A few short sessions in OZ

People: Me

Duration: A few short sessions

Tide: Not a clue

Weather: Its winter there at the moment so it was cold by their standards but still mild and sunny

Bait: prawn, mullet, pilchards

Rigs: Simple running ledgers

Results: Lots of small bream and a few other fish that I'm still trying to identify

Report:

I'm just back from the honeymoon in OZ, so as you can guess this wasn’t exactly a fishing trip but I still managed to squeeze in a few short sessions along the way. We were over in Perth last year so this year we decided to see some of the East coast, so we flew in to Sydney and spent a few days there, great city btw. Then we drove from Sydney up to Brisbane and decided to take our time and stopped off for a few days in Port Macquarie, Coffs harbour and Byron Bay on the way up. I had stuck the little travel rod in the suitcase last year and caught loads of fish that time so I figured I'd do the same this year, although I wasn’t sure if I'd actually get to do much fishing given that it was the honeymoon and all that but surprisingly I got to have a few cast and more importantly catch a few, thanks to a very understanding wife.

I hadn’t got a chance to suss out any marks to try before we flew out or even figure out what species might be about so I just followed my nose when we got there and managed to stumble on a couple of decent spots along the way. I mostly fished off breakwaters, jetties or off rocks and all the places I fished seemed to be teeming with fish, the problem was actually hooking one of the little fecker before all the bait was stripped from the hook. Quite often I could even see the fish stripping the bait with the Polaroid’s on but do you think I could hook one them, it took a little head scratching and fiddling around with hook sizes and rigs before I actually managed to hook one but it was fun all the same. The first place I tried (Port Macquarie) was actually a little frustrating because as I was struggling to hook whatever it was that was stripping the bait from my hook, some of the lads up from me were hauling some nice fish. I have no idea what they were but I wouldn’t have minded catching one. I thought that they were fishing in weedy area as there seemed to be weed on the line when the brought in the fish, I only found out afterwards that the weed was what they were using for bait. I suppose that the great thing about fishing in other countries, every time you think you know a bit about fishing, you realize that there is so much more to learn.

I wasn’t really targeting big fish as I only had a few hours so I was quite content catching plenty of little the tiddlers and generally speaking I hadn’t see anyone catching any huge fish well except for a very big Drummer caught by the guy fishing across from me on a whiting of all things off a rock mark near Coffs Harbour . It actually looked like a fantastic mark with lot of potential and talking to some of the locals, I heard it normally throws up some good fish but typically it wasn’t fishing that well the day I got to fish it and unfortunately we had to head on the next day, still managed to catch a few fish though. Although I still didn't manage catch any monsters, I caught plenty of fish and lots of different species some of which I still have no clue what they are, so if anyone can identify them it would be great.

I stocked up on a bunch of fishing mags when I was over there and have been drooling over some of the fishing, they really have some fabulous fishing over there. I think next time we might go for a little longer and head further North in their summer, I think I might also have to bring some heavier gear with me and try for some proper fish.

Some photos

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a few more

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last few photos

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well done..... nice fishing there.

Pic number 5 looks like a puffer fish. Did he blow up like a ball when you tried to touch him?

Kev

nice fishing Dave well done, love the pic's

Thanks lads, difficult fishing it may not have been but it certainly was fun. I want to go back.

Pic number 5 looks like a puffer fish. Did he blow up like a ball when you tried to touch him?

Its a Blowie alright Kev, although that one didnt puff himself up. I was plagued by the feckin things when I was over in Perth last year, thankfully they didnt seem to be as common where I was fishing this year on the East coast. I'm still not too sure what the other ones are, well apart from 7 & 8 which are little Bream. I think some of them might be the same species but I don't really know.

nice one dave. i think no. 3 might be some sort of a grouper. 7 and 8 look very similar but i think one might be a tarwhine and the other a bream. not sure which though. good selection of species

nice one dave. i think no. 3 might be some sort of a grouper. 7 and 8 look very similar but i think one might be a tarwhine and the other a bream. not sure which though. good selection of species

I thought 8 might be a Tarwhine alright, I caught a few of them last year in Perth but I wasnt sure if the head and snout were rounded enough to be a Tarwhine. I reckon 7 is a Yellowfin Bream and 2 & 6 are Yellowbanded Wirrah, I havent a clue what the others are but it was fun catching them all the same.

great pics dave!

i really like the sand flat head!!!

Super pic's just seeing this now, looks like you had a great time of it down under!

Cheers lads, its great fun doing that kind of fishing where you don't have a clue what kind of weird and wonderful fish you're going to catch next. I had a great time over there alright and tbh I wish I was back there now instead of enduring the poxy weather we've had here recently or summer as its sometimes called.

well done

Fine collection of fish there great to see what else is out there nice shots too

well done! some very interesting looking fish there!