mattyg_16

What sort of terrain were you catching them in? I've been to Windamere a few times now and its takes considerable time to work out where in particular they are holding. One day they might be on the shallow weed beds then the next they will be on the sunken timber. Frustrating and fun at the same time. Matt

I caught a couple on Sat night around the 1m mark but agree they were small. I have previously caught around the 1.8 mark It was freezing but the water temp was like a bath at 18 degrees. Could that be part of the reason for a small run of fish? Maybe get better once the colder water temps come through? Also big school of arrow squid came through prior to the hairtail and destroyed 3 out of my 4 baits.

I was playing with those two squid in the video for about 5 minutes trying to get some good footage. They were really aggressive and would hang onto the jig right until it broke the water surface and then would hang around for me to drop it back in again. At the very end of the video one of them just disappears and the other just keeps going. There were some micro arrow squid there as well no longer then a car key and they were chasing a 2.5 size jig! Yep, cant beat surface fishing on light gear especially with the quality of fish you can get in < 500ml of water. The anticipation of a surface strike is what keeps me going back. It blows my mind sometimes the size of the fish you can get off the surface.

Couple of the fish from Smiths Creek

I had them going back and fourth over the jig for about five minutes. Nothing seemed to spook them. But yeah it was interesting that they commonly hit the side of the jig rather then the back. They approach from the back but then dart for the head. I was trying catch them both on the jig and came so close to doing it as well.

Hey guys, Hit up Cowan Creek particularly Smiths Creek a few times over the Christmas holidays. Did not disappoint, plenty of fish to be had especially off the flats. Tonnes of squid, blue swimmer and mud crabs as well. I could not get a way from the squid, they seem to be in every single bay. One thing I found was the flathead were either on or they could not be found. I went out two days in a row over the same tide periods, the first day it was almost a flathead a cast then the second day I could not catch one to save my life. Here is a little video of a mud crab, string ray, whiting and arrow squid I was playing around with. http://youtu.be/GzuJLnozIj8

I fished it yesterday and it was fairly quiet. Could not find a flatty to save my life, not sure if all the rain moves them down the system? I caught my PB bream off the surface in smiths creek. I am also told at certain times of the year bream will take cicada lures off the surface just like a bass. I'll be trying that this year for sure

Yeah I had that happen a few weeks back when fishing for flatties. I was ripping the lure back to the boat when a salmon smashed it. Fun on 6lb

FYI https://m.facebook.com/HornsbyCouncil/photos/a.394547570561213.109479.143946972287942/1020797091269588/?type=1 Think prawning in Calabash Bay may be out of the question for a while.

Hey mate, Yeah I have a similar problem. None of my mates want to wake up early so I end up fishing solo a lot of the time. I've got s stacer 4.29 Proline Angler. Simple as to handle by yourself, I have no problems whatsoever. Anything larger would be more challenging. Cheers Matt

Yep Rip Bridge is very deep in the middle. My 2 cents, fish the sides rather than the middle. Fish may hold in the middle but venture out during the lead up to the tide changes which represents the best chance to hook into a Jew. Also your chances of keeping a bait on the bottom in the middle are almost zero unless you use a massive snapper lead. Always fun watching people drift through there at 100 miles per hour with their baits almost on the surface. Matt

Had squid attacking lures in every spot I tried last week. Trick would be to have a jig on standby so you can flick it next to the squid before he lets go of your lure.

Smashed the flathead on Sunday around the rip bridge and Woy Woy using an assortment of lures whilst targeting Jews, biggest went 84cm. We landed 30+ fish between my mate and I. Prawn imitations seemed to work the best.

Really testing conditions last week with two southerlies and a strong north easter blowing most of the day. Took a while to find the flatties but when I did it was one cast after the other. Unfortunately I didn't connect to any big girls but fun non the less.

Cheers for the advice guys. Herd about the tailor from a few people now. Will let you know how I go. Finger crossed for a big flatty.

