Mysterythecat

Yep Cobba - its what's underneath that is both exciting and/or frustrating... everytime I see it I want to reach for my rod

I'm sitting at my desk on a brilliant Friday Arvo looking at the million dollar view you can only get from Garden Island when I look down and see a flock of gulls getting exciting by all these bait fish busting the surface. Only problem is you can't fish there - its in the pen for the support boats at Garden Island. Its about the 3rd time this week I witnessed the same thing... I'm going for frustrating...

I would have settled for a Rock cod. I was out on Saturday and all I got was a couple of catfish! Mysterythecat

Thanks for the 'heads-up' Mrsswordfisherman. Don't usually respond to polls requested via e-mails but this is important. For what its worth, I agree with all of those people here who have said something to the effect of "lets keep the commercial trawlers away from these areas". Someone made the point that one trawler in 1 run may catch as many fish as any single fisho in a lifetime. In my case thats probably 3 lifetimes . I can't help compare the state of the Harbour now the trawlers have stopped going through (but notably recreational fisho's have continued to enjoy wetting a line and catches have improved significantly in recent years and it keeps on getting better) to the Hawkebury which periodically gets cleaned out by a trawler or 6 and where we have constant references on this site to how it is not as plentiful as it once was - which is my usual excuse for an empty bag. Total exclusions are not the answer. With it comes the issue of educating the public and then trying to police it. I would happily support tighter bag limits and/or catch size limits. Even bans on certain species during the breeding season if that helps. Most (I would hope all) the fisho's on this site would respect these measures but it would not detract from the enjoyment of actually fishing (catch and release is a viable option and one many here actively advocate). cheers Mysterythecat

Driving out of Bobbin Head caused a bit of fun. We forgot to unscrew the bungs, as we were heading out of bobbin head up the hill, we noticed the was a large stream of water squirting out the side of the boat, It was the auto bilge pump kicking in to empty out the rainwater, nearly drowned a few cyclists. Hey, thats just about worth filling the boat up with water again so you can give it another crack! cheers Mysterythecat

Nice Couple of Fish there. I am curious about one thing though. This has to be the first report I have seen of a Kingie in the Hawkesbury. I've heard of them being caught in Broken Bay and even in the Cowan but not further up. How far up the Hawkesbury were you? cheers Mysterythecat

I work at Garden Island these days. The Navy has now actually stopped anyone fishing off it anywhere because of potential that they might slip and hurt themselves somewhere and then create a public liability problem. These days the only fish we see here is those unfortunate ones that swim into the dock when the caison is out (to let in a ship) and then get left high and dry when the water is pumped out. That and the crumbed variety in the canteen. Mysterythecat

The first time I ever got really interested in SPs was after a night session at Juno. I was using Berkley Gulps which are scented and I think that made the difference. I managed to pull in quite a few fish that night while my mate who was sticking to baits got zip. Interestingly, I noticed that I was catching more by just leaving the rod in the holder and allowing the motion of the boat move the lure, than the usual cast & retreive technique. I know this because no matter what I was doing, it was always the other rod (which ever I wasn't holding at the time) that starting bending over. Now I use them whenever and wherever I can. cheers Mysterythecat.

The only time I had the pleasure of talking to a fisheries officer was down at Lakes Entrance in Victoria. There I was with my brother-in-law and his 2 sons feeling proud as punch with a good catch of whiting which I was keen to show off, only to discover that we had wrongly identified the species of whiting in from the fishing guide and it was all undersized! Red faces all round, but only a $100 fine so I reckon they went easy on us. Odd thing was, I had just purchased my licence no less than 2 hours earlier, and they didn't even ask to see it! Still, I keep my licence with me at all times on the water - I'm not risking my luck twice. cheers Mysterythecat

Managed to get out (finally) on Sunday and manouevred pretty carefully from Berowa to Bar point and then a bit later to just off Milton Island. Water looks like a dirty puddle at the moment (even worse than normal!) and the odd log floating half hidden when you least expect it keeps you on your toes. Probably not as bad as a week ago though from all reports. Not much action fish-wise. Had a few nibbles of the chicken gut bait (was told in that water it better be smelly or the fish won't even know its there!) we put down there but nothing interested enough to take a real bite. But then I always think getting a fish is a bonus - just happy being out there. cheers Mysterythecat

