Gary Brown's Weekly Reports

WEB REPORT 3/10/10

TACKLE AND TECHNIQUE TALK.

Back in September this year I gave a talk at Fergo’s Tackle World store at Taren Point.
The evening was designed for beginner and intermediate anglers and the areas that I covered were the following:
• How to use soft plastics and blades to target winter and autumn fish species like bream, silver trevally, whiting and dusky flathead.
• Deep and shallow water spots to try in the Sydney region.
• Suggested rod and reel selection.
• Types of knots used to join superlines (e.g. braid) to your leaders, jig heads and blades.
• Types of leader material.
• What techniques to use.
• Times and tides.
• Suggested types of jig heads, plastics and blades.
To give you a bit of an insight as to what I covered over the night I will go over some of the techniques that I covered.

VINCE JOYCE - THE WINNER OF A DAY ON THE WATER.

Deep and shallow water spots to try in the Sydney region.

By deep water I mean anywhere between 5 to 12 metres of water. Even though I knew the areas that I was going to fish I used my Hummingbird 788CX COMBO GPS to help me, not only pin point my position, but to also help me locate the bait and fish schools. The first area that I concentrated on was at the entrance to the Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour. The water depth varied from 7 to 13 metres and most of the fish came from a small drop-off at the 10 mark on a run-out tide. Both Vince and I used a ¼ oz TT Switch Blades and 1/6 oz Berkley Big Eyed blades, along with 1/6 and ¼ oz jig heads with 6 inch Gulp Camo Sand Worms (cut in half).
The technique we used was to cast as far as we could in the direction that we were drifting and allow the blade or jig head to reach the bottom. It was then just a matter of slowly lifting the rod tip so theta the blade or jig slowly bounced off the bottom and then sunk back down. Bream were caught on the lift as well as the fall of the lure.

Shallow water areas will range from half a metre to 5 metres in deep and can be in the back areas of bays or in the main channels. They can have weed, sand, mud, broken shells or a combination of a couple or all. They can also be rocky outcrops, rock bars and mussel or cockle beds. The size of the blade or jig head will depend on the current. For example if the current is running quite fast you may use a heavy jig head like a 1/6 oz or if it is fairly slow you may come down to a 1/20 or 1/16oz jig head. You may even use a deep or shallow diving hard bodied lures and don’t forget to try those surface lures as well.

Suggested rod and reel selection.

I have found that the best rod and reel combination for this has been my Pflueger Trion 2.1 metre/ 2 to 4 kilo rod, mounted with a Pflueger Supreme XT2500S reel spooled with Berkley 3lb Fireline Crystal and a 4lb Trilene Fluorocarbon leader. The reason behind this is that, not only has the rod got plenty of power in the bottom section of the rod, there is still enough sensitivity in the rod tip to feel even the slightest of touches. This flexibility in the rod tip will also give the angler a bit of a cushion when the fish lunges in the other direction while trying to get away.

Types of knots used to join superlines (e.g. braid) to your leaders, jig heads and blades.

This is where I keep it very simple and use only two different knots. The Uni and Double Uni knot. The Uni Knot is used to tie on the jig head or blade and the Double Uni Knot is use where I join the Fireline Crystal to the leader. What I also make sure is that when I am going to cast that the knot between the mainline and the leader is located somewhere between the bail arm of the reel and the first guide (stripper guide) on the rod. The jig head or blade will be hanging about 30 to 40cm down from the tip of the rod.

Types of leader material.

95% of the time I will only use Fluorocarbon for my leaders, the other 5% of the time I will use a floating line when using surface poppers and lures. The breaking strain size will depend on whether I am fishing over sandy or mud bottoms, muscle or cockle beds, oyster racks or oystered covered rocks or whether the fish are a bit shy when taking the lure.

I was told that there was close to 200 people at the talk and at the end of the night there were a number of lucky door prizes drawn. The major prize on the night went to Vince Joyce (a local angler) who won a day on the water with me in my new boat learning how to put all the techniques that were discussed on the night into practice.

Late in September I took Vince onto Sydney Harbour out to put theory into practice. We managed to pull in a number of small snapper, bream and the odd trevally. Places that we fished were the deep water off Spectacle Island, where Vince hooked up to a good size kingfish on bream gear. Even though Vince showed a lot of skill in playing the kingie on bream gear when the leader material parted company after the kingie found some bottom structure in about eight metres of water.

We also fished under a number of boats and beside marker poles in the Lane Cove River. We also spent some time fishing the flats and boats of Hen and Chicken Bay.

