JamoDamo

I reckon give the ecogear bream prawns a go there, fish them weedless with no weight and the lightest leader you have, I reckon 3lb would be good enough.

Sounds like a great days fishing mate! Keen for the blackfish season coming up they r starting to come into the river!

With pressured fish use patterns that they wouldn't see as often but would still eat; for example for bream the usual bread and butter is grubs and paddle tails I reckon anything like creature baits lightly weighted on structure would kill it, use 4lb! Also give different lures a go, I would say a walk the dog topwater lure from 50mm-80mm will be perfect! Throw in the shadows and built up spots they will always be there. Also keep your distance and keep quiet, they can feel the vibration from you walking plus they can sometimes see you coming! Good luck.

i would definitely give them a crack in the harbour!

Cheers mate! It seriously is, my mates are able to get them on soft plastics but I always find myself coming back to the blades I can't fault them especially when you land fish like that! May I add the actual blade was on the outside of the mouth! Oh hell yeah they are, they just keep running and running and running! Takes a lot of patience to land one this size on 6lb. Thanks mate, and yes its really good, teaching him to fish has been an interesting experience in itself but when we land fish like this its all worth it! Thanks mate appreciate it!

G'day Raiders! Me and my Brother Tom decided we would plan a whole day of fishing just him and me and see what we would go for, our first pit stop of the day was going for carp in a nearby pond close to home, I had fished there recently with @Berrero fishing topwater floating pieces of bread in a burley trail it seriously is awesome fun watching a 70cm carp come up to the surface of the water and slurp down your bait followed by a strong hook set turning into a massive run off into the deep section of the pond, one fish made a screaming 40m run up the canal and then tried to reef me into reeds! Such awesome fun, that afternoon after work we ended up catching 14 fish with 3 fish caught by Chris and 11 by me, we had amassed a crowd of people watching us pull in carp after carp for 2 hours and they were amazed that there were so many in there! Anyways me and Tom targeted them the same way landing 9 fish together in one day again all the same size 70cm and up all on 6lb leaders and bream gear! Its like fighting freshwater jewies! Later that arvo after we had come home we decided to go have another session targeting some flathead and bream on blades and plastics, first spot unfortunately yielded nothing, we moved onto the next spot in hopes of something better. Arriving at the spot we started fishing the flat with blades and plastics pulling in around 5 flathead but nothing special. The triple hop technique with a little bream blade always seems to yield interest from the flathead in the area with the biggest being <45cm, after pulling another small flathead in I said to to Tom "Watch this, I'll get another baby flathead". Midway through the retrieve I hook up into something good, a massive headshake ensues followed by a quick run "I'm on! Must be a decent flathead" but whatever is on the end of my line just keeps GOING ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ my drag goes crazy screaming off for 30 seconds! Farout this fish has to be huge! The signature jew headshakes follow after the run, "Tom I think this is a JEW?!" I scream, and oh boy did it fight, another big run ensues farout i'm nearly spooled! I can see the backing knot! Well here we go... my first spooling . I pump and wind and pump and wind gaining line back onto my reel only for another really big run to happen AGAIN! This fish is now starting to take me for a walk along the bank, I can let him run i'm fighting him over a big flat so he doesn't have anything he can get me on! Another three minutes of careful rod work and fretting and there he is! ITS A BLOODY GOOD ONE! Turning on his back I get Tom to take my rod and I lip grip him and lift him ashore! OH MY GOD! Screaming with excitement we congratulate each other, this fish is the one we've needed after countless hookups to big fish we couldn't stop! I estimate him to be around that 90cm mark and jeez he is FAT I can barely hold him! Working quickly we take some photos and remove the hook from the fish, straight back into the water he goes, reviving him on the beach I can believe it another PB! I am so stoked. He recovers very well and kicks off strongly into the water, watching a silver slab of Georges river Mulloway flicker in the moonlight off he goes back to hunt more baitfish. I am beyond stoked with this fish, I seriously doubted I would be able to land him! So stoked I did with the help of my brother. My 3rd and biggest jewfish on a lure yet! Heres to more fish this summer for all of us! I think its time I start to seriously target these fish on lures! Hopefully I have some more success and another report will be made! Hope you guys enjoyed the report have a good one!!! Cheers, JamoDamo

I am so so sorry for your family's loss Ash, I had the privilege to fish with him multiple times during the holidays for blackfish on the Georges and he was always happy to share info on how to catch anything and everything. Thinking of you and your family in this time, I will miss his reports. RIP Bruce

Cheers man! Cheers Cheers Pickles appreciate it!

