dirvin21 Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 I sit here with a cold one writing this after a great morning session before the heat The day started with a 0515 alarm, with a quick boat prep and a goodbye to Amy (work duties) I was at the ramp at Wauchope by 0620, the tide was insanely low but I decided to head upriver, it was a full concentration trip upriver, arrived at my destination with cicadas singing at ridiculous volume. Decided to start the morning with a surface lure, the main target was bass but with si many bream in the brackish went for a popper. The action started pretty much straight away, 3rd cast onto a small bream, I was seriously surprised as surface lures in the salt don't usually work so well for me. Only a small bream but next cast on again a better bream a quick release and I was back into it, a couple of casts later and I'm into a better bream Absolutely engulfed the lure There was life everywhere, had my lure chased by a water dragon and a small bull shark. And of course more bream The bream action was insane hits, follows or hook-ups on most casts, the fish were really concentrated on bank with trees and cicadas, go figure. My main aim for the day was a bass, and casting a shallow section I see a bow wave charge my lure from nowhere, thinking big bream I was happily surprised to see a solid bronze Measured 42cm, but seriously fat and healthy, could the day get any better, it could with more surface bream and it did Tried the opposite side of the river with a dropped small trev, but otherwise the lack of cicadas meant no fish. Moving upriver tye fushing seemed a littke slow a few follows from small fish, then cruising on the electric with a nothing cast I was adjusting the motor and the popper gets annihilated, scrambling to turn the camera on I called a good fish, it ran deep thinking big bass, I wasn't disappointed to spot a trev A nice big eye, gave a solid fight, definetly happy The bream action continued wkth a few more fish Ended the session by 9:30 with the temperature rising and the bite slowing down, Was an amazing little surface session, by far my best in tidal waters Cheers for reading Dave 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoods Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 Thank you for an excellent report Dave, Great news for the Hastings considering the impact of the 2021 floods. An auspicious year for Ciccadas and therefore surface action confirmed by your report. (Where is Big Neil!!) The upper Bellinger River is also alive with ciccadas as is the upper Manning. FYI young fulla went to the shelf off Forster yesterday. Water reportedly a "mild" 29*!! Report of a Blue and several Stripes plus some donkey Dollies. That should give you and yours some surface action off Port. Thanks for the report 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 Great report Dave, some really healthy fish and that Bass (bream also) looks like it’s in great condition. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 Sweet session there Dave. It's cool how you get a bigger variety of species up that way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R E G I C Y C L E Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 Sounds like an awesome session. Is that a bass or an EP? The red coloured eye indicates bass but the head seems quite concave which would point to it being an EP. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 Sounds like a fun day, plenty of nice bream, couple of others. A hook up from a small bull would have livened up things considerably. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 2 hours ago, R E G I C Y C L E said: Sounds like an awesome session. Is that a bass or an EP? The red coloured eye indicates bass but the head seems quite concave which would point to it being an EP. I see what you mean, did think possibly estuary perch but had a good look over the fish, the colour of body, fins and body shape made confident it's a bass 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 Great report there Dave it seems the area was really firing and certainly a mixture of fish, Bream, Trev and Bass. I've put my boat away for a couple of weeks so all the visitors can enjoy the water but never thought of a session up that way……. I’m the new person to the area as you can see. I did drive down to have a look at the main ramp at West Port yesterday and gosh it was busy with not only boat trailers but lots of just cars and people. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 26 minutes ago, Blackfish said: Great report there Dave it seems the area was really firing and certainly a mixture of fish, Bream, Trev and Bass. I've put my boat away for a couple of weeks so all the visitors can enjoy the water but never thought of a session up that way……. I’m the new person to the area as you can see. I did drive down to have a look at the main ramp at West Port yesterday and gosh it was busy with not only boat trailers but lots of just cars and people. If we can score a free day in the next week or 2 I'll take you fir a run up there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 Smashed them! Looks a beautiful spot for some top water. were you using assist hooks or trebles? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 13 hours ago, Larkin said: Smashed them! Looks a beautiful spot for some top water. were you using assist hooks or trebles? Trebles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 On 12/30/2023 at 5:46 AM, Little_Flatty said: Sweet session there Dave. It's cool how you get a bigger variety of species up that way. Got busted off by a solid tarpon up there yesterday 😱 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 1 hour ago, dirvin21 said: Got busted off by a solid tarpon up there yesterday 😱 Now THAT would be a nice surprise! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie_fisher Posted December 30, 2023 Share Posted December 30, 2023 Nice sesh. Are Trevs common that far up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 11 minutes ago, Aussie_fisher said: Nice sesh. Are Trevs common that far up? Yeah, mostly big eyes and GT's, starting to figure them out more in the Hastings Loads of them in the Nambucca and Kalang rivers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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