Pointers for a Saltwater Newbie

[dnardy]

Hi,

I live a long way inland but going to Murramarang near Bateman's Bay in a few weeks. Plenty of experience with trout, redfin, cod etc in the fresh but have done bugger all salt fishing, so have a few noob questions to get me started:

I have a beach rod - what line and leader should I spool it with for fishing the Durras area, and what bait?

What rod and reel for estuaries/rivers in this area? I have plenty ranging from small trout spinning rods up to big Murray Cod baitcasters. And again, what bait and lures? Pretty keen on having a crack at Bass.

Also considering taking my kayak to try on Durras lake.

Thanks!

Edited January 4, 2023 by dnardy

[noelm]

The same answer I always give, use light line, the smallest sinker you can get away with (or none at all) use Beach Worms for bait, or buy a Nipper pump and pump some for bait. Look for structure, small reef, weed beds, deep holes and drop offs from sand flats. As far as Bass are concerned, there is a few recent posts about them on here.

[R E G I C Y C L E]

I'm no saltwater expert but for 95% of estuary species and bass, a light spin rod with 4-8 lb line will be fine. Lighter is better in my opinion. Daiwa double clutch is my go to estuary hard body. For bass my 2 regular lures are an atomic crankbait and an arbogast jitterbug for surface.

I don't personally know the area you will be fishing, but if you can find live beach worms at a local tackle store they are a great bait for a wide range of fish.

[Pickles]

Hey @dnardy, it’s a while since I’ve fished Durras beaches (ND and South Durras), but I remember getting good numbers of beach worms and pippis off the beaches (mid to low tide) and heaps o salmon on pilchards and spinners in the gutters. Good advice from @R E G I C Y C L Eand @noelm (Noel is a legend on the forum and always gives good advice). I would definitely take the kayak and fish for Flatties.

if you want to target Bass in the fresh water it’s first light and last light and “match the hatch”, if you notice cicadas are “screaming” & Christmas beetles around, use surface poppers (soft shell cicada type lures) small whopper poppers and my favourite are Feralcatt’s  in purple and black and especially the p&b with pink spot under chin (you can buy these direct from Greg on his website), also “Stuckey” lures have a great action.

hope this helps.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Pickles

[noelm]

Beach Worming can be as much fun as fishing (and also drive you nuts when you can't grab them) Pippis are a good Beach bait as mentioned, simple to get at low tide, just "wriggle" your feet around in the sand to make hole and you should get a few, look for smooth/fine sand for Worms, I have found coarse grit type sand to be pretty bad for Worms.

[XD351]

I generally use 15lb mainline and either 12lb or 15lb fluoro leader for beach fishing - lighter leader is for whiting , bream etc and the heavier stuff for salmon .

Estuary , 2-4kg spin stick will cover most stuff like Whiting , bream and flathead . If you have a lighter 1-3kg outfit take it as well in case you want to use really small lures or finesse techniques , if you can catch trout on it then it will deal with bream , flathead whiting and bass no problem . I personally wouldn’t bother with the baitcasters as the lures you want to use there are fairly small , unless you want to do some live baiting or toss or troll bigger lures at Batemans bay / Clyde river area that is .

[dnardy]

Awesome info thanks guys. I've got a bait pump on the way and I'll have to watch some videos of how to get the beach worms. 

[noelm]

Videos might give you some basic starters, but, I can assure you, they are not easy to get, your first worm is a triumph, you will find dozens, and miss them all! You will get wet, every wave seems to be bigger than the last one, they all seem to come at the wrong time.......That said, it's good fun, and (in my opinion) the best bait by a mile for beach fishing.