livo

I've had no real real luck around the Bay or out wide either, (Broken Bay or Terrigal). I believe it is all to do with this years unusually strong and consistant North Easterly winds which have caused the warm water to bypass us and travel further south then eddy in on the south side of Sydney. There was a big puddle of cold water trapped along the coast from Sydney all the way up to Pelicans for a long time and even further north. The south coast appears to have our fish. Can't comment on what the pro's have to do with it all but I bet they're struggling too. It is positive though, to read recent Raider reports of the many juvenile Jews in the river. They grow pretty quick.

Hi Jeff Yep, your right. But we've nearly always managed a feed. At least a couple of Morwong or a bag of Blertas, the odd flattie but not this time. The promising thing is that the little reds were there in numbers, very fat on burley and quite willing to take baits. We can only hope that the larger specimens are as cooperative when they show up. Livo

Motor is working OK with Oil in, eh. Did you belt the mechanic or just drain his vital fluids?

We made The Haven ramp at 7.00am with plenty of time to get settled for the High Tide. Headed north to 50m depth straight in front of The Entrance Bridge and burleyed hard with Chook pellets, Tuna Oil, Smashed Pillies and chopped Baby Occy and Squid. We had our first fish in the boat within 5 minutes. A pinky of about 25 cm. Not bad we thought and then the next one was bigger at about 28 cm. Then 3 in a row that made 30 cm if you pulled the tail fins together but that's cheating. We released them thinking there would be better to come. The next hour saw us catch well over a dozen more between the two of us but all between 25 and 29 cm. We gave up with them still coming over the side. At the old legal size of 28 cm we'd have kept about 8 or 10. They were fat healthy fish and I could see Pan Fried Snapper Tails in Creamy Red Capsicum Sauce in every one but they swam away. Tried 5 other spots in 35m, 40m, 60m, 30m and another 50m for no other quality. Got monstered by Jackets in second 50m spot and scored Sargent Baker and Rock Cod (amongst other trash) in 30m. 8 hours for not 1 keeper but used plenty of bait and fuel. Surface fish were not interested in lures at all. Beaut day out though.

Groundhog Day. What's going on? I read this post a few weeks ago word for word, Replies as well.. Doh, Just realised someone brought it back to the surface

I too have hooked a turtle on a Pilly cube in Paddy's Channel. Bugger broke my rod tip off and then poked his head up and looked at me before busting me up.

I think if you stay in the marked channel that hangs close to the Half Tide Rocks and then around the front of Lobster s Beach out to the doudle channel marks at Little Box your OK. However in small swell and high tide conditions many people (and I used to do it too and still will in the right conditions) head straight to Lion Island from the end of Half Tide Rocks. This is classified as crossing a bar and so Life Jackets must be worn in any conditions. I have seen on more than one occasion boats on the bar with the skipper obviously oblivious to the water depth and possibility of breaking waves. On one occassion a large (30 ft or so) cruiser was nearly rolled over right in the surf take off zone in front of our eyes. We watched in disbelief as this vessel played with disaster. A bigger wave would have capsized it for sure. Local knowledge is critical.

Last year aroung September I took my 6 yr old son out to East Reef on a calm day. Having seen a couple of whales up at Crackneck the previous weekend, I revved him up with the possiblity of a glimpse from the distance. After half an hour the poor little bugger was a bit crook so he layed down on the floor of the boat and nodded off. Next thing I hear the unmistakeable soung of whale breath and real close. I woke him up to see a mother and calf Southern right Whale only about 100m away. He was amazed. Still crook I decided to take him back in and on the trip in we trolled a couple of lures so we were going pretty slow. Anyhow to cut it short on the return trip we spotted a pod of Dolphin, then a big seal and finally a fairy penguin from the Lion Island colony. Pretty good spotting for one day. Only fish were throwbacks at the reef and the boy caught a keeper Tailor inside Box Head. That was it. Once he was up on me he made me take him home to tell everyone all about it.

I like 'em, but I don't believe they're worth the money you pay for them. A well cooked Blue Swimmer or Mud Crab will do me anytime. I don't think Mornay is the cooking method of choice for me. Plain boiled in some salty water with a teaspoon of sugar added in is best crustaceans. Just eat it like a big prawn. Yumm.

