Alkor

Landbased!

We are still trying to get inked but no luck so far. Fished Rushcutters Bay, Clifton Gardens and Bradleys Head using 1.8 and 3.0 jigs. No catches. Where did you go?

Here comes some interesting old school info and practise from East Germany all those years back in the 70-80'. Leaders over there were always thinner in diameter and breaking strain than the main line! Unless you fished for toothy critters. Then we would use a piano wire.😃 All lines were Mono and the thinnest would have been 0.22mm going up to 0.45-0.5mm for the stronger varieties. I have no memory of what the breaking strains were. Main purpose was to protect your more expensive main line from being broken when snagged or hooked to a big fish. These days it is a different setup. Leaders are generally stronger than the main line. Thus risking to loose a big chunk of expensive braid main line when snagged. Anything is expensive nowadays! Back then I could catch fish for little investment to boost the dinner table. For the price of a top outfit in any of the fisho shops today I can buy a lot of seafood even in a fancy store. Good thing is I am land based, so no expense for a floating platform to invest in. Nor the car to drag it around. Lean fishing is on my mind - Simple gear, GOOD Food. BTW my last catch was a 15cm Tailor @ Illawong Bay on a red wriggler - my first tailor. Released!!😀

Excellent choice. Woollies has the best Smoked Salmon in my opinion! It is a 500g pack of Norwegian Salmon packed in Denmark for maybe $27. Forget the Tasmanian rubbish! Breed in a small harbour with very little water exchange. A lot of fish die of oxygen depravation caused by accumulation of poop in the body of water.. Saw a documentary some years ago on SBS or some other independant channels. I worked for a supplieer to those brands like Tassal. I personally try to avoid consuming Tasmanian Salmon.

Still no squid in our bags! We went to Botany Boat Ramp at night, Clifton Gardens, Bradleys Head, Rushcutters Bay and Illawong Bay at various times of day and tide. Seems we need some tutoring despite my long years of experience with European species, especially Carp. Working hours are 6am to 2pm. QTH is Terrey Hills.

Understood!👍

We were fishing at Yarranabe Park (Rushcutters Bay) trying to catch our first squids because we had seen a YouTube clip of some guy pulling a few there. Date was 31/03/24 at around 3pm. The weather was good and the sun pretty hot. After a few casts (Yamashita 1.8) we noticed a few boils in the water and then I felt a smack on my line. We could actually see the bird swimming under water and following the jig. First we thought it was a Kormorant because they were around too. Then I spotted the flipper motion on the side of the body and soon after the bird surfaced for a breath of air. Indeed a penguin - a long way from Manly where they roost as I saw on TV. I got the phone out to take a photo but was too slow. All we have are our own eyes accounts. What I am thinking about is the implication of actually hooking one of those protected birds. A squid jig might not do much damage but nevertheless injury is a possibility. We cannot exclude the chance of encountering un-intended catch. Anyone out there who knows what the law says about such occasions? I had a similar experience all those years back in East Germany when a White Swan got tangled in my (greased) floating fishing line. I had no other choice than to cut the line and let the bird go. When we fished today at Clifton Gardens I noticed the bin Council had put up to dump discarded fishing line and tackle. Darned good idea!! Before posting this I searched the forum but did not come up with any related content. Cheers, Peter & Maria

Hi guys! Thank you staff at the helm of Deckee to preserve postings I did as far back as 2006. Fresh as a daisy!!! Went fishing with my Philippine wife at Narrabeen Lagoon, Illawong Bay and McCarrs Creek Reserve, She enjoyed to catch her first (tiny) bream in the lagoon. It might have been a Tharwine actually because of the golden lines. We will continue to chase actual food in the area. Believe me, a lot of overlooked species are top table fare in other countries. Peter

Hi Raiders, I have just booked a cabin at Barlings Beach Holiday Park for mid October this year. I am attending a weekend photo course at Mogo Zoo. I wonder if there is a good spot around there to drop a line when I have a spare minute not peering through my lenses? I carry an Alvey 650GTS outfit and a couple of Shimano Catana Bream with SP plus a Bait Pump as standard in my 4WD. Any suggestions? Of course I searched this space for "Tomakin" and "Barlings", but very little and only aged info came up. Thanks in advance, Pete

Thanks troutboy, I give that a go.

Hi Crossfire63, When you quote or create a new topic, click on "More Reply Options" and you get the "Attach Files" option. I haven't used this option yet.

