stricko4

It's been a long time since I've had anything to report with my regular Friday arvo/evening sessions being extremely quiet. Friday saw a change in plans with my mate Justin & myself deciding to see if we could do any better off the beach. Justin arrived at Nth Narrabeen about 3:30 & had a couple of baits in the water when I arrived at 4. I immediately tied on a snapper snatcher & tossed out a couple of salted pillie chunks. All was quiet for the first 45 minutes then I’m on. Line peeling nicely off the 4500 baitrunner. Justin called it for a jewie because it wasn’t jumping but I thought it was a salmon. A couple of minutes latter & a huge salmon was washed onto the sand. Easily 3ks or more. I released it & rebaited & within 5 minutes I was hooked up again to a similar fish. Released again & by now Justin was rerigging tying on a snapper snatcher too. Once he had baited up he was on as well, landing his biggest ever salmon. After that we pretty much went fish for fish for 2 hours landing in total 11 big fat salmon, 3 tailor about 45cm & 1 flattie that went about 55cm. I think the change from our normal harbour spot was a good one & we will be doing more each sessions in the near future for sure. Pics will follow if I can get them of Justin’s phone. Kingys

Thanks Ian I look forward to sharing 1 or 2 with you.

Hi Kooks, Firstly you may struggle to land a big kingy on 15/40lb set up but saying that I have landed a 94cm kingy on exactly that set up. I think you are doing everything right but this summer bonnies are in plague proportions. Not a bad thing in itself but frustrating for someone like yourself who is cracking his neck to get your first LB kingy. Know that there is a good chance of kingys being included in those schools of bonnies. So hang in there. In the mean time while your livie is swimming around try thowing some big lures, poppers or big sp's around & see if you can entice a kingy to take one. Paul

Well done Kris. My one & only kingy capture was also land based & it is always a real struggle to land them when fishing from shore of a pier. Paul

Hi Richie, I've found it very slow in tha PM lately. Not had the chance to fish in the AM. Maybe that will improve with some warmer water coming down the coast. Kingys

Joe, I've seen plenty caught there. Mostly about 1/2 way along the jetty on the Northern side. Kingys

G’day Shinobu, The C14 is a great reel. Nice & light & perfect for SP fishing. I suggest you go to your tackle shop & try the reels on the rod you’ve chosen & check for balance. Casting SP’s for extended periods can be tiring if the combo is out of balance. The 2500 has some advantages in that it holds more line which if you only ever hook a bream or flattie isn’t an issue bit with that set up you could easily use it for chasing bonito & salmon & the like & really have some fun. A 2500 also casts a little further than a 1000 too. For a start I’d also suggest 6lb line. Fins & Fireline both are great lines but I’d suggest the Fireline as it’s a little stiffer & as a beginner you will avoid wind knots more easily. As Prawn Star said you need the backing to stop the braid spinning on the spool braid is very slippery. Also you can then buy less braid & use the backing to fill the spool. By that I mean with a 2500 size reel you’d need 250m or more of 6lb to fill the spool. What you do is buy 125m but fill the spool with backing to the point you have just enough room for the 125m of braid. I don’t know if the C14 comes with 2 spools but if it does you could load the second one with 10 or 15lb braid to use when chasing pelagic or big flatties. Leader goes between your main line (braid) & your lure. 6 to 14lb depending on what you are targeting. 6lb for bream & whiting & such & 14lb for flatties as they have abrasive mouths that often bust up light line. A rod length or 2 is the go there. With that combo you should have an outstanding set up which will last you many years of fishing. Good luck. Kingys

Yes mate I have a Wilson Live Fibre 12ft rod. It's actually the one in my hands in my pic. I run a Shimano 4500 baitrunner on it & find it very light & easy to handle. I've not hooked anything larger than a salmon of 2 or 3kg which it handled easily. If your going to specificly target jews though I'd go for something heavier like some of the rods mentioned in other responses. Kingys

Roberta, I have a TD Advantage 1000 that I use for bream fishing using very light HB's & plastics similar to you. It's loaded with 4lb or 6lb Cystal Fireline & I've had no problems at all with wind knots. It is the best casting reel I have for light HB's & light & unweighted plastics. It lays the line very nicely & has a very smooth drag too. I think you will be very happy with it when you get the chance to use it. I also have an older Stradic 2500 loaded with 10lb Sufix which is also an excelent reel for heavier HB's & plastics as well as smaller metals. Again no problems whatsoever with line lay or wind knots. Paul

It would have to be the 91cm kingy I caught at Clifton a earlier this year on 15lb line. I had mates running around like headless chooks getting lines in & out of my way A close second though was my brothers first salmon caught off the beach at Turros in March. He was rapt & the fish was an absolute cracker. I do like watching others getting excited about a capture Paul

Do we know what time the gates open?

