School Holidays

[AlbertW]

G’day raiders,

Im currently looking for a place to go in the upcoming school holidays. I’m located in Sydney and my parents are pretty happy to drive up north or south along the coasts for long stretches. We’re just looking for someplace with good fishing, good food, scenery and good activities , we’ll be going up for around a week with 6 people and looking for hotels or waterfront airbnbs/ rent houses. I want to try to target my first jewfish/ kingfish and other Pelagius basically the bigger fish but smaller species like bream, snapper etc are also welcome aboard on my plate. We don’t really have a budget and might splash out a bit. For the fishing I’m trying to not go beach fishing as my rods not big enough and it’s not my cup of tea at the moment( might get into it later) Any recommendations and advice are welcome and appreciated.

Cheers,

Albert

[slothparade]

Sharks will be coming down and into the harbour soonish, they've already began to come down. Also jervis bay, Nelson bay and south West rocks are my favourite places. Long reef has been producing for me. 

Good luck 🙂

[AlbertW]

1 hour ago, maccapacca said:

Although definitely not holiday a holiday spot I suggest if your wanting to target pelagics and some bread and butter species going to the piers.

From what iv experienced there you can catch pretty much anything, lots of bream if your using plastics aswell as large flathead 60-80cm being caught quite regularly by some people.Not to forget the amount of kingfish being caught there, if your wanting to tick off a couple species I reccomend that spot.

It holds many squid and yakka and performs better in the summer months but I’d be happy to go year round, for kingys there you’d want to catch fresh squid and use them while on a heavy rod.Using that technique iv seen many decent kingys being landed on such a simple method.

 

Cheers macca, I'll keep that in mind.

[AlbertW]

3 hours ago, slothparade said:

Sharks will be coming down and into the harbour soonish, they've already began to come down. Also jervis bay, Nelson bay and south West rocks are my favourite places. Long reef has been producing for me. 

Good luck 🙂

Cheers sloth, I'll research jervis and nelson bay 

[noelm]

Are you taking a boat or entirely shore based? A lot of those species you mention will take a lot of work and good luck to catch as a tourist from the shore. Bermagui fits a lot of those needs, scenery, eating, beaches and everything else, as does Port Stephens and Jervis Bay.

Edited September 3, 2022 by noelm

[bessell1955]

Are you land based or do you have access to a boat?

[AlbertW]

13 minutes ago, bessell1955 said:

Are you land based or do you have access to a boat?

 

3 hours ago, noelm said:

Are you taking a boat or entirely shore based? A lot of those species you mention will take a lot of work and good luck to catch as a tourist from the shore. Bermagui fits a lot of those needs, scenery, eating, beaches and everything else, as does Port Stephens and Jervis Bay.

 

There's only a very slim chance of hiring a boat so I think it's most likely going to be landbased the entire trip.

[Little_Flatty]

@AlbertW if you are thinking about splashing out a bit, why not research up a guide and hire them for a day, in whatever area you choose. Don't just focus on the fish when you are out with them, pick their brains on your landbased and hire-boat options, as well as the relevant methods to apply. After that, hire a boat and do as you are taught. A good guide tends to be very expensive, but if you utilise them properly (i.e. to learn vs just catching fish), the knowledge you will gain will last you a lifetime.

Maybe start with the species you are interested in, research up some guides, see which one has availability (might be tricky if you are booking for this coming school holidays) and then that will lock you in a location to target.

[Volitan]

This isn’t quite what you asked for but don’t forget the first weekend of October is usually the start of the trout fishing season in NSW. What about a trip west of the divide, to fish rivers like the Coxs, the Fish or the Belubula (Lithgow/Bathurst/Carcoar regions).

the way trout work is that in the off-season (June to September) they loose their natural wariness - so the opening weekend is usually the best fishing of the season by a long measure. The rivers usually house post-spawning fish too which ran up the river for winter spawning and have not yet dropped back to the lakes (Warragamba etc). After opening weekend the trout that remain get wary of fisherman and the river water heats up above their point of tolerance.

There may be good fishing on opening weekend in some lakes too. I don’t know because I don’t Ike fishing lakes.

I could give you my top river and stream locations if you wish - I won’t be using them anymore.

Also, be aware I don’t know current conditions and what effect the rain will be having.

Edited September 3, 2022 by Volitan

[Bennyg78]

Forster would be a good spot

break walls, lakes and other estuaries to hit

[Rebel]

Why not the great Central Coast. 

Not far from Sydney & heaps of fishing spots.

Have a Super holiday.

Cheers.

[jordy]

  Port Stephens for mine mate. Go there regularly and never had a bad experience even landbased. Excellent fishing guide based there as well, he is well worth the investment.

[AlbertW]

My parents want to head down south and are looking at going down to jervis bay then eden and lake entrance

[Green Hornet]

1 hour ago, AlbertW said:

My parents want to head down south and are looking at going down to jervis bay then eden and lake entrance

I’m from down around Jervis Bay and it offers a lot for the land based fisherman. There’s protected beaches and rocks inside The Bay that fish okay and excellent, exposed beaches and rocks within close proximity to either headland. You also have the sheltered estuaries of Currambene Creek at Huskisson along with the Crookhaven River and St Georges Basin close by. Most of the area falls under Jervis Bay Marine Park, so before you visit make sure you familiarize yourself with the sanctuary zones, though they are clearly marked on the shoreline.
If your looking for a local guide, google <name redacted>. He offers a wide range of bay and offshore charters and I’ve never heard a bad word said about him.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Little_Flatty
Redacted charter name. Transferred to PM.

[Koalaboi]

I’m seconding Rebel above: the Central Coast.

Plenty of options as far as fishing is concerned: lake, rocks and beach. There’s lots of other activities also and you won’t spend lots of time and money travelling there from Sydney.

Wherever you end up going I hope you have good fishing.

KB

 

[Restyle]

comerong island in the nowra/crookhaven area isn't a bad spot for a day, 10$ car ferry over and you got a good stretch of beach, a break wall and the river to fish out off, and best of all the fishing isnt bad. Ive caught salmon, tailor, jew, bream ther.

Although, you might be pushing it to find a airbnb on the actual island and i dont think you're allowed to camp there, just remember to catch the ferry back before they close, otherwise you'll be stuck on the island like i have a few time

[noelm]

Lots of Nippers can be pumped right near the Ferry loading area too, so good free bait is easy to get, like all places, a bit of "thinking" will get you on to some fish, just turning up as a "tourist" with a packet of frozen Prawns is very hit and miss, regardless of where you go.

[Green Hornet]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

Lots of Nippers can be pumped right near the Ferry loading area too, so good free bait is easy to get, like all places, a bit of "thinking" will get you on to some fish, just turning up as a "tourist" with a packet of frozen Prawns is very hit and miss, regardless of where you go.

Plus that nipper flat can produce some really nice flathead on a high tide.

Does anyone know if you can still drive around to the breakwall at the entrance of the Crookhaven River? I used to fish there a lot when I lived at Culburra, but went there by boat.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Green Hornet

[Restyle]

54 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

Plus that nipper flat can produce some really nice flathead on a high tide.

Does anyone know if you can still drive around to the breakwall at the entrance of the Crookhaven River? I used to fish there a lot when I lived at Culburra, but went there by boat.

yeah you can drive there, its a decent drive & i wouldn't go there after rain unless you have a 4wd

[Green Hornet]

2 hours ago, Restyle said:

yeah you can drive there, its a decent drive & i wouldn't go there after rain unless you have a 4wd

I drove out there a couple of times in my old Land Rover and remember the track really narrow and overgrown. Gave that up and just drove along the beach.