Killer1979 Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Good Morning all, I have read just about every thread on this forum and have been extremely impressed! What a great group! I have read a lot from scratchie and just want so say thanks, amazing to read your reports. I am heading to port Stephens for a week on Jan 9 with my wife and three boys. My two older boys (7 and 5) love fishing so we are keen to get into it. We live inland and I have done very little saltwater fishing. We have caught thousands of Redfin but my saltwater knowledge is limited. The boys watch a lot of fishing on TV and can't believe they are going to be able to fish in saltwater!! Anyway I can't fish the breakwall rocks with little kids so am looking for jetties or calm beaches where I can get a flathead or whiting? I am also looking at hiring a little tinnie for a day or two to find some really calm water (5 year old hates waves) and get some flatties or whiting. Scratchie if you get a spare 5 minutes and could give me a couple of tips on getting some flathead and whiting with kids that would be great. Also what pound / type of line should I be putting on our reels before I head up? Thanks in advance guys. Cheers Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 Haha, hopefully he tells me everything I need to know then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattfinn Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 For your bread and butter fish target drop offs and weed beds/sandy edges. I stick to this plan when I fish estuaries land based. I also tend to avoid wharfs to an extent unless it's very early in the morning otherwise they can just be too crowded and unpleasant to fish on. Often I locate an area that features weed beds that have a drop off behind them into a Channel. I gradually will work my way up and down these sections flicking soft plastics and various hard bodies until I find fish. There's a new moon around the 10th of Jan so another way to have some fun is get a couple of cheap head torches and some fine prawn nets and walk along weed edges catching prawns at night. Use these for bait as nothing beats a live prawn for bait when the prawns are running. I recently spent one night chasing prawns around in the shallows with my 14yr old brother catching them with our hands. We turned those prawns into some good fish the next day even as dead baits. Hope you guys have fun in salt as it's always amazing the diversity of fish you can suddenly get in salt. Also if bait fishing go as light as you can with tackle. You can't go wrong with circle hooks, tiny sinkers and 4-8lb line and a flouro leader. (Mono for bait, braid for lures). I'm sure this isn't much different to your set up for reddies. Good luck Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Scratchie talks underwater with a mouthful of marbles Gees stewy, that's the pot calling the kettle black! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batfishing Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Gees stewy, that's the pot calling the kettle black! Yep, fished with both of you........Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Hi Al, I'm happy to help out if I can. I also have 4 kids, so I know the importance of catching something. I'm also an untangle master, I've had a lot of practice! Lol Fishing the bay with your kids in mind, I would try soldiers point jetty for a start. You can catch bream and whiting there but it can be really busy this time of year. A 2-4kg rod 2500 reel 6-8lb line. Fish that jetty as light weighted as possible with either bread, prawns or nippers. And I would use a long shank hook. Either side of that jetty are beaches you can walk up and down and throw sp's for Flatty especially at high tide. Or a ganged pilly unweighted slowly rolled along the bottom. Corlette beach and taylors beach is another place to target flathead and whiting. You can pump nippers at both these locations. Taylors beach is quiter than corlette though. Small sinker, 30cm trace and longshank. Soldiers point mariner you can hire a tinny and behind there towards taylors beach is a yellow marker and red marker drift between those two and I guarantee you whiting! but don't tell everyone that spot! Also from a boat, the right side of north arm cove near the red buoys you'll see what I mean. That could be a good spot too! Basically though, anywhere in the bay in 3-5m of water will get you flathead and whiting. Wanda headland is also worth a shot. Hope that helps and good luck, Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Awesome guys! Thanks so much for the replies! I really appreciate all the advice. The kids are so keen I would hate to go without a fish. The prawning sounds like great fun! Scratchie is that jetty busy all day? When doing land based fishing I will either do it early morning or in the evening to avoid crowds (and I should probably spend the day with the good wife). Although I will obviously hire a small boat during the day. Hoping to also ditch the kids for a few hours at some stage and go for some bigger stuff!! Cheers Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Also we are staying at Shoal Bay right opposite the beach. Is that beach any good in the evening for flicking a soft plastic or doing any fishing at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Also we are staying at Shoal Bay right opposite the beach. Is that beach any good in the evening for flicking a soft plastic or doing any fishing at all? Yes mate. You can fish off the headland for bigger stuff. Throw sp's on the right hand side at high tide for some big flatty. There is also a pontoon/jetty there. Further around on the left side you can get some good sand whiting. You can also get some good whiting from the gutters at fingal beach which is just around the corner. If you can sneak out off the stones. The southern end of wreck beach is also worth a shot, early morning late arvo! I look forward to your report! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farvos Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 drift jimmys beach to with soft plastics if you hire a tinny. To far by car from port stephens. prawns work to but greater satisfaction on plastics and get less nuscance hook ups to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Does the Jetty at Shoal bay fish well at night? Is there lighting on it? If I'm fishing in the evening either from a jetty or a beach is it worth having a bigger rod with a bigger bait going on the side for something bigger? Thanks for all the info so far guys. Going to have plenty of spots to try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 The jetty is there mainly for tourists but you can occasionally spin for tailor in the arvo. Always worth having a big rod out off any beach up here, you never know but most of your dead baits will be scoffed by shovel nose sharks! That jetty can produce live baits as well. Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribs Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 Al, I was up there all of last week with the fam, and I'm coming back tomoro arvo solo for a few days, hoping for the weather to improve. Shoaly currently holding squid/Taylor early morn off the jetty but by 9am the kids are out jumping into the water so no chance after that, and walk the stones/beach flicking 1/4once wrigglers aiming for the sand patches amongst the weed for flaty. I saw a 5kg flaty caught and released off the nb break wall, and I got dusted by a king flicking blades there too. Kings off the wall at boat harbour always a chance for the big rods with far less crowds . Basically early or later the better, plenty of people about this time of year , but fish are there... Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribs Posted January 3, 2016 Share Posted January 3, 2016 No lights on sb jetty, and as Scratchie says... Plenty of shovel and pj sharks.... Bloody bait theives..... But if u get them there will be flatys around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 Thanks Ribs. Appreciate the feedback. Yeah I will do all my land based stuff before 9am or after 7:30pm so hopefully don't tangle up any swimmers haha. What are Taylor like? Are they a big fish? Good to eat? The boat harbour wall is that fish able with young kids? Is it ocean fishing or still in the bay? Sorry for all the questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffb5.8 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) The break wall is fish able with little ones, I did it with a 4 & 7 yr old but I did have the 4yr in a life vest as he is unpredictable and hard to keep interested without climbing all over the large rocks. The 7yr is keen and is happy to sit and watch the world go by. Edit; it was a very calm day and not crowded at all. Edited January 4, 2016 by jeffb5.8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 Awesome thanks Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 So thanks to all you legends and your fantastic input here is my fishing plan to make sure my kids have a heap of fun fishing saltwater for the first time but we also get a feed of fish! 1. Early morning start at soldiers point jetty chasing some whiting and any other species that may be around. Using long shank hooks and prawns. 2. Late afternoons / evenings flicking soft plastics on shoal bay beach. Will have a surf rod running a big bait in case there are any surprises around. 3. Early morning at shoal bay jetty going for Taylor. 4. Breakwall one day going for bream but have a big rod going in case there is a kingy ( could I use a surf rod for a kingy?) 5. Hire a tinny and drift in scratchies magic spot near Taylor's beach. Between the yellow market and red marker for "guaranteed" whiting haha. 6. Drift jimmys beach with soft plastics. 7. Fish anywhere with 3-5 metres of water. 8. Go prawning? What is the go with prawning? I assume I do it at night with a headlamp and a small net? How deep do I go? Are sharks going to eat me at night? Haha. Thanks everyone. Feel free to add if I have missed anything! Cheers Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 About 2 hours away from Port Stephens! Getting excited. How is the water colour? Is it still fishing ok? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Water is dirty and very tough fishing. I took some raiders out last night and was even tough for me to find the fish. We managed a few whiting and a nice flatty but that was from a boat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Thanks Scratchie. That doesn't sound great. Typical, the one time I get to fish this amazing place there's no bite. Oh well, I shouldn't complain. The storm could have done a lot worse things than put the fish off! Hopefully it improves over the next few days. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Day 1. Nelson bay Marina (inside the marina), Nelson bay break wall and shoal bay beach. 0 fish Terrible, windy conditions and dirty water. Hoping for some improvement tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Try corlette beach at high tide with some prawns or nippers. You should get something there. The whiting we caught seemed to be more shallow than normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer1979 Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Thanks scratchie. I will try that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribs Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Try little beach left side wharf, chook breast casted into the old marina pylons on High tide, seen 10+ good fish caught over last 2 weeks in clear and dirty water...take a chair sit and wait... Great for kids too ,swim fish ,muck around ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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