beachwormer

That creek is so beautiful, never fished it. Can totally see how you'd pull whiting out of there. My friend a long time local told me there's a drop off not far from the entrance where he has caught good soapie jew from his dinghy.

Pulled up plenty of beachworms in a 1 hour session to keep me in live bait for a few days at a beach just south of Sawtell where we are staying. Worked at it on first session for 3 keeper whiting and a bream. They were yummy. Absolutely beautiful up here but I think I may need to come back in February for the whiting to be really on. Caught a lot of throwback whiting and bream so the sessions were far from boring. Also plagued by plate sized stingrays who just LOVE beachworms. I'm figuring when the whiting start to really run on the beaches the stingrays won't have time to get to the bait! Anyone had any decent sized catches of whiting elsewhere on the NSW beaches?

Hey Noelm, shame about the weather, but holy smokes what a spot you have there! Fantastic.

So........how do you go about getting the hook out of him?

Thanks Pickles!

Hey Pickles How do you approach hooking the jewies? Do you let them run with the bait for a bit before setting the hook, or just let them hook themselves?

Well done on the catch. Aren't those Clyde River oysters the best!

Gee Pickles you're a hard marker on the bream - egg and bread crumb fillets fried will do me just fine!

Hi raiders, haven't posted in a long while, truth is life got in the way of fishing for a long time. I'm up in Coffs Harbour on a holiday from Sydney. I used to live in Coffs many years ago. My dear old friend who's a local told me about mangrove jacks haunting the boats around the marina at the Jetty, so I pumped some nippers and did a session with him this evening fishing the change of tide. Apart from a few small keeper bream that went back things were quiet but we had a a couple of beers and talked about how life and family had turned out. I then hooked into something more than decent that took a lot of tight drag several times. I loaded up hard on the 20 lb trace trying to stop it running me under the boats or pylons. I began to gain the upper hand and my mate was standing with the net ready. As it surfaced I saw a jack of at least a few kilos. Holy shit. He then went for one last run and dusted me. No pictures obviously, I went home empty handed but at least I got to feel the power of a species i had never experienced before. Fortunately I'm here another 9 days so I'll be back there and I promise to post pics if I can come out on top next time!

That's my kind of fishing, well done. Augurs well for the rest of summer! Did you find most bites ended in hookups? Also, running rig with trace or paternoster?

Sensational fish. A lot of good eating too right there!

Reminds me of going to the Hawkesbury with my dad as a kid with a wicker basket of handlines. Great stuff. Roughly where in the river were you and did you catch them on the drift? Bait?

Hey Yowie I have greatly enjoyed your reports and pics. That's a great catch. Such a meaty red inside on a handline. Top stuff. Plus, would have been a treat on the table. Thanks for the inspiration and keep the reports coming

Thanks for that update! That's great - whenever lockdown ends!

I was looking for an update about this. As most know, due to fears over white spot disease infecting prawns, Queensland bloodworms have been banned for sale in NSW for some years. I found this report which sounds like they will be allowed again, but it is undated, and I can't find any other references. Anyone in the know about when we might see these again in bait stores in NSW? Report here: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/aquatic-biosecurity-risk-review-south-east-queensland-bloodworms-for-use-as-fishing-bait

Quality whiting there. Do you keep the tailor for bait or the table? If the table, what's the best way to cook them?

What happened to the bream fillets??

Nice bonito BTW!

Dude from memory (as I haven't fished off rocks for luderick for ages, having done a lot in my teens, 20s and 30s), make sure your float is balanced with enough lead so a small bite makes it disappear - the cockies are not fussy but the luderick are.

Ok that makes sense.

Saw a whole bunch (20 or 30) at my local fish shop yesterday stacked on ice. The biggest would have been maybe 50 cm. How is it that commercial fishermen are able to dispatch illegal specimens for sale on mass in broad daylight? What message does that send out to us as amateurs?

Wow there's some great eating coming up for you.... Did the big snapper drop the lures or bust you off?

I stayed with my 19 yo son at a house in North Durras back in December - great spot, caught a feed or two of whiting at the lake entrance. Just far enough away from Batemans Bay to be nice and quiet.

Great video and nice touch releasing him. I've never caught a bronzie but I hear at that size they are very good eating.

What a great looking fish!