Little_Flatty

I like it. Those same EPs might well smash those plastics as well. Have fun with the new outfit!

Great job and nice EPs! I love my baitcasters. For 99% of my fishing, it makes no sense to use one, but there is something nice about the ergonomics of using them. I actually just picked up a new reel that was on sale, left handed like yours (very rare). Maybe that will get me back in the mix.

Thanks Frank, I might take you up on that offer when I finally muster the energy to do it! Mike

So long as they don't come with...CROCODILES! 😜

Do a google on Manly Lagoon. Rumour has it that there are mangrove jacks and other tropical species there in there...don’t eat anything though...quite polluted.

Thanks for the advice Frank, I knew someone would know. I don’t have a dremel but have a couple of mates who have one. I wouldn’t mind getting one myself as well I didn’t think about the rod holder issue, but I’m mostly shorebased and like to be mobile so it’s not a huge problem. I’ll need to budget for a new rod when I finally act on my dream of getting a yak I do have a broken rod I might be able to practice on first, will see how I go. Will post pics when I get to it. Mike

Hi all, A question for the experienced rodbuilders/modders out there. I have a couple of old baitcaster rods which have a longer butt than I would like for casting single-handed. They are all very light rods - 2-4kg which I use for casting small plastics and lures. I was wondering if anyone has ever shortened the butt of their rods and what process they followed. I was thinking of cutting about 100mm from the butt of the rod, and then installing a butt cap, making for a more comfortable single-handed cast. With these outfits, my hand doesn't change position for casting or fighting fish. I was also curious to see if there might be any problems with the 'balance' of the outfit, or if this concept only applied to threadlines. I've always been congniscent of balance for all of my spinning outfits, but funnily enough I've never thought about balance for my baitcasters. So long as I didn't put an ABU7000 on a 2-4kg rod, I'll get away with it. I've built a rod before, but never modified one like this. Can anyone offer advice? Mike

Hi all, Just got back from a weekday break at The Entrance. Reading @LandBasedKeith's report about prawns running and @Toby_fisho's reports of flatties on the flats, I went up there feeling confident I could find some fish. Thanks guys for your reports and intel Day 1 we drove up to Swansea for lunch at the RSL. After lunch I wandered down to some flats I had scouted out to see if I could snare a whiting on a sugapen. They were there, and they certainly weren't shy - I actually had one by the nose for about five seconds - but I struggled to work poppers due to the huge amount of weed on the surface. I gave up after half an hour. Changing to a gulp 3 inch minnow found me a couple of pike: Would have kept them for bait, but didn't have an esky on me, so they were sent on their way. Returning to The Entrance that afternoon, I had a cast around the flats and got myself a legal bream for dinner. The next morning waiting for the sun to come up, I was casting in the deeper water west of the bridge and hooked up to something huge. Whenever it ran, I was powerless to do anything, but when it stopped, I found that I could let the line go slack. Something told me that it was a foul-hooked ray, but seeing as I could gently turn it every now and again, I thought I would play along to see if I could get it to reveal itself to me. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) the hook straightened after about ten mins and I was free to pursue something else. Once the sun was up, it was out again on the flats. The tailor were busy chasing prawns like every other fish in the lake. It was actually difficult to get a plastic to the bottom without it getting butchered, hooking up to a just-undersize tailor or both. Was good fun, but it did get old (and expensive) after a while. When I finally got a lure to the bottom, I was lucky enough to snare a 53cm flathead: My final session the next morning saw a repeat of the first morning, with the tailor even thicker than the previous morning. However, I managed to catch myself a legal flounder: All in all it was a few good sessions, was glad to be up there. About to whip up a thai fish curry with the flathead now Mike

Great report! I love Lake Parramatta. One of Sydney's hidden gems. You can have a fish and then get a coffee after

Hi all, Had a good holiday a couple of weeks ago to Port Douglas. It was mostly about the family and the swimming pool, but I did sneak out for a few sessions. The thing I love about fishing the tropics is that everything you catch is different. Can anyone confirm the fish IDs on these? All small, but quite fascinating all the same. Exhibit one: Is this a sweetlip? Exhibit Two: Could this be my first ever pikey bream? Javelin fish? And I caught a ton of these...to the point I got bored. At first I thought I'd encountered a plague of soapies, but now I'm not so sure. The only thing I can think of is they look like those 'Yellow Croaker' things I have seen frozen in the Asian supermarkets. I did have a flick with lures, had something big and silver thump a big plastic at the Port Douglas Marina wall, but not much else. Mike

