[Buying stuff]

Problem in Australia is a lack of decent competition laws- ACCC is a toothless tiger-so we have ended up with 2 supermarkets, 4 banks, 1 tollway owner-weak protections for consumers and small biz-big guys come in and cut the market until the little guy dies. Not even Walmart in the USA has the market power that Woolies and Coles has, and its to the detriment of the hapless consumer.

[Damn round-a-bouts]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

Nowra is a real peach isn’t it? Even if they started a bypass right now, it would still take years to build, as it stands, we have to wait until “they” find a suitable alternative, then wait the years to complete it. Maybe do the straight ahead at Gerringong and finish at the Jervis Bay turnoff anyway, and just forget the old highway?

Im guessing that aint going to happen in our lifetimes!!

 

[Damn round-a-bouts]

Drove back from Merimbula on Monday , decided to take scenic route up the coast rather than the sensible way-8 1/2 hours of driving -yep Nowra is a disaster! so were about 4 other spots .

[Prospect reservoir access for fishing]

17 minutes ago, XD351 said:

Yup and that is why I mentioned the annual permit - no permit no entry , keep the fishing separate to the bikes, runners and picnickers so we don’t get blamed for their problems .To have somewhere to flick a lure literally 5min from work would be awesome , i could go after work and spend a few hours walking and casting then drive 10 min to get home - I would definitely get good value for my money even if the permit was $100 or more a year as the fuel and parking fee savings would cover it . If they let swimmers in then there would need to be a specific area set aside for them , a bit like between  the flags on the beach where you can swim but not surf or fish , kayaks and boats get the middle areas of the reservoir which is out of casting range and well away from swimmers  . A lot of rules will need to be sorted to stop any  conflict but it can be done if everyone approaches this with an open mind and a level headed approach. 

I look at the other way around-and it starts from this- we have laws for everything in this country but only the easy ones get enforced- how about we just let people do what they want, when they want-as soon as they break a real law eg stealing , assault , littering , breaking fisheries rules , they get the book thrown at them. We need to go back to taking responsibility for our own actions. Prospect should be open to the public-so should every other bit of publicaly owned land in the country unless for genuine security or environmental reasons. Look at the prolific numbers of National Parks that have no visitors, no proper land management and cost the taxpayer 10's of millions. 

[Prospect reservoir access for fishing]

Open it up-most other countries -and a few other states -have no issue with fishing in water supplies-its just the ridiculous Australian "lock it up" attitude-anyway did the survey and put as strong a pro fishing spin on it as was possible.

[Importance of local knowledge]

9 hours ago, noelm said:

No, sorry, Rays love Pike, I know it’s always better to imagine a huge Jew, but when you actually land/see these huge fish, they are always big old Rays. The fight you described is classic Ray, slow, powerful, then “beats” and some speed.

 

That should be Everything likes a live pike!!! but the fight sure sounds like a ray to me!!

[Parramatta River Herring]

never caught herring in the Parra but in the Hawkesbury ive struggled to get them in winter-in fact i dont bother chasing them between May and October, always find them easy to catch around channel markers as long as there is a fair whack of current.

[Potential lockout at Mona Vale]

21 hours ago, Fried Rice said:

Yes that last bloke absolutely hammered them. It was blissful to watch. 🤣

Yeah Justin Duggan-flyfishing guide, good bloke and very articulate when it comes to defending fishing

[Potential lockout at Mona Vale]

Write to your local STATE member and tell them your thoughts -let them know how beaches are for EVERYONE not just entitled locals. I live in the North West of Sydney and wrote to my local guy last night-as ive said all too many times the ALP has forgotten its roots and the LNP think we are the great unwashed -these wallies that sit in parliament need reminders here and there.

[So what's your favourite type of fishing...why?]

Sightfishing of any kind , trolling of any kind (i like to cover ground) which would include downrigging-not much of a C&R fisho these days much prefer to catch a feed and go home.

[Gill Net Fishing Ban.]

