Upper Hastings finally livens up

[dirvin21]

The last month we've been exploring the upper tidal reaches of the Hastings, it's a treacherous run upriver from Wauchope but we've managed to plot a safe course. With my 1 day off decided it was a day for an early solo run up there.

There's a nasty gravel bed with a windy channel  but the plus side once I pass it I have the river to myself 

And you get sections like this without another boat in sight

Had a few casts on the gravel bed with a small crank, hooked into a solid flathead which managed to throw the hook and spotted a shark cruising the shallows to start the morning.

Moving upriver saw some splashing, then I realise it's actually a bust up, thinking tailor I cast it with hardbodies and soft plastics for not even a follow. Getting desperate I dig out my emergency box of random lures and pull out a 10 gram metal slice, first cast it's annihalated thinking tailor the fish played deep and I was surprised to see a big eye trevally come up (with a shark trailing)

Haven't caught one of these guys for ages, didn't waste anytime releasing the trev and casting for more. Things were a little quiet but by coincidence I miss casted and when ripping the lure in the trevs were all over it

Found the pattern, they wanted the lure cranking as fast as possible, they were puttting up a great scrap.

Then a much bigger trev appears nailing the slug right beside the boat, the fish took off at speed going deep, I was worried it would get sharked but luckily after a drawn out fight of circling and solid runs a much better big eye hits the deck

At 45cm a new pb big eye, 

After a few more smaller ones thet disappeared as quickly as they appeared so switched it up to casti g plastics for bream

The bream were happy to oblige didn't take long to get one on the boat 

Mistly small fish but did manage one reasonable bream

About 9 o'clock the bite really slowed, and getting hot decided to call it a day, only a short session but fiery session hopefully a sign of more to come

Cheers for reading

Dave

[Little_Flatty]

Nice Dave, good to see you getting into the tropical trevallies again.

It’s nice to see the fishing warming up all round.

[Yowie]

Some fish to keep you going, and a nice big eye at 45.. Caught my first big eyes last year at Tweed, only small but they fight a bit even at that size.

Bream also to finish off.

Great scenery when no-one else is about to annoy you. Quieter than down here in the big smoke.

[Pickles]

Great report Dave - thanks. Have there been any jacks around lately? Or not warm enough yet?

[dirvin21]

19 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Great report Dave - thanks. Have there been any jacks around lately? Or not warm enough yet?

Plenty being caught up on the Nambucca, I haven't been able to get up there yet

[Blackfish]

Sounds like you put you one day off to good use there Dave plus  a 45cm Big Eye is a great fish and certainly given you some hurry up on that gear. 👍

My Daughters volunteers for Head Space and they had something on at Wauchope Tec last week so my wife and I had lunch at the boat ramp there, really nice day and there were a total of 2 boats out. Bahaaaaaaa. I can’t get used to the difference between Sydney ramps and up here, it’s so civilised.

[big Neil]

Great report Dave. Well done on the Trevs, some nice ones there. How do you find the safe ways to get to these upstream areas? Any useful maps available or is it through many hours of trial and error?

bn

[LuckyFil]

Interesting report and nice pics.

I remember being warned about sharks in the Macleay when bass fishing in west Kempsey i.e. don't do the comfort lift

[dirvin21]

22 minutes ago, big Neil said:

Great report Dave. Well done on the Trevs, some nice ones there. How do you find the safe ways to get to these upstream areas? Any useful maps available or is it through many hours of trial and error?

bn

Just drove the boat upriver on low tide at slow speed looking for obstacles figuring out the best passage 

I mark waypoints on areas like gravel barswhere I need to slow down and trim motor up in case I'm travelling in the dark