SgtBundy

I am just one of those people who can do an all nighter without a second thought. Mornings just don't agree with me . But it seems like I might have to change that to stop the donut fishing trips Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good stuff - I need to change my nocturnal ways

Sounds like a good day out. My 10 year old boys are all fired up to go fishing but that's because they think they can go target sharks from the beach. If I can hold their concentration I might get them to start on some flatties first while they have the enthusiasm Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, try as I might I seemed to keep missing it

Yeah, I want to start preparing more bait in advance to have on hand, but I might need to find a cheap fridge as I won't be allowed to use the kitchen one Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a go at that but was more interested in keeping dry so didn't do to well Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was limited by home duties and travel time, so 10pm was about 90 minutes before the tide and the earliest I could get there, but given the lack of activity I thought it prudent to move on. The way the surf was acting I thought there might have been a gutter running along the beach, but it was hard to say - the waves were really big at the back, would go flat then surge in. It gave the impression that there was a sandbar at the back but I am not sure. Maybe it was a bit more hope that I was actually fishing a gutter. The problem I had with the frozen pillies was they would just simply snap, or the hook would take so much force to go through it would mangle it or not present right. Later in the night after they defrosted a bit they were still fairly frozen but at least malleable, so I could get them on and they would stay on. My preference would have been to fillet a mullet but I just had no opportunity to pick one up. If I had more time I might have tried to get some yakkas at Balmoral wharf but I have not had much luck with that of late either.

Between family obligations and last weeks 40kt nonsense I have not been out for a while so I decided to do a night trip this week before the weather came back. Had an eye on the wind, tides and surf and thought a crack on high tide while the swell was up as a chance. Didn't have a chance to get better bait so just had servo pillies and pretty much at random picked Dee Why beach as somewhere new to try. Surf was well up with big curling waves at the back and a lot of wash. Found a spot at the south end I thought looked like a hole and setup around 10pm. Immediately regretted the frozen pillies which I had even tried to defrost on the engine on the way in to no avail. They just kept breaking and not staying on. No hits all night. Moved up the beach a bit and tried another spot but no better. After high tide had come and gone I decided to go in to the harbour to try with what was left of the bait. Went to Blues Point an aimed for the big hole there but had no takers. Setup my lighter rod with unweighted pilly chunks hoping for a smaller hit but again bust, despite the odd bit of surface activity near me. One day I will figure this game out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where do you park for access to Taylors bay - I can see a small carpark off Bradleys Head road just past Taronga - is that it?

Fair point - might be more practical to find a campsite somewhere to use as a base and go cruising to find gutters

Thanks - I currently have an SV6 that struggles to get clear of some kerbs, so I think it would end up playing bulldozer with its chin spoiler if I tried the tyre deflation But if something like a subaru forester is enough that is probably more practical for what I have in mind, I don't have visions of climbing boulders in the Kimberly - untarred roads are nothing new to me but my current vehicle is not well suited to it. Is there anything that would prevent camping direct on the beach with a tent? That is what I had in mind.

My wife has long wanted us to have a 4x4 due to some perception of safety in traffic. I have never been keen on the idea for the reason I don't think I would have made use of the 4x4 features and all my raging against mobile sight screens in the city would therefore be hypocritical. However taking up beach fishing again and dismayed at accommodation costs for holidays has me thinking about getting a 4x4 for the next family car. The idea being we could occasionally get away and go camping somewhere, the kids could have some fun on the beach and I could have a go at some beach fishing. It might take bringing along a few mod cons for the wife to make this happen, but its the idea essentially. Having no idea what options are around, what areas permit it, what the rules are or even what areas are practical for it I would like to tap into any information FR members might have on approaching this. From what I can see there are a lot of long, open beaches to the north of Newcastle - are they generally accessible for 4x4 and if so are they allowed/suitable for camping? What recommendations would you have for someone who has never really done offroad driving to learn what is needed for handling a vehicle on the beach? Any other options that you might suggest for someone wanting to do this sort of activity? Any input welcome.

I think if I had some bait with me I would have rather switched to that and kept on going. The plan was to try and get some live squid or yakkas and set them out but I could't get hold of either. As it was using lures it was just plain frustrating and the combination of wind playing havoc with my line and fading light making it impossible to see my line I figured I was as good as pissing in the wind.

I can live with that

I tried yesterday at Clifton gardens figuring it was somewhat sheltered, and as it was the wind was to my back which resulted in some fairly long casts with the right lures. Unfortunately as I was mostly using light SPs I could really only go in one direction, so it was difficult to cover ground or target any specific areas because any lateral attempts took off with the wind straight out in front of me anyway. Not sure if the conditions put the fish off but I didn't get a touch. I saw some yakkas about and there was possibly some salmon stirring up a few baits but nothing significant. I have fished off the beach and had an easterly start up which was near impossible to cast into - that was a time to go home signal.

Absolutely. Work to live, not live to work. We seem to have forgotten that in modern society Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I visited my grandfather this weekend with my family - he is in his late 80s and taken some turns lately. Lucid, quiet yet communicative, but a shadow of his former self and a life of hard work has taken its toll. We both share a love of flying and it was great to see his face light up when I put some aircraft documentaries on for him that I brought up. I am taking care of his old flying kit and I took a look through his log book - first flight in 1947 in a tiger moth. Leafed through his training years and then found some of the flights he took my parents on flying them to weddings, shark patrols he flew around South West Rocks, the flight he took me up for the first time. Dad and I sorted through some of the stuff in his garage. He was a mechanic and ran his own garage for I would guess over 50 years, but wouldn't stop fixing things for people in retirement. I don't think there was much you couldn't build in that shed between the tools, parts and relics he had in there. Its a history in itself, and Dad kept finding things and telling me something about them with him and Pop, where things came from, what Pop used to do with them, and between us scratching our heads at what some things were for. Makes you appreciate what can be done in a life and how if you want to do something you should be out there doing it. Flying, Fishing, Fixing old tractors - do it while you can.

The way I look at it, I don't want to get to 75 (or whenever the government says I have slaved enough) and go "gee, wasn't it great I saved all that money and I am now too tired to use it".

Clearly you need to spend more

I didn't think it was big enough to be one of the blue lipped ones, but there it is in the photo I guess! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dad got a hook stuck into his thumb I think deep enough that the barb prevented it simply being pulled out. He took it to a local clinic where a young doctor fretted and couldn't see a way to get it out other than slicing open his thumb to open it up so the hook could be taken straight out. An older doctor comes up, basically says 'BS', and proceeds to show the young one how to do it with a little local anesthetic and pushing the hook in the right direction. Popped out without any further damage.

Doh - my original plan was for Friday, but I would have been struggling to get out there by high tide after work I actually thought last night looked like it might have been a better night for Jewies - didn't check the webcams but the weather looked like it would have been as flat out on the beach as it was saturday night.

I have been told various theories. Last night I got one on the beach on high tide, my dad's mantra is no run no fun, and others I have heard are they like moving in on an incoming tide. I think the best bet is to go when I am not, as they seem to be absent then Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My dad got so frustrated with losing fish due to braid wind knots and tangles he switched to straight through flurocarbon. He seems to be happy with that and it works for him. For the beach he only uses schnieder mono and in my use of it so far it's been solid Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The way I look at it, my other passion is flying, and a few years ago I started on my pilot license. I used to compare costs of discretionary spending in terms of how many hours flying it would cost me. Trust me not many aspects of fishing cost $300 an hour to start with. So you could always take up flying and say how frugal you are going fishing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk