Scienceman

Some extra info, I like to have whole mullet as you get to fish with fillets (and often pick up flatties), the head and the frame as bait. Handlines with large hooks for the head/frame and fillets on rods with smaller hooks (but usually handline them when they get close) For some reason the head/frame out-fished the fillets by quite a lot. All blue swimmers and half of the muddies were caught on the heads. In past years it has been much more variable on different days. Another tip is to use a long handled, wide mouth net with nylon mesh. Always net from beneath the crab and come up under as much as possible. You have to get the crab as near the surface as possible but still deep enough that they don't spook and let go. The finer nylon mesh lets you move the net faster through the water and you can adjust the angle if the crab starts to go sideways. I think we only missed two crabs in total.

Seeing posts with lots of crabs coming out of Brisbane Waters I did a couple of trips over the past week with great results. The total hauls were shared with others too. Line only and netted with mullet bait so a few did get away.

Had last Monday fishing off Crowdy Head. Some nice reds, tailor and flatties. Biggest red was ~3kg. Whales were a bonus. Several pods came through frolicking and jumping. Had to start the engine a few times to let them know we were there. Then they came along side and did circle-work around the boat to check us out. Its only scary when they are leaping about.

A 20 min hot bite on local weed. Two of us fishing and had both floats, side-by-side go under and hook up to the bigger fish at the same time

Caught in Brisbane Water this week. ~65cm. Looing forward to fish tacos tonight.

Size was OK, prob low 30's but looking forward to the big boys a little later.

Decided to have a late start for work today as the weather is so awesome. ~2 hours on a falling tide. Tailor first on a metal, then the blackies. A bit fussy but persevered.

Wow, impressive. Rewards for planning and effort.

Great report and awesome photos Brendo. Now I know why you don't come estuary fishing at the moment, too much fun out wide. Good luck over the next few weeks and look forward to more reports. The bream and flatties will be there when the beakies have moved north.

Early December it is usually time to start focusing on whiting on the Central Coast beaches as numbers increase, beach worm become available from local tackle shops and my feet don't freeze with the early morning starts. A poor show of whiting on Saturday morning with not a single whiting landed (but I have seen a good catch from another angler so I know they are about). Very low swell, <0.5m might have been there reason, hard to say. Other species were not so reluctant and I released several nice salmon too 😉

Red is the new silver! Food looks great too Brendo, well have to chat more about cooking next time. My Thai fried whole fish in red curry sauce went down pretty nice as well. Flatties fileted in the freezer for next weekend. Look forward to our next outing and conversation on "life".

Winter / spring can be a bit hot-cold. Just chose a nice day so its a win either way

Hey Wazza, another Wazza here and I did live in Horsefield Bay about 20 years ago and am now in Narara. Nice location. Some great bream, flatties and crabs in that area with your own little boat ramp to boot. Hope you get heaps more this lockdown.

Local string weed. A bit scarce at the moment but that usually changes depending on rain, temp etc.

A few nice fish from high tide on Saturday. 2 X 36cm + 2 X 27cm. First attempt this year so hoping for a few more before summer. Almost fishless last winter

Nicely done. I love my Zing too, had it for many years and caught a lot of fish.

We kept my sons fish for dinner. Cut out the dark meat and skinned as advised. Pretty good I have to say. Maybe not quite a good as salt water barra but not bad at all. Huge fillets.

I had the good fortune to get out of Sydney (Central Coast) a few days before the border closed and drove with family straight up to Hervey Bay to stay with my wife's brother for 10 days. Thankfully for me he is a great fisho and has worked out how to get the most from a local dam stocked with barra. He was getting 1/2 a dozen fish per trip a few weeks prior and for some reason they were shut down over the 3 trips we did, but that didn't stop us getting a few anyway. My sons first barra (boy is he now keen to head up again) at 65cm and my PB at 82cm. Just love the strike and short tussle but fishing the lilies does restrict the fight and it quickly becomes a tug-of-war as the fish dives and lily stems foul the line. I didn't appreciate how thick they are and how small the head is compared with the body. We only got one each but more than happy with the size. Unfortunately the wind and tides didn't enable a trip out in the bay in his small boat but cannot have everything.

