MJGough

Yeah it's a stinky pike, hopefully the smell attracts a real fish when I use it for bait. Thanks mate, can't win them all hey. This fish has too many names! I considered it but I haven' heard many good things about the eating. I'll try anything and eat anything if I'm hungry enough (Like the time I had to eat a monkey to get by) but I didn't think the effort was worth the reward here.

Thanks Mike, it is ugly isn't it! It is a waterproof phone which I now have learned isn't waterproof in Salt water, who would have guessed... You've had some bad luck too, It never seems to stop does it haha. It fought back alight, I think it was a little upset with us.

Thanks mattfinn, It's in the rice now, been there a few hours. Shame about your sunnies, I guess sometimes we use up all our good luck on the fish and keep the bad luck for our stuff. The kids are mad for it, the pinky was a 'monster' that got them wound up, they weren't happy with my 'dangerous attack fish' that snapped at my young fella haha. Cheers jenno, he already spent all his Christmas money unfortunately, I'm on my own now. Yeah, it is also called a Pike, and a bunch of other names.

This report details me catching what has become the most expensive fish I have caught to date, the one I wish got away. Took the kids out for a quick Christmas eve fish to Woy Woy Road and Rail bridge, had a little success there with a few tiny Bream and heaps of bites for the kids. My young fella got a nice little pinky too. It got pretty crowded with about a dozen other people turning up a bit later in the arvo so we headed over to Fisherman's Wharf to have a few quick attempts at catching something decent before we headed home. I didn't expect much action so I thought I would try out one of my new Zman plastics on the new spin rod I am trying to get the hang of using. At least it would be fun to catch something small on the light gear. First cast I threw a line out along the rocks and started retrieving it and got a huge hit, and it started running. I was trying to imagine what it was while started trying to slow it down, it was fighting hard and jumped a few feet clear of the water 3 or 4 times on the way in, but I still couldn't work out what it was. After a few minutes I got it up to the wharf and grabbed it with the landing net and pulled I up. I wasn't sure what it was but it had a gob full of sharp teeth and didn't look very happy, it was snapping at me as I tried to grab it out of the net. This thing was trying it hardest to get some payback for me jamming a hook though its lip so I quickly grabbed it, pulled what was left of my now shredded plastic out of it's mouth and threw it into the esky, it made sure to cut my line before I could get it clear though. After getting it in the esky with some nice sea water, I realised it might be a decent sized Barracuda, which I never would have guessed would be caught where it was.I called the old man to tell him about it. While I was having a chat to him and describing the fish I grabbed it out to have a closer look, SLAP, it whips it's tail at me flat out, hits my phone out of my hand, and sends it flying a metre or so straight into the esky. The phone sinks, I rush to grab it, but throw the Cuda in first because it's trying to bite me, IDIOT. Now my phone is underwater, under a barracuda, that doesn't like me at all. This had to be the most ill tempered fish I have ever come across. I managed to grab it and get get my phone out, which promptly died and now refuses to start again. Guess smart pones don't like salt water much. I came home pretty unhappy, I'm down a few dollars on my plastic and $800 on a phone, BUT I'm up about $6 worth of bait in the form of a smart ass Barracuda that is now waiting in my freezer until I hit the reef on the boat again. The kids and my Mrs think it is the funniest thing that has ever happened and won't stop laughing at me, it isn't helping. Sometimes maybe it' better if a fish gets away.... Here's some Photo's not a bad sized Striped Barracuda, just over 51cm, especially for where I caught it. I will submit this for my December COTM for the story more than the fish, and to try and recoup some losses from today in the form of free gear Anyway, though this was a funny little story, you would have loved to have seen it in person, I'm sure it was funnier than my recounted tale. Have a good Christmas guys, good fishing!

Any chance it is a falcon? Not trying to make a ford joke, it is common for BA Falcons to throw CEL's from either the O2 sensor or the Catalytic converter. Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

Welcome thirdtimelucky, I'm new here myself, this place is great so far. Plenty of good fishing around Sydney, good luck

Thanks harold, I have never seen one this small either, they usually seem to avoid hooks until they grow up a bit. Hope I haven't scared him of taking bait for life, he'll be a nice fish to catch one day.

Cheers Weist, it's great isn't it.

Thanks Mattfinn I don't mind of they get into it, I'm only 28 myself and I know it wasn't long ago I was spending my time and money on far worse things. The time spent fishing with them is just fantastic, even if it does end up biting me in the ass financially haha.

Thanks Scratchie, only been here a few hours and seen some good stuff, the best of it being the comraderie here.

Rough go mate, sorry to hear, glad you are ok and on the mend, you can replace a tinny bot not your spine. Hope they get what's coming to them, glad it is just a hit and run and not a manslaughter.