No worries mate. Like most Lefties I'm a bit sensitive. No. Not really. I didn't see any of the posts in the earlier run and I felt that it was valuable to pass on information about my investigations. Possibly someone might be able to give me some info that I haven't found. I had to go to four tackle shops to find what I was after. They look at you like your mad when you ask for a left-hand Overhead reel. I had one young assistant at a well known dedicated fishing chain store, which will remain nameless, tell me to learn to wind right handed and just get used to it if I want to use quality reels. I nearly belted him, but in a way he was pretty well on the money. We are about 1/5th of the population but you wouldn't know it trying to buy anything larger than a Penn 320, or in my case 321. No offence taken.

Drifting from Lion Island out toward Box Head on the run out has always produced flatties if they're around. Also many are caught along the edges of the sand bar that runs all the way from Little Box to the beach at Ettalong Point. Guys used to wade out and Tripod for flatties years ago but I don't think I'd do it. Beware of the bars though. The surfers love it as it is a well known surf break in a southerly swell and the water is shallow. Waterways rule is for Life Jackets being worn if your out of the main channels or crossing the bar. I don't know if they police it but it came into force a couple of years ago.

Around Brisbane Water and Broken Bay / Hawkesbury mouth many seasoned Jew hunters love a good flush out of the river and creeks. It washes the bait fish down and with the cloudy water the jews have cover for ambush predation. Over the years I've known of many big ones caught, particularly Land Based. Some fall to live baits if you can get them and the faithful red head / white feathers have also done the damage. Old timers like Val Thorsby and more my vintage, Glen Aubrey, were big wet specialists from places like Box Head and the Gosford Rail Bridge. A bit of fresh in the system doesn't harm Bream fishing either. One of my best days in Paddy's Channel was 13 fish up to 1.8 kg in the pouring rain, after three days of wet, on the last hour of the run in tide fishing the eddy that forms on this time of the tide at the ballast heap.

You don't have to participate in threads you don't give a toss about you know.

It may be a short circuit in the alarm and tachometer circuits which would explain the pitch change with increased throttle. But check your water out first. Outboards don't like being hot and dry. A bit like me really. The tacho wiring is usually present whether you have the guage or not. A bit of salt water inside your forward control unit could be enough to run a current. Only guessing though.

I cast right handed and wind left hand. Always have done. There is a serious lack of lrft hand retrieve overhead reels. Egg beaters aren't a problem anymore as they mostly are universal. The Penn 321 GTi is the biggest lefty I've been able to find and after paying over $200.00 for my first one I bought two more from the States on eBay for about $75.00 each including postage. I also have a Lefty Penn Long Beach trolling reel which is a little smaller and without level wind but it holds 500m of 25 lb mono. Abu Garcia have some nice little lefty OH reels as well and I have a 6501 C4 and a little baitcaster as well. I also have a very old left handed 4" Alvey that I've had since I was a kid. I swap the side cast mechanism from this reel onto a 6" star drag Alvey for the beach sometimes (used to be my dads). The mechanisms are interchangeable. Shimano had a couple of small ones but I think they were phasing them out. The Curado and Calcutta I think. I have a Shimano TR 200G which is a nice little right hander which I can use but I'm a bit awkward with it.

Sounds like the alarm to me. Does your forward control make a short peep sound between accessories and ignition when you first turn the key. You may have to listen hard to hear it. Thats the alarm self check. Make sure your telltale is blowing a solid water stream or watch the water pressure guage if you have one. I'd be pulling the gearbox off and checking the water pump impeller before serious damage occurs. What type / size /age motor is it?

Mate the forecasters all got it wrong yesteday. You get a bit tired of looking at unreliable predictions. I didn't go out either and spent the day preparing for today in case they got it wrong twice in a row. Unfortunately the only thing missing today was the definate rain. I know Sydney copped it but Terrigal was dry and onshore. Guess I'm ready for next weekend now or perhaps a late one on Wednesday arvo.

