SgtBundy

You are right Ryder - just looked it up, the protected area stops at the Manly surf club. For some reason I thought it extended further. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/329319/Factsheet-737.pdf

Which part of manly beach were you on? I thought most of the manly area was a marine reserve from cabbage bay around to manly. I hope to have a go collecting worms next time I hit the beach. What were you using to raise them? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I couldn't stay up to the high tide but will give it a go next time, it was a nice spot Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am right handed. I watched some episodes of iFish where he talked about using your preferred hand to hold the rod and so I gave it a go just to see what difference it made. To be honest it was not that different for me, but because I only switched one reel over I kept going for the wrong side on habit between my two rods so it just got annoying for that reason and I switched back. I don't really notice any issues switching hands to do stuff anyway. I do notice I tend to hold the rod in my right hand most of the time if I am just waiting for a bite, then have to switch to wind, but I just do it and it really does not impact what I am doing. I don't think I work the rod any less proper using my left hand anyway, but maybe I just don't have that much technique When I am lure fishing I don't notice any problems working the rod using my left hand. I later watched another later series episode of iFish where he says the complete opposite, and to just do what is natural

Did an afternoon trip out to the beaches this afternoon as it was my only available time for a fish this weekend. Originally went to fishermans beach but it didn't look that good at low tide, so went around to the Long Reef Beach near the surf club. Was using a left over mullet from last week that had been in the freezer so I was not that confident in it, but it seemed alright as it defrosted. Put a larger chunk out on my surf rod and used a small piece on my light rod just hoping for a whiting. Had what appeared to be a hole with a channel coming off it in front of me but from 2pm to 7pm not a bite. Fished through the low tide and up until dark. If anyone is after that stringy weed for blackfish, there are egg sized balls of it washing up on that beach. If you put a line out you also collect a fair portion of it too. Not sure if its too late to be of use but there was plenty of it there. Nice evening and sunset was about all you could say for the trip. Plenty of friendly people on the beach too, a number asking the normal "had a bite" or "caught anything", and one guy handing me an iso float he found on the beach.

God job

That is really up to ones own personal tastes, isnt it Yowie?

My dad has a hobie outback but he is thinking of replacing it with a revolution, and so he might make the outback available to me. I have been considering getting a pro-angler anyway but my kids show the occasional interest in fishing too, so I was weighing that up against getting a small boat I could take them out in instead. Probably leaning more towards the hobie (portability, operating costs, exercise I sorely need) though. I definitely want to get away from being land locked though, if simply for the mobility to try new areas or fish places that are out of reach land based. Watching everyone scoot about on sunday just confirmed it even more for me.

I went there because I have read reports that it occasionally has pelagics and the like show up, and it does go out into some fairly deep water with what seems to be a fair bit of squid activity around it. I was just hoping there might be something interesting pop up and because it offers a bit of reach out into the harbour. I have only ever bothered to go there during a weekday when I have had a day off, I would not even try on weekends and after hours the lock the gates. I have had similar experiences at Balmoral wharf as well - crowded in, people taking up lots of space. I tend to avoid both now for that as well as the extortionate parking Mosman council asks for. I have been trying to explore other areas as I have only started fishing around the harbour this year, mostly sticking to the north as its a little less hassle to drive to for me. I have not found many places yet that are either parking friendly, accessible out of hours or not overly crowded. I have been thinking I should start checking out down south for options but I don't know that areas as well.

If the guy I had setup 1m behind me that would have been fine, but he was seriously less than 1ft, and he setup a chair which gave me about a 2ft by 3ft box to work in at the end of the wharf, despite the rest of the place being open when he got there. On top of that as soon as someone got a bite they would rush in, cast out where that person was a leave a rod there, sometimes having to do so leaning around the person there in the first place. It is just incredibly rude. I just had to take satisfaction in that between the height of his chair, and me leaning onto the railing in the little space I had, I was practically letting off in his face whenever I needed to fart.

Dropped it in first thing Monday morning but have not heard back yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I may have a hobie kayak coming my way soon. Looking forward to being able to explore further than I can with land based limitations, although I am sure there will r other things to overcome (finding a place to put in, dealing with inconsiderate large wake boats) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bought one after I did a session where I was catching yakkas faster than I could use them, then realised I had nothing to put them in. I got one that week and also got an aerator but have not had caught any live bait since. It is now however my caddie of all bulky crap I take with me fishing. Its sort of why I fell over today - every time I have gone out and thought "crap, I wish I brought <blah> with me" - I think between my backpack, bucket-o-crap and rods I was hauling all the fishing gear I have - and I still only used the one rod and one rig the whole day.

