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October 2006

We have been catching plenty of Salmon around the head lands in Sydney Harbour and Broken Bay. Most of Salmon have been caught on 4”and 6” Mojos and twitches and small poppers worked very slowly through the school. I have seen most other boats using small metals with out much success. Slugo Mojos and twitches can be hard to find some of the stores that stock them are Australian Bass Angler, Complete Angler, Angles World, and Windsor Bait and Tackle.

If you’re not sure how to rig them ask the boys in the shops to show you.
All the Guys that work in these stores are fishermen are will point you in the right direction.

October is the time of the year when saltwater fly fishing will out-fish most other methods if the pelagic are feeding on small baitfish. Why? Because you can cast a small fly that is the same size, shape and colour as the bait the fish are feeding on. You can also work a fly a lot slower than most lures or you can let the fly just sit in the middle of a feeding school .One of the most important skills of saltwater fly-fishing getting the fly to the feeding fish as fast you can. So get out on the lawn and practice your pickup, haul and shoot in one motion. If you are new to fly casting or can’t double haul spend a few dollars and get some lessons its will give the
advantage when you are working the feeding schools of pelagic fish.

The Kingfish have also started to turn up around Blue fish and the closer reefs I have been picking them on Small Trolled skirts and 9” slug tossed around the wash. I also heard of a good catch of kings in the Harbour near the channel markers.
The best way to target the kings around the markers is trolling live bait or use weighted Slugos cast close to the marker let them sink down and work them back up
With a stop and go retrieve

The bream anglers have been catching plenty bream around the Harbour around the moored Boats casting bass minnows close to the keel and letting it sink watching there line for any movement. Most of the floating pontoons are also holding fish. Flathead have been caught up around Middle Harbour on larger soft plastics around the drop offs.

Some of the locals have been catching plenty of bass and Eps fishing from the shore around the Lower Portland using sort plastics and Taylor Made Surface lure and Small poppers and fizzers in the late afternoon and evening.

Fly fishing for Estuary Perch and Bass

I like to fly fish for the estuary perch and Bass when the tides are big and running
Out hard. This is when the fish will hold in the quiet water or the eddy. The inside of a corner that has a drop off. This where the estuary perch will wait to ambush any bait that swims into these areas. Any area that you can find that has quiet water with current running past it is a good area to look for estuaries.

I use an extra fast sink fly line with a sink rate of at least 100mm per second and preferably 150mm. We use the fastest sinking line to get down to the depth where the fish are holding quickly. . It is also important to know the sink rate of your line so you can count down so your fly is at the same depth as the fish are holding.

The flies that I prefer are dark coloured clouser made out of rabbit strips these have a life like action when retrieved. The Leader is nothing fancy 8kg mono about 1.5 to 2m long with the fly tied on with a loop knot allows the fly to move more freely thus adding action when stripped.

When you find an area with fish showing on your sounder cast, count your line down to the depth the fish are holding and strip back and cast again varying your retrieve. I like short sharp strips with a pause every two or three strips and a long slow strip in the middle

Scout Boats
Scout Boats have arrived we have six different models in these great US made Sportsfishing Boats and will be at the Sydney Boat Show August 3 at the Sportsfishing Boats Australia Stand. Including four different size Sportsfisher 4.4m, 4.7m, 5.3m and 6.1m
A 5.4 m bay boat that will handle the rough water as well as shallow water only drafting(Floating in) 20cm of water and has maximum hp of 150hp and 175 Dorado for the serious fisherman that has to keep the missus happy by taking the kids skiing or cursing This bowrider comes standard with live bait, rod holders, front casting platform an under storage for ski gear or kill tank interested in these outstanding boats for more details give Dean 0408334892

April
April is my favourite months to fish both freshwater and saltwater. In the freshwater the bass and eps have started to school up for their spawn run down to the salt water.
It’s also a great for the pelagic fish around Sydney with a mixture of both summer and winter species present in the Harbour and Broken Bay .And there should be stills some Dolphin fish still around the fads and fish traps If we are lucky and the currents keep coming down from the north we may still catching them in early May so let’s hope that the warmer currents keep coming .

