Back From The Tweed

[Grantm]

Back finally after a nice two week stay at Coolangatta.

Not much to report, only fished for about an hour each day and the wind was gale force most days. Picked up a dozen or so flatties and two nice Bream working the flats which was about all i could do in the wind. Gulps out fished all other lures and accounted for 90 % of the fish.

Very nice place to fish and a lot of options open but the weather killed it. Also the last week was spent fishing high tide and the fish really shut down. Concentrated my efforts around drain pipes and creek mouths as there had been a fair bit of rain around and this did the trick.

Saw a couple of funny things though. Was having a flick around a rock wall and bridge pylons at Currumbin when out of knowhere some large bubbles appeared and a black shape emerged from the depths. All of a sudden a scuba diver pops up with a fish impaled on his spear gun. Cant say I was expecting that. Jumped out of the water in to his car a nd drove off. Very strange but I was in Queensland so......

Looking our over Coolangatta and Kirra beaches from our unit I saw a string of bouys that went the length of both beaches about 500 meters out. Though this was just a shark net but no, shark BAITS set buy a long line fishing vessel. Just what you want on a beach.

Speaking to some locals the pros are doing it tough. One prawn trawler was out for three nights and used 600 bucks worth of fuel for 100 kg pf prawns for their efforts , this is now common. My heart is breaking.

One trawler and licence was for sale and has been for ages but no one want to buy it. Gone from 350k down to 220k and still no buyers.

Anyway, managed a few fish and had a top time with the family.

[Martin]

Welcome back home Grant. Shame the weather was not a little more cooperative on the wind front for you.

Anyway sounds as though you enjoyed your break and concentrated on good family time with the fish as a bonus.

Fish wise it seems every where if firing except the Hawkesbury/Broken Bay/Pittwater area. This may well have to do with the abuse the area has suffered from commercial fishing and that the Hawkesbury has not had a good flood in many years to flush her out.

Hope to see you on the water.

Cheers

[Guest madsmc]

Welcome back Grant.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the break, despite the wind.

Those Gulps are pretty good, I've taken a few flathead on the minnow, nothing on the sandworm yet. Maybe that will change as Lake Macquarie gets warmer.

Would have been interesting if you had hooked the diver. Bet that would have put a nice bend in the bream rod!

The shark baits sound very suspect, especially that close to the shoreline. After the Stockton saga you'd think that something would be done to stop that sort of caper, no matter where it occurs on our coastline. Perhaps the lack of media attention and that it's commercial fisherman in question that will make it all OK.

Anyway, good to hear you got a few and had a good time with the family. Looking forward to hearing your local reports again.

Shane

[Grantm]

Those Gulps are pretty good, I've taken a few flathead on the minnow, nothing on the sandworm yet. Maybe that will change as Lake Macquarie gets warmer.

Shane

Mate I can tell you that those worms are awsome on the Lake Mac flatties so keep trying. Slow rolling retreive works well with a few skips. Whipping em doesnt seem as good.

BTW there are a couple of decent flattie spots in the colder months in Lake Mac, still harder to come by but still there. Some of the bays are warm over 20 degrees ( for obvious reasons ) and have nice mud flats which hold the flatties.