stormy

G'day Matt. Yes. I don't generally fish deeper locations like the harbour, but have floats to fish as running rigs.

Hello Flattie. I make the stems from 4mm carbon rod, the body from 'virgin' champagne corks (they are perfectly cylindrical and have never been in a bottle) and the balance weight from either hollow point rifle projectiles or I have recently made a mould for casting tube which I cut to the length I need to balance the float. The first pic shows a range of floats I have made in the past few weeks. Second shows the lead tube (which still needs tidying up)and third shows the projectiles on the 3mm estuary floats. The colour on the top of the stems is iron on trim tape, used in model aircraft covering. Just need to trim them to length and they will be ready for use. A couple have been used already, as you can see by the tarnish on the copper jacketed projectiles.

Went for a fish yesterday to a spot which often holds a few fish most of the year round. Convinced my two mates that it was going to be a hot one, so we should have an early start and aim to be on the rocks at 7am (well, that's early for some). The tide was starting to run out, so a cast about three rod lengths out found the fish immediately. The water was too clear for my liking, and I could see big schools of swirling fish, obviously spawning. They don't bite very well at this time, but a quick snack between doing the business never hurts does it. The float went down, down, down and a lift of the rod saw the first of many hooked over the next 3 hours. I hooked over twenty fish and got bitten off three times and also dropped a few at my feet, trying to drag them up the ledge with no help from the swells. A great session, but having decided to keep a dozen fish for my family and a couple of friends, made the filleting and skinning a draining proposition in the heat of our hottest Sept day on record. A great morning on the rocks, with Rick landing 11 fish, Bob 4 and me with 12. Quite a few of the fish were in milt but not enough to say the spawn has started full steam. Looking forward to some good fishing in the weeks to come. I have recently made some floats with carbon fibre rod stems and they work a treat. The takes see the float appearing to go down with very little resistance. Don't want to lose too many though, with each rod costing $3.50. Only lost two in the past 12 months, so can't complain.

Had another quick fish this morning for 12 fish. I stopped and watched the other two mates. Hot today. Ended up with 27 fish between us and released a number of those, only keeping enough for a couple of meals each.

Haji - its me kkw Klaus. Even wrote a report for you.

I was going to help a mate out today, teaching a couple of newbies some of the setups for luderick fishing. I told him we could meet at the rocks around 7am as it was going to get pretty hot today and I didn't want to stay out too long. I was then informed that the blokes wouldn't get up that early and could I make it 11am. Now, these guys are retired but younger than me, so I said, see you at 7am. Arrived at close to the bottom of the tide and the water looked fantastic. The wind was NW but dropping, so the drift would be fine. Rigged up and cast my first bait in at 7.30am with not a soul anywhere to be seen. I had made a half dozen new floats through the week and wanted to check they were properly balanced, so didn't really think too much about a fish. Float went down at a steady pace and I lifted the rod into a nice, solid fish. Landed him and clipped on a new float. The fish were around three rod lengths out and I could make out big 'balls' of them as they were playing around, making friends prior to spawning. The downs were firm and positive and resulted in a hook up each time. Didn't lose a single hookup today, but did get baited several times. In next to no time, I had eight fish all over 40cms in the bag, so decided to call it a day. It was 9.30am. Played around for another half hour with weed flies and caught one fish. Hooked under the jaw on the outside, so I am guessing it inhaled the weed fly, didn't like it and spat it out just as I struck. Released to fight another day. On the way out, I drove past my mates house and his two learners were there, ready to go fishing. I told them that whatever they chose to do in life required a decision or priority. If they want to catch fish and get lessons, then get up when the teacher advises. If their priority is to stay in bed, then that is another choice to make. One of them told me he used to get up at 5am to go to work each day and felt he deserved to sleep in. I said, fine but you will not get to fish with me. Your choice. I then gave them my winning smile and was home by 11am.

Get your binos out tomorrow and look across the river. I will give you a wave.

Yes, I am a Shire raised, sophisticated gentleman. Hanging around with Royce though has rubbed off on me. I no longer wear a waistcoat and tie to fish off the rocks.

Red Throat Luderick. Must be the blow in who targets that sub specie. They look like harbour fish. Where's the nice silvery colour and dark bands? Another good session. Tuesday is looking good - low swell and nice weather forecast. Have to get an early start to leave here by 9am and try to be on the rocks by 10am.

A few years back, my mate and another, towed his V19 Haines up to Cairns, put it on the 'barge' and went up to Seisia up the top of Cape York. From there, they motored across to Thursday Island and put a 44gallon drum of fuel on board and took off to New Guinea, which only took several hours. Spent a month fishing, diving and exploring before shipping the boat back to Cairns and flying there for the drive back to Sydney. Boat handled it all very well, but conditions were glassy all the way. He still has the Haines and is very happy with it.

Don't get yourself in trouble by using four letter words on the site. Work!!!! oops, sorry.

Good going. I will try tomorrow if the swell allows it. The umbilical only stretches to the border so will try locally.

Already got the boys to keep an eye on our local wharf, for undesirables. Believe they chased off a few the other week

Good going boys. I drove down the south coast today and couldn't believe how many fishos covered all the rock ledges I passed. Didn't think there were that many in Sydney or south. Will try to get a few tomorrow, if it doesn't rain. Already been in to see the boss at border control and gave him your car rego, Trev - just in case you had ideas for next week.

