Kyeemagh - Baby bream

[HawkesburyParadise]

Quick session today after dropping family to the airport 

Very popular spot under General Holmes Dr Bridge. No rain rush but a truck load of wind. 

Lots of bites but only managed a baby bream and a sea shell. Some I kept getting lots of sea grass. 

Overall, a good session. 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by HawkesburyParadise

[masterfisho7]

Nice little at lease you got some thing

[Mike Sydney]

Great work HB. What did you catch it with and which direction was the tide going ? It looks pretty high in the photo. 

[HawkesburyParadise]

47 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

Great work HB. What did you catch it with and which direction was the tide going ? It looks pretty high in the photo. 

Shimano Fishquest 10lb line, ball sinker and fresh prawns. No swivel this time. Might do this setup more often,  seems faster than swivel and leader. 

[Little_Flatty]

Glad to see you persisting and trying new spots and rigs, @HawkesburyParadise. Relish those small wins!

[Yowie]

The photo looks like the fish has a rounded nose, which is a Tarwhine. Bream have a pointier nose than Tarwhine. Have a look at Google to see what is what.

[Pickles]

Great to just get out there and  enjoy fishing. Yowie is correct, a tarwhine, so similar to beam, but if you get a keeper (25cm min), the gut cavity will be lined with black, which is best removed if you are not filleting and de-boning).

[Rebel]

Super photo. Well done.

[noelm]

The sinker is still pretty big for calm waters, tarwhine for me too, the nose and stripes give it away.

[HawkesburyParadise]

11 hours ago, noelm said:

The sinker is still pretty big for calm waters, tarwhine for me too, the nose and stripes give it away.

How does the size of sinker matter? Serious question.

[Little_Flatty]

11 minutes ago, HawkesburyParadise said:

How does the size of sinker matter? Serious question.

I quite like @Restyle's thinking in the post included in this topic.

Basically sinker weight is a compromise between not reaching the fish and keeping it anchored to the bottom in one place only (which misses the fish in some situations, and keeps it in front of their noses in others). However, sometimes the current and tidal flow is such that you will struggle to get your bait down to the fish without a little weight. Getting that right takes practice/experience and I have to admit I'm still learning new things in this respect after decades of fishing (albeit with lure fishing).

As a general rule though, it often pays to give the fish the impression that your bait is a free piece of food wafting down the current or tide. Try throwing a piece of bait in the water and watching how it goes down. Then try to achieve the same 'action' with a hook/line attached. If weightless does it, then great. But there may be some wind/tidal/current flow present which might mandate the use of some weight. Start light as possible and then gradually adjust until you achieve this end.

 

[noelm]

In very basic terms, fishing is tricking a fish into eating something with a hook hidden in it, fish are simple, yet shy creatures, and like other animals, don't like things that are not "normal" a bait needs to be presented as natural as you can. Little to no weight, light line, and live native to the area bait starts to put things in your favour, this is particularly so in hard fished areas (like Sydney) thick line, a big sinker hurled over the horizon with a curled up black prawn is not natural, sure at times a fish might take your offering, but, most times you will just sit there losing bait to Toads and rubbish fish that don't care where their food comes from (schooling scavengers)

[Fab1]

Well said fellas.Just to add to what the guys said.....Water depth,line thickness,size of bait/lure, etc will affect the sink rate of your rig too.As mentioned I am trying to work at getting all those variables right too.

  I try not to anchor my bait to the bottom but to pick a weight light enough that my bait drifts close to the bottom with the current.

  You may find that at slack water you can use a weightless rig and as the tide picks up and the current increases you may have to add weight several times to hold you bait close to the bottom during your session.

 

 I understand the theory and techniques but my fish finding skills are lacking.😂😂

  Good luck in your adventures mate.

[noelm]

OK, here's a classic example, a week or so ago, I got some Nippers and fished near the Kiosk on the southern side of Lake Illawarra, it's a tourist "hot spot" lots of swimmers, tourists fishing, lots of general activity, the current is slight if you fish in the right spot, but ferocious out towards the channel and in the deep spot where the channel is close to shore. My setup was about as simple as it gets, a light whippy rod, about 3KG line, a long shank hook and a ball sinker (00 size) about 3mm across, all my tackle was in a little container in my pocket, and a keeper net tucked into my pocket too. I fish a big sand flat at a rising half tide, the flats getting deeper as the tide comes in, the Nippers are in a small bucket, thread one on the hook, making sure it stays alive, and is nice and straight (like a live Nipper is when swimming around) first cast is a just legal Whiting, next cast, a missed bite, then a nice Bream, after about half an hour, I had a few Whiting, the Bream and a big Garfish, started packing up and these two tourist types come over and start asking questions about why they had caught nothing.

