tonype123

Gday Finin, I got a hairtail fishing in 70m off Malabar about a month ago ..Surprised me

Will def meet up for both

check that smile out...well done bud

Excellent stuff there Scratchie..a mate of mine recently purchased a holiday unit in Nelson Bay, not sure when ill be going up but id love to meet up for a session on and off the water

Ah Mike, ill be up there again, wont let go now until I get one

Cheers Cargo

Cheers, went out on Saturday night..didn't catch much so no report re the red wine, I mainly a beer drinker myself but love a drop of red when eating seafood

cheers Swordfisherman

Excellent catch

yea thanks folks, had a top time

As im new to this, here are some more photos I couldn't post on my original post..

Gday folks, Never posted a fishing report, so here goes Thought id jump on a plane with my son and visit a dear friend of mine up in Townsville, never been there so thought why not! Got my son interested by throwing out the old, lets go catch a barra The adventure started at 4am, didn't sleep much with the thought of my first ever barra. Got up and Col was up ready for work, as soon as he saw me his first words were, have you got long pants and a long sleeve shirt (before I left Sydney, I asked my mate Nick what sort of clothes I needed for my stay, his reply was "summer clothes") no Col I don't, whys that? The bugs will eat you alive, hang on ill see if I can get you something that fits..Col till this day THANK YOU! We jumped into Nick's ute and headed south for an hour, what a trip that was! My son and I are not the smallest of humans, all 3 of us in the front cab, both my sons legs over the top of mine, oh yea here we go... We stopped half way to fuel up, it was still dark. You hungry boys? Yea why not, bacon and egg roll followed by a steak and mushie pie..Walk out of the diner and you wouldn't believe it, trod on a pile of what im hoping was horse s... but till this day im still not sure! Wasn't fun considering I had thongs on, lucky I listened to Col and put some socks on to keep the bugs away from my feet! We continue heading south, turn off the highway and its red dirt road for the next 15-20 min, what a site, ive never been inland really, more of a Coast boy but this was an experience, it was amazing! just like the movies... Get to the boat ramp and the sounds of the wildlife is something ill never forget, there was this distinctive sound in the distance which was quite scary, I asked Nick what that sound was and he reckons wild pigs, not sure about that but it wouldn't surprise me! The sun was starting to break though, the bugs were out in full force, we get the crab pots set up, load them on his tinnie and head down the creek.. after setting the pots out, we head down the creek for a fish, seriously folks within 3 minutes bang a bream, it was just undersize but what a cracking start.. Stayed at this spot for about an hour, Nick reckons an hour is enough for the crab pots so we go pull them up and BINGO!! Pulled the 4 pots up and got 3 keepers, threw about 4 back in as they were just under.. This was a great start to our day, its not even 7.30am and we have a nice feed In search of the elusive barra.. We head towards the opening of the creek where it meets the ocean, on the way I encountered some of the most picturesque my eyes had ever laid their eyes on, deadset I could move up here, unbelieveable scenes.. Just before we anchored up, we headed into an arm of the creek to get some livies, that was another experience..Im use to throwing a line for my yakkas, Nick throws in a net! Tide was running hard, we had some banana prawns on for bait and a couple of livies..bang the livie didn't even last 2 minutes!! After a solid fight in shallow water, up comes a fingermark, that's it we have a decent feed for all of us now...Bang my prawn goes off, how goods this!! A mangrove jack just under 40cm, my son Louie is licking his lips, he loves eating Wow 2 decent fish in 5 minutes...BUT NO BARRA! As quick as they came on they left Got a couple of grunter (they hit hard) then decided to move.. We tried a couple of spots at openings but no barra Beached the tinnie and got some live prawns, headed back in for some more crabs.. As we were waiting for the crab pots we chucked a line in for another crack at barra, no barra... Fed a couple of massive eagles.. Pulled the pots up and bingo another 2 keepers! Folks I gotta tell you, although I didn't catch my barra (the fight is not over yet) I spent one of the most amazing days of my life in gods country.. highly recommend a visit there! Squeezed back into the ute and headed home for a nasty feed and a good bottle of red Ive posted a few photos of our amazing day out.. Cheers Tony

Nice lizard

Thanks Fab, After posting this I had a chat with a sparky friend of mine who is going to come over and take a look, like you said, it may just need a few terminals changed.. Fingers crossed its going to work out cheap for me Cheers Tony

Gday folks, Ive been a member since 2011 but haven't introduced myself as yet, I know, poor form! My name is Tony, I fish in Botany Bay and have a 5 metre Seafarer half cabin. I'll be 51 next week and ive just got the fishing bug back after a stay up in Townsville with a dear friend of mine. In the past 5 years I keep popping in and reading your fishing reports, hoping that this will be enough to get me back out there. I had a bit of a hairy experience just off cape banks a few years ago and im slowly getting back on my bike, in fact only a few weeks ago I ventured out off Malabar, didn't catch much as I don't know many close reef spots that fire up. Back in my time id fish the reefs off Maroubra/Coogee and get on to some decent reds..Not quite ready to go that wide just yet as I don't have much trust left.. Its funny you know, when I was younger id challenge myself into almost anything, the no fear factor but as I got older and the kids came along (2 boys,1 princess) the responsible side of me came out, no more going out to Browns in a runabout (id have to be on the P&O to head out to Browns these days).. Anyway back to fishing, as my profile name reads "luvmifishin" and I do but I miss my REDS...Ive seen some people catch 40+cm reds in the Bay, god knows where and they will never tell ya but maybe there is a nice guy out there who will I use to catch the occasional Jew in the bay but that also has stopped Surely there must be some reefs close to the Botany Heads.. Now that ive been to Townsville and seen what they catch in them creeks, I wish I lived up there! Ohhh hang on, don't know if I could cope with the bugs and the humidity Cheers Tony

I was fishing off Malabar a couple of weeks ago, drifting for flatties and to my surprise I hooked up to a 1+ meter hairy Spent many a cold night chasing them at Cowans and was quite surprised to catch one in the middle of the day off Malabar! Great report keep up the good work Cheers Tony

Gday fellow raiders, Im thinking about rewiring my 5 meter half cabin.. How much approx. am I looking at? Cheers Tony

One word...WOW!!

Hey raiders, does anyone know when the artificial reefs are going to be dropped in off cape banks? Ive fished most of my life in the bay, im keen to try some offshore fishing but don't want to go to far out..Wanna try and get into the snapper

nice catch..where did u go?

Hi Aussie007, mate I just took the nut off and im trying to pull this prop off but it aint budging, probably hasn't had it done for 15-20 years! any tips?? ive smashed WD into it. Any tip will be much appreciated..Cheers

Ill try that and let you know how I go..Cheers

Hey folks, ive just moved into the area (St George, Sydney) was wondering if anyone knew of a trustworthy mechanic that doesn't charge an arm and a leg..I just went to change my gear oil and noticed the oil was a milky colour, so no doubt have a leak somewhere. Your help would be much appreciated. Cheers

Gday fellow Raiders, I put a post up yesterday but its gone missing : ( Anyhow im after some advice. Ive owned seafarer's in the past but i havent got enouth $$ this time around so need to look at other options. Basically im after a fibreglass boat 5 meters and above. Have 3 kids so something with high sides and enough room for the 4 of us to fish. Something steady that wont rock around in the Botany Bay chop. Id like to go outside when its flat Ive got 6-7k to spend. Priority is high sides and steady on the water (dont like boats that rock around in the chop) Your help will be much appreciated as i know nothing about other vessels other than the safe Seafarer Cheers Tony