Mysterythecat

That would have been a smart thing to do... only I was sitting there fuming and thinking smart went west a long time earlier. Needless to say, it was the first thing I did when I went home. cheers Mysterythecat

The day had to come where I had to put all of my new-found expertise in fishing in these waters into practise. It has been a few weeks since I last went out and I was itching to go again. Circumstances and prior committments were keeping me from my goal - which is to catch something worth keeping. Sunday on the Hawkesbury was not going to be my day... Earlier last week I was talking to a mate and we decided that the coming weekend was the ideal time for him to see the new boat and maybe wet a line in the process. Saturday was looking good. Forecast was good and we were on. Two hours later he rings me and sheepishly asks if he can bring the wife. "Fine" said I (I know his misses and we get on fine), "I'll bring mine" I foolishly added. (I need to explain - my boat is a 27 foot cruiser so women folk think its fine to come along and sip wine from the main deck while blokes fish off the back). Whoops - another catch. Spouses are busy on Saturday, can we go Sunday? Looking at the forecast I thought "hmmm.. dodgy but we'll be on the river, it probably won't be too bad and if it comes up rough, we can always go back in. Sunday comes. Looking fine, although late start (10am) to suit the women-folk. Got to the marina where boat is berthed. First thing I noticed is that one battery is completely dead. Someone had left the refridgerator running and the shore power is switched off - draining said battery. No problem - switch over and away we go. Fool. Got to a likely looking spot just off Milsons Island at the start of the channel. Women folk sip wine while my mate and I start casting lines out. We were trying everything: SP's prawns, pillies... nothing happening. Just when we were thinking of moving on, we get a nibble. An undersize flathead (returned). It was approaching the turn of the tide, and encourged by this minimal success we decide to stay put and try a bit longer. A small Bream (returned), a red snapper (returned) another Bream (also undersized - also returned). Then zip. Not a nibble. Then the wind hit. Anyone who was out on Sunday wouldn't have failed to notice. We decide to stay put and get through the intial burst (and have a bite to eat while we wait, still playing at catching fish although by now we had given up hope). Eventually we decide it was time to go. Turn the key. The worse sound I know is that "click click click" sound as you discover while you have been sitting there, the inverter switch has been on, draining your other battery. We were dead in the water. Quick call to Seatow - "bring some jumper leads". This is when I discover that I am not a member - because the application form I thought my wife had mailed off 3 weeks ago is still sitting on the kitchen bench at home. Bugger. $310 for a call out. Thats about 2 and half years membership. Eventually he arrives (an hour later having to travel up from Pittwater) and we are on our way back. My mate and I have decided we will go out again in a week or so. We are unanimous that it will be a woman free zone. Hope everyone else was doing better than me over the weekend but then again, you could not help but. cheers Mysterythecat

Yep - says it all about them. But back to Danielinbyron's post, how far up off the water were you fishing to get swamped like that? That ledge looked too high for a rogue wave. cheers Mysterythecat

Almost didn't need the report, the photo - with that grin - says it all! And isn't he hanging on to that salmon like it is the crown jewels. Good on 'em! cheers Mysterythecat

Are you sure that's a fish? it looks like some other things I've seen floating in the harbour (the sorts of things that begin life in the nappy of some toddler...) cheers Mysterythecat

I wouldn't give up on the off-shore stuff. I think you need to change what you are targetting and what you are using for bait. For my mind, after that weekend, I think you could probably identify a couple of clowns who need to take a turn at being live bait on a shark rig .... and if you lost your tackle on that one I guess you might feel like you could live with it just a little bit easier. cheers Mysterythecat

Now thats inspiring. My boat is moored up on the Hawkesbury and I try to get out there whenever I can - but catching a jewie (whatever the size - I don't care so long as its legal) has evaded me. There is obviously more to this than I realise. Maybe I should study at the feet of Wayno the Jewfish Guru too. cheers Mysterythecat

