Sydney Land based lure help

[Waynocantfish]

G'day Everyone

So never been lure fishing and been researching everything about it i can just wondering if they are some good places around Sydney for beginners to go.

Wife commented tonight she is looking forward to a feed of fresh fish, i told her the fish shop would be best bet.

Im in Western Sydney but dont mind traveling a bit to get to a spot just want get a few sessions so i get an idea before i take the kids.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Cheers

Wayno

[noelm]

Remember fishing is not like TV shows, where someone is wandering around pulling in fish after fish in some tropical paradise! Reality is, it takes a bit of work and some thinking, first, what are you after? Flathead are probably the best to target first, they are available in rivers and creeks and most sand flats in the harbour. Look for drop offs from shallow to deep, or a channel through a flat, weed beds or small reef patches and concentrate on those first. Be prepared to move about, a couple of lures in a small container and a little landing net clipped to your waist is about all you need.

[Little_Flatty]

 @Waynocantfish!

Lure fishing takes a bit of time to get your head around, so it can be some time before you can consistently pull a feed. Once you get a basic mastery however, it's reasonable to expect a few bream or flathead in a session. Depending on what your kids are like, it may or may not matter if they catch fish or not. Lure fishing involves lots of casting and working the lure, which keeps you busy. You just need to set the right expectations.

@noelm's advice is good. As I've said before on other posts, it's no secret that Iron Cove on the Parramatta river is good territory to practice on. The main reason is that there are plenty of the features that Noel has suggested and importantly there is good access along the whole shoreline (just watch your cast as it can be busy there sometimes with pedestrians). Get onto google maps (in satellite view) and have a look. Also search for Iron Cove on the forums and you'll find plenty of reports.

I like to fish there an hour on either side of the high tide with small soft plastic lures, say anything 2-3 inch with a wriggler tail on a suitable jighead (generally size 1 or 2, in 1/16-1/4 oz). My favourite is actually a 3 inch Berkley Power Minnow but wait till you get your rod work right before you move onto those. It's catch and release fishing there if you choose to follow the DPI advice, but once you cut your teeth, those skills are easily transferrable to other locations.

[DerekD]

Just before we get into the advice part - what gear did you get? With lure fishing getting the right outfit makes a difference.

I put this together recently to help people starting out. I have a few things to add to it such as some suggested lures for starting out.

 

[noelm]

Just to add, not too sure how old your kids are, but, sometimes lure fishing is not such a big hit with little kids, constant walking, casting and tangles can be very trying for both small kids and fathers.......I take my grandkids fishing all the time (ages from 6-19) and the little ones get bored in about 2 minutes and just want to dig holes and splash around, plus eat anything I have with me! Small kids love catching bait, whether that's Poddy Mullet, Nippers or Prawns, introduce them to fishing in short trips, point out "stuff" birds, crabs, tide, clouds, small Stingrays, anything to teach them about fish. Another thing for the wading fisherman is footwear, some old joggers or those cheap wet suit type "boots" are great, nothing turns a walking/wading trip into disaster faster than stepping on an Oyster or broken glass. All that stuff seems pretty obvious, but it's important to be prepared from the start.

[DerekD]

Hi @Waynocantfish,

I might be able to sneak in one more fishing student before the end of year.

Could you make it to the lower north shore one weekend. It would cut the learning curve dramatically.

Currently I have this weekend pretty free. It starts to get cluttered again after that.

Regards,

Derek

PS. If Wayne takes me up on the offer I'll have one other spot free if someone else is interested in learning more about lure fishing on light gear. It is almost as easy to teach two people as it is one. Any more though and it gets a little too hectic. Rod should be graphite in the 1-4kg range and about 7 foot long, reel in the 1000 to 2500 and ideally a light braid of 4 to 6lbs. Leader around the 8lb mark. Starting location would be Mosman bay.

Edited November 2, 2022 by DerekD

[Bennyg78]

Hi @Waynocantfish

I am in north-west Sydney in the hills area, I am happy to chat with you over a coffee or a chat. Happy for you to flick me a message

[Waynocantfish]

12 hours ago, DerekD said:

Hi @Waynocantfish,

I might be able to sneak in one more fishing student before the end of year.

Could you make it to the lower north shore one weekend. It would cut the learning curve dramatically.

Currently I have this weekend pretty free. It starts to get cluttered again after that.

Regards,

Derek

PS. If Wayne takes me up on the offer I'll have one other spot free if someone else is interested in learning more about lure fishing on light gear. It is almost as easy to teach two people as it is one. Any more though and it gets a little too hectic. Rod should be graphite in the 1-4kg range and about 7 foot long, reel in the 1000 to 2500 and ideally a light braid of 4 to 6lbs. Leader around the 8lb mark. Starting location would be Mosman bay.