In March the fishing in the Harbour hotted up with Kingfish, bonito, Taylor, Amber Jacks, Frigates and odd Salmon. Last year in March I caught s Bonito, Kingfish and some Watson leaping Bonito up in Rose Bay so it will be worth checking out

Middle Harbour has been on the quite side with water temp over 25c the kings are hanging deep and have been caught on metals and weighted Slugos jig deep around the moorings .I was going through my tackle last week and spotted a zip lock boom that I had been using a few years ago to troll live baits and lures for Kings Salmon. Bonito and Taylor. I put a couple in the boat and gave them ago with great results. The boom allows me to get those live baits down to the depth of the fish without using a down rigger.

You can use them in conjunction with conventional spread of trolling lure I usually run two Trollcraft pelagic and Bass assassin twitch or a Trollcraft popper run a long way back .The zip boom allows me to run extra lure in the middle down deep .I drop it down next to the Transducer and watch it on the sounder to the depth that I want. You can change the angler that line goes down by add a heaver snapper lead which held on by a snap. The amount of drop back from the boom is also adjustable. Most good tackle shop have them and will explain how they work and how to use them or check out www.shiptontrading,com,au

I’ve using some new stick baits (like Slugos) Bass Assassin Twitch and Charms
They come all the proven kingfish and salmon colours plus some new colours that
Have been working for me are rainbow trout, shurbert and pink diamond .The twitch
Is the same size, action and similar profile as the 6’and 4.5’ slugo while the charm is 7” and a slimmer profile and a real wiggly like a baby ell.

The Bream fishing is also been fishing a little slow with some being caught around the moored boats and jetties
The best lure being bass minnows and slider grubs fished on 1/32 jig heads.
Cast these close as you can to a Boat, post, Jetty, pontoon or any other structure, let
the lure sink, watching your line for any sudden movement that might indicate a bream having a bite. Once it hits the bottom or it’s at the required depth give it a twitch with the rod tip, let it sit then work it back with a lift and fall retrieve. If you feel a bite drop the rod tips to allow fish to take the lure the lift the rod to hook up. Small diving lures have been catching their share of bream; cast the lure past the structure so the lure can get down to its maxim depth when it pass the structure give pause it for a second, give it twitch before retrieving at a slow speed. I don’t strike with the rod, I let the rod load and ease you rod back to set the hook.

The Bass in the middle sections of the river has been really good in size and numbers on most outings. Most of my bass have been taken on surface lures Taylor Made, Feralcatts
and Tiny Toad with a stinger hook have been doing the job for me

I
The bass fishing has been good above Windsor with plenty bass being caught around the weed beds and under the trees on small Tiny Toads, Taylor made, Feralcatt and fizzer surface lures. Also I have been using diving lures that float, these can be use as surface lure as well as diver. I cast them close to cover, let them sit for a few second then I give them a twitch before winding them back often the bass will strike at them when still on the surface but if the do not they will often strike on the first couple turns of the handle.
Best colours have been green and yellow and purple and darker colours for the surface.
The bass fishing around Penrith has been good with plenty fish being caught above the weir around the rail bridge and the edges of the weed beds. A lot of these fish have been falling to Jackals during the day and Taylor made surface walkers at night.

