Captain Spanner

I have old water bottles lying around the boat with fresh water in them. Used lures get put on the bait board. Every. Ow and then or change of spot or method I will pour some fresh water over all the lures at the call of "one more cast then move" then they are dry and put in the box before driving off. I carry a fresh water bottle, (squeeze top if I have it handy) and squirt expensive lures and dry them in my shirt before packing away. If it is just a jig head but it's a favourite or the only sharp one left in its size I lick the salt water off it and wipe it in my shirt, then out it away. Using this method most popular lures will be lost before they rust in the box. Any significant rust (and associated bluntening) leads to replacement. You spend too much time money and effort on a lot of other things to be able to go fishing to start with to justify not spending 50c on a sharp hook. Especially if that hook is a treble on a $10, $20, $30 hardbody. Seems like false economy to me.

I got told years ago (I think over 10) by an older fisho at the RSL club not to use cheap imported prawns for bait because of white spot. So if he and the others at the club knew back then, surely others did. I think someone mentioned earlier or in the article that Darwin copped it in 2002. Coincidence something is only triggered once the commercial sector, being the prawn farms (tax money to be lost by the government) are effected?

I couldn't remember if it was on here or somewhere else where someone posted a picture of a Hawkesbury prawn that they said had white spot. I wonder how long they would have let it run in if it didn't get into the commercially farmed prawns.

So while we have known for quite a few years now that white spot disease in imported raw prawns is a risk to our waterways and prawn industry alike, once again the government has waited until the horse has disappeared into the sunset before strolling over to consider the idea of closing the gate. For those that don't know, some prawns from overseas carry a disease called white spot that somehow can still be transferred in a dead, raw, frozen prawn. When the infected prawn is put into a river or waterway the white spot disease can be released into the water and the local prawns can become infected. This is not recent news and it has been common knowledge amongst people who care that you shouldn't use the cheap imported green prawns for bait as this can be one way it could be introduced to a waterway or river system. Please see the link for the news article. http://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/01/06/11/53/import-ban-on-green-prawns

We used to pump them years ago on the sand flats near St George Sailing Club. Just check to see that the rules haven't changed and that you can still do it there.

If you are mobile, any of the ledges along that stretch that have kelp and ledges are good. Coalcliff is worth a shot too in the right conditions (safety wise)

I use the spiked rockhopper boots (I think Mirage also) on most rocks, they protect your ankles a bit from grazing if you slip in holes. They would not be as good for swimming as the shoes but definitely stay on and are comfortable. Those rock gripper boots look good. The spikes do not last too long, maybe a season. I wear volleys with no spikes or cleats on the north coast breakwalls. They grip best. Anything with metal spikes or cleats on the breakwalls will slip because the rocks are too hard. Similar story with the basalt ledges.

His mate. I have only squidded Wollongong harbour a couple of times and we caught a few squid. We fished from next to the little hatch club and cast north towards the square concrete block. There was quite a bit of swell running each time. I would imagine you would catch them anywhere in the harbour near the rocks or where there is kelp in the bottom. Check google earth to get an idea on where these areas are. It will be much easier for you to understand than me trying to explain it. You are basically looking for the dark patches. We were using mainly 2.5 size jigs due to the wind and rough water on the day. I would have been using dark jigs then but one of my favourite colours now is white Good luck

Very true. I have had hair, short bits of braid (ever mine) and a piece of busted ballon (all seperate occasions) break live bait pumps by getting sucked up the inlet.

I don't bother with the top swivel but if you want to stop the sinker going too far up the line you can tie half a rubber band on the leader above the sinker with a stopper knot. You can adjust the position of it and it can go through the guides if you want it further up. Possible problems from no top swivel or stopper are when you let line out too quickly as the sinker sinks it pulls line off the spool and the bait doesn't sink as much, meaning the sinker ends up at the bottom and the bait somewhere in the middle. As you wind up the bait goes down or the sinker can twist and cause a tangle mid way. Easy solution is to lower your hard earned live bait slowly so he doesn't get dizzy or tangled.

I use braid as i think i have better contact with the bait. I also think there is a lot less sideways drag from wind and waves on braid than mono. Some people say that the stretch in the mono stops the wave and wind drag from dislodging the sinker from the sand. I don't think this presents a problem as long as you have a "light" bend through your rod while the sinker is settled and the rod can bend and straighten with the action of the waves this is fine. If your rod tip is too stiff then this can be a problem and you will pull sinkers and not have even contact with your bait. When trying to land a big fish on the sand do not stand directly in front of it, especially when it gets close in and in the wash as you will have to either gain and lose line or run backward and forward as fast as the fish washes or swims with the water to maintain even pressure and not bust off or get slack line. This is particularly difficult in the dark. To avoid this you should fight the fish from an angle to one side so that it is swinging on a radius up and down the sand and the waves can wash it up. I always fish with a rod length (12') of mono leader above the swivel that the sinker could run on. I have a piece of rubber band tied on the leader as a stopper knot about half a metre above the sinker so it cant slide all the way up the leader. This is for a few reasons, It stops the bait and sinker separating too much during a cast, stops them separating in the surf. It also stops the sinker getting anywhere near the braid and because the line is kept tight while you are waiting for a bite and there is 12' of mono leader, the braid does not ever rub on the sand because it is only really close to the bottom near the sinker. People might say that if there was a steep sandbank a fair distance out and the fish went out over it and down into the gutter then the braid would rub on the sand bank, while this is technically correct in theory i have never had it happen as most of the time you are fishing deep gutters nearly at your feet and the jewies tend to run up and down parallel to the beach, not straight out. If it goes straight out at a steady pace and keeps going it is probably chompy or possibly ray so it probably doesn't matter if he busts you off on the sand bank.

Guys I am about to replace my 4 automatic inflatable PFDs as the 3 years is up and In the past it has been almost more economical to replace than service. I want something comfortable as we need to wear them fishing in the ocean or at night (stupid under 4.8m rule). I think my current ones are "Essential" brand and have been ok. I am not looking for anything fancy, just good quality/value. The ones I have now have the inflatable bit as part of the cover material which I think is much better than the ones that seem to be a ballon that has to be carefully folded up the correct way. Any positive or negative (ones to avoid) are much appreciated. I would consider 2 good ones and 2 less fancy but equally functional ones if you think the comfort is worth it. (We even have to jig in these things) thank you.

Hi mate, I have only fished out of bellambi once and it was many years ago. If you haven't been there before be aware that the ramp can get a surge in some swell conditions as it is an ocean ramp. It is a little exposed to a nor'easter. I don't have any marks for you sorry but if you have/get the navionics app on your phone, with the sonar charts high resolution contours turned on and zoom in on the coast off bellambi you should notice two things. Firstly there are a lot of reefs and pinnacles close to and around bellambi from the shore and out to about 60m deep and further. Around these reefs there are also sand, hard ground and gravel areas. These won't necessarily be noted on the chart but they should show up as a different density or colour in a good sounder. Secondly, on the navionics chart, make sure you have the community edits layer turned on, when you zoom in on interesting areas you will notice little icons pop up. They might be little fish or dots or anything. If you get the cursor over it and tap the "?" Button it will probably tell you the name the point has been saved as, the depth and possibly what the bottom is made up of. These are points saved and uploaded by people that use the app. You can also navigate to these spots and save your own on the app. I think the updated navionics cards that go in your chart plotter have some community marks as well. It is important to remember that the GPS and chart plotter just "get you on the green" and then you need to use your sounder to find and understand the depth, Bottom and if there are any fish, where they are and if they are scattered or balled up or focussed tight. This info pretty much applies to the wholes coast covered by navionics.

It is not always as simple as using an overhead rod with a spin reel and vice versa due to the "back bone" of the rod. When you bend a rod blank it will naturally "roll" to a certain orientation (it will naturally have a top side and bottom side when it is bent) you will feel it try to twist in your hands if it is not orientated this way. This is how they figure out which side of the blank the guides go on depending if it is going to be a spin rod or overhead rod. The spacing and size of the guides will also be designed based on whether it is for an overhead or spin reel. This doesn't mean you cant use it for both applications it just means that it isn't designed to be universal and will be better (stronger, better action and more comfortable) being used for its correct intention. I have swapped them around before and they do obviously work you just need to be aware, especially if you intend on maxing out the load on it.

