PaddyT

Ok fair call on the Botany Wide and Hacking FAD- i tend to go out from the harbour so my normal run is north from the harbour and come home on the seabreeze- only tend to hit the peak if a sthly is forecast

The FADS in Sydney are in my opinion too close in , they get over run by rat dollies by about Xmas (earlier if water temp is OK) and then they get hammered by hundred s of boats. Your best bet for keeper dollies is to be on the FAD before sun up or even better find some fishtraps and have them to yourself (there are even a few homemade FADS out there every year and if you find one they are great because they tend to be set out in 150-200 M of water rather than the 80-100M the fisheries FADS are in). Current is not a problem for dollies as long as its running south also livies will get you a better class of fish , the bigger ones can often be off the FAD by up to a kilometer and they are boat shy so driving up to the FAD is a no no, get up current , switch off the motor and drift down, stickbaits are my go to lure and have at times outfished the livies but a livie hanging out the back keeps the dollies fired up. Good luck

Premier,Environment Minister(Speakman), Local Member, Primary Industries Minister (Blair)- you will only get blather back but its my understanding that they take much more notice of snail mail than anything else because for every peeed off letter writer their are 1000 who are equally peed off but for whatever reason will not write a letter

Jiggy- 100% agree- ive writen my letters to all of the above , ive participated in every "consultation" but the vast majority sit round and look suprised when the Greens win- which unfortunately they will- Shooters and Fishers are trying hard but in my correspondence with Peter Johnson he is amazed at how unresponsive the fishing community is- including the folk who make money out of it! Oh well i suppose we will see soon.

Yep lockouts proposed for anywhere the dive industry wants- Long Reef, La Perouse (Inside a Rec fishing Haven mind you), North Head just to name a few, its more than left wing hippies- as I said before my spot today, yours tommorrow.

I got a custom made cover done by a guy who does a lot of the work for a lot of the dealers in Sydney- now this wasnt cheap- but when I asked him about covers that i could leave on while towing his advice was -dont-think about all the forces that are involved when going down the freeway at 110k's, they just dont last especially if they are not tied and secured at multiple points, and I guess my other question would be - why do you need to cover it while driving? If you were doing a trip to Cape York and needed to keep all the fine dust out then OK a cover is probably worth it. Driving to the ramp its just one more thing to sort before you launch. The cover at home is worth its weight in gold. Anyway food for thought

Unfortunately I dont share your optimism- with the whole Hawkesbury Bioregion Marine Park there are proposed bans coming through. The Greens, the animal justice folk, the surfies who think that fishos get in their way, the dive industry (especially these guys) all want to reduce or remove recreational fishing AND they all write letters! Rec fishos DONT. There will be no public protests , just a whole bunch of whining when we get locked out. Even when guys like the Shooters and Fishers explain clearly that they will vote against these lockouts- do the fishing community vote for them? NOPE . The tactics being used by the Sate Govt are the same every time - rumours of mass lockouts (like all of Port Hacking) surface and then when we are only stopped from fishing in 30% everyone goes phew! Thats a relief. This is what happened in the Solitary Islands Marine park and in Batemans Bay. Anyway well see what happens but either way fishos will get shafted.

The greens are organised and determined- something Fishos are not. Write a letter to the Premier and your local member and scream long and loud, it may not be your spot today but it will be tomorrow.

Catch your own- try around Barranjoey , or the heads of the bays in Cowan creek- both very reliable spots. Sometimes the trawlers will do a "cashie" if you can get up to one of them while they are working. I know one Tackle store that gets them fresh off the trawler and freezes them in saltwater- pretty good quality but still not the same as stuff you catch yourself

Its all personal opinion-but Worstlings show is terrible- !! Lee Rayners show is very good (still a bit much gear promotion for my taste), Hook line and Sinker is probably my fave- because they don't take themselves too seriously and are actually entertaining. BAF aint bad but they do the same thing EVERY episode (catch livies, get a berley trail going and fish for snapper and kungies)Anyway I really ought to stop watching these shows and go fishing instead I suppose!!!

Plenty of poddy mullet at the canoe launch at the bridge at bobbin itself- there are also plenty of yakkas around the wharf. Very easy to trap poddies on the flats upstream from the marina- the canoe launch area is better than the boatramp if you are heading in that direction anyway

Ive got a baitmate board with drawers and its very well made - unfortunately couriers can be a real problem with stuff like that

Just glad to hear its getting used- fishing or otherwise!

Hi Jon- hope your daughter is getting lots of use of the yak

4 stroke should be spinning out to around 6000 rpm , prop is a good place to start

I always told my boys that I would buy them a 1968 4 cyl Volvo with 2 cylinders and all the seats ripped out. 0-100 in a month. Older boy drives a Toyota Yaris which cost us $8500(him 4500, us 4000) , younger boy drives an Echo which cost us $4000- he elected to save himself money and just took the $4k present from us. Both cars are unglamourous , and relatively safe.We taught both to drive manuals from day 1, lots of their mates can only drive autos. Older boy is a bit more cocky on the road and has been told off by the wife and I on numerous occasions about attitude- but no prangs or tickets (yet). Younger boy is more cautious but more inattentive and has a speed camera ticket already-good luck with it all- its a nervewracking time for any parent (I saw two mates killed in car accidents before I was 23 and the look in the parents faces is one you never forget)

Ok - have you got a screenshot of whats happening- and this may be a long bow but is your motor a standard "rotation" or a "counter rotation"- seen that once before with a second hand motor bought on the cheap. Pushed all the foamy water over the trannie. I would still recommend moving your pickup to the other side- also try physically disconnecting all your accessories from power and see if the problem is wiring/interference. The height looks Ok but Id like to see a screenshot

Couple of questions- is the problem worse when your livebait pump is running- and what is the metal thing that you have wired off to the gunwale side of the transducer?

ANSA has clubs throughout Sydney but they are not free to join- like any other incorporated entity they have insurances, legal fees, accountancy fees, etc etc- so they are paid membership. There is also the Bream comp circuit - again there is a fee to join-you can look this up On the BETS webpage and the other one (forgotten the name). There are also stand alone comps run for various reasons such as the Hawkesbury Classic (run by Pittown Anglers Club to raise money for the Childrens hospital at Westmead)- never heard of a free comp though.

Fishing charters and bucks days/nights are usually a bit of a disaster- p!@#$#%d or hungover guys throwing up over the side is the usual end result- go the party boat unless you have a bunch of relatively sober superkeen fishos that make up the entire group

Think about where you plan to fish before you get your bait- yakka's are a bait of last resort for jew for me, squid when downstream of the bridges is the way to go and upstream I reckon tailor or herring. Hardest part is catching small but legal tailor. Herring are very easy on sabiki jigs around the bridge pylons and channel markers. Smaller sabikis are better. Don't get lazy and fish with 2nd hand bait if you want jew in the Hawkes

If you hop on a map or google earth you can have a look where the catchment creeks run and Bobbin Head has some residential a long way up the hill . I think after heavy rain the water might get a bit of undesirable rubbish in it but I have fished up the back of that creek for over 30 years and in general the water is clear and clears up much faster than other parts of the Hawkesbury catchment. Its a great little sneaky spot for flatties, EP's ,bream especially in a kayak or small boat but shore based aint bad either

BOM all they way, the other sites get their data from the BOM anyway. The METEYE feature on the BOM site is very useful especially around Sydney. Having a general understanding of the way East Coast weather works is pretty useful as well eg Winter westerlies , summer nor easters etc