sails

Hi Roberta, I managed 40.32. difficult with an old optical mouse that doesnt move as precisely as one would have it . try again tomorrow Cam

Hi Pete, fish went almost 42cm, so missed the PB, but still what a thrill. great to see how much fun it is to get into the mullet like that. there are so many ways that I am learning to catch fish since joining the fishraiders.!! Hope those mullet do the trick and find a nice big jewie for you. Cam

Hi Guys, went for a fish at Narrabeen this afternoon, and found Luderick59 already there, using his alternative baits and catching mullet, bream travelly and black fish. I had been fishing with Roosterman this morning and, same as last weekend, only one fish was caught.This time it was Steve who caught it, first and only down, and it looked a good 40+. I had re-rigged this afternoon after talking with Roosterman this morning about the importance of neutral floats, and as little lead on the line as possible in calm water. So I had wrapped some sheet lead around the lower section of my small float to give it neutral boyancy, and I was using a drink straw on top of the float as an indicator, as the float was fully covered by the water. Still had the weed on the hook from this mornings session, but put it out as a test to fine tune the float. Difficult to read the new float in the fast moving water as the tide was coming in and there was a lot debris being carried also, so I went to wind in to change my weight when the line loaded up and I had the pleasure of a good sized fish on.Talk about beginners luck!! Netted it and it went almost 42cm. Happy chappie!! Had a couple of others on but lost them, while Luderick 59 pulled in mullet after mullet etc. Good session . Sails

Hi guys , had a flexi day today so after a visit to the dentist, and a bit of work on the boat that I am repainting, I headed out to find some fish. Visited Turrametta early this afternoon, and watched as the lone senior fisherman in the main gutter pulled in a 40+ blackie on a rising tide, so decided to join him. After the formalities of an introduction and "hi, mind if I join you here", I settled in and attempted to emulate his efforts. He pulled in another big fish and lost another as I was settling in, and all the time the tide was coming in and the water over the rocks was getting stronger. After a couple of strong waves swept the ledge and I had to work to stay in one place I commented " while you are staying I'll hang around". A little while later another strong wave swept the rocks and I said " just what does it take before you give it up", to which he replied "that was it" , so we beat a retreat to the safety of the beach. While he cleaned his catch I had a look at the wreck of a jet ski that was washed up on the rocks, probably from a tow in surfer that had gone wrong in the big swells of early winter. Decided to head to Narrabeen lake, near the caravan park where it was a lot safer, and joined a couple of others practising "the dark art" Had the pleasure of pulling in 5 fish, (no monsters) and I released three of legal size, which were small compared to their mates I kept. No pics to share , but a good afternoon in the water. tight lines Sails

Hi Casielovestofish, well done on a great fish. It must have been exciting; trouble is you cant take it to school for show (brag ) and tell.!! Looking forward to seeing many more posts with you enjoying the great sport of fishing. cheers Sails

Hey Southerly, good shot of the sunrise, and well done with getting out there in the yak.Pitty about the quiet fishing. Do you usually get into good fish from the yak and what version of yak do you use? cheers Sails

[Hi all, I hit the water early this morning with Roosterman to see if we could get into some more of the big blackies that were being caught recently. Steve and I met up at his favorite "hot spot" about 0545 just in time for the first light to be coming into the day, and after Steve mixed up some burley we got our lines into the water. I'd seen some good fish down deep by my tourch light so we were expecting some good fish, but the old local who was also there, commented that he had not got a single down yesterday, and it was low tide also. We tried a couple of different spots with no luck before I returned to the first spot and got our first indication that everything was going to plan witih a good down. I didnt connect , but put it straight out again and this time there was no missing that great feeling of weight on the line as I gently lifted the rod tip. I was trying to head it to the beach, as Steve had lost a good sized fish there last week when it got into the oyster covered piles, but he suggested he net it and with the experience gained by many years of fishing, he bought it up onto the jetty. Well done Steve, thanks for the helping hand, and a new PB for me with the fish going 43cm. attachmentid=21205] We were expecting them to be on for the session, but that was the only fish caught, and with only a couple of downs over the next hour and a half we gave it away around 0800. It was a great morning to be up early and it was even better after that fish. Steve doubled up as my guide and mentor as he gently reminded me that I had not tied the neck of the keeper bag before putting it back into the water, which he had done on my behalf. Thanks mate!! I'm still trying to understand how to minimise digital pics without diminishing the quality There is plenty of weed around at present with a very healthy crop at Turrametta, as can be seen from this pic of my daughter platting some up. cheers Sails

