helliconia

As JewHunter says there's a lot of posts on SP fishing. For my 2 cents worth though your 2 inch shrimp is too small (not sure that came out right...). I'd be using a 3 inch, same natural colours and fish the drop off's. Also, add some of the grub types in 2-3 inch also. Red and Green patterns have worked for me but try a few colours. Also search YouTube for SP fishing videos. There's a ton on there and you'll get some great info on retrieves and how to mix them up if things aren't working. Keep at it, SP fishing is frustrating when you start but one day everything will click (so I'm told) and you'll start getting more and more fish

I like the small TT blades for Bream. They have a double hook at the back only that faces upward so less snags when you're fishing around structure. They seem to like the dark colours, but my favourite is the purple one.

The missus and I will be heading to Sanctuary Point over Christmas too. For how long will depend on my ability to weather time with the mother-in-law. I suppose if she gets on my nerves too much I can throw her keys in your bowl We'll have the boat with us, I'll PM you my number if you want to meet up.

Thanks again Hodgey, your tips helped a lot to make the week fun and rewarding!

Yes the channel is open, was about 30 metres wide at its narrowest. Saw a few guys in 12 foot tinnies slip out across the bar.

Finally got a week off work and headed down to Tuross Head with the boat. Despite a couple of days of ugly weather it was a great week and I learned a lot about SP fishing for flathead. Only caught a few keepers, but the lake and river were so full of undersized flathead you could walk across the river and not get your feet wet. BIG thanks to Hodgey who tipped me off they were responding to prawn patterned plastics, so armed with a few bags of Gulps I had a go. By the time thursday rolled around I'd refined my technique and was getting hit just about every cast. After the first 10 or so around the 32-33cm mark I stopped measuring them before I threw them back. Apparently there are a few thumpers hanging around the lake but I didn't get a hook into any of them. Still had the best time and a great learning experience. I'm definitely not shy of fishing shallow water for them now. The most entertaining part of the trip was fishing the channel near the surf beach and having some other holiday'ers asking for tips as I pulled in a couple of small flatties as soon as I walked up. Very different feeling being able to offer a bit of advise because stuff is working, rather than the other way around The missus also caught her first flounder which I grilled for her but she wasn't impressed with the bones lol The trip was only marred by some asshat stealing my fully loaded tacklebox from the boat the night before we left ($600 worth of gear gone I'm guessing), and me attempting to fillet the bottom off my finger while cleaning fish No stitches needed though so I'm OK

NINEMSN Toxic Algae in Boatny Bay The NSW Food Authority has warned people against eating oysters, mussels, cockles, clams or the gut of rock lobster or abalone taken from the bay or the Georges River. It's also warning people against eating periwinkles, sea urchins or crabs. Cooking won't destroy the toxins, it said.

Scotty, thanks for the interesting report. On your lost mystery fish, I've done a fair bit of scuba diving around there and I've seen schools of smallish tuna running the edges of the channel up there around this time of year. Could be stripies or maybe largish bonito, its a bit hard to identify them in the murk when they move so fast.

Nice looking light set. Mine came with LED's new, but they look so much better I might upgrade myself!

I've got the same pickup on my boat. I screwed mine into the hull, and positioned it so the facing hole on the pickup was just under the edge of the boat but between 2 chines. They do pickup a ton of water though, they push more than the 500gph pump I got does.

I can't speak for the science of my idea, but there has to be something in the subsistence farming methods used since pre-history. Use a patch for a "season" (maybe 1 year), then let it lie fallow to recover for 6 or 7 seasons. In the closed seasons, they rotate to different fisheries giving everywhere a chance to recover. Apply the same catch quotas per year and nowhere will be over-fished.

Not at that level, they need a slightly higher voltage being fed in to get and maintain a charge. 14-15 volts while running is very normal. I'd be more worried if it dropped to 13 volts while running.

Perfectly normal pappy, mine does exactly the same. It means your alternator is working correctly, generating more than the engine is using.