Hi Guys I started fishing about 3 years ago. Not long after I started venturing down to some of the harbours LB spots after work on Friday arvo’s. On my first visit to Clifton it was mid summer & packed out. I did meet 2 blokes though that were quite helpful & friendly. Since that day we have shared a friendship & fishing exploits and yesterday it was with the help of those 2 mates I managed to land my first kingy. Typical of many guys fishing these areas I’ve hooked my fair share but have been busted off one way or another. Well yesterday after seeing Justin lose 3 good fish around the pylons I hooked a very nice fish indeed. Instantly we knew it was a kingy & a damn good one too. Justin & Mike pulled in lines left & right to give me my best chance possible to land that holy grace of Sydney Harbour. My braid tangles twice before we could get all the lines in & these mates didn’t think twice, cutting their lines in the hope that I could land what I’d waited so long for. For a kingy it was a pretty clean fight his first couple of strong runs he heading straight out …. You beauty. After probably 10 minutes & 2 missed net shots I eventually pointed his head into the net only to see it wasn’t big enough to safely lift the exhausted fish up onto the deck. Another net instantly appeared to cover the arse end of this whopper & with the help of my 2 mates he was lifted clear of the water & deposited onto the jetty. Hi 5’s & woo hooo’s were the order of the day. We all knew this was a good fish & when I finally found a tape he went 91cm. Now that’s what I call a great first kingy & I couldn’t have done it without the help of those 2 mates I met 3 years ago. Tackle used was: Rod – Nitro Magnum Butt 7’6” Reel – Okuma patriot bait runner 3000 Line – 15lb Suffix braid with jinkai 40lb fluro leader Bait – live garfish (thanks Mike)

This was front page news on the Mosman Daily last week. It's not just a ban on the wharf but the proposal is to completely ban ALL fishing in Chowder Bay. Be it from the wharf, beach, rocks or boat. Aparently someone in the Council has put up this proposal because of the "rich biodiversity" & the numbers of native animals being killed by irresponsible fishermen & their waste. It seems sustainable fishing is not possible in this area & Mosman has "so many other options open to people wanting to fish"...... The article was accompanied by a photo of a woman & her young daughter with a dead seagull with fishing line tangled around both it's feet that they found at Clifton. Very emotive stuff. What a load of bollocks. This is yet another push to rid the harbour of fishing. A mini version of Clover Moores proposal to create a green zone exluding all fishing from the Hawkesbury to past Port Hacking. Kingys

Nathan, From personal experience I can tell you it's well worth compiling a check list. Divide it into several sections like PRIOR TO DEPARTURE then AT THE RAMP & RETURN HOME. If you search old threads you'll find some great advice on what you need to tick off. Once you're happy with your list get it laminated & use it EVERY outing. As I said we've all done silly things over the years no matter how much experience we have. Just last time we had the boat in the water for instance down at Tuross. Had a great morning on the lake & during the 2 minute drive from the ramp to the van park my brother says hey... we didn't put the tie down strap on. Crap... good thing I'd not gone over 20kph on the very short drive otherwise there might have been a very costly reminder of how easy it is to miss things. Paul

Thanks Ian I will think of you as I down 1 or 2. Bad luck on the Pirtek front especially after the couple of monster flatties you picked up when we were down there. Paul

