mrmoshe

I use a 650 off the beach and use one of THESE to eliminate the line twist. They work pretty well, but you will still get line twist if using whole pillies on gangs etc as they tend to spin a lot in the water. Don't know if they are still making them, but I stocked up a while back. Cheers, Pete

I had a beach session on Tuesday at Sth Narra beach for a donut. Water was gin clear on the high tide and no gutters to speak of. Packed up, got some poddies and waded the lake for one lousy tailor. Gin clear again and no fish at all on the flats. Very disappointing. Might be a few more weeks before it fishes better. Pete

These guys have bolt cutters for teeth! Humphead Parrot Fish. (courtesy BBC) Don't fancy being the last one in the school though.

It's a Michael Jackson fish!

Here are the nuts and bolts of the election promise from the Libs. Liberals Marine Parks

Some blokes just can't get enough fishing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKlucE-5nIM

Angels to the rescue when fishers' lives on the rocks RECREATIONAL fishers have welcomed government measures to improve safety for rock fishermen at the same time as a partial ban on fishing on harbour wharves has been declared. After 15 rock fishing deaths in NSW in the past year, $90,000 will be spent installing 40 ''angel rings'' or life buoys and multilingual safety signs at popular fishing spots. Several will be installed at black spots in the Royal National Park and Sutherland Shire, which ranks as the state's third highest local government area for rock fishing fatalities, a spokesman for the Minister for Primary Industries, Steve Whan, said. Each device costs almost $2000 to install, and about half will be GPS-enabled at a cost of an extra $500 each. The rings issue an electronic warning if the device is tampered with, stolen or used in a rescue. The signs will be in English, Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin and Vietnamese. A safety education program will also run in ethnic media. The spokesman said the installation of more life buoys was not tacit encouragement of rock fishing, but a practical measure to improve safety in tandem with education campaigns. There are 108 angel rings along the coast. Meanwhile, the Minister for Ports and Waterways, Paul McLeay, and Drummoyne MP Angela D'Amore announced yesterday a partial ban on fishing from four harbour wharves where there has been conflict between fishers and commuters. Fishing is now banned at Abbotsford, Cabarita, Chiswick and Kissing Point wharves at peak commuter times between 5am and 10am, and to enable access for cleaning. The chairman of the NSW Recreational Fishing Alliance, Malcolm Poole, said the ban was a workable compromise between the interests of fishers, commuters and others. ''It could have been all 49 harbour wharves where that ban was applied, but … we negotiated back to that position,'' he said. ''This is a trial to see how we can get co-operation going and to try to encourage fishers to do the right thing, or there's every chance they could lose [the right to fish from the wharves].'' The ban is backed by a $250 fine, enforceable by police and NSW Maritime officials. The mayor of Canada Bay, Angelo Tsirekas, said he had hoped for a total fishing ban on the ferry wharves. ''I've certainly got some doubts whether it's going to totally solve the problem but this initial step is, I suppose, a start,'' Cr Tsirekas said. ''My concern is that the impact of these restrictions won't totally rid the wharves of the problems of the antisocial behaviour, and the problems that fishermen are leaving for commuters.''

