RexSenior

Cheers mate. Just need the Knights to pull their finger out and it'll be good haha.

I had a mate contact me this afternoon and the weekly fish report from Fisherman's Warehouse said it was due to the high pressure system and some areas have weed exposed at the top of high tide?? Never heard of that but it's happening now whatever it is. Cheers for the comment.

Hi, yes you can catch prawns all year round in the shallows of Lake Mac. The 'prawn run' is a little different however I don't own a boat so I can't give you too much info on the deepwater stuff. Prawns, beach worms and bottle squid are my go-to baits, with all three the warmer months seem to be best. The prawns are there all year just very few during the colder months and when the moon is bright. If you're fishing a good location you should only need a dozen or so baits to get a feed

Cheers mate, I enjoy reading through your posts - my kind of fishing I'm happy with the small to medium prawns as I only use them for bait, the family want them to get bigger though haha.

A few fish from the eastern end caught on live prawns. Fishing the run-out tide at night in the shallows seems to be the go at the moment, all fish caught within 10m or so from shore. Not sure of the reason however there seems to be very little water coming inside the lake at the moment despite the tides - hopefully someone can explain. I've heard the same from a number of locals. The prawns are starting to move with the approaching dark - only small numbers but plenty for bait. Looking forward to the warmer months that's for sure! Cheers, James

Haha cheers mate, yeah pretty sad looking flathead in that particular line-up

Cheers mate. You get used to them, the main thing is getting a strong enough grip then most of the time they will begin to release from the sand if you hold them firm. Cheers, James

Haha, indeed they do! Very difficult to get out of the sand without breaking them - so powerful for such a small thing

Haha, cheers Rob. They're the biggest I've seen. Not the longest however they're well over 10mm in width - and very strong. Great Jew bait from the beach however you need to pick the perfect time to throw a whole one out as the salmon are pests here when targeting other species.

Cheers Scratchie! Yeah still trying to get out every now and then Just chewing on a couple of those whiting now and I may be fishing more often haha. Cheers, James

Hi Raiders Long time between posts! Just sharing some luck today, which started with a trip to the Central Coast for some worms. Plenty of king worms available in a very small patch south of Birdie Beach - took some finding however this was the result... Only a few of these needed (4-5 fills up the bait bucket) so headed back home to Blacksmiths. Battled plenty of weed and a sweep however managed some healthy whiting just using a size 2 baitholder hook, 8lb fluorocarbon leader and the biggest sinker I could find! All caught mid tide on the rise. A 39cm flatty thrown in for good measure (had to measure this one as I wasn't sure if it was legal - now worries with the whiting though). Cheers and tight lines! James

I'm with Rick on this one. Fish can feed anywhere but you're more likely to catch them where they usually feed and with what they usually feed on. You can catch whiting almost anywhere but in my experience they're more likely to be caught on the bar itself (higher tide) or on the edge of the gutter that the wave pushes into (lower tide). You'll hear different info off most people so I suggest trying everything and seeing what works. On my local beach I've spent countless hours snorkeling in all types of conditions to see what fish do (and because I love it). Cheers, James

Cheers for that Campr. Good to know from someone who has more experience with it than me. If the leader is 4x as expensive and 20% better I'll stick with the cheaper one haha. Tight lines mate.

Hi FranticD I guess that's part of fishing on the beach - there are many days where I fish for less than half an hour and give up due to big waves/sweep/seaweed etc. In my experience you need to be close to the action, either on the sand bar or just off the edge in the gutters. The waves are your friend to a point as they stir up crustaceans that live in the sand - especially for whiting. Your rig moving around can also be a good thing as you cover some ground. The downside to this is tangles in the leader however you can combat this by using a shorter leader, slightly heavier leader and keeping a taught mainline . I used to head for the deepest part of the beach which can be great for Jew etc however I've caught the most whiting in knee deep water on a rising tide - even with massive dumping waves. Having snorkelled a lot of the beaches I fish I know one thing - those whiting can cover a lot of ground in between waves and won't shy away from heading towards a dumping wave - it's their food source. Hope this helps mate. You'll get different info off most people but it gives you some ideas to try and every beach is different Cheers, James

