mattycoss

hi there so tried squidding down at lilli pilli bath last week, saw heaps of small arrows by the looks of it and one monster calamari - easily 50cm just it's main body - but by the time had rigged up it had long gone went back for another crack last night, didnt see any at all.......but when winding in had the surprise on my line of a 25cm fat cuttlefish...didnt put up a fight or anything so was quite surprised when i saw water and ink being squirted when my line got close i threw it back before we left because we didnt catch anything else so there wasnt much point in keeping just one - but i was just wondering as im still pretty inexperienced in squidding - are these a common by-catch? and more importantly, can they be eaten? and if so, how do you cook them? i know how with squid but ive got no idea with these guys.....they're pretty chunky though so i imagine the meat would be alright? also, is lilli pilli a good spot for squidding usually? or are there more reliable/productive land based spots around that you all know of and would be willing to share to a beginner trying to learn thanks in advance anyway, hope you all had a good weekend cheers

hey mate thanks heaps for that will give it a go in the next few days is it only at night that they're generallythere or?

thought that counts i dont care if i dont get one present im just looking forward to the day

thanks thats my question though...im a bit confused as to where bayview boat ramp is - is it this place next to the marina? or one of the boat ramps near the dog park (there are 2 or 3 thats whats got me confused)........also, do they even turn the light on at night if it is that wharf thing ive shown on here? thanks

hi all was just wondering if anyone could tell me some good places for squid in pittwater please...in particular im trying to find where in bayview is good - is it off the tiny wharf there at the marina next to the pool? or is it near the boat ramps at the dog park? or am i in completely the wrong spot? if someone could show me on google maps/earth it would be awesome thankyou very much

pics didnt work mate but sounds like a great day

that's really strange im glad to hear it cause i thought the place was a dud, every time id go there was at night and it was always packed but id never get anything........def going to give it a go at daytime after reading those posts then so thankyou but any idea why it fishes better during the day than at night? have never really heard of anywhere else that's 'on' during the day and 'off' during the night like that before anyway thanks and good luck fishing mate i did see a great bream being pulled up there at night once

a few obvious things that come to mind are if youre bleeding dont get in, if youve berleyed up water or there are heaps of baitfish around, dont get in..........if youre in the open ocean and suddenly theres a patch of warmer water, dont get in (not that you would be doing this with your activities).....but realistically there is nothing you can do mate - you are in their territory, and therefore taking the risk, there's no real way of sugarcoating it, nor should there be. the chance of getting killed on the way to the water, or even struck by lightning, is statistically greater than you being attacked by a shark though

hi all have just updated my tackle box with a whole heap of yo zuris and basically am hoping to catch my first squid........only one ive ever 'caught' so far sprayed the sh*t out of me with ink before swimming away haha..so now i want to eat it's friends keep trying almost every week but dont seem to be having a lot of luck/going to the right places if anyone knows any good squidding spots in the hawkesbury/pittwater/the entrance id greatly appreciate if you could please let me know, either by here or a pm thanks a lot

hey mate awesome photo first of all; never get sick of seeing the city like that but basically clifton gardens wharf where people talk about being landbased from is that wharf just above/next to where your red star is.......so if youve got a boat i guess anywhere around there's good the wharf in the 2nd photo im pretty sure you cannot access from land as its secured for the navy base or something good luck though im about to head to pittwater myself....hope you catch something

i think they should just ban commercial fishing in the area, basing it on common sense rather than statistics recreational fishos like us actually care about the environment and fish stocks, they dont. banning them seems the logical thing to do and would result in greater fish numbers i would think perhaps even decreasing bag limits for rec anglers just dont see why they have to extend the ban to us, its ridiculous and i dont think it will solve the problem at all it will just damage industry and lifestyle