Thanks mate! Most session consist of 10+ fish nowadays so i'm pretty stoked to have gotten to this point in my lure fishing! So bloody good! Thanks Jenno! Yeah they certainly are on atm! Just find the fish and go from there I spose. Thanks Rebel! Yeh nah never could! Got fish to report! Cheers mate!

Cheers mate, Winter is becoming one of my favourite times of year now if you find where they are schooling in the deep generally you can get cricket scores of good fish! Cheers Rah appreciate it!! Cheers mate the past couple weeks have been on fire! Thanks mate! Its honestly just all about finding the pattern and then just fishing that presentation until they are keen for something else... then switch to a reaction bite lure ie a blade or crankbait. And about the tackle shop they are hiring again so I may send in my CV and also another bloke showed interest in giving me a job at his tackle shop in the sutherland shire so we will see! Thanks mate! Thanks Larkin, been a while since I made a report and seeing as the fishing was just that good I thought I might as well make a report! Cheers yowie yeah the fish have been biting their heads off! Cheers Leo!

G'day Raiders! Its been a while since i've done a report so I thought I might as well do another write up like my previous reports. The last two months have been absolutely awesome fishing wise for me and my brother who recently got into the sport, its been an absolute pleasure teaching him how to fish and how to fish based on the conditions you find yourself facing on the day. I also at the beginning of this year began a fish count/tally to record how many fish I could land in a year on lures and so far me and my brother have caught 2 School Mulloway biggest about 74cm, 6 Aussie Salmon, 30 Estuary Perch , 101 Bream 40cm tip, 65 Dusky Flathead, 1 Australian Bass, 10 talior, 7 Whiting, 1 Bigeye trevally and 7 Silver Trevally all on the Georges river and occasionally the Cooks if I am bothered to get the train there. Over a span of 3 days I easily caught 45 fish that were schooling up sitting in the deep waiting for food to pass by them, little did they know the "food" that they would be gorging on would be my lure! My most memorable catches over those three days were my FIRST Mulloway on a lure that I managed to land on 6lb and bream gear with my lure of choice being an ecogear vx35 blade in the 439 colour you seriously can't go wrong! As soon as it took its first run I just knew it was a Jew big unforgiving headshakes coupled with that screaming run.. That being said it was a consolation prize for the myriad of absolutely massive fish that I simply couldn't stop on my 1-3kg rod and 2000 size reel... Oh well that's part of light tackle fishing! The first day consisted of a weekly tackle shop run to fishin.com.au in Miranda to pick up some new tackle to play with, ended up buying some Keitech easy shiners, the new Pro Lure Clone Prawns 62mm in the "Firetiger" colour, some jigheads, zmans and baitjunkies and I was off! As soon as I got home I packed up everything and got out of the house asap to make good use of the 3-4 hours of afternoon daylight left. Out the door I went walking as fast as my legs could take me to my spot of choice on my local the mighty Georges River. Arriving at the spot around 1pm I hurriedly got down the trail as fast as I could and started fishing. First spot produced a few bites however no hookups.. Alright time to move spots! Walking around the corner I started fishing off the foreshore flicking out my lightly weighted soft plastics for a bream in close, couple hits and misses damn! I've gotta get on the board soon surely? Walked down another 20m on the slippery river rocks (Do not Recommend) and tied on an old time favourite hardbody of mine - the atomic hardz 38 crankbait deep diver in Ghost Gill brown. Everytime I go fishing it is critical to "crack" the pattern on the day and find what presentation the fish will take on the given day and seeing as all my plastics of varying patterns such as a grub or a powerbait shrimp I had to try something different, something that would trigger a bite; something loud and fast whilst having a natural colour scheme and the atomic crank fit the criteria perfectly. Rolling my crankbait over the rocks on a rising tide is quite possibly one of my all time favourite ways to target bream, the takes and the fight whilst trying to extract an angry silver slab of bream from rocks is quite something on light line, usually something i'd do on a hot summer day with cloudy skies but seeing as the day was sunny and warm I had to give it a go! Casting out my crank in close to the rocks rolling it over any structure I could find banging it over rocks seeing if I could attract anything feeding in close. THUMP THUMP BOOM! I'm on! Screaming off to the nearest oyster encrusted rock it could