Anyone interest in learning more about Sportsfishing Sydney on lures I will be holding
on the water Fishing schools every month at the anyone interested or wish to join a shared tour can ring me on 040 8334 892

December afternoons on the creeks

December is prime time for Greg Catt and myself to drag out our Austrus Bass kayaks and head down to our local creeks or swamps for an afternoon and night fish to for Bass We head off about 3 hours before dark and fish about 3 hours after depending
How the fish are biting. I start fishing with small diving lures, (Feralcatt and Taylor made) casting them into shadows, under trees and edge weed beds. When casting a diving lure, let it sit on the water for few seconds and give it a twitch to trigger any surface strikes before working slowly back. As the sun drops I change to a Taylor Made Surface walker and or small fizzers and wait for a big swamp or creek bass to frighten the hell out of me with water frothing surface strike. I usually start by casting my surface lure close to cover or the edge of the weed or reeds and let it sit still for few seconds before working it back with a few pauses on the way. Remember not to strike until your line tightens. If you strike before you will often pull the lure away before the fish is hooked. If I do not get any strikes with a slow retrieve I will often work my surface fizzer a lot faster with more surface disturbance with two or three cast over the same area this will often draw a fish from deeper water or from cover

When you are fishing, look ahead for any movement of small bait fish, shrimp flipping and insects on the water or water bring disturbed by feeding fish. If you see insects fall in the water, take the time to watch it for a while and if there is a bass around he’ll eat it. If he does, cast your lure to the spot and get ready, as most times he will eat your lure. All good Bass fishermen are in tune with what is going on around them. It’s the little things that they pick up on means the difference between fish and no fish

Catch and Release

Most Bass anglers release their fish. This is even more important in small creeks because of the small numbers of fish that live in some creeks and don’t fish these areas too hard, as the fish will become harder to catch. Try to fish different creeks or areas and rotate these areas. This takes the pressure off the Bass

Make sure that you take a small pack with a torch, insect repellent, water, snacks and all other tackle needs and leave your mobile phone at home as my last trip mine went for a swim

Decembers is the time of the year when all our summer fish should be on the bite.
The pelagic in both Broken Bay and Sydney Harbour should be smashing into the bait schools.
Last year in December the waters of Broken Bay and Pittwater had warmed up and there was bait schools everywhere and large schools of tailor and smaller schools of salmon and kingfish are feeding on them. We have had some days that we have caught over 100 fish, most of these we released we only keep enough for a meal or two. It shouldn’t be too long before the bonito and small tuna turn up. Most of the tailor and salmon have been taken on small metals, small poppers and flies.

The kingfish where a little fussier .Most where caught on live baits, squid , yellow tail
and live garfish. Slugos cast around the marker post, moored boats and drums also accounted for a lot of kings. Amber jacks and samson fish where also caught in good numbers.
Over the last few week the first of the king fish have turned up in middle harbour with a lot being caught around the Spit on live squid also up around Sugarloaf on top with lures.
There has also been schools of salmon and tailor around the Harbour and near the heads

If you find a school fish working the top, take the time to see what direction and speed the fish are travelling. Don’t rush into the middle of the feeding school as often this will put the fish down for the day.

Most schools work into the wind, so position the boat up wind and wait for the fish to come to you. Often the boat will be surrounded by fish.

Try to give other anglers room to move and fish, if a lot of boats are on the school, look around as quite often in the distance you will see birds flying around another school working. I will often head of to the other school as to many boats around schools of fish
can make the gun shy.

It can be dangerous with all those metal lures flying through the air in all directions with a lot of angler not knowing how to cast lure in the direction that they want it to go.

If you are new to casting lures at schools fish go down to you local park or paddock and learn how to cast low, fast and straight or go out with a guide or a casting instructor and ask him to teach you how to cast maximum distance and accuracy with minimum effort.

Not only how but where to cast the lure and how to find and work the schools of fish. A day on the water with someone that knows how to work and catch fish can fast track you learning

I always spend the first 30 to 40 minutes teaching them how to cast before I go within sight of a school of fish. Casting is like hitting a golf ball. It’s not how hard cast; it’s the timing of the release. Any one interest in learning to cast or how to catch these pelagic
Give me a ring on 040 8334 892