I know this report is a bit late but here goes. Last week my brother Steve & I spent 2 days fishing the pristine home waters of Hodgey. Yes we were lucky enough to spend some time down at Tuross & isnt it a beautiful place to spend a few relaxing days. I arrived with the runabout in tow on Monday afternoon. Steve had spent 5 days in Melbourne watching the GP & associated antics & was meeting me at Tuross in the evening. On Ians advice Id booked accommodation right on the water at the lakes entrance & it couldnt have been better. After settling in & unpacking I tied a 30gm halco twisty on & waked down to the lakes entrance & started firing out casts. Having read Ians report on the salmon that had terrorised the area a week before I couldnt resist having a go but alas they seemed to have moved on. I fired out a thousand casts around the lake entrance & the beach but not a single hit. Shortly after Steve arrived so did Ian & over a couple of amber ales we discussed the plan of attack for the next few days. Ian detailed where to fish the lake, on what tide fazes & using what plastics. Great. Armed with all of that advice we hit the water on Tuesday at the gentlemanly hour of 9am. Out we went in search of the spot where an 89cm flattie had been pulled on Monday morning with Ians assurance there were more for the taking. Well after 3 hours we returned to the boat ramp with the firm belief we need much more practice with said plastics because we hooked nothing but weed. We did have a couple of solid hit but no hook-ups. Paul After lunch the plan was to fish the beach for the whiting & bream & maybe a salmon or 2. Using servo pillies & prawns Steves first cast laded a very nice 32cm whiting. His next cast had line peeling off at a rate of knots as soon as it touched the water. A 7 or 8 minute battle on 8lb line saw a 70+cm salmon landed. A first for Steve. From that point on for a 3 hour period we continued to land nice whiting & bream to 34cm as well. We kept enough for dinner but caught plenty more returning them to the water. Steves first salmon Dinner Day 2 saw us on the lake again in search of the big lizards wed seen in so many reports but once again we did no good at all. A few little bream & a 20cm flatties was the sum total. Definitely need more practice with those plastics. Again after lunch we hit the beach but for little result. Isnt it funny how quickly things change. Steve had 1 big rod bending hook-up that ended quite quickly with a frayed leader. No one else was catching anything either so at least we werent alone. I was heading back to the unit when I had the fishermans thought.... just one more cast. I tossed a prawn into the fast moving channel at the lakes entrance only to have it wash up against the rocks on the headland. Seconds later I was onto a good fish which turned out to be my biggest ever bream. Not sure of its actual size but it was around 40cm. Day 3 was time to head home. Gear was packed & boat hitched up for an uneventful trip home. Many thanks to Hodgey for his hospitality & advice. All we have to do is practice up on our technique & we might have a chance of landing one of the 80cm monster flatties on our next visit.

Guys, You need to keep in mind that the leagal size for tailor is 30cm whether keeping for consumption or using for bait. That includes using as live bait. I've fished FTB on & off for a while & have had quite a bit of success using small hard bodies like SX40's & Stewy's fav pink Smillin Jacks. Paul

I did a 1 day course with ABC... yes you have to complete the multiple choice test but you have the advantage of the guy instructing you doing the checking. As well we did on the water traing & as a novice I leared a lot in that short session. The guys from ABC also took us in the boat to the Maritime office & helped us with all the papaerowrk. To me it was money well invested. Paul

Greg, I had the same problem for a while using 4lb fireline & 6lb fluro leader. I just took more time tying the knots (double uni) & was very careful when pulling them up tight making sure I lubricated each one. Since then I've had no problems. Paul

All of you guys are so lucky. I have to wear glasses all the time & now I'm officially over the hill I need multi focal lenses. Try $700 for a pair of polaroid multi focals...... and the lenses were fitted to what I call cheap frames only $70. So thats $630 for lenses but since I've had them I wouldn't go back to plain sunnies. Paul

Guys I picked up a pair at the local tackle store & made the change so simple. They are worth their weight in gold. I wish I could change the big trebbles on larger lures as easily. Spose practice makes it easier.

Hi Raiders. As is usual for me on a Friday arvo I knocked off a few hours early & went down to the harbour for a fish. I’d heard Clifton was open again but thought I’d give Balmoral another go after picking up some very nice trevally & bream before Christmas. And I’m glad I did. I arrived about an hour after top of tide at 3:45 & immediately hooked into some smaller trevors. It was pretty quiet on the fishing front with only 6 or 8 people in all wetting a line. Yakka’s were easy to hook so one went out as a livie soon after. I’d been there about an hour when a HUGE school of something started boil ups all over the place. There was lots of splashing so I thought it might be big tailor so I started casting a 25g River to Sea whitebait metal at the boil ups closest to us. Third cast & I was on & this thing was zing the 10lb braid off my 2500 Stradic like nothing else. It took a few minutes & several very fast runs for me to find out it was bonito. A new species for me. A big thanks to the guy who assisted very capably with his landing net. As soon as the first was dispatched I was casting again & it didn’t take long to have that line peeling off again. This went on for an hour with me landing 5 bonito all around the 470mm mark weighing about 1.3kg. I lost another 2 on pulled hooks. What I really couldn’t believe was that I was the only one on the wharf casting a metal at these little speedsters. And with 3 or 4 livies out not one was taken. All in all a very exciting few hours fishing & one of my best Friday arvo sessions. Paul

Big metal hose clamps???

While on thios topic can anyone tell me what is involved in the service & can anyone carry them out or do you need to get an authorised dealer to carry it out? Paul