I can see it now... For sale: 30m Flybridge Cruiser, near new. Some water damage. As is where is. All offers considered. Poor bugger. Mysterythecat

Trust me - its not a rivalry either one of us wants to win! Its good to know Flint and Steel wasn't doing much either though. And I definitely like Mondo's theory. Me and my mate are defintitely into to good theories. Our only problem is translating them to landed fish. cheers Mysterythecat

Ok - you win. I feel a lot better now. Actually, when a few other boats showed up for the run-out tide I was pretty optimistic. And I'll probably be just as optimistic next time I try it. As everyone says, you've got to put in the hard hards to get the rewards. cheers Mysterythecat Hey Mondo - your byline says it all - "Any idiot enjoys catching a fish but only a seasoned idiot enjoys fishing". Pass the salt and pepper cheers Mysterythecat

Thanks for the encouragement guys. But its ok - I can be an idiot and still keep fishing. I plan on being an idiot again real soon and giving it another crack - just might try a different spot next time. I've heard about somewhere called Spot X and while I'm not exactly sure where that is, I reckon its up to me to find it - stand by for a lot more attempts at idiocy Of course, if I ever catch that elusive Jew, I'll transform from idiot to genius in the time in takes to land it. cheers Mysterythecat Oh, and another thing - my mate will still be an idiot - irrespective Mysterythecat

The true definition of an idiot is someone who keeps doing the same thing and expecting to get a different result. I'm an Idiot - and so's my mate. After hearing a few reports about the odd Jew popping up in the Hawkesbury we thought we'd give it another try. Friday night we headed out (late - but thats another story) and got to Juno at around 10pm, an hour before the tide change at 11. Out went all manner of lines and baits and lures - we had 6 rods variously placed around the boat with everything from fresh squid (though not live - haven't got the capacity for live bait on my boat), peeled, Hawkesbury prawns, octopus (don't ask me why) a couple of soft plastics and we even tried a fish fillet. Sum total of success for staying there all night and through until about 10am next morning was a small Jew (30cms - put back but I hope to meet him again in a couple of years), a small flathead 36cm, an eel, a catfish and a couple of small tailor (one foul hooked through its side so the little bugger was really unlucky). The tailor became live bait and one got monstered by something big (probably a shark) as all we pulled up was its head and we barely felt a tug. Smarter men would have moved on. Smarter men would have chosen another spot to begin with as this is pretty typical of the catch every time we've fished there. But then I am an idiot. And so's my mate who talked me into staying. cheers Mysterythecat

Yep - we're all interested - but some of us have to work.. cheers Mysterythecat

Here's an idea. Next time anyone on the boat catches something (doesn't matter what) how about you smear it all over the front of your shirt. If you don't catch anything, a bit of tuna oil will acheive the same effect. That way, when you get back home, she'll take one whiff and know you haven't been straying. Of course she'll kill you for getting in such a mess but you can't have everything. At least when you go fishing she'll know thats what you're doing. cheers Mysterythecat

I'm sure you're right. I was reading a post here last week that talked about 6 commercial boats trawling up past Juno. There was I with a mate sitting there all night last Friday a week ago for next to nothing, not having realised that the place had been cleaned out the previous day. I understand these guys have to make a living but do they really have to come up the river? Mysterythecat

Interesting you should ask that. A mate and I were fishing off Juno Pt on Friday evening and all we could catch were small Hammerheads - landed about 5 of them in the space of a couple of hours before we decided to move off and try somewhere else. Not that I mind a bit of shark but it wasn't what we were after. The Hammerheads were smashing the pillies we had out but none of the other baits or the soft plastics (which I did very well on only a couple of weeks ago in the same spot) got even a nibble. I was thinking that the sharks had frightened everything else off. There were a pile of other boats out there on Friday - anyone catch anything different? cheers Mysterythecat

