Canary05

That was a great reply, thanks Brickman!

I'll have a few days to try things out. Definitely want to hit some snapper, pearls, kings. If there's something I should definitely chase (ie pelagics) then I'm happy to hear about it.

I'm looking to head up to Crowdy Head for a few days in the next couple of weeks. I'll head offshore if weather permits. Any tips from fellow raiders, I've not been in the area before.

The Federal Gov't website lists the following sharks as endangered or otherwise: Critically endangered species Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) - East coast population Speartooth Shark (Glyphis glyphis) Endangered species Northern River Shark (Glyphis garricki) Vulnerable Grey Nurse Shark (Carcharias taurus) - West coast population Whale Shark (Rhincodon typhus) White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Dwarf Sawfish, Queensland Sawfish (Pristis clavata) Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis microdon) Green Sawfish, Dindagubba, Narrowsnout Sawfish (Pristis zijsron) This information is at this link: http://www.environme...species/sharks/ The NSW Department of Primary Industries does not specifically list the Port Jackson Shark in its bag and size limit table - http://www.dpi.nsw.g...sw-bag-and-size . It's also not listed in their list of endangered species. This means that a maximum daily bag limit of 20 applies. Not that I could imagine anyone keeping even one!

How do you tell the difference between a pike eel and the real thing?

Nice report mate, did you happen to give any fish away ? My mum said her neighbor gave her dolphin fish tonight and she cooked it up, could be a coincidence ? I also got out off Broken Bay on Saturday with mate Wodders, we were heading out to the FAD when I found my marine radio wasn't working. Decided it wasn't worth the risk given the wind was stronger than forecast and headed back in with only a 50cm flatty to account for the time. Disappointed to find that I've missed a chance to grab a dollie. We also got a mack tuna off Barrenjoey near the Valiant wreck. I did get a pretty cool pic of the fog coming out of the Hawkesbury and over Barrenjoey on the way out.

Super fish, I'm always impressed by good catches when the water is so dirty.

That's a great Bream, well done. Great to see the young kids fishing and not sitting in front of the PS3

I saw the whales too, made a nice bonus to what was a fairly pleasant days fishing anyway.

I was out fishing with a mate on Sunday in the same area from dawn, in a limited time fish we managed 5 legal flatties from 40 up to ~55cm drifting off Palm Beach and Bangalley headland, and a couple of tailor. Didn't have your luck with the snapper/trevally though.The flatties went down well on the barbie last night

I dream of catching Snapper of that size. Great work!

It comes down to the size of your boat as well. If you have a quick boat, then Apple Tree Bay (ie Bobbin Head) is a good, sheltered option. However, it's a long haul out if you don't have much speed (or limited fuel), in which case Parsley Bay would be your best bet. I'm from Hornsby Heights and I switch mainly between Mooney and Apple Tree, depending upon prevailing wind conditions (Mooney can be a total pain when the wind is up).

Sounds like great news!

Most important tip I can give you about Narooma is to get advice from the locals on handling the bar. It's one of the most dangerous in Australia, but does give great access to Montague.

Finally got out for a fish on Sunday. Had intended to take my wife with me, but she was crook so ended upgoing solo. Left The Ruins at Mooney Mooney at sparrows fart as usual, had a bit of a troll around Barrenjoey and out to the Valiant wreck without luck. Went to the Palm Beach reef spot and tried to anchor but got blown off, went back and tried again, thought I was holding as the guy I was anchored next to was still next to me, but a check on the sounder confirmed that we were both on the drift and off the reef. I was in at this stage anyway, and ended up pulling in a 55cm flathead I'd not tried the drift in that area, so I might have to do that again in future - it was better than losing kit on the reef anyway. The next 7 hours in several spots between Palm Beach down as far as Avalon I stopped and pretty much picked up a legal flatty each stop (I can only think of one drift I did without success, although I picked up a medium sarg baker for my troubles). Ended up with 10 take home flatties, most in the 45-50cm range, with two at 55cm and anopther at 52cm. Highlight was a triple hookup - all legal, pulled in a double on one line and just as I got them in the boat the second rod went off with the second 55cm flatty. All the flatties were caught out in 30-50m, away from the dirty water coming out of the Hawkesbury. 8 Sandy, 1 Dusky, and 1 Tiger (which was my first ever, glad I saw the fangs on it before I stuck my thumb in its mouth!). Water temp for those interested hovered around 16-17 degrees. Flathead meals for a week in my household FYI - there's currently no Fish cleaning table at the Ruins - it's being rebuilt.

I'm off to Darwin in early December on the local Neap tides for a 3 night live on board with a different company - the same one where I caught my PB spanish mackerel in my profile pic. I did the same trip (albeit 2 night) in July last year (hence the spaniard) and had an incredible time, even though we were at the end of the season. Really looking forward to it again, this time with my 15 year old son and my uncle in tow. One guy on the boat got a huge sailfish last trip, hoping to repeat the dosage with some liberal catches of Red Emperor, Black Jewfish, and Golden Trevally thrown in as well this time around. Great fishing, great food, greta pics, great time. Would recommend to any fisho (or I wouldn't be heading back there myself).

