Far Canary

Thanks all. BN, I didn't keep the longtail or kings as I didn't think I'd be able to keep the tuna good on trip back to Sydney and the last king I kept(pictured) off the same reef was wormy and inedible...what a waste. This is probably why the big kings are so thick up there, particularly at Sandon. I ended up packing the downrigger away to avoid them. Mack on the other hand was sensational as sashimi. Cheers

Spent a bit of time in Minnie Water in recent days. Conditions were initially rough with the Southerly swell pumping and water still dirty but water improved slightly from brown to milky green. Bait was harder to find than usual and holding deep with Wilsons the best spot. Hard to get past Kings and Longtail to the Mackerel which were scarce...

Cheers Fil, I got the longtails drifting over inshore reefs in 10-20m water with plenty of bait around. The rigs were 2-3m of 80lb leader with a sliding bead stopper above a float and 8/0 circle hook. The bead catches on the braid/leader knot and sets the bait depth at 2-3m but you can still wind the leader onto the reel. I had two livies out the back, a bait jig down the side and was casting SPs out the front. One fish taken on a yakka and the other on a slimie. I used a drouge to slow the drift and not being at anchor was handy when the fish hit and I needed to chase them. Drifting also allowed me to cover a bit of ground.

Thanks Scratchie, appreciate you providing the inspiration to get to know the north coast better and the snapper tips at the Anna Bay Tav last yr.

Thanks JonD - I launched at Minnie on dead low tide first 2 days rather than chance the Wooli bar. It was good as there is a bit of a drop-off accessible at low tide. Thanks Cheers - fighting the fish was fine but the beach retreival solo always gets the pulse going while the tyres are sinking

Based myself in Wooli for a work trip last week after reading Scratchie's trip report last year. Managed to sneak out to NW Rock late one afternoon and found a good patch of kings & snapper on soft plastics. Got dusted by as many as I landed but great session. Best snapper went 70cms which I was very happy with(PB) until one local on Minnie beach told me it was just 'better than nothing'....haha. Fished out of Minnie again another day in poor conditions focussing on closest reef to the beach. Very tough going with only mack tuna until I hooked a 125cm long tail, my first, right at sunset. Epic fight solo and seeing the fins break the surface for the first time after a few attempts at catching one was a great moment. A quick run back to the beach before last light. Another afternoon the tides were right for a run out of Wooli bar and after trying SPs at NW Rock again without luck I came inshore and fished home reef. Baby mack tuna everywhere churning up the surface eating white bait. Had a couple of drifts across the reef and hooked another longtail. 13 circles and a kilometer later I tailled the fish, got a quick pic and released. Apparently I missed the mackerel by a couple of weeks so cant wait to get up there again next Easter.

That's insane, also keen to know what took the livies and which plastics did the most damage?

Thanks Gents, got him on a 7 inch nuclear chicken Zman

Early start and up to Broughton this morning. Fished the southern side of the island with 7 inch plastics until 1pm. Swell was about 2m and water 19 degrees. I put in about a thousand casts and Rodney(the rod holder) got the only hookup on a snapper fish at about 11am on high tide. The fish went 59cm and was caught at The Boundary - thanks for the spot Scratchie!

Thanks gents

Made my way down to Adaminaby a week before the season closure, arriving just after 26mm of rain. Heavy snow the night before left the Eucumbene River flats covered. With the river up and portal pumping everything looked good for some spawn run action. Picked up 9 fish in total on Rapala Xraps up to about 50cm, all released. Pretty slow for the others on the river by all accounts but hard to be too dissapointed given the epic scenery. The low lake levels for past couple of years have led to miles of extra river, with now well established banks, providing plenty of space for anglers to spread out which is great. Tried again the following morning but zilch - seems like you need to be there the day after heavy rain, the day after that is too late...