You're probably right. I'd not seen one before anyway but it was long and thin. Could have been called Tom but we weren't formally introduced cheers Mysterythecat

Been a while since I posted so I'm overdue. Went out on Friday night with a mate and headed out from Berowa Marina at about 5 pm Friday night. Yeah, it was a couple of days ago but it takes me that long to get around to posting so bear with me. For those of you with a long memory, you'll probably recall that Friday afternoon was stinking hot but there was a forecast of a possible storm. We weren't too concerned by that since we weren't heading outside and thought the possibility of a change might be quite refreshing. We decided earlier in the week that we wanted to try Juno pt since neither of us had actually tried our luck there. Some time later we were happily anchored off there sitting back enjoying the evening. Al was trying all sorts of baits - he had squid on one rod, a peeled prawn on another and a piece of chicken soaked in Tuna on a third. Not to be outdone, I tried whole pillie on my first line and as I was baiting up with a prawn on the second, No. 1 starts bending. It was probably the best fish we were to see - a pretty decent Bream from the flash I got as it came up to the boat - maybe 35cm. I say maybe because it took one look at us and broke off. Two things flashed through my mind at that point (after the swearing that is). One: what was a Bream doing taking on a whole pillie (maybe thats usual but I thought it was a bit big); and Two: what was I doing putting a bait that size on light tackle?! Anyway, encouraged somewhat, a pillie went on to line No. 3 straight away. And that was it for next hour or so as we watched the storm gathering on the horizon. Something small had a go at the pillie but pretty much nothing was happening. I then decided to try some of the SP's I bought earlier that day to try out. I have to say now, that I've never caught anything on plastic before but now I'm a convert. I first tried Gulp prawn shaped thingy (getting technical now) and it went off before it even hit the bottom. Small flathead - probably about 30cm - released. Next cast it was a Garfish - 58cm. Al kept trying the baits but not even a nibble. His best catch all night was a toss-up between an own T-shirt or a massive clump of weed wrapped with about 4 different lines (other fisho's have obviously been lossing tackle as result of this thing so Al at least got some satisfaction of seeing it off). Oh, and he did land a yellow tail which then became the latest of the variety of baits he tried all night. Then the light show started. Forked lightening peppered the southern horizon for the next couple of hours. At this point I was happy not to be catching anything as it would have just distracted me from the show. There we were in total calmness and we could see multiple lightening hits in a variety of colours gradually heading east. Pure magic. Then, at around 10 the rain hit us and the wind came up so we dicided we had had enough. Then as Al was pulling up the anchor, the wind changed to a very warm Noreaster (from the southerly we experienced when it hit) - quite bizarre. We headed off and moored up in America Bay for the evening. Finished off with a nice drop of Jamieson's 10 year old. Next morning (Saturday), we had to try again at Juno. I tried a couple of other Gulp lures (blue minnows - one light blue the other a darker shade). Once again, multiple hook ups on the SP's and not much on the baits. In the end I had a couple of Tailor, another small flathead (again released) . Al did land an eel but didn't like the look of it and he put it back. Of course, off to the distance we could see a lot of boats off Flint and Steel. I think thats where we should have been too in hindsight. Nevermind it had to be tried - and it has given me a lot more confidence in plastics. cheers Mysterythecat

Geez - The number of times I've headed off up Berowa Creek and never thought of dropping a line in only 5 minutes up river. I hate it when I miss something obvious. But where in Berowa do you find these crabs and how do you catch them? cheers Mysterythecat

Top idea - now where would he get one (not that I'm asking for myself or anything... ) cheers Mysterythecat

I'll echo those sentiments Inhlanzi. Sea Tow came to my rescue a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately for me I wasn't so lucky as to have a mate on board who was member. Needless to say I am a member now. Once bitten... cheers Mysterythecat

Ain't that the truth. From where I work I get a fairly good view of the harbour and seeing guys out there just makes me depressed. Thank god it's Friday. cheers Mysterythecat