fragmeister

Can't agree more Jon, This is how the Sounder Guys interpreted one of my other images from the Parra. I remember mentioning that there was a whole heap of jellyfish in the water at the time and they said they were not sure how jellyfish would show up but they were adamant that the larger, deeper arches were fish and the largest one was probably a Jew... but as you say Jon... the fisherman in me wants to believe this! This is why I am trying to take a what did I see and what did I catch approach.

It sounds like you are up to speed on rods and reels. Can you think of perhaps a composite spinning rod and entry-level reel with a sealed drag?

Hmm... light and sensitive graphite ... I have one and they are great rods but are they a "Road Trip Rod"? Are the Sienna's a sealed drag? Just sayin' ...

I showed these images and a few more from some other spots in the Parramatta River to the guys who came a ran a Sounder Info Fishraider organised a few years back (thanks Donna and Stewie). Their opinion was that the big fat arch was certainly a Jew as with other images I took further up river. I did a bit of scan of a few spots I have seen shore based anglers fishing. I was on the way home from a fish outside and it was getting late so I didn't stop to fish any of the spots except to down rig along Gladesville around the boat moorings The hole on the western side of Gladesville Bridge The bridge pylons where Fishraider member Ojay landed a Jew up a while back - A few possible marks A few holes near the Wharf Road boat ramp. Most had big strong arches like the image above although not as many as the moorings at Gladesville. Jim

LOL! That's one of the only advantages of being an old b@$tard! You get to have made every mistake in the book and then warn other people not to do the same! Let's see what other Raiders have to offer in terms of rod and reel suggestions. Cheers Jim

Thanks, Donna and Stewie for your enormous efforts and of course all those who have contributed. Cheers Jim

Thanks, You are correct. I would have been moving very slowly when this pic was taken I generally don't have the fish symbols on. Not sure why I had them on as I did think it made the image less clear. They are off on the new sounder. Here is another image from that early sounder. This is from along the line of moorings near Gladesville Bridge, a location where I have caught Jews in the past The long straight line is my downrigger with a fresh squid in tow. The whole area around the moorings was full of these arches.

Another insightful post Waza, I have only accidentally caught 1 Surgeon when I was fishing for Blackfish from that little wharf at Hermit beach ( mostly gone now) so I don't count it for a win! I might target them from the boat and see if I can claim a "catch with intent" Thanks again for your continued contributions. Cheers Jim

Further on this Jon, Those side scan images are so clear. Not sure that mine are that clear.

That's a very clean display.

Hey Vic, First of all, it sounds like you will be having a ball! Good luck to you! ( and take it easy at Byron) LOL! There are plenty of guys on this site a lot more up to date on rods than me so I will defer to them but I would say that if this is a road trip when you make camp wherever you can along the way then that is not the environment for a graphite rod. They are great to use but they can be fragile little buggers and if you sleep in the back of the car one night and roll over on to your new graphite rod or smack it against the rocks while fishing one day that will be the end of it. You will most likely be chucking stuff in and out of the car every day for almost a month and there will surely be a mishap. Personally, I would go for a glass rod or, if you are set on a graphite job then buy a hard case and use it. You probably won't be in a position to do regular reel maintenance so a sealed drag reel would also be a good idea. I am sure the up to speed Raiders will give you some suggestions. Cheers Jim

Hi Jon, That's my old sounder. I have An HDS9 now but certainly, your comments are still valid. I am going to post some earlier images and then get to the HDS ones ( after having a little tinker based on your suggestions) Cheers Jim

Didn't notice any... I was past the heads before dawn and back in from the South Head side. So I wasn't in a position to see the normal boils you find around North Head. Also, I was coming back in pretty much on the low tide during the early afternoon with lots of boat traffic around so I didn't spot any in the harbour either Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, I am by no means an expert on sounders so when I see something on a sounder I take notes of what I catch at the time and try and relate that back to the images. I thought this might be a good ongoing post that many of us can contribute to including those who are particularly experienced in reading a sounder. So, by all means, post your own images along with your interpretations. I am going to kick this off with one I took a few years ago. This one was near the gap on South Head, at the edge of the dropoff. This is how I interpreted it. Obviously, there was a big school of fish in midwater between 4 and 8 meters. It was winter so I thought it might be a school of salmon There are fish on the bottom. I could only guess what they were. There were fish on the drop off between about 6 and 10 meters. By the colour of the bottom( and the fact that I know it is anyway), this was a hard bottom. I am not sure what all the noise is under the fish at the right of the screen... is this noise or is it bait? I did, in fact, catch salmon and a few small kings over this spot but were they stray fish... I don't know for sure. I would appreciate any comments

No worries Neil. Let me know when its definite

Sorry mate... I am sure it was yellow in the paint program! ... maybe it took time for the colours to bleed together! lol!