find I knew it i'd hooked my target species, holding my rod high trying to use any leverage I could utilise to keep it head out of the rocks was key, winding like a madman I muscled the fish out of the rocks and up to the surface, another screaming ensues. Trying to not panic from the impending doom of losing a $20 lure "No No No don't do that" I scream I again had to wind and muscle this bream out of the structure and finally it had tired out. Yes! I'm off the donut, my first fish on a hardbody in months took me back to the fond memories of a scorching summer day fishing for bream. Unhooked and a quick photo taken and this 30cm specimen went back in the water. Walking another 20m further along the bank and the crank goes back in for round 2, the adrenaline rush of catching a fish really is something else especially in structure like this! I begin rolling my crank back to me doing the same thing; bashing it into the rocks and waiting in anticipation for another hit from a fish. My lure gets thumped and its another fish, on again! 20 seconds later and he's landed but instead of a bream its a flathead! Been a while since I saw one of these especially on a hardbody in the middle of winter?! Hooks out and the fish is released. Another 20m further down I hook up again pulling out another early 30's bream on a hardbody again.. and again! Ah bugger my crank is snagged, well time to try another presentation! Pulling out a 1/16 jighead and a clone prawn and its back into the thick of it! Casting out my plastic into a big eddy I think to myself surely there has to be a perch here, hop hop hop WHACK! I strike hard driving the hooks in deep and begin to bring the fish in, zzzzzzz the drag screams off. One more nice run and the fish is buggered and guess what? Its a perch! Just like i'd predicted and not a bad fish either about 36cm.. Another photo and back in he goes. This continues and I end up landing another 2 EP around the same size. Walking onto the next spot I go, time to get some more fish! Arriving at the new spot the conditions are perfect, I think to myself maybe today might be the day I finally get a jew.. First cast I end up with my first bream on a proper blade, second cast another bream, third cast another bream, fourth cast my first ep on a blade, 5th cast yields nothing, next cast mid way through my retrieve I get absolutely slammed by something HUGE! I set the hook and get treated to a massive 15 second run, big headshakes follow.. This has to be a jew! Pumping and winding like crazy I begin to retrieve the line and pull this fish back to me, next minute I see a big silver flash from the deep and its bigggg! Finally he surfaces and Yes! ITS A JEW! Finally! I have been waiting years for my first Jew on a lure. After getting a crappy photo and a release (Solo) I end up catching another 20 fish that session, truely a day to remember! Went out with @Berrero for an arvo session and we came across a school trevally, couple casts in and we had a double hook up! Two nice Trevally! They came home for dinner, another two get caught and are kept for dinner. Casting in again in anticipation of another trevally strike I hook up on the strike pro blade and get a massive run again! Screaming off into the deep I find myself trying to keep this fish out of structure as best I can on 6lb whilst trying to get my blade back! He surfaces and Oh my God this Trevally is easily a pb! In the net she goes, we start screaming with joy farout this thing is a beast! On the brag mat she goes, 57cm of Georges River Silver Trevally and a new PB for me smoking my former pb of 48cm! We keep casting and catching trevally landing around 10 fish in total dropping or getting smoked by just as many and to end it I got another PB in one day! My Pb Estuary Perch of 42cm, she was an absolute chunk of a fish unfortunately she scoffed the blade and was bleeding a bit thankfully I was able to extract the hook and get her back in, was more worried about her releasing than a holdup photo. My brother and me also went out for a weekend session and he got an upper river Aussie Salmon and not just one he got two! And on a blade! Well thats my report capped off for the last couple weeks of fishing! Keen to make a few more reports after I finish off school! Thanks for reading! Cheers, JamoDamo

Fish them along a rockwall with current, you either pin them through the side just behind the eye above the nipper or through the back in the carapace.

Briggsy's fg knot video is the way I learnt to tie it, super strong and easy way to do it!

Another underused bait are the little crabs you find under rocks in the mangroves and intertidal zones in estuaries! Super easy to gather and really good for bream fishing them unweighted or with a little split shot in current, been smoked by massive bream I couldn't stop plenty of times on em!

