wttmrwolf

I can't add any value on skids vs rails because my tailer only has rollers. After watching few of the experienced boaties at the local ramp I've worked out a good way to get you back on the trailer. Start about 50 meters out from the trailer and put the motor in gear, as slow as your motor permits. As you approach line up the trailer and make small adjustments left or right to take into account cross winds. If the wind is blowing hard left of right you might actually have to aim to the side of the trailer. Always keep the boat parallel to the trailer! Use the combination of speed and very small steering adjustments to line up the approach. If you don't feel 100% that you are going to hit in exactly the right spot BAIL. Don't be scared to bail. If you start going off course its unlikely that you will get it corrected in time. The key is starting a long way back so you can get a feel for how the wind effects your line. I find with a long approach by the time I get to the trailer your brain is on autopilot.

on one of the fishing DVD's I saw a neat trick. They file the barb of a large hook and attach it to a big snapper sinker. Then tie a heavy mono to the bend in the hook. Hook the lip of the fish and use the snapper weight to pull him back to the bottom. Then yank the mono and you can retrieve the lead and hook. Not sure if this is proven method but they were using it in a snapper comp and this was the accepted method of compressing the swim bladder safely. Hope this helps.

Wow Ben! Brilliant catch on the Jew front. Thanks for the long response Jewgaffer. I knew is was a big compromise fishing wally Wed, Thur but options limited when didn't want me out on boat with sick kids. Totally agree fishing perimeter of marine reserve leads to good chance of hookup. Only big creatures in last 2 months caught in that spot so you can garantee I'm listening Big pike on soft plastic and huge eagle ray on fresh yakka fillet. It felt really fishy last night. Very still then wind picked up and started raining. Got the feeling the barometer was dropping so stuck around till about 2:30am. From you notes it sounds like the air pressure did in fact drop. Next time I'll have to get the boat out. Interestingly the wind seemed to be NE when it came up around 1am so hopefully will help push those currents and fish our way (as you explained happens with NE wind). funny you mention George. We had a funny chat on the wharf. I think we stayed until about 4:30am on school night. Did he tell you about the pilchards beaching themselves on the ramp? Anyway plan is to use the fathers day excuse to go out Saturday morning (early present). In the boat by 3am. sound around for Jew then head out to the bay for a spot of snapper fishing. Can you PM if you have any hot snapper tips. Would love to leave the Baker on the bottom and catch snapper instead Happy days. Thanks for all the feedback. Ben

I made it out last night and Wednesday night. Unfortunately not in the boat due to Fishing the local hacking spots landbased. Seems like the warm water didn't make it that far into the system because water temp still 16 degrees. Happy to see the return of yakka schools. Caught plenty of fresh bait for salting and freezing. There was some surface action for a short period but no luck hooking up with the surface feeders. Had Jew baits out well into the night but no touches. The water was crystal clear not sure if this had a negative impact on the Jew fishing. From this website it doesn't look like the warm water stuck around for long ;( http://www.mhl.nsw.gov.au/www/wave_temp.htmlx Keep us posted Jewgaffer, more than happy to give it another shot to test the theories.

Thats it! The boat is going out tonight. Too many fishless nights over the last few weeks. Plan is to fish the bridges in botany bay. Maybe between the Tom Ugly pair of bridges so I can fish both sides of the pylons. Bring it on. Thanks Jewgaffer!

Wow, thanks Huey and others for great responses! Lots to try there. * batteries are charging so I'll check the Evinrude manual and find that wire to check its sending signal. * good idea re compressed air down speedo tube and blocked pickup, I have a compressor! * good idea re shorting fuel gauge sender, if it needs replacing I'm calling the mechanic I agree Jewgaffer calling in the pros good idea with electrical stuff. I'm an electrical engineer, just not familar with boat mechanics, this is my first boat. Thanks again folks, you rock. I'll keep you posted. Ben

Hi John, Shame sensor polarity in reverse didn't save you fuel. I wouldn't mind coming back from every trip to find my tank full. Were the screws in your sender rusty? What should I expect under the sensor if I do manage to remove the screws? Is there the option to put new nuts or are they welded to the tank? Just not sure how hard I should attempt to remove old screws. Are they self taping screws? I don't have the option of using any power tools!!!!!!!! Kabooom Interested to hear what you found behind the sensor. Ben