I have a TLD 15 that i have had for over 20 years and i love it. But i only use it in the boat. You could technically use that outfit to cast on the beach but it would be not be very well suited. Firstly - If you are not fluent in casting overhead reels then the TLD 15 will probably be difficult for you to cast and you will have many overruns and limited casting distance for quite a while as you learn to cast it. Secondly - if you are fluent in casting the overhead then the reel would be ok but you would probably want to consider a rod at least 10 feet long. Possibly up to 13 feet. The longer rod will give you better casting distance and help keep the line clear of the shore break so your bait sits happier in the surf and you can feel bites easier.

The new Shimano Aerowave graphite is slightly out of your specified price range but i strongly recommend it, especially with the K-Series guides. I have the heavy 13' one but you would probably look at the 6-10kg one in either 12' or 13', whichever you like the feel of or you thought suited your needs better. We also have an old aerowave composite in 6-12kg that i strongly recommend. The new aerowave composites are around $159 and also very nice. You just have to decide whether to go 6-12kg or 5-8kg. This will probably be decided by how big the baits are you want to cast. I think both of these rods come in rubber and wood butts. I like the rubber because it is more comfortable and i never need to stick the timber in anything because i hold it or use a rod holder.

I think Willy gets it the closest the most consistently, (what it will probably be) I think seabreeze predictions tend to predict the wind to be a little stronger and swell a little bigger than willy does and seems to predict the maximums pretty well. (Better to use seabreeze for a "how bad might it get?" Prediction) I think seabreeze is more based on BOM data than Willy is. Although I don't know that as a fact, it's just an observation. If I am going offshore I always use MetEye from the BOM in conjunction with willy and seabreeze and find it is pretty good. I use RIPCharts for SSTs, currents, altimeter etc and I like to think I'm getting better at it but would never claim to understand it well or be good at it.

Thanks Paddy, This will be my next job when i can invent a minute in the office hopefully early next week.

Paddy, Can you please post/send me which members/government bodies you think would be the most appropriate to end letters to. Thank you

Thank you Donna

I have just hit "Follow this topic" at the top of the page but have not used the function before. Do i get a PM on here or something for the notification? Or is there a better way for me to make sure i dont miss it? Stop looking. I found the follow option in my profile.

Has one of the top hooks on that jig been straightened? Possibly by another fish trying to steel the jig from the hooked fish? Or the bottom?

I'll be keeping an eye on this space and would love to come if I am able to make the time/date if it goes ahead. We have a standard 4wd first aid kit in our boat and I have basic first aid training for work but I think any chance to have it refreshed and learn even one new trick is great. We carry small bolt cutters, proper wire cutters, strong snub nose pliers and multi grips in case some poor person wears a heavy live bait, Treble, Marlin or tuna hook. You just need to make sure they get wiped and sprayed down each trip so they don't get forgotten or corroded and remain in working order for the debut they will hopefully never have. We always carry clean dry rags, towel and full set of dry clothes in case someone gets wet, cold or falls in.

I don't normally bother with a slurry and we fish out of Sydney and seem to be fine. I spike (just with the knife) and cut the fish (generally inside behind the gills) for bleeding. Then unless it's a tailor or similar (teeth), I'm ok with the bonito because their teeth seem more conical and less city, I put my hand up through the gill latch and out the mouth so I have a solid grip (closed fist) around the bottom jaw. Then I dunk/drag the fish along next to the boat for a few seconds (might take several dunks) and then I pop it in the esky full of freezer bottles. Any residual blood drips through under the bottles so it is never sitting in a puddle of mess. I think what helps me a lot is that my esky lives in the cabin (non closing so there is plenty of air flow) so it is in shade most of the day. You have a lot more trouble if your esky is getting pounded by direct sunlight or if you fish warmer locations like up the coast. It's very important to make sure your esky seals properly as it can only maintain the cold it starts with and not regenerate it like a fridge or freezer that is powered. If I have too much time on my hands I have started to gut and gill some fish once bled (as early as is convenient) and back in the esky. If are are clever enough to get a bigger fish like a bigger fin, I will most likely gut it and fill its gut cavity with frozen bottles too to get the temp down as quick as I can.

We used to use a dish rack to keep our lunch on in the main esky so you could lift it out to put fish/bait in/out without it all getting messy. We put the freezer bottles in the esky the night before to pre chill the walls of the esky before we put bait/fish in it. We don't normally use a slurry and the esky stays colder than a fridge but doesn't seems to freeze fresh fish.