PaddyT

Compared to the thousands of tonnes caught for CATFOOD!I would maintain that what we catch and use is miniscule compared to a whole lot of other problems!

use Mustad 7766 pattern hooks - also know as Tarpon hooks- normal gang hooks are too soft and they are offset so your bait will spin. The GT Icecreams I used the 90gm models , occasionally the 120's I would usually cast them and then hold the rod tip up high and get the lure skipping at a slow medium pace- white is fine

Caught heaps over the years- my main "home" ledge was on the Nthn beaches and was very tough to land a king bigger than 5 kg but that was back in the day of spinning with 20lb mono. Best lures i found were big white metals usually Raiders, poppers, GT Ice Creams (Richter stick baits) BUT best option is spinning with garfish, outfishes lures in general (except maybe the GT Icecream) by about 5:1- got to be seagar though- the ones with the red tips on their beaks

Yeah- knew that but that's the problem with the whole "Rockfishing Safety" BS being foisted on us by the SLSA and certain local councils and MPA's (like the Bodaree National Park). People think that rockfisho's are dying like flies- at the end of the day life is not without risks and neither is rockfishing , but in general it is no more dangerous than a whole bunch of other activities. As i keep harping on-the safety aspect is being used as a precurser to a whole bunch of lockouts- just watch! And I can tell you I am really against lockouts- as a generallly offshore fisho these days- I still dont want to see ANY fisho locked out - even if it doesnt effect me personally

Actually you are wrong- 46 people drowned while boating last financial year

When we teach water safety we teach the priority list; 1. Supervision-kids need to be supervised- nearly all childhood drownings are due to lack of it 2. Barrier to entry-pool fences , close the bathroom door when running the bath etc 3. Learn to swim- PROPERLY- the ability to do the 10 M splash and dash in the backyard pool is NOT SWIMMING- if you cant swim 100M without stopping in a council pool how the hell are you going to survive in a high energy environment like the surf or near the ocean rocks? 4.Resus-last resort, most drownings dont get resus in time or need defib which is simply not available in 99% of circumstances- for every death of a child you hear about there are another 5-10 with brain damage to a varying degree- which is more tragic? What does this have to do with rockfishing-lots- 80% of all drownings are males (every year, across all age groups , in all locations!) , 100% of rockfishing drownings are males (the odd female drowns whilst in the company of a male)- so males take more risks, they dont heed the weather , they dont know the terrain. Also all too many males dont think about what they would do IF they went in . Chances are if you are knocked in by a swell you are going to be hurt , possibly unconcious , possibly already dead. If you slip in you might be OK but why did you slip in the first place? A lot of spots are dangerous by their nature -The MUrk- no escape route, Yellow Rock- no escape route, Avoca- slippery and deceptive in a North Easterly sea, other spots depend on the tide- Terrigal Skillion- tricky in a rising tide but pretty safe- less popular than Avoca because it looks more dangerous. Lots of people dont understand their spot and stand in exactly the wrong place. Life jackets are the last resort-like resus they shouldnt need to be used - the simple fact is that nearly all the rockfishing deaths are on days of big swell and involve inexperienced folk who dont understand the high energy Australian coastline. The danger is that when deaths dont decline SLSA and various other government bodies will simply push for lockouts to happen. The fishing press themselves dont help when they use headlines like"Most Dangerous Sport in Australia"- just as many people die snorkelling and just as many die SCUBA diving but we let ourselves get smashed in the press. I rarely rockfish these days but will happily go solo- I dont beleive in fairies in the garden and I dont belive in "freak waves"- every wave can be explained by physics and the weather.

