Pitty82

Awesome

G'day Terry I've stayed at a mates house on numerous occassions and have had some luck, and seen some pretty cool sights at Pearly. From my mates balcony, there is an excellent view of the whole beach, so if we're keen we have a drink on the balcony early morning from first light and wait and watch. Pretty much without fail we'll spot a feeding school of taylor/salmon, given away by diving birds. Then its simply a matter of casting slices at em. I've also had luck flicking placcies for flatties. Generally better during summer. You get them generally close in, on the edges of the sandy washes (as its a shore break beach try casting slightly diagonal rather than straight out - then you'll cover more good water per cast). Once I was fishing with only hardbodies off the south rocks and saw the biggest blue groper ive ever seen. Must have been 10+ kilos... probably a lucky thing I didn't have anything to tempt him on, as I was using a 6-10 lb loomis flick stick... no chance. If you bait fish remember to spread your baits around a little. From experience most of the action requires a VERY short cast (ie less than 20m, sometimes half that!!!!) If you cast waaaay out you'll probs only hook sharks, rays and shovel noses. Due to the usual lack of current a bit of finely mashed burley would be an excellent idea, and could be very effective... hint hint. Hope this helps Good luck Pitty

Gday Ads I'm not too sure about boat fishing spots, however if you're keen for a rock fish you could hang a right just before the police station in Crescent Head and head to a spot called Delicate Nobby. About 12 clicks from the turn off theres a carpark atop a headland that has tracks leading along a ridgeline to some epic rock ledges. Anything can be encountered there in summer from tailor, kings, cobes, to makeral. Enjoy your weekend. Cheers

Hey fellas For a cheap and easy way of getting the slime off you can also to just rub the flaps with dry sand. The dry sand is abbrassive and also absorbs all the gunk. Hope this helps, tight lines. Pitty

Dan, It's on the left hand side of the road when heading north on the old Pacific Highway just down from Macca's at Mt Colah. Have a chat with Rowan, he's a top bloke and will be able to sort you out for anything you could need. Cheers Pitty

Hi guys I'm very keen to join the boat fishing brigade as well, + 1 deckie TBA Can't wait to meet some other Fishraider punters, should be a top day!! See you all there Ben

Gday Ads First of all congrats on getting onto those spotties, dont they go hard at the start, great work! To answer your questions, there are generally Spotty captures every year in Broken Bay and Pittwater, however their appearance seems governed almost entirely on the East Australian current pushing warm, tropical, nutrient water south from the QLD coast. When we get a big lick of real blue stuff in the summer it generally brings a plethora of baitfish, which in turn can bring numbers of Spotties, Cobia (and offshore big dolphin fish and Marlin) to name just a few. I must say, it seems that it's usually later on in summer (late summer being the time when the current usually runs the hardest against the Syd coast) when they start to show and even then it's pretty sporadic at the best of times. A couple of years ago, they were being caught regularly as far upstream as the still waters of Cowan Creek, so they can show up anytime anywhere. That's what I've managed to piece together myself, I'm sure others will be able to add more. Well done again. Cheers Ben

I agree with Domza I think tailor are best fish to whack in the smoker by far. Simply rub fillets with salt and brown sugar (VERY important!!), then whack in the smoker and enjoy warm or cold. Where are you based from and what waterway do you fish??? There have been some massive yakkas hanging around the palm beach jetty recently, and a few squid too - could be worth a dabble - just rememebr to bring heaps of fine oily/smelly berley to really get them going. Cheers Pitty

Good topic. I love my smoked fish. Simply: 1. Rub salt and brown sugar onto both sides of the fillets to cook. 2. Place fillets in smoker for about 30 mins 3. Eat warm or cold as preferred Tips: -Tailor seems to be the best fish to smoke by far, aim for fish that have oilier flesh. -I think hickory is the best sawdust to use. You can use most though (Stringy Bark is also ok) -Eat with small peices of baquette style bread, with a bit of philli spread, capers and a small bit of fresh dill - great for entertaining. Cheers Pitty

Boy, do I love it when someone punches one for ther team. Top catch Red.

Thanks for all of the comments fellas. No doubt there is truth in most of the points brought up but I can say with 99% certainty that Kingsrule has hit it on the head. I'd recognise those creepy little things anywhere. So crab larve or megalops it must be. There must be thousands of them around, cos the sambos were jammed pretty full of them. Thanks for your help, take it easy & tight lines. Pitty

Hi Raiders Went for a cheeky beach session on Sunday arvo, and scored few very fat and healthy aussie sambo's. The strange thing was that when I cleaned them, their guts were absolutely full of small crab/crustacean like lavae. There would have been literally over one hundred in 2/3 fish' stomachs, and the majority of the lavae would have only been 3-4 milllimeters long... tiny. I've caught plenty of salmon in the past and usually have a geeze inside to see what they've been chewing, but can't remember ever seeing these little fellas before. I was going to take a photo of them too but I forgot about the ones I had saved and threw them out accidentely Given my poor/limited desciption, has anyone seen similar tiny crab-like things before in fish' stomachs, and can anyone help me identify what they could have been? Cheers Ben.

Thanks Kevvie, Owzat & Haraka for all the advice so far, and thanks to everone else for the warm welcome! I'm planning my next foray and I'll no doubt work some of the tips and pointers into my next session. I'll try and pick up a copy of the Jewy secret DVD too, even if you only learn one thing its still worth it in the long run I guess hey! Wayneo your obviously a bit of a jewy tragic! (and I do meant that in the nicest possible way) I'd be pretty stoked catching 5-10kg fish, and it's pretty funny for me to hear people dismissing "small" fish like that, but then again, it's a good sign cos it means I'm definately talking to the right ppl This Saturday has a nice evening high, so I might get myself a couple of livies and see how I go. Not sure if anyone can help me out but I am curious as to peoples thoughts on a big fresh bump. Obviously it gives most species a bit of rev up and will especially get jew on the chew, but do you reckon the jew get put off and forced lower in the system by the low salinity conditions when theres a big fresh? I guess the reason why Im asking is to work out whether to concentrate my efforts in the upper reaches (heaps of food but fresher water) or the lower reaches (saltier water). Once again, thanks to everyone who's already passed on some knowledge, I really appreciate it, hopefully I can convert into something big and silver. Cheers Pitty

We'll kind of anyway (my post # 1) Gday Raiders, nice to meet you all! I recently bought a little stacer (with circulating live bait tank/sounder etc) and am looking to put in the long yards like so many on this site, and become a proficient jewy angler. Now I've got some pretty impressive catches knotched up from the rock and beach, and would consider myself pretty cluey in that department, but as the title suggests, when it comes to fishing from a boat in the Cowan/Hawkesbury I am a complete VIRGIN Reading back over some past posts I've been pretty amazed at the level of experience that some Raiders have in the Hawkesbury system, and I was hoping to get a couple of pointers to start me off in the right direction. I'm not necessarily asking for any secret spots, just a gentle nudge or any advice that you reckon could help me get on the money. A few questions I have (Given I will almost always put out at Appletree/Bobin Head and fish in Cowan): 1. Should I focus on fishing a couple of boat lengths from the shoreline, or try and sound out some deeper holes nearer the middle of the channel? 2. Is the Cowan more a run out or run in producer (or both) 3. Would I be better off making the journey to the Hawkesbury proper? I know this is a long first post, and apologise, any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance Pitty