Noodles

So how do you prepare them so it doesn't end up like eating a double plugger thong? I tried everything last year but had to give up in the end due to jaw pain.

Got 2 big ones last year. They are good but a bit chewy. I tried several different "suggestions" for tenderization and found that the kiwifruit/milk soak was the best. I ate some many years ago that was prepared by a mates father and it was soft like fish cocktails but I have no idea how he did it. He was a merchant seaman so who knows where he found out how to prepare it?

I was out catching Flatties off Swansea 2 weeks ago and was getting the occasional Leatherjacket or snipped line. Nothing to worry about, but then I pulled up a 3/0 Nickel plated Mustad suicide hook bitten off halfway. There is only one answer to the riddle. Green Toad and sure enough I got 2 before too long. Last weekend I had them following my line to the surface. Luckily they are only little buggers. They are hanging in the mid-water with the LJ's.

1 Baby Drummer 2 Wrasse 3 Sweep

@bigjewie - Not much at the Swansea FAD last week. The dollies were still undersized and in fact there were tiny ones jumping that were not much bigger than a pilly. I thought it would be better as there was heaps of floating debris from the rivers. I have heard of some good fish taken from under the ships though. The water was very green and cloudy at 22 C with a weak uphill current. I did manage to catch them on skirt lures briefly before they wised up. I could see them but they wouldn't take a bait or metal. This time last year they were in good number and much bigger and there was striped tuna as well. @josamill - in big jewie's defence, he did say 8 knots takes him 3 hours sometimes depending on current. 8 knots would be his speed over water, not over the bottom, so with an opposing current it will obviously take longer to get there. Add to that the need to tack about for comfort into the swell and sea and it is quite possible for a theoretical 90 minute trip to run close to 3 hours. I can be out in 30 minutes after crossing the bar if I run on the plane at 4000 rpm all the way (which is pretty rare) while others days it can take take me just about an hour. Anything much worse than that and I don't go.

Forgot to add, NO SIDE EFFECTS with the Compounding Chemist, for us anyway.

You don't have to go to Bova in Carringbah. Any Compounding Chemist can make up a sea sickness capsule the same or similar depending on your needs. They do contain Caffiene and Ginger and usually 1 or 2 of several other key active ingredients. The ones I purchased in Hamilton Newcastle are based on Scopolamine Hydrobromide with a little Dimenhydrinate. I was also told the same thing about under 12 years old and hypertension by Bova and they wouldn't dispence them to me without the authority of my GP. However, when I asked the guy in Newcastle he said they were fine to take for myself and my son who is 11. Take 1 or 2 30 minutes before departure then 1 after 4 - 6 hrs if needed but we have only ever taken the 1 and stayed out for up to 8 hrs in pretty ordinary seas. They are $25.00 for 12 capsules but well worth it so I bought 2 bottles. They have changed my son's ability to stay outside to a 100% success rate (so far so good) whereas it used to be 100% fail on Kwells. I used to take Kwells for nearly 40 years of fishing and always felt affected by them for some time after returning to shore but they did work for me. I have also tried Stemazine which is a prescription medication for Vertigo, Dizziness and Nausea but I can't say if they worked or not really as they were very calm days anyway. I fished a charter with a guy taking them and he threw up every time someone lifted a pike into the boat. Years back I was on a 3 day trip so we used the patches that you put behind your earlobe. These worked a treat but they took them off the market due to the side effects caused in some people of visual and auditory hallucinations.

I never said it wasn't a 4X4 ramp Jack and I actually agree with you. I was simply posting information freely available online and relevent to the original post. This ramp was the subject of another online discussion not long ago relating to close access to Tuggerah Reef / The Entrance Bombie. The ute on the beach in the image may well be a 4X4 and probably is. As you can see he's not even over the concrete. I don't know how far down the concrete goes or how deep the sand is over it. I have been there to see people launch using 4x4 but I have also seen 2wd vehicles with empty trailers in the carpark. I don't recommend anybody try it without making their own assessment of the area first and of course launching a 12ft tinny is not the same as launching a 20ft fibreglass. I don't own a 2wd vehicle and my daughters Starlet isn't fitted with a towbar. By the way we used to beach launch at Arrowarra and Patonga in the Holden station wagon.

Council lists it as a one lane concrete ramp. Wyong Council Boat Ramps The image from Google Earth shows concrete at the top covered by sand for the rest of the way and a ute launching a jetski.

