Keflapod

Pete ! What a catch ! Just as well the "will I" part of you won that 'self-debate' and dragged your butt off the couch and towards the boat. You did well to avoid the rain and even better to get the fish. Everything in the bag is just pure quality. The bream, the whiting, even the crabs. There's enough to go around for your family. Bon apetite mate - you deserve it.... Tony

C'mon Charlie. You haven't heard of John Newcombe - Aussie tennis legend of the seventies ? His charismatic smile, complete with hadlebar moustache was an iconic image. he made a commercial for something and one guy said to him "Beauty Newk" (newk short for newcombe)... ...and the words stuck... ..they became part of Aussie colloquial speech. But we are showing our age when we use these words... Tony

Hey Stacko, Nice haul of bream... and snapper too. Can I ask if you were fishing the south side of the bay or the north for the bream ? No specifics required... Also, what water temp and clarity did you have there ? Tony

I reckon that there is just an abundance of food in the bay for a number of animals. I though turtles ate mainly jellyfish so I hope there aint too many of the jellies around.... We would have a turtle invasion.... Why can't we get the turtles to eat the cormorants..... Tony

We like an understanding woman don't we. We would much prefer that they pointed at us and laughed rather than pointed at us and then pointed at the door. ...even though they know it's rude to point...to make their point... So we give her the calamari, smile and have that shower to make her stop laughing at us.... Tony

Thanks for your reply Daniel. I'll give it a go as soon as the wind gets up Tony

Absolutely right Tasksta. I do the same and add some tartare sauce, thinly sliced tomato, shredded lettuce, onion and make it a fishburger to die for. Very quick and easy to prepare. If you've got more time and like exotic recipes - can't go past thai fish cakes. All you have to do is look in the recipe section of this site and you'll be surprised just how good you can make them taste.... Now if I could only work out how to cook them silver morwong..... Tony

Hi Shed1, I also caught 1 two weeks ago on the other side of the bay. I didn't post it because I thought someone would hassle me about it. I Tony

Hey Dan, Well done on gettng a nice squid AND a light tackle kingie ! I did it once on 6lb trace and barely got the fish in before the trace wore through. Mate, can I ask: How far behind molineux point gives you protection from a SW or W wind ? I ask because I'm considering using that spot when the wind gets up in the winter. Also, do you use a reef or sand anchor in there ? I guess you would fish there on a rising tide and get the burley to drift towards the rockwall, right ? Tony

Hey Dangas, You know this kind of squirt is NOT good for the complexion. In fact, the bigger humbolt squid ink has caustic properties which can burn skin... I don't know if the ink from southerns and arrows has similar properties but certainly does stain.... So when you got home and your missus asked you the hard question "What are all those stains honey?" and you told her, did she believe you or did she start packing YOUR bags ? Tony

Hey Trung, Very lucky you got off lightly. No serious damage, no injury and just some lost pride. The trailer and securing the boat to the trailer probably gets the least attention by fishos. Myself included when I was younger but after a lot of towing, problems and near misses, I decided to do some reasearch. There is a group of people in QLD who put out a great magazine, almost monthly, to which I subscribe. They often have interesting articles about how to do things, inventions and other people's experiences with boats and ALL accessories. There is a magazine they have out (see URL below) which would undoubtedly have a lot of info you could use to show you the pitfalls us trailerboaters can fall into. I am not making any money from this at all, just trying to help a friend avoid injury and damage. I just can't help you keep the donut man away....You'll have to do that yourself, but you WILL need a boat, a heap of new squid jigs AND a new expensive sounder.... Oh hang on, you just bought all that, so maybe a new dress and a pair of earrings will do the job... Well you HAVE everything else don't you ? You even have matching green downrigger balls ! Matching green balls...LOL ! Just have a look at the magazine - you don't want any more boat droppings... http://www.boatmags.com.au/publications/index.php?id=10

So you were soooo upset at all your recent donutter sessions, that you had to lash out and spend a small fortune on a heap of jigs and a new sounder ? Man, I hope you don't get upset very often else you won't be able to afford yourself ! Nice rig Trung. You have painstakingly set it up nicely with a distinct eye for symmetry. Very important - I have done the same. I can't handle the asymmetrical look. I think that I recognise the street in front of you as well.... But that's OK - I'll have to drive past one day and if you're there cleaning your boat, I'll just have to have a look in that killbox....hehehe I can see some nice big squid there as well as some yakkas. Is that whole lot going to be eaten as sashimi ? I'm not surprised you donutted on the bream on hardbodies. The water on the southern side of the bay has been dirty for weeks and last weekend was no exception. I'm not a lure fisho but I reckon you would have to have a rattle in the lure to get the lures eaten in such cloudy water.... But the bream are there, along with quite a few stonker whiting... I even caught a numb ray and saw a big green turtle....... Tony

Hey Aero.guard, Ten squid ? Are you sure you're not a huge kingie in disguise ? If you did have left over calamari rings, sprinkle them with purple sprinkles and give them to Trung..... He will love you for it... Tony

Hey Ray, Nice bag you got there. I'm sure the crab was gonna skin and fillet the fish for you...... ...or maybe just cut them into little cubes with those claws....

