rickster

Most of these wharves are OK to pick-up but not to tie up etc. Best have your friend ring you when he's ready and to a quick pick-up. Rick

Well done Ray, by the way I'm sure I know that blacky in the second photo, he looks very familiar. And don't let anyone tell you that blackfishing can become addictive. I've been doing it for nearly 40 years and I haven't found it addictive!! Rick

Went out with Paul (Scrubby) on saturday to try and nail some more harbour blackies. Started around 7.00am at Walsh Bay. Within about 20 minutes, I've got one in the bag while poor old Paul had managed to leave a hook in one fish, then pull out of another. Promising start. We went about another hour or so without looking like getting another fish then within about 0.5 of a second we're both on. 3 in the bag. Another hour or so and nothing so we decided to head to Hunters Hill to see if we can't find a few there. Fished about another 3 hours and only managed another 4 fish between us. We fished a total of 7-8 hours for only 7 fish and probably only had a dozen downs all day. I still had a morning leave pass for sunday but honestly, who in their right mind would be that keen, desperate or just plain STUPID to want to go through this again with the full moon still around??????? Anyway, arrived at Pyrmont early sunday morning put a bit of burley in and within about an hour had 4 nice fish in the bag. Didn't like the shade and cool conditions so I headed to another spot east of the bridge - protected and sunny!! Water was quite clear but a deep drop off so still thought I might be able to find a couple. Put some burley in and could make out blackies going through the burley. In the end, only fish for 2 hours as parking was $4.40 per hour, and ended up with another 12 and left them biting. 16 in the bag in about 3 hours so there goes the full moon theory out the window again. All released after a couple of pics.

I've fished the harbour for more years than I care to remember and only once have I ever caught a drummer and that was at Cremorne and only about 500gm. Blackfish definetely a winter species in the harbour and generally start back off the rocks from about September on.

Hi Gav, Don't always trust the quality of "lake" weed, can be a bit soft and stringy. There's beautiful weed growing nearly everywhere on the rocks in the Austinmeer area. If he's in that area try under the Headland Hotel, it's dark, a little cabbagy and fairly strong. I'm heading down tomorrow arvo and fishing with Scrubby ao sat. morning. Cheers Rick

Not hard to do Stu, you guys have got to learn to throw your floats in as much as you throw your anchors in. Full moons did affect your catch though.

Always got me beat. Do fish say "gee I'm hungry but i hate eating when there's a full moon" Same as tides sometimes, they can bit better on a run-up or run-out. I guess if we knew the answers we'd all be fishing for a living.

Hooked up again with Sreve (slam354) for another attack on the harbour blackfish. Found a spot protected from the cool westerly and kicked off around 7.00 am. Bit of burley and Steve's on nearly straight away. A couple each in the bag then I'm onto what feels like a nice fish. Always use two leaders and lo and behold I've got a double which Steve managed to net nicely. Let me state at this point that it takes a lot of skill and finesse to not only hook two at once but to sussessfully land both. Nothing at all to do with luck. Shortly after, Steve hooks and lands a double. WHAT A FLUKE!!!!! Be buggered if he doesn't do the same shortly afterwards. Honestly can't believe some peoples luck but then again I suppose I should give him some credit. Fish were definetely travellers and not really "on" at any stage. We'd get nothing for 1/2 hour then a couple in a row. We were probably lucky that we hooked nearly every down that we had. By about 11.00 we had 17 in the bags but had gone very quite. Decided to move to the Pyrmont area for a couple of more hours for a grand total of one more fish. Still a good enjoyable day but starting to really believe the theory that the full moon makes fishing harder. Cheers, Rick

Just wanna add to Petes post. Thoroughly enjoyed the day, especially as the the banter grew. Pete is very down to earth and great company. Again once we set up the float and his rig correctly there was no stopping him. Was definetely beating me during the middle of the session but by the end of the day we probably finished about equal, or so I'm claiming. About Petes claim about getting the biggest fish (actually he got the biggest two or three) it was the least I could do as after all, we were in his boat! Rick

I think a lot of fisho favourites are when you catch something that you're not even close to targetting. Got this 2.5kg salmon last summer while blackfishing at kurnell. Had weed on at the time, saw a couple of splashes right near my float, wound in just a little and BANG! Thing I learnt very quickly from hooking a few previously is that when they jump, keep the pressure on so they don't shake the hook. When I got him in close a nice little wave lifted on to a lower ledge and before I knew it my good mate Steve was down there, grab him and threw up to my feet. Definetely different! Rick

Most went back to live and fight another day-hopefully next week. Rick P.S. Hey Daniel, I think you're being generous about the supposed "10 lb" Flathead those guys reckon they caught. We saw it too when we were leaving, I reckon lucky to be 3-4 lb at best.

