smith

I've always wanted to learn how to fly fish and Royce was kind enough to give me a fly rod that he no longer used. All I had to do was buy a reel which also came with fly line and backing. Royce gave me a few lessons and tips on how to cast and with some practice I kinda got the hang of it. I have fished a couple of times with the fly rod for blackfish with Royce but they didn't want to play ball. Hopefully I'll get another crack at them soon.

I couldn't agree with you more Royce. How many times have we had to clean up other people's mess left on wharves before we could fish it. It doesn't take much effort to get a bucket of water and wash the area down. These fisho's that leave wharves in a disgraceful state have no respect for the patrons that use them. I would like to see their reaction if someone came along and cleaned fish on their kitchen table and then walked off and left it. We have a privilege to be allowed to fish these wharves but due to fisho's that want to leave these places in a mess and for the true fisho's that care about the environment our days could be numbered before action is taken by the governing authorities and ban fishing off all wharves. If this happens, all our top fishing spots are gone forever.

While sitting with Royce & chatting over a coffee at his place I mentioned to him that I had a feeling this was going to be a good day & what an insane session it turned out to be & you couldn't have asked for better conditions to fish in. For the first 2hrs before the top of the tide it was just havoc. The blackfish were nailing you soon as your bait hit the water & when Royce got his fist blackfish on a fly rod & his home made weed fly you couldn't get the smile of his face & I was standing there in astonishment. Royce said to me watch this as he cast his fly line out. Within a minute his indicator goes under & his is on to & ripper of a fish & was giving his fly rod a good workout but with one last ditch for freedom he busted Royce off on the rocks while I tried to net him. After watching Royce nailing these fish on a fly rod & weed fly I'm tempted now to learn how to fly fish. Scrubby

Thanks for the info Peter. Scrubby

Iv'e been looking to check out Narrabeen Lake for some blackfish action. I haven't fished there for years & just wondering are there any about at the moment. Scrubby

Picked up Luderick-Angler (Royce) to hit the harbour for some blackies. Though still hobling around on one leg after his recent stint in hospital Royce is still keen for a fish. You can't keep a good man down. We arrived at our chosen spot & burlied up. With in a few minutes we had the fish on the bite. Between myself & Royce we had 5 in the bag. A few good more fish were hooked but dropped during the fight. With the making tide the fish decided to go off the bite so we packed up & tried another couple of spots that would be out of the southerly wind but with no sucess. Royce had one more spot to try which he hadn't fished for a long time. We burlied up but got no downs. An old local guy came over to see how we were going & he said that no blackies has been caught here in over 7 months. Well that deflated us abit but we decided to give it another hour. More burly goes in then I started to get some timid downs. I managed to land a keeper & a throw back then it went quiet. As we had decided to call it a day, The remaining burly goes in & the rest of our weed is given to the old guy as he was going to try & give them a go the following day. A bit of weed was left as I had decided to have a couple of more drifts while Royce went off to chat to the guy as he washed the weed out to keep it moist. On my first drift I get hammered but loose it on a thrown hook. Rebait & start my drift & get hammered again & also loose it on a thrown hook. Royce returns & asks how I'm going I tell him I've been hammered twice by something big. Royce baits up & on his first drift gets hammered like I did, but this time the fish didn't throw the hook. This fish was giving Royce a fight & a half. After a 5 minute battle Royce had it beat & was netted. It was a thumper of a blackie, measuring over 43cm. When it was cleaned this fish was full of our remaining burly we had previously thrown in. With no more burly left to keep the fish interested & with what little weed we had left after giving it away we called it quits & headed back to Royce's place for a couple of beers. On the way there we had to laugh, boy did we prove that old guy wrong. Scrubby

The weed fly has saved my bacon a few times Roberta. But even using the weed fly you still have to burly to bring the blackies on the bite. I got them from Complete Angler at North Rocks but I don't know if they still have them. I got mine about 2yrs ago now. The ones your friend made using the green cellophane to look like cabbage are great & I can't see why it wouldn't catch fish. If you do get to try them out I'll be curious to find out how they went. Cheers Scrubby

Yeh Royce the pigs did give us a good going over. I never got a chance to break my new rock rod in on a blackie. Once them pigs hit you it was all over. I think both of us lost count on how many times we had to re-rig. It was a good decision to bring the estuary rods along just incase we had no luck off the rocks & we could hit the river. Them beers went down great back at your place & it was a good way to end a top day of fishing. Scrubby

With no weed about about in our local haunts after the recent heavy rains Luderick-Angler (Royce) & myself headed down to the rocks to get cabbage hoping this would work in the river where we were going to fish as the blackies usualy only take weed. After burlying heavy with our mixture of sand & scrapped up cabbage we slowly started to get some downs & hook ups. Later on I decided to put a weed fly on to see if the blackies would take it. After a couple of drifts I started to get some half hearted downs but missed the hook up. I then changed my style using the weed fly. Instead of letting the fish take the float right under & giving him time to take the bait as you normaly do using weed, soon as my float went under I was struck & started getting more hook ups. Our session ended with 11 fish. 7 taken on cabbage & 4 on the weed fly. Scrubby

