PaddyT

`First things first-my grapevine says there are trout being caught around Penrith already, secondly the idea of stopping floods in the Hawkes/Nepean floodplain is a foolish pipedream-there are multiple catchments that cause flooding and 2 of them are bigger that the Warragamba . The nepean itself, the Grose are massive catchments ,the big issue is that the Colo inflow below the sackville gorge and the gorge itself prevent water from upstream escaping and cause a huge "backing " effect-dont believe me -then watch Windsor Bait and Tackle's Youtube video yesterday of water flowing back upstream-complete mind f!@#-putting in a higher wall at Warragamba would not solve the problem at all-as well as most likely destroying and making inaccessible (More Public land gone-why cant we fish in Warragamba-off topic i know) one incredible wilderness area. The problem is that developers have conned State and local govt into allowing residential construction in areas that i personally have seen under water on multiple occasions-and finally -THIS IS NOT EVEN A 1-100 year flood-i just feel really sorry for the poor buggers who have bought in places like Marsden Park, etc . Its a crap situation.

Absolute brute of a blank there-groper special -not something youd want to hold all day!

caught a stack of trout at the Penrith weir back in 1989 when i was at the Uni of Western Syd- once the water starts dropping and you can get into the weir they will start schooling up above the weir-i was getting a fish a day after lectures which by the time i got there and before dark meant i got in about 20 minutes of casting (was May 1989)

Utterly refuse to rely on an app-go to the BOM website, look at the forecast and the Meteye and the synoptic chart and learn how to interpret them

Graphite fishing rods are excellent conductors of electricty-dont b poking them in air in a lightning storm

Yep and yep-try some worms off the bank especially if the lake is rising

The methodology is divide and conquer-Tunastrike if you think "factory" farming is cruel-why do you fish- at the end of the day cruelty is an abstract idea-and the AJP and their ilk want all forms of animal exploitation ended and will stop at any means. In Vic they have forced restrictions on duck hunting and support "let the foxes run free", here its the current legislation , soon it will be further restrictions on farmers, hunters fishos-and sorry mate if you are anti any of these then you will contribute to the downfall of fishing one day-every one of these activities ends in the death of an animal-none is funadamentely different. When the AJP appeared on the scene one of my staff (young 20 something) loudly proclaimed she was voting for them-after a 20 minute chat she told me the Monday after the election that she put them last-the chat consisted of me showing her how their agenda included veganism (she liked a steak), banning horseracing (she earnt a few extra dollars doing track work), banning pets (she owned dogs,cats and a horse)- dont be fooled by these clowns, they are a genuine threat to our pastimes and ways of life.

pretty typical shimano in my experience-service is usually v good

dont worry mate-they are coming after all forms of animal production-this is only the start

Even more fundamentaly-what exactly are they clamping down on? An idealogical position?

Well done Bob-i actually doubt animals feel pain in the same way we do at all-most wild animals lead short, sharp , brutish (if you want to anthropomorphise) lives, i was listening to a podcast earlier this year from the USA about wolves -apparently the biggest killers of wolves are other wolves-as soon as they become weak they are killed by the pack, this applies even more in the aquatic world, watch what happens when a dog eats a bunny, or a lion eats an antelope from the rump up- the prey animal goes into a state of trance and just dies, animals are not people and they are not immortal either. Having said all of that , treat all creatures with respect, taking the life of another creature should never be taken lightly.

got a Motorguide Xi5-very happy

Trouble is that getting rec fishers to stand together is like herding cats-and the pollies know it-they got a bit of a shock when the SFFP managed to organise an effective protest against the Sydney lockouts-but have a look at the rest of the state -its still the same, no changes to locked out areas (a hell of a lot of which only came into being because of ideology and have never been reviewed) . The LNP would rather work with an extreme left wing party like the AJP than work with the SFFP and this is bloody sad, hence why we simply should not vote for the majors. The LNP used to stand for individual freedom but not any more.

Just all need to get the message -you cannot vote for a major party if you want your lifestyle to continue-not ever.

This will remain a constant agenda with the left and extreme "greens"(none of whom seem to have a real environmental agenda at all-just a watermelon one)-the really disturbing thing is that the LNP have already tried-and appear ready to try again to reduce our access to fishing. Looks like im writing letters -AGAIN-time for a face to face meeting with the local member methinks.

Couple of things Sam-get a decent harness -black magic - helps a lot-absolutely check your drag settings-THROUGH the rod-not off the reel. Fighting fish is simple, once they settle down follow the line with the boat -not the fish, they will track down current when they are tired to regain energy-GET THE BOAT in front of them, it will plane them up and keep pulling on one side of the fish if you can as it will throw them off kilter- so keep the angler (the least important person on the boat) on one side while you stay on the throttle-keep moving in front of the fish, if the last one you hooked was as big as you say you are probably lucky to stay connected as long as you did, a 150 kg plus fish is a very different beast to a stock standard 70 kg stripe or black which you should be able to get to the boat in under 30 minutes at the most on 15kg. Also wind ons are great-once they are on the reel you can apply an enourmous amount of pressure. One in three is a pretty good ratio on lures most days BTW

Good stuff , one of those years when they come a long way down! staying connected when you dont have wire is the tricky bit!

starting from south-Tomaree, Charlotte, Hat, Muttonbird, Macauleys,Iluka and Noosa (fairy pools and hells gate) all well known LBG spots

Agree with Brendan-lures will run better with lighter leader-they are just fish-hook them first and worry about the rest later-ive told the story before but i fought a little black marlin up at Coffs for over half an hour on a sabiki jig and 6lb braid-yep the sabiki eventually broke but i was putting as much pressure as i could onto that fish. Moimoi is another good brand , i find the heavier black magic a bit stiff but it still works fine, just go fishing.

I run anything from 100 to 300lb-it really depends on the size of the lure-you are mainly targeting blacks and stripes-use a good quality mono (not flouro) leader - i prefer Jinkai-you are not going to loose a fish that you havent got the bite from in the first place

that is true- there are actually 2 species of frigate mackeral- the std model and the maru (or bullet tuna)-if you see them side by side they are different -maru's are a bit smaller and a bit more cylindrical , MAck Tuna grow a hell of a lot bigger- ive caught them to 10 kgs and they have a different body shape as well as the pattern. They dont always have the spots but it is a pretty reliable indicator-either way lots of fun if you are not chasing something better.

you sound like a damn good tenant!!!

Used to be a drinker-quit a while back for all sorts of good reasons- but even when i was a drinker there was a no booze rule on my boat-not only for me as the captain but the crew as well- i really wasnt interested in dealing with someone not in control of their senses especially out at sea-save it for when you are washing the boat at home.

phone the landlord -ask him to buy you a new door and the paint-you provide the labour-most landlords (even the real a-holes) are open to that sort of deal.

Interesting paper- rockfishing death stats dont quite match the RLSS stats but they are near enough- i think that some kind of statistical link to weather conditions would increase the depth of the picture and understanding. Most deaths are caused by wash ins- probably a strong link to weather and folks ability to read the sea .