Appreciate the offer mate but unfortunately I'm busy this weekend, My Dad was a gun Bream fisherman but he never used lures,  My best rod and reel combo is one I inherited from Dad when he passed can't remember how big the rod is but he said it was his bream rod. He got from work when he retired but got diagnosed with chronic lunge disease not long after and only used it once or twice before he got 2 sick I think I've used it 3 or 4 times.

[Waynocantfish]

I'm working from home the rest of the week so I will check out what my rods, the other when i getting my gear out I found a brand new reel in the garage still in the box that I forgot I bought probably 8 yrs ago told the wife I was going to get some 6lb mono for it will get some braid instead.

[DerekD]

13 minutes ago, Waynocantfish said:

I'm working from home the rest of the week so I will check out what my rods, the other when i getting my gear out I found a brand new reel in the garage still in the box that I forgot I bought probably 8 yrs ago told the wife I was going to get some 6lb mono for it will get some braid instead.

Hi @Waynocantfish

Once we know what gear you have we can make some suggestions. On the rods should be brand, model, line rating and ideally lure rating. I've had the Raider series of bream rods since the mid 2000s so there is a chance the rods might be graphite.

Regards,

Derek

[DerekD]

Hi @Waynocantfish

By the way, don't buy too much gear until you understand a little bit more about the why for each item.

I've heard it said before that "lures were designed to catch fisherman more often than fish".

[Waynocantfish]

4 minutes ago, DerekD said:

Hi @Waynocantfish

Once we know what gear you have we can make some suggestions. On the rods should be brand, model, line rating and ideally lure rating. I've had the Raider series of bream rods since the mid 2000s so there is a chance the rods might be graphite.

Regards,

Derek

Had to go out to the garage to get something so took some pics of what is written on the other rods I have and the little reel, dads bream rod is 10ft

[DerekD]

Good news: The reel looks about the right size but I can see a rod in your future for lure fishing so you get to do some retail therapy too.

Actually that 6 foot 6 inches rod should work to start off with. I've got to do a bit more checking up.

Edited November 2, 2022 by DerekD

[Waynocantfish]

8 minutes ago, DerekD said:

Good news: The reel looks about the right size but I can see a rod in your future for lure fishing so you get to do some retail therapy too.

Actually that 6 foot 6 inches rod should work to start off with. I've got to do a bit more checking up.

Thank you the missus is already giving me those looks now I've dusted off my fishing gear I am hoping what I've got is good to start with and then when I've got an idea of what I'm doing then give her the news. I know first thing she will say is whats wrong with what you've got now.

[DerekD]

1 minute ago, Waynocantfish said:

whats wrong with what you've got now.

We can help you with that part.... Classic is that you don't play golf with the one club. Alternatively, you can blame people like me... Derek said I won't get the full benefit of fishing lures till I get something that he or one of the other Fishraiders recommended. Then the good old fallback of "honey, it was on special at half price so I'm actually saving money".

Start putting aside a bit of spending money though...

[Waynocantfish]

7 minutes ago, DerekD said:

We can help you with that part.... Classic is that you don't play golf with the one club. Alternatively, you can blame people like me... Derek said I won't get the full benefit of fishing lures till I get something that he or one of the other Fishraiders recommended. Then the good old fallback of "honey, it was on special at half price so I'm actually saving money".

Start putting aside a bit of spending money though...

Only been at my new job for 3 weeks will wait a couple weeks I've got a couple of old hard bodies and 1 soft body lure I figured I'm not expecting to catch anything first couple of times so that could be good to learn some technique then i can well i'm starting to get how you do it now i need to get some line for the reel and proper lures. There's a joke in this house if I put my tin on the desk then they think I'm saving for something then sometimes I get donations lol.

[Little_Flatty]

7 hours ago, Waynocantfish said:

Thank you the missus is already giving me those looks now I've dusted off my fishing gear I am hoping what I've got is good to start with and then when I've got an idea of what I'm doing then give her the news. I know first thing she will say is whats wrong with what you've got now.

There is a certain member up here who does perfectly well using handlines  But let's not get into that because it's very hard to fish with lures on handlines, at least without a boat to troll with 😎

7 hours ago, DerekD said:

We can help you with that part.... Classic is that you don't play golf with the one club. Alternatively, you can blame people like me... Derek said I won't get the full benefit of fishing lures till I get something that he or one of the other Fishraiders recommended. Then the good old fallback of "honey, it was on special at half price so I'm actually saving money".

Start putting aside a bit of spending money though...

I just see it coming, @Waynocantfish, your wife is going to start saying 'what is with this Derek friend? Does he own a tackle shop?' 🤣 (spoiler alert: he doesn't ).

You are very lucky in that your initial rod is in the right ballpark. Most people's first rod is not suitable for light tackle lure fishing.

If you're starting out fishing soft plastics, you can get a very effective collection of lures for less than $100 with the right advice. At a stretch you might be able to fit some braid into that $100 budget as well. But don't by anything yet. Try to get out for a lesson with @DerekD first to get some context around what to buy and how to use it. (and also note @Bennyg78's offer of help - another student from the school of Derek).