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Hi Paul, I assume that tightening the drag makes the reel more water proof, and releasing the drag takes the pressure off the washers. People should remember to loosen the drag afterwards. Sounds like a good approach, thanks for the tip.

Hi all, Was interested to hear how people cleaned their fishing gear after each session, and what maintenance techniques are used or required to ensure your gear is kept in good working order. I hear that using WD40 is meant to be good, does anyone use this technique? Does it not foul the line and leave residue on the line which may put fish off? I normally just lightly spray my gear with water, especially the line on the reel and give it a wipe with a dry cloth. Cheers.

G'day Wrasseman, I think you (and everyon else that has reponded) are correct. Life is too short to eat polluted fish !!! I don't think I would be able to enjoy eating it, I would be thinking about whether it was safe to eat or not. To add to the rubbish coming down the open drain, there is the marina for the Captain Cook cruise ships. Who knows what they through into the water, wash and maintain their boats with. As Flattieman says, it is just nice to have somewhere convenient to go for a fish and land some decent fish. I must admit, going down yesterday afternoon just before dark was very soothing and peaceful !!! Not as exciting as out on the boat, but also not the hassles with launching, washing etc. Good for a change. Has anyone fished around the next bay, at Cremorne Point? I am pretty sure there are some mean Flatties around there, and it definately looks a lot cleaner. What are your thoughts about eating the fish around the next bay? Cheers to everyone for the welcome, just confirms the my suspicion of this being a friendly site. Also cheers to MallacootaPete for the information on Flattie pollution. It makes me feel easier about eating them from other parts of the harbour. I don't know about everyone else, but I am still a little uneasy about eating bream from the harbour.

Hi All, this is my first fishing report. Joined Fishraider a couple of weeks ago, and have been enjoying reading people's reports. I must say there are a lot of good fishermen on this site, and what has most impressed me is the willingness of people to help others and provide encouragement. I live in Neutral Bay, and sometimes walk through Anderson Park on my way to work - walking across the Harbour Bridge. I have been sussing out the little bay at the end of the park for a long time now, and have always said to myself that I should give the place a try one day.... never getting around to it. A couple of days ago I was walking home, through the park and there was so much fish activity around the bay. There was certainly a school of fish busting up bait fish everywhere, I was trying to work out what they were and what they were chasing, I thought I saw some small tailor scurrying along and jumping in terror out of the water. I thought maybe jewies, salmon or maybe kings. What ever they were, I was excited and decided that I would rush home today and grab my SP gear and head down for a crack at what was chasing the fish or have a crack at the flatties that I was sure to be there. As luck has it when I got down there today, no sign of the hive of fish activity, so I thought I would try to nail some of the flatties. After a couple of casts of the golden squidgie shad into the gutter that I had previously sussed out, and a couple of bumps on the line, I hook onto the first flattie. I had not taken a landing net, as I was planning on releasing the buggers (I was going out for dinner and could not be bothered gutting and scaling fish), so I had the problem of negotiating the drop of a metre or so to the water. I had to bring the flattie close to the wall and lift her in one motion, hoping that she did not bite through the 12lb line. After successfully lifting her onto the grass, I had nothing to measure her with so, took a photo of her with my rod, before releasing. I estimate her to be around 40cm?? A new squidgie was required, as the first one was destroyed. After a couple more casts, hook onto another flatttie. Same method required, get her in close, single lifting motion onto the grass. This one was a little bigger then the first, I decided to put my size 9 thong next to her, to give some scale. I land another small one, around 30cm and lose a fourth around the same size as the largest one, as she spat out the squidgie just before I was about to lift her out of the water. All in all a very satisfying trip down to the local park. I know there are some bigger flatties in there and also some bumper bream. They will have to wait another day. Question to everyone. There is a storm water drain that leads into this bay, which gets pretty filthy after rain - you can see all the grime from the road wash into it after rain. Do you think it would be safe to eat the flatties around the area? I know there has been a lot of press around dioxins in Harbour fish, but the reports only show results on bream, squid, yellowtail, trevs ... not flatties. Interested to hear whether people would eat the fish, in this instance the flatties, out of the bay adjoining Anderson Park - Neutral Bay. Anyway, sorry about the long winded report. Hope to post some more this coming summer, cheers.