 I looked at their gear, they had a couple of department store combos, about 10' Long, about 20lb line, a big swivel and a decent barrel sinker, and about a 4/0 hook and a couple of packets of frozen squid and prawns. Seeing as they seemed nice, and took the time to ask, I showed them my gear, explained why I was fishing up on the flats, and why I was using Nippers for bait. They took what I said seriously and I offered to see if I tied some of my 3KG line to theirs (double uni knot) with my long shank hooks and my few remaining Nippers, and see if they could still use their rods. First cast, the lady caught a Whiting, she was thrilled to bits, they thanked my a thousand times and told me they were going to the local tackle store right now to buy two new rods, reels and line, I don't know if they did, but hopefully it might have helped them in the future to think about what you are fishing for, where those fish might be, and how to give yourself the best chance of catching them.

Thinking is what catches fish, not secret locations and stuff like that, look around you and see what fish do, how they catch their food, what they eat, it doesn't work every time, but it gives you the best shot at being consistent, target a single species until you work them out!

[Fab1]

46 minutes ago, noelm said:

OK, here's a classic example, a week or so ago, I got some Nippers and fished near the Kiosk on the southern side of Lake Illawarra, it's a tourist "hot spot" lots of swimmers, tourists fishing, lots of general activity, the current is slight if you fish in the right spot, but ferocious out towards the channel and in the deep spot where the channel is close to shore. My setup was about as simple as it gets, a light whippy rod, about 3KG line, a long shank hook and a ball sinker (00 size) about 3mm across, all my tackle was in a little container in my pocket, and a keeper net tucked into my pocket too. I fish a big sand flat at a rising half tide, the flats getting deeper as the tide comes in, the Nippers are in a small bucket, thread one on the hook, making sure it stays alive, and is nice and straight (like a live Nipper is when swimming around) first cast is a just legal Whiting, next cast, a missed bite, then a nice Bream, after about half an hour, I had a few Whiting, the Bream and a big Garfish, started packing up and these two tourist types come over and start asking questions about why they had caught nothing.

 I looked at their gear, they had a couple of department store combos, about 10' Long, about 20lb line, a big swivel and a decent barrel sinker, and about a 4/0 hook and a couple of packets of frozen squid and prawns. Seeing as they seemed nice, and took the time to ask, I showed them my gear, explained why I was fishing up on the flats, and why I was using Nippers for bait. They took what I said seriously and I offered to see if I tied some of my 3KG line to theirs (double uni knot) with my long shank hooks and my few remaining Nippers, and see if they could still use their rods. First cast, the lady caught a Whiting, she was thrilled to bits, they thanked my a thousand times and told me they were going to the local tackle store right now to buy two new rods, reels and line, I don't know if they did, but hopefully it might have helped them in the future to think about what you are fishing for, where those fish might be, and how to give yourself the best chance of catching them.

Thinking is what catches fish, not secret locations and stuff like that, look around you and see what fish do, how they catch their food, what they eat, it doesn't work every time, but it gives you the best shot at being consistent, target a single species until you work them out!

Good on you for taking time out to help them mate.I imagine the lake is being beaten to a froth right now too.

[noelm]

Yep, thousands of people, but as I alluded to, there's fish to be caught, I went crabbing the other day, out early, weaving in and out of dozens of crab traps, got my bag limit and back before 7am, met a guy just putting in and he asked how I went, told him "yeah, good, got my bag limit of bigger ones"  he asked where my "secret spot" was, I just told him that there is no special spot, but "office hours" are not ideal when there's so many people out there, just work your lift nets and you will be OK, set and forget......you are just asking for the "share farmers" to take either your crabs, your traps, or both!!

[noelm]

31 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

Good on you for taking time out to help them mate.I imagine the lake is being beaten to a froth right now too.

I have done exactly the same thing a couple of times now, I don't profess to be an expert, but, I put in the effort and it pays off, I catch Whiting in the most unlikely place, you could fish off a council seat if you wanted too, it's that populated, but, high tide just on dark, live Nippers and you can't miss (usually)