nanman

I haven't but thinking of going that way if it gets too windy in the Harbour. Love to hear a from a recent visitor there too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow that's awesome to be so close to the water! Lucky You!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice report Scratchie! So this was at PS? Looks like squid are in numbers everywhere at the moment.. Might give it a try this weekend as well! I'm thinking of doing Syd Harbour Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi timmy180883, I'm an amateur like yourself & like you I've recently got a boat and been in the haweksbury few times. One area I've had success almost every visit is south east of danger island in between two red markers. I've caught flatties, bream to small snapper. As mentioned by few members earlier haweksbury prawns and pilchards have worked the best for me too. Your right about the current being very strong at times so when its that phase of the tide I move on to somewhere bit calmer. One annoying thing about haweksbury is the amount of cat fish and eels you get after sunset!!! Good luck Nans

Thanks for the very helpful advice Sydneyfisher12 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I have no ideas where to catch squid in the Harbour but should be ok to catch some yakkas around clifton gardens so might plan a trip to down some day around the heads. I don't want to wonder out too far in my 4.2m estuary angler so will have to pick a good day. Still chasing my first so very keen! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice effort! I was there last weekend & landed plenty of trevs. Most of them were undersize but had couple of keepers too. Just wondering if kingys are still around and if so where? Just bought a down rigger so I'm keen to try it out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep.. planning to get to Botany Bay around 3am sat Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks fishnatic.. I'll give it a go there next time. It looks there aren't any near the boat ramps I launch Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice catch! Thanks also for sharing the nipper location. I reckon we should have stickie thread dedicated to these locations for all raiders to share so they know where to go straightway specially in unfamiliar areas.

Thanks Scratchie! Good to know I was doing the things! Btw, thanks for all your advice for my visit to port stephens. As it turned out I didn't get too much time to fish with kids and family being too happy to just cruise around, do some tubing & even got to see dolphins not too far from the boat. I did throw couple of hoop nets for crabs with mullet fillets but had no luck. It's such an amazing place & had a great time even without much fishing! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks guys! I usually do the uni knot with 6 passes through the loop and it's never let me down before either so was quite surprised. Maybe it was something else like a nick in the line close to the hook that I hadn't spotted that gave in. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi all, Just a quick report on my outing yesterday. A mate and I decided to have a go for a jew for our very first times so the plan was to catch some livies before the tide turned and fish around some flatties etc for a while and anchor down for a jew attempt at the turn of the tide shortly after sunset. We managaged to only get one livie in before we decided to head off to catch some flatties on the east side of dangar island. We anchored up and dropped couple of lines with prawns (gave up on catching nippers as I had no idea where to pump them and the tide was starting to run in). Few mins after dropping the lines I got my first hit but it wasnt massive but a keeper size flattie came to the surface but dropped it while I waited for the mate to get the net! Next it was a decent size, 32cm, bream that put up a hell of a fight using the current to its advantage before it was finally landed. A little while later there was more interest in my rod so decided to give it a yank and wind in. It was getting bit dark at this time so as it came up to the surface I thought it was an eel as it looked twised but to our surprise it was two keeper flatties on my two hook paternoster rig. The tide was about to turn so we headed of near the rail bridge and anchored up for a long haul. After few attempts at anchoring so that the boat would be in a decent position we set up the rigs. I set my rod with the livie and my mate with a frozen squid and waited sipping a coffee and muching on some snacks. After a while my rod tip bent over and nothing thereafter. We concluded that the livie couldn't have put a bend on the rod so it had to be somthing large so waited very anxiously. Few mins later same thing happens, rod tip bends over an then nothing and again for the 3rd time. So I got the rod to my hand and decided to set the hook next time it pulled and so I did. It went crazy when I set the hook and started pulling drag as if it was hooked to a train on the bridge above. So I tigthend the drag a bit more and started to gain some line. About half way up another screeming run and SNAP... gutted and in disbelief what just happened I wound in the line to see the hook was gone. It looked like my knot had slipped. I had used a uni knot on my 40lb leader so I'm wonding if this was the right choice. Now, could this have been a Jewie or somthing else? I guess we will never know but keen to go again for another attempt. We didn't have anymore livies so had to settle for frozen squid and pilchard for rest of the night and we started pulling up cat fish and eels one after another for rest of the night so decided to quit around 11pm. Although we were disappointed about the one that got away we were very satisfied with an awesome day out with plenty of action to talk about so will be planning another trip out there soon & hopefully with better luck to report. Nans

Thanks Baz, which side of danger island are these flats?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's a great tip.. Thanks! Now, if only I can get some ideas where to start pumping Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks jameshanna! How would you rig them up? With sinkers ie running ball sinker? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi guys, I'm planning to go fishing with a mate on the Hawkesbury on Saturday afternoon and fish into the night. I've bought a nipper pump last week so would like to start using it. I've never pumped nippers before so just wondering if anyone is kind enough to share some locations not too far away from the bridge or danger island to pump some nippers. I've seen some old posts on this forum suggesting around Jerusalem Bay area but something closer to where I'm launching the boat would be ideal. Oh yea, this might be too much to ask but if anyone point me to some areas where jews are hanging around these days it would be great too! Would love to catch my first Jew on this trip! Thanks a lot! Nans

