adamski

Ah yes! There's no greater guarantee of a doughnut than buying a new bit of fish-cooking gear! (Apart from the phrase "Don't worry guys, I'll catch us dinner!")

Hey folks, Hope you're having a good one. It's been relatively slow going in my neck of the woods over the last few months, but I managed to get out the last two Saturdays on the trot. Last weekend I hit the Cooks on the run-out tide and it was one of those days where the the trevs were in the system in plague-like proportions. It seems to happen when the weather heats up and there's been little rain: the river gets a greenish tinge (rather than the usual murky brown) and you literally can't leave a lure on the bottom without it getting hoovered up. The fish were willing to take pretty much any small to medium green/blue/brown plastic. Ended up with around 8 trevally in the 35-45 cm range and some flatties up to about 50 cm. It made for a fun morning. Today the other, better half was away meeting some friends in Manly, so I got a run out to the Spit. I've never fished there before, but there were lots of big whiting about. I didn't really have light enough gear to entice any, so started having a flick round the wharves and after 10 casts or so felt a big heavy weight. Bit of a scrap and some theatrical leaping around (from both the fish and me!) and in comes a decent salmon at 55 cm, a pb for me. I went round the corner to have a few casts at the bridge afterwards, but couldn't pull out anything other than a few grinner. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Cracking fish, never seen one before! Do they always take bananas? 😉

Jings! That's a hell of a fish! Well done!!! 👏

Cheers @Little_Flatty! A landing net's pretty useful, although I have to confess I'm still guilty of occasionally lifting fish by the leader if I can't quite reach them. I was out again today and had a couple more trevs and a whiting. Had to do a double take as I was bringing in the second trev: it was getting harassed by what seemed to be 3-4 of the biggest tailor I'd ever seen. Then I noticed the yellow on the tails. I've never seen rat kings in the Cooks before!!!! Switched up to a bigger lure and fast retrieve, but couldn't entice a bite from them. Went for a flick around a few bridges, but didn't get anything else. Still, it was a nice day to be out by the water.

Hey folks, Hope you're having a good one! It's been a quiet week for me fishing wise and haven't managed to get out as much as I'd like. I did go for a flick late last week with the heavier gear on the Cooks run-in. Mostly stopped at bridges and picked up a mixed bag including a couple of bream, a Trev, a luderick and a flattie. Interestingly, all of the fish were happy to hit a 3" minnow on 14lb leader. I'm finding the blackfish-on-lures thing weird btw: I literally had 2 on soft plastics in 3-4 years of fishing in Sydney before I went back to the UK and since I got back that's now 4 in 2 months on 3 different soft plastics. I've seen guys on YouTube fishing similar stretches and catching them too. Do fish diets change as they get more accustomed to a particular system? I doubt there's much cabbage weed in the Cooks! Might get a chance to try for something bigger in the next day or two, so fingers crossed!

Don't forget chicken marinaded in raw garlic!

Stonker of a fish, well done!

Cracking whiting, well done!

Well done Yowie, good few feeds there!

Cheers @NoMoreDonuts! Yeah it was hard going just after the heavy rain. Conditions are starting to improve, had a few fish again today, including a nice trev.

Cheers folks, @jenno64 and @Little_Flatty, yeah the DPI guys do a great job! Just a wee followup report too: I went out to the eastern suburbs this morning to try and get some fish for a feed. Had a little flatty on the first cast, which went back: Followed by a tiny tarwhine and tailor off the wharf about 30 mins later, but my lures were getting chomped by jackets, so I moved around to a bay nearby. Two casts in and dropped a big whiting as I was trying to get it to the net. Fortunately managed to hook another one a few casts later, which went about 37cm and a flatty too at 40 cm, so I'm heading home to work on my filleting skills. 😉

Hiya folks, Hope you're having a good one! I've been out there fishing a stretch of the Cooks river near me for the last few weeks, probably about 5 or 6 sessions in total. It's been really hard going since the rain about a fortnight ago: the river was like chocolate milk and it seems to take ages for a bit of clarity to return this far up. On the days when it wasn't raining, the wind's been pretty terrible. Safe to say I had a few blanks on the trot. I tried some black coloured lures because I thought they'd stand out against the murk, but only managed one little flathead. The last couple of sessions have been better though as the conditions have improved and I'm starting to find the structure. I bought a wee Sienna 1000 and a net with some birthday vouchers and had the chance to break them in this week. Haven't had any serious fish apart from the usual bread and butter, but it's been nice to get some bites (even managed to break the bloodworm Zman curse with a Daiwa bait junkie!) One thing I did have on one of the sessions was a visit from a couple of inspectors from the DPI. They were very patient with me as I fumbled about to find my license receipt on my phone (I'd left my wallet with the actual license at home) and quite chatty. Goes to show it's always wise to check your pockets before you head out! Planning a trip to the eastern suburbs tomorrow to try and pick up a fish for a feed. Wish me luck!

Cheers mate, me too!

Awesome work bud, well done! Those brownies look gorgeous, the tail on that first fish is enormous!