Yep-as ive said many times before-The Greens keep chipping away at the mainstream and wont stop-they dont care that people are out of jobs, they dont care that sustainable use of our resources is more environmentally friendly that importing stuff from China, they want power and are simply a rehash of Leninism at its finest. Our commercial fishing in general is some of the most well regulated in the world(in general) , and managemnet should be continued in that vein-but woke politics has leaked into science . Had a very interesting chat with a Qld Fisheries officer a few weeks ago -Degree qualified, passionate fisho, been in the game for 30 years, his current boss is a young Phd woke green, never fished, anti fishing, cant tell the difference between a bream and a blackfish (his words-not mine), got into fisheries to save Nemo. If we are not careful our future is very bleak.

[Here we go again]

4 hours ago, Renegade460 said:

This pops up every few years and never gets off the ground. Just a few greenies banging their chests, with no basis or merit for their desired outcome.

Unfortunately the anti fishos will never stop-which is why we have to be awake to this stuff AND get off our behinds and respond

[Here we go again]

Heads up for everyone-there is a move being pushed by Northern Beaches councils to create a "marine sanctuary" around Bongin and Mona Vale-check the Stop The Lockout faceache page and get writing everyone-as i point out to everyone-the Labor party thinks we are a pain because theyve lost the working class roots they had and would rather align with the grreens and the wealthy surfing types dont want the great unwashed fishing on their doorstep-DONT LEAVE THIS FOR SOMEONE ELSE to do.

 

[Sol lunar charts?]

waste of time-just go fishing-tides are far more important and so is light-tide changes and light changes are killing times in nature

[metal lure technique advice]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

It's common for metal lures to snag the line when using a "jerky" retrieve! Being the nerd that I am, and having the facilities to test it,  many years ago I decided to find out why/how it happens, and in reality it's really simple. The lure at speed in the water has momentum, and being metal has quite a bit, the line, being light does not, and the drag on the water stops the line almost immediately, but, the lure keeps moving forward for a jiffy (technical term) the drag on the line, on the front of the lure, drags it around backwards, the trebles almost instantly get caught on the line.....for a second you think you have a "hit" but, sadly not, just a long heavy wind in to fix it! See how simple it is? Not 100% sure my text description explains it all, but I tried.

edit......over the years I have tested, line and lure colours under water, line strength, stated V diameter, quality V cheap, line wear over cheap guides, quality guides and rollers and various knots for strength, all under quite controlled conditions..

Pretty much it Noel,

stop /start retrieves with metals are very effective but a jigging motion is only useful with assist hooks. Different metal lures have different optimum retrieval styles-if its built for speed (streamlined, no planing surfaces , no sharp curves )then just crank it---quick---!!!

[HMAS Australia site.]

I know a couple of guys who have deep dropped it-the wreck apparently has been commercially fished for a long time and has a few nets and commercial droplines badly tied up in the wreck. Its right on the edge of the shelf-I have he marks and keep on thinking about having a look over it but havent been in that direction for a while-maybe next marlin session.(or season!!)

[Interesting.]

It starts with duck hunting, ends with us being locked in a room!! Greenies simply wont stop-if all recreational outdoors people dont get together then they will chip away at one thing after another.

[Losing fish on gillies]

A few things with getting hooked up on metals;

1. keep your rod tip low to the water , when you get whacked DONT lift the rod up , keep winding until you have the full weight of the fish, use low rod angles to fight the fish especially jumpers like tailor and salmon

2. if you are using braided line have aa shock absorber built into your rigging -tie a bimini double and a decent length of mono leader

3. sharpen your hooks , also some of those cheap metals come with undersized trebles which can make a clean hookup harder to get. In my experience there is no real advantage to singles over trebles as long as they are the right size and quality-trebles get more hookups but singles stay in better once you are hooked up-personal observations from 40 odd years of metal chucking

going back to point number 1, KEEP winding dont stop and dont strike

[Coffs last week-zigging when we should of been zagging!!]

59 minutes ago, JonD said:

Fantastic trip. What depth was the cod in and do you think it went back down ok ?

Its hard to believe how good the fishing is along the coast this year, even getting macks down here in the south as well as the marlin still firing up. 