Hi Roberta, once again, well done. that is a great session you had. I've just come home from collecting some weed from Turrametta beach where the rocks at the southern end are covered in beautiful long green weed and some hidden patches of cabbage. Going to hit the water in the early AM to se if I can get into the big ones Roosterman has been chasing. cheers Cam

well done Roberta, what a great looking fish. I know the spot you were fishing, and it would not be easy to get the fish out of there without them getting around something to break the line. I'm looking forward to catching up with Roosterman to visit some of the haunts around Pittwater. cheers Sails

Well done Steve, and an excuse that no one could challenge you on!! Loooking forward to wetting a line down there real soon; just leave some for us amateurs. Sails

Hi guys, its an interesting problem which I also have with a Shakespeare Summit Z3750 bait runner which was bought new in '03. Almost right from the start it threw off birds nests, and it did not matter what weight mono I had on it, or if the spool was full or half empty. The reel came with two spools and I have tried both of them and have the same results. The spools are taperd so that could be the problem. The gear ratio is 4.6 - 1 and I wonder if the throw of the spool forward and back is not in tune with the laying on of the line, as I have noticed that the line gets laid on in a position where it does not build right up to the inner edges of the spool, leaving a small space where the line can collapse into , which might allow the loose line that is needed for the problem to happen. Either way, it is a real bummer to have a piece of equipment that you have paid good money for and it does not work as it should. Initially I thought it was my error that was causing the problem , but I have been fishing for over 50 years and owned many reels, some good and some absolute crap, but I have never had an eggbeater that does this. I guess the moral is to always buy quality, and this Shakeunderwatere is not quality. tight lines Sails

Hi Roberta, good to hear that the fish are biting again, and congratulations on the catch. That sounds better than trying to attach a small bit of weed to a smaller hook and watching the fish swim straight past it!! Let us know how the weed goes when you get it sails

Hi Roberta, thanks for the post about Newcastle. I seem to remember that last year it was not a good w/e weatherwise for the duathalon, so I suggest next year just stay at home!! Glad to know you are both at home and safe.It was just unbelievable to listen to the news and hear of the tragedies that were happening on the roads at the start of this w/e. There is a lot of damage down here on the northern beaches to the trees, and the beaches have had a good scouring. Just about everyone has a tree down in the yard, including us. Our big pawpaw is leaning at 45 degrees across the trampoline, and it should have been cleaned up this afternoon, but I went for a surf instead!! For every dark cloud, there is a silver lining.!! Havent had the chance to wet a line since the blackfish w/e, but I suspect the lake should be fishing well soon. Heard from a fish PRO at church this morning that he had been cleaning up on the tailor about 2ks' off Narrabeen in the wee small hours, so I am going to have a session in the evening some time soon to see if I can lock into them on the beach. Might also take the kayak out and see whats biting on a lure after this swell dies down. tight lines Sails .