Picked up Luderick-Angler (Royce) for our usual Sunday bash at the blackies. On our way through we also picked up a fellow raider Angus who had arranged with Royce to give blackfishing ago as he has never done it before & wanted to give it ago. We arrived at our spot & Royce showed Angus how to rig up on one of his rods that he lent Angus to use. A quick lesson in how to use a centre pin & he was ready. But the fish didn't want to play. After an hour with only one down we decided to move. Next spot we went to Royce picked up 2 then they decided to go off the bite. It wasn't looking good for Angus to pop his cherry on a blackie. On the move again & this one going to be our final spot. Angus throws in & with in 2 minutes his float disappears. Taking on previous advice given by Royce, Angus lets the blackie take abit more line then slowly takes up the slack abit then sets the hook. The rod just bends over & he's into a good fish. After playing the fish he is finaly netted, a solid fish going about 37cm. You could not get the smile off Angus's face, he was wrapped. I also had hooked up on a good fish the same time Angus did. A double hookup. Royce landed a couple of nice ones before a big jewie decided to check his bait out & grapped one of his leaders before busting off. All I could hear was Royce yelling out "did you see that mother". Royce said he has never seen anything like that happen in all of his years of fishing. Angus ended up getting snagged on one of his drifts & had to break the leader so I let him use my rod while I took a break. Angus landed another 2 good fish, he was on fire. The fish finaly went of the bite as the tide fell so we called it quits. 9 fish were caught on the day Angus got his first blackie, Royce had a run in with a jewie, ended up not being a bad day at all. Looks like Royce has converted another to the dark side of blackfishing. Scrubby

Picked up Luderick-Angler (Royce) Sunday morning got our weed & headed off to a spot where we picked up some nice blackies to weeks ago. But this time they didn't want to play. Although Royce dropped about 4 it was hard going even with the burly & it was along time between downs. While standing there watching my float & not getting a down for abit I turned away to talk to Royce & when I looked back my float has gone right under to a point where I couldn't see it. I set the hook & my new 10ft uglystick blackfish rod just bent over & I knew I was on to a good fish, After a good fight he was finaly netted, a solid fish that went 40cm. A couple more solid ones were landed then Royce hooks into a surgeon. This fish gave Royce & his rod a good workout before being netted. These fish are hard to hold as they usualy bust you off first go. The fishing died off not long after that so we pulled stumps & tried another spot on the last of the run out tide where we picked up another couple of good fish. In all we got 5 solid blackies & a surgeon. Scrubby

Nice couple of blackies there for your first go & you know,from now on you will be addicted for fishing for them & being a newy to the art of blackfishing there a few guys on here that will give you expert advice. Scrubby

Picked up Luderick-Angler on Sunday morning for a blackie session down at one of his favourite harbour spots. Got there just on sun up, burley went in & we waited & waited for a down. We perserevered for an hour with no luck. Decided to move around to the piers. Same story again, no downs. Over the last couple of weeks the blackies have realy dropped off. In 2 previous outings only 4 fish have been caught. Luderick-Angler (Royce) decided to give another place he knew a shot & we weren't disappointed. Within a couple of minutes of your float hitting the water we were getting hammered. While I was off getting some more weed,Royce had hooked a good blackie, then he yelled out to me to have a look at what was happening. While he was playing the fish, 4 kingies about 70cm long decided to come in & check his fish out. They harassed his fish but never attacked it, maybe it was to big for them. This happened another 3 more times when fish were hooked then they finaly left us alone. It was an experience Iv'e never seen before & now when I think of it I should have taken some pics. In our session 9 good fish were landed & another 5 were dropped. If it wasn't for Royce's knowledge of the harbour & where to find blackies we could have bummed out bad. Thanks again Royce for another good outing.

It wasn't a bad session at all Roberta & fishing with Luderick-Angler you learn a fair bit on the art of blackfishing. When he drops his float in the water the blackies they know they are beaten & just float to the surface Us newies to the art when fishing with Luderick-Angler always try to out do him in landing the first fish well luck was with me on Sunday & I got the first fish. But it's not only that, Luderick-angler (Royce) takes time to show anyone who wants to learn the art of blackfishing & maybe down the track I could pass on these skills I have learnt to someone else. As all blackies fishos know, its not just dropping a float in the water & hoping a fish will take the weed. It's the preparation prior to that,the right rod, well blanced float, the right line class, bait presentation & most of all, patience & when you have that down to pat then you can fish & when you have hooked your first blackie you are addicted for life. Scrubby

Started off Sunday morning looking for a session down at the piers, with Luderick-Angler his mate George & Slam 345 but were turned away as there was some kind of marathon going on & Hickson Rd was closed to all traffic. Well plan B was next, so we headed off to a place that would suit the run out tide & out off the south westerly wind. While the boys were setting up I had my first drift & got slammed by a good fish. After a good fight he was soon in the keeper bag. Bit of burly later & they were on again. All the boys picked up good fish in our session except for George who dropped a couple of nice ones. The fishing soon slowed up so we moved onto another spot to catch the run in tide. Started off slow, but then we started to get into them, Royce got slammed by a beauty but got busted off on the pylon. Slam 345 & myself picked up a few more nice ones. George got slammed a beauty, this fish didn't muck around with the float it just went straight under & caught George kinda off guard. This was a big fish, George had him to the surface for a split second before he got busted off. George & myself reckoned he would have went about 2lb. Another couple of good fish were landed before they decided to go off the bite. In all 14 fish were caught between us & it ended up not being a bad session when they were on the bite. Scrubby