I am going to put my cynical hat on and my experience in water safety (i have run a swim school for 14 years)right out there. This is a ploy by the anti fishing brigade to ban fishing from more spots- heres what will happen.>>>>> Currently about 10 people drown a year in ALL of Australia while rockfishing (dont believe me? I have the drowning stats in my office for the last 7 years- they are available on line on the Royal Life Saving website). About 10 people will continue to drown rockfishing every year- because life jackets still wont save the twits who go out in a 3 M swell and instead of drowning they will simply get bashed to death on the rocks (but the coroner will still say they drowned). SO - authorities will simply shut a whole bunch of spots down - to save rockfishos from themselves and voila a new No Fishing Zone will be created! What the authorities dont tell you is that 50 plus people die at surf beaches every year! The Surf Lifesaving (SLSA) is very anti rec fishing and they are driving this. Royal Lifesaving who look at ALL drownings - not just the ones in the surf zone DONT LIST ROCKFISHING in their top 5 areas of concern. Rant over- resume normal discussion!

Why take the risk?just had a look on the BCF Catalogue and you can kit yourself up as follows; $99 for 4XPFD100's (old style) $289 for non GPS EPIRB, $350 for GPS $109 for a flare pack $20 for airhorn (which you should have anyway) $40 for extinguisher $12 for a compass(non marine type) $12 for a vsheet plus a bucket and an oar which I assume you have Its not much for safety

Its a personal thing- there is nothing wrong with taking a feed, or taking a few to freeze. I personally hate waste- BUT was certainly guilty of a few killing frenzies when I was much younger. With bigger fish like marlin I certainly aim to release everyone that I catch- but I do also accept that sooner or later one will die during a fight- and will therefore be food for a lot of people . I think also saying "I only catch and release" is a bit unrealistic for that reason - at some stage a fish that you release will actualy die - fishing is a "blood" sport and to deny that is not reasonable. There is no need to be ashamed of knocking a few fish on the head- BUT again its a personal thing.

Rapala CD9 in QANTAS colours

Idle speed is the way to go- to keep your yakkas down just loop a rubber band around the reel handle so the line stays flat to the water

Will be busy for sure, usually there are a few schools of pelagics roaming back and forth between Mackeral and the other side early in the morning , around Longnose and Careel there are often schools busting up-Early morning is the go before the crowds get on the water, Plenty of squid around Barranjoey too.

Quiet out wide , one blue hooked and 1 stripe seen as far as I am aware , kings are in close-not at the Peak

Gordo next time you feel like throwing a pigfish back let me know and ill take it off your hands!!! One of the only fish i like to eat cooked whole

was out on a charter yesterday who runs twin Suzuki 90's that are 10 years old and have 8000 plus hours on them and get very basic to virtually zero mainatainenece- I doubt you will have too many probs with any Jap motor

Just got one on the weekend from the local BCF - GME 600 GPS model for $279 (it was during there big sale)its a bit more for normal- I went for this one because my current one was not GPS capable- new battery was around $150 with no warranty so easy choice.

The Fridge can sometimes hold them if there is nice blue water in the harbour. The artificial is pretty consistant, Quarantine Head wreck also sometimes has them. There is a wreck on South Head- forgotton the name that also has them. I find that the incoming tide tends to push them up the harbour. They are not always around but there are a lot more these days since the harbour has been cleaned up. I just keep a rod with bait jigs ready to go because they can pop up anytime but overall the Arti is the most consistant area.

Ok - from another post i am guessing you have a small tinnie?- dont try and bolt directly to the hull, best option is to get a small bracket welded to the back of boat- ill take a pic of my set up and then screw to that-no holes in the hull. Second best option is to Sikaflex a lump of timber to the back of the hull and then screw the trannie to that.

Tip no 1 -read the instructions tip no2 -read the instructions etc etc

Luke - there are still crays in the harbour and at the right time of the year marlin will run by the heads- one of the better know charters hooked a nice black inside north head last year- personally Ive hooked 3 in a two hour period less than 2ks from South Head 2 years ago- the Harbour is going well. As for funds on research- how about making sure that the Govt doesnt syphon off our license fees into general revenue?