Cheers guys, it's great to be back in to it. Beats sitting in front of the TV all day twiddling your thumbs thats for sure. I get excited every morning the weather is nice. It sure has been fruitful so far, thanks for the well wishes, no doubt i'll let you all know if I catch something awesome!

Hello guys and girls. After a long hiatus from fishing (about 3 years since my last proper fishing trip), I have decided to get back in to the sport. It has always been something I have loved, and now I am in a position to be able to do a lot more of it with the spare time I have. I bought a bunch of new gear to throw around, my dad got a shiny new boat, and we are both hooked again and loving it. I have even got my 6 year old boy crazy for it which is awesome, I remember how much I loved throwing a line in with my dad growing up. My first trip out was on the boat in the Hawkesbury on the 5th DEC, although we couldn't go outside proper due to a very sea sick passenger on the boat .We made the most of what we could do. We were on Prawns and pilchards mostly, and had a few throws with the soft plastics with no luck for me as usual. We took a few bigger estuary rods and only 2 boat rods with some bigger gear and tried our luck. After about an hour I dropped a chunk of pilchard down with a nice bit of weight on it on the light gear, and jagged a lovely Flatty, my 'welcome back' fish. He had a decent bit of fight in him but eventually ended up in the boat, then ended up back at my place on the dinner table, I promised the kids I would catch something we could eat. Didn't get a weight but it was bang on 60cm which is a PB for me and I was stoked to get him pretty early into my first trip. Between the three of us we ended up getting another 4 Flatty, 2 bream, 1 Tailor, the words ugliest catfish, and a little ray. Most caught down around the rail bridge, they all went back without and dramas. Overall it was a good day out, great weather and a few nice fish, the Flatty made an awesome feed, nothing like the feeling of eating and enjoying a nice catch Next trip was on the 7th, I took the kids down to Woy Woy to have a throw a fishermans wharf, I pulled in a tiny little baby snapper and my girl got a nice little bream on her new tackleratz ugly stik rod and got a chance to use her new net. Obviously these little guys went back, nothing impressive this trip but it was a good bit of fun. Went out again close to midnight on the 8th under the Woy Woy bridge, hoping to catch a Jewie or a nice big Flatty, had no luck on plastics, I never do, but managed to grab a nice Flatty and a few nice Bream on squid. Bought the Flatty and two big Bream home. The Flatty was 48cm The Bream were 26 and 28cm Caught a few other bream, just on and just undersize, they all went back, no need to be greedy, I already had plenty for a nice bbq lunch the next day. Lastly I went out yesterday afternoon, down off a wharf in Gosford, took the young fella after he knocked off school with his new 6ft rod hoping he could christen it his first time out. It is rigged up with nice light gear and he managed to bait his own hook, drop his line off the wharf, and within a minute ha had jagged something. I wish catching little fish was still this great for me, he had a solid fight with it for a few minutes and finally managed to drag it in, he couldn't believe how HUGE his 21cm whiting was. There is nothing better than seeing him get that wound up after catching his own fish, it was awesome. And for me it was bitter sweet, the big man upstairs must have heard me praying for Jewies and decided to graciously provide me with one, only problem was that I forgot to specify I wanted a BIG one, not a tiny baby Black Jewfish. When it hit, it hit HARD, there was a huge thump and it ran out a decent bit of line, it put up a great fight on the way in and the whole time I thought I had something pretty decent. Not a big one,but a really beautiful fish. I haven't got a big Jewie before, but now I can't wait to fight a big one after seeing how the babies go! All in all it has been a great return to the hobby for me,haven't come up dry on a trip yet, and seeing my kids get stuck in has been awesome. Looking forward to Santa bringing me some more gear, and spending some time out in the boat chasing some big guys over the break. Happy fishing guys. MJ.

Hello fellow fishos. Just joined up and thought it might be nice to introduce myself. My name is Mitch, I have just moved back home to the central coast after 7 years with the Army up in Townsville. I left a little worse for wear and am now semi retired for a little while, and needed something to keep me out and about and busy, and most importantly, keep me sane. I used to fish religiously with mates when I was younger and spent every holiday away fishing with my old man, but life got in the way and the fishing dropped off. Fast forward to now and I'm going mad for it again, got myself a tonne of gear and my old man got a nice new boat, and I have been spending most of my time the last few weeks soaking baits around Brisbane Waters and the Hawksbury. I have got my 6 year old boy hooked as well and theres nothing better than seeing the look on his face when he gets himself a nice fish. Hoping to pick up some hot tips and good info from the crowd here to help me land some good catches, and one day look forward to helping others new to the hobby. Anyway, that's that, see you guys on the water, tight lines to you all! MJ