I've grown up fishing around Balnarring and its surrounds for the past eleven years and would just like to mention a few tips and tricks I have learnt from fishing these areas. The article is no 30 year plus knowledge but a simple guide from what has worked for me. I hope you find it useful and gives you a little of knowledge on how to fish these areas land based.
The Story
I remember my first experience with fishing was at this unknowingly place called Balnarring, it was at this place where I caught my first fish a King George Whiting, and where my fishing adventures began.
Not knowing a thing about fishing dad did everything for me, getting out his old navigator,abu garcier rod and reels as he placed them on the bench and started tying his paternoster and running sinker to the main line.
Now these rigs were nothing special often using the same main line for your leader with a small ball sinker and the classic red mustad long shank hook and a small red bead to top it off. It would always drive me crazy trying to get to sleep before a big day of fishing, and im happy to say it still does, I just couldn’t do it without thinking too hard about fishing!
The morning would finally come where we would always aim to get to the location two hours before high tide, those warm summer mornings walking along the sand. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it now as I type.
There was nothing better than seeing the sun rise up in the distance and the warm sea breeze making its way past you. The time would come when we found the right spot that consisted of reef and sand patches and then, the fishing action would begin....
There are plenty of places to explore in this area.
Beno's Gear
The gear needed for these areas does not need to be anywhere expensive it can be fairly cheap, and that’s the good thing and why anyone can do it!
The main rod is usually a 5-10 kilo 8-10 foot surf rod with a 4500-5500 size reel consisting of 15 pound platypus lo-stretch pink mono. This is all that is needed for beginners for fishing in general conditions, and these rod and reel combos can easily be picked up from Big W, K-mart, BCF etc.
As you can see the reel below is all that is needed!
You can also whip out the light rods on the glassy days such as a 2-4 kilo stick loaded with 6-10 pound mono line of your choice, you can even go with braid and flick a few soft plastics.
I have caught a few whiting while waiting for my big rods to go off in the rod holder on the gulp camo worm on 1/8th jig head.
I have to urge this quite a few times but a big cast is not needed to catch whiting! I have seen them within a meter in front of me and a huge cast is really quite unnecessary unless you want to have possibilities of by catches, but then again all these species can be brought in close in the aid of berley.
Benos Rigs
The Paternoster Rig: The main rig I use for Balnarring is the paternoster rig with size 2 - 6 long shank hooks preferably size 4. The leader for the paternoster is 20 pound rovex leader with a tear drop sinker and two red beads are also an added option which I find improve results. Using two droppers can also increase your chances of hooking two fish and also keeps the bait at two different depths increasing a more likeliness of a catch. Other captures I have caught on this rig include rock flathead, trevally and mullet to name a few.
This rig is also very good for leatherjackets as you often know when they are there resulting from the top bait missing or worse a hook. (these guys are nasty and have very sharp teeth that will make play dough of your leader and bait). A tip is to be constantly aware of your rods, usually a bite followed by a snag is the result of not striking fast enough when leatherjackets are about. Although sometimes not even an expert strike will suffice. I have noticed they seem to pick at your bait and then do a sharp run pulling the rig under the reef/rocks. I have seen them do this when snorkeling. The size of the leatherjackets that you can get at Balnarring are some real thumpers and I am confident in saying this is leatherjacket capital.
(I would like to mention when I fish around Balnarring using a paternoster rig I sometimes attach a rubber band to the end of the pre-made rigs when I hit a spot where I get constantly hit with weed and reef. It will simply break loose with a hard tug if your sinker hits a snag.)
The Running Sinker Rig: The running sinker is another very easy rig to do and is very common for people new to fishing. Simply add a size 2-4 ball sinker depending on the conditions and gear with leader from 8-20 pound and a size 6-4 long shank hook with added red beads. Even a black magic KL 1/0 circle hook is worth trying as most know these are the hooks meant for whiting! These circle hooks are a gun on whiting when leaving the rod in the holder with a steady drag.
Although it’s sometimes hard to do when the bait pickers such as toadies, Ljs and other reef dwellers are around devouring your bait before a whiting or something better even has a chance. This rig is not only good for whiting but also great for big flatties, and so it should be having the bait right on the bottom where the flatties congregate. The bait for this rig is often squid, pipi or mullet fillet.
The circle hook is dynamite on whiting, always add red beads! They do produce!
Find the reef and you will find the fish!