Sport fishing Action DVD
Shannon Kitchener and I have just finished two DVDs on sports fishing. This DVD will show you how to target all the different fish that can be targeted by anglers that have small trailer boat with lures, fly and some bait.
These include Bass, Bream, Bonito, Flathead, Taylor, Australian Salmon, Dolphin fish, Trout and of course the mighty Kingfish
We fish with some of the best anglers to show you how when and why to finding and target all the different species. Scotty Lyons of Southern Sydney Sports fishing shows uses how he targets Trevally and flathead In Botany Bay. Jeff Brown of Riverlands Fly and Sportsfishing Fly fish for brown trout in the central tablelands. Kim and Steve Bain
Spend a day with me hooking into aussie salmon with soft plastic and lures.
I show you with help of a couple of fat buddies and some not so fat buddies to fish for all the other species showing all know how that has help us to catch these fish so keep you eye out local tackle shops Late October for Sportsfishing Action

November

Flyfishing for estuary perch and bass

I just come of the water after a successful day with a client. About three week ago I had a call from a young guy that had watch our DVD Tidal Water Action on bass and estuary perch and wanted to learn how to target
Eps and bass on fly as he had just picked up a new fly outfit from the Complete Angler in the city and is heading down to the south coast the home of the big eps. After his phone call I picked the best times and tide to target these fish on fly.

I like to fly fish for the estuary perch when the tides are big and running
Out hard. This is when the fish will hold in the quiet water or the eddy. The inside of a corner that has a drop off. This where the estuary perch will wait to ambush any bait that swims into these areas. Any area that you can find that has quiet water with current running past it is a good area to look for estuaries.

The best way to get your fly in front of them is with an extra fast sink fly line with a sink rate of at least 100mm per second and preferably 150mm. We use the fastest sinking line to get down to the to the depth where the fish are holding quickly. . It is also important to know the sink rate of your line so you can count down so your fly is at the same depth as the fish are holding.

It is very important to have a good fish finder sounder to find the fish and at what depth they are holding. We find the Humminbird 37 Matrix work the best for me as they give wide bottom coverage.

The flies that I prefer are dark coloured clouser made out of rabbit strips these have a life like action when retrieved. The Leader is nothing fancy 8kg mono about 1.5 to 2m long with the fly tied on with a loop knot allows the fly to move more freely thus adding action when stripped. When you find an area with fish showing on your sounder cast, count your line down to the depth the fish are holding and strip back and cast again varying your retrieve. I like short sharp strips with a pause every two or three strips and a long slow strip in the middle. It is easier if you have two or three people fishing as you cover the area better and can use different flies and retrieves. When a estuary does hit strike by pulling your line and not lifting your rod until you feel the wait of the fish.

When fishing for bass on surface flies I like to fish the rising tide early morning and late afternoons. I have found that the bass will be looking up on the rising tide for any small crabs or insects that inhabit the tidal zone between high and low. This does not mean that only fish the rising tide I have had plenty of great days on surface fly on a falling tide.
I use weight forward floating lines with a leader 8kg, 2m long and tie a small
Popper or The small fizzer flies that Eddy Studman Koolabung lures makes.
Cast your fly a close to the shore line, weed beds or in and under any over hang or snags. When the fly lands on the water let it sit for a second or three
before retrieving and bass will often strike just after the lands or the first few strips.

Fly-fishing can be the most deadly way to catch estuary perch and bass if you know how, where and when to target them.

Well the first of the bonito turned up of South Head the water temp was just over 19C. We where trolling in between the Gap and south head with 100mm
Troll craft lure when we had a double hook up on bonito around the 2 kg.
After unhooking the fish I circled back and had another hook up on bonito.

Later in the day when the tide picked up the bonito where working between the head we caught serval more casting small metal lures retrieve them at high speed.

