qnut

GOOD NEWS! went for a 5am flick at chittaway point - the huge piles of red weed must have been blown away. not much left around there at all!!! Will wait till I hear from mates fishing out on boats this weekend and update the map/ask admin to unsticky thread if the reports are good!

Braid (interwoven fibres of nylone, polyethylene, dyneema) have almost ZERO stretch properties. - Think of it as a malliable cable - if I tug one end - you will most certainly feel it at the other.Also boasts higher abraision resistance & finer diameter per pound of breaking strain + improved cast distance**** -Advantage braid for sensetitvity- Monofilament - Usually a nylon based polymer (essentially plastic) - This DOES have stretch & memory, meaning when when coiled up on your reel spool it will try to retain its coiled shape. That said the stretch is forgiving when a fish runs hard/Comes to rigging and is much much harder to knot up (wind knots, overspool etc) This line is usually translucent and therefore harder for said fish to detect - Advantage Mono Flurocarbon - Half way between mono & braid - another polymer that boats lower memory and higher sensetivity (stretch), along with a lower refractive index (harder to see underwater) and is most commonly used as a leader, although can be used straight though ( whole spool of it ) - Advantage - lower diameter per LB and low visibility Each has its own pro's & cons and can be mixed & matched (i.e Braid spool with a double uniknot 1m of flurocarbon down to your (bait,lure,old rubber boot) to suit various applications and techniques. I personally use Braid with fluro leader. IF you want to learn to use braid I would opt with something along the 8-10 pound range as once braid starts to get below 0.25mm diameter it can be a real pain to unravel a knot unless you know what your doing. Hope this helps

Carbon Fiber? Of course its suitable. Although as your post suggests - You do not fish all that much & you may have financial restraints and being that carbonfiber rods are very expensive. My suggestion would be to go to your local tackle store even one of the big chain stores Big W or Kmart and purchase a <100 combo and learn to fish the various techniques that you want/choose - Then you can make a more educated decision on what type and specifications of rod you may actually like/require as an upgrade based on your needs

As I mentioned in the video, thats whats been blown across the flats or lake... pitty it was so cloudy underwater footage was so murky you couldnt see the big plumes of it at the end of the point but its around. On the map, chittaway point is like a giant arrow pointing almost at the entrance... if it blows across the lake from anywhere but westerly its usually going to get caught on the flats at the point. Also my pictures with my weedless rigged sp's bringing up that much weed cast after cast. Its just a quickly thrown together video at 6:30 so people can at least identify the stuff , wasnt going to go snorkeling or waist deep looking for the big blankets of red haha..

thank god you quoted my post... I accidentally deleted it :\ Here is promised crappy thrown together video... Yes it has grown or atleast shifted with the winds... I went to the mouth of wyong river on sat and encountered it there... also another raider said he has seen it SPing around tuggerahwong... so I have updated the map to represent.

Supposedly the co-op has had no complaints & a mate went prawning near the entrance bridge with no ill effects.... I went out this morning and the blooms were now so big they were on the surface

Never had it sting cuts on me i had a decent gash on the foot when I went to take photos of it to post on here... but it smells bad.

No words for this...

guys, if you are fishing the tuggerah lake area, you could help alot by taking a copy of the map I have posted in this thread and adding a red circle to places you have encountered it... This will help everybody that uses the lake to atleast have some knowledge of the safer areas to have a fish. heaven help us if the algae gets over the weirs into the fresh though. Tried multiple places along geoffrey road on ourimbah creek this arvo and only encountered weed at the end of geoffrey road.. rest of the creek was clear

as far as I know, east is the bridge is fine esp on an incomming tide. West of the bridge weedbeds in the entrance main channel towards pelican island and the weedbeds there abouts have it. I cant comment on budgiwoi and canton areas, Im assuming the afternoon noreasters may be blowing some of it off the flats in a south west direction (the map I posted is ^ North)... I havent had time to travel around dragging broken old blades & vibes on the bottom to check whether its present all around the lake.

its not going to happen untill they install the proper 'tidal footings' under the bridge pylons, speaking of pro's I actually havent seen any around the point at all.

Thanks Tef1on, Problem is where the current bloom is there is almost no tidal flow and since this algae does not float its hard to tell when it will pass. All we can do is hope boaties wash off their anchors & double check bilges so that this problem doesnt spread to other water ways. Its taken 2 weeks to spread roughly 1km to my usual flats from pelican island. I will draw a guestimate map of the current bloom zone based on my observations & other anglers ive spoken with. This is by no means official or 100% accurate - it is based on my observations and that of fellow friends & anglers. EDIT: Link for larger Image: http://i.imgur.com/3mDULao.jpg If I get the opportunity on the weekend ill take my gopro and film a mud crab or ray moving through the red carpet. already seen 2 juvinile muddies scurrying along covered in it (on the flats)

Just went to bcf to get some gamagatzu hooks and mentioned that their billboard out the front advertising 'gr8 spots to fish the lake today' should heed a warning.... 'Nah mate Ive seen that stuff before' then I went to get my products and bumped into the fishing expert who happens to live down my road... showed him a pic which im spreading to mates at the entrance on facebook. His reply? 'Oh no, its back...' Apparently when he used to water ski around budgiwoi and canton area, if you fell off your skis in the red weed areas you WOULD get sick. Now I dont usually give spots away but for the sake of keen anglers trying to get a feed in our lake I suggest traveling down either Ourimbah or Wyong Creeks about 800m+ into the creek or more. There is no weed present there yet (I have been dragging old blades with rusty hooks along the bottom looking for evidence) & bream,garfish,Luderick even the odd flathead are found almost all the way upto the freshwater weirs. Hope this helps & keep this post bumped (sorry admins if this is concidered spam)