The spots I anchor are in yellow. On the southern side ... so you are sort of just outside a line drawn between the southern and western cardinal markets on the outgoing tide and a little further outside the line drawn between the eastern and northern cardinal markers. You will be able to see the sandy bottom around the reef. It's not that critical really the burley will bring them out. Certainly casting surface lures at the reef has resulted in a few kings for me over the years but most have been lost .. you don't have too much of a chance with a decent king in over a meter or two of water directly over the reef especially when you are casting from 30 meters or so back... unless they run back at you and that's not what they will generally do. You will get salmon and tailer on lures but you will get just as many on your baits tossed back at the reef.

1. You can catch Snapper there but it is not a prime spot. Depending on the season Bream, Trevally, Sweep, Tailor , Small Kings, Salmon are your most likely catch. Jews and squid are there, Port Jackson Sharks on the bottom and ..well just about everything really at times. 2. The big area south is part of the same reef but to most people it's just the area within the cardinal markers 3. Spot on! That's the way to do it. Very productive too. Usually, within 10 minutes, you will be on to some fish. If you burley with pilchards then just send a cube on unweighted hook down the burley trail. That's always an effective strategy. At the moment, you will find a lot of trevallies there, once they are all excited by the burley try a small white soft plastic for a bit of fun - they will nail them. 4. The anchoring spots are far enough off the reef so that you are in sand . I've highlighted the spots I use ...your sand anchor is the one to use obviously. In the pic below these are the places people generally anchor - Incoming tide at the top and outgoing at the bottom. It's not hard to hold bottom with the anchor so you can just let rope out to position yourself. The reef is well known so I have no qualms about pointing out the exact spots. The big mistake people make is fishing the wrong side on the tide. I see this all the time. 5. I like to burley with the same bait I am using as a general rule- I think that the more finicky fish (often the bigger fish) are less cautious if they see a larger piece of food (my bait) that smells like the stuff I am burleying with. This is personal preference and I am just as likely to break that rule and still catch plenty of fish. So, I often burley with pilchards and fish with salted pilchards because they are more robust. Particularly in summer you can expect to see a few rat kings in the burley trail right at the burly bucket... for a bit of fun, completely hide a hook in a pillie cube and drop it in the burley trail - (if you don't hide the hook they will see it and avoid it). Good Luck! Cheers Jim

What boat do you have?

Thursday is looking pretty good. Low swell and light winds Low tide around dawn and high around midday. Looking forward to the report! Cheers Jim

I took a look at your photos today. They look terrific. Clearly, you know what you're doing. I went to South Africa on business a few years back but I didn't fish or take and wildlife pictures! (BTW Neil, your photos aren't are pretty good too!) Cheers Jim

Yes Mate, Another trip to that well known fishing and boating shop coming up. Friday left me a bit short of line on my favourite baitrunner, snapper leads and of course a reef anchor. Cheers Jim

Beautiful! ... and look at the Kiwi place mats! LOL! Cheers Jim

Hi Paddy, That's an interesting story. Over the years I have had big fish take a squid that I have jigged up and I am reasonably confident that the night time ones were probably Jews and the daytime ones were probably more often kings. I have lost yakkas on a handline to kings ( and ended up with some seriously cut fingers) in the past also so it does not surprise me at all that the same thing could happen with a marlin. I notice that your profile says that you are in Sydney. Out of curiosity where were you catching livies at the time? Was it in close or out wide? The reason I ask is that I have seen a few blacks caught at long reef and I once saw what I am convinced was a black at the artificial off the gap. Cheers Jim

Well done boys and hey... nice plating! Cheers Jim