Does the Hawkesbury have a Loch Ness-style monster of its own? Imagine a monster living on the borders of the upper north shore. An aquatic beast which lurks in the depths of the Hawkesbury River. A creature related to the Loch Ness monster. For cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy, the fledgling legend of the Hawkesbury River Monster is real and he’s determined to prove it. Since 1965, he and his wife Heather have been gathering information on a creature he believed still lives in our major waterway, or once did. After years of ``patience, field trips and stake-outs’’ along the shores of the river, Mr Gilroy, who is also known for his research on the Blue Mountains Panther, hopes to finally obtain photographic evidence. ``Sooner or later, I’m hoping to get the shot of shots,’’ Mr Gilroy told the Advocate. The Gilroys say they have compiled hundreds of sightings reports. ``They tend to be seen around (Mooney Mooney and Long Island),’’ Mr Gilroy said. ``There are stories of houseboats being lifted up at one end when something underneath tried to surface over at Jerusalem Bay. ``A lot of the inlets here have stories.’’ The most recent sighting was by fishermen near Wisemen’s Ferry, in March. ``(One of them) momentarily saw a serpentine head and about 2m of long neck rise above the water before submerging,’’ Mr Gilroy said. He also referred to a sighting by Rosemary Turner in 1975, who reported a monster swimming upstream from a lookout at Muogamarra Nature Reserve. Robert Jones, a palaeontologist from the Australian Museum, said that as far as science is concerned, the existence of the Hawkesbury River Monster has never been proven. ``It’s impossible for them to live in the Hawkesbury River; they just don’t exist,’’ he said. But according to Mr Gilroy, the monster is part of Aboriginal folklore, with stories of women and children being attacked by the ``moolyewonk’’ or ``mirreeular’’ both indigenous names. They also feature in ancient rock art on the banks of the river. ``There’s got to be something to it,’’ Mr Gilroy said. Descriptions of the Hawkesbury River Monster liken it to the prehistoric plesiosaur, an aquatic dinosaur 70 million years extinct. The Loch Ness monster is also said to be related to the same extinct creature. How the Nessie myth is similar to our own. Mr Jones said plesiosaurs did exist in Australia, but ther was no evidence of them inhabiting the Hawkesbury River. However both Mr Gilroy and Mr Jones describe the aquatic dinosaur as grey and mottled in colour, with a large bulky body, two sets of paddle-like flippers, a long neck and serpent-like head and thick, eel-like tail. Sighting reports describe it as about 24m long. Mr Jones said the plesiosaur grew up to 10m long. Mr Gilroy said he and his field assistant Greg Foster may have sighted the creature last August, from a high bank near Wiseman’s Ferry. They described seeing a dark, bulky shape with a long neck about a metre from the surface. Its movements caused surface disturbance which appeared to suggest a marine creature with two sets of flippers and a tail, Mr Gilroy said. ``It was encouraging,’’ he said. ``I’m hopeful that I’m going to get some sort of evidence that satisfies me ... and when I’ve got that, I will be pleased to put it on the desk of some scientist and say `well there you are!’’’

Boaties furious about tinny tax cash grab The NSW Government has been accused of a cash grab over a new tax on all boat users to fund marine rescue services that don't cover large areas of the state. Boat owners are furious that all 450,000 NSW licence holders will be hit with the levy regardless of whether they use coastal waterways covered by the newly formed Marine Rescue NSW or inland waterways such as the Murray and Nepean rivers and Snowy Mountains dams that have no volunteer rescue services. Boat licences will rise from $43 to $50.50 a year as a result of the levy and registering ''tinnies'' - boats shorter than six metres, which make up 92 per cent of all water craft in NSW - will rise from $92 to $99.50 if the plan by Ports Minister Paul McLeay is adopted. The new charges will raise more than $6 million a year in extra revenue for NSW Treasury. The Boat Owners' Association of NSW (BOA) is concerned that not all of the money will fund rescue operations. Marine Rescue and its 2500 members currently survive on $1.4 million in funding from the state government. BOA president Michael Chapman said boat owners should not be forced to pay extra until Marine Rescue NSW has had its membership and operating model brought up to the standard of successful organisations such as the Surf Lifesaving Service or the Rural Fire Service. Marine Rescue, which is the amalgamation of three volunteer rescue services, has an ageing membership and few plans to transform itself. ''The model [for the levy] is based on false premises, it hasn't been well thought out. It's like the state government taking over NRMA but only serving vehicles in coastal areas,'' Mr Chapman said. ''It's too early, there's no transparency and no accountability. There's only one reason it's being pushed through so early: money.'' Cardiff resident George Hopkins, who fishes from his 3.6-metre tinny on Lake Macquarie every weekend, said the new levy was more ''money grubbing'' by the state government. ''In my experience, if there's any trouble the MSB will give you a tow. This is just another tax right when electricity and everything else is going up,'' he said. Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner said boaties should make their voices heard. ''Whether it's the monstrous tax on car registrations, the sneaky new tax on home buyers or the skyrocketing power prices, people are sick of having to foot the bill for state Labor's failures,'' Mr Stoner said.

Hmmmm...maybe not!

