snatcher

Just felt bad looking at that JD !!!!!! John

Got talking to a local angler back in 2013 whilst the wife and i were fishing the stretch at Davison Park,just beside the netted area. He said he had just seen 5/6 bull sharks milling about at the top of the creek !!!! During our 2012 trip we had a few weeks over in Western Australa based near Busselton. A diver was taken by a shark when we were there. Four fatalities that summer in Western Australia,2 divers and 2 fishermen. Whilst staying at Noosa Heads seen a large bull shark in the river there. John

A great fishing session,well done John

I am not too good with heights but keep forcing myself to do them. On one of our trips went to the top of Sydneys Westfield Tower and felt very apprehensive whilst up there - great views though As a lot of you probably know I am quite a keen photographer and always have my camera with me on such occasions. I think "hiding" behind the camera helps me. [/url]">http:// On one of our road trips between Melbourne and Adelaide we visited the Otway Fly. Again I forced myself to go to the top of the tower. I feel nervous just thinking about it now !!!!! [/url]">http:// Took this one from the top of the London Eye - I was so pleased to get off that. [/url]">http:// Think I must just be a big soft pommie John

Happy birthday mate from this baldy.old,wrinkley,pommie fossil John

Love your photo of the QM2 John

Must admit on our trips out to oz have only swam within the netted areas because I do have a fear of sharks. The only occasion I did not swim in a netted area was when my daughter persuaded me to go snorkling at Shelly Beach,Manly.. I did not really enjoy it as I was too busy on the lookout for sharks. I have heard that sharks do prefer pommie flavour John

Took this from the top of the Westfield Tower. I am not great with heights so really amazed there was no camera shake !!!!!! [/url]">http://http://s84.photobucket.com/user/snatcherphoto/media/snatcherphoto103/IMG_7936prc.jpg.html'> John

Thanks for trying John

During my 2012 trip to oz was befriended by Ollie who at the time lived at Fairlight. Had a few great shore trips with him around the harbour and also had a trip out in his tinnie when I got my first kingfish. On another forum he had the name "No idea" and his ambition that year was to catch a shark off the shore. They knew him well at Fish Outta Water at Manly vale. Would be great if someone on here knew him and we could get back in touch again Will add a couple of pictures of him. http:// In this one Ollie had dived in to try and find a squid lure which had snagged up http:// If anyone does know him tell him I will be flying out 2 weeks today and will be based at our daughters in Collaroy for 3 months. Many thanks John

It has to be said the harbour is a wonderful setting for the cruise ships that berth there. Will add a few that i have photographed. Was very lucky to get the Queen Mary 2 as did not know she was in. http:// http:// http:// Pretty sure I took this one of the Carnival Spirit from the rooftop bar of the Glenmore Hotel - one of my favourite bars in the city http:// John

Love it John

Thanks for the advice We touch down 08 Oct at the start of a 3 month stay. Seeing as how our daughter now lives within 100yds of the beach at Collaroy reckon I will be fishing a lot. Would be good to meet up/fish/have a few beers with some of you locals. Bring it on !!! John

Can you get salmon off the beach on lures or would bait be best ? Do have a crab trap that I have caught yellowtails in before,would this trap work in the beach shallows baited with bread to get livebait for the salmon ? John

Will be touching down at Sydney airport 08 Oct for our 5th ozzie adventure staying till early January. We will be based at our daughters in Collaroy just off the beach and close to Narabben Lake. Would really appreciate some local knowledge on the fishing/beach worm collection etc. Anyone out there prepared to take a wrinkley old pommie barsteward under their wing ? Managed to get 43 ozzie fish species in my previous 4 trips - most of them came from the top end. Its getting harder now to add to the list but salmon and jewfish would be good to add to the list. Would it be possible to catch them off the beach at Collaroy? All advice appreciated on this one. Kind regards John

Do you catch these catfish in the Sydney area ? We will be based at Colleroy,at our daughters from 08 Oct for a 3 month stay. Her house is only 100yds from the beach so I will be fishing most days. Also it is right beside Narabeen Lake. Can catfish be caught here ? If I catch one the long nosed pliers will be out !!!!!! Actually back in 2012 on a trip over Perth way caught a puffer fish and was very blase the way i handled it. Could I have got stung off it ? John

Wow nasty,thanks for the heads up. Think I do not want to add catfish to my Australian species list when we come over in October then !!!!! John

