Scienceman

Note to self - remember not to hunch shoulders when holding up a fish. Looks like I have no neck and 5 chins I was impressed with the fight I got from him. Usually its tap, tap, wack, whoa, up you come, flap flap. THis guy ran when I hooked up and then fought in a series of runs as I got him off the bottom and he would dive again. I think it was possibley because the boat was in deeper water (~6m) Gotta thank Shannon for bringing out his digial SLR.

These photo files are much bigger than I expected as I can only fit 1-2 into a post before my limit is reached. They are 300 - 350k in size. They were taken with a good quality camera so maybe are high definition or I should save as another format to jpg? Anyway here is the whiting from the first post.

A few weeks ago an inshore snapper bash was attempted. Nice sunrise The Westerlies were pretty strong and even the inshore reefs were too rough the only option was to go right in close so I thought a go for pigs might be the idea. First prawn bait in the water and this guy (2kg) pickes it up. Gave me a great fight with plenty of runs. Very unlike fishing for pigs from the rocks. Unfortunately no more pigs were taken, only a salmon in some wash, which tied up our lines close to the boat and then escaped. A quick flick in the estury on the way home picked up a nice 40cm whiting - see next post for photos as I screwed up file attachements and although I have deleted a photo file it still restricts my available download space.

You must have gotten those prawns while I was taking a leak over the side And you didnt really want to take that little guy home either Next time..........

Ray, I tried from the bridges, to the Vines and up to Bar Point. Fished the bottom of the run out (bridge pylons) then up to the Vines and oyster leases. A deep hole on the other side of the river was a back eddy for the big tide run on dark. Tried the bridge near the shore to keep out of some of the current but not a touch. Where you went is my usual haunt however I want to tangle with some XOS bream and jew so I'm going to give the Hawksburry a few tries before winter shuts things down. Getting a little bored with the same places and BW will be shutting down pretty soon.

Went out for an afternoon / evening fish on the Hawksbury yesterday. Apart from one small flattie, nothing. Not even any catfish. Baits went untouched and SP's, blades and hb didnt get any reaction. From the bridges to oyster racks, no fish biting anywhere. The water had some nice colour and I was hoping that it might have put them on the bite but it seems that a long period of constant barometer pressure had more influence. Bring on the next weather change.

Got there at 4:30am and totally desterted except for a group fishing all night off the pontoon. Easy launch with the pontoon right alongside. Fished until 11am - 2Kg jew, 6 X flatties and kept the two biggest at 1-2kg@. Pulling out was totally opposite - a car park full of trailers and busy is an understatement. Still, everybody was pretty polite and taking their turn although I can imaging it is not always so polite. I would guess that boaties from all over Sydney use this ramp. Because of the pontoon, you just line up at the end an move forward until your are next in line to pull out and then you can get the trailer. If there were boats going both in and out it might get a bit complicated though. I nearly always put in at Woy Woy but now Bris Water has basically shut down except for the Rip I think I will head up to the Hawekbury for a few more goes at this piece of water. Now to find some secret spots! (that only me and 5,000 other people know about )

Thanks mate. That looks pretty good now and I dont think I will have any problems solo. Doesn't look like they have extended the ramp which was pretty broken down the bottom on a low tide.

I haven't put my boat in at this ramp for many years. It used to have an old wharf and with a rocky shore either side of the ramp which was pretty crap at low tide and was really a 2 man operation putting the boat in and taking it out. I know quite a lot of work has been done so is it an easier ramp to use solo or will I have to find a helping hand, especially with a little wind to blow the boat around? I am planing on fishing the road bridge early tomorrow morning and will be solo so say Hi if you see a 5m Quintrex cuddy cab.

Big salmon maybe? The sometimes hang near the surface. If it was a faster run I would have suggested a frigate mackerel.

