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Assuming you are down Wollongong way? I haven't caught my first yet, but lost a few and seen others catch from the northern beaches in Wollongong. Corrimal beach wasn't too bad. Also for the past two years now there has been a few decent fish landed in the lake, across from the Bowling club down at Windang. Good luck

Another quick one, I always hear of a decent rock spot in North Sydney (or there abouts) does anyone have any ideas what suburb or area people are normally referring to?

Ye I consider La Perouse to not be a bad drive, and thanks for the precise directions. I will let you know once I get down there. Much appreciated.

Some real decent catches there, welldone.

Thanks for the quick responses. And yes, I am land based at the moment (just sold my boat). Haven't really had the time to try and explore deep waters off the rocks, I took a walk one day at Palm Beach while a work mate was chasing groper of the rocks there. Would be a big walk to do alone. I live in Homebush Bay, and never mind driving anywhere to fish but when I am alone I prefer the shorter drives. When I get the chance might drive down to La Perouse and check it out.

Since July 2013, I have made the somewhat permanent move to Sydney because of work. The only time I have managed to wet a line since was when I was visiting my brother down in Melbourne. Originally from Shellharbour, I was obsessed with targeting Bonito during summer using the skirted squid cast and retrieve technique that the locals around Port Kembla / Bass Point used. Through this forum in the past, I have given advice to fishermen from Sydney that made the trip down to Port Kembla on the weekends targeting Bonito. Surely there are some decent Bonito spots around Sydney? I know people are secretive about their spots, so dropping me a PM is fine or even pointing me in the general direction would be appreciated.

I think you're right. Thanks for the help.

Caught this off the rocks at Portland Victoria, no idea what it is.

Cheers

I was rock fishing at Portland VIC and kept catching these fish over and over. They look like Luderick, same shape, etc but they aren't 100% the same. Any ideas?

Thanks for the help And yes, I didn't bother taking it home as I guessed it tastes crap.

Thanks for the help guys. I just had a look at the two on google and they seem very similar in look, only difference I can see is in their head shape. The one I caught does look like an Eastern Kelpfish, and I did manage to catch lots of them. How do I easily tell a difference between the 2? Is it purely the head shape?

Caught this today off the rocks at Palm Beach, I am sure it's a common catch as I have come across it before but not sure what it's called.

Wow, never even heard of a Pennantfish but I guess judging from the filaments we might actually be looking at one.

I can comment on the Lateo Pirates as I recently picked one up, 11ft in the lighter range. Simply excellent rods, very good quality and very light to hold. Unfortunately I have only had time to fish with it once of the rocks but handled and landed a couple of Salmon with ease, thinking of buying the heavier model myself.

I was tossing up between the Sony and the GoPro, ended up going with the GoPro Black. Excellent device but unfortunately the worst battery life ever. Chris is also right about the price, the Sony was cheaper and every time my battery runs out I hate myself for not going with the Sony.

Never thought I would see this fish down this way.

Hi Gilbey, I am somewhat obsessed with spinning for them off the rocks, and in my experience I have found that to some extent they are actually present almost all year round. Very very slow in the 2nd half of the year until the water starts warming up again. If you are spinning I would dare say the summer month are the best (never caught them on lure May-Nov), but if you are using bait like I said I have caught them in winter. I usually fish for them from Bass Point or Port Kembla but from next week I will be full time living in Sydney so need to get my way around the Sydney fishing spots.

Thanks for the tips manhands, I only took home the fillets without getting into the stomach area so no need to scrape the lining as it was tossed out with the carcass. Would also love to come out off Shellharbour with you some time (obviously paying for my share ), recently sold my boat. I will PM in the near future. Thanks again... Thanks hawkesbass, it was definitely not my style of fishing but nevertheless I love all types of fishing and will definitely be trying again (hopefully on the weekend). Thanks for the tip on the berley, I didn't get a chance at all to berley this time round but others did.

I normally do fry almost anything outside, this was pan fried so the chance of frying it outside wasn't really there. Thanks anyway, maybe next time I will try it deep fried and see how that taste is also.

So I have finally landed my first legal catch while intentionally targeting them. Thanks to this forum, I have been able to obtain the information i needed to finally have a decent attempt at targeting blackfish. For weeks now I have been ready to fish for them but simply couldn't get my hands on greenweed especially after Dean's B&T had shutdown. A few locals would tell me about all these random places to collect the weed but when I got there I couldn't find any weed, especially floating on the water as I was told. I finally managed to find weed growing sparsely off the rocks and after a good 40 mins I was able to collect a handful. Got onto my first legal blackfish on Saturday, and lost a few. On Sunday I was only fishing for 20mins and managed 2 legal fish and threw back under 2 undersized. All caught in Lake Illawarra opposite the bowling club. Great fun on light tackle. I filleted them based on the advise that it should taste nice, and it really did. However as it hit the pan, the smell was quiet strong throughout the house. I am being told I should have skinned them to eliminate the smell, is this true? Again, I really appreciate some of the advice given on these forums.

Good luck and let us know how you go

Ok, I just checked Google Maps to try and re-trace my steps. I am fairly sure that I am referring to the carpark at Beach Road (So beach road will be to the right and you just turn left). Good Luck

I mainly fished the Northern side of the beach. So I would basically drive over the bridge, and then you will yourself on this straight road. Then I think from memory it was the 2nd carpark on the left, it really has been sometime now so I can't remember too well. But as you travel along 7 miles beach you will have all those carparks on the left. Sorry for my vague memory, but hope it helps.

Hey Mat, Beach fishing at the start can be a little bit frustrating until you get the hang of it, but once you do is really enjoyable. Depends really on what you are targeting at the beach? Salmon is usually a common catch found at most (if not all) beaches, not the best to eat but great fun to catch. Everyone has their different methods but I use a simple Paternoster rig with a star sinker at the bottom. Below is an image I quickly google'd for you, and it's roughly what I use. Gang hooks or even single hooks will work, and I usually use anything from 1/2 a pilchard to a full pilchard. (Common problem with Pilchards tho as you may know is how they go soggy and fall off the hook). As for the location, I have had regular success from 7-miles beach. It's further south of Werri Beach, after passing the Golf Course on the left and then go over the bridge. I have been lazy lately to beach fish that far south (I was living in Shellharbour till 2 weeks ago) so regularly went to Bombo beach, just before Kiama. Most important thing about Beach fishing is to make sure you have found a gutter (something I failed at when I first got introduced to beach fishing). Let me know if I can assist further, and hope you have some success.