Mr Squidy

Some top fish there, especially that spaniard. Well done, very jealous. Rich

Hi Mate The real trick to catching yakka's is to make sure you berly them up well. Try putting a whole loaf of bread straight in one of those green mesh fish keepers and dangle it in the water, give it a shake every now and then and this should put out enough to bring them around. Soaking it in Tuna oil to start will help. You can also use chicken layer pellets, old bait, cat food etc. Just make sure you keep a constant trail going out and you can bet they will show up in numbers. As for bait Yakka's will hit most things but generally you'll do better if you get something smelly and firm and keep the hooks small. Fish baits, chicken breast, prawns, etc will all work. You can also use those pre-packed sabiki jigs but the bigger yakkas will make a real mess of them. Hope that helps some. Rich

Hi Brooker Boy, I head down there at least once a week so know the spot pretty well. A few tips: 1. Get yourself a good quality jig, it makes a huge difference. Try a yamashita in around a 1.8 or 2.0 either orange or natural colours. 2. Dont get sucked into fishing to shallow unless you can see the squid on the surface. 3. Again, unless you can see the squid I find a slow retrive works best, just a slow lift then let it settle back to the bottom for a second or two, then lift again. 4. If its just not working dont be afraid to ask the guys there for some advice, most people that i've met down there are usually pretty friendly. 5. Avoid the full moon, this seems to give enough light that the squid can feed wherever they like in the river so dont get drawn in to the lights as much as at other times. 6. The first hour of darkness and the last hour before the lights go out are usually the most productive. 7. Lastly dont get frustrated, took me a good five or six visits when i first started down there a few years back to get it all figured out. Hope that helps. Cheers, Rich

Thats a $#!% way to end a trip Rich

Fisheries officers, What are they? I keep hearing about this rare species. Personally, after 20+ years of fishing the hacking and never having seen one i have come to the conculsion that they are simply a myth like yowies and bunyips. Also, well done on that cracking drummer in your previous post RnK, a fine fish. Rich

Missed a few steps: Kingfish -> Bread Crumb -> Frypan -> Happy Days!! And i'm sorry to say mii11x but that is pretty funny Rich

More top quality fish from Wacko, who'd have thought. You've certainly got them figured mate, well done. Rich

Brownish at that size your spot on with either a bull or bronzey.

Well done Raiders, we certainly cleared up the confusion on this one

I reckon most on here would consider your job to be about as glamorous as it gets if it gives you the chance at fish like that, top stuff. Rich

Hi Mate, If your heading outsied its not the rain that you need to worry about, its the wind and swell. Check out this link,Bom Wind/Waves, best forcast around from my experience. Also check seabreeze, etc. Keep in mind that when you read predictions they are often very general for the whole of Sydney, small storms can still hit only localised areas. In terms of safety alot depends on the size of yout boat and the skill/knowledge of your skipper. A few km out is far enough if you get stuck in the wrong weather in a small boat. I have a 4.5m fibre glass half cab and i only ever go out if conditions look perfect AND the prevailing weather system is stable. Please dont take offence but by the very nature of your question you really should do some more reaserch and gain some more experience if you are going to be the captain of a vessel heading offshore. Rich

Hi Pete, Reckon you'll get some great answers on this one. Mine would be about 10 years back. While fishing with my dad i caught an absolute cracker of a silver trevally, must have been around the 60cm mark and easily my PB. Dad netted the fish and we found the hook had been lodged quite deep causing the fish to bleed everywhere in the boat. While sitting back feeling warm and fuzzy about my new PB i watched in horror as my dad put his fingers right through its gills and reached over the side of the boat to wash the worst of the blood off it. Suffice to say the fish kicked, ripping its own throat out in the process, then sank to the bottom (my dad very nearly followed it). Now as much as that hurt, I could only imagine the heartbreak for the guy losing his 50lb Jew, thats the stuff of nightmares. Rich

Top Jew for the Hacking Yowie, well done. Rich

An Englishman, an Irishman and a South Afrikan walk into a bar at Aukland airport... Bring on the Kiwis!!! Rich

Hi Tom, I've taken rods to tassie a few times as my brother lives down there. Last flight with virgin i had two in four pieces and just tapped them together and put a little tape around the end guides, Virgin were happy to take them that way and they made it to Tassie with no damage. Now they were cheapies so not sure if its worth your risk or not but i suspect when they see them like that they take resonable care with how they pack them. Interestingly a few trips before with Deathstar i had my grandfathers old fly rod in a PVC carry case. At the other end i collected it to find that the PVC case had been completely buckled and the rod inside snapped in one location, must have taken a hell of a lot of force. Sure enough Jetstar refused to take any responsibility Surprisningly i have avoided flying with them ever since Rich