The techniques I took Vince through were deep water jigging with blades and soft plastics, casting at moored boats and fishing the flats. Vince also won a pair of Monsoon Photochromic Polarized glasses from UglyFish sunglasses, which he has already put to good use when chasing fish out of his Hobbie Kayak.

Fergo’s Tackle World put on a number of these information nights over the year, so if you would like to subscribe to their news letter I would suggest that you go to their web site at www.tackleworld.com.au and find their store at the store locator drop down box. Once you open their home page you too can subscribe to their newsletter.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF SOME VERY IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE FISHERIES RULES THAT CAME IN ON THE 1/09/2010.

Edition 76 September 2010

Minor changes to recreational fishing rules in NSW: Fisheries Management (General) Regulation 2010

The Fisheries Management (General) Regulation 2002 has been reviewed as it was due for repeal on 1 September 2010 pursuant to the provisions of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989. The new Fisheries Management (General) Regulation 2010 is now in place under the Fisheries Management Act 1994 to replace the 2002 Regulation.
As a result there are some changes to recreational fishing rules in NSW from 1 September 2010, which are detailed below:

1. Changes to gear marking requirements and setting of recreational traps and nets:

Lobster traps, crab traps, hoop or lift nets and spanner crab nets
• All floats/ buoys must be labelled with name and address of the person who either sets, uses or lifts the fishing gear,
• floats/ buoys must measure not less than 100mm in all dimensions,
• the minimum height of the float/ buoy must be at least 50mm above the water,
• all letters to be a minimum of 15mm and in a colour contrasting to the buoy,
• the name of the gear (or an abbreviation) to be marked on float/ buoy. ‘CT’ = crab trap, ‘LT’ = lobster trap, ‘HN’ = hoop or lift net, ‘SN’ = spanner crab net.
• All lobster traps and crab traps must have a 50gm weight attached to the buoy at least 1m below the surface so that no rope is floating on the surface of the water.
• Hoop nets or lift nets and spanner crab nets must not have any rope floating on the surface of the water.

Bait traps, yabby traps and shrimp traps

• a tag must be attached to a part of the trap which is at or above water level with dimensions not less than 80mm x 45mm, with the
• name and address of the person who either sets, uses or lifts the trap,
• all letters to be a minimum of 15mm and in a colour contrasting to the tag, and
• the name of the gear (or an abbreviation) e.g. ‘ST’ = shrimp trap, ‘BT’ = bait trap.

Note: If a stake is used to mark the position of a yabby trap, the stake must be identified with a tag, in the manner described above. If a buoy is used to mark the position of the trap, the buoy must be marked in the manner described above (no weight on rope required).

2. Change to bag limit for Cobia
The bag limit for Cobia (Rachycentron canadum) has been reduced from 20 to 5.

3. Removal of minimum legal length for Sole
The minimum length for sole has been removed. Note: the minimum legal length for flounders remains at 25cm and a combined bag limit for flounder and sole remains at 20.

4. Removal of maximum size of landing net
Recognising the common use and the importance of large, fine mesh landing nets for catch and release fishing, the maximum size of the frame of a landing net has been removed from the regulations.

5. Reduction of the infringement notice amount from $200 to $75 for the offence of fishers not having their recreational fishing licence receipt in their possession when fishing

Recreational fishers are required to pay the recreational fishing fee (or licence as it is commonly known) before they go fishing (unless otherwise exempt). Fishers required to pay the fee must have the official receipt for the payment of the fishing fee in his or her immediate possession when fishing from any waters otherwise they are guilty of an offence under section 34J(2) of the Fisheries Management Act 1994.

The infringement notice amount for this offence has been reduced from $200 to $75. However, fishers must have their licence receipt in their possession for immediate production when fishing. If approached by a fisheries officer, only in exceptional circumstances will provision be provided for fishers to produce their licence receipt at a later date.

The above changes will come into effect on 1 September 2010. All current NSW recreational fishing rules are available at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF SOME VERY IMPORTANT CHANGES TO THE SPEED LIMIT IN THE DARLING HARBOUR AREA THAT WILL APPLY FROM THE 11/10/2010.

A new 4 knot speed limit, reduced from 8 knots, will apply to all vessels entering Darling Harbour from the north cardinal mark, Darling Harbour Island, on the western shoreline across to the southern end of the overseas passenger terminal on the eastern side of the shoreline.

Local Fishing report

Fergo’s Tackle World at Taren Point

Congratulations to Ian Phillips our hard working staff member from the Wollongong store who, fresh after claiming first prize in the recent St George Basin Flathead Classic on a 3” Riptide Mullet, has also just won the NSW division of the Pirtek Fishing Challenge on exactly the same lure.

