Tommy TJ

I choose jigheads depending on the fish I am targeting, the size of the soft plastic I'm using, and also the conditions (wind/ depth/ current), so it's good to have a range to choose from if possible. Assuming you are targeting bream and flathead, it is essential to have different jigheads for each fish as bream have much smaller mouths than flathead, and they also seem to be a lot more fussy when it comes to the sinking rate of the lure (to heavy = unnatural). Flathead in general are not very picky... I commonly catch flathead as bycatch when targetting bream, however the reciprocal is not true as I rarely catch bream as a bycatch when targetting flathead. For flathead I usually use hook sizes 1/0 up to 4/0 and weighted between 1/8th and 1/4 oz. Fishing in deeper water, or in stronger current I will choose to use the heavier jighead so that it can get down to the bottom. In shallower water though the lighter jighead gives the most natural presentation of the lure. For bream I usually use hook sizes 4 up to 1, and try to fish the lightest jighead possible, heaviest I will use for bream being 1/8 oz, but more commonly I'm using 1/12th jig heads for lures like 2.5" paddle tail or grub. Again I'm usually matching the hook size to the size of the lure. For bream I also like to use hidden weight jigheads in the 1/20 oz weight because the weight is distributed evenly along the hook so the sinks more horizontally in the water instead of sinking head first.

Good stuff Cballz, have only seen one school of kings so far this season in my local harbour zone (eastern harbour), have seen a fair bit of bait around but mostly only ~2" small fish. Very tempting to bring the yak up to the north arm - seems like you've been doing well recently!

Thanks for the advice @Little_Flatty@Jiggy @Green Hornet, I'll get some ultra thin braid next time I'm at the tackle store, and I'll also have to have a go targeting them at night - maybe even with bait as a few members have suggested.

@Mike Sydney That was a good read thanks for that. Yeah I'm thinking metal blades might be my best options as well, although I didn't know that ball bearings in the lure increase casting distance - any notable surface lures with ball bearings? I have a 70mm sugapen lying around somewhere that might be worth a flick.

@Mike Sydney Yeah I still do have my kayak but just haven't had the time to take it out recently. I hope to take it out in a week or two though and I am super keen to target some bream in the harbour out of it - feel like I've learned a lot since the last time I chased bream on the yak so I'm feeling hopeful!

Hey Fishraiders, A few weeks ago whilst fishing my local in the eastern Sydney Harbour I snagged my $20 Samaki vibe on the end of a jetty. So I decided to take the reasonable course of action of grabbing some goggles and swimming out to find it. And oh boy... not only did I save myself $20, but whilst I was swimming out there I saw some very healthy slabs of bream congregating near the end of the jetty around its pylons and stairs. I saw around 5-10 school sized bream but underneath those were 2 tanks around the 40cm mark. Ever since that day I've been revisiting that same jetty to try and tempt them to bite, however, I've had zero success in catching even a single bream. Using PE 0.8 braid and a 6lb leader I've tried soft plastic grubs, minnows and flickbaits, ecogear zx40, a couple crankbaits and even a soft vibe. Some additional info about the spot: It was approx. high tide when I went for my swim and it was around 2.5m deep at the end of the jetty The jetty is private and not accessible to the public The bottom is mostly sandy however there was some patches of more rocky/ harder bottom texture, with some patches of weeds scattered around Wind often blows weeds and other debris into the bay I think one of the main issues is that using such light lures as we do for bream I can't get the casting distance required to reach the end of the jetty. I could just about reach the final pylon using a metal bladed lure, but it was a hairy proposition due to the risk of the wind catching my line on the jetty and losing another pricey lure. Using lightly weighted soft plastics and standard ~3.5-4g cranks I seem to stand no chance of getting my lure into the zone. So my questions to you all are: Are these bream likely to live in the area and be returning to the jetty often? What would your strategy be in my situation? Any recommendations for the longest casting bream lures, or other tips to help me get the additional metres I need in my cast. Cheers everyone, TJ

Great post mate, have you been out on the kayak yet? Fishing from the yak is a heap of fun and I reckon it improves your landbased fishing as well.

@AlbertW Absolutely! Especially when you catch something

Nice king mate, sounds like a good day on the water. Nothing better than the sound of the reel screaming interrupting your podcast!