I have to say this is the best argument against the carbon tax i have seen Here's to hoping for a few more cobia and wahoo to start showing up round our way. Rich

You missed the quote from Tony originally in support of the tax. Yes they are all incompetent liars and we shouldn't pay much attention to what they say. BUT, when CSIRO and other politically unaligned research bodies tell you you're in the shit surely it’s time to listen? Your point on weather predictions really is irrelevant. Firstly they are generally much more accurate than people give them credit for, secondly picking long term overall trends is much simpler than predicting specific events. When they have predicted La Nina's or El nino events everyone happily listens and usually they are spot on, when they tell us the world is in trouble because of what we are doing to it everyone is up in arms because they are suggesting spending money. As for your last question, if i watch a car speeding towards a brick wall there is a point at which i'd be yelling "shit its not going to stop in time". At that point i cant say how fast it will hit, whether the driver will break in time to avoid being killed or how the car will stand up to the impact, i just know that its looking real scary and the driver sure as hell should hit the breaks. Unfortunately this is where the science is at right now, its hard to say exactly how bad it is and whether we can still stop in time, they just know its looking like its going to be messy. Again, picking a trend is easy, giving a specific answer is very tricky, especially when it all rests on what the rest of the world do as well. Further irrelevant of peoples thoughts on climate change we are already seeing changes to the oceans accidty levels (as already mentioned by Fishmaniac above). Surely as fisherman on this basis alone its something that needs to be addressed? Lastly Irrelevant of the intentions of the labour party in introducing this tax (i agree they are looking at it as another windfall in their budgeting) the effect will be 1, big business will look to reduce emissions to increase profits and 2. more money will be available to support the development and installation of less polluting technologies.

Great to hear. I can never understand why more companies dont take this sort of approach, at the end of the day a happy client is better advertising than money can buy. Rich

Guess I'll add my thoughts to the mix. I agree with alot of what fishmaniac has said but my query would be, sure we only emit about 2% of the worlds emissions but we make up only about 0.3% of the world’s population, this puts us at the top of the worst polluters list in terms of per capita emissions. Secondly we have the second highest standard of living in the world, so on the whole we aren’t really doing that badly. So my question is if not us, then who? How can we expect any other Country to take measures to reduce their impacts if we take that logic? As for point 4, you are spot on, BUT, the fact is no government would last two minutes making the necessary changes in anything other than a gradual manner. So I guess the question is, do we do nothing and accept that we are going to just keep buggering up the planet but will keep cheap electricity for a few more years or do we at least make a start and trying to turn things around. She’s certainly an interesting argument. Must say I for one can’t understand the level of vitriol around at what is effectively a tax on pollution, I really cant think of a better thing to tax. Rich

That hurts, hope they get the buggers slinky. Rich

My two favourite night time jigs are size 2 yamashita's one in orange with a glowing body and one in the natural gold. I reckon these two account for 90% of my squid and have time and again out squidded other jigs i or my mates have tried. For me Naturals are the only choice during daylight but will still match just about any other jig at night as well. Lastly, stick to the yamashita's, they are pricey but with out a doubt in my opinion they make the best jigs on the market. Rich

I've been fishing the hacking both boat and landbased for over 20 years, never yet seen one of these mythical beasts known as fishing inspectors down there. Only time i have ever encountered one was on a family trip to the Hawksbury about five years back. Considering what you see happening time and time again on our jetties i WISH they would show up in force but somehow i suspect they will remain as elusive as that 30kg Jew with my name on it. Rich

Epic.

Another tragic story, thoughts go to his family. Two years ago i started doing a bit of rock fishing myself and saw a number of instances like the one Josh talks about. At one stage i watched a guy, bent over, back to the ocean, collecting weed on a ledge that 5min before had been 5 foot under foaming water. I have better things to do than get into trouble trying to help people who get washed in due to their own stupidity but at the same time i dont think i could stand by and watch someone drown without taking some risks to try and help, especially as i am a very strong swimmer. Anyway, because of this i have now pretty much given up rock fishing as i just dont want to end up in that situation. Now, inspite of this i am still in favour of supporting reports that detail locations etc. Why? Because anyone that reads this site not only reads the location info but also reads the safety info and warnings. These deaths are all to often linked ignorance, in my opinion this site has a great opportunity to educate and inform and to take away this information will cause more harm than good. Rich

Hi Mick, Chris is spot on, its always tough fishing through the colder months. Last winter i fished hard all through for no Jew whilst my normal fishing companion hybernated, first trip that he re-joins me for and you guessed it, he nails one while i don't. Surfice to say this winter i took the hint and stayed warm cozy. By the look of your report though it might be about time to rug up and get back into it. Bring on summer. Rich