Hello from Ballina

[HOGO80]

GDay Guys,
I came across this forum by mistake but boy am i glad i stayed and read on. There are some fantastic insights into the kind and size of fish that can be caught in the Northern Rivers region. Which leads me to my next point...

I grew up in Ballina and my family have always been avid fisherman, however of late we have begun to lose faith in the area despite hours on the water looking for 'the big one'. I think our (my brother and I) patterns of fishing are as stale and outdated as a 5-time frozen pilly and therefore i am here looking for some guidance.

We are traditionally interested in trawling the sandflats and mangroves with soft plastics on light gear, but of late have become inspired by numerous Facebook fishing pages and forum stories into targetting Jacks and Jew. As a result we have dabbled into these types of fishing, but with little knowledge, skills and gear, we have had little success.

I know fishing is all about spending time on the water and getting to find your own 'secret spots' but if you are doing completely the wrong thing, then its easy to lose faith in one of Australia's favourite past times.

Anyway, it has been fantastic to get all the information and guidance i have received so far from reading posts and am appreciative of any info and guidance i hope to receive in the future.

I look forward to chatting with all of you and when necessary, passing on some of my own knowledge!!

Cheers Hogo

P.S Here is a video i was lucky enough to take of my PB flathead. Enjoy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKOdKLTT ... MwoJ5RtI9w

[Prof]

HOGO80,

Hope you enjoy the site mate, there are some good fisho's on the site mate who are a wealth of knowledge.

Don't be afraid to ask any question you like ?

The site is for you and all fishos alike so get in and start posting some of your favourite pic's, recipes, PB's etc,.

That was a good video of your PB Flatty mate, I think I recognise the area you were fishing, have had some good fish from there.

Cheers

[Scizz]

Gday Hogo

Welcome to NCF

M8 gr8 bunch of blokes with a wealth of local knowledge.

I've said it before and I'll say it again,the best little forum on the net bar none

[pink nipper]

Hogo,

Nice video, there are metre plus crocs that get around those parts,
catching them isn't the hardest part, landing them is
Don't be afraid to try blades and harbodies for the big girls as well
if the plastics aren't working on the day ... if you haven't already
September is my favourite month for big lizards on lures.

The Jack and Jewie brigade around Ballina can be tight lipped especially
with their Jack locations. The method I used in Cairns was to float livies
into snags or along rock walls in low light conditions or at night. A lot
of the Ballina fishermen seem to have success on lures during the day...
The last Jack I landed in the Richmond was on a pink nipper...
Best time of year for a good Jack is now.

Best time for jewies is late autumn into mid winter for a bigger specimen. You will have
heard this before but go at night on the tide changes, if there is some swell all
the better. I use big home made lures but you could do a lot worse than throwing
a Halco Laser Pro 190D. I use "old fashioned" gear for them, 12" Schnieder glass blank,
5000 or 6000 series spinning reels, 30-40lb mono mainline onto 50lb flurocarben leader.
You will need a mate, a very long gaff and lots of persistance.

Hope this helps a bit, might see you around the flats sometime...

Nip.

[HOGO80]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for the welcome and thanks Nip for the advice.


One question i do have which we have struggled with in recent times is how do we catch poddy mullet? In the past we would go down near the Police station in the boat harbour with bread and little hooks with bits of prawn and that worked a treat. That doesn't work anymore, so we tried the sand flats in north creek with some method as above and homemade traps. With that method we caught 3 x 5 inch poddies in about 2 hours :0 Obviously not a good time spent to bait gain ratio!!
So any advice on locations and tide would be very much appreciated!
Thanks guys!

[pink nipper]

M8 you are doing the right thing. Try fisheries creek around
the old outfall pipe too, used to get 'em there.

If there isn't any currrent where your mullet trap is
then it's worth occaisionally tossing just a little berly
around the trap to bring 'em in - use breacumbs for the
berly and only sparingly.

Nip.

[max]

Cast net mate I have trouble catching the little suckers as well ,if I burley & fish with bread or prawns all I catch around here are tiny Bream & they sure as hell dont fancy going in one of them mullet taps so good luck

[maxi]

welcome to NCF ..

pm me on the mullet front ... but u must be prepared ....

[HOGO80]

Cast net mate I have trouble catching the little suckers as well ,if I burley & fish with bread or prawns all I catch around here are tiny Bream & they sure as hell dont fancy going in one of them mullet taps so good luck

Well I would be all up on the cast net except its illegal in NSW. I was even considering driving to the Coolongatta, getting 400 of the suckers with a cast net and bringing them back to put on my fathers fish tank with salt water....nah don't think!!!

[shep]

Welcome to the site mate. It is a small group and a great site with a lot of knowledgable guys on here.

Hope to see some fishing reports from you soon.