harold

If you dont know, dont go! Stay safe in the river and let your confidence and skills grow.

well. if there are a few in agreement on the idea, lets identify the highly experienced fishermen who are prepared to support the idea. Once that is done all we need is to identify a date that works (subject to weather) and lets do it. So who amongst us is in the "leader" category? Harold

I am with you all there, nothing and i mean nothing even goes close to a great day with the little ones, as you get older, those memories are so precious. Remember when we were kids, we had to be "tough" so it wasnt cool to say that something was beautiful. These days, i truly treasure the moments i spent with my father all those years ago.

Has anyone given thought to the possibility of running a sort of "Introduction to the Hawkesbury" fishing day? Maybe some of the more experienced fishos could take (say) 4 boats each on a given day and lead some of us triers around to some of the non-secret locations and explain the methodology they use to be successful. If we went to (say) 3 locations over a 5 hour period we could then meet up for a quiet beer or meal and we would all be just a little bit wiser. Harold

hmmm well if the god of all things domestic gives me permission we might try to rustle up a fish or 2 out in Broken Bay. Went last saturday and only had 3 throw backs to enjoy and that was from fishing east of Lion and then over to the point off Palm Beach. Better luck this week i am sure. harold

GW, i just want to say i envy your catch and you keep catching fish and posting reports, it keeps triers like me enthused and motivated in the knowledge that somewhere out there, there are fish with my name on them Harold

it does seem commercially naive to support a non supporter. Why would anyone bother to contribute money to a cause that promotes competitors? There is simply no answer to the question. Ken, i will become a supporter of the site as i think it does a great job and i have nothing to do with fishing (unfortunately that includes catching them!) and it is loyal to its supporters. Where do i sign up? Harold

will get out into BB early sat morning (without the family) then boat show in the arvo. Sunday sons 2nd birthday and my wife is hell bent on having a party at home-she is definately mad or counting on me to clean up after a dozen little rug rats tromp through the place.

Hairtail You need more than good luck, you need a bloody miracle!

Jeremy will be 2 next week and yes we do have that type of life jacket for him. Actually when you think about it, it is these very events that we remember when our kids leave home. My oldest kids are 32 and 28 and some of my fondest memories now, didnt seem so great at the time (like the time when my oldest son was 2 and he hit me in the head with a hammer as i lay on the floor, off to hospital we went). Next time i think i might just venture out on my own for as few hours. CU on the water Harold

Well as the old saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men..." anyway, i had it in mind to go fishing in the new boat last friday so i left work at 10am (after signing more cheques than i care to remember) and went down to Akuna Bay and with all the rods, bait and new tackle i bought, i struggled down to the boat only to find...the bloody mechanics had not yet finished their work and they had the battery isolation swith off and had gone to buy a new one. So that buggered the idea. No problems, Saturday is the next day and the wind forecast is 5 to 10 knotts, you beauty. Unfortunately i made the mistake of telling my wife i was going and she "convinced" me she and our little bloke should come. No worries i thought, instead of getting out at first light it will be 0830 or so. The only problem is no one told our little son to cooperate and between him not wanting to eat breakfast and her generally stuffing around it was 11.30 before we got to the boat. So out we go into the great bule yonder and we threw the pick out opposite Cottage Point. I floated a pilly out, put a prawn down and flicked a SP. Almost immediately our nearly 2 year old decided to ty to throw himself overboard and when i stopped him doing that he started to scream then my wife decided to start shouting at him and i put my hands over my ears! Well after an hour of that i decided the noise of the 225 was preferable so i pulled up anchor and motored over towards the rail bridge, threw out the anchor and set the rods, by this time it was about 1.30pm and my dear wife says "it will be getting cold soon, i think we should be heading back so Jeremy does not get too cold". So back to Akuna i go, she goes to the restaurant while i clean the boat (and drop the flushing connector for the motor in the drink!!!!!). There must be a lesson here but i am yet to fathom out what that is. Fish hard & fish longer.

yobbo@fishraider.com.au love it!

that is a very good lizard, my wife would stab me if it was the only decent fish we had caught and i threw it back!

how could i not go after reading those comments? Forecast sounds fine so a report will be forthcoming! harold

Am thinking about going out into Hawkesbury tomorrow for a fish but having read all the "no fish" reports, do you think it is worth it or just a waste of time?

by contrast, i had to go to a client that owes me several hundred thousand dollars and demand a cheque, bank it, answer about a dozen calls and review a report. I know whose day i would rather be having, fish or no fish. harold

Thank you guys for the input. We have 4 rods on board which range from a light spinning rod, 2 ugly sticks with Shimano spinning reels and a heavy duty game type rod with an overhead reel (i forget which make i bought but the rig cost $1000.00). I think i will buy a new mid range outfit as Mimi and i mostly are bottom bashing at various parts of the Hawkesbury. To be frank, we dont really "target" a specific fish, rather we just go out there, buy a few different baits and toss it overboard with the min weight we can and see what bites. Having said that we catch our fair share of Flathead and Bream. Last year i discovered SP's and after i caught my first flatty on that i was hooked so i want to increase the range of those on board also. Fish well and thanks again harold

Well while you didnt get the fish you wanted, i would have swapped days with you, i spent it at work trying to nut out how our BAS could be so much money and how i am going to pay it on the 28th. All the best harold

Gee Simon, i reckon you guys are lucky to be home and not on the missing or injured list. I have fished that general area for 30 years and i have seen several boats come to grief under the same circumstances. Stay safe mate and watch out for your brother. All the best Harold

I have long been quite ignorant on which rod and reel is best in which circumstance. On Pittwater and the surrounding areas what do you think are the best combinations to use? I would also appreciate some estimate on the relative cost of the rigs. I think it is time Mimi and i totally replaced our old stuff which was mainly bought because "it looked good for the price" rather than any objective motivation. harold

gee, that makes me feel better about not getting out this week. Mind you it was blowing all weekend and that is not much fun at the best of times in winter. The good thing about fishing is, there's always tomorrow. harold

well, we are still waiting for the bloke to finish our new covers so we are off the water until next weekend. Might see if i remember how to swing a golf club on sunday, bet my 13 year old beats me yet again, i knew i shouldn't have taught him how to play-its down right embarrassing!

i feel....inadequate having seen those pics. Great work

Well, for me it has definately been this web site, it has really enabled us to accelerate gaining our knowledge about fishing in the Hawkesbury, given we moved up after 15 years of fishing on the harbour. Harold

well, the various guys have nearly finished all the refurb work on my boat except the damn guy who is replacing the covers. So given it is forecast to rain and the old covers leak like a sieve, i will most likely leave the tarp over the boat and do stuff with my wife and son. Not a bad alternative actually. Just looked at the weather forecast for Pittwater and Sat afternoon and sunday they are forecasting 30 knot winds. Harold