The sh*t in the water seemed to leave about the same time as you - coincidence? I think not. Seriously, we ended up with another ten and left about an hour or so after you. They were still biting pretty well and probably would have kept going as it got later in the day. Good thing you weren't there from the beginning as we would have had to send to Global to buy another couple of keeper nets. You could have earned another nickname though - "SWIMMER BOY"

Definetely west of the bridge but not all that far. Water will be too clear the further you go east. You need to find some wharf structure with a deep drop off . Yesterday we did have ideal conditions, overcast and a small runout tide but in still water, the tide is not all that important. This particular spot can really only fish three at max. so can't give too much away.

I seriously have to start thinking that this may well be the one of the best winters for blackys that I can remember. Went out with Steve (slam354) yesterday for hopefully some more blackfish action. We fished a newish spot that I'd actually tried earlier in the year for nil success. I kept believing that there simply must be fish here as there's a bit of structure, kelp in close then dropping into deep water (and probably never fished). We put some money in the meter to allow about 1 1/2 hours to find them. Started about 7.30am, put in a bit of burley and by the time we had to re-charge the parking meters, we had 21 already in the bag. By this stage my keeper net had gotten pretty full and we had to start using Steve's. Daniel (Woodchop AKA netboy, AKA baitboy) had rang to see how we were going and had joined us within an hour. By the time Daniel arrived Steve and I had over 30 in the keepers. But at last another keeper net!! Unfortunately Daniel couldn't stay too long, but long enough for our tally to hit 50+. Fish just kept biting. We decided to pull up all 3 keepers, take some pics, the boys kept some to take home and we released the rest. Steve and I continued fishing after Daniels departure but by about 3 O'Clock we'd had enough, plus Steve still had some fish to clean. Total tally was 66 in all plus my token Surgeon. I can honestly say that in all my years of fishing the harbour I can not remember blackfish biting so consistently for so long. As far as location, all I can give away is that we could see the bridge from where we were fishing.

If it was that good it would be one "spot x" that I would never reveal. Only tip I can give is to find a coupla desperate looking guys blackfishing, berley up with a few gold coins and see what happens.

I forgot to mention that while fishing with slam354 for blackfish on saturday I noticed what looked like a piece of plastic floating in the harbour. On closer inspection it turned out to be a $50 note. We managed to coax it a bit closer, and as a few of you know, I've got a really long one so was able to net it (what did you think I meant)to safe ground. Agreed to share our catch, thinking who'd be silly enough to lose $50 in the water. At least it will help pay for some costly meter parking. Then, remembering that I'd used the ATM earlier that morning to get $100 (2 $50s) out and bought $40 of petrol, I'd thought I'd better check my tracky pockets. Only had $10 left. This is when we found out who'd be silly enough etc. etc. Felt a bit funny and wanted to prove that I had indeed made the withdrawal so used my mobile and made slam listen to my last ATM transactions. Not quite the same feeling as not having FOUND $50 as not having LOST $50 but in the end it was still our catch of the day! SORRY NO PICS BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE.

Headed out with Steve(slam354) in the harbour on saturday. Fished just west of the bridge as we'd got a dozen or so there last week. Started very well, couple of fish straight away but by 8.00am it just died. We put it down to the water being too clear with constant westerlies. We left there there with only 3 and made the trip up to Abbotsford to fish better water and the top of the tide. Had to work hard as the bloody south-wester was blowing across us making it difficult to fish. Ended up with another seven good fish so still made it worthwhile. Steve was even lucky enough to hook a double. This is where the long brown weed came into their own. Both fish managed to get caught up in the weed right at our feet. We could still see one of them flapping around but the other was gone. Steve tried his best but both fish ended up with full freedom. Still not a bad day in trying conditions. I was silly enough to back up on the sunday. Wind was as bad as saturday so found myself a nice little sheltered area out of the breeze, put a bit of burley in and fish straight away. Water was pretty clear, sun was out but fish didn't seem to mind. Although there was plenty of wharf structure for them to hide, I found them biting a bit wider. I was fishing about 15 foot in probably 40 foot of water but fish still kept biting. Gave it away just after lunch, ended up with 16 in about 5 hours plus dropped a few. I guess there goes part of the "clear water" theory. Pic of yesterdays fish.

