wazatherfisherman

Sorry for photo one above, it's too blurry- take another one shortly. The gold hooks blend in nicely but aren't easy to find these days- they are Hayabusa brand and in the photo above are used in top right and bottom right. More chippy stuff later...

OK after much mucking around here's the first productions- First picture is of crinkled and chunky in golden and 'batter' colours, followed by 'tempura' and dark skins, followed by several rigging options including internal framed, frame-less and jointed- no jig head required, simply a hook😂 stay tuned for more chippy action shortly once the Bream Batterer's get a test run. No all yellow yet as I am waiting for the colour additive to be delivered- all lures poured using variations of gold colour

Hi Mike yes! Mould number two refused to go off, so I ordered more silicone which according to tracking (Fastaway couriers) should arrive tomorrow. I have poured about 30 chips out of my two cavity mould (mould one) and have been mucking around with them tonight, with different configurations, including internal wire forms and a couple of different ideas. Should be able to put a picture or two up tomorrow as I've made quite a few versions so far including 'batter' colour and golden, chunky and crinkled, plus a couple of surprises🤣

Hi Neil stay safe mate more wet predicted for the weekend worse luck

Hi dotB looking at the recreational fishing guide's map suggests it's OK to dig worms, however it's probably worth calling both the DPI and also the local council as there are also 'defacing the foreshores' laws to consider. Long before collection was banned from Sydney Harbour, Drummoyne council area had banned collection due to defacing the foreshore

Just an update on what's going on for anyone following this- I've made 2 different moulds out of silicone, however after 24 hrs the first one has finally decided to 'set' (usually takes about 2hrs from pouring to ready for use) but the second and larger 'industrial size' still hasn't set properly- hopefully it will be ready by tomorrow. I can only guess that either the base product or catalyst (blue) have gone off slightly, therefore taking way too long to set. On the bright side, when making mould number two I did use way more catalyst to try and speed the process up, so am reasonably confident the moulds will be ready before the weekend is over. No use pouring any plastic until they are both ready as the first mould will only make about 4 chips, the second however should produce about 12 each time. Hopefully the soft plastic is still ok as I haven't done any pours for over two years and have about 10 litres of it still, which can make 100's of lures/chips. I had no idea that the silicone could go 'off' either, however it is setting albeit slowly. Will update when ready to go

Good bag of fish again! Those Pike are great bait for Kings and Mulloway but are difficult to keep alive on the hook

This is my thinking also Noel and am only making 'chips' although a few will be 'crinkle cut' edged. Fries would be hard to make sturdy enough, heavy enough for un-weighted casting and difficult to hide a hook in- which I reckon would be important

Would you believe I didn't have any frozen chips so I had to make some out of cardboard and immersed them in silicone- hopefully will be able to pour some today. Bream beware!

Hi Neil! Thank Derek, he's the mastermind of the chip concept! Moulds are still not set or I'd pour some tonight as I found my colour pigment and should have some done in about 24hrs, just have to muck around making colours chip compatible as I only have light gold left of the yellows- shouldn't be too hard

Just to add to Pete's story- there was a state estuary comp won by teams fishing this exact spot and using the sticky stuff for bait. Can't remember the year, somewhere around 1977-8

Am making a mould as I write this! Just need to find my yellow pigment paint and they'll be in production as I have everything else organised. The research and development division (Derek and I) have worked tirelessly on this project, we figure that the gulls won't be that much of a problem as long as the lures get about a foot under water fairly quickly.

The image of a stack of those expensive looking flat decked boats with 'uniformed' fisho's casting chip lures using $1,000 outfits at the back of fish shops and talking their 'serious' talk just won't get out of my head now! Would surely be a world first and maybe start a totally new comp series- something like "Chip'n Bream Pro series" maybe Doyles could sponsor it?

Remind everyone of the Horlicks factory and the glutinous gel Pete!

Mine will be soft plastic with a single extra small treble. Save queuing up buying, already cold and won't change consistency in the water. For those days when nothing else works😉

Already working on this- main concern is the gulls taking them (being their natural food). Flutter action? Fast sink/slow sink? French fry, chunky cut, greasy version? Maybe wedge-like for the more upmarket areas? Scents would have to be tomato sauce, vinegar or extra salty. Maybe Himalayan pink salt for the upmarket version? Can't see why they wouldn't be 'legal' for comps, after all it's simply 'matching the hatch'- got to be worth a fry. Feel free to chip in with more ideas

Good on you for helping educate others as to the many dangers of fishing the rocks- so many folk just don't have a clue what to do, not from stupidity, rather from inexperience. Where else do you learn? If not for fishers such as yourself, the tragic rate of rock fishing incidents will continue to increase. Great work Rock&Beach

Great fish Larkin and top bag! - even the 'Dragon Snapper' was big! Enjoy eating it now- well done

Hi Larkin, you wouldn't believe it, he went out alone during the same houseboat trip the very next year, quietly getting into the little boat without saying a word until he'd moved a few yards from the houseboat. He stayed close though and when the fog started to descend, came back.

Looks like a great time! Awesome photo's

Great fish Jamo!

Hi Rebel well done catching 6 Reds off the rocks! Between Liverpool St and Lyons St gives you the best view of the old spot- at least the main ledges. Watsons Bay pub a good choice during the week!- Too crowded on weekends. I scored some free Marlin chunks from the game fishers tied up to the wharf one day- they were calling out to everybody there to come and get some as they had 3 Marlin they'd weighed. First time I ever ate Marlin. That wharf could tell some stories, not a bad spot to fish either

Hi Neil good to see you've christened the new rod!

Pretty sure they put them in the 'lake' as part of the Waratah Festival and they put them in Manly dam also. This was long before they were identified as such a pest

The ones we used to catch in Lake Northam we didn't see- even though it was only about 2ft deep along the edge where we fished for them- maybe even shallower. They were in the weed and we looked for a tiny clear spot to drop our handline's in, with the Carp coming out of the weed, grabbing the bait and we'd basically lift them straight out and into the bucket of water. Used to get 2c each for them after lugging them to the pet shop in Glebe point Rd. I think it was in 1968 or 69