ive caught a 40cm flathead on one once

hi all have only really been beach fishing once before, and that was on my standard spin outfit not really designed for the surf at all.....my main focus has mainly been estuaries/rivers/still water basically but now i have a proper surf rod and some 15lb line and would love to catch something decent.....have got the alvey 600 light surf model which im told is a good introduction rod for surf fishing and i wont be using it heaps anyway, but still hopefully as much as i can this summer..and got it for a good price so im happy and thankyou to everyone who offered me advice on here as to what rod to get too, helped me come to my decision basically though, im at a loss as to what to do to maximise the chances of getting something decent - i dont really know how to look for the gutter spots or anything like that, especially as itll be pretty dark as i get there around sunrise im thinking ill have this surf rod cast out with a pilchard or something going for hopefully a big flathead/salmon/jewfish or something? no idea........and then have my usual 6ft spin outfit just in the surf closer in as obviously cant cast as far going for bream/whiting/whatever else is around using some beach worm or something on normal long shank/baitholder hooks basically i could really use some advice as to what i should be doing with my surf rod/what kind of hook i should be using/bait/rig etc, how i should be berleying into the surf, and whether there are any good or bad beaches? im thinking mona vale as its the closest but if i go to narrabeen then i was thinking i could also perhaps put my crab trap in the lake there near the caravan park and hope for some blue swimmers as im assuming there wouldnt be mud crabs around there.....or arent blue swimmers really found up that far either? anyway thanks very much in advance and would love to hear from some of you soon cheers and have a good night matt

Know it's a bit presumptuous/arrogant; but would just like to nominate myself for the november fish of the month; or if entries are final for that, then perhaps the fish of 2008 for this whopper. toiled hard on soft plastics (gulp green pumpkin minnows) drifting palm beach (pittwater) for about 4 hours for this thumper snapper and thought it was a definite shoe-in for a win obviously caught and released.. but seriously....my mate and i have been trying pittwater out, palm beach and careel bay drifting with light line, light jigs (1/6 and 1/4 and even 1/8 all tried) without much luck at all - ive pulled up one flathead about a month ago while my mate has pulled up about 4, but basically were both young and fiarly new to boat fishing still and would love to find a place either in pittwater or the hawkesbury that produces rather than constantly coming back disappointed - dont get me wrong, still have an awesome time, but it would be nice to come back with a good haul now and then; even if only once, it'd be a great feeling. dont know what we're doing wrong; kept a constant trail of burley going, tried baits and lots of different types of soft plastics, jigging them like they show on the videos on youtube, use the lightest gear possible, and basically just never seem to get the fish to join the party.......left the crab traps out yesterday too without even any luck in there, which i was quite surprised at for pittwater basically targeting bread and butter fish - flathead/bream/whiting/snapper etc, as well as squid with the yozuri jigs..........i dont want to steal anyones secret spot or anything like that, but if anyone would be so kind as to please pm me or let me know where some reliable spots are (mainly sydney but also would be interested in places within a couple of hours' driving ie south coast - central coast); id be most appreciative and you'd really help create some awesome memories and stories that will be told and cherished quite literally for a lifetime...am taking a kid out fishing and want to have a better spot thats more likely to see him have some action than the places i seem to pick.......plus would like a few places to know for my own knowledge to get a nice feed every now and then figured we all love the sport here and know what a rush it is to catch your first fish and 'get hooked' on fishing, so if anyone could please help me out and help me become a better fisherman/help me get a kid interested in the sport and could please let me know where some good spots are, pittwater i guess would be easiest but by no means limited to there, i really would appreciate it and thankyou very much to anyone that can in advance hope you all had a good weekend and have a great summer of fishing coming up matt

hi all am looking at expanding my repertoire from estuaries to surf fishing and as a result feel like a bit of a beginner again am basically wondering what kind of equipment i need to get started - at the moment i have a 7ft 2 piece rod but im guessing it wouldnt really be sufficient for the surf conditions and am basically asking for any pointers possible at all please, as think itd be a great way to spend some time this summer thanks and hope to hear from some of you soon

pretty disappointed caught the sunset and fished for 4 hours; starting at narabeen lakes near the tidal entrance/caravan park and then ended up at palm beach (pittwater side) didnt catch a thing, neither did my mate, didnt even get a bite, part from one massive bream by the looks of it under the lights at the jetty that had one nibble, i missed the bite and it never returned all in all a pretty disappointing - landbased - outing for a full moon/rising tide; thought the conditions were going to be great for it, although it was pretty windy anyway hope some others caught something next time..