I was at Newcastle Fish Co-op last week and they had one of those only bigger for sale in with their other whole fish. I must admit I've never seen that before but who knows. I say that if you know how to prepare it most fish can be eaten quite well. While I love pan-fried flatties and snapper, I also eat Tailor, mullet, jackets and love it. I've tried Bonito done Italian style and it's OK. Aussie salmon is great if you smoke it or do patties. Striped tuna is like steak if you marinate it in some balsamic vinegar and herbs then do it on a hot barbie plate. I've got some shovelnose ray in the freezer from last flathead trip and it's good. Of course don't forget the good fish curry or fish in coconut. I've eaten Red Rocky, Sargeant Baker (very boney but good) and those slippery wrasse or Butcher's #$%^'s as they're otherwise known. I know some people like them but I'm not keen on sweep or Newcastle Bream but I'm certain someone's mother can turn them into something good. While at the coop there were a couple of blokes from our multi-cultural society buying up a whole heap of yakkas and my guess is they weren't destined for bait. Mind you I settled for a kilo of Blue-eyed Trevalla and $20.00 worth of Medium King Prawns. mmmmmm yummmmyy. I also grabbed a kilo of lollipop sized local fresh squid. Some I froze whole and some I only froze the heads and ate the tubes. The frozen stuff is kingy bait first chance I have to get out, hopefully tomorrow weather permitting. I once saw a hungry man try to eat a Galah while we were on a pig chasing expedition at Yetman near Goondiwindi. Very grey, very bad and very funny. Silly bugger couldn't shoot a duck.

The point is here, that you are dealing with A#$h0!e$, and there is no shortage of them, especially in heavily populated areas. The purpose of an a&s(-)0lE is to provide an outlet for $!-!i+, and we can all rest assured that they are doing an excellent job it. The evidence for this assumption is overwhelming almost everywhere you go. My front gate is exactly 1 big mac, 1 medium fries and a coke away from the nearest maccas. Must be since I pick up the pig's rubbish on a regular basis. Also 1 can of Woodstock away from the bottlo. Is there a noticible common characteristic to these overly relaxed sphincters? Yes, of course but you have to look hard to not see it. They either do or don't have a foreskin where their forehead should be.

3 summers back we had a similar experience while fishing in front of Crackneck. There was a very warm current pushing inshore and we had several bite-offs using live slimies, dead slimies, dead pillies and whole squid. About 6 in all from memory and they occured over a fairly short time on the surface, in mid-water while dropping down and from the bottom. Each one would have a big fast run then nothing, all gone with no real drag or weight put on them so there was obviously teeth involved. I have no idea of size as we never really got to feel the weight of them. We didn't have any wire on the boat at all. I feel that it was probably some type of mackeral but without landing one, who knows?

Di Costi's, but there a bit steep.

Your confusing "The Greens" political party with conservationists. "The Greens" are now also known as the watermelons as they appear green on the outside but are mosly Red on the inside. These are a mob of socialist lefties who have hoodwinked well-intentioned but gullible Australians into thinking that by voting for them they are actually doing something for the environment. They are a minor political group of crazies who now hold a whole lot of undeserved and misdirected clout. Nothing good has come out of Bob Brown since the Franklin River and his underlings are communists in poor disguise. Well, that's my view anyway. People who don't fish recreationally, still deserve the right to purchase and eat fish, but it need to come from a sustainable fishery or from aquaculture. Not from fragile ecosystems. How crazy is it to have your fishing licence dollars spent on restocking the river with juvenile fingerling jews a couple of years back and then have the commercial fleet drag them out? As for the reintroduction of Salmon netting for petfood, it needs to be very closely restricted to quotas and monitored if not stopped completely or this recovering fish will once again decline. Have we forgotten about the upcoming run of the Mullet and the annual capture of 10's of tons of fish right up the coast primarily for the removal and export of the roe to Japan. Some of the fillets will end up on the plate but not much. I have personally been affected by this and seen a productive Tailor fishing beach killed in 1 day when the beach netters take the mullet. Of course they work the beach for several days as the mullet keep arriving to school up but the Tailor disappear for months. I can tell when it's about to occur as the netters big cold store containers show up on the intersection of the hill road and the main road. They don't like taking them up the hairpins so they take the fish over to them instead.

It would appear form reading this that there was no chance of this shark surviving no matter what happened on the shore. If it was dragged to the shore on the hook after being fought to a standstill I would dare to say that it was probably stressed to the point of death anyway. This in no way excuses the appalling behaviour of the person who then clubbed it to death. People pleading for him to stop made no difference and was never going to, especially after the thing was beached and hit for the first time. It was dead. The idiot responsible should be prosecuted.

I've caught them on the western end of Pulbah, accidently I must say, and I've seen a guy drifting over the artificial ball reefs that run from Murrays Beach out towards the Island trying for them. I spoke to him and he had a few. GPS marks are easy to find online. The kids used to get buckets of them at night from the wharves at Pelican when my dad was in the Coastal Patrol. Probably a pretty closely guarded secret where the good productive areas are.

