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Cheers mate...

Wanna say a big thanks to Luderick -Angler (Royce) and Hawkesbass (Trevor) for spending time with me on Saturday learning what I'm sure is just the tip f the ice-berg of black-fishing... Learnt when, where and how to collect burley and bait for luderick... Also was showed a few spots around the harbour and balmain areas which I'm sure to re-visit to hone my skills... Unfortunately I didn't connect with any fish on the day (got snagged with 1 and pulled too soon on the other), but Royce and Trevor landed 2 nice ones and were kind enough to give them to me to take home...thanks guys... Filleted them when I got home and ate them that nite with a friend with some Coronas ...mmm..I think I am turning to the dark side...really nice fish to eat... Thanks again Royce and Trevor and hope to be able to tag along again sometime in the near future... P.S. I think I'll still bring my "princess-gloves" and how bout a heater next time...Trevor, you were hardcore in your shorts...take my hat off to ya...

Update report on status of the bream... 1 down, 1 to go ... Had it for dinner last night and damn it was good... Was bringing in the fish and of course the neighbour asks what's in the bucket...in short, she basically gave me this recipe that I'm hooked on now...she said I could use this for pan fried crispy skin or baked in the oven...here's what I did... Combine: - 1 TBS minced garlic - 1 TBS crushed ginger - 1/2 TBS chilli powder - 1/2 TBS ground tumeric - 1/4 cup chopped coriander - 2-3 TBS vegetable oil I cut some slits on the outside of the fish and rubbed the marinade all over and inside. This time I baked it (last time pan fried it) wrapped in baking paper and then al-foil... 30min on 200oC wrapped, and then another 15min opened to crisp the skin a bit... Needless to say, the meat just falls from the bone ...mmm...there's just something about eating your own catch and oh so fresh... If you got any other recipes to share, let me know...

Ok, so high tide's at 1:22pm and low at 7:17pm...sunset at 5:05pm... I always seem to get some small tailor and snapper (squire, whatever) and bream...if the water's clear you should be able to get some squid...oh, check out this post that's about seeing some guys catch a massive kingie in off the decking... Kingfish (which I didn't catch) at Gymea Bay Bath Reserve My suggestion for the bream is try and get some live yabbies...I got 'em on that but also some chicken with parmesan...but take a mix bag and definitely pilchards... Best of luck there...let me know how you go...

Persistence / insanity...yeah same thing... Good thing I'm married to a psychologist, so if I ever lose it, I've got the free consultations But yeah, following my previous post, I've moved my attention more to casting my line towards the shallower areas and around where the boats are in the purple section as below...albeit, I've started walking along the whole pier trying different spots and trying to see what activity I can see on and in the water... Tried making my own traps to catch some poddy mullets, but had no luck yet...oh well...persistence/insanity will prevail...

So, my faith has been restored in Gymea Bay Baths. Had a session on Wednesday arvo/nite and caught the below. 2 x 25cm bream plus some smaller borderline-legal snapper that were thrown back. Another guy was there just trying to catch bait for his next day trek and caught the below whopper of a squid. The hood measured about 30cm. Needless to say, we were both surprised of the size of it in that area. Dipped in batter and deep fried for dinner rather than bait I reckon...mmmmm...fresh calamari...

Sorry to see this happen to ya dhype...I think I saw you yesterday morning on my way down to Gymea Bay... Were you turning off of King Geroges Rd onto the M5 between about 6:30ish to 7:30ish??? and was the towing vehicle a Mazda??? BTW, hope there's little cost for repairs for ya... Cheers, Al

Thanks Safari...every little bit of advice is helping... I was trying the whole time to use my rig with a float attached...

Thanks Stingerz... Appreciate everyone's input... If there's one thing I love it's info overload, hence providing all the info on my trek with pictures... I'm still trolling thru posts etc to find additional spots to fish from but still notice some raiders keep their spots close to their chest... If anyone's willing to share a spot of two for a noob, even if you wanna send me a message, again, welcoming all advice... And I've taken a look at purchasing the Dummies book for fishing, and am seriously considering the purchase...the more info the better...

Here's another clip that I found just now... I think I'm starting to get the idea...

Yep, that fish skin leader with lumo beads is exactly what I got... Thanks for the clip...now hopefully this system is as efficient on land-based as it on a boat

Thanks Royce... yeah give me a buzz for the time you're thinking for... At the moment, no plans for the arvo... Hear from you later... Al

Thanks for that...

I don't mind being corrected, but when I was there the time before, all along the jetty on the green side, there were thousand of little schooling fishing breaking surface and swimming along... To a novice like me, yeah I think pilchards, but when swimming past, you could see the flashing of silver all over the place... Moving forward, does anyone have advice as to what type of a rig to use and possibly techniques to be able to catch live bait...again, something I still haven't broken ground on...

Sorry, a few of us guys refer to pilchards as pillies...

I tried catching my own live bait when we got there with one of those rigs from Tackle world that's already got about 6-7 hooks off it with some sort of fish scale and scent on it...used it with a float and sinker on the end... Scattered the burley and left this rig amongst it, but got nothing... The frustrating this was the last time I was there the pillies were going crazy all over the area after I burley'd and this time not a peep... The conditions were as close as I could get it when I was there last...