Good chat

Hey guys, I have a week off work next week so have decided that I'll hook up the boat and spend a couple of days down in St Georges Basin. I have never fished this waterway before but have always marvelled at the size of some of the fish that get pulled out of there. I always try and do a bit of scouting around when I'm in a new waterway so I don't waste time driving around for a whole day looking for likely haunts. I'm just after any useful tips you guys may have such as typical structure to look out for, what tides work best etc. My style of fishing is mainly soft plastics with hardbody surface lures as well. Cheers.

Hey mate, Nah this is up Smith Creek. Matt

Hey Mitchie, It was actually a Sebile Splasher . I almost always use Sammys or similar lures when flats fishing as they just imitate a prawn so well. But I wanted to change it up a bit so used a popper. Worth noting that I couldn't tempt any bream or whiting with the splasher so switched to the Sammy and converted it to a bream.

I've been plotting around the various bays in Cowan Creek over the past few weekends willing the surface action from the bream whiting to kick off. After finally picking up my first bream off the surface for 2014/2015 I think it is finally starting to heat up. Also dropped a horse of a whiting after it spat the hook from my surface walker. Anyway, last weekend I turn up to the flats and put a few eager casts out in anticipation of action which were pretty woeful to say the least when all of the sudden a school of decent sized estuary tailor turn up absolutely tearing apart baitfish which had taken shelter in the bay. The kind that when they are done there are sprinkles of bait fish causalities throughout the water column. Only lasting 5 minutes it was a fish a cast and on light gear and was so much fun. I managed to get a couple of videos one where you can see the baitfish jumping out of the water as they are pushed up hard against the boat. It's the little unexpected things that happen when you are fishing that make me keep going back time and time again. Cheers Matt http://youtu.be/o6IeuMp5v60 http://youtu.be/bfXI8SqjEb4

It's worth mentioning the frisky male kangaroos as well. I was on a solo effort there three weeks ago with an early start. I cut across a few areas to get to one of my spots only to have walked into a big greys territroy. This guy was not happy and was easy twice my size. He proceeded to charge at me for about 5 minutes, constantly standing on his tail and puffing his chest out. My little 1-3kg rod didnt seem like much of a defence ha ha. After a bit of yelling and waving my arms around I manged to shake him off once I got back down to the waters edge. They could seriously inflict some damage if they wanted to so watch out!

Met up with a mate on the Central Coast yesterday and we went out to target some EP's. Not a fish I have ever targeted before so it was a new experience. We fished a few of the feeder creeks to Brisbane Waters. All in all a relatively quiet day but the two EP's we scored were studs. Didn't have a brag mat but they around the 40cm mark and beyond and were fat. I had a question for any EP experts on here. My local waterway is the Hawkesbury or Berowra Creek to be exact. Where would be some good areas to target these guys? Its such a big system so to narrow it down a bit would be helpful. Cheers. Matt

Thanks guys, Still can't wipe the smile off my face. Matt

Caught this bream in Cowan Creek on Saturday morning. Been a while since I've held a blue nose let alone one off the surface. So happy with it. There was so much surface activity and tonnes off bait. Went back Sunday and could not even draw a follow off the surface. Funny how one day it can be hot and the next day nothing. Matt.

Yeh went 62, pretty happy as its my first trout, next on the list, a brown trout. It was touch and go while it was shaking its head just meters from my feet. I lost a similar sized one last year due to head shakes and was absolutely devistated. Didn't have a net so had to play it out a bit and beach it. Great fight though. The waxwing was a last minute addition to the tackle box before heading up. Never used one before but it has a nice side to side motion (similar to a spoon) and you can aggrevate it further with whips and flicks. It's worth noting that the hook up occured within two turns of the reel! I must have cast it on its head. Also used celtas, devils and spoons but had no luck on them. TCD is a great relaxing place that not many people utilise (from what I've seen in winter). And from what I saw not much rubbish and junk around either so people must be looking after it. Matt