The Pirtek challenge is open to every angler in Australia and boasts a first prize of $4000 so to take this out is an amazing achievement by Ian.

The 3” Riptide Mullet is perfectly matched to a Berkley 3/8 oz Pogy Head because it fits neatly inside its cupped face which in turn helps it stay on and presents it perfectly.

Ian’s one of those rare fishermen that doesn’t mind sharing his knowledge ... so come in and ask him for some tips.

Fishing reports...

• Plenty of Marlin have been seen and caught recently with both Blues and Stripes making a showing and Jo Yee Apollo’s have accounted for more than one of them.
• Good numbers of Kings in close and off the rocks. There will be a few guys throwing the new Sebile stick baits and poppers at them no doubt.
• There have been Northern Bluefin Tuna in close up to 20kg.
• Jewfish up to 15kg being taken on plastics off the rocks and beaches.
• Large number of Bream, Tarwhine, Reds and Flatheads down at St Georges Basin on Gulp 2” Prawns, 3” Riptide Mullets and Blades.
• Bream, Flathead and Jewfish on Squidgy Pro Fish in grasshopper colour in the Shoalhaven.
• Blue Swimmer Crabs are still being caught in large numbers at Lake Illawarra and the Port Hacking.
• Small Jew, Flathead, Trevally, Bream, Whiting and small Snapper are still prevalent in both Botany Bay and the Port Hacking. With water temperatures being persistently warm, it looks like being a really long season this year.
• Fly fisherman have been catching Brown Trout up to 3kg on Black Nymph and Globugs in Eucumbene River as are drift spin Fishermen.

LATEST REPORTS FROM AFAR.

Paul Lennon from the Got One Store at Port Stephens portstephens@gotone.com.au reports the following:

NSW 01 October 2010

Paul the dreaded fishmaster is still in Kadavu Fuji until late today …. but he is back tomorrow! (grin) …. The swells down for the weekend, little cloudy & some wind, check out seabreeze.com.au.

OUTSIDE
Alistair from the Vanessa S reports quite a few 30kg Big Eye’s outwide this week, mixed in with them were plenty of thumper 50kg plus Yellowfin. The water temp has been around 21.5 with plenty of rat Yellowfin around 30-40kgs along the shelf. The last moon also raised a few Swordfish around 50-70kgs and a Striped Marlin was also taken during the week. There are still mega Bonito out the front of Fingal Is, Got One staff member James Moss with his brother Andrew having a competition - the winner being the person who could cast and NOT catch a bonito! There are plenty of Sand Flathead in the 30 to 40mtr range north of Broughton, Squire are about around the Islands out front with some nice lure caught Snapper coming from Edith Breakers.

BEACH.
With the warmer weather during the week Whiting around doing well at One Mile, Samurai and Shoal Bay along with some nice bonus Bream & Flathead. Live worms are the go for Whiting off the beach, use a size 4 chemically sharpened long shank hook for better results. The best being the rising tides either dawn or sunset. Salmon are thick from Stockton to Fingal along with a few better Tailor. Stockton this week has raised a couple of better Jew on live beach worms

ROCKS
Kingfish have been doing damage at Sunny Corner and we have had numerous reports all along the coast up the Fingal. Most anglers have been targeting these fellas with live Squid, Slimey’s, or Yakka’s under a breakaway float, however there have been lots of lost fish taking metal spinners chucked at Bonito, Tailor or Salmon. Blackfish are still prevalent along the Southern Rocks particularly Barry Park and Boat Harbour. Fisho’s targeting Drummer have been doing well off Tomaree and there are some nice Squid in the shallows at Fingal and off the rocks at Fisho’s.

ESTUARY
There were a couple of Jewfish taken off Nelson Bay Rockwall during the week, showing the results of some dedicated night time sorties. Live squid is the go, fished into the night round the rising or change of tides. The blackfish guys are also still doing well there and you get the benefit of being able to fish either side of the wall if the wind is up. Flathead are still about within the Bay, the water temp up at 19.5 when I fished it during the week. Best areas would be west of Garden Is towards Karuah, along the banks of the Myall & Tilligerry Creek. If you’re after Bream with the water temp up be sure to give the surface a go around the racks within the Bay.