Hi Folks, Spent that better part of Wednesday night installing a Lowrance HDS-5. In the process of installing the sounder cables I came to understand how all the cables are routed from front to back. Now I'm looking at doing other repairs to my boat. I've surveyed the boat and found the following issues: 1. rev gauge doesn't work 2. speedo doesn't work 3. fuel level shows 3/4 full regardless of fuel level The speedo should be pretty straight forward. I found an air hose that goes from a pickup at the back directly to the back of the gauge. When I unplug both ends its difficult to blow air down it so I'm assuming a new hose should fix it. Fuel level is a bit tricky. The fuel level sensor in the top of the inbuilt tank has rusty screws. Taking these out could lead to disaster if I break the tank. Has anyone tried to repair the fuel level sensor? And revs? Anyone know where to start? I'll be checking the Evinrude manual tonight to see if there is any reference to which cables send the rev signal. Love to hear if anyone else has tried repairing gaugues in their boat. BEn

Thanks Peter. Silly me, didn't think of checking that side of things. I remember Ross had some great blog posts. I have some reading to catch up on Ben

Sorry if the title is misleading. I don't have any snapper tactics to share but I was looking to start a thread on Snapper fishing. Its winter at the moment and thought now is a good time to bring home some snapper to feed the family. All my snapper have been Jew fishing by-catches. They usually hit the big yakka fillets I place out for Jew. Even the small snapper will take a big 5/0 hook so there are greedy fish. I find them fun to catch because they punch above their weight. If anyone has any tips on catching big Snapper in the open ocean I would be keen to hear from you.

Slow progress but still chipping away at this old punt. I ended up getting the last bit of paint taken off professionally with a soda blaster. I just got bored of stripping paint. Went to get the holes welded up but they sent me home since there was foam behind some of the holes. I've cut holes in the seats with an angle grinder and borrowed a mates gurney to blast out the foam. That mess was from a test blast I did tonight. Unfortunately the neighbours won't appreciate gurney running at night so I'll have to wait until this weekend to finish removing the foam. Then its back to the welder to patch up holes.

I took the day off work today to go in search of some fish in the hacking. Its been really slow fishing land based the last few weeks. Awoke at the ungodly hour of 3:30am. I'm more of the late night Jewfishing type so getting up so early was really difficult but kids and wanted some attention so if I was going to have any chance of a decent fish it demanded an early start. In the water by 4:30am. Launching at Yowie Bay boat ramp I started my search for fish in Gymea Bay. Nothing on the sounder so took off for South West arm. As I sped past Dark Bay opposite Yowie Bay the sounder started beeping. There were a couple of big fish sitting just over a ridge. Started zig zagging to get a better feel for the bottom profile and to try and find the big fish. Thats when I stumbled upon a massive school of bait fish. Nothing like I have ever seen before. About 4 meters deep and covering a large area approximately 10m x 20m. See attached image. Caught a few live yakka and sent them down on my king fishing gear. The bait hung around for 2 hours until the first light then they dispersed. Appeared to be some bigger fish mixed in with the bait but unfortunately no hookups. Filled the live bait tank with Yakka and Slimy. When the bait disappeared I went around to Greys Point and picked up a Bream for dinner. When the sun hit the water the bites slowed so it was home time. Back home by 9am and happy to have had 4.5 hours of fishing before most people even start their day. I have a couple of quick questions if anyone would like to entertain my curiosity. Was I wasting my time targeting king fish in the middle of a bait school on a freezing winter day? What would you do and where would you go with a tank full of live bait if you were in the hacking? Ben

They come up when the water temp drops. I once saw a massive seal at sunrise at Bronte and I actually mistook it for a fat fisherman. Couldn't work out why he was lying down on the rocks. This was from a distance but still my brain didn't expect to see a seal so it morphed into a person.

4 hours on tuesday night and came up with 1 tiny snapper. I was fishing Wally wharf but this is the quietest I have seen it since winter began. Bit scary if this is the sign of things to come. No yakka, squid, not even I tap in the jew lines. Just wanted to know if anyone fishing the hacking has found the fish have moved on. Ben

Congratulations Jewgal!!!! A agree, there is enough info on this site to put you in with the best chance of catching a Jewfish. Well done. See if you can work out what time the school swims past spot x. It will go one way as the tide rises and back again as it drops.

Went out last night with my brother in law to show him how to catch a Jew. The fish showed up at Spot X within 15 minutes of the predicted time. Caught these 2 little soapies 10 minutes apart. Couldn't let him get one without a catch and release of my own. Fresh squid strips although seemed to get some hits on salted bonito fillet. I've dropped down to 2/0 cutting point hooks to see if I can increase the strike rate. Jury still out on Octopus circle 4/0 vs Cutting Point 2/0. I'll keep you posted. That's it for another month. Probably won't target Jews again until new moon comes back in 4 weeks ;( Photos attached.

I love the hacking now. Took me a while to work out where the fish go and lots and lots of reading on this forum. Might go out for a fish tonight. Keep moving around and trying different spots until the patterns start to emerge. I'm not sure about dawn Jew fishing. Not really an option for me since the kids wake up at 6am.