Roberta, you will be proud of my efforts. I read your post and took the young fella to the beach today, on the 3rd one we found good sand and away we went. I got a worm on my 4th hit. The young bloke is hooked and we have to meet the tide tomorrow. He swears he will outworm me and I don't doubt it. He went close today with his fingers as we only had one pair of pliers. One worm gave him 4 or 5 attempts with the pliers before disappearing. Great way to amuse kids in the holidays and potential bait to boot.

Don't let the AMA find out his identity. They'll de-register him and lock him up like Conrad Murray. I wonder if I should take some flathead fillets to my GP next time I go and perhaps swap some Blue Swimmer Crab for my hypertension meds at the chemist. You might be onto something here poacher.

Deepest hole is about 15 metres between Pulbah Island and Wangi Point. Pretty deep at the bridge as well but very fast running. Usually 8 - 10 metres with shallow banks.

A few years back, more than 3, maybe 4, there was a post on this site of a guy who actually copped his mates treble in the eyelid or eyebrow, cant remember now. He had to go to the hospital with the metal lure dangling like some kind of weird fishermans body piercing. Ouchy wah wah. You were very lucky to avoid serious injury there friend. Did your mate bulk bill or charge for a house call?

They can come right up to you and go past you gunwhale to gunwhale if the skipper thinks it's safe. Did you not know that they have the right of way in a known hawling ground?

Over the years I've hooked 3. 1 in Paddy's Channel and 2 in the Hot Water at Eraring. 1st one broke the tip off my rod. The hot water ones just came to the surface to let you know then bust you off.

Fishing Salts Bay is as good as anywhere. It's on the ocean side of the Swansea Bridge on the Southern bank. You go right out to the last breakwall then turn back in going around the exposed rocks with the big lead markers on them. It's only shallow water but if you burley up with a mix of bread, pollard (chook pellets), fish oil and smashed pillies and use cubed pillies and good prawns for bait, you will catch bream and trevally. I've had the fish eating the burley at the back of the boat and we could see them taking our bait while boats around us without burley were catching nothing. It is also worth throwing a whole pilly out on gang hooks as well as there are tailer, kings and other surface fish. Lure fishing produces bream and flatties in there as well. Most people who fish the lake know about the dropover which is where the shallow sand drops into deep water at the upstream end of the channel. Good luck.

Do you know what brand of hook that was? That is an unusual failure and it must have been faulty. That type of failure indicates either that it was already cracked or the metal was brittle due to poor heat treatment in manufacture. A hook should straighten out before it snaps like that. I only use Marutos or Mustads on game lures as that would make me want to cry. I once had a box of 4/0 gang hooks that were absolutely useless and cost me several fish before I threw them in the rubbish. The dollies up at FAD 14 off Swansea are still very small as well but they grow fast so it shouldn't be long. Weather permitting I'll try again tomorrow.

Frigates are great fun. I've seen the schools in the Haven at Terrigal and in Hat Head Creek provide endless entertainment for anglers and spectators. Don't they go once you have a little chrome in them. As for the locked gates, it is happening all too often unfortunately. The liberty of decent law abiding Australians is being deprived due to the moronic behaviour of a select minority of mindless hoodlums who act selfishly, illegally and without any social conscience along with the idiotic beaurocrats who decide the solution is to lock gates. I've had a rant about this before. Quite a few years back I drove for over 40 minutes to fish for Tailor at Pelicans (North end of The Entrance) arriving less than hour before sunset. I used to surf here all the time and there was no gates so I didn't even notice them as I drove in. Luckily for me as I was walking down the path with my gear a returning surfer told me that they lock the gates right back at the road. Other than me he was the only person there. I would have been locked in. You have to call a number if you have a phone, wait for the ranger to come and pay fee to be let out. The whole area around Soldiers Beach Surf Club past the developed streets has signs that inform of locked gates from 1 hour after sunset till daybreak. Munmorah State Recreation Park (now under NPWS) is locked at night, so if your camped in there and you have an accident or become ill you can't get out. As well as this under 18's are not permitted to camp without 1 adult per 4 minors. When we first got our licences we used to camp and surf at Birdie Beach, Frazer Park etc without any problems at all. 2 years ago my responsible 17 year old daughter and her friends (Duke of Edinburgh recipients) were not allowed in there even though I only live 25 minutes away and told the authorities I was prepared to accept responsibility. They found it was the same everywhere and ended up camping up in the Watagans, without problems I might add. These are mostly public areas belonging to you locked off to the public. Write a letter of complaint to your State and Federal Member and the local council. If you don't these places will stay locked and more will follow.