BECOME A GOT ONE PORT STEPHENS MEMBER!
Enjoy the latest updates, tackle information, new products, special offers & savings, as well as this Fishing Report delivered to your email box every Friday! Just become a Got One Port Stephens member.
Tight Lines

Paul Lennon
GOT ONE PORT STEPHENS Shop 5, 270 Sandy Point Rd, SALAMANDER BAY NSW 2317 Ph: (02) 4984 4458 Fax: (02) 4984 4472 EMAIL:

Paul Martin from Rock Marine Bait and Tackle (rocksmarine@tsn.cc) reports that last week our Bar has been a little angry through the week with some blue water fisho’s preferring to stay in the river rather than take on the white water. Those that ventured out were rewarded with some nice Snapper off the northern reefs as far up past Scotts with the odd Pearl Perch in the bag. There were a few reports of good Snapper in about 50meters off Grassy with a few Morwong and Trag. King Fish are in good numbers around Fish Rock taking live bait and Knife Jigs with some absolute crackers. Mac Tuna and Bonito are plentiful.

The river is fishing well for bruiser Bream along the Break Wall using light gear with Pilchard cubes going well, you will lose some gear but it’s worth it. One nice Jewfish was caught off the wall last week going about 15 kilo, the big ones are few and far between but schoolies are in good numbers. Blackfish are scarce with the odd one being caught from back creek and the river. Big Flathead are about in the flats luckily I have seen the photos instead of the frames. Clybucca and Stuarts Point have some nice pan size lizards with a few Bream off the oyster racks. Chopper Tailor are in the river biting the tails off your plastics. Herring are everywhere at the moment.
The Rock Ledges have had some big swells coming in making it a little dangerous. Tailor and monster Salmon have been common with a few Sharks in close. Whiting have come on to Smoky Beach with the odd Bream and Tailor. Main beach has Whiting and Bream taking live worms with the odd Flathead off the beach.

LAST FISHING CLASS FOR 2010.

WINDYBANKS BAIT AND TACKLE

My next fishing class will commence on Wednesday the Ist of December 2010. It will start at 6.30pm and will run for 3 consecutive Wednesday nights. The cost of $95.00 includes a fish barbeque and the class. To book in and pay you will need to either ring the shop or pay them a visit.

Windybanks Bait and Tackle

523 Pacific Hwy Mt Colah NSW 2079
Ph (02) 9477 1501 Contact Annette and John.

Over the years I have had an enormous amount of support from my sponsors. They have stuck by me and supported me in many different ways. So when you get a chance, go and visit their web sites and have a look at what they have on offer. It is not all about fishing and boating gear, it’s also about how to articles, suggested techniques to try out, competitions, what’s new, plus much more.

SPONSERS WEB PAGES

PURE FISHING (Pflueger / Shakespeare) - www.purefishing.com.au

The Pure Fishing Australia Web Site has plenty on offer for the keen angler and I would suggest that you go to www.purefishing.com.au and have a look at what the Pure Fishing Team has put together.

There are product reviews on the latest rods, reels, lines, soft plastics, hard bodied lures, squid jigs, terminal tackle, accessories and clothing they have in Shakespeare, Ugly Stik, Pflueger, Berkley, Gulp, Egi, Fireline, Abu Garcia and Nitro. The web site also features a product catalogue for 2010, but you should also be on the lookout for the new 2011 product catalogue (soon to be released).

If you go to the Berkley Proteam Blog (located at the bottom of the home page) you will find new product reports, reviews, reader’s stories and much more. Then you could try clicking on the “The Armchair Angler” you will see a new segment called the Panel. This segment is open to all anglers on the Pure Fishing pro team. The Panel gives all fisho’s an insight into techniques these experienced anglers use to catch more fish. A great read for both tournament and social fisho’s alike, there is sure to be a few nuggets of fishing info that will improve your winter bream fishing.

Some of the Pro Anglers are Andrew McGovern, Brad Hodges, Neil Schultz, Mark Mangold, Stephen Wilson, Me and many more.

You can also view video clips on Pure Fishing TV (PFTV) on how to rig up a whole pilchard onto a set of ganged hooks, strip baits, whole and peeled prawns, squid and worms. There are also plenty of other clips, for example, how to use blades, squid jigging and bream on soft plastics and surface poppers.

If you are interested in getting a newsletter to also keep you up to date on what’s happening on www.purefishing.com.au all you need to do is subscribe to their newsletter and they will keep you up to date.

Australian Fishing Network AFN (Publisher) – www.afn.com.au

For over 20 years the AFN has been the publisher of the premier fishing magazines in Australia. In their continuing efforts to bring the best fishing magazines, books, maps, DVD’s and other exciting products to the anglers of Australia and around the world. The Australian Fishing Network has added to its range some exciting new products. With more magazines a year there is always something new to offer every angler. Take some time to browse the www.afn.com.au site and help them to plan your next fishing trip.

