SgtBundy

Everytime I buy a nice quality lure I lose it to a line failure while casting. Yet I keep looking at them and thinking "yeah, I can manage it right this time".

Transport in this city is fragile at the best of times but add this weather in and the place falls apart with blocked roads and train tracks, not to mention people who seem to think wet roads mean tailgate closer to get out of it quicker. I dont think the media help as they hype up the warnings and carry on about the potential impacts to fill news time. It makes some people over cautious and others ignore the warnings they need to heed. That said, some doses of concrete would go a long way

The "american beer" (f---king close to water)

Makes you wonder if that example is just say a point in time sample that happened to pick an abnormal lull in the wind, compared to the predicted and gust values. But I have seen similar at other times - forecast for winds, check willyweather, says 10-13kmh - drive an hour to Narrabeen to find its more like 40km/h and for some reason the AWS at Terrey hills is not experiencing that. I also wonder how much averaging and projecting is done now days with some apps to try and give "local" readings projected off a weather station some 10-15km away.

So, something that has not often been a problem for me is now becoming more frequent - having caught something how to keep it On Saturday mornings session I got caught out because I was in full sun, intended to be there for a while and really had nothing useful I could use to keep what I wanted to take home. The best I could do was try and keep it shaded - I had a drawstring keeper bag but nowhere really I could deploy it in water at that particular spot. The salmon I got was in poor shape by the time I came to clean and fillet it. I am not keen to lug around an esky in most situations. I know my dad swears by a wet sugar sack which I think if you ask nicely at a greengrocer you can score some. I was thinking something like a collapsible insulated cooler bag and trying to remember to put an ice brick or two in it before I head out - something that won't add much bulk and gives me the option to move around rather than lug more gear I might not use. What do LB fishos use to keep their catch cool and as fresh as possible? Just looking for any other inventive options out there.

Yeah, last few weeks have been fairly productive for me after a long run of donuts and useless by catch. Keen to find out if I can get more productive getting away from land based once I can finance a kayak. The parking is one of the really annoying parts for land based in Sydney especially around mosman council, which is why I prefer the national parks spots if I can. Nothing worse than paying for a park and then finding the spot is not working for some reason.

Fish picture

Booked in saturday morning for fishing with the early high tide and sunday looking crap. No real plan in mind except get up early, maybe get some live bait and try again for kings somewhere. Was woken at 4:30 ahead of my planned 5am alarm so headed off early making up my mind to go to Clifton gardens on the drive in. However the drive in under dark meant I didnt see the garbage bin that fell off someones truck until it was too late to avoid. As nothing seemed to happen after I hit it and I was preoccupied when I got to Cliftons I didnt see the above until I returned to the car... no serious damage, just more scratches and some bent plastic. Started fishing around 5:20 with some old pilchards under a float. There was lots of surface baitfish activity in the dark but nothing seemed to touch the pillie. While the pillie was out I was trying for squid but not much action there. Sunrise came in spectacular form: After sunrise the surface action stopped but I got onto a fairly large calamari: The bugger managed to ink my pants from water level as I pulled it up. I tried using it for live bait but it was too big and on a recast (where I considered taking it off to keep) it came off both hooks and was lost. I saw it floating and tried to jag it with my squidjig but couldnt manage it. Never mind, a little while later an even bigger one jumped on. This one I weighed up keeping to eat so put it in the bucket. As high tide neared I had no more takes so instead choose to cut the big fella up for squid strips. I put it out under a float and a sinker rig but no touches. I watched two or three rat kings swim in circles under me but even with the squid dangled in their faces they didnt care. Teasing bastards. At 8:30 with high tide gone and parking charges impending I opted to move and try a new spot. I went to cobblers ledge and resumed floating squid and putting salted pilchards put on lighter sinker rigs that got picked at immediately. With no touches on the squid I chose to try and figure out what the pickers were so I kept downsizing hooks until I was using about a size 8 baitkeeper and discovered the plague was nursery 10cm snapper. With that sorted I went back to a larger circle hook hoping for something more serious. Around 9:30 my squid strip got nailed and the rod went off. A short scrap with me praying for a king came up instead with a 45cm salmon that was kept for fillets. Switching the lighter rig to squid maintained bites but the bait wasnt being stolen. Not long later I got an energetic take and a scrappy fight that I thought was a small snapper until I got it up over the last boulder for what was a 31cm trevally (first legal). Again kept for fillets - would like to try sashimi but had nothing to keep it cold. I didn't get any photos of them though. As the tide ran out I got more frequently tangled on oysters being exposed on lower boulders in front of me. With no breakfast I was looking forward to grabbing a bite, and a plan to go to Penrith to get a new tackle backpack I called it a day just after 11. With a fair haul for me and lessons learned for next time it was a decent session.

BCF "rogue" brand waterproof one but white not blue as per this picture http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Rogue-Aerator-Waterproof.aspx?pid=346054#Recommendations

On dark last time the south end was lit up with everyone down there so that end seems popular. I was on the north end just past the creek mouth and while there was a hole there as per the report it was fairly quiet.

