00ROTA

I use fixed Snell knots on almost all my leaders. I normally pre rig all my leaders and have about 20 made up in different sizes for different bait before fishing, labelled with specs in zip lock bags. When I put bub to bed I tie a few for something to do, so I have quite a stockpile. Haha. Any light leaders I use a uni.

Zaki, off the rocks at Palm/Whale beach. Went on Fri night again as a last minute thing and missed the right tide cycle. Guessing we got there just at the end of good squidding time. Still caught 9 of them all up, along with a bull shark, and a decent port jackson and gummy. Wasnt really feeling it, but gave it a shot regardless! may try again later tonight, or go to Avoca. Been meaning to head down to Port Hacking for some fishing for months. Dont know the area at all though, so just give up on the idea when it pops into my head.

Really depends where in the hawkesbury you go. I do alot of night fishing on the boat, and have LED strips set up on the gunnel This attracts the bait fish extremely easily, and in turn the squid. Down Cowan Creek, there is a point just down from Cottage Point, that forks off towards Smiths Creek. This is easily one of my favourite spots. Dont even need to get too much activity in the jig. I use 2.5 sized jigs, and flick 2 jigs out per rod rigged on a paternoster. I use a couple rods too. All with different natural colours. Normally flick them out, let them settle, and theres a squid on the end. Ofcourse if your towards pittwater, the top of Barrenjoey Heads holds squid in numbers, and the Pillboxes. I have a few other little top squidding spots, but dont want to reveal them, as they are already getting pretty crowded. Tips are, look for weed and jumbled structure on your sounder, make sure water is clear, go nuts. You will find them in the most interesting places!

That spot is also good for squid at the end!!! easy livies!!! Good stuff on the Trev!

Fishnatic, boat or land based?

many places champ. Look for sand, weed, and structure, and chances are they have frequented the spot. These are some of my usual points of call for a few squid. Pier 2, Jeffrey St Wharf, Cremorne point wharf, Greenwich Wharf, Clifton Gardens, Cowan Creek, Cottage Point, etc They are quite thick in numbers at the moment in the deeper spots. Like i said, look for sand, weed, and structure. There are also the decent size southern Calamari around if you know where to look and dont mind a bit of rock fishing. I have had a pretty productive weekend on them myself. I only know the hawkesbury and Syd harbour areas, so Wollongong i am unsure.

Johnno i guess? Will do mate! Wont be fishing for the next week though. Got to finish the RX7 off!! kingfisher84, ill be putting up some more pics tomorrow when i decide to marinade them! Got slack today!

Didnt feel like a Jew run or act like a Jew, however, it is definitely a possibility. I have actually caught a fair few rats land based JUST before first light, or as the sky starts changing colour in the distance. Nothing decent in the same spot last night, other than squid. Managed a Cala with a 37cm hood! Was quite impressed, seeing as the majority of the summer squid are quite smaller. The other squid (8 all up) were all around 15cm to 20cm hoods. Still, no decent fish, but going to start marinading my squid for tomorrows dinner - Teriyaki BBQ!

Hi all, first fishing report from me, and its really not too exciting unfortunately! Headed out with a mate over the past couple nights for a fish down at Palm Beach near the pool, hoping to catch something decent, and had kingfish on my mind! 1st night got there about 1am and rigged up some fresh Hawkesbury arrow squid that i caught on a 60lb leader with 2 snelled 5/0 circle hooks, and launched it out on a couple rods. Action was pretty slow for about 40 mins then my rod was on. Unfortunately the second i picked it up, i realized it was a time waster of a fish, and sure enough out comes a heavy ray. Managed to return it to the water really quickly, and another hour passed. Next thing to come up was a ~70cm shovel nose on one rod, and a smaller one on my other setup. Both anchored themselves quite well and tried to play with the rocks, but got them up without losing my rigs. Got both in the drink nice and quickly, and thought it was time to have a flick for squid while time was passing. 1st flick of the squid jig and managed a nice southern calamari, followed by a couple more within the next 5 flicks. Put the smaller of them on my rigs and sent them out live, one weighted with a running ball sinker, one un-weighted. This came at the perfect time as we were near the end of my Hawkesbury arrow squids. A little time passed, (4am now) and BANG. My 20lb setup of the was SINGING. The rod was about a split second from being dragged into the drink when i got my hands on it. Tightened up the drag a little, and played with this fish for a good 15 mins. I haven't felt power like this from a fish for ages. Watched my line getting dragged towards the rocks, tried to persuade the fish to get away, and snap. Nothing..... Absolutely crushed. Had a fish for another hour, and called it quits. Second night, got there at roughly the same time. Swell was a tad larger, but still a nice night. This time i brought my larger gear. 2x Pflueger Salt 070s, 50lb braid on a Penn Ultimate 12' rod, and a Penn Prevail 13' rod Using 60lb Jinkai leaders on both. Night was near identical. Caught a couple Port Jackson sharks, few squid, and at 4.40am, BANG. one of the setups was singing, felt almost the same as the day before, and i had a tad more hope! Played with the fish for a little while, was actually getting somewhere with this one, and then snap. no more fish. Even though she was a slow couple of nights and i didn't get the fish i was after, i managed to beat my PB squid, and get a feed of Calamari. Lets see how tonight goes? James.

I do the majority of fishing by myself on many many wharves. Im 5'10" and 70kg, so by no means a big boy, and had a couple incidences. One being at Jeffery St Wharf in the harbour. Had a couple fellas try and stand over me for my stradic setups, but a simple, extremely calm threat of a sharp object worked quite well. Another incident i ended up in quite a decent punch up when some fella started casting right next to me within a hair of my shoulder, deliberately casting over my line and tried to muscle me out of my spot that i had been in for hours. I had a bad day previously, and he had a bad night. Have also had a couple moments where i have moved on as i could sense trouble was brewing. What im saying is, although you can avoid the majority of incidences at night, and the majority of people are extremely friendly, the occasional dickbag does rock up so try and set up a plan to avoid drama when you get to a wharf. Occasionally, there will be those moments where you cannot avoid the dramas when solo fishing at night, so if you are worried about a confrontation i would advise fishing with others. Security cameras can be a deterrent to this behavior, but not a cure.

Hi all, I have seen some random posts all over the web saying that they are very unreliable, and then the complete opposite. How many of you have had issues with these coils? I don't own an optimax, however I will be fitting these coils to my Mazda Rx7, and would like to know what peoples experiences are before I fork $400 out for them! Thanks, James.

Any headlamp that is rechargeable will save you money in the long run! I would hate to know how much I spent in the last couple months on batteries.

Thanks scratchie, Just went and bought a couple new setups that will hopefully help me land the kingy. Off to do the bait fishing now

Hi all, My name is James. I'm 24, a mechanic in the Hornsby area and just recently got into fishing a bit more seriously. I used to wet a line on my parents boat when I was younger, but my time has mainly been invested in modified cars (rotaries in particular) Since having my daughter I have decided to slow down on the cars and that's how fishing came along and now I'm hooked. Even to the point I'm selling my beloved Mazda Rx7 to purchase a 4x4 to fit all my fishing gear! I fish mainly land based around Cowan creek for squid (love my squidding for some reason!) and other bait, then land based around palm beach, Clifton gardens or central coast. When time permits I manage to get out to pittwater/hawkesbury in a 5.5m savage mako with a 135 mercury on the back. Have learnt many things already from lurking around this site and will hopefully be contributing more soon with fishing reports! Goal of 2014 is a real hoodlum of a kingy! James.