If your basing at Wagstaffe you don't have to go far at all to catch crabs. There is a narrow channel that runs around behind the Oyster leases in front of the Hardys Bay Marina. Straight in front of you and off to the right when you come down the hill to the T intersection. This goes into a largish expanse of water protected by the leases and up to 5m deep. There are a few boats moored in there. Fish with handlines as descrided in previous post and when a crab is present retrieve the line slowly and carefully up to just beneath the surface and pick him up with a scoop net. I've made a crabbing net by removing the nylon mesh from a landing net and fashioning a scoop out of chicken wire around the frame. The reason is simple. Crabs tangle into a soft net and it can sometimes take ages to get them out plus the risk of being pinched. They don't mind hurting you if they can as you probably know. I use mullet bait , either fillets or the frame, which has been working for me for 30 years. Other good bait is to use some light gear and worm or prawn and try to catch a couple of baby snapper or whiting. Cut it in half and straight back out there. They love them. I always use a couple of smaller baits as well on a decent long shank hook. The reason is simple. Flathead love crab baits too and I've lost several over the years. If you tie your bait on instead of using a hook when you get them to the surface the flatty blows a big puff of water and the bait straight out in your face and then casually swims away deliberately slow. It's enough to make you cry. I'm sure all Brisbane water crabbers can tell you the same story. There used to be an aligator in the hole in front of Tascot that teased countless would be assasins many years ago including my father and me. Late afternoon is just as good as early morning in my opinion if you can get somewhere out of the breeze and taking 6 -10 is easy if they are around. Using the same methods Blue Swimmers can be caught from the long jetty jetty that sticks out right on the corner of the leases. Other spots to try are on the flats around St. Huberts Island and the water just to the left when you go under the Woy Woy Road and Rail Bridges into Woy Woy Bay. They are just about everywhere really.

Mate I was looking at the Coastalwatch surfcams on Thursday afternoon and two guys walked down the beach at Avalon and commenced worming right in front of the camera. I didn't watch for too long so I can't say they got any but they were there so who knows.

OK thanks. So I knew he wasn't Dioxin poisoned and the possibility of Ciguatera is unlikely due to his symptoms suggesting an alergic reaction. I wonder what he reacted to. He was a very keen fisherman (unfortunately killed in a car crash 2 years ago) and he had, prior to this incident, eaten many fish of the same species without problem. I accept that we'll never know the answer but it does make you wonder about what is actually in the fish we catch sometimes. I know I'd be reluctant to eat anything much out of the Harbour other than Kingies or other migratory fish caught right at the heads. But look at the recomendations for Tailor????? I have eaten many Sydney Harbour Prawns and the famous Sydney Rock Oyster. Now you'd have to think twice before tucking in.

I've used Rock Salt or Sea Salt crystals in a water slurry to brine Pillies and Bonito fillets which then don't freeze when you keep them in the freezer, but all the American sites refer to Kosher salt as do some of their recipes for food. Can somebody with a USA buddy tell us what it is in Australian lingo. Someone read Robertas initial post in this thread and posted a link to just such a site. I know what Kosher means in terms of meat and other food but what is Kosher Salt?

I undersatnd this and I can see how my post could be read that way. What I was actually saying was that these things and other may be in fish caught outside the Harbour if they've been in there. Secondly I was asking if anyone has ever heard of Ciguatera being in Blertas, ie Trevally. Not GT's or Goldens from up North but the stock standard Sydney / Broken Bay blerta.

Yeah probably, or something else. I remember reading at the same show about some of the things that he had found inside Great Whites. Half Crocs, crushed 44 gallon drums, whole sea turtles etc. Ask that Abalone diver who pulled himself out a the 3-4 metre model what they look like inside. I'll bet it's not pretty.

Kids have a ball catching them in the creek at Hat Head but I think some may kill more than necessary sometimes considering what they are good for. Keep what you can use and release the rest I reckon is the go.

The Vic Hislop travelling shark show back in the 70's /80's had a Great White preserved in a big glass tank. I remember seeing it at The Entrance. From memory it was nearly 6 metres long and it was as round in the gut as a circular 4 person dining table. A large person could go down without touching the sides. An 8 metre shark would be a bit unusual I think.