Henry I would strongly argue that the fishing around Sydney has improved enormously in the last 2 decades-Sydney HArbour has had the double whammy of a vast improvement in water quality and the removal of nets in more recent times. The return of the kingfish is due to factor 1 and the removal of those all too effective floating fish traps 20 years ago. The Greens treat Rec Fishing with contempt-they are not our friends. Governments of all persuasions look for quick and cheap fixes- and dont actually care if they work- just that they look good- hence the desire to ban rec fishing- or as in the recent Marine Park submissions- list Rec Fishing as a KEy threatening factor -above nets and pollution- the opposite of reality. Fishereries should be managed by Fishery Scientists -not by Dept of the Environment. More sensible options would be seasonal closures (to protect spawning fish) and slot limits- like the one Qld has on flathead-you can only keep fish between 40 -75 cm to protect the breeding females. I remain to be convinced that dialogue with the powers that be will fix much at all- I write letters that basically tell them that they will loose my vote - hopefully they care - and the recent SFFP win in Orange might just have scared the crap out of them

Its a vexed issue- i know 3 HAwkesbury commercial fishos pretty well- 1 prawn trawler, 1 eel fisherman and prawn trawler and 1 general netter- all really good blokes that are committed to the health of the river and the fisheries. BUT as i pointed out to them they are their own worst enemies- they sell lots of their catch for cash and so when the govt values their business its not seen to be worth much. The bigger issues facing the Hawkes are runoff from turf farms, upstream development that destroys the feeder creeks- have a look around Schofields and Riverstone- people dont realise that bass and mullet run all the way up to Quakers Hill and up Chain of Ponds to Box Hill and general pollution. All that sediment runs into the river (not to mention the crazy development happening in VERY flood prone areas) and degrades the whole river. I am old enough to remember when every August - September big schools of BIG Mack Tuna pushed up the river on the high tide as far as Juno Point (older blokes than me reckon the got as far as the rail bridge ) my best in my ANSA days was 8.1kgs on 3kg line. Pollies of all persuasions are fixated on the "Big Australia" , "Big Sydney" idea- locking Rec Fishing out of various spots is their concession to the Greens- the hypocritical thing is that the Greens want more people too- they just want us to live in caves and eat mung beans.

Luke - I am glad that you have taken the time to contact your Local member- my comments about "bitching" were meant as a general one- I unfortunately see too many fishos' get very upset when they hear about possible closures- and then do absolutly nothing- If everyone did what you have we would easily win the upcoming battle- I still remain pessamistic.

Got nothing to do with political donors- its all got to do with votes and the public service. Large parts of the public service are very anti rec fishing so present a certain agenda to the minister who takes it on board and sees it as a vote winner - after all doing "something good " for the environment will resonate very well with the electorate- wont it!. Banning rec fishing is easier that bringing in proper environmental laws and control of the things that are really destroying fisheries - overdevelopment on floodplains, runoff - silt and sometimes nastier things, like the chemical fire runoff that went into South Creek a couple of years back and caused huge dead zones in the Hawkesbury (bet you didnt hear about that). Thankfully the water releases from the dam have finally flushed that out and the Hawkesbury is coming good again after a couple of bad years. As for your comments on the politics- yes the Shooters will help us, maybe One Nation but the Greens will always be against us. No point in bitching about it on this forum- write a letter to your local memeber and tell him that you will take your vote elsewhere if they support Rec Fishing lockouts.

Trolling livies-non offset hook through the nose, idle speed, live squid, two hook rig- one through the tip of the hood and one in the skin at the back of the hood- 8/0s are a good size. For deadbaits there is a bit of a knack to setting them up and have a look at a bunch of Youtube vids if you want to learn how- not many people troll deadbaits around Sydney- i mainly use them up north for Spannies and Spottie MAcks. Idle speed tends to be the go . Skipbaits for marlin are very effective but need outriggers to set up properly- troll them at about 4 knots. What are you targetting? Key is really to set the bait up so it doesnt spin but goes straight.