Hey Noisy, there are a few spots that still have weed; if you want to PM me, I'll give you some other spots to add to those MallacoutaPete is giving. cheers Sails

Hi Guys, safely home after a great weekend at Forster, and no longer a "newbie", having attended my first Fishraider social. Now I can put faces and personalities to some of the identities I have got to know from the site, and what a nice bunch of people they are. We (Sails and Ladslad) drove up Thursday afternoon and caught up with Roberta (my younger sister) and her husband Keith for dinner and a warm bed. Off fishing the next morning and moved into the camping ground to be close to all the action. Fishing was quiet as we tried rigs, weed and various fishing sites with Roberta. There were fish aplenty and some very respectable specimens, but they were not at all interested in feeding. Brett (Ladslad) and I went to Pacific Palms in the afternoon and I caught some good sized beach worms while Brett tried dragging a lure from his surf ski but to no avail. After dinner and meeting some of the fishraider gang, we went and joined some of the locals at one of the well known fishing hot spots, to find that the bream were already on the bite and that a father and son team had all but bagged out and were releasing quite legal sized fish and only keeping the bigger ones. It was a leathal spot on tackle and before the night was out we were delving into the various tackle boxes to find old sinkers and hooks. We only took 4 fish home, with three returned undersized, but it was a good session, fuelled by anticipation. There was a jewie that kept busting through the school of fish, and on one occasion it was right on the surface in the light of the moon and it was quite a sight to see this fish about 4-5 ft long turning on its side as it charged in for a mouth full. We had passed on the site to other Raiders that evening , but due to a faulty memory chip, they ended up at another spot where we heard they had fun spinning up pike. Well done Donna !! Saturday morning after trying the Forster breakwall we ended up at the pool with the others where we had a lesson in fishing etiquette. The first lesson was when Stewie caught a good sized fish and at least 4 of us moved into his spot while he dispatched the catch. Lesson no. 1, trust no one in a competition when it comes to a good spot for fish, especially if the fish are shy and you have a bunch of newbies around you. !! All was done in good fun and it was a great to see so many people sharing their passion of fishing. We fished the area hard that day, and after the weigh in time, four of us,Wrongsize, Coolaman, Colbra and Sails headed to Pacific Palms for a bit of relaxation with a bag of stink, pliers and the desire for more worms.It was a lesson session, as well as a catching session, and it was great to have the extra hands to help pull some of the big worms out. Seems all that was there were very small or very big and nothing in between, which must be the ones being taken by the locals, or the pros. Colbra tried a bit of beach fishing with worms to no avail, before heading over to observe the worming action, and his place was taken by another couple of fishermen, one of who promptly pulled a very large flathead out using a ganged pilchard.!! Once again after dinner; where some of us had pizza, some a BBQ and others went to a restaurant, I returned to the previous nights spot for some more bream action, expecting it to be on again as before. Not so, and after 3 hours I came home with a head cold and one keeper. Next morning after the end of the comp, Offtap and Coolaman collected some of the worms and went off fishing while Ladslad and I went to the secret spot to see if we could catch that elusive luderick which had alluded me all w/e. By 5pm with no success we packed it in and headed to Robertas' for dinner and a chat about how good the w/e had been, before joining Coolaman at the breakwall about 930pm for one more session . We were joined by Jill7779 and Peta, before finally calling it quits around 1130pm with only some small throwbacks for our effort. Before heading home this afternoon Bret, Roberta and myself headed over to the oyster leases on our kayaks to try some soft plastics and some small bream lures Stewy had given Roberta . She of course caught a bream on her first cast!! and had another to the kayak before it dropped off mid lift. Strange how the good fishermen or women always seem to catch all the fish!! We now know where the really big luderick hide out as one of the leases was holding the biggest number of quality fish I have seen outside of an aquarium!! I'll keep that one in the memory banks for next year!! I really enjoyed the weekend and I have to say a big thankyou to Sandy, Mrs Gyropilot, who came to my rescue Sunday morning with drugs to help clear up the effects of the head cold I picked up after the Saturday night bream non session.It was cold out there in the evenings!! Looking forward to next years event , and thanks heaps to all concerned for a great social comp. Sails

Hi Roberta, count me in for the comp. in June, it will be fun. Being a newie at Blackies I'm not overly confident of a big score but its all fun. Got a nice keeper from Narrabeen Lake this evening so the practise has begun. looking forward to seeing you there, regards "Sails"