They are still about in big numbers. Caught a small 40cm Jew in the hacking at my fav spot. Very slow to start, no nibbles or bait fish. Then as the storm rolled in sunday night around 2am started getting lots of taps. As the rain bucketed down bites got more regular until finally hooked up. Dropped it at the wharf. Secound hookup wasn't so lucky. Measured 40cm so threw it back in. I assume the storm got them into that feeding frenzy that jewgaffer talks about Rain was too heavy to take photos. Still waiting for that next big one. Sent from phone.

No jews on our boat, but you can't get them every night Tried both Taren Point and Tom Ugly bridges until about 2am Sunday morning. Seemed to be lots of action between 2 and 3 pylon of Tom Uglies. That's where we landed 3 decent bream on mullet gut. Unfortunately our fresh mullet and squid fillets went untouched all night. Also tried off the beach at Wanda for the high tide tonight. Just got back. Zilch except for a bite off (maybe small shark). Oh well, good to be out there doing what we love. Ben

Hi Jewgaffer, Good to hear from you again. If you had your pick of the bridges what would you pick be on an outgoing tide? I was thinking tom ugly, it just feels a bit more Jew fishy around there compared to Taren Point. Thinking of sitting in the dark and letting baits drift into the light. It would be nice to beat that 40cm bream PB as a bi catch.

Hi Raiders, I'm heading out Saturday night for a Jew session. Launching around 9pm at the Taren Point bridge. If anyone has a boat and is thinking of going out PM me or reply here. It would be good to team up and cover a few spots at the same time to increase our odds (as Jewgaffer suggested a while back). I'll check back on Saturday night before I go out. Anyone not going out feel free to suggest your best spots for a falling tide. 2:30am is the dead low tide at 0.2m Ben

Been busy at work so didn't get time to post this earlier. Made it down to Wally's Wharf on Monday night, and Audey during the day on Sunday. Its been a bit sporadic lately as you can see from the subject of this post. On Sunday I figured out a way to combine fishing and family time Setup a picnic for the kids and at Audey below the weir. Fished from midday to sunset with a couple of rods setup in holders. One beach rod for Jew and a Snapper rod for the smaller fish. There was a lot of water coming our of the weir so cast the baits into some eddies. Seemed to be lots of pickers. Around 3pm the bigger fish started showing up. Snapper rod, 1/0 hook, 8lbs braid with 12lbs fluoro leader. * 1 x 25cm tailor Beach Rod, 4/0 and 6/0 circle hook, 14lbs braid and 20lbs leader * 1 x 40cm Bream (personal best, yay!) * 1 x 60cm Salmon! - Don't know what this was doing so far upstream. (actually caught by my brother in law) All in all great day with family combined with fishing. ---- Monday night at Wally's Wharf Targeting Jew, caught a big blue swimmer. Very happy about this catch. Boy did it taste great for dinner. Reeling in the Jew bait hooked up to a 60cm flathead. Another PB. Just as I was packing up at 2:30am caught a small school Jew! Unfortunately I dropped him at the wharf because I didn't bother with the net Oh well just happy to prove these Jew can be caught between new and full moon on an upcoming tide. ---- Overall the Hacking is a bit slow with all the rain. The squid are few and far between and the yellowtail are also more tricky to catch. I'll be down at Wally's tonight trying to get some bait for a Saturday night Jew fish session in Botany Bay. Might see some of you down there. Don't worry that crab was dead Photo of my brother in law with his first salmon. Me with the Bream from Ordly.

Its funny you describe that spot Jewgaffer. That is literally 1 minute walk from my place. I go out there and fish up on the flats sometimes. It seems the big bream come up into the shallows when the tide is moving and the sand flats have over a 1' of water. I'll have to try casting some big baits into the deep hole near the boats. Do you think the luck I'm having at Wally's could be repeated here. Much closer to home. Are those tactics of squid and pilchards on the rising tide, big bait 5/0 on the falling something that works all through the hacking. What is the theory behind this? Last night at Wally was pathetic. The wind was horrible and it was one of those nights when the creepy crawly's were active. 1 squid and 1 crab. I got a throwback snapper and a couple of hits that felt like bigger snapper.

Drop in at Wally Wharf (Hacking) lots of light, cruize out 30 - 40m and drop in some big baits. Most nights I can get crab. Plus the occasional Jew and Snapper, lots of bream. However I was there last night and all was quiet. 1 Squid and 1 Blue Swimmer. No fish to be found.

If you don't feel confident just wait for a clear night near full moon. I'm not sure why this hasn't been suggested yet. Recently fished the hawkesbury on a new moon. Zero wind. The sensation of travelling over still water in the pitch black is something else. You come under the bridge and then it just goes black. If you look over the side when you are up on plane there is nothing below you. Almost feels like flying. So it does have its positives. Avoid chop and if your instincts are telling you to stop then STOP.