wazatherfisherman

Needed an Alvey for that one I reckon

On one trip to Wyangala we caught Trout, Perch, a Murray Cod and the usual carp on Powerbait- which was at least a couple of years old.

Gobies- look like blue spot sand gobies

Great post Mike!

You got off lightly Mike! Try getting a rare (these days!) $70 lure out of one- I'll say no more about it other than that!

Hi Willpethh The tubes area is often absolutely packed with LB Game fishers at this time of year, many even stay there overnight to secure a spot. Add to this there are usually heaps of corks/balloons in the water with various live baits underneath them and it doesn't provide a healthy area to throw lures around until game season is over in a few months time. Another thing to consider is the area is often off-limits due to the Navy's bombing range being in use. Currently, Mermaids Inlet on the northern side of Beecroft Peninsula is also closed due to safety concerns, which is a shame because it's larger area and usually far less fishers would have been a good alternative- especially for Bonito. The beach at Currarong is a good fishing beach, with Whiting, Bream, Dart, Tailor, Salmon etc available. We've done well there a few times when rock fishing the Peninsula wasn't possible (due to the Tubes area closed and Mermaid's dangerous from the swell) and caught good mixed bags using live beach worms, which can be caught along the beach. NOTE no worming is allowed north of the small rock platform area known as Hammerhead- check NSW Fisheries for local closures. Some big mud crabs would be active in Currarong Creek also but beware the mozzie's, they are thick and aggressive!

Happy new year everyone- let's hope it's the fishiest ever. Thanks to all the Moderating team and DECKEE for this great community Waza

Merry Christmas Dave, Moderators and all Raiders and wishing everyone a very prosperous and fishy new year Waza

Well deserved indeed. Derek is as nice a guy as you could meet, skilful angler, great tutor and eloquent writer. I am proud to say he's my friend and Raiders of all experience levels benefit from his time, knowledge, input and especially his company.

Hi Zoran sorry to hear of Maria's health issues- hope you two are out catching more of those tasty Flatties soon, Nice size one on the plastic by the way and thanks for the photo too!

Hi Justjames I wouldn't even know where to start on my favourite topic about reels, welcome to the Alvey brigade! The joy of using these reels comes from many different aspects, but my favourite thing would be fighting your fish WITHOUT using a drag system (mostly)-it's the fisher against the fish and you need to 'judge' everything 'manually'. If you have any questions about them just message me- I have loved using them for close to 50 years Waza

I worked at the reservoir when the new filtering station was being built and can attest to it being full of both fish and eels. We were on site and painting everything colour coded. As it was a revolutionary concept (the water filtering) the French company building the filtration were constantly changing the mechanics of how it all worked and we would 'paint-to-order' on site, often having to repaint fixtures several times after changes had been made. While painting pipes over the inlet flow, we had the the environmental ranger sneaking around spying on us to make sure we weren't having a fish or putting a set line in. When I questioned him about what he was doing (he wasn't in any type of uniform) he explained that several of the construction companies employees had been caught putting set lines in and as we were in an ideal spot that was pretty well hidden from the rest of the site, it was 'likely' we might do the same. After a couple of weeks the ranger became a little more friendly and asked me if I'd like to see the 'fish wheels' put in place across the inflow channel a few hundred meters away, which I was really interested to see. There were 2 large mesh wheels that sat across the concrete canal and they picked up all the fish and eels moving towards the mechanical side of the filter and dropped them into 2 giant sized plastic bins. The ranger would then go the bins every hour and collect the fish and eels to return them to the reservoir. Didn't see many fish the few times I got to look in the wheels/bins (I was foreman of painters and had to 'check' the wheel area weekly after that) but saw masses of eels and a few Trout. They did get a Trout about 12lb when they were blasting and it didn't get returned as it was near dead, so there's some good ones in there, so it'd definitely be worth fishing if they actually open it up.

There are heaps of small Black Drummer (Rock Blackfish) along with Silver Drummer, Luderick and Surgeons along the headland. It is the time of year when large Black Drummer ('Pig's' as they're known by most rock fishers) congregate to spawn along the ocean front (usually October is the best month for finding the big ones in number) and they feed aggressively during this time. The normal method of 'attack' is to grab the bait and run, when pressure is applied they often make straight for caves/crevices etc.

Ian this is brilliant info, extremely well thought out and presented in an easy to understand format. Your scientific approach makes perfect sense to me and thanks for sharing this with us all- it will undoubtedly help many in looking for likely areas to try.

Hi Mike yes silicon tubing holds them in place (just like a normal fixed float) Due to their small size and aerodynamic shape I can't see why they wouldn't be effective as a strike indicator, with the advantage of having a stem which would provide better visibility over a long distance. I've got heaps of them that I bought mistakenly thinking they were about 5 times larger than they are! Great for Garfish otherwise LOL

I've made a few dozen too Mike! One tip (a request from Derek actually) is to add a small amount of either lead wire or thin solder wire to the hook shank so the flies sink a bit quicker. After plenty of 'ordinary' attempts with different gauge lead wire, I think the finest stuff gives a better looking result. The other advantage of the lead wire is- after wrapping it around the shank you then glue it on with a tiny bit of 5 min araldite, which gives a strong point to assist with wrapping your waxed thread (which is flat) around your dub. Also worth noting- the larger sized dub packet contains dub that is much longer and I find much easier to use than the million small strands in the small packs. I've tied some on several different hook types including Daichi's, old Mustad's and reckon those Panfish hooks end up looking the best. Add some of the scent that Pete alerted us to - Dizzy scent 'green weed' type and you're good to go. I sent Derek some English 'pole floats' to try that I think would make good 'strike indicators' which would be effective on regulation mono Luderick set ups. I'll send you some next I get near a post office

Not if you own a tackle shop 🤣 In all 'seriousness', once you have your rod, reel, floats, net, keepnet, along with a few hooks, swivels, sheet lead and a few strengths of leader line, fishing for the happy little striped fish is really one of the cheapest forms of fishing we can do these days. Some days you might lose a hook or 2 and on rare occasions a float (see 'Surgeonfish', Drummer) otherwise the only thing you need to replace is your bait (which is free usually) and burley. Watching the float is 'purposeful' (many say therapeutic) and the rest of life can 'take a back seat' while on your fishy mission. You are dedicated to hunting your chosen species and about 90% of the time (in the estuaries anyway) are only going to encounter them. They give a good account of themselves battle-wise, are around in as good a number as ever, are mostly above legal size and can be relied upon to be available virtually year-round. Being very nice to eat is a bonus. Now that weed flies have become a 'thing', it adds another 'dimension' to the 'dark-art' What's not to like about Luderick fishing?

Best of luck in the championships Bob and Rosie

Mike consider yourself hooked, your lures will now gather dust and a centrepin will be on the shopping list along with floats etc, etc. Undoubtedly you will become 'secretive' about weed spots and refer to your collecting locations as 'down the river' or the ever popular 'spot X'. New words will start trickling into your fishing jargon like 'ups' and 'sleepers' and soon enough 'evil surgeons' will be a thing, before you know it you'll be 'counting' every time anything disappears from the surface. I see this as the beginning of a new phase of life that many fall victim to.... Yes also the weed dies off with too much heat, too much rain etc

Hi Ron yes it's been in the news and is on the fisheries website. Charter boats also limited to a total of 3 fish per boat per day. It is our responsibility to check on the regulations, however I get where you're coming from and am sure plenty of regular fishers wouldn't be aware of the new numbers The information is on raider in fisheries news and regulations

That is a dead-set beauty! Let us know how you rate it eating-wise. Great you targeted them and got such a good one. Hope it's the first of many

Sensational Chris! Bet you enjoy eating it! Did it 'sing' to you while in the bag? They are special and way rarer than in times past

There was a video circulating a few years ago of a fishing guide catching a few decent sized ones upstream of the bridge. He might have been land based from memory and got them on lures during the day

Like Pete says above, squirt worms and shrimps are a year round proposition and Surgeons love shrimps as well. Don't forget, the Surgeons are always happy to take any tackle 'donations' we might offer. They pose the greatest (in my opinion!) light line challenge we have here in Sydney

Yes to the 'bulldozer's' and they turn up in the lower harbour in September every year