,

So I'm Matt, 25 and this aint a dating site so I will bite the hook.

Been fishing the Georges River (Kelso, East Hills Bridge and Georges River national park). Recently with the crazy wind it's been a nightmare and not catchibg anything, maybe the recent floods? Anyhow I only use bait currently as I Want to get good at that before plastics. With casting in heavy wind what's the best rig to get Bream ect?

I'm using a 2-4kg Shamans rod, 6lb braid woth a 40cm leader on pilchard (tail, head, cubes) with a size 2 hook. When I had my old Jarvis Walker setup i got HEAPS of Bream (15 in 1 day 3 good keepers) but now nothing, plenty of bites ect i never even used to set the hook.

Should I use a heasier running sinker to the hook and swivel in the wind ect just abit lost. Btw old setup was mono

Any feedback would be great

Fishing in strong wind will always be a challenge,especially a head wind.Try to cast side arm low to the waterline and finish up high with the rod tip for a piercing cast that cuts through the wind.Also peeled prawns and yabbies are smaller than pillys thus less affected by the wind drag and should get your cast further out there which are a gun bream bait.As for rigs I prefer a running sinker rig with the lightest lead I can get away with to suit the current,wind,depth down to a small black swivel with about a meter or 2 of trace down to a #4 long shank hook in the bait holder style.I use 8lb mono straight through and never have problems hooking/netting bream,whiting,flathead etc on this rig.In strong wind I would shorten this trace down to 0.5-1m in length for cast ability. Also remember sometimes the fish are closer to you than you think.

[ambrose607]

Hi Matt

I also fish the Georges mainly around Picnic Point.

The recent rains haven't helped i was there last

week for no bites over a 3hr period. The baits i

use are peeled school prawns or the small crabs

found under rocks along the shoreline(Gun Bait)

I use mono and fiberglass rod (old school) with a

40cm mono trace from swivel to hook all 10lb i try

to fish as light as possible but with the stronger

winds i will use a No4 ball sinker just to get some

distance . Hope this helps you. Try the crabs they

are lethal on big Bream

[michael2203]

Hi Matt,

I'm also from around C'town, but have in-laws over at East Hills, so regularly go around that area.

When the conditions are a bit rough, I have been heading down under the railway bridge at East Hills. Pulled some decent size bream from there. When the conditions are better, my daughter and I have been going around chipping norton lake with some decent success as well. In the last few weeks I have been going to Tempe and been catching decent size bream and flathead.

As far as gear goes, we're using 2-4kg line with a traditional sinker, swivel and hook (no 2) set up. We have been using prawns and chicken for bait.

Anyway, if you're keen for a fish one weekend, PM me and we can tee something up.

Cheers

Hodgo

[mattyhatty90]

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. Been out and taken advice and started landing more Bream again next question I have is i recently tried fishing off milperra bridge area, off to the side near the tackle shop. Unfortunately I keep getting bitten off by something, it will hook then either bite through the line (8\b fluorocarbon) or take the hook right off. Haven't got a clue what type of fish this is but not sure how to combat this. Not using any sinkers here either due to snags.

[mattyhatty90]

Also for any potential bigger fish in this area what would people recommend? Due to snags ect and using bait with sinkers and getting bitten off im abit lost (and inexperienced)

[allen_f]

I usually fish the mouth of the georges.

I use a 2-4kg rod, 6lb line, 10lb fluoro lead, size 3 sinker and size 2 hook. usually works really well, and i can cast it close to 40ish metres. Only problem I get is snagging on mysterious objects in the river itself.. usually mystery rocks. Only thing that breaks the line so far are the damn tailor who just bite straight through the line, other than that, the setup has been pretty good so far

[amkr]

Mystery fish near that bridge at milperra - apparently loads of jewies around the pylons... Jewies and shopping trolleys! Both put up a good fight.

I usually fish Fitzpatrick reserve, nothing big there but usually pull in some undersized bream and a legal whiting.

Generally I fish with 8lb braid, 6lb leader and a size 6 hook. I use prawns from the tackle shop you mentioned - good guy there and good bait too!

[amkr]

I've tried plastics along that area too, I'll be damned if I can get a fish on them. I have a theory that the fish in those area know to avoid plastic from all the pollution

My technique is probably awful, managed to catch on plastics at Como but absolutely nothing from picnic point.

Also - anyone tried opposite Lugano where the old ferry was? Looks fishy with good access to the main channel?

[ambrose607]

In a earlier post this year one of the members was talking about almost standing on a Bull Shark at the boat ramp near Flower Power that's only a stones throw from where you are fishing. Just some food for thought

[Guest no one]

In a earlier post this year one of the members was talking about almost standing on a Bull Shark at the boat ramp near Flower Power that's only a stones throw from where you are fishing. Just some food for thought

The hacking and Georges are full of sharks!