In the past and present I have always come across a real (reel!!) problem working out how much of a certain line will fit my reel/spool. The capacity of a given reel/spool will depend entirely on the diameter of the line (determined by the volume of the winding space). Reel manufactures tend to declare their line capacities as m/lb or m/kg. Lines of the same lb/kg rating can have vastly different diameters. Wouldn't it make sense to rate the capacity by the line diameter? !!!! I use a cheap line to pre-fill the spool and then I wind on the good stuff. But it is always hit and miss because the real capacity cannot be determined. I hate to waste metres of an expensive line just because I wasn't able to calculate the ratio. Perhaps I should spool on the full length of good line first and then fill up with the cheap stuff until the spool is full to achieve maximum casting distance. Then reverse the spooling onto a second identical spool. Downside is that one needs a second reel/spool of the same make.to do this. Does someone have a formula for this? Or even a table for a variety of reels? We should force reel manufactures to label their line capacities in m/mm. That would make real sense and preparing for fishing a lot more easier. I could measure the diameter of an unknown line with callipers and don't need to know the lb/kg rating in order to work out how much of it will fit a certain spool/reel. Cheers, Peter

Bullseye!! I searched for Pennant Fish and found amongst other results this article from last year: http://fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.ph...mp;#entry149023 Thanks Guys!

I caught a mystery one as well - at least for a few seconds. Was in Crowdy Head Harbour last week when I hooked a silver CD-like (sized and shaped) creature with light-blue-white tentacle-like 30cm long fronds extending from the dorsal and opposite fin. It bit on a piece of mullet suspended in about 1.5m depth. I saw it following a retreived bait earlier and thought it to be sort of a octopus until I hooked it later near by. After a few seconds it fell off the hook and disappeared. No photo taken. It´s silvery shine was incredibly, just like s spinning CD. Any ideas?

Thanks Flattieman, That is exactly what I held in my hand years ago. I looked at the Chipping Norton report earlier but did not spot the little bugger. One puzzle solved. Cheers

On my last day there a local told me that bream was thick behind Harrington Waters but I had already packed my rods.

The great monsters are at times just below your feet. Three or four years ago I took my wife and her friend to Narrabeen Beach by the Pines and lend her one of my rods. Just one of these 6ft beginner combos and baited it with a piece of pilchard. My wife's friend had never done any fishing, so her first cast went straight to the sky and then plunged into the gutter just meters into the surf. I did not pay much attention as I watched my own rod. Some minutes later she had a thight line and called for help. I took over and to my amazement I beached a nice lizard. I have to search my photo library for the proof. I know, I took some shots of that beast. Cheers, Peter

Hi guys, If anyone plans a trip to Harrington in the near future, be aware of ongoing maintenance work on the northern breakwater making it inaccessible for fishing (trucks and diggers adding and re-arranging rocks). I was there from 18/3 to 1/4 and the breakwater was cordoned off all the time. If you want to fish there, it might be a good idea to call the Harrington Coast Guard, if the work is still in progress. Landbased fishing was not exciting in the fortnight I stayed there. Just little fish. Crowdy Head Harbour Jetty, Harrington Lagoon and the Southern Breakwall did not match my expectations. The Harrington Bowling Club Monday and Tuesday "All You Can Eat Carvery" offer for $12.50 a person was certainly a fantastic feast. Terrific food, especially the herb stuffed chicken roast - yummm!!! Made up for all the fishing frustration. Cheers, Peter

Thanks guys for the welcome and replies. Seems that rays are not that rare in the lake as some other sightings and a catch were reported. As for the carp, I prefer to tackle them with light gear and very educated ones (usually the really big daddy's) with unweighted rigs. Just the bait and nothing else. I have not done much carp fishing here in OZ yet. I pulled a big one out of the Wollondilly near Goodmans Ford by accident. They seem to be everywere. Yes, Narrabeen Lake is a waterbody with a lot of surprises. I have caught several fish there I could not find described in fishing books or on the net. In my first fishing years here in AU I did not carry a camera with me, so I had to rely on memory. Twice I caught a species shaped like a moonfish, slightly smaller as my hand. The tips of the dorsal and pelvic fins were black and seemed to have no spines, just like the adipose fin of salmon. Caught both on dough while fishing for garfish along Bilarong Reserve. Went down today to have a look at the huge surf coming in at the entrance and along Narrabeen Beach. Impressive and frightening. There were actually some guys out there on jet skies and surf boards. On Turimetta Beach I watched three Asians preparing to go rock fishing on the head. I thought to hear of them in the news, but they obviously were lucky. Cheers, Peter

I am new here but feel instantly very much at home! These pages and forums are terrific. Up-to-date and not too formal. Congratulations!!! Some years back I used to get home from work via bus and stepped of it at Narrabeen Tram Shed. Walked over the bridge and dreamed of catching big fish there. Especially in the little bay on the NW end of the bridge where I often could see schools of big mullet cruising. One day I got a huge surprise seeing a ray (about 1-1.2m in diameter) very close to shore in the shallows. Don't know what kind it was. Has anyone seen or even caught rays in the lake? All literature I have consumed so far did not mention rays in the lake at all. Being German I confess to be a 'carp man'. Not really good to eat, unless smoked, but a very good fighting fish when mature. I would like to take part in a scheme to eradicate this species here in Australia. Is there a kind of a club or group dedicated to this task in the Sydney area? I could spare some time. Cheers, Peter