Welcome to the site and to the frustratingly simple sport of fishing! You'd think it would be easy wouldn't you? Tie on a hook, stab some bait on it and make sure it lands in water... There's a lot of places to source info, and your well honed google-ing skills will help immensely in getting the basics down. To give you a starting point, I'll suggest a few things you should look up. Running sinker rig - good for sandy/muddy spots from the shore. When you get started this rig and the next one are all you'll need. This rig WILL snag on rocks or submerged structure like trees though. Paternoster rig - this one has the sinker fixed at the bottom, and the hook attached to a leader from above it. Helps to keep the bait off the bottom or when your getting snagged with a running rig. If you're going to be fishing landbased I'd dodge Pittwater and the Hawkesbury River. Even with boats the fishing is a struggle up there. Theres a few spots around Botany Bay that see you get some success. Le Perouse or Yarra Bay, or the west side near Brighton Le-Sands to Dolls point, or the Captain Cook and Taren Point Bridges are popular too. What fish you chase will depend a little on your gear, but popular starters species are Bream, Flathead and Whiting. Do some searchers for info on how these species feed and hunt and you'll start to see some patterns you can use when you're picking a spot. Keep in mind the fishing has been hard for everyone the last couple of months, but everyone is SURE it will pick up soon. I'm not sure if that is based on fishing experience or a desperate hope the better halves won't ban them form their sport if they keep coming back with nothing If you could give us some idea what gear you are using and what you want to chase I'm sure we can be a bit more specific.

Sorry about that... I wanted to contribute but I had nothing

I believe they're white kel

Nice work your doing better than me lately... between work and uni I can't get a line wet.

Alfa, you haven't mentioned what you want the GPS for? I really only use mine to mark spots where I catch fish (not many of those in memory haha) or some structure I think is worth revisiting. You really don't need add-on maps to use it for simple things like that. If you are exploring an area, looking for an underwater landmark like reef and you don't have a rough area, the contours on the maps can give you a rough area to look, but they're not done in fine enough detail to spot a 2 metre drop off etc. You can always save up and buy them later like I did. Personally,I think you should forget the maps for now (even if they're free, they're not REALLY free) and get the best unit you can afford. If the inbuilt maps aren't doing the job, buy the extended maps later. You'll thank yourself for getting the better quality unit. [EDIT] Perhaps Huey can confirm, but I believe some of the better units can save data like sounder depth when you mark a waypoint as well.

Just to throw another 2 cents worth in, I just got a new SP outfit, Diawa TDT 2-4kg rod, Daiwa Legalis 2500 reel and 5lb Power Pro braid. I'll use a 10lb Vanish leader on it. The whole outfit is so light it's ridiculous - should make flicking plastics all day pretty easy. I took a risk and ordered the reel from the USA since they were dirt cheap but I think retail here on the whole lot would be around $280 including the line. Good luck with your pack-ratting

That eel from its stomach looks like a baby hairtail maybe? Certainly got the baby fangs to qualify... Cracker bream! beats my PB by about 20cm lol

My biggest problem with the Navionics map is they're hit and miss in my combo. Half the time I switch to map and all i get is the built in Humminbird one - no Gold maps at all. Very annoying!!

I'm not sure those are crab traps. They had laid a bunch of them through Cowan Creek a few weeks back and I couldn't find a fish to save myself. Even my go-to spot that usually produces something had a white buoy next to it and not even a bite. I was thinking they were probably fish traps rather than crab traps. Anyone know if this may be the case? Very nice hairtail for the daytime! I caught a smaller model at the same spot in November last year.

Yeah I'm looking at the tiny spool the nanofil came on and I'm thinking I'll need 2 for a 3000 series reel. I'm sure I've got some 10-12lb braid in the boat, might use that for backing - although I already bought the nanofil. Thanks for the help guys

Thanks Kingfisher. I'll have to see what extra line I have in my tackle box to use for backing. Might have some 10-12lb braid or mono in there.

I got 300M of 10lb Nanofil to spool my new Daiwa Legalis 3000 with. Since this stuff is so fine, what knots would be best for joining? I need to join 2 150M packs together on the spool, tie it off to the spool itself, and add a joiner to something on the end, maybe a Vanish leader. Any thoughts?