Over the past two weeks I have encountered more & more of what seems to look like 'red scum' covering my weedless rigged plastics fished over the flats of chittaway point. I have had fellow anglers report to me that they have also encountered the same substance around pelican island & the channels leading to and around it. The 'weed' Is actually an algae that is toxic and in full bloom in the lakes at the moment and NOT ENOUGH is being done to warn anglers. This tiny article in the back of the local paper was all that was done to stop anglers from sitting on the toilet with their heads in a bucket for 48-72 hours: This algae seems to be blooming quite prolifically, It Sinks so you will not see it on the surface and it is advised not to come in contact (i.e swim , drink water , Consume seafood including prawns & crabs ) in areas where the algae is found (everywhere it seems) IF your fishing gear, Lures, sinkers,Traps,Hooks Come up with a substance that looks like this: Map 11/11/14: I would highly advise you remove it - throw back into the water (as not to contaminate your boat or other waterways) and wash your hands with FRESH water, Do not touch your lips or rub your eyes after handling. The Algae smells of sulphur and egg gas depending on its state of decay. Just a heads up for the moment as it seems nothing is really being done and SOME friends have been getting crook from it. FISH, PRAWNS,CRABS are all affected by the toxin and gutting them will not remove it as it migrates into the fish/crustaceans flesh. You can still practice catch & release. Please try to keep this post at the top of the page for others safety. UPDATED MAP 18/11/14: Tight Lines guys & stay safe

BE very careful. there is currently a blood of red algae that sinks, It IS toxic and is advised that you do not consume any seafood taken from the area. If you see anything like this on your pots, or lures/sinkers or hooks. Id strongly advise you throw your catch back and wash your hands / equipment with FRESH water. This is what said weed looks like:

damn.... I loved wading these flats - I highly doubt the system will get anywhere near enough rain to flush it anytime soon.. I guess I have to fish back upstream as the bloom continues to move in A few friends of mine that fish the entrance area and out of boats in the lake said that the bloom was also very prolific witch isnt a good sign. Thanks for the info Yowie

Being an angler based in tuggerah lakes I have been noticing more and more over the past 2 weeks this red-weed (looks abit like scum but when teased apart its actually hundreds of small blood red fibres). Now assuming this was just another weed blooming in spring along with the rest (wire weed,wrack, etc.) It didnt raise any suspicions apart from getting ALL over my plastics & blades on almost every retrieve. Now to the point; The local paper is warning that this 'red-weed' is infact an algal bloom and warns anglers not to consume fish taken from areas where the algae has been spotted as it can cause illness. Now i, myself have never seen this weed/algae before this spring I haven't taken any fish from the flats that I fish on (which has an increasing amount of it growing) practicing Capute Picture Release unless im really in the mood for a bream of flathead. Which have been producing in these algae areas.. Has anybody else experienced this bloom before? Is it actually toxic? has my waterway been stuffed for the next few months?

caught a smaller mullet myself on a zman grub... actually took the lure not jagged in the body - blew my mind at the time. so yea, they do occasionally take a placcy

Im a believer in the flathead belly trick... been stabbed many a time and it has always counteracted the anticoagulant for me anyway.

longtoms will take just about anything, Plastics, metals, vibes, livies - if you slow retrieve a lure infront of them they will most likley have a go at it

The rod I use for flatties is a Shimano Starlo Classix 2-5kg 7' .. The idea behind it is to be able to hurl 3-5in plastics with 5-10 grams or more weight behind them without flexing the daylights out of the blank. It is stiffer than my Sonic Pro 702 1-3kg bream stick but can also be used for finesse fishing (change reel spool out to 4lb braid) and im set to go. Infact the only time I use the 1-3kg rod is for topwater fishing. If I had to go buy a brand-newie It would be a wilson livefibre spin (so light!!) Rlf32 Or Raider soft plastic Flathead 610 Spin (2.08m) Hope this helps.

Depends they do mill around the edges alot schooling, but the main channel (boat only) usually produces around the markers, Also the channel out to sea (the run).

@bazagorokan Always on lake weed, Ive tried cabbage & stringweed from the headlands - they dont seem interested in it. Wireweed is best if not there is plenty of soft weed around the lake during winter. @Golf_fish They are plentiful in the lake, try the foreshore areas around the entrance bridge last year before some cleatus deployed an illegal net in the channel at night we were bagging out in 2-3 hours consistantly - This year they are definately lacking size but good fun all the same.

Hey there Raiders, Thought I'd share my personal best Blackie caught at The Entrance last weekend in the horrible weather. The blackfish have mostly dissappeared from their usual haunts even before the deluge of rain which has left the lake water pretty much fresh & milky with silt. The extra runoff really hasn't helped. Threw the SP rod into storage and looking to scratch an itch went out with raider 'Stapo' to have a blind crack at the blackfish. Getting down to the spot nice & early the word on the wall wasn't promising "very few and far between" and the clouds signaling and impending downpour. But that didn't stop this thumper comming to the party: Going 43cm to the tip Just thought i'd share my PB Luderick Tight Lines

I'd imagine there would be too much debris under the bridge to making soft plastic bottom bashing viable? As for lake bream - NO SINKERS - if the wind is howling in my experience I would use a tiny 1-2G split shot rigged so that it can slide along your leader. Speaking of leaders i've almost always used 6lb fluro, Even a frigate mackrel that caught me by surprise at the entrance channel bent the hook before breaking the leader. Hope this helps