Hmmm, that looks like custom binding on that rod in the last pic Almost go as far as to say, I did it and that is my old Sportex. Hope you had fun with it Royce. Good work boys. Was it at the 'secret' spot? 7.30am late???!!! I was thinking about getting out of bed at that time

I set the alarm for 8am, had brekkie, phoned Royce to meet up for a fish in the harbour but he didn't answer. Figured he must still be in bed, so sat in front of the heater and read a book.

Good session boys. You know that package the pelican dropped on your fishing pack, well that's what they do to trespassers.

Thanks for the heads up, Royce. I will let the border guards know to keep a special lookout. I was using #6 Daiichi, Jimbo.

Went out this morning, for the Monday fishing session. My mate Bob and I arrived at the platform about 8.30am and found that the swell was actually rearing up and making things uncomfortable on the rocks. It was safe enough, but you had to keep an eye open for the regular big set coming through. Today it was smashing into the platform and shooting high over our heads, with the occasional dump of water cascading over us. I hate fishing with wet undies and shorts Another mate, Rick, arrived minutes after us and we all tossed in a bait for the drift. Three downs within 10-20 seconds and three fish landed. Wow, a bit different to Fridays tentative takes. The next 40 or so minutes were quite hectic and fish were being landed and dropped non stop. The fish were taking the hook down deep and I snapped off around 6 hooks in a row, wasting time to re-tie new ones. A couple of other old locals arrived, Ray 76 yrs old and Bronco 78yrs. Ray got right into it but poor old Bronc was struggling to even get a down. Ray and I slipped a couple of fish into his keeper net and when he queried it, we told him his first fish must have been a breeder. It was a great few hours and we packed up at mid-day. Tally for the morning was 16 for me, 10 for Rick and Ray, 5 for Bob and 2 for Bronco. We all dropped loads of fish today and for me it was about 50% of hooked fish landed, so I would have easily bagged out if all went to plan. I also got a nice fat pig, so ended up with a bonus. Bob was still cleaning his fish after I had finished, so I grabbed his rod, which was still rigged and Rick and I went back to toss in another bait. We both hooked and landed a fish within 30 seconds, so I dropped another one next to Bob, for him to clean. Good fun, good mates and a great location.

Oh!! I wasn't suggesting I take you to my spot. I was going to let you show me your north of the Shire spots Killed it today. Last couple of fish I caught jumped out of the water and snapped up the bait while it was in mid air. They were hungry today. We landed 48 fish and lost at least half that ,many again.

Good catch boys. You would have been within spitting distance of where I normally fish We will all get together for a session on the rocks, soon.

Good work, as always. I went out today. Landed 8 before calling it a day. Got busted off 3 times by pigs burying me under ledges. Water is too clear down my way and the fish were not really feeding - more like playing with the baits. Got a feed, anyway. All the blackfish you get with Royce, seem to be the red throat variety. They must be placid, as mine never line up for a photo.

If you live in Dee Why, Justin, then it is a bit more than just down the road. It is in the RNP, south of Sydney.

Great weather for blackfish. It was a beautiful 'summers' day yesterday, so decided to head off to the coast for a few hours fishing. Swell was way down and sun was way up as we reached our destination. Found one fella there,but he was bottom fishing and losing a snapper lead and gear on every cast. Anyway, I rigged up my mates rod with a blackfish float, trace and Daiichi hook and showed him how to bait up and he was on his way. The fish were very tentative today and hardly feeding at all. I saw several large schools swimming past, as the water was very clear. Anyway, the downs were coming as the baits drifted over a small reef around 40m out. That is a long way out when trying to keep an eye on the float, but we managed to hook up a few fish. Landing them was the problem, as most were only lightly hooked and the swell only pushed over the lip of the rock shelf infrequently. Dropped quite a few. Anyway, it seemed to be a slow days fishing but just glorious out on the ocean front. Mark and I gave it away at 11.30am, having fished for 3 hours. I was a bit surprised when I emptied my bag to find I had caught 15 fish and Mark had landed two. We both dropped fish trying to land them as well. Mark lost 5 and I dropped twice that number. A few funny moments today, came when I tried a long cast to try and get out to the reef. Got an overrun and tried to untangle the 'birds nest' only to see my float slowly going under. I couldn't do anything about it and the line went taut. Had to put the rod down and handline the fish in, leaving coils of line on the barnacle covered rocks. Landed the fish, which had taken the hook right down and left it in a pool, still hooked up, as I tried to untangle the mess. Ended up cutting it out and rejoining the mainline. Had another hookup and fought that fish for about 30 seconds, only to see it pull the hook. Started winding in and felt weight again. This fish really motored along and I was surprised to see a 40cm trevally had grabbed the moving bait. Landed it shortly after and put it in the bag. Don't mind fresh trevally fillets. Pic 5 is the handlining effort. A good day fishing on the rocks beats a good day sitting in an office or lounging around home. The old bones and back may disagree though....

Good effort Trev and boys. I hear some 'Westie' in a flanno shirt wanted to claim it as a blackie record!!?? Might try and get out for a fish on Friday. Swell is supposed to be around .5m.