noelm

I remember Pegasus well. There was a couple of regular pro boats over the years, the most “famous” was of course Ajax, and Hunky too, Melicent, and a bunch of others that came and went.

If your mates using bait were pulling in Wrasse and Sweep, I think I would have stayed with lures…… edit…..that “Blue” Groper looks pretty red/Brown?

It seems kind of obvious you have already found your beach?

1.. always look for places by wandering around, using Google maps might be a starting point, but as you found out, it’s not what it seems. 2..Squidding is ALWAYS better late afternoon or early morning….end of story! 3.. I find almost any jig works, the expensive ones might be better, but, in my experience, smaller jigs, in any colour are good. 4.. depending on the depth, Squid will take a stationary jig, but….as a general rule, you will be fishing near weed, so letting a jig sit will see you snagged. I find clear/clean water, broken patchy reef/sand/weed low swell and a high tide to be the best Squid conditions.

Back in the “old days” Ticks were common for us, because of all the bush around, my father would just tip some kero/turps/petrol/diesel or whatever he had lying around on the Tick and it would just “back out” and fall off, I can never remember having any sort of “issue” though? We did lose a couple of dogs to Ticks over the years.

There is a big difference, in the water, you are no longer top of the food chain, drag a big Shark up on the beach, people will flock to it and touch it, but, in the water…….NO WAY! While I am not disagreeing with the odds, it’s all about the comfort zone.

There does seem to be a lot around this year, I know a couple of people that had had Ticks recently, no idea why.

A bit controversial but…..since Shark meshing and beach shark nets, plus certain species being protected, it’s just kind of expected and (in my opinion) will get worse, add to that, more and more people in and around the water, and attacks will happen. Now before people start throwing rocks at me, I am not suggesting any “open slather” or culling or anything else, it’s just my opinion on a possible “why”

OK, I will fossick through them a see what looks “interesting”

People get confused (and often try to interpret laws to suit themselves) but…..the documentation clearly states what’s legal to use (for all types of fishing) anything outside those defined descriptions is illegal, you can whinge and carry on that what you are using is not listed as being against the law, but, if it’s not listed as legal, then chances are it’s not, and ignorance of the law is no excuse. Now let’s be clear, I am not a Fisheries officer or anything like that, or profess to be some kind of saint…. but, I fully understand how it’s all written and intended to be interpreted.

Yeah, I have a friend with a proper hi res camera and he said he could photoshop it to be like new…almost. There is a few old fishing photos, but don’t want to bore people to death!

It’s funny, but any reference to Barrack Point was “Barrack Head” no idea how or why it was referred to as “head” probably a throw back to it being a “headland” and being old fishermen, it was the correct nautical term?

Here you go, the rocks in the background are right in front of my house, haven’t changed at all, the guy second left is my father, and next to him is my grandfather (according to some old writing on the back) absolutely no idea how they caught them, there is no boat in the picture, but, the little lake was easily accessible by boat, so best guess, they took the boat up the lake and tied it up, and the fish on the beach would have been waiting on the cart to take them, I don’t know how true that is, it’s just what I have been told. A rough count is 90 Jewfish, note everyone wearing hats!

Do you use bananas to keep the fish cool instead of ice?😊

Late afternoon is Stingray time on any beach (in my experience) and not ideal Whiting time either, but, if that’s the only time you can go, then so be it. The advice above is spot on, baits with big sinkers fixed to the bottom is a Stingrays delight, they just “land” on the bait and suck it straight down.

Just as a side note to all this, don’t know if anyone remembers, but a gravel ship (Hexham Banks) caught fire just off Shellharbour many years ago, my mate was a cop at Warilla station then, and in the early hours of the morning, he woke me up to go and rescue the crew, we got them all back to the harbour, took my boat home long before the media and “official” authorities turned up at daylight, I found an old newspaper clipping I saved.

Not too sure about the money, regardless of what it’s worth, I am not selling it, it’s funny how strange the old notes look, I also found a paper $10 before they went plastic, and a $5 coin that is some kind of commemorative thing, they were in a photo album, all kept nice and flat. All this stuff, along with lots of old photos were in my old school suitcase. There is an old tatty picture, taken on the beach in front of my house, guessing during the 1920-30s which has my father and grandfather (and some other unidentified men) standing with a pile of big Jewfish, no idea how they were caught, there is no boat or nets in the photo, I will try and take a photo of it, but it’s faded and ratty

I guess I should add, my wife and I fished together for decades, she is as good as anyone with a gaff or net, can clean and fillet fish, she can reverse a trailer, paint a house, cook like a Michelin star chef and the best mother and grandmother ever……and if anyone tells her I said that you’re doomed!

Going for gold was Steve Starling and the guy that built Seamaster boats, plus a guy something Bryant. edit….one of the guys was Doug Phayer.

I consider myself very lucky to have been involved in those days, lots of fish and constant change as gear got better and better, and we built or modified existing gear as best we could. even the simple sounder, back then it was an old paper Furuno if you had one at all. GPS and mobile phones were decades away, you found spots by lining up landmarks (if you could see them) places like “the banks” were at best a 50/50 chance of finding it. We used to leave Crookhaven Heads, using just a compass and a watch, head just slightly south of east for a set time at 4,000RPM and hope to god the pros were still there……

I guess you mean Terry? Or T as he was called, that article has a picture of him in his younger days, I will post it. edit…..here you go.

A couple more land based game.

I will take a couple more, there is an article on land based game fishing that is kind of relevant to a recent thread, with old Senators and ABUs in use, absolutely no idea if it contravenes any kind of copy right?? But the magazine is from the ‘70s so who knows.

With a move of house looming, I was sorting through some old stuff, found some $1,$2 and $5 notes that I saved when they were going out of circulation, and an old fishing magazine with a full page photo of my wife with a Yellowfin in an article by Rod Harrison who used to live close by. I took photos of a couple of other pictures in the magazine, please remember I did not take these, but the old one of rock fishing (I think Curracarang) kind of illustrate what people did to catch fish! The photo of the Marlin in the boat is special to me, because the guy on the left was a great mate and fishing companion who unfortunately lost his life in a work place accident.

Not much point in having the world’s toughest bait if you get no bites! If pickers are an issue, chances are you’re fishing in tourist type places in the middle of the day. Try using small lures and see if catches improve.