The salmon have been Schooling of the heads and have been taking small metal lures, slugos and flies these fish are all around the 3 kg.
On those days that they have not been working the top I have been catching them trolling lures close in to the rocks near the wash on small lures and soft plastic. Another way to target the salmon is to find them on the sounder and drop metal jigs and weight plastics down and work them back up through
the school. Often we will hook up on other fish like kings ,bonito and trevs
it can be some of the most exciting way to catch these Aussie battlers

July

Fishing in and around Sydney has been pretty good catch of both summer and winter species being caught in the Harbour and Pittwater. Kingfish and Salmon both being in good numbers and there are still some bonito out the front and even the odd Mac Tuna turning up.
Most of the kingfish have been caught on fresh squid and small live yellow tails around the markers and up around the Spit. Kingfish are also being caught slow trolling live Yellow tail around the heads.Big salmon are also falling to these trolled live baits.

This is when a good downrigger comes into play. I use a Scotty downrigger this allows me to get my baits or lure down to the depth that the fish are hanging. Another advantage is when the fish takes the bait or lure the line is released by the clip and you do not have all that weight that you normally use to when trolling live baits which take the fight out of the fish.

When using a downrigger in an area for the first time it pays to troll the area first without the downrigger and note the minimum depth and the depth any fish are at. It is also advantage to have GPS plotter and sounder so you can travel back along the route that you surveyed. I use a Humminbird 97
After the dummy run, clip the release clip onto your leader. I like 3 to 5m, drop back from the ball, wind down the rigger to a depth above the minimum surveyed or the depth the fish are hanging make sure you preload your rod with a curve in it so when the fish strike the rod will snap back taking up the slack line and sets the hooks. Troll at minimum speed pulling the boat out of gear every now and then .When you do hook up make sure that some one winds up the ball out of the way so the fish does not wrap around the cable. The other advantage of the down rigger that it allows you to troll an extra lure that does not interfere with the other lure you are running in your normal spread.

Salmon

Most of the salmon that we have been catching lately have been full of 250mm long
Slimeys so I have been trolling some larger lures around instead of the 70mm and 90mm
I normally use. I up the size to 110 and 140 mm lures, the producer Barra Mauler range was working the best. I usually run Two Maulers on the outside on back out 35m and the other 50m with a slugos or two in the middle. Often we have had multiple hook ups with sometimes four on at once.
As the water gets colder and clearer it will also pay to use lighter leaders on or fluorocarbon leader we found out last year that our catch rate improved when fluorocarbon.

Bream

Bream have also been on the bite with some good catches bream around the Harbour and the Hawkesbury River on both soft plastic and crankbaits working .Some of the better areas in the Hawkesbury being Berowra creek, Punkin point and Spencer. Small
Lure cast close to structure have been doing the job
In the Harbour the bream have been caught under moored boats, under pontoons and wharfs with small plastic. Getting your lure under some of the wharfs is where the challenge is, the bow and arrow cast comes into its own in these areas it allows you to put lure into areas that would not be possible with any other cast.
Learn to do this cast at home before you get out on the water and if using a graphite rod make sure that you don’t bend the rod over its design limit. Also be careful not to get hooked when you release grab the back of the hook. Once you get under let it sink before working out slowly by lifting and dropping the rod tip make sure that drag in set as tight as you dare so when you hook up with a good bream you can drag him out.

The Bass have been a little hard to find over the last month but some good fish have been
caught around tidal areas of the river. Greg Catt caught some bass up to 44cm around Dad’s Corner. The Estuary perch are schooled up to most of the brackish areas of the river and are ready for there run down to the salt. They should start to turn up in good numbers around the lower reaches of the Hawkesbury this month some of the better area’s should be Bare Point, Danger Island, Juno Point and up round Bobbin Head

The guys from Windsor bait and Tackle also had a great day around Wiseman Ferry
Using live prawns Catching Jewfish, Bream, Flathead, Bass, and Estuary Perch

I am also now able to offer a specialized Lure and Fly Bream Tours now I have just put 5.2m Bream and Bass boat on the water to target bream around the Harbour, Parramatta river and the Hawkesbury as well as Estuary Perch and Bass on the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury, Nepean, Colo, Mac Donald Rivers and Lake St Clair for those bigger bass and yellows
Any one interest in tangling with these fish give me a ring on 040 8334 892