Daniel and I were chasing weed off the rocks on saturday and still amazed at what we're seeing. Seas in this particular spot were only a couple of foot and not really splashing over but still slippery to walk on. I don't want it to appear that we are picking on Asians in particular but all deaths off the rocks this year have been of Asian descent. Four were fishing on a rock at waters edge, one of them wearing THONGS and another Daniel thought were slippers. Stepping over crevices that have some of that black slime on the rocks was how they were getting around. Better still, the guy in the thongs thought it would be a good idea if they could get a few crabs for bait so proceeded to wedge himself into about a 6 foot deep crevice to try and find some. Lessons aren't being learnt and stupidity is unfortunately still the name of the game with many. At this rate it may not be too long before another tradgedy hits the newspapers. Rick

Still disappointed about the blacky challenge having to be cancelled but the water was filthy. Had a look around the bridge area during the week and amazed at how quickly it was clearing. Was always going to hook up with slam354 - Steve, and woodchop - Daniel, to have a fish and was feeling much more confident now with better coloured water. Weed was initially hard to get, especially with the seas up but ended up with some nice stuff from Dean's down at Windang. Coupled with this I met up with Daniel, "baitboy" (AKA netboy) off the rocks and sent him down the track to find us some nice rock weed. My job was the most important, that being keeping a lookout from the very top, plus ensuring I didn't tire myself out (from the bloody climb) for fishing on sunday. Daniel didn't disappoint with the weed and we were set. The three of us met up west of the bridge and found a few fish almost straight away. By thw way, how cold was it sunday morning??? Fished slowed for a little while with only the odd down but once the sun hit the water, and us, thinks started to hot up (sorry about the pun) Fish were now coming in regularly for an hour or so before again shutting down. We move to another spot for an hour or so and managed 3 more before we gave it away. Finished the day with 20 in the bag, Steve kept a few for the table and we released the rest. Might be time to look at rescheduling the challenge if time permits. Rick

Heard Peter Garrett is getting a band together again. Slight change of name though: MIDNIGHT FOIL Releasing their new single: BATTS ARE BURNING

Sometimes it depends on the type of weed. If the weeds a bit silkier and grows in a spot that is generally covered by water 24/7 then it can have a far less chance of keeping for more than a couple of days. If it's a bit "stringier" then squeeze as much moister out as possible, i'd prefer not to use newspaper as it doesn't breathe, but hessian is probably the best. Thin it out, lay it out between the hessian and leave in a cool spot like the garage etc. Laying a light layer of sand underneath is also a good idea as mentioned. Also always a good idea to check every day and turn it over. Not a great fan of putting in fridge but I'm a bit old school. Remember though - fresh is best!

I have spoken to Stewy, and we agree that it would be best if we all fish the same area. The main reason that with this rain, water might be a bit dirty further up. We're are still getting plenty of fish around Pyrmont so the ideal thing would be to all fish there plus weed will be available to all. Stewy is going to PM all attendies the address. One word of warning, start saving your gold coin as parking meters exist. Fished these spots on both Saturday with Daniel (woodchop) drizzling rain, hard to work hard for 11 nice fish. Sunday was predicted to be a washout so wasn't expecting to get out again. Woke up to bright sunshine. Quickly got my gear together, mixed more burley and headed out again. Tried a different spot in the same area. First 4 drifts for 4 solid fish. Did slow a little but ended up with 14 in the bag over the next few hours. Most of the fish around the 600gm mark. Don't mind giving "secret" spots away if we all get the chance to bag a few blackies. Pics below of both Saturdays and Sundays catches. Rickster

Exactly right about the rocks. It's called exploring. Once you find an area where it does grow, feel confident that it will grow there on a regular basis, big seas permitting. This time of the year is best and by the way, it loves rain so should be like carpet in certain places in the next couple of weeks. It's all we're using at the moment and getting fish all the way up to Gladesville on it. I think the biggest problem with weed trying to grow up the parra river is the bloody river cats. Watch what happens to the shoreline as one of those goes past. Rick

I honestly can't believe how some of you people can't get your minds off fishing. If the weather's too bad, and it would have to be horrible, I use this as an opportunity to just totally veg out, get fishing completely out of my head, grab a nice cold drink and just...............................................start making more blackfish floats. Rick

One of my mates, Cyclone, reckons that they make them that way now so they're easier to pick up! Originally i used to think that it could have been nets or someting but not any more (really sorry roberta) Got no doubt that it's become heridatry as there's way too many coming in now with the exact same dent.