G'day David, That hole in the alby looks like it's been hit by a CookieCutter Shark

In memory of my Dad who served in WWII Service number: VX114045 He would have been 90 years old this year. And my Mum who also served in WWII: Service Number: NF466489 She would have been 86 this year. Lest We Forget. ps: If you want to look for your relative's service records: Try Here

Restaurateur can’t serve fish he caught HE may have caught the largest mulloway ever landed in Narrabeen Lagoon but Limani’s Seafood Restaurant owner Peter Kritsotakis isn’t allowed to sell the fine catch in his own restaurant on the lagoon’s edge. Despite the 18kg mulloway being as fresh as could be, the law says he can only sell fish bought from licensed fish suppliers. “It’s fresher than anything I could get from a supplier but that’s the law,” Mr Kritsotakis said. Instead the giant mulloway, also known as jewfish, has been cut into about 50 fillets and given to family, friends and staff. And despite the disappointment of not being able to sell the fish in his own restaurant within sight and sound of where it was caught, there’s no hiding Mr Kritsotakis’s pride in the monster catch. The giant mulloway was landed on Easter Monday using small fillets of tailor he caught the previous night. And he said he was lucky - he used a 15-pound line to land the 18kg fish. “There were about 30 or 40 people crowding around when I landed it,” Mr Kritsotakis said. “They were clapping and so on, although at first a few people thought it was plastic.” Narrabeen Bait and Tackle owner Mark Ternen said the catch was “an exceptional fish and by far the biggest caught from the lake this season”. Debbie Taranto, who was picnicking nearby with her family, said that when the bell on Mr Kritsotakis’s rod rang, they went to watch. “We knew there was something big but didn’t know what it was,” she said. “It took Peter about 15 minutes to land it. By that time, a decent crowd had gathered and cheered him when he finally pulled it in. “Once he had caught it, more and more people came to have a look and congratulate him on his catch.” Mr Kritsotakis said he got the bug five years ago when he was fishing with a friend who landed a 35kg mulloway in the Hawkesbury. “I’ve been trying to catch a fish like this for a couple of years,” he said. Peter Kritsotakis with the giant mulloway he caught in Narrabeen Lagoon on Easter Monday

Torch light led brave officers to unconscious fisherman Two policemen dived into turbulent seas in the dark to try to save a fisherman swept off a rock by a wave. Despite their 40-minute "extremely gutsy" actions at Fisherman's Beach, Port Kembla, south of Wollongong on Sunday night, the fisherman died after he was taken to shore by a helicopter. Leading Senior Constable Jason Bentley and Senior Constable Jeff Sheppeard, who had responded to a triple-0 call from the beach, will now be recommended for bravery awards. The 43-year-old fisherman had been wearing a head torch and that was what the two officers saw glowing under water about 50 metres out from the rocks, Inspector Ron Davis of Lake Illawarra Command said. "And that's when they stripped down, took the angel rings ... and jumped into what was very turbulent seas in an attempt to save the fisherman." In pitch-black conditions, the officers, who have each worked for the police for about a decade, swam towards the torchlight, battling cold and churning waters. When they reached the light, they found only the torch and not the fisherman. They spotted him floating unconscious nearby and worked together to keep his head above water until the rescue helicopter winched him up and onto Hill 60, a lookout point nearby. There, other police officers performed CPR until paramedics arrived. The two remained in the water until they were also winched to safety 40 minutes after taking the plunge. They were taken to Wollongong Hospital and released soon after. Neither Leading Senior Constable Bentley, a highway patrol officer, nor Senior Constable Sheppeard, a general duties officer at Lake Illawarra Local Area Command, had special rescue training, Inspector Davis said. "They're definitely not trained for that sort of action. That's the action they took upon themselves, given the circumstances," he said. "Their actions on the night have been viewed as extremely gutsy and brave and there will be [recommendations] to acknowledge their brave efforts," Inspector Davis said. Two other men died in separate drownings at NSW beaches over the Easter weekend. Yesterday afternoon, a 36-year-old man drowned after he and his son, 12, were caught in a rip at The Reef near Mollymook Beach on the NSW south coast. The son swam back to shore, but his father did not. Lifesavers found him shortly after and he was brought to Milton Hospital where he was declared dead, police said. A 59-year-old British tourist died after he and his wife were reported missing by his grandchild at Elouera Beach, near Cronulla in Sydney's south about 6.45pm yesterday. Police said the pair were pulled from the surf, but the grandfather could not be resuscitated.

The flatties are few & far between at the moment. I went down late this morning to target some lizards on the runout and didn't even pick up one. Decided to cut my losses and target the breambos on the flats instead and they didn't dissapoint. Lots of undersize blokes but the occasional good sized bream. Boy they go hard in the shallows! Kept the best two for dinner. Biggest one went 38cm. Water looked beautiful this morning although lots of floating weed going past from all the boats on the lake I suppose. All fish on live poddies again. Cheers, Pete.