April and May

Some good king fish around the markers in the harbour will take sluggers drop down deep and jigged like you fish for bream got busted up near north head some bonito around blue fish on troll lures Also picked up a Mac tuna around 5 kg.. Fished up pittwater and land and the king 84cm on a producer lure and salmon near east reef. Bass and perch in webbs creek and the mac donald few bream mixed in with them. dean

April and May is one of my favourite months to fish both freshwater and saltwater. In the freshwater the bass and eps have started to school up for their spawn run down to the salt water.
It’s also a great month for the pelagic fish around Sydney with a mixture of both summer and winter species present in the Harbour and Broken Bay. Offshore there should be the last of the Dolphin fish still around the fads and fish traps. I can remember a few years ago we were still catching them right through until early May so let’s hope that the warmer currents keep coming down from the North.

In March the fishing in the Harbour hotted up with Kingfish, bonito, Taylor, Salmon, Frigates and some unusual species that you do not normally catch in Sydney. Mick Collins caught a Cobia around 12kg in middle Harbour and couple other anglers reporting Cobs up to 90cm. I also caught some Watson leaping Bonito up in Rose Bay.
Middle Harbour has that much bait in it you can walk across them with out getting your feet wet. With plenty of Kings being caught on Squid and Salmon, Taylor and being caught on metals and slugos

The Bream fishing is also been fishing well around the moored boats and jetties
The best lure being bass minnows and Eco grubs fished on 1/32 jig heads.
Cast these close as you can to a Boat, post, Jetty, pontoon or any other structure, let
the lure sink, watching your line for any sudden movement that might indicate a bream having a bite. Once it hits the bottom or it’s at the required depth give it a twitch with the rod tip, let it sit then work it back with a lift and fall retrieve. If you feel a bite drop the rod tips to allow fish to take the lure the lift the rod to hook up. Small crankbaits are also catching their share of bream; cast the lure past the structure so the lure can get down to
The depth as it goes past the post or structure. When the lure is near the structure pause it for a second, give it twitch before retrieving at a slow speed. Remember not to strike the fish with the rod, let the rod load and ease you rod back to set the hook.

The Bass and Eps in the middle sections of the river has been pretty average with only a few fish caught on most outings. The main reason is the water is like mud and smells
I do not know how the poor old bass can live in this crap. Most the dirty water comes down the sewer outlet we call South Creek and I am afraid that Cattai Creek is going the same way with all the houses and industry being built in its catchment. As soon as we
Get a good down fall the water turns to mud.
On the brighter side the bass fishing has been good above Windsor with plenty bass being
Caught around the weed beds and under the trees on small Taylor made and Feralcatt
diving and surface lures these lures set the standard. Best colours have been green and yellow and purple in the divers and darker colours for the surface. Both these diving lures
float so when you cast them let them sit for a few second then give them a twitch before winding them back often the bass will strike at them when still on the surface.

The bass fishing around Penrith has been good with plenty fish being caught above the weir around the rail bridge and the edges of the weed beds. A lot of these fish have been falling to Jackals during the day and Taylor made surface walkers at night.

Anyone interest in learning more about Sportsfishing Sydney on lures I will be holding
Fishing schools every 2nd Tuesday of the month at the Australian Bass Angler Penrith
followed by a day on the water to put what you learned into practice anyone interested
can ring me on 040 8334 892 or the Bass Angler on 02 47210455

March 2005 Report
March is when the bass and perch are starting to school up for their run down to the saltwater to breed. It’s also a great time of the year to target these fish as they will take most lures that you throw at them. Most people believe that all the bass and perch move down stream at the same time. I think that bass move down in different schools any time from mid March / April through to late October to early November. I have caught fish that have spent their eggs as early as June and fish still in row as late as November.