I watched with trepidation the last time I landed my boat as the seatbelt-type material on my winch slowly split as the boat crept up the trailer! Another turn or two and it was gone. Needless to say I've replaced it with decent winch rope now.

Has anyone had any luck offshore from Broken Bay recently? There hasn't been many posts in this area, and my last trip was haunted by leatherjackets and undersized flatties.

Great catch. I'm curious though - how safe is it in a boat out wide (or inside for that matter) in a lightning storm? I've generally bolted home at the first hint of any zap-zaps.

Got an unexpected break in my usual cricket weekend when the opposition forfeited last night, so I decided to head out given the weather looked like it would be pretty good in the morning. Being unprepared though, all I had bait-wise was a pair of salted striped tuna fillets that I'd caught last Sunday. Put in at Apple Tree Bay in nice settled conditions, and headed off to the reef just off Palm/Whale beaches - Trawleys? Anchored up, and settled down for (hopefully) some King action. I soon had a typical Kingy fight on my hands, and just as I landed it (undersized, back in the drink), my other line went off as well. This was a really heavy lump, had no idea. I was thinking a big flatty, and as it got toward the surface, the colour looked right. However, some flecks of purple and a big red spot didn't look right, and as I got it to the surface I realised I'd caught a rock cod - and a massive cuttlefish had decided to have a feed on it as well. I'm not sure how big they get, but this would have been close to a metre, evil looking and ugly. It let go as it hit the surface, leaving me with a chomped rock cod. Caught another couple of kings, both undersized and both swimming along nicely out these somewhere. They were all around the 60cm mark. The nearest boat to me was getting them too, but I'm not sure they were going back in the drink. I hope I'm wrong. Decided to up anchor at this point as the fish went off the bite, and trolled to my next mark off Kilcare. I was hoping to pick up some more Stripeys as I got a few last week trolling, but didn't even have a hit this time around. I was down to one fillet for my next stop. Anchored again at my Kilcare mark in 40m of water, and for the next 40-60 minutes, I had a ball! Fishing two lines, every time I pulled one in I had a fish on, and by the time I got it back in, the second line would be on. In this period, my score was 4 flathead in the 45-60cm range (which will be tonights dinner), and nice big girl flatty of 79cm (which I released - pictured with my size 13 foot), another undersized King, two big Sargeant Baker, a couple of rock cod, and a 20cm yakka. The yakka went straight back in as live bait, and within 5 minutes that rod went off as well. This was a much better fish, and I managed to get a brief glimpse of it before it busted me off - the wire trace broke at the clip - I think I saw a streak of yellow, so I think I lost a good King. Still, had a great time out there, and I'm looking forward to getting out there again.

That is a top fish, well done!

Always happy to hear of big flatties going back in the drink, well done!

Sea temp didn't get above 19.6deg. Water still the murky green after all the rains.

Finally managed to get the boat wet today, with low wind and swell forecast. Given the recent Raider reports of Kings and Bonito around North Head, I decided to put in at Roseville and have a crack around the harbour (and hoped I wouldn't get swamped by Oprah watchers in the process). Day started off poorly, left my phone recharger in the car, so not only did I not have mobile access, but it doubles as my GPS so it was back to dead reckoning for the day. The weather was very nice as predicted, hit the water at about 0540, sharing it with only a couple of other boaties and a bucketfull of rowers. Drove straight to the cliffs at the western end of North Head and put in a couple of lures and went for a troll. Got nothing on the inside of the harbour, but as soon as I rounded the Head I heard that sound we all like to hear, the whirring of a ratchet as one of my lines got hit. Pulled in a nice bonito, and no sooner did I start the boat going forward again the other rod went off for a bigger 1.2kg bonito. Deja vu as the first rod went off again as soon as I started going forward again (may have been a double hookup originally it was that quick). Things went quiet for a bit, so decided to troll out to some marks I have off Manly. Got another Bonnie on the way, another 1.2kg specimen. Tried bottom fishing at a couple of marks for a couple of hours with no success. By this time my iPhone was long dead, so I thought I'd tried to find the Port Jackson FAD using some land marks. Actually managed to find it despite the size of the thing (which surprised me, I thought it would be bigger). Got nothing on the troll, so tried a drift with the wind (which was coming from the SE so blowing me toward Long Reef). Had no luck for a while, but just as I was about to pull in and move, one line went off, and after a short fight I pulled in my first ever rubber lipped Morwong (we'd caught one on that rod before, but I let my daughter take it thinking it was a small fish - wrong!). 1.3kg on the scales, and should make a nice dinner. Pulled in a small but legal snapper a bit later, and my bottom fishing was over. Decided to head back toward the Curl Curl headland and troll back into the harbour along the coastline as the wind was starting to pick up, so got to Curl Curl as fast as I could in the conditions and started a troll with the same two rigs I had used earlier. I didn't even make it to the Freshwater headland before I'd taken another 4 bonito, at which point I figured I'd taken enough from the sea for the day and headed back to Roseville.

I saw the same phenomenon (the spiders) in July about 60km off the coast in Darwin.