Thanks for all your replies. Got them on live worms but metho-dipped frozen will work when they are plentiful. Took about 3 hours so not very "fast and furious", you have to be patient. Because it was pretty choppy I got quite a few in VERY close behind the shore dump. Sometimes they are there, sometimes further out. I fished the same location last month for a couple of trevally only so the whiting are moving onto the beaches, ready for summer. Tempura batter was from ingredients, egg yolk (1)+ iced water (1 cup) + flour (1 cup), not mixed well, nice and lumpy. Oil at ~170degrees. I really like taking fish photos with the breaking waves in the background. Should have rolled the fish over to show the top rather than their belly for a better photo.

Sunday up at 4am and on Nth Entrance beach by 5am. No tailor at first light so switched to whiting. Kept those that were 32~34cm so good size. Turned into tempura (prepared properly) cooked over two shifts so it was hot and crisp (just glad I didn't have to clean up the kitchen )

Great morning, well done. Looking forward to joining you sometime soon. Your approach is much more interesting than a late night bait soaking session.

Thanks for the info cmhcfish it correlates with my research. I prefer to have professional servicing of high end reels so the mag-seal isnt an issue with me, although I expect I will have put up with it taking quite a few months to get done. OK, just to round out this post, I got the Certate LT 5000D-XH (high speed model) with 2.5 PE + Coltsniper BB 1000M (10', 60g max) for just over a grand. Had a week away on the south coast casting metals and hard bodies (40 - 65g) . Many casts for only a few salmon but VERY happy with the combo. So light and powerful. Cast distance was ~70 - 80m so happy with that. If I improve my technique and dropped to 2.0 PE I expect a few more meters. I thought I might need the MH rather than M rod and almost did a swap before I used it. Very glad I stuck with the Medium version and expect it will manage lighter lures / SP's which I will use more often than heavier. Will be a great single combo to take to the beach before sunrise and lob out a big SP, then something for tailor and finish up with a few worm baits to take home a feed of whiting if a jew or tailor wont play.

Thanks. I'll post feedback when I have used it for a while. Planning a week road trip to the NSW south coast so plenty of opportunity to spin the rocks and beaches down south. I really like the monocoque body and the benefits it brings. I feel that the TP tries to make the most of a pretty std internal design with small tech innovations but no big leaps. Pretty much going by recommendation and web info on the rod. It seems to match the reel and specs for the intended uses at a fair price so time will tell.

Hey Rob81, yeah my Twin Power 4000 SW is ~15yo so very different to current models and was sourced directly from Japan. Only 4.2:1 ratio which is why it only retrieves ~70cm per turn. Nice and powerful for jigging and live baiting from the boat but not so good from the shore. Also isn't a particularly deep spool. I have confirmed that Shimano have supply issues and I would need to order and wait until Dec/Jan for the C5000 XG FD ($750) Had a good long chat at my local Freddys who suggested also looking into the 19 Certate 5000DXH ARK for $750. The Certate certainly seems the equal of the Twin Power and might in some ways be superior. They recommended matching this with a Shimano Colt Sniper BB 9'6" (max 60g) for $250. This combo is a fair bit more $ than I was planning on but after doing some internet research it looks like a sweet set-up that should last me for many, many years. Think I will keep researching, enjoy the anticipation and then go down tomorrow and purchase

Thanks for the feedback. JonD - certainly cannot argue with those results. Was that rod a Saltist as I couldn't find a Coastal 802. Will also look into the Pioneer but gearing or more accurately line recovery will impact usability as I don't have the stamina of a 20yo anymore. Kingue chaser - yeah, I'm looking for a lighter combo that won't tire me out. . There will always be fish bigger than the gear your using. I do have a giant killer - Silstar TraverseX, 10ft, 10-15kg + Ecoda Hornet HS12000 spooled with 50lb braid and 80lb leader 😉(Spinning for more than 15min with this knackers me out so mostly used for bait fishing) Bass assassin - ha, I have the TP 4000 too (now ~15yo and going strong) and the same rod but 6-8kg and used for whiting off the beach with a lighter reel. Will definitely have a look at the 5-10kg model.