We start to target the bass and perch in the deeper water this time of the year with soft plastics and deep water fly. It’s not uncommon to catch and release 20 to 30 fish a day when you find these fish schooled up

This is where a good sounder and knowing how to read it really pays off. I find my Matrix37 works the best for me. Because it has a 90 transducer allows me to cover area quickly and pin point the fish and at what depth they are and move on to the next if there are none in that area.

The areas that we find these fish are in the back water and eddy near a drop off after a corner or near a structure that is out of the flow, in water up to 15 metres deep. I find most hang around the 3m to 7m range. Sometimes the best of these fish will hang out in the running water as the tide slows.

Bass and Estuary Perch can be caught in the same areas but I have found that Bass tend to sit tighter into cover while perch will be wider or a little down stream from a snag or corner. The EP will often hold school up in large numbers so if you have a good showing of fish on you sounder give area a good working over.
I will start by casting a soft plastic usually a 3” slider Bass grub I bit off 10mm off the front and put it on a 1/4 to 3/8 stand up jig head. I let the jig hit bottom and work it back with a lift and fall retrieve often the only interaction of a fish is a bump drop your rod tip give it a twitch the perch will often in hale the bait and your line will come up tight with a fat EP on the end.

Tackle
We used light spin and bait caster outfits in 1kg to 3kg Range .Over the last couple of years we have been mainly using longer spinning rods to cast light lures and soft plastics.

Most of the bait casters were too short and stiff to cast andor feel the plastic working. Over the last three months I have been trying the new Strudwick Hardbaits Elite with REC guides 6’0 baitcaster on soft plastic and small crankbaits. This is one bait caster that casts and works small crankbaits and plastics really well. It casts small bream hard body lures as well as most spins tackle. And there is nothing like using a baitcaster, especially when you hook up with a monster Bream, Bass or E.P.
I use 8 to 15lb yellow Super braid on bait casters and 6lb yellow Fireline on my spin reel for Bass and Estuary Perch. I use 2500 Shimano Stradics and Chronarch SF
Saltwater Fly

March is also a great month for Pelagics with schools of Kingfish, Bonito, Salmon and Taylor around and a good way of targeting these fish is with a fly rod
Saltwater fly fishing can out fish most other methods when these fish are on small baitfish. Why? Because you can cast a small fly that is the same size, shape and colour as the bait the fish are feeding on. You can also work a fly a lot slower than most lures or you can let the fly just sit in the middle of a feeding school of fish.

The best way to work a school of feeding fish is to position your boat in front of the fish and let them come to you. Most schools work into the wind. Always cast your fly ahead of them.

It is also important to be able to cast your line maximum distance with minimum false Cast. This is the most important part of saltwater fly-fishing getting the fly to the feeding fish as fast you can. So get out on the lawn and practice your pickup, haul and shoot in one motion. If you are new to fly casting or can’t double haul spend a few dollars and get some lessons its will give the advantage when you are working the feeding schools

I usually start my retrieve with a double hand strip. This works well when the fish are active. If this does not work try a long slow strip or fast short strips with pause. Every now and then you will find the fish will hit you on the pause.

If the fish go down, don’t rush off as often as the fish will pop up after a short while, sometimes they will work a pattern. If the fish go down and don’t pop up or you can’t find them on top use your sounder to locate the fish use a fast sinking line to get down to them.

Most 8wt fly outfits will do the job on Taylor, Salmon, bonito and small kings. You might need to carry a 9wt or 10 wt if some big kings turn up or if you are using shooting heads to get down deep.

I use a clear fast intermediate fly line usually one line size up on the rod size that I use. I have just put a new 9wt Airflo 40 plus shooting head on my Strudwick DBT 9wt and have found this line the best I have used.

January/ February - Bass in the Upper Hawkesbury Report
The upper Hawkesbury in Late January/ Early February is one of the best times to fish for bass on surface lures.
Bass will sit under the overhanging structure waiting for any insect or small creature to fall into the water. If you are ever near a creek on a hot summer night that has overhanging willow trees and bass in it and there is plenty of insect life you will often hear the surface hit from the bass as they feed.