You could try Billarong reserve (off the Wakehurst Pkwy) where there is a sand boat ramp..often holds flatties...still have to wade, but it's only knee deep there. Otherwise, try Pipeclay Point (again, knee deep)and cast out past the weedbeds..bream & flatties. A bit of a hike to get there, but often worth the walk. Alternatively, give Wimbledon Ave a shot (either side of the kids playground)where you can fish from the bank. Cheers, Pete.

I find it's the coloured water they need to hunt. When the tide is running in and a lot clearer, they go off the bite, so the runout always seems to fish better. I'd say the big girls have headed back up in the body of the lake now as the only ones still in the bottom bit are a lot smaller, but still there. By the way, the lake is open at the moment, or was today anyway. Some stonker whiting were cruising the shallows today, but they are so timid, you can't entice them even using live nippers...they just sniff at it and bolt. If you can time the last of the runout with sunset, you'll be into them as they feed on dusk. Might have to chase those big flatties up the back from now on I feel. Pete.

Dropped down at dawn to see what's about and it was fairly quiet again. Just 3 just sized flatties and a couple of underweight bream I'm afraid. All returned. The water temp. has dropped somewhat and I think the big girls have headed back up to the back of the lake. Just as I was packing up..the old "one last cast" and whammo! This nice 39cm bream took a liking to a live poddie on the flats, so he got an invite to lunch today. Cheers, Pete.

I went yesterday arvo about 2pm for 2 flatties, 4 bream, 4 tailor and one stinking long tom that had a go at me ..geez they are cranky buggers!..all on live poddies. Nothing to write home about as they were all only just legals. No big old girls out and about unfortunately. All a bit quiet really and the early mornings fish a whole lot better on a run out tide. You could try Pipeclay point as I've heard of a few nice fish landed there lately. A bit of a hike if you are landbased though. All yesterday's fish returned to grow some more. Cheers, Pete. edit:Matter of fact..I'm going to hit the lake early tomorrow morning...barometer just right and tide the same..wooohoo!

G'day Duncs, Bad luck on no flatties last weekend. One thing I have found is that a runout tide and barometer near 1020 or above really turns them on. The runout is a lot better as the water is a little more coloured and gives flatties the edge when they are feeding. The run in is usually too clear for them to hunt...especially north of the bridge. You could try up the back of the lake where the tide isn't so apparent. Pipeclay Point is usually good for bream and flatties. The back of Wimbledon Ave around the island is also a good bream spot. Try a drift between Wimbledon Ave and the island. Another is to do a drift across the weedbeds from that island across to Jamieson Park..very shallow so watch you don't get stuck. Another spot to try is along the weedbeds along the Wakehurst Pkwy. or up near the creek entrances. The poddies coming back minus their bodies is usually chopper tailor. When they come back headless...they are usually bream. Hope this helps. Pete

There's only one gutter to speak of on Nth Narra at the moment. There's a few smaller gutters at low tide but the one just north of the Pines is probably the pick. I haven't fished the beach for a few weeks, so no clue as to what's there now as I've been concentrating on the flatties in the lake. Hope this helps. Pete

I use a running sinker (smallest ball you have) straight to a wide gape #5 hook on a 10lb flouro leader with a small swivel to main line. I hook the poddie just behind the dorsal usually. Any SP with a mullet profile will work too I'm sure. I've had success using silver fox paddle tails..they love them. Cheers, Pete. Works for me.

My mate Stig crashed at my place last night and we decided to hit my flattie spot again this morning...and didn't it produce the goods!! Firstly to another spot for the livies..and off we went. First drop..double hookups to 2 just legal flatties.Then several more double hookups for mostly undersize flatties and a few nice bream. Stig got one very nice bream and a big tailor. Then I got a stonker flattie which went like the clappers. Finally got her to a net and she's 70cm on the nose. :thumbup: Ran out of livies. Decision was..leave 'em biting?..or restock with livies and hit it again...guess which one we chose?? Got back to our initial spot and it had quietened down in the time it took to gather mullet. No more after the tide turned, so called it a day.. All fish released to fight another day. Cheers, Pete.

228mm in the last 10 days.