Stippy

Thanks everyone, still pretty stoked. I decided I couldn't wait till Saturday so we cooked the fish up tonight. I let the chef (Mum) know that everyone was advising to fillet it but she steadfastly refused to 'ruin' it and preferred to bbq him whole. So jewie was left stew in his own juices wrapped in foil with all the assorted herbs, spices, lemon slices and olive oil. I have to give Mum credit, the meat just fell off the bone, was beautifully flavoured, very moist and we had plenty to feed the whole family plus a couple of extras (they must have heard mulloway was on the menu ) Pleasantly surprised how few bones the fish had. I wouldn't keep a fish any larger than this one though, it would be a shame to waste that lovely meat. Can't wait to get out and tussle with another, Adam.

Nice work Joco especially on light gear! My first jewie (of two ) was that size too, although I'm yet to take one on a lure. Congrats on the monster lizard too! Cheers, Adam.

Well Raiders, After running up a number of doughnuts I’d started to think that perhaps beach fishing wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so with this in mind I went down to Austinmer to collect weed in order to give blackfishing a try. Along with the weed I stumbled upon a number of large washed up cuttlefish and despite having sworn off beachfishing in the immediate future I couldn’t help but grab a couple for bait, already anticipating the cold nights without so much as a kelpfish to keep me on my toes. With all the rain and wind, the seas around Thirroul have been fairly choppy of late, and having exhausted my supply of surf sinkers I didn’t have an opportunity to test my new bait until I sourced some more. Well last night (Wednesday) it all came together. Barely a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky, just enough swell and a nice deep gutter right at my feet. I arrived around 9:30pm to find another bloke leaving. He told me he’d caught some salmon and a few small sharks so I was hopeful. After an hour in the one spot without any action I feared I’d missed out on the fun around the turn of the tide, but I wasn’t cold and so I decided to try another spot along the beach with more rocks. The cuttlefish strip was barely in the water 5 minutes before I notice my rod tip dancing, still I’m prone to confusing the ebb of the waves for a fish so I wasn’t expecting much when I ‘set the hook’... only this time I was on! I could immediately tell I had a good sized fish pinned with my 7/0 mustad, I gained some 10kg lo-stretch before the fish realised he was hooked and decided to go for a run to the rocks. Finally I’ve experienced the thrill of a screaming reel under strong drag for myself! At this point I still had no idea what it was, half expecting a shark after speaking to the fisho earlier. The battle lasted maybe 4 minutes, with some heart-stopping moments as I got the fish into shallower water and it made a break for the submerged pipes. For once my 11ft Spinfisher didn’t feel like overkill. When it washed ashore I couldn’t have been happier - a nice jewie, much bigger than my last effort! After letting the 50cm model go earlier this Winter, I decided this unlucky Spring jew will make a nice meal for the family on Saturday - I’ve never tasted mulloway before so I’m curious to see how it goes down. Perhaps inevitably I’m hooked on beach fishing again, next time I’ll drag a mate out so I can get some happy snaps with the angler. Apologies for the crappy point and shoot picture quality and the epic post but I had to tell someone. Getting closer to that magic metre mark! Adam.

Thanks Ray, Conditions at Thirroul looked brilliant for jewies, water was churned up from the rain and swell, very fishy looking gutter had formed near the pipes and here I am with nothing heavy enough to hold my bait out there I'll be ready for them next time

Brilliant... normal conditions would cover 90% of my beach fishing anyway. Thanks Rick, Adam.

Hey Guys, I've found a bloke selling cheap snapper leads in bulk 1 and 2 oz weights... I don't have much experience with this shape, would they give me enough hold off the beach in decent swell? He also sells pyramid sinkers but they're more expensive and harder to achieve distance. Thanks, Adam.

Keen. I've got a new outfit to blood as well; Abu Soron STX40 on a Team Daiwa Zero soon to be loaded with 15 pound Power Pro (I know I have a problem). Been reading about your Salmon escapades, what are you up to Thursday? Up for another trip to the RNP?

Well do we want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that I couldn't have asked for better weather - it was a positively balmy 17 degrees in Crookwell over the weekend (I was assured this was unusual for August) and no snow to be seen! The bad news is there were no fish caught; tried the waterworks Saturday morning only to arrive to sign warning against fishing due to blue-green algae. A woman at the information desk advised that a local fishing comp was postponed as a result of the bloom so I thought better not to risk it. Decided to head to Pejar dam, by this time the sun was high in the sky and I didn't fancy our chances. The dam had a few anglers about but no one seemed be getting bites. At one stage I was sure I was on only to find myself snagged up. Still all in good fun, next time I'd like to hit some faster moving sweetwater, perhaps in the Blue Mountains. Thanks again for the advice guys, next time I'll come up with the goods. Adam.

Thinking about tying some 15 pound to a chew toy and getting my dog to test the drag on my new abu.

Thanks mate, heading off today - weather isn't looking the best. I'd probably have more fun packing the snowboard and driving to Perisher! Apparently it's snowed in Crookwell the past 2 days! Admittedly it melts before it hits the ground but that is bloody cold! Going to be an interesting fishing session

Hey Guys, Planning on trekking down to Crookwell this weekend to visit the girlfriend, if I can squeeze in some time to fish that would be awesome. I have never fished the freshwater before but I'd like to give it a go, any info on where is a good spot to learn? I'd love to land a trout or murray cod but any fresh water fish would be great. I'll be using light spinning gear and I've got access to spinnerbaits and some little Rapala hardbodies, maybe even some shad plastics. I'll be fishing landbased, unless tinny/yak hire is cheap down there. More likely to be fishing lakes rather than rivers (I don't even know if the rivers are running down that way ) as I don't have waders, will this effect how I should work the lures? If I do manage to catch something I'll post up a report. Cheers, Adam.