AFN have an online book shop where you can purchase one of my books, DVD’S AND map that I have produced for AFN over the years. Or you can send them an email to find out which tackle shop that sells their produces that is closest to you.

BLA (Hummingbird & Minn Kota) - www.bla.com.au

On this web site you will find links to their catalogue, products and dealers. You could also go to the www.hummingbird.com.au web site and have a look at the Humming Bird788 C2X Combo GPS Fishing system that I am running on the side console of my boat and the Humming Bird Fishfinder 345C that I am using up the front of my boat in conjunction with the Minn Kota Auto Pilot Riptide 70lb Saltwater Bow Mount, complete with foot control.

Good Times Marine - www.goodtimesmarine.com.au

Good Times Marine is a boat dealership specialising in new and used trailerable boats and are situated in the aquatic playground of the Sutherland Shire the dealership for Anglapro boats. There boats are powered by Suzuki Marine outboards and supplied on Dunbier trailers.
They are also an authorized Suzuki Marine dealer. Our outboard mechanics are experienced in servicing all brands of outboards and they offer valet servicing to our customers unable to deliver the boats to our premises.

They offer a range of marine electronics from small compact sounders to large dual frequency colour sounder / GPS combos. They also offer marine radios and stereos as well as a full selection of safety gear to keep your boat as up to date with the current safety requirements on the water. On display is a great range of on water toys like tubes and tow ropes and also other general boat and trailer chandlery. They also supply a full range or engine oils and lubricants to keep your boat running at its best.

(Anglapro boats) – www.anglapro.com.au

At Anglapro we started our design process by contemplating you! What seats would you prefer to sit in, how would you like your dash laid out, what fishabilty needs do you have? From there we got started on building a good hull. So in short we built the boats backwards starting from the driver seat and finishing with the hull. So the result is love at first sight with the layout, then you get in and head for the horizon and its all smiles because the boats just perform in all conditions!
We keep our hulls simple by design, no catchy names for the hull to make the boat sound tricky. We know a hull must achieve 4 main results.
1. Plane easily with minimal hole shot effort
2. Corner comfortably
3. Offer stability at rest
4. Be comfortable underway though choppy seas

Uglyfish eyewear (Sunglasses) – www.uglyfisheyewear.com

Ugly Fish has a huge variety of specialised and general use glasses and related eyewear products. They have an extensive set of polarized sports sunglasses that is perfect for driving, fishing, boating and all other outdoor activities and spots where wrap around sports eyewear is the best choice in the sun. This range includes their collection of highly advanced bi focal polarized sunglasses, which by the way I cannot be without when out in the sun.

E J Todd (Luckycraft lures) www.ejtodd.com.au

At E. J. Todd & Son Imports they work hard to bring quality fishing equipment to the Australian Sports trade one of which is the highly prized lures from Lucky Craft. If you go to the web site and click on the logo of Lucky Craft you will be amazed at the number of lures they have in their stable. Some of which are the Sammy 65, the Pointer 65, Humpback minnows, the Bevy Shad and the Bevy Minnow. All of which show their great colour range in each lure.

Professional Fishing Instructors & guides association – (Member) www.fishingguides.org.au

Fishing salt water or fresh water, fly casting, lure casting or fishing with natural bait, whatever style of fishing you like, a professional fishing guide will save you time and money in reaching your goals.
This web site will help you find an approved, accredited fishing guide or instructor that is of only the highest standard. PFIGA accredited members must adhere to current Codes of Conduct and be able to demonstrate business best practice, eco-friendly/sustainable fishing practices, adherence to OHS Acts/Standards/Regulations, customer service and expertise/ability amongst other, essential and desirable qualities.

Love fishing - (Monthly articles) www.lovefishing.com.au

The Love Fishing web site has so much on offer for the recreational from the beginner to the advanced angler. So much so that it is so hard to mention all of what is available on the site you should go to www.lovefishing.com.au yourself and see what they have to offer.
Some of the things you will find are Most Popular Stories, Weather updates, Kids Corner, latest photos, AFTA Retailer, member login, just to name a few.
I have now started putting together a monthly article for the Love Fishing Web site and for the next six months they will be as follows. So when you get a chance check them out:

July 2010
Techniques for Four fish species for the four seasons of the year. POSTED.

August 2010
Techniques on how to target dusky flathead with soft plastics. POSTED

September 2010
How, when and where to berley when bait fishing

October 2010
Whiting techniques

November 2010
Location guide to fishing the Parramatta River in Sydney

December 2010
How to fish pontoon, marinas and wharfs