As a teenager I lived and fished the Hacking regularly. Here are some tips but many places now need a boat. Even a small tinnie is enough. - in winter the marina at the end of Gunnamatta bay had good numbers of dory. Catch any type of small fish, hook near the head and fish just off the bottom. Also a good spot for blackfish which feed on the bottom and can sometimes be seen down deep. Dont think they will let you fish off the wharf now so a boat might be needed. - nippers for big whiting, drifting around the moorings just off the ramp at the Royal Motor Yacht Club. - Royal Motor Yacht Club in Gunnamatta Bay for big bream and jew at night, jackets in winter. Burly essential. Nowadays a boat is necessary and you should be OK in if you pull into an empty berth. - Autumn / winter in the main channel up towards South West Arm using fresh yakka or mullet strips for big flathead, biggest has been ~10kg - I kid you not. - Sailing club on the Burranear Bay side of Gunnamatta Bay Rd. Fish the pontoon for yakkas and good flatties out wide on live baits. Sometimes good tailor off the bottom on the same baits.

I got one of the better quality breathable off the shelf covers. Worked well and didnt pool water but it only lasted ~2 years due to sun damage and started to develop tears and holes. From memory it cost <$100.

Welcome back to FR mate. There's quite a few of us based on the Central Coast so if you crave company occasionally you should be able to hook up with someone. I've only been on the coast for the past 15 years so I'm still a newbie compared to others but the fishing can be pretty good at times.

As a teenager I caught one on a set of empy ganged hooks that were being used to try and jag one as he stalked quite close to the surface. And a fly or SP is much more fishy looking than some shiny hooks.

HI Bolts, I got to the Rip on Saturday arvo ~6pm with nippers, a live squid and frozen Hawksburry squid. I fished through the tide change ~8:30pm for only 1 X 30cm bream and 1 X 50cm flattie. Overall very quiet so I dont think you were doing anything wrong at all. the 3:30pm capture of a big jewie is unusual as most large jew come on the top or bottom of the tide, preferably just on dark. Just shows you have to have a bait in the water at any time to have a chance. Yeah those lice are a bugger and they attacked my baits too. They only come out after dark and make large baits very unattractive to big fish. I even tried suspending a squid off the bottom and they still found it. Were you in a center console with a couple of other blokes as one came nearby to me just after dark? I was in a 5m Quintrex cuddy cabin, solo.

I'm jealous mate. I love Smith's lake. We go camping there at least once a year usually more. Although shallow the fishing can be great with mostly flathead and bream on plastics. I am going camping there in a few weeks and intended to give popers a thrash so your report has got me twitching already. I'm thinking it would be a great place to retire so hopefully it stays underdeveloped over the next 20 years.

We're giving ours to our local church - at least they help the truly needy.

No unfortunately the hooks failed to take. A short run with some head shakes and he was gone Was fishing around the Rip bridge.

Nice one mate. I heard one wise sage on FR say that the week after the rain would be HOT and I think you just proved it. A few flatties and one jewie run last weekend in BW but not much else. I assume you didnt do much good last weekend down south? Had to do trailer maintenance this morning and am busy tomorrow but we'll have to get out again soon. Wish a southerly wasnt forecast for Sunday arvo

My family are keen for a holiday in Fiji this year. Any suggestions for family-friendly resorts near good fishing?

I also have a 5m cuddy with no bimini. The short shaft rear stern light provided by Qintrex is a joke. What I have done is attach a 360degree battery powered white light bought from Bias to a broom handle and put this in one of the rod holders on my bait board at the back of the boat. Nice and high so I dont get much light in my eyes and clearly visable from any direction.

Hey HSM, Spot on. Glad you could join us. If you are interested in a bit of boat fishing, I often have room for one more. I usually decide on short notice as its very weather dependant. PM me your phone number. I have some time off over Christmas so would like to go out a bit.

I havent been prawning for years and thought it would be a great family outing to take the kids on the dark at Christmas time. Is prawining in Brisbane Water worth it? Should I go out in my boat or from the shore? A few places I thought might be worth trying are the weedbeds off Tascott where the road skirts the bay, the shore along the Memorial park in WoyWoy, mayby the WoyWoy road bridge????? Any ideas or suggestions

I'm curious Jewgaffer why you say the flathead are now "coming into Sydney", implying that they are migrating or have been away somewhere? I've never thought of duskys as a migratory fish, at least outside the estuary system. They are rarely caught along the coast and certainly not in any numbers to imply that they migrate up and down the seaboard. I've always thought that they basically go dormant over winter in the estuarys which is why catch rates drop off. On a side note as a teenager I used to get the largest fish in the Hacking in winter on livies.