Helpful as ever Slinky, I did try and search but that link just about covers it all. Hey Chris - I've spent a bit, but as luck would have it I seem to be collecting them free - picked up at least 3 now that have been floating on the surface, presumably after being bust off - hence the need for new hooks. I'm only going to get busier as the semester plows on so we should look at doing it sooner rather than later. I'm curious to see if those whiting in the Royal National Park are bigger now - maybe next weekend if you're free? Cheers, Adam.

I cooked up snapper using this recipe last night - very nice. Linky We used large red chillies in place of the green (not so spicy) and instead of grilling it we wrapped in foil and into the fan forced oven preheated to 160 degrees for about 20-25 minutes; check the flesh with a skewer. When I make it again I won't be adding the caster sugar - the sweetness of the chillies is enough. Cheers, Adam.

Hey guys, I have accumulated a bunch of quality lures with rusted trebles; I'd like to replace them with Owner trebles and give the lures a new lease on life. What size/model is best for sx40 sized bream lures? Do I need to replace the split rings at the same time (to prevent the new hooks rusting)? Also is anyone in the habit of crimping the barbs down on their lure trebles? I don't want to cause unnecessary damage to fish, undersized ones especially, but I don't really want to reduce my hookup rate. Cheers, Adam.

Good on them for trying, shame it didn't pull through in the end.

Thanks Slinky, I think you're right I'll just take my best crack at it and if things go pear shaped its an opportunity to buy more tackle I love fishing off the beach, if it costs me a reel every now and again that's a price I can live with - at least until I teach myself how to use an alvey. Cheers, Adam.

Hey Guys, I've got a little Sienna 2500 that I like to pull out when my girlfriend comes fishing with me, it is practically brand new so I was a little annoyed that she accidently dropped it on the beach and turned it into a Shimano schnitzel. I did my best to rinse the sand out but perhaps inevitably it feels grittier than it did before. I don't feel confident enough to pull it down myself but I'm trying to work out if it'd be worth having a professional strip it down for a service, reel only cost around $30 but the replacement value is probably more that (got it on special). So what do we think? Is it worth servicing or should I just put up with the gritty retrieve (I rarely use the reel myself anyway) - seemed to work fine catching a couple of small flathead off the beach after I rinsed it. If there is anyone around the Illawarra that is willing to show me the ropes of reel maintenance I would be happy to pay for your time, it would be money well spent. Cheers, Adam.

I'm going to go against the grain of this thread. I love surfing and wake boarding and statistically I'm faaaaaar more likely to break my neck doing either than being attacked by a bull shark or any other shark for that matter. I'm not denying that people get unlucky, but we don't hear calls to ban motorcycles, surfing or any other activity with obvious risk of injury. For some reason the shark attack triggers something in our subconscious and we think irrationally. I'm not suggesting you go for a backstroke with a t-bone in your speedos but if its a warm day I don't see the harm in swimming in a river, although even I wouldn't be keen to do it around dawn and dusk. If more dogs get taken than people (and again I'm skeptical) it's probably because dogs are much smaller than your average person and the shark figures it's in with a chance. My 2c, Adam.

Thanks Slinky! It was your positive wrap on your STX that got me thinking in the first place! Cheers, Adam.

Well my Soron STX40 arrived today and it feels and looks brilliant! Just about the only problem is that I'm now eyeing the STX60! Thank goodness the hasn't found this site just yet. For the moment the reel will accompany my 2-4kg Dropshot Diablo but eventually I would like to team it up with something more suitable. Seemed to have mixed reports on the Strudwick SikStick but I've also started considering the Snake Skin Sports (site doesn't seem to like the G word) - from what I've read people seem to think they're a nice rod for the money with good components and nice reel seats. Would I be better of with a Raider II for the same money? I'm just a bit concerned that the colours won't match Thanks for the advice everyone, Adam. P.S - One other strange thing is the box suggests that the reels capacity is 210 yards of 10lb test for mono and 125 yards of 10lb test for Fireline - shouldn't the capacity for braid be higher? I was actually hoping to put something like 15lb Fins on her.

Very nice.. the more I hear about these rods the more I want one for myself! Adam.

I'll be doing my best to get up there Fabes, would be awesome to hire out some yaks.

G'day guys, Once again I'm putting it to the forum for some advice before I splurge. I'm now the proud owner of an Abu Soron STX40 (per the other thread) so I'm looking for a rod to complement without breaking the bank. I can get the Strudwick for $118 or for that same money I can get the 4-7kg light snapper Raider. One benefit of the Raider is that it's two piece so it will fit in the car easier, also got a few inches on the Strudwick at 7'3" v 7'0. Planning on chasing rat kings and snapper land based; with live bait when I can get it but more often with soft placcys. Thanks ladies and gents, Adam. P.S I should really stop posting in this part of the forum - it invariably costs me money!

I'd been meaning to do a trip like this during uni holidays myself, glad that funnel web didn't set up shop in your sleeping bag! Cheers, Adam.

I've been looking at the Daiwa Luvias myself.. I've seen the 12-20lb rod for sale for $250 delivered. Its 7ft 1 and one piece and one very nice piece of kit.