Hi all, Was out with the family today visiting cafes and op shops. On the way back, my wife suggests 'why don't we head down to a park so you can have a fish?'. This was met with much enthusiasm by both my daughter and myself, so we took a detour to Echo pt in Roseville for a flick. Never been there before, didn't expect much, but ended up finding a school of little chopper tailor which entertained me for a few moments. A few more casts towards the marina, a few more hits. Then I came up tight on something that got the drag going a little. This one came home for dinner, unlike the Parramatta river versions I normally chase. The one thing that was interesting this time session was that I caught all of my fish on texas-rigged bass minnows on Gamakatsu EWG worm hooks., with a cone sinker running down to the plastic I would have expected a worse hookup rate than with a normal jig head, but I was able to pin the fish easily on any decent hit. I think I'll keep experimenting with these as the ability to vary sinker weights without carrying heaps of different jigheads is a bonus for me. The snag-proofing the technique offers is another benefit. Fishing fix done, it was all over in under half an hour. Glad I had always have gear in the car! Mike

Nice feed! Fishing the beach for whiting would have to be hands down my favourite kind of fishing.

Hi Chris, It's an old article about an old memory, but Jamie Robley did write an article on catching bream at night near the Toukley bridge at night: http://fishingmonthly.com.au/Articles/Display/1608-Baiting-up-for-bream Obviously you can't use undersize tailor anymore but the message is fresh fish flesh gets the fish. Hope this helps. Mike

My lure collection is probably pretty old fashioned these days (Last time I was in a tackle shop I was struggling to work out what a 'double clutch' was...) but for me, Berkley 3 inch bass minnows in watermelon and Berkley 3 inch gulp minnows in pumpkinseed work for me. A 1/16th nitro jighead will round off the collection. As far as hardbodies go, I have a very old Ecogear SX40 which nailed this specimen all those years ago (think it was more than ten years ago) on the majors bay rd side of the bay: Unbelievably, I've still got that exact lure (and it still works...probably need a hook change though). It is $$$$ though so there will be some tears if you lose one. There is an art to not losing hardbodies...it's all about feeling through the rod/line what is happening at the lure end and stopping when you sense trouble. I've also had success with Atomic paddle tails (I think they are called grass minnows). These fish were caught by these in this post: There are far more skilful fisherpeople than me who fish the area. For instance, jdanger (it seems like he fished in the area a lot, now out of the country). Check out his posts: There are a few others who I have met who fish the area as well. Just search for hen and chicken bay (Bayview can be confused with Pittwater) and see what you come up with. When you are out there, observe others and get talking to them as well, especially if they are nailing fish. My parting tip is that while it is nice to have a large lure collection, to start with, just focus on one or two of these lures (or anything else anyone mentions in your searches). Learn to use them (Youtube is useful for this) and use it there until you start finding fish. You have far more chance of catching fish casting and retrieving than spending half a session re-rigging.

Hi Matt, I don't bother fishing there at all on a low tide...not enough water. The puffers are mostly only in the shallows at your feet. Losing plastics to them every 3-5 casts is pretty bad luck. How far are you casting out? Alternatively if the puffers are bugging you too much, try a small hardbody instead. I sometimes find them better for covering water. Apart from that, what kind of gear are you using? I tend to use 4-6lb leader - keeping it pretty light. As to the retrieves, I normally use a double hop (two little flicks) and then retrieve the slack. Nothing drastic, just a little flick of the wrist here and there. Apart from fishing an hour either side of the high tide (and not bothering any other time), my biggest tip by far is to move around. If all you can find is puffers in a given spot, then move 20m along and give it another go. You will find that in 10-20m, the underwater environment varies quite a bit there; there's lots of alternating shallow and deeper spots. Hope this helps. It is a good spot, you can have some faith in the location. If you keep persisting you will crack it. Mike