Hey mate both are light as a feather! Love my td black has the perfect taper and plenty of backbone for bream fishing to pull them out of structure!

Give the a daiwa infeet a go! I've tried my mates and its awesome. The arrowz are very lightweight for a cheaper rod however I find their taper very hard to work plastics quickly with however they are good for double hop retrieves and crankbaits. Would go either a TD Tierra or an Infeet man! Zodias r also very good, I have a td black grub'n personally and I love it it has the perfect taper to be used for anything.

Looks similar to a bullrout, probably is. I have caught them on lure before, DO NOT touch them as they have an extremely painful sting that will leave you in lots of pain for hours.

I am so jealous! I went for them yesterday for nothing! I'm hoping they make their run soon! I am over the donut sessions

Thats the education we need! I personally will always stray away from rock fishing i'd rather not risk my life for a fish... estuary fishing is my game and suits me just fine!

I reckon a good idea they could utilise would to introduce rock fishing seminars for people who are learning or are from different cultures and language groups so that the message can be spread, would be good to have experienced people teach others of all different demographics how to fish the rocks "safely". This being said a lot of the majority don't seem to care.. One of my mates goes on the rocks and he went on a dodgy day and he didn't even look where the water was going for 20 minutes... careless I reckon.

You can get either a Daiwa TD Tierra 1-2kg 7ft which is really good! I have one myself and I love fishing hardbodies on it, you can fish plastics easily but the taper is more of a hardbody/blade rod, you can also get them in a 1.5-3kg variant however they aren't 7'8, another recommendation could be a shimano rack raider 7'2 1-4kg bream rod?

Hey mate! Centrepin reels/alvey reels aren't critical to success however for blackfishing I find they are really good to use when playing the fish and also retrieving/giving line to the float. The centrepin is really good for line management and fighting the fish however it isn't necessary to catch them however I just prefer to use them as they are "the tool for the job". Long soft rods are really good for blackfish fishing if you are going for them near places that have structure ie oyster encrusted rocks, breakwalls, wharves and so on, they are really really good for steering the fish out of structure as they try to get you into snags to break you off. A good one to get that I personally have is a Jarvis walker Aurora Jimmy Crane 8'6, its floppy and noodly as all hell and has the taper and length you need to catch them and its only $30! Regarding burley, generally when you arrive at a spot you can usually pinpoint whether the fish are there and feeding and already on the job or whether they are not feeding, berley is extremely important to attract feeding fish or turn non feeding fish into feeding fish. Watch the current and see where your burley with disperse when you throw your burley bomb in. Throw your berley up current and fish your float back into the burley stream at about a rod length of depth or 2 or more foot above the bottom and by doing this you should get a couple! With blackfishing spots are almost always dependent on the tide, you will have certain spots that will only have fish that will feed on a certain tide ie run in or out. Fish either side of the tide and work out what tide they feed on and by doing this you will get a few. Never really had to get nitpicky with barometer and everything else, they are usually just an extremely tide dependent fish. Anywhere with a bit of current and rocks should hold em! When baiting greenweed you want to wrap it twice up the line above the hook whilst wrapping the weed down the shank over the point, then at the top you want to wrap it the other way to cross over the wraps, put a half hitch over the top of it and trim the tag and you should be sweet, also the thickness of your weed strand only needs to be 3-4mm wide and about 10 cm long. Sorry if I didn't explain it too well but you need help send me a pm and i'll help you out!

I reckon a sedona and a tierra would be perfect to start out!

If you want a good rod for the price buy the new 21 TD Tierra 1-2kg or the 1.5-3kg. I've got the ultralight version and I love it! Awesome rods, they have an infeet reel seat, a td hyper blank and fuji stainless steel fazlite k guides. Super sensitive and i've never had a problem with it.

All good mate! When I tie the fg I usually sit down place the rod in my lap and prop it up. Put the line through the first runner and bring it back to my teeth with a bit of tension, wrap the leader around my fingers a couple times and make sure not to pull hard as 4lb leader will shred if u put too much friction on it. Watch Briggsy's FG knot video thats how I learnt how to do the FG, once you do it a lot its very easy to tie just remember to not put much pressure on the leader.