When I first started guiding on the Hawkesbury in 1997 I would often take clients on afternoon and evening tours above Windsor to North Richmond. These days most of my guiding is saltwater Sportsfishing. The area above Windsor is probably the best surface lure fishing area that has easy access on the Hawkesbury.
I use to get a real kick out of first time bass fishermen getting their surface lure smashed only a metre away from the boat. They would often have to sit down for a minute so get over the shock.

I remember a day I had a client out and the fishing was a quiet. We had fished for hours without a hit and as darkness fell he was retrieving his lure and started complaining that there were no bass in the river and implied I was not much of a guide and he wanted to head back. Just as he was about lift his lure out of the water he was smashed by 45cm bass throwing water all over him and headed for cover. I could not help myself and said well what’s that bloody fish on the end of your rod. We end up catching a heap bass that night it was not until after dark that fish come on the bite.

Surface lures are best cast close to cover or any shallow area. Cast them as close to or under any overhang, let it sit for a while and give the lure a little twitch, then let sit a little longer. This is when it usually gets belted, if not wind the lure a metre or so, let it sit and repeat the process. If this does not work, vary the speed of your retrieve. Active bass often like a lot disturbance and lethargic bass will often strike if you slow down and leave it in the strike zone longer. Surface lures can be used all day if they are cast into the shadows and also work well in open water over weed and along the front edge especially after dark. My favorite surface lures are Taylor made surface walkers, East coast bass n bream fizz, and bass n fizz, Hedon tiny torpedo

Another type of lures that work well in these upper reaches is small spinner baits and beetle spins. These can be worked over shallow weed beds and dropped into any pockets in the weeds. Small shallow diving lures that can be worked over the weed beds are also very effective. Taylor made nippy shrimp and teeny nugget are deadly. These two lures are floaters so they can double as surface lures, when you cast them let them sit on top of the water and give them a couple twitches before you wind them down to depth you will be surprised how often they get hammered by surface feeding bass.

Along the front edge of weed beds small deep divers like Baby Feralcatt and Taylor Made deep Nugget cast parallel and work deep. If you put the top half of your rod in the water it will help get your lure down deeper and the opposite also works if you hold your rod tip up high you can swim your lure shallow

Lipless lures like Jackals, Eco gear and River & sea also cast them along the weed beds and let sink and they are also deadly. The advantage in these lure apart from the rattles is they can be worked a varied depth buy counting them down before you retrieving.

Fly fishing for bass is also deadly and both surface and sinking fly work well. Surface fly is the most exciting with explosive strikes. You can often cast a fly into areas that you will find difficult cast a lure into. Some of the other advantages of using a fly are: you can match the size of the insects the bass are feeding on, a more delicate presentation, when you miss a strike you can pick you fly up a drop it back on the spot with out having to retrieve all the way back, pot holing the hole in the raft of weeds and the clear areas between the inside edge of the weed beds and shore line. Some of the flies I use are
Small popper, cricket and hopper to name a few.

Sinking fly can be used in front of the weed beds. Cast parallel, let it sink to depth and retrieved at with short fast strips with a pause a second every 3 or 4 strip. I use a sinking stripper 4 with a 2mt 6 kg leader. You can also fish subsurface using floating line and weight flies across the top of weed beds. Flies I like are clouser, shrimp, bait fish patterns.

Previous fishing reports..... Dean Hayes fishing report archives 2004

FISHING REPORT FROM
DEAN HAYES, SYDNEY SPORT FISHING TOURS

.......ON SALE NOW!!........

Dean Hayes provbides Fly Fishing Charters on Broken Bay, Hawkesbury River and Sydney Harbour. For a great Sydney Fly Experience, email Dean at ozbass@hawknet.com.au, or phone him on 0408 334 892.

DEAN HAYES, SYDNEY SPORT FISHING TOURS

phone: 0408 334 892
email: ozbass@hawknet.com.au