Thanks. The graphite rod was picked more because it was available as a 3pc so I could have it in the boot when travelling with the kids. Strength wise the only real thing I have tested it on was a 4ft wobbegong and that held up fine, I think today it just happened to strike the rock badly but I know that is one of the risks with a graphite rod.

Thanks - the more I land fish, the more I convince myself I need to get a hobie or a boat. Hopefully the next trip is some gurus putting me onto jewfish so I am hoping that one works out

So far all my lighter braid/FC knots (10lb) were just uni to uni knots and that has worked fine for me, but I might try and do something a little more refined but I had a lot of trouble doing the more complex knots properly. For this heavier stuff I tried the FG knot last night and it was fairly simple to do (which suits my sausage fingers) and the end result seemed quite good despite my attempts not being perfect. I mean't to test it out today but managed to fall on my ass slipping on a rock and snapped the rod tip, so didn't get to give it a go. I know the 50lb is massive overkill for pretty much anything off the beach, the reason I got it was I also wanted to use this setup for kingfish off the rocks if I get the chance.

Had Friday off thanks to some time in lieu at work, and although I planned to go fishing the whole day I took an easy morning and had lunch with the wife knowing I wanted to have another fishing session on Sunday. Headed out mid afternoon and thought it would be a good time to hit Clifton Gardens while it was probably not that busy. Immediately regretted my choice of attire, as I only had shorts on and the wind was freezing. Any rate the wharf was empty so I took up a spot right at the end corner and set out my heavier gear with a squid under a float in the hope maybe something interesting would have a hit at it. Had issues with the braid to leader knot so was not getting much distance with it and spending a lot of time undoing birds nests. This amounted to nothing in the end so packed it up as the wharf got busier. On my lighter gear got some hits on pilchard pieces pretty consistently, but nothing that would hook up. Eventually foul hooked a little pinky snapper but that was about it. I took some hard hits from something that was destroying my squid but could not hook them, and got the hook bitten off a few times. Someone else got a just shy of legal snapper so I was hopeful something similar would show up but no dice. Come about 6:30pm I was freezing and the bite was gone, so I called it a night. (rant time) Wharf etiquette leaves a lot to be desired. The first guy to show up was fine, took another corner, plenty of room. The second guy who showed up dead set cast either side of me, and put his rods within two feet of either side of me... leaving my a 45 degree forward arc to cast from the corner. Not happy, but I can work with it, even though we tangled a few times. Then a whole gaggle of about 8 guys show up, immediately set up gear next to me (you know, the 16ft rods, large boxes of oatmeal burley) and slaps a chair down, one foot behind me. So I had this little box of space between him and the wharf railing, and had to carefully swing around him every time I cast. As night came up these guys were pulling in yakkas and undersized trevally like no tomorrow, and with these 16ft rods would fling the catch right up out of the water. If I had not turned to see what he caught and ducked, I would have had a fat yakka slapped across the back of my head. Seriously, with all that room, they came and setup like the owned the place, and for the style of fishing they were doing they could have just of easily used the part in front of the swimming net that was completely empty. Next time I will be more assertive because I let it slide to begin with but it was just plain annoying after a while. Sunday - Clontarf I hit Clontarf for no real good reason other than I figured it would not be busy and I could get a free park. Wrong on both counts. Got there around 12 and it was packed, people on picnics and playing on the beach. Could not blame them, it was a fantastic day. Tried around towards castle rock beach but just got pickers which turned out to be toadfish. I had brought a whole heap of gear with me including my heavier 3 piece surf rod. Last time I went rock hopping I regretted not having something with a longer reach, but in this area it was completely impractical but I had to lug it around now that I brought it. Moving between spots once the tide went down I got onto a large rock but as I stepped off I slipped over and landed on my ass, sending my bucket of gear over and landing heavily with the rods I was carrying in the other hand. As I ignored my embarrassment I looked and saw the tip piece for my graphite surf rod snapped in two. It must have slapped on the rock as I fell. Crap.... I also had to go swimming to retrieve my drink bottle, so not a fantastic development. Talking to the fishing shop I bought it from the rod tip might get replaced under warranty for a nominal fee, still, not happy as I really wanted to use it next week. Tried around a few more spots until just before 4 when a just legal 25cm bream absolutely smashed the prawn I had out. He put on a good fight for his size, it was good to actually have something of substance on my line, even if it was nothing to write home about (its been a while). Took him home because between the donuts and the smashed rod I figured the fishing gods owed me. Despite the fall and the low activity, it was a nice day out in the sunshine. Next time I will just pack lighter.