I caught the cod in about 15 m of water on a downrigged pike , i wasnt 100% happy with the release , towed him for a bit which he didnt like at all , he kicked off the gaff, floated and thrashed for a bit so we spun the boat back to try again but he'd disappeared , i think if i ever get one again i will try to deflate  , actually the fight is pretty distinctive so i will just bust it off down deep. Hopefully he was OK

[Squid jigs on a paternoster rig]

Caught plenty on paternosters even in suprisingly shallow water, i usually have one out while drifting around and flicking a jig out with another rod.I just use same old jigs i use to catch them in the normal way.

[Coffs last week-zigging when we should of been zagging!!]

7 hours ago, Jiggy said:

I know that we turn our noses up at Mac Tuna, great fighting fish and bait but eating them...🤢. But if you give them the tuna treatment (spike them, bleed them out, gill and gut then get them on ice); then fillet and discard all the blood line, what's left is not too bad on the plate. Cook them the same as you would yellowfin, or not cook, and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Cheers

Rob

Ive tried them Rob-i must admit they just taste like raw fish blood to me as do striped tuna-AND -when what you hope is a spannie or wahoo turns into a mack tuna -well---but you are right they an excellent sportsfish.

[Coffs last week-zigging when we should of been zagging!!]

3 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

There was certainly a lot of action.

That there was-it is funny how familiarity breeds a degree of contempt-as a young bloke a mack tuna was a prize-my first decent tuna was a mack tuna, we had plenty of hookups, spotted a couple of marlin freeswimming , got smashed up a few times , swore a lot at the fish we lost, fished really hard and had a thoroughly enjoyable time away. Found a few new (to me anyway) mackeral spots and bait grounds-if you aint learning you aint living!! The coast between Urunga and Wooli just keeps sucking me back-its a great area.

[Coffs last week-zigging when we should of been zagging!!]

Just got back from a bit of  frustrating but none the less very enjoyable week in Coffs. There was reasonable numbers of macks around of both the spotted and spanish kind but we found all sorts of interesting ways to lose them , bustoffs, biteoffs , crossovers,sharks , missed gaff shots. We spent one day looking for wahoo which had been around in good numbers the week before but spent the day hooking tuna after tuna-mainly mack tuna of course but did get one small yellowfin of about 7-8 kgs. Live bait were very hard to get but i did get a lot of pike which proved to be the bait the mackies wanted and this guy-50kgs plus of black cod (protected species so released of course).To put it mildly it was like hooking a freight train -not something im sure i want to repeat in a hurry!!.

The sharks were a real issue this trip- we hooked a couple on livies as well as the ones that were eating our macks. In terms of fish for the freezer it was a lean trip, in terms of action with everything else it was great fun. Booked again for next year already.

[Lowrance HDS Live feedback]

Yep i run a 9 and a 7 out of my 5.4 m centre console-two trannies the side scan and a through hull set up on medium chirp-no issues works well under conditions from shallow to the shelf.

[Upcoming Election in NSW]

10 hours ago, big Neil said:

Don't be disillusioned PaddyT. We still live in the best country in the world and have amazing fishing opportunities on our collective doorsteps. Life offers no guarantee other than taxes and death, everything else is subject to change. Smell the roses before they get sprayed with Roundup.

If nothing else, your article has brought a sense of awareness to the forum members, to be aware of the trickery and skullduggery which lives under the umbrella called POLITICS.

This post is a profound observation of the human condition we call class distinction, these days. It has and always will exist.

bn

Hi Neil-not dissillusioned at all just brutally realistic these days. I explained my point of view to a few friends as this-I am a single issue voter-i vote for freedom-if my actions do not hurt someone else then i should essentially be free to carry on as i see fit. There are large numbers of busy bodies these days who see my chosen recreational activities (hunting and fishing) as things that need to be stamped out-not because i have any adverse effect on their lives or any one elses for that matter, i have no adverse impact on the environment (other that being a human being-dont get me started on that). So essentially other than some sensible scientific regulation (even this has been hijacked by ideology)  I should be left the heck alone-and so should everyone else.