Yowie

Yakkas will swarm up to the boat during darkness, and swim into water of shallow depths during the night if you burley them up (less than 2 metres deep) Many years ago I fished out off Cronulla a few times around one of the reefs, in a neighbours large boat. He would turn on the light over the water, throw out burley and the water would come alive with yakkas, slimies and on the edge of the light I could see quite a few small sharks, looked like whalers. Just out of range of the light were tailor. Plenty of fish to catch, but the sharks were harder to catch as they did not hook up, they just seemed interested in the burley. Probably fish underneath that lot, but the floating baits did not sink very far before being eaten.

Looks like one of the fusilier family, your call Blackfish.

Donna and Stewy, and the mods, thank you very much for running this forum, a great effort by you all. I will keep fishing in Port Hacking (getting nearer to 60 years fishing here now), and other places when the caravan is taking us about the country. Dave.

What are you complaining about Finin, apart from those stinking mowies? Blue spots to 75, big fat fillets off those big mothers. I have found a couple of sand eels in the blue spots before, also a few very small box fish amongst other odds and ends. Couple of kingies to round it off. As for the rain, and wind, and swell, should be better weather this time of year !

Nice feed of flatties - you can keep the mowies.

Great work on a great fish in not too easy circumstances.

Nice feed of reddies, with some good bait for later outings.

I have 1 or 2 meals a week ( the wife is happy with shop bought fish cooked in batter ) so I have to try different recipes. I am from a fish eating family who don't care too much for new recipes, so family cop a few feeds, and occasionally friends.

That's the problem with the swell. Need it up for a body surf at Wanda, but not much swell for a fish outside.

Run up tide so the water was clear around the mouth. With the cloud the squid were in the shallow water, nothing out deep.

Thanks Dave. Many years ago (mid to late 1960's) an old fisho showed me how to make a squid jig, nothing like these fancy things of today that cost a bit of money. A piece of cane about 6 inches long, less than half an inch thick. Soak it in water for a few days. Drill a small hole near one end and tie half a dozen small long shank hooks on the other end with the points sticking out. Wrap some alfoil around it a few times then wrap some fishing line around it to hold the foil on. Thread your line though the hole to tie it on, then throw it out and jig it like we do today. Caught plenty of squid on those jigs. I still have a couple of Wonder Wobbler lures left, a couple are rusted badly but one has never been in the water, still shiny silver. Might see if I can sell it for a fortune. Caught more things on a Wonder Wobbler than I can remember. Dave.

Jim, You were at Bonnievale and you did not have a fish? What's wrong with you? Should be a few whiting or flatties about over the flats. Spoke to a bloke a few weeks ago, he sometimes moves up towards the foot bridge on the last of the run-up using nippers. Dave.

I'm retired, and still have plenty of things to do, but fishing rates near the top.

Still a bit murky up river, don't know if the squid are there but a good chance they could be around now.

In my younger days I fished more in the late afternoon into the evening, probably still a good time to give it a go. Now I wake up early, get out before too many lunatics speed past, then head home for a snooze in the arvo. Not as much wind in the mornings. As for the book, probably not.

Autumn is the best time. During late winter and early spring, it is a different story, not much at all.

A good feed there, and not much swell to bump the boat around - will be different tomorrow with the wind picking up.

Headed out early this morning out from Lilli Pilli. Calm conditions and cloudy. Still some colour in the water. Caught the tailor and mack tuna on pillies while still fairly dark. After they stopped biting, I put out the yakka line, no yakkas but the trevally turned up. One bigger one busted the hook off. The flounder took a fish strip, hooks in the gills so I kept it, otherwise it was going back in. A few small fish zipping about, appeared to be small frigates, but no takes on the lure. My supply of frozen squid is zero, so I headed to Salmon Haul Bay in the mouth of the Hacking and found a few. All squid were in close to the rocks in shallow water, and not much swell there at the moment. Used a rather old white jig that was falling apart from age, but it worked. Eventually snagged up and broke off trying to retrieve it, so headed home. Another fisho was jigging from the rocky shoreline and pulled out 2 squid on a red jig. I like a feed of squid, but need them all to be frozen as bait. Maybe another day will find a feed.

Nice feed of fish, good luck on the recovery. Is that a Raider record on the number of sticky bits stuck on your chest and abdomen?

Shotgun for the sharks ??? Very hard to avoid when there is a free feed waiting for them. Good work getting that wahoo on board, nice fish.

Maybe one day (along with a number of others)

Thanks Krispy, the reddies tasted rather good.

Thank you guys, a few nice feeds had from that lot.

You will need to cover the pond with netting, cormorants will be the worst pest, and egrets will also be fairly bad as well. Eels can find their way to your pond if not already there. On a rainy night, if there are any eels in another pond or creek, the eels will swim over land and find their way into a new dam or pond. To get rid of eels, hook up a heavy line with a large hook and a bit of meat, the eels will eat the bait and you can haul them out of the pond and kill them. (eat them if you want to)

As Matt stated, dropping fish onto the dirt or sand to take a photo, then letting them go, is not good as it damages the slime and scales of the fish - nets don't help either, but knotless ones are better at reducing damage. As for the larger fish of many species, there is no other way of landing them other than in a net. If you are experienced, you can grab a flattie under the head (practice with a dead one to find the correct hold). I have grabbed them up to 60cm from the water (that size needed a bit of caution) but as for the big mothers, would not recommend it. The smaller ones are easier as they don't have a big head to swing about.