Yea it seems like they are tolerant if you don't wonder off too far or don't get too close to things although the maps clearly indicate this area as a restricted zone. Although, port authorities can report you to NSW maritime and get your license suspended I think. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Isn't this area out of bounds? Not too long ago I was told by port authorities that area north of the green marker at molineaux point & third runway green marker are restricted zones.. But I've seen boats around the corner near the tug boats as well! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here are a couple of pics of my setup I mentioned earlier. Hope this helps. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting topic because I just kitted out my boat with a DIY live tank as well. I got an esky from B and a 500GPH pump kit from B_F. My pump is permanently fixed to the transom so basically drilled a hole and fitted the intake of the pump with supplied parts & sealant. I drilled three holes in the esky two at the top for incoming & other for overflow and the third one at the bottom for draining. The pump is wired to the battery with a switch to turn on & off. I haven't had a chance to test it on the water yet but when I tested the setup on the sink before fitting the flow rate was very high so I reckon the fish will feel as though they are in a "washing machine" lol. I have been wanting to reduce the flow rate as well so might drop into B and get one of those inline taps as well which will also be ensure water won't flow into the boat when esky is removed! Also, through my testing in the sink I found that there is no valve on the pump to stop water from flowing back when switched off so if the flow in to the tank is at the bottom, water will start draining out as soon as pump is switched off. So the solution was to have the flow-in at the top but I plan to connect a hose on the inside of the tank to push water to the bottom from the flow-in. I'll try to take some pics and post when I get a chance. Going to Port Stephen this weekend where I'm hoping to test out the setup & catch plenty. Fingers crossed! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How interesting.. I have the Elite 7 -HDI and I've bought an extra power cable as well. Only other option was to sit on the boat and key in the waypoints. It's a shame these cant be connected to a PC to load & edit things like waypoints, trails etc. Apart from that its a great unit to have. I have also set it to freshwater mode as I only use it in bays & estuaries where I haven't seen more than 25m of water. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I thought hawksbury river was the worst. I've found it very hard catch anything decent there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Iceman, what time were you there? We would have been around the area around 11-12pm I think Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi All, I took the boat out on Botany Bay again last Sunday but didn’t get to write up about it due to other commitments until now, so apologies for the delay. Myself and three other friends had planned to launch from the foreshore ramp around 8.30am so got there about 8.15am only to be told the car park was full so to turn around! We asked if we could launch the boat there and park the cars on the nearby park but apparently they won’t allow that. So, after some thinking we decided to head to Kurnel ramp. I had seen the new ramp on my previous visit of the bay and thought it looked good. After about 40mins later we got there driving past about a million cyclists to be surprised by a very nice ramp and car park facilities. If only there were toilets and fish cleaning facilities the place would be even more awesome. Anyway we headed off to the channel along the water pipeline not too far away from the ramp where I had some success on my last visit. We baited up with prawns and started drifting. About 5mins later we started getting some interests with AD hooking up the first one for the day, a nice size flounder. Going back to the mark and drifting again AD was onto another one but this time an under size bream. Nevertheless we were all happy to be catching fish although bit annoyed that the newbie on his only second fishing outing was getting fish! Few more drifts later and AD was in action again and this time another flounder even bigger than the last. Things went bit quite after a while so I decided to do some drifting and some soft plastics near weed beds around Towra. We drifted around there for about an hour without any luck although there were plenty of nibbles on our bait. AD had to leave around midday so we dropped him back at the ramp and decided to try other side of the bay so we headed off to Molineaux point area. We anchored just outside the channel and dropped couple of lines and started chopping up some pillies four burling but even before the first burley was tossed over Dal’s reel started peeling line. With a big bend in is heavy rod and peeling drag I was hoping it was a kingy. After about a minute of tussling the fish pulled the hook. Disappointed we started burling and kept on trying for about 40mins. We kept on getting snagged and losing our hooks and sinkers and there wasn’t much after the first incident so we decided to try elsewhere. So, we went around the corner of Molineaux point away from other boats and setup anchor again. In less than a minute of setting up anchor Dal was on again. This time it was a nice size snapper which we netted safe and kept. There were plenty of activity there and we were wondering why no one else around. Not long after the Port Authority came around and very politely told us that we are in restricted waters. Oops!! I had no idea and learnt my lesson to check the maps more carefully next time. So we pulled up anchor and decided to head to the artificial reef on the other side. We got to the reef and started the burling again and straightway there were plenty of activity but all being undersize. Kept on going there and slowly the bigger ones started coming. Manns was on to his first for the day albeit a leatherjacket. A few trevallies were around most undersize and I finally hooked on to a size trevally which we kept. It looked like all the interests were on pillies at this place so we all decided to stick to pillies. Manns was on to another nice size snapper which gave him a good fight on his outfit. With all the activity on our boat I think it got the interest of couple of other boats and they decided to anchor nearby. We didn’t mind the company at all. After a while we saw a massive flattie being hauled in by the guys next to us which I reckon was over a meter long! It only fitted half into their net.. amazing! We were so excited for them and could only imagine how happy they would have been to land such a beast bit we didnn’t have to wait too long, however, as within few mins of witnessing that amazing catch Dal’s rod bent over. We could tell it was heavy and wasn’t fighting too much so had the suspected it to be a flattie. As it came up to the surface Dal scremed out “what is that” obviously he had not seen a big flattie come out of the water before. I got the net out and quickly netted it to ensure it doesn’t escape like it happened to me on my solo trip last time. It was a 63cm flattie which was by far Dal’s PB and needless to say everyone was wrapped. Everyone, with smiles jaw to jaw, kept on fishing for a while with plenty more activity but winds picked up after a while and when we checked the weather radar to see there was a huge storm heading our way from the south. Happy with the day’s effort and not wanting to take a chance with the storm we made a run for the ramp. The storm didn’t come as quick as we thought so we took the time to clean the fish and to give the boat a wash before heading off. It was great to see the boat washing facilities there and plenty of bays & taps too. Unfortunately, though, someone had cut off the nozzle of the hose which was disappointing to see. It was a great day out with the mates and everyone had a blast and all are looking forward to the next trip. I’m planning to head out there again tomorrow with another mate to hopefully to get a kingy or two. Nans