G'day raiders... So, I went to a Gymea Bay Baths Reserve (which I've been frequenting quite a bit of late) on Tuesday arvo from 2pm-7:30pm... Here were the conditions for the day, we basically tried to be there for the tide coming in and bit on the way out: I've had mixed success of late but Tuesday was disheartening to say the least...a week prior I caught about 25 fish in total , but kept only 3 legal snapper and 1 legal bream... This visit, only 2 little snapper and nothing else ...frustrating to say the least, but I must admit that one of the reason I go there is because it is such a beautiful scenic spot... Got to the spot and burley'd up the water a bit with a mixture of stale breadcrumbs, bit of smelly parmesan, tuna oil and sea water - yes my fish eat well So, bait I used consisted of chicken marinated in parmesan and a bit of tuna oil, skirt steak, thawed pilchards and thawed squid hood... Here are the rigs that I usually use when going out: So, again, frustrating to say the least that I really had no luck at all that arvo...I don't think I mentioned it, but I went the Friday before and pretty much had the same kind of mis-fortune... To add salt to the wound, 2 hours into our session, 3 guys came down and started fishing a few metres away from us in shallower waters, and 10 min into their session, they've landed a whopper of a Kingfish on pilchards...my mate and I just look at each other and no words were needed...we weer just like "What the...???"... Here's a shot of the bath area with us fishing in the green section and them in the purple: We were fishing in deeper water and these guys were in water no deeper that I reckon 2-3m...it was as though they were saying "there's another one, there's another one, cast it there"... I've never really felt like throwing the rod in, but I'm borderline... Soon after they just kept on reeling in the taylor and still we were getting nothing... I just wanna start catching decent legal size fish that I don't have to throw back and can enjoy some fresh seafood... My ears and eyes are open to anyone willing to give advice, take me under their wing, or share other locations and strategies I can adopt... Aside, I wanna say thanks to Luderick_Angler for offering his time to mentor me in fishing for blackfish, bream and pigfish around Georges River area and trout elsewhere... Anyone else that'd be willing to have me tag along, let me know...at the moment after I'm open to any kind of fishing... is dynamite legal anywhere...just kidding Anticipating your replies... Cheers, Al

Hey Nick, No sorry, not me...Big Al's just a nickname I was given ages ago... Not that "big" anymore, but you know, what you get tagged with usually sticks... Cheers

Morning Raiders... I'm in search of a mentor (or mentors) Here are the details the admin team have asked that us noobs provide... Your name: Allen C (Big Al) Your Location: Quakers Hill Fishing technique: Open to anything (Bass/trout on Nepean, Jewfish on Georges River, Snapper on Port Hacking, etc) Availability: Saturdays, Most weekday arvos (I work shifts so sometimes I'm available from 1pm or 2pm) Preferred location: Nepean River, Port Hacking area and Georges River area Provide your own gear? Yes Provide your own boat? No (don't have one - yet) I'd say I'm a novice/intermediate at best - not completely useless, but am always wanting to learn more... If anyone's willing to share some knowledge or even some good spots for fishing, let me know... If you have a boat, I'm willing to chip in for fuel... Anyway, enough for now, if you want/need more info, let me know... Cheers, Al

Yeah... I'm gonna wait for the colder months to really start attacking the Nepean...plus most of the Tassie Devil lures that I'm after are all sold out at St Marys Tackle World and Australian Bass Angler in Penrith...may have to order them direct online... Anyway, I went down last Friday to Weir Reserve, and I'd say due to the massive rain we had during that week, the path (about 20-30m past the actual weir) was flooded over again... There were still people fishing back towards the bridge and rowing club, but I think it would have just been a "pity" cast for making the trip...regardless, didn't see anyone with any catches... Went for a drive yesterday up to Warragamba Dam with my wife and stopped off at the bridge on Springwood Rd, Yarramundi and there were a few people there...again, nothing to really show for their efforts, but then again, the water was still moving relatively quick and it was about 1:30pm so I doubt much would have been caught in the heat of the day... But if anyone's got more updates for the area also, would love to hear 'em... Cheers, Big_Al

Thanks heaps PJ... Trully appreciate it... Nope, none of those lures are the one that I lost...it was a yellow one, but not sparkly like the one you got in the pic... Thanks for the how-to pic...

Pumped to hear all the reports at Nepean... A 30min drive to the Nepean beats a 1hr (on a good day) drive to Port Hacking... Fortunately I haven't lost any expensive gear, but losing a Tassie the day after I bought it can hurt the pride a bit... I need advice on rigging the Tassies up as I think my down fall is using the "Locked Clinch Knot"...I used the Tassie straight out of the pack without altering the setup, got it snagged on something, trying to "persuade" it out, and then felt that heart-dropping snag-release and light line...I'd thrown $5.95 into the Nepean... Could I get some advice on best suited knots and rigs for the Tassies pleeeeeaaaaase...

Yowie, I'm only new to the area and only have access to land-based fishing... Could you please advise whether this was land or boat-based... I also hear many different school of thoughts regarding when to fish; when the tide's going out or when it's coming in...any advice or tips for the Port Hacking area...being a noob, any guidance is welcome... Cheers, Big_Al

Top idea... I'm only land-based at the moment and have started looking at spots around the port hacking area. Only been around the Gymea baths wharf of late and really only catching small snapper with a bit of bream, but nothing really that I can take home which I'm always disappointed in. Being only new to the site I'm still trolling thru all the information, but does anyone have suggestions for good spot(s) to fish from (land-based) this long weekend. For a noob, all guidance is welcomed. Cheers...