The float method: of fishing is also another fun option for fishing the calmer days of Balnarring. You can often see the schools of mullet jumping in the distance of your berley trail and that’s when you are tempted to target them. A Pencil float is the best option for these fish as this type of float moves very easily indicating the small bite of a mullet, a lot better than the common ball float. This rig is basically the same as gars, just the three split shot sinkers and one or two size 12 long shank hooks. I also find sometimes reeling in the float acts as an attractant and the mullet strike as the bait travels through the water. Great results of mullet can be caught very easily which you can then put out as a fresh bait for bigger things such as big gummies or rock flathead. I have only really tried for gummies a few times and haven't had a huge success yet, although I have always just been more interested and happy in targeting the bread and butter species of the area.
A great feed from early February.
The Baits
Squid: The squid is usually cut into round rings like how you would prepare your calamari rings for the pan. They can also be cut into strips which works exceptionally well presenting a worm like bait. This would usually be just threaded on once or twice onto the long shank hook or pinned through once on a circle.
Pipi: The pipi is sometimes an annoying bait when putting on the hook but it can be worthwhile when the squid isn’t working. There is something that whiting just love about soft baits. (That’s why it’s always sometimes worth tenderizing your squid.) Pipi is also a delicious meal for the bait pickers of the area such as wrasse, leatherjackets and the ever annoying TOADIE! Some days these toadfish are in plague proportions and it’s sometimes makes it hard to catch the desired species without them devouring your bait first.
Mussels: They are the same go as the pipi, actually a bit harder to keep on the hook but these softer baits will a lot of the time out fish pilchards or squid. I find I like to have a cocktail of either squid with pipi or mussel on the one hook improving catches when the fish are fussy.
Pilchard: I only use pilchard when the whiting are on the bite and know that they aren’t fussy on that given day. Cut into small strips not chunks as they don’t really like the hard bones but the softer fillet. This won't produce quantity but will produce quality of 40cm plus whiting and your big local rock flatty!
50cm + Flattys are not uncommon!
Mullet Fillet: I would usually cut these into strips and chuck them out on the paternoster rig or running sinker using the same size long shank hook, though a bigger hook is also an option. The strips don’t need to be massive. I try to replicate a worm and seems to attract the big rock flathead. I am yet to catch a whiting on the mullet strips but who knows as I have caught them on pilchard strips. I have found using meaty baits such as pilchards tends not to catch quantity but quality, so with the idea of using two rods with different baits you too can catch quantity and quality whiting catches. Remember... Variety is the spice of life so get experimenting!
As you can see the whiting mouth is meant for sucking up worms and crustaceans.
Berley
The berley consists of chicken pellets and tuna. I normally buy a whole bag of chicken pellets from any petbarn/stock animal store or whatever you like to call it. The tuna oil can be bought from any good tackle store at around the 8 dollar mark. You can then find a small bucket or ice-cream container to store and mix the contents in. I remember one day there were three of us fishing and we were catching so many toads for that day that we decided to start a tally up. For the 4 hours that we were there we caught about 40 toads all up and that’s no joke! 40 TOADS. Some days the use of berley can attract them so you can either put up with them or move all together. So what I’m trying to say is try to use your berley with caution, too little and it maybe that thin line where you catch a fish or not, and too much berley can do exactly the same thing in return... such as attracting unwanted pests.
Beno's Berley Recipe:
Step 1: Add about a quarter of chicken pellets this is your first layer.
Step 2: Now add some tuna oil while mixing with a large spoon or stick like object, just enough so that the first layer absorbs the brown tuna oil.
Step 3: Now add more chicken pellets so it fills half of the container and mixing while adding more tuna oil.
Step 4: Now there are two optional ways to step 4..... 1st option - when using the berley for the beach or berley pots I like to keep it in pellet form. When keeping it in pellet form all you have to do is simply pour it into the berley pot and let the wave action or boat do the berley for you. The pellets will slowly break down after time from the water and movement. The 2nd option is to add water to the pellets in the container while mashing causing porridge like berley which is great for piers and species such as mullet, tommy rough and garfish. (just be careful not to add too much water, remember you want porridge not dribble.
Step 5: You can now add some more tuna oil while mixing. The berley is done and dusted and now ready to be used. This is the simplest of berleys, it’s up to you what else you want to add to the recipe. Ideas such as canned cat/dog food, bread crumbs, and old fish guts can all be added to make the finest fishing attractant! Even curry powder is an option.... so I’ve heard.
The finished product.
Something to keep in mind
The final decision is up to you.... and that is what works best isn’t it? ''Do what works for you.'' This is the way I’ve had my success, but yours maybe totally different, so always keep your mind open to try new ideas and..... ‘‘Do what works for you''.
Copyright 2017 - Ben Hallpike (This article is a working progress)
