PaddyT

Read your other report-you need to be on the rocks a lot earlier, a good hour before sun up is when the tailor will be on the chew, the bite is usually finished before sun up.

Yeah Ok, definetly need the braked trailer, still reckon you will get a few hundred for yours- someone with a private boat ramp , or doesnt care about rego will take it. Good luck , $4K for an al trailer sounds pretty good to be truthful, not sure you could get a Dunbier gal trailer for that.

How bigs your boat Geoff?

There is definetely a fridge on the bottom there, it comes up pretty nicely on my side scan but its not necessarily where the bait holds- using your sounder in this area is key, you can anchor up or tie off and berley but its much faster to fill the tank by chasing the schools .

Alvey will do both, live bait and spinning with gars which is a very effective method

Theres your answer- put it on fleabay for $500 and buy another for $700- do the same in 2 years ! Seriously though second hand trailers go very quickly even if they are lemons - quite a few years ago I had a rusted through , bearings gone heap of junk-i sold it for $450 without hiding a single problem to a bloke who lived 300 M from Parsley Bay ramp at Brooklyn, i brought a demo model used by the dealer for $975- swapped out for a near new trailer for $525- so it can be done- however even though yours is rusted badly - if the bearings etc are Ok and you are only driving a couple of K's to the ramp- wait until it dies, at worst keep a couple of bits of 4X2 in the car if you need to bodgie it up to get home and then get a newie.

squid, run your sounder over the area and if you mark bait then I guess , yes they are there! I generally get my bait at the arti in winter but it can be a slog.

PS tends to be dead at this time of the year- I do best there in Spring/Summer

Yep its a good bait ground- but its the whole bay between the 4 knot zone sign on the western shore and the southern edge of Chinamens Beach- use your sounder and find the bait schools and bomb them. The schools can be anywhere but i tend to do best in 50-60 ft of water rather than the shallower bits

Geoff, how far do you have to trail your boat normally? if you are simply running down to the local ramp and back dont spend the money- just get it patched up- if on the other hand you are planning on doing lots of miles then yeah go new and go for name brand or a custom job, other thing is that second hand trailers sell quickly (to guys who have short drives to the ramp)

Cowan is pretty ordinary for crabs- not enough current, traps are legal there but witches hats are not. Correct for Brisbane Waters- no traps or nets

light spin stick , they aint exactly the hardest fighters , wriggling wet sock sums it up. The main thing is have a really sharp hook

For that budget an Alvey 650 and a 2nd hand surf rod , load it up with 40lb mono and chuck out a live squid under a bobby cork

Used to fish for blackies in Narrabeen Lake when i was a teenager a lot, there used to be a picket line of "old blokes" there all winter who used to fish with string weed exclusively and tended to be very secretive about where to get it, what we discovered was that if we rocked up with a bucket of cabbage weed and berleyed hard we could get the blackies to switch to cabbage - this of course made us fairly unpopular with the fishos with string weed- berley is very effective on blackies.

No problem with spearing Jon at all, but i got no problem with someone taking a groper for a feed either- they were absolutly hammered back in the 60's and 70's and actually had a no take policy for about 10 years and made a huge comeback- hardly anyone fishes for them these days anyway- not trendy enough methinks! Very interesting article this month in Fishing World about snapper- some of the historical stuff is mind boggling when you read what was taken back in the early 20th century using very unsophisticated boats and gear! we have lost a lot thats for sure

I hear you Jon, the desire to kill is still there for a lot of folk but most of the guys I fish with are of a similar view as myself- kill what you personally need and then go do something else. I very rarely "kill something for the neighbours" or anyone else for that matter. The bluefin run seems to bring out the worst in a few folks just as some spearfishers seem to take too much. Spearfishing is a pretty minor activity so I would guess that its overall impact is not massive on fish such as kings/pelagics etc- the impact on non migratory species can be devestating which is why spearing for groper is banned. Slot limits for lots of species would be a good idea but the powers that be would rather manage by bringing in lock out zones (which as anyone who knows me would testify I find appaling)

Wait until October, but basically this- look for anywhere with a bit of tidal flow- blue swimmers sand/ribbon weed areas, muddies- mangroves, drains and mud

I will ask an even more basic question- what are you fishing for?

Yep we all suffered from blood lust in the past , but most fishers seem to have learnt from that and we really should be focused on making our friends, aquaintances and the pollies realise that we are responsible custodians of our recreation. Kingfish and salmon have made a massive comeback, certain areas have made a massive comeback since the reduction of commercial effort and better pollution controls. Tailor can come back, they should be a rec only species- a path that the DPI wont look at for fear of setting a precident. They are pretty average eating and very average if not super fresh-bag limit of 5 is more than enough i reckon.

They certainly do migrate north but not all the fish go, summer in the Sydney areas is dominated by choppers, bigger fish in Autumn and then its a lottery in winter, some of the stay behind fish can be a really good size- like Waz said there are some good ones in Cowan creek in winter, then again the biggest tailor i ever caught was a 4 kg model at Christmas spinning for bonnies at Avoca (I was about 15 years old and still havent beaten that one)- like Waz said a lot used to get killed in the pre bag limit days- certainly can remember plenty of 100 plus days myself, i dont think numbers are anything like they used to be and once salmon stopped getting hammered by the pros when the cannery closed in Eden and the kings made a come back I get the feeling these two species have pushed the tailor out of there slot in the ecosystem- 25 years ago i caught a lot more tailor than now, salmon were pretty rare around Sydney (if you read some old time books and magazines the northern end of their habitat was considered to be Newcastle) and kings had been hammered very badly by the pros and the floating traps they used. These days i drive away from the salmon (most days) and if i catch two undersize kings in a row i change spots so i dont waste my livies. Tailor are a great fish once they get up around the 1.5-2kg mark and its a shame (mine included for killing so many of them in years past) they arent a bit thicker on the ground.

Shimano service and spare parts are more than reasonable-which is why i rarely if ever service my own gear (and why i dont buy Diawa reels- rods are a different story) beyond cleaning, oiling and occasionaly greasing- got 15 year old Stradics in very good working order -and very heavily used, dont muck around with it.

Thanks for that Jon- had a look on Rip!@#$%^ and there is a big pool of slack tide around 36 16 15031 running from 1000 to 2500M in depth.

The Seaway can fish pretty well at this time of the year for tailor/trevally on lures- pick a rising tide early in the morning , 40 gm raiders work well. School hours might be the issue, but top of the tide can still fire. Used to live up there and did reasonably well on the rockwall

Gees Jon- someone will call the fun police if they see that- no jackets- how irresponsible !!

Ill say it again - this isnt about safety- once you are in the water in rough conditions a jacket is not going to save you- the safest thing to do is NOT FALL IN-I will take anyones money at 100-1 that rockfishing deaths will not decline under this rule. I keep a fairly close eye on this area and guess what most deaths occur on days when no one in their right mind should of been anywhere near the rocks. If you are not experienced enough to make the judgement call on what are safe conditions and what are not, then dont go rockfishing. Life is not without risk- but rockfishing is safe if carried out in a responsible way- the government doesnt need to be continuously telling everyone what to do- even this morning Royal Lifesaving were on the radio talking about the high level of drownings in rivers - 50-60 per annum and 70% of them are p@#$%d or on drugs- how about the do gooders concentrate on some real problems , not one with vested interests-like inventing reasons to stop an activity that gives a big part of the population a great deal of joy.