Hi Rick Cheers for the reply. That's a massive weight for a 43cm fish gutted and gilled... great effort! I normally stick to the beaches with worms due to less by-catch but I'll have to try some pockets of the channel. Cheers, James

As R&B said great effort with the gummy. I threw them back for years until I ate one! Enjoy. Cheers, James

Scratchies quote of the day..... "We're going to need a bigger BBQ"!! Great catch Jeff and Co! Cheers, James

Hi Rick Just off Blacksmiths Beach. I forgot to mention in the post that there was plenty of weed around - it was fine today though as it was pretty flat with little wind so the line stayed still. Happy to give you the exact location via PM if needed. Is your mate land based or in a boat? I'm keen to find some easier spots to fish with the kids where they can still have a shot at catching dinner! We've always had trusty Salts Bay but haven't had much luck there with size lately! Cheers, James

Hi Raiders It's been a while between posts however thought I'd share a great morning's fishing. Headed out about 7:30am armed with a dozen king worms, not knowing what to expect as the seas have been massive the past week. Plenty of action with almost a full bag of whiting between 29cm & 40cm by 9:30am decided to call it a day. They were biting on then the smallest piece of worm which is strange in my experience - must be hungry! Same old rig as always with a large ball sinker - 3ft trace down to a No.2 baitholder hook. Another point to mention, I've been buying the rather expensive vanish fluorocarbon 10lb leader. Today for the first time I tried the vanish fluorocarbon main-line as my leader with one rod and the usual on the other. Didn't seem to be any difference and it's roughly 4x cheaper by the metre. It was great with minimal knots and twists. I guess the leader line must be more abrasion resistant or something?? Anyway they're both 100% fluorocarbon and invisible under the water so I'm happy - just upped the strength to 12lb which should counter-act the loss in abrasion resistance hopefully. Cheers, James

Cheers mate that helps a lot. Just getting some new options as summer approaches. Such a hard fish to target but so rewarding! I have a lot of friends and family that pretty much beg for fresh fish and as I don't often catch many I keep most of them. Full credit to you for releasing this one, most wouldn't P.S. I'm only a couple of years into finally getting jew off the beach is there any reason you go with such a large hook? That's the size I use for live baits however I thought with a worm the hook would still protrude fine when much smaller? (Trying to conceal) Thanks again for the feedback

Awesome, well done! I just googled where it was and it said Mullaway, NSW. I'm sure most knew this but I found it funny. Worms are my go-to bait for jew off the beach (preferably king worms). Can I ask what rig you used and how much worm? As you were catching tarwhine also I'm assuming the hook was quite small (I use a size 2 or 1/0 at the largest). For me I've found the more worm the better which sometimes deters the smaller fish. Anyway great post! Cheers, James

Spot on Yowie. It's taken me way too long to realise this and so many trips could have been better. As a kid if I wasn't fishing I was reading a fishing mag / book (hence the nickname Rex) and unfortunately most of them swear by fishing the deepest water on the beach. Great for some species however we need to be mindful of where their food is! Another point which has given me more success is to cover as much ground as possible. cast sideways as well as long and short, sometimes you can find a honey-hole that will deliver time and time again!

Hi Raiders As usual had to take my 30min drive past at least 10 beaches to find decent worms. Finally got some beauties and headed for Blacksmiths Beach. Only had a couple of hours to fish just after low tide, I'd love to see what the after dark high would have brought! Ended up with a mixed bag, biggest bream going 43cm, threw half a dozen back to live another day A tip for this beach is as follows: - In calm conditions, cast baits towards the sand bar even when very shallow (less than 30cm). Your bait will spend a lot of time doing nothing in shallow water however the decent fish seem to chase the waves onto the bar seeing looking for food that's been stirred up. The biggest bream had a gut full of crushed pippis. Cheers, James.

Hi There For bream and whiting I like to fish on the sandbars (high tide) or just in the deeper section as the waves push off the sand bar - which is usually about 20-40m from shore. I find the fish come onto the bar to feed when there's enough water there, feeding on what the waves stir up from the sand.

Hi Short Nothing special with the rig, just a large running ball sinker down to a swivel with 1m trace of 10lb fluorocarbon then a size 2 baitholder hook for the worms or 2/0 suicide hook for the cubed pillies