A bit quiet at Iluka.............

[theoldlegend]

Arrived at Iluka just before lunch last Sunday, to be greeted with surf in the river and a howling wind.

Then some heavy rain set in, so we went and renewed some old acquaintances for the rest of the afternoon. The rain continued for the whole of Monday and Tuesday, so it was pretty hard going.

Soft plastics seemed to be out of favour, so yabbies were the bait of choice. No more than 20 minutes pumping on Monday morning at the secret spot on the south west corner of Arris Island near where the old retired shirt lifters catch their luderick and we had more than we could use.

Caught plenty of small whiting and flathead but not many keepers, and of course there were dozens of very small bream, which were a nuisance. The little buggers hit the bait at a hundred miles an hour which belies their little size. Caught heaps of herrings for livies as well, but didn't get a chance to put them to good use. The plan was to go to Browns Rocks and try our luck up there, but it didn't happen.

Thought I had a very good flattie on Tuesday morning after a very lean session, taking plenty of line off the Shimano 2500 and really stretching the little Abu rod, and lo and behold, when I got it to the boat, it was a blasted stingray. Couldn't believe it.

Didn't get to the wall or the headlands.

Rain all the way up to about the Queensland border on Wednesday on the way home.


TOL

[Horse]

There should be some good Jew floating around the rockwalls after the rain. Not much you can do when the weather is against you

[JayT]

Hi TOL,
Nice place Iluka
Mate of mine owned a house there near the bowls club and we stayed there a few times,
That browns rocks in winter although bitterly cold would be the best big bream haunt I have ever fished, funny spot hey like a mini reef in 30 odd ft and man there are some XOS bream there!
We only used herring there too and the biggest went 52cm and around the 2kg mark i reakon, although i didnt weigh it or get a pic
Anyways awesome place with a huge variety of fishing,
Did you go up near that harwood bridge? think the sounder read 90 somethig ft,
Deapest river I have ever been in!
Heres a couple pics from there, 4.5kg lizard and a rat cobia caught up the river off a feeder creek miles from the ocean?? strange! little Dolphin caught outside
Thanks for bringing back some old memories
Jay

[Freeeedom]

Shame about the weather TOL. Do you know if they've done anything about the road to the wall yet?
Cheers Freeeedom

[theoldlegend]

Hi John,

No, unfortunately the road has deteriorated from the last time, if that's possible. There's still seven months left in the current financial year, so the Council had better get it's act into gear.

It was a good opportunity to do a bit of exploring and one day we went up a branch where the Esk River would eventually empty into the Clarence and there was some pretty good looking country up there that I reckon might hold a jack or two, but we weren't set up for them, but next time maybe.


TOL

[ddobson]

A shame the weather was crap. I have been told it is a good spot down there and a must for all fisho's.Cheers

[theoldlegend]

Yeah, D dobson, plenty of undersize stuff, so you move, etc etc, but what do you do? We tried all over the place.

Caught some good whiting over at Whiting Beach, then the crappy little bream moved in, and then it's time to go to another spot .

When you've only got two days down there, it's a bit hard to try and fit everything in, but I suppose it's better than looking out the window watching the rain.


TOL

[mattooty]

And its only gotten worse this weekend. Gale force winds have blown out almost all the best sandbanks. Not comfy to fish in.
JayT, thats a solid flathead. Were you getting much bycatch? Browns has got one of the biggest patches of school jew i've ever seen at the moment. Thousands of fish around the 25cm size.

[Tangles]

TOL,
you successfully got out of the shed and played with the alveys, far more worthwhile than being up here despite the weather... whats Calypso Caravan park like, Bec and I where thinking of spending a bit of time down there?

mike

[theoldlegend]

Mike,

I'll give you what I can at the M & G next Sunday.


TOL

[Rufus]

Hey TOL,

I know how you feel. I took the family to Iluka early this month, like you, was nearly blown of the face of the earth, and when we did get a window to fish caught heaps of undersize Bream, Whiting, Flathead and Jew. We had some success with SP's especially on the weed beds and yabby banks at the entrence of the North Arm, away from the wind. We braved the beach for one session, pissed down rain and we were soaked to the skin, all we caught was Australian Salmon, about 4kg. Good dog food. Will try again early in 2009.

Cheers, Mark