I ended up getting a generic one that is supposedly waterproof - had a rubber seal at least and a rubberised switch. See how it goes long term.

+1 for Black magic

Yeah - I have learned to better control that now in the way you suggest but every now and then I still get an issue - possibly due to poor lay of the line when I filled the spool. My main surf rod with 50lb Fins has been solid after a few early windknot issues, but mostly with lures. I usually just use it for heavier bait fishing now and I can't recall the last time I had a windknot with it and I have never had a tangle just from surf fishing - weed yes, it find that fairly well, but never from surf action alone. I was also warned about abrasion due to sand but that does not seem to have been an issue as far as I can tell.

Bad luck there. If its one thing I have learned since I started taking my fishing seriously is that if I rush or half ass my approach I will pay for it. Doesnt mean I always remember that but the lesson is clear each time

I use braid off the beach too and like it but only get windknots when using lures and casting into wind that cases the line to slacken too much. With weighted bait fishing I like the sensitivity and better casting and spool capacity from it. For lures ofd the beach I am considering going back to mono

I normally use a snelled 2 hook rig but I have trouble keeping pilchards on them (yet to try bait mate string though). I prefer gang hooks for pilchards and I use the self joined gamakatsu gangster ones but clearly I am not closing the eyes right because I keep loosing the trailing hooks. Can you diagram this two hook rig because I would not mind trying it. Also I wish I could target salmon easily enough to make them a bait source. As above it was only the special "last cast" that got me one that trip

It surprised me because it was in fairly quickly - he had a bit of go but I don't think it even bothered the drag (maybe because I had done it up with the earlier weed). The only other salmon I have caught was about the same size and I got that up at Narrabeen last year. Not sure how they go for bait - tried a slab off the one at Narrabeen but no results. Thanks - it was good to come back with a result for an impromptu session like that, although it was looking like another donut for a while there

The clock at Balmoral got me the other night - it wasn't updated after the DST switch so instead of going home an hour after high tide I left right on high tide. Only realised when I got back in the car after packing up and saw the clock there.

Anywhere I go is an hour so direction doesnt really matter I managed to knock some solid fillets off the salmon and with a bit of cleaning up (remove the red meat) they were ready for frying. Did half in normal breadcrumbs and half in salt and vinegar chip crumbs just to try it. Went down well with the family. Even managed to fillet that little bream and turn that into some fish coctails for my daughter.

All week my boys wanted to go night fishing so on friday I took them to Balmoral with a plan to try and get some yakkas and squid for another session while they soaked some prawns to keep them amused. Only got one yakka which we tried live on the high tide but it got tangled and didnt last long. My son got a puffer fish which amused him and to my surprise he fished through the whole 3 hour session. So today with a lot of left over bait, a yakka to fillet and no fixed plans I felt like having a crack on dusk off a beach. I went to Stanwell park just for a change and got there around 4:30. A few other guys were there but aside from a salmon and a missed flathead it was now all quiet. Setup into a hole but spent most of the session gardening as loose weed was snagging the line constantly. I had pilchards and yakka fillets out on my surf rod while my 8ft rod had a light rig with prawns. Just before dark I finally got a break from weed and got some actual fish taps on the prawn. Got the bite and struck onto a 27cm bream. I kept him as my daughter likes them and it felt like a while since I had a take home. Kept on into dark but still no touches on the pilchard. I moved up the beach just to try getting away from the weed but didnt expect much as earlier the gutter didnt seem to extend further up. It stayed quiet but was a pleasant night with clear skies, the milky way, satellites and shooting stars. Around 7:30 I figured now the tide had turned and it was still quiet it was time to pack it in. But that one last cast of course was the one that got hit - it was a strange fight with what seemed like really fast headshakes and not a lot of run, and at one point it ran at me and I had to scramble to pick up line. With a brief fight and the right wave I had a thick 65cm salmon. Tried with another pillie but I had lost a few gang hooks and this rig was only made of two instead of three - if it had the third it looked like I would have had another fish as the pillie came back bit just shy of the last hook. As it was past the time I said I would come home I called it a night.

As a kid up the north coast we used to use oysters as burley - smash them open and let a slick go down river. Seemed to work fairly well at times Not sure its actually legal though on my last reading of the rules.

Thanks - will check that one out.

It was just a foam turnip float with a stopper on my braid, swivel, about 4-5ft of 50lb leader and a pair of snelled 4/0 hooks. I had a small sinker on the leader to help put it under. The pillie was just hooked tail up as best I could, but they were pretty soft and I lost a few just casting. I prefer ganged hooks for pillies but I was planning on squid with this rig.

Hobie PA14 + livewell is what I have in mind, but thats a little way off at the moment.

Yeah, as if land based isn't difficult enough in Sydney they come up with excuses about potential law suits.