Druridge Bay 14-06-16

[carlrmc]

Fished the above venue for the first time ever last night. Not sure where I was exactly in terms of marks but was about 1 mile north of the rock skeers that sit to the north of Cresswell. I was fishing for just before 7 pm just as the tide was on the move back up the beach. Set up with a 3 hook flapper baited with rag and tipped off with Mackerel which was lobbed no more than 30 yards as that is what I was told from lads on this site. Even using a 4.50m continental style rod I was struggling to tell the difference between possible fish bites and tidal movement, (I don't normally do surf/ beach fishing) and the odd piece of kelp coming into contact with my main line didn't help. I tried standing holding my rod more or less vertical which was far more effective and if I had of had waders on I would of done this the whole time as I could feel what was going on a lot better. After what I thought was a fish bite I brought my rig in to reveal a nice little Plaice only about 8 inches in length that was quickly put back. For the next 2 hours or so between me and one other it was more or less a flattie a cast with the majority being Flounder (no Turbot). Most fish were palm sized if not smaller, (there must be millions of them in that bay). Anyway not a bad first sesh there, hoping next time for a Turbot or one of them bars of sliver everyone raves about!

[andyco]

Well done on getting plenty fish out. There is millions of flounders there! I haven't had loads of turbot, but all the ones I have had were from Druridge and were just on plain mackerel; small thumbnail size pieces seems best for me.

[L_muslibar]

Second that - if you're after turbot use straight fish baits. Mackerel or bluey
Also because of the size of fish, you've done the right thing in picking continental style match rod. General practice is to just reel in every 15-20 mins even if you don't see a bite, fish can still be lying on.
Braid can help but it's not really your friend if there's loads of weed or a decent surf.

[RossW]

Nice to see a few Druridge reports on here recently. I still love fishing there - great for kids too... A few things I've done over the years which seem to work is:- move about and find the gulleys and the areas where the tide is pushing harder than others; wade out up to your tits and cast parallel to the beach and then retrieve the trace by a few yards every minute or so; cast even shorter than 30yards (maybe just a few rod-lengths out.)
Also, if you can be bothered with the extra drive, give Embleton Beach a try. I've fished it half a dozen times, have never had turbot there, but there seem to be more big flounders there.
Tight lines