After a short walk around the bay to grab a lunchtime coffee, the perfect weather and clear water had me itching for a flick. Despite being buried in work, I couldn't help myself and grabbed my rod to get out of the house for quick session. It always pays off keeping a couple rods rigged up for your local so you're ready to go when an opportunity presents itself (or in my case for when the procrastination overrides the rational brain). I left the house with only a pair of pliers, my rod, and the single 2.5" pearl Slim Swimz on a 1/6th jighead. My rod of choice for bank casting for flathead is actually an 8'3 squid rod (Shimano Sephia), gets great casting distance but I think the softness of the tip might make me miss a few hookups. Would be interested to know if anybody else uses 'squidding' rods for bream/flathead fishing. It was bang on high tide of 1.8m, so the plan of attack was to walk along the edge of the park casting and using a simple hopping retrieve. My preferred casting method for targeting flathead in this way is casting straight out for maximum distance into the deeper water, then walking sideways around 10m so that the lure is retrieved on an angle rather than perpendicular to the shoreline. My thinking here is that it allows you to cover more ground in the same amount of casts. First cast I had a solid hit on the drop, fish was on for about 5 seconds before spitting the lure. Spewing. At least I know they are biting. About 10 casts later after the lure had been on the bottom for a few seconds, I could feel something was interested. The wind was blowing in my face which was making it difficult to maintain tension and contact so I wasn't sure if there was a fish on or not. I went to reel in the slack and make another hop/strike and sure enough fish on! She put up a good fight on the light gear - 6lb leader, and I estimate low 40's in length. Pinned nicely in the lower lip so got a couple photos, popped the hook out and sent her back to the depths - or about 1ft of water. Hope you all can get the rod bending this weekend! TJ Rod: 8'3 Shimano Sephia M Reel: Shimano Vanford 3000 with 10lb braid and 6lb fluoro leader Lure: 2.5" Slim Swimz in pearl colour on a 1/6th Jighead (size 1 or 1/0 hook)

Very sad to see such an iconic brand go - have always seen them used but have never really had the time to try one out as I've only been fishing for about 1.5 years. I would like to try and get my hands on one before they are gone for good - would anybody be able to recommend a reel + technique where the uniqueness of the Alvey really shines? I've seen them used for luderick and black drummer, however, I enjoy all forms of fishing along the east coast. Thanks all

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I think it's just the angle! Although I'm certainly no expert at guesstimating the length of a fish - especially kingfish

Good afternoon everyone! I picked up fishing about 1-1.5 years ago, and have been lurking (not posting) on these forums for a few months now. It's been a goal of mine ever since i started taking the sport more seriously to catch a kingfish completely on my own. I got to the Malabar boat ramp at about 6am, and had my kayak in the water as the sun was just starting to come up. I had brought some frozen whole squids with me that I planned to trawl behind my kayak on my PE3 jigging setup, and I had also brought my PE1.5 snapper outfit along with an assortment of 5" soft plastics and jigheads. There were already 4 kayaks out past the headland by the time I got out there - it looked like there was some action in the area where they were all hanging about. I didn't want to crash on their spot straight away, so I spent some time casting soft plastics for snapper whilst trawling my whole squid about 5-10m off the bottom. No hits on the plastics, and the opportunity to join in on the action with the other kayakers proved too tempting. As I got closer I could see huge schools of bait being pushed up on the surface all the way along the face of the cliffs. Seriously... I've never seen so much bait on the surface... there would've been at least 4 huge schools of bait within ~100m stretch of the cliff. I spent the next couple hours casting away with my 5" jerk shads and caught a handful of bonito. I had a few hits on the squid I was trawling - but wasn't able to land anything from it. It was approaching 10am by this point, and I starting to think about heading in. I was the only kayaker left, and even though there was still plenty of bait around ... the bite seemed to have slowed down and I wasn't getting many hits. The current was very strong and I had drifted about 100-200m from where I had been fishing all morning. I decided that I would have a few more casts towards the cliffs/headland and then would be on my way. I hooked up to what felt like a very small fish, so I backed off my drag and played it out for a few minutes, however, as it approached my yak it shot off and my reel began screaming. I tightened my drag and the fight was on - it wasn't long until my first kingfish was in the kayak. I was stoked, and was trying to get a good photo of him without dropping my phone in the water. It took me a while to get this done, and by this point I just wanted to get him back in the water safely so I decided not to measure him. My estimate would be about 50-55cm. A little background about me as it is my first post. Up until recently, fishing didn't seem like the kind of hobby that would appeal to me - even though I've lived on the east coast of NSW my whole life - I would even go as far as to say that I actively DISLIKED fishing!! When I was a teenager my dad bought a boat, which in his mind meant that we were going to catch heaps of trophy fish with little effort and be back home in time for lunch. Unfortunately this dream was quickly dashed and we spent many weekends waking up at ridiculous hours and coming home empty handed for our efforts. My dad had little clue how to safely and confidently operate the boat by himself, and even less of an idea about how to catch fish. I was left to do the brunt of the work for a hobby that i had little interest in at the time (learning how to tie knots, rigs, and how to dispatch/clean fish ... etc.). So I think you can see where my dislike of the hobby originated. Some time after this I took up fishing of my own accord and began to really enjoy it (not sure what switched). Fast forward about 7 years, my dad has moved up to Queensland, he still has his boat, he's much more proficient at operating the boat... and I'm much more proficient at catching fish. So we actually work surprisingly well as a team - and I fly up to meet up with him and go fishing at every opportunity that we get. Thanks for reading my first post everyone - sorry if it was a bit rambly - I really wasn't expecting to write that much!! Cheers, TJ video-1652666279.mp4