PaddyT

What do you mean by tied to your boat?

Above the impoundment means upstream of the dam wall- which in Warragamba's case is a no go zone anyway. The Warragamba river is holding a few trout at the moment. If you are camping at Bents Basin you might be lucky but if you have a look at accessing the Warragamba next to Nortons Basin that stretch would be a better bet for a trout. If you want to keep it simple its closed season for bass/Ep's in rivers, streams and estuaries at the moment. Plus the migration back up into the fresh hasnt really started yet and the water is too cold for the bass to get fired up much. Take a drive up to Lake Lyell and go trout fishing instead if you want a feed.

Mate youve got it round the wrong way- Bass and Estuary Perch are a prohibited catch from midnight May31st to Midnight Aug 31st. Catch and release only in that period of time

Putting on my very old hat as an adhesives Chemist- as far as I can remember there is no quick and dirty test to tell the difference, Once the resin is bound into matting and pigments etc are added this would only make the test more difficult without using a FTIR or the like . I would observe that you shouldnt have too many problems using epoxy to bind to cured polyester but not the other way around. Check with the resin manufacturer before proceeding- i havent worked in adhesives in over 15 years so am a bit rusty

Please DO NOT USE these as bait- they are imported from overseas and are one of the reasons why the whitespot outbreak occured in Qld. This could drastically affect crustaceans in NSW as well if introduced

decent stripe there- they go as hard as any of the tunas- bring back the days when August /Sept meant schools as far as the eye could see around Broken Bay and the Central coast

Good stuff Jon- congrats to your girls

You can buy a lot of sand anchors and reef picks for the price of a SARCA

just go straight to the BOM website- all those apps are simply using derivative information supplied to them by either the BOM or worse from NOAA (US Govt ). Apps are a guide at best and often wrong. Fish Ranger is at least using BOM info and claims to be more accurate than the BOM Meteye but if you are fishing offshore learn how to read a synoptic chart and read up on some info on the general weather patterns of the east coast of Australia.

Both of those reels are light tackle reels made to a budget, the bail rollers will not spin if you lock the drag up and put heavy strain on them, they will spin if used with light/moderate drag and are properly maintained

If 95% of your usage is going to be fishing using active styles of fishing such as soft plastics/jigging etc then get an open boat. I have seen too many guys buy boats with seats,biminis,cuddies toilets etc (especially when the wife wants them). The wife only ends up coming out once every 2 years anyway and all that stuff just gets in the way. If you are fishing in the harbour most of the time spray will be minimal and safety will mainly be related to crossing ferry wakes/big boat avoidance etc. For your budget 2nd hand will be the way to go- buy a decent set of wet weather gear (bib and brace and proper jacket ) and you are right to go. If 95 % of your use is going to be cruising around with your wife/family then rethink the priorities.

I use straight mono for snapper -pea size ball sinker to a 6/0- no leader or swivels 20lb mono straight through

As i said i only bother with the Fg for heavy tackle , I dont see any advantages for light tackle except with a rod with very small guides- the reverse albright is faster and easier to tie and just as strong But in answer to your question I use the rizzuto on biminis and Fg's as a finish

Yep and when a mako grabs the berley bag and gives a little shake it will look like the Bondi Murk!!!

Big PVC tube and rods stuck into pool noodles- and then insurance and then hope that you dont get a really slack baggage handler

Its all good until a mako turns up

Why not an overhead?

Whats your reel budget?

Check your settings with a set of scales , you will be very suprised (check them through the rod with a fighting bend in the rod). at the results

ive got the Territory Pro in a CC setup- ask any questions you want

Ok- D series baitrunners are light tackle reels not designed for locking up drags- having said that if you manage to melt the drag catching the average bonito/rat king/school jew that you are likely to catch of the shore in the harbour then congrats. i havent melted a drag on a reel EVER in 35 plus years of catching big, fast fish. Had plenty of reels with crook drags that faded when they heat up or got wet but 95% OF modern reels simply dont have that problem.Any issues that i am aware of from the D series were from guys fishing totally innappropriate line and drag settings on those reels (65Lb braid for example). Dont be fooled by the idea of "drag power"- most guys i know cant pull 6 kg of drag for more than 10 minutes without a harness (including a mate of mine who is an ex NRL player)- all that you are going to achieve by locking your drag when fishing the stones is breaking gear, putting yourself in a dangerous position and possibly getting hurt. Learn how to play a fish, get a set of scales and set 5kgs of drag on a reel and see how damn hard it is to pull.

Your a young fella with limited funds im guessing- its not hard to bind on a new guide- lots of Youtube videos out there- and you will save a heap

well done, was up their a couple of weeks ago and saw plenty of rainbows their and up at Thommos but only managed one. they were in the shallows exhibiting spawning behaviour. Eventually managed to aggravate one into eating a soft plastic , dams are nice and full at the moment

Will be my last comment on that Anthony-dont want to stir the pot- but whilst im sure that ETECs are good engines- leaving your gearcase oil in for 300hrs doesnt make sense to me- nor your impeller- especially if it has intermittant use- engines might have come ahead in leaps and bounds but i dont see many changes in oils /plastics/rubbers etc- no way in the world would i trust my life offshore to an engine that was last serviced 299 hours ago