Two days after our grandsons first wrasse bash took them on another one as they had dried out by this time !!!! First off was bait collection. I had them dig about 25 lugworm,enough for our planned 3 hour wrasse session. I also asked them to knock off a dozen limpets as a back up bait - wrasse do like them. This time I took them to one of my marks on the west side of the Mull of Galloway. Now this mark is a little bit "scrambly" so it is a no go if the rocks are wet. The actual fishing platform is nice and flat though. We arrived 2 hours before high water and I rigged up sliding float outfits for them. I have had them practicing tying fishing knots but for speed I set the 2 rods up. Here are the boys at the fishing mark. They were virtually fishing at their feet. Again the bites started almost immediately and Lewis was first in with this decent ballan wrasse. Next up it was Wayne with a rockling,a new species for him. Basically they were getting a bite every drop and they were loving it. We stopped counting after the first few. All fish were carefully unhooked and returned. The boys understand the need for fish conservation. Here is Lewis with a wrasse And Wayne with a wrasse The 3 hours or so passed so quickly and the boys really enjoyed it. At last knockings Lewis managed to catch the only pollack of the session. Well done lads. As we headed back to the car Lewis said - "grandad we are so looking forward to fishing with you again next summer". So am I boys,so am I !!!!! John

Had our 2 oldest grandsons on holiday with us at our caravan on the Mull of Galloway last week. When they come to the caravan they do love to go out fishing so I took them on a "wrasse bash". I had kindly been donated some rag from a pal so decided to take the boys out fishing even though the weather was foul. We headed off to the north end of the Mull and I set them both up with sliding floats. From a safety point of view I never fish rock marks in the rain as it can be lethal. This was an exception though as it was a flat walk on mark just 50yds from where we parked up and not slippy at all. I took them to this mark as I knew they would catch wrasse and first cast they both had bites. Here is Wayne with his first wrasse. They are bonny fish Now the rain was really hammering down and Lewis said he wanted to go back to the car to warm up for a while so he handed me his rod. Now I had not intended to fish myself but thought I might as well have a go while Lewis was away. I did manage 2 wrasse during his absence. Lewis came back and started fishing again and did manage to catch this crab. In total we had fished about two and a half hours and the boys had had a good time catching small wrasse. It was time to pack in though as we were all soaked through and the boys were starting to feel cold. We headed back on the 45 minute trip to the caravan and the lads kept me entertained on the way with singing and joke telling. My next report has me putting the boys onto a different mark and they get into bigger fish. John

Here is a link to the event. http://www.spacedex.com/perseids/locations/perseid-australia-sydney.php John

Drove up the Northumberland coastline last night for it and set up at Druridge Bay right on the sand dunes. Was looking forward to a great firework display and had only been firing away for a few minutes when the cloud and fog rolled in. Bloody typical for these astral events !!!!! Just managed the one capture. http:// John

Aye the lads really look forward to their annual boat trip Take the pair of them back over to the caravan on Monday for another week and will have them shore fishing most days if the weather plays ball John

Our 2 oldest grandsons,Wayne and Lewis were having a holiday with us in our static caravan at Clashwhannon,Drummore,Mull of Galloway. My mate Tom had kindly offered to take the boys out to have a go for tope in Luce Bay. This was the boys third trip out with Tom and they love it. Tom was to be coach and I was to be photographer. We launched off the beach at Sandhead and steamed about a mile south then drifted for mackerel to use for bait. The mackerel were there in fair numbers and the boys managed a few "full houses" each. Lewis with mackerel Wayne with mackerel Once the bait bucket was full Tom prepared the rubby dubby and tied the bag to the anchor chain. Then the whole mackerel baits went down and it was a waiting game. Here is Tom giving the boys some words of wisdom. The boys are keen and done exactly as they were told. We stayed out about 5 hours with no tope runs at all. The craic was good though and we all had a good laugh with the boys telling a few jokes. Just before last knockings Wayne did manage to get a decent thornback ray,a new species for him. A quick photo and back it went. I have explained about fish conservation to them and they are quite happy putting fish back. Tom gave them both a go at the wheel on the way back in. All in all a great day out in Luce Bay. Once we got back to terra firma took a photo of the "toon boys". I was using my tripod and timer on the camera and just managed to get into the picture. We are taking the boys over to the caravan again in a weeks time and they will be fishing for wrasse and pollack if the weather allows. They are really looking forward to fishing again. John

Heading off over to our static caravan on the Mull of Galloway tomorrow for a 3 week stint. Will have our 2 oldest grandsons with us for the first week Hopefully the weather Gods will smile on us and we can have a few fishing sessions. I have mentioned a "leap of faith" shore mark to them and they are up for that. Also planning to take them out boat fishing for tope. At ages 11 and 13 they are old enough now. Here is them last summer lure fishing for bass in Luce Bay Also out boat fishing in Luce Bay. Here are a couple of pictures from last year. My internet connection there is not the best so any reports will probably have to wait till we get back home. Bring it on John

The pixies lived under the floor by the hypocaust heating to keep themselves warm :074: John