Hey Steve, I have to disagree with Woody as I have eaten them many times. They are very nice to my taste but do require some cleaning. You gotta cut the fillets off then skin them - not so easy. They are messy to clean though... Then crumb and fry - add some tartare sauce and you won't be letting them go. By the way, that checkerplate deck looks new. Barcrusher or custom platey ? Tony

There are many species of squid around so when we see big squid, they could be any species (except arrows and southerns). They could be grays squid (common at the fishmarkets) or humbolts or maybe even colossal squid (bigger than the giant squid). With every documentary I watch regarding deep water exploration, they always say they discovered new species of invertebrates - mainly jellyfish but also squid. Fascinating stuff - if only the sea was calm 24 X 7 then we could build a viewing platform with lights on it and a helicopter pad on top to ferry nocturnal observers there.... I would just love to watch what lies beneath the surface at night.....

I would have salvaged the beak for the mantlepiece.... ...and retreaded my 4WD tyres.... Tony

Hey Cam, Mate - what an eventful trip eh ? First you get a big flattie - stoker of a fish. The flathead gurus (not me that's for sure) always suggest that the fish's belly be supported when held upright like that. Me - well I just eat them - but I thought I would mention that little bit of info for you. As for the mullet trap - I reckon the only thing potty about the trap were the people wo took it ! By the way, I understand they're actually called poddy mullet....but we get the picture. You don't suppose the trap was chockers with mullet and a BIG jew swalled the trap and took off do you ? Tony

I love these topics. They are a good opportunity to vent our frustrations and expose the darker side of humanity. I believe people are not necessarily evil. They are a combination of blissfully ignorant and excitedly pre-occupied. Combine these two beautiful concepts and you end up with a person that comes across as a total moron to all people affected by his actions. This will then bring out the negative side of all of us and we end up with "an exchange of pleasantries" between all parties. These pleasnatiries are the kind of statements where we speculate about their heritage and upbringing.... Also about their fishing knowledge and their taste in boats, social partners and even their physical features.... We even offer to rearrange their physical appearance and their property. Often we even make commitments to repeat these offers every time they come and visit us at our favourite spots... We're a loving bunch aren't we ? One guy offered to break both my arms for me and shove them somewhere on my person if I thought that his drifting distance of 10m from my anchored boat was too close. His 5 year old son was was obviously taking lessons on social interaction.... Lovely example... Tony

yes - pass the parmie may become a catchphrase so lets invent some rumours to prevent the secret getting out to the donutters.... We could say that parmesan cheese contains a bacteria that causes fish to hallucinate. They think the chook strip is the tip of a giant octopus' tentacle and scare the whole school of bream off. Never use chook'n'parmie on fish. Use servo prawns instead - fish love them... Pass the prawnies.... Tony

Hey ABC, Bare Island is my old stomping ground. The regulars there are very likely my old mates whom I no longer see. They do get a lot of fish there but the divers made life hell for us years ago. Arguments and fights erupted every weekend so I bought a boat and never looked back. There are some big drummers on the southernmost point but the spot is VERY dangerous as you have to go down to water level. Waves wash overthe area from ankle height to chest height, depending on conditions... Autumn is a good time, especially when the westerly begins to flatten the inshore sea. Burley up the area with heaps of bread and hang on ! Tony

Hey Trevor, Very nice bream and some lovely blackfish as well. I used to fish blackfish for a very long time, years ago. I gave it up bcos of the trouble from other people - fishos, divers, spectators, etc.... Trung likes to rhyme with: "Once you go black, you never go back". But he should consider: He likes to be mellow and stick to the yellow... Kings go hard, we all know, but, beware of the donut ! Tony Sorry Trung - just kidding - I still respect your fishing prowess...

Hi Redpumpkin, Yes I did enter, but my best whiting that weekend was 41.5cm. The winning fish was 43cm. Last weekend I got a 44cm but it was 1 week too late. No matter - good luck to the winner. Tony

Hey Paul, What a great read. I make promises to myself as well. I say "If I catch a fish now, it's gonna go int the esky". "..and so will the second one..." And I certainly keep my word, and my fish... Mate when you brought that blue-nose bream to your wife did she say "Fook, what a big fooking fesh" ? And after tasting the fist bite, did she say "That's fooking nayce thut iz" ? Seriously I love an accent - very cute. Well she will be buying the jig heads and the chook fillets for you in future, won't she ? Only problem is they begin to EXPECT catches like that from us EVERY time. The pressure then builds up in us to provide fish like that, to the point we begin to PANIC when the trip approaches it's finish and there is no whoppa in the bag. Then we get that big hit at the eleventh hour and we make that desperate WOOP sound, like we just avoided a fate worse than death.... ....only to see the line making for the barnacles ! We thought we knew what being under pressure was, until we tighten that drag and it makes no difference on the rampaging fish..... aaaaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH ! The mind certainly wobbles...or even boggles....unsure which one is happening.. Well, it COULD happen, but lets not worry about it. Lets just enjoy our fishing - no pressure... Pass me a strip of the chicken parmie would you ? There's a nice eddy forming again....right over there near the those barnacles.... Oh NO - Here we Gooooooo........ Tony

Guys, I'm sure Trung's latest batch of donuts are only temporary. We must all have pretty short memories if we have fogotten his reports of flatties, kingies, salmon, donuts, er, I mean crabs and sprinkles, sorry I meant squid. His reports caused us to drool over his catches, especially those with strawberry sprinkles on them. He deserves more respect than that. I bet he's gonna make us eat our words when he next drags a squid over the kingie grounds. Go get'em mate - remind us how it's done. For those guys who have had whiting and other fish chomped in half, I was convinced they would be small sharks - never seen tailor as big as that suggested in the bay. I would love to see one, especilally one that bit Peter DTrojan's 60cm tailor.... Tony