why kill a flathead that big; awesome catch dont get me wrong, but when they're that big they're not even supposed to taste like anything special and in my opinion would be way better off being allowed back in to breed and keep the numbers up just seems a waste good catch though, is an amazing fish

wherabouts? jigged for about an hour over the weedbeds on the pittwater side opposite the sand (between barrenjoey headland and the houses) in amongst all the ribbon weed; didnt even see one being followed could have been one of those days for squid but was surprised as there was no wind or anything

hi all thinking about throwing a line in tonight just wondering if the fishing is usually any good the nights leading up to full moon or whether its only on the full moon (tomorrow night apparenlty) that there's any noticeable difference (for the most part) thanks

hi all not trying to start an advertising thread or anything like that; just after so long fishing with bait i had an absolutely amazing outing the other day with these things and am just wondering what your experiences are with them/the gulp ones in a tub etc i mostly target flathead/whiting/bream with any other by-catches a pleasant bonus thanks

awesome thanks very much stayed up all night watching rex...brings back memories of being a kid awesome

hey guys so still a bit of an amateur i guess; even though ive been fishing for going on 20 years haha, but finally had an awesome day out on the water the other day where couldnt seem to do much wrong. perfect weather too; just a great way to spend a day first of all went out near the heads outside the hawkesbury river here in nsw; we were using light gear which im seriously looking at upgrading this week, caught quite a few large yellowtail and rock fish (cod/wrasse, not really sure).....all a good size and put up a good fight but didnt have much use for them so they went back to fight another day after not really catching any of the bread and butter fish we were after at that spot, even thoguh the fishing was great and almost non-stop; we motored across to pittwater and drifted around there. first of all over the weed beds hoping for some squid with the jigs but didnt have any luck at all; didnt even see any being followed; so went up towards the basin and drifted using these new berkley powerbait soft plastics; which id previously doubted but now doubt ill fish with anything else ever again...it was amazing the fish were going after them even when they werent being jigged ended up catching 4 large flathead between us (although only one was mine; but the 4 between us description sounds better haha); i got a PB of 40cm (considering my best effort before that was 20 odd cm i was pretty happy.....tasted great too) and my mate got 3, although lost 2 right at the boat......also had 5 or 6 large fish bust off which was disappointing and got to wonder what could have been if fishing with heavier line but its all part of the fun...lesson learnt for next time. ended up going home with one decent flathead each and all in all it was a great day's fishing hope everyone had a great weekend too and hopefully see some of you out on the water soon! matt

wherabotus in port hacking? i dont know the area too well but am thinking of hitting up the area (from land) tomorrow if the weather's good! thanks!

hi all very disappointing session down at (a very packed) balmoral wharf for what were supposed to be some fantastic fishing conditions - a full moon and a high tide a mate was using a squid jig and on his very first cast out hit a giant octopus which we brought up and gave to some others for bait and saw nothign else on the squid jigs for about an hour and a half. eventually gave up on them; changed over to a good old fashioned hook line and sinker and sent a prawn just down below the jetty there when i felt a massive thud and had what felt like the best hookup since elle macpherson only to bring it up and find it was a giant (40cm atleast) pufferfish which i swiftly cut the line with after taking a few photos which ill upload tomorrow all in all a pretty disappointing session - couple of kids further up caught a small octopus and some people were also catching yellowtail; a bloke up the end caught a 30cm dusky but all in all fairly disappointing. hope everyone else out there had better luck tongiht! cheers

do squid go off the bite with the rain or anything? cheers