f1shen

Be careful using supermarket prawns meant for human consumption as bait: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aquatic-biosecurity/aquaculture/aquaculture/white-spot-disease/important-information-for-recreation-fishers-use-of-prawns-as-bait

This is correct - I was fined for it the other day. I was fishing alone and wearing my inflatable life jacket, which had been tested in the last 12 months like they want. I also had an old life jacket which had been in the boat for 25+ years, stashed under the bow. The Maritime officer stated that all safety equipment on board had to be in good condition and must be replaced when it expires. The old life jacket I had stashed under the bow came to pieces when I pulled it out when he wanted to see it - clearly not in good condition. The fine is $250.

Great looking fish, but be careful eating too much that comes out of the Cooks - especially those apex predators like Jewfish. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/621241/cooks-river-warning-sign.pdf

E10 fuel isn't a good choice for outboards as the ethanol in it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. This causes your outboard to run rough, stall and so on. I find as well that it gunks up the carburettor quite a bit as well. Haven't had any problems since I switched to premium petrol.

Jackets get a bad rep for stealing baits and tackle, the trade off being that they're a great feed when you do catch them.

Absolutely great spot for a holiday - was down there over New Years. Did a bit of beach fishing and caught trevally and flathead, along with seeing an absolutely massive stingray come up into the swash zone for fish bits. Couldn't find a good spot off the rocks, where did you end up fishing from the stones?

It's a boxfish. Don't eat it!

Have a look on Google Maps. The lighter areas, particularly between Lilli Pilli Point and Dolans and Burraneer Bay are shallow (3 - 6 metres) with a sandy bottom. The deeper water is dark in colour around Gannons, Yowie and Gymea Bay. The deepest water, from memory, is between the southern part of Yowie Bay and Dark Bay to the west - it bottoms out at about 25 - 30 metres with a muddy bottom. There's also deep water in the majority of South West Arm after you cross the sand bar, around 15 - 20 metres. Any further upriver from these places and you start to hit the sediment being washed down from the rivers (you can see it on the map, it's darker in colour than the sand being washed in from the sea). There are deeper holes and so on, but you'd need a sounder or a lot of patience (or some local knowledge!) to find them.

You could amalgamate the bag and size limit posts into one, current go to resource - some of the info is outdated now. The video referred to in the Fireline video doesn't appear on the right any more (at least, not for me). If people can't use their initiative and click on the articles link at the top themselves, I don't think they deserve a reminder! Just my thoughts.

Was it ok? Poor buggers usually only come in when they're sick or have been hit by a boat.

A second vote for Adventure Bound on TVS. I think my favourite episode was the one where the host was fishing for kingfish close in to the cliffs south of Sydney, and EVERY fish he hooked roared off like a freight train and busted him off, I don't think he ended up boating anything. Sadly, the host in the earlier episodes (Neil) died in a skindiving accident. He was great - no nonsense, no silly catchphrases, just solid advice. Well worth checking out.

Really not worth it, it's like bedlam out there on New Year's Eve. You won't be able to relax and have fun if you're the skipper, whether cruising or moored - there will just be too many people and boats on the water.

You can't pump nippers or collect worms in Gunnamatta Bay - Maianbar is fine. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/info/closures/rec-sw-loc/central-coast-index/port-hacking

That mackerel is a yellowtail. You can eat them, but they're very 'fishy' tasting - they go ok smoked. Much better as bait!

The Fisheries and the Department of Lands - two of the LEAST 'Green' and most bureaucratic government departments in my experience - will not approve ANY new development that threatens weed beds, particularly Posidonia strap weed or Zostera eel-grass. This rule came in in the early 2000s, from memory, and is a blanket ban - even when the dredge the Port Hacking, the dredge is meant to stick to the main channels where this weed doesn't grow, and avoid disturbing it where they can (obviously more of a guideline in this case). More of an issue at the Kurnell boat ramp is the fact that it abuts a groyne - any dredging that takes place there will be filled in again with sand relatively quickly which is captured by the groyne. You can see how the sand is creeping up the concrete ramp. Unfortunately it's not worth the Council's time or money to get a dredge in every six months. The smart money would have been to replace the groyne with a longer, built up ramp to take boats past the weed and into deeper water, but that means big initial outlay for the Council, and they'd probably prefer to spend it on more cockatoo proof bins, or redoing the pavement in Sutherland than spend it on improving access to the water.