I am giving the FG knot a go, looks to be a lot better than my original attempt. Might need more practice to get a good knot but it certainly looks a better shape. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have changed my surf rod from mono to braid. I might be too hopeful but I went to 50lb braid and a 50lb FC leader in case I get a chance to chase kingfish, I figure I might as well be ready. Despite the stiffness of the leader I got it joined to the braid but the knot was fairly bulky and consistently catches on the rod eyes. I ran a long leader (exceeding the rod length) so it takes the force of the cast. I am now wondering if I should just run the braid straight through and just rely on the leader on the terminal rig. Is there any reason to not do that? Is there any problem casting with the braid like this or should I just work harder to get a better leader knot? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for all the tips - I will give a few a go next time I get a chance to get out.

Anywhere near rocks looked pretty bad, there was some pretty high spray coming at times while I was there, but yes I think shelter would have been better considered. I didn't think much about it until I copped the full wind at narrabeen. I was burleying with some cut up pillies plus the ones I was donating off my casts but the wash seemed to bring most of it back. My main frustration with casting was I saw water I wanted to get into but it was just falling short into the shore breaks. Once it was in that it just came back in to shore where as further out it stayed a bit better even with the run along the beach. It's all learning I guess. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was considering switching back to a 3-gang setup as that is what I know best, but wanted to figure out the snelled rig based on some previous discussions about it. What I found worked was putting it tail up and trying to do a half hitch around the tail, it seemed to last longer and not tear up as much. I saw bait mate in BCF today so I might look at that as well. With the casting the spool and run down a bit so now that it is topped up properly and I have switched from mono to braid I am curious to see what difference that makes. I don't know if some more weight would have helped with momentum in the air as the main problem seemed to be air resistance. I could get maybe 25-30m (its a 12ft graphite rod) - but when the bait flew off and the sinker went on its own it was flying 45-55m out.

Had a window of time Saturday afternoon to get in some fishing and decided to go so if the stirred up surf was going to be hiding some salmon or the like, and figured the high tide near sunset might be helpful. I had no idea if my theory on the conditions was practical at all but figured I have the time so I might as well learn first hand. Picked Whale beach mostly just to go find it and see what it was like. Rocked up around 3pm., the surf was quite rough but nothing terrible, coming up on high tide and to begin with the wind and rain were tolerable. I thought I picked something that might be a hole or outflow that I could have a go at, as the rest of the beach seemed to be running sideways quite strongly considering its a small beach. Started out with a lot of pilchard trouble - trying to use a two hook rig off some previous advice but ended up with a lot of shredded pillies, either torn apart in the surf or simply tearing off when cast. I eventually worked out a way to rig them that kept them on but by that stage the wind had turned a little and I was casting into it. Made for a frustrating session as I seemed to switch between short casts into crap water as I could not get them into the wind, short casts because I cut my finger on the line at one point and was having trouble holding the pressure under the casting load, or the bait simply breaking off. Mind you I could absolutely rocket that empty sinker when the bait wasn't fighting the wind. Mid way through some young japanese tourists turned up and asked to take pictures with me (god knows why) and asked a few questions about the fishing. Made for a small diversion from the lack of fish. No doubt I looked resplendent in my blue rain jacket and paint covered trackie dacks. Switched to some squid later as the pillies were just not lasting and I wanted to try and work out my casting issues without changing bait every cast. Got up to around 5pm and still not a bite and the conditions were just not co-operating so I figured I would check out some of the beaches to the south before the top of the tide. Newport looked ok but I couldn't pick anything I could call as a gutter. Went to north narrabeen and the beach was plastered in blue bottles, and the exposure to the wind was significantly worse and the rain really set in to make it more miserable. I spotted nothing I thought was worth the trouble so I called it a day to save the bait for another time. Most productive part was when I got home and finally sorted out the mess of my premade rigs and then finally converted my surf rod over to braid for the next trip.

Thanks for that. If it's like my strike rate with everything else I might have to take you up on that offer Jim Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

At some point soon I would like to have a go at catching my first kingfish, and I am just curious as to what sort of methods can be used when you can't go trolling or chasing them with a sounder and are stuck land based. From what I have gathered they like squid and live baits, so I guess just a float rig with a squid strip or live bait under it would be the way to go? What sort of conditions and areas around the harbour could I target them? From what I have read before it seems like they are highly mobile, so would having a rig out waiting for them while I target other species be the way to go? Any other tips for improving my chances?