It was the best $200 I've spent in a while. cheers Mysterythecat

I'm pleased on one level that it wasn't only me having not much luck. I was out there on Saturday "teasing" the fish for no result - although I was there for only a few hours. Mind you, on such a great day, I'd have been happy to sit there with an unbaited hook and just relax in the sunshine. Still, that means they are still there to have another go at next weekend - right?! cheers Mysterythecat

Yeah, I've got the DVD too - bought it from Scotty. Funny thing is, I've also booked to do classes with Garry Brown next month - I reckoned there are a lot of good fisho's around that I can learn from so I booked them both at the same time. I didn't realise the relationship until I saw the DVD. Its all good! cheers Mysterythecat

Not too much of a story. Freind of mine was giving away kittens and my wife wanted one. As we were going to pick it up she asked me what it looked like. I told her I had no idea - it was a Mystery.....

Damn - Now that is a FISH! Well done! One day I want to get me one just like it! cheers Mysterythecat

Thanks mate. I'm hoping to post more reports too - it might mean I have actually applied the lessons. As for the nic, I used to have a cat called Mystery. I was sitting at my computer one day having to think up a user name for something or another and the cat jumps on my keyboard. I figured he wanted his own account so I used his name and have done so ever since. It works because knowone else is ever going to copy it, meaning I don't have to be too creative. cheers Mysterythecat

I've been something of a voyeur on this site for a while - peeking into what everyone else was up to but not contributing a damn thing. Of course I wanted to - I just didn't have anything to talk about because every time I decided to wet a line, I'd be more a fish "teaser" than than a fish "catcher". I swear that there are fish in the Hawkesbury who look forward to me coming because they gauranteed a free feed at almost no risk to themselves. It didn't take much for me, after reading this site for a while, to work out that I really didn't know what the hell I was doing and I needed to learn quickly if I ever wanted to eat anything other than humble pie. So I went to school. This particular school is actually run by Scotty Lyons who runs Southern Sydney Fishing Tours. I have to give him a plug because yesterday (Sunday 17th) I learned more in half a day with him on the water in Botany Bay than I could have learned in a couple of years trying to muddle through it myself. The theory part of the class was an evening session a few weeks back but the practical was something else. We met up at at the base of the Cook bridge at about 6am and shot off to "Trevally Alley". Scotty reckons he was the originator of the name but I have to take his word on it. As we arrived, ther were only 3 or 4 other boats there, but 15 minutes later it was more like 20. Guess you have to be there early to get your favourite spot. Lesson 1 was targeting Trevally using nippers as baits. There didn't seem to be much action around but after about 45 minutes or so, we had 3 in the boat (approx 1 kgs). We also got a Kingie which was a bit of an unexpected bonus although at 50cms, was a bit undersized and we released it. Next lesson - trawling lures, which we did following the line of the sea wall. Fairly quickly, we had a bonnie on board (around 3kgs) but a few more sweeps didn't produce anything more. Lesson 3 - getting live baits on hand lines. After about 20 minutes we had enough to press on. Then it was onto soft plastics and jigging for flatties on the drift. This time, after an hour or so we still came up empty. However, it was enough for me to realise why I hadn't managed to get anything before. I know know I've been looking in the wrong places with the wrong sort of set-up and the whole jigging thing was new to me (although when I think of it now it sort of makes sense which just makes me feel even dumber!). Back onto baits (peeled prawns and nippers) hanging just off the reef off Bear Island. We managed to find our only flattie here along with a good size sand shark (3/4 metre long) which we released, and an annoying flurry of Reddies which likewise went back to where they came from. Then we went on to anchor just off the first navigation marker by the container wharf. Tried the live baits but nothing much doing. Over to the runway and try trawling with lures for Tailor. They seemed to be ignoring us too. That's okay, I'm used to it. A final lesson - anchored off the river mouth using Bream rigs. Fairly quickly, 2 Bream are in the boat (about 30cm). One of them caught on hand-line. Back to shore to contemplate all we had learned. Overall a good day, and real good way to learn a lot quickly. If there is anyone else out there struggling, I'd thoroughly recommend it. cheers Mysterythecat