Mr Mullit

Hi guys, This fresh will make inside the mouths of the estuaries hard work. Not even the pros will bother. You're probably better off fishing over the mountains. Definitely don't bother heading south, I'm looking at crookhaven heads now and it's pea soup. Good luck Matt

Thanks for the tips mate. I've slipped the lower bar back in. Not 100% but secure. I'll leave the top bar till i get the solid bottom bar. This reel is actually a 7500c3 i think. Stickers peeled off/ box chucked. 4 pin brake. Same thing or other mods needed? Cheers Matt

Just checked out some distance casting stuff on YouTube . WOW! I see what you mean about technique. Can't wait to have a crack at that. Level wind is out the abu. How much distance would a mag brake upgrade gain me or is it more of a casting aid and a bit more user friendly than the centrifugal system? Thanks mate Matt

How do you they were a black woman's? Sounds like you know more than you're telling Grant.

I had to pick one. Some best not asked. Plus if I could catch those things the missus would start telling me to go fishing. I use orange or pink jigs. Change colour or just keep casting?

What colour sqiud jig?

I'd be keen.

Thought I'd open this very complicated subject again. Whilst I'm pretty sure I want to see the carp out of our waterways and the release of this virus will work as intended. I do have a few concerns. 1. Where i fish they are the biggest fish in the river. A 80 plus fish will pull more string than any southern freshwater fish. They also offer great opportunities for some serious line class captures. 2. There seems to be no plan for the removal of dead fish. Masses of dead fish will not only only stink but potetially cause a second disease that could affect native fish. Try to think of a fish kill that affects 100s of kms of river. 3. The removal of carp will dramatically improve water quality/clarity. This will look great and should benefit the native fish but it will also benefit redfin and mountain carp. Both much more voracious predators surely to be made more effective by the improved clarity. I think the redfin has the potential to be a bigger threat to native fish stocks than carp. All in all I agree we will be much better off without carp. But I think we should be aware that things won't go back to pre carp days and we should be ready for post carp days. Nature is unpredictable and maybe we should be careful what we wish for. So there's something to mull over. I just hope I catch that metre fish befor they're gone.

There's a carp bash on in wollombi just north of sydney this weekend. Details on the wollombi tavern Facebook. It's small creek fishing so it's pretty challenging and good fun.

Thanks for the tips mate. Like you I usually fish 20lb/40g when I'm spinning for bonnies, rats etc. 10 would definitely increase casting distance but probably be a bit light on for my local spots. Plus I like to bridle up a lot of the bonnies and the like. Shorter fight happier bait. But I'll fill a spool with 10 and try it over at the beach. What mods did you do to the abu. I've got a 7000 gathering dust i don't mind messing with. Also where do you get your avet serviced. I need a new clicker for mine and tackle world shrugged their shoulders. Thanks Dan, Matt

G'day Dan, Are you still using a slosh to get that sort of distance? Not that I practice but I'm stuck on about 70-80m with 65/80g metals. Casting metals over 100m on spin gear though. Any tips? Cheers, Matt

Rose bay would be a good place to start. But any of the beaches or patches of sand should hold them this time of year. The fresh might stuff you up this weekend.

Try around the boats with some berley and some mince or prawn for bait.

Legislation takes common sense out of play and all of a sudden errors of jugdement become someone else's problem. As for paying for it. We already are as air/sea rescue are already on call and on the clock. Maybe you think they are just there to help people with s*** boats and stranded "solo round the world" clowns. They are there to help everyone including lowly rock fishos who made a poor call. As for fools who can't read signs. We still have rescue them once they go in the drink, life jacket or not. Risk is risk and people need to accept that sometimes people die. Life jackets will just be another nail in the coffin of fishing. A once simple and fun sport now being over legislated by cotton wooled city types. Blanket lock out zones, salt water fishing licenses (the god given right of all humans is to fish) and now this. Good luck in spain mate. Make sure someone holds you're hand when you're crossing the street.

Don't know if this counts but i caught a carp with a tag in it once.

Off any of the beaches in the lower harbour are worth a crack. As for nippers in the harbour they're there but I'd shot for shot for telling you where. Matt

Fished moona moona creek with the kids a few weeks back. Caught a couple of flatties and small bream on plastics. Had a snorkel before we left and saw quite a few flatties, bream and whiting. I learnt to fish off that bridge as a nipper, grandparents lived 100m away. Used to get good trevally there sometimes plus a few other species (pinkies, blackfish,mullet). Currumbene creek has better quality flathead and a few jews. Good luck

Pretty risky sport rock fishing. I watched my best mate drown at whale in 1991. We weren't fishing because of the conditions, he just got caught on a low ledge in transit.ALWAYS watch the ocean. As for compulsory life jackets(would've saved his life),rock fishing tickets and closed spots on rough days. F that! Nanny state in action again. My life, my choice. May as well make everyone wear floaties at the beach, speed limit all cars and ban motorbikes. Any death is a tragedy and I'm sorry for the victims and their famalies. But I'm not paying for anything more than signage and angel rings. Especially not with my(our) freedom. Know when to hold em/fold em. Sorry about the rant guys. Decision makers are usually under qualified. Matt

Wollongong harbour used to be pretty good. Bait in the harbour, jews, kings and sharks on the other side of the breakwall. Same at Kiama. Good luck

You're probably right about the barometer Neil. It just seemed there was something else to it. Heaps of good casts to well known snags and rocks. Also small herring were smashing the leader knot on most casts. The carp were great fun on 8lb. I'll catch a metre fish there one day. 80s are pretty common and my best is 96 to the fork. Trouble is they don't like much heavier than 8lb leader. One day the stars will align. Cheers Matt

Got the river about midday Saturday. The place was looking great. The water was a lot higher than usual but still running pretty clear and the place was just alive with bait. The water was black with gudgeon fry and a few mozzie fish plus small herring jumping everywhere. Threw out a surface lure and got a hit that failed to find the hooks first cast. We headed down stream throwing surface lures and getting hits from quite a few small fish with a couple of fish in the high 20s, low 30s range. Things started to slow on top so swapped to 35mm diver which looked a bit like bait and got a 39cm( fork measure)bass. Not a bad start. Didn't get a picture because the camera was packed for travel and "it's not that big ,we'll get heaps more." from Ram. That was the only half decent bass caught on the trip. We fished the next two arvos/nights and mornings casting hard for about 3 fish each. Fishing around camp was a bit better and we caught 10 carp during our stay and and dropped nearly that many too. Got dusted by a couple of crackers. The best fish went a bit over 70cm Paddled out this morning just before the storms and only got a couple of half hearted strikes on the way. Even trolled and used celtas. Not sure why the bass were so shut down. Maybe low barometer, fish went further down stream with the extra flow or just too much bait. Aside from the lack of bass it was a great trip with good conpany in amazing surrounds. Matt big lure small fishRam with the biggest carp.

Nice one Neil. Apart from the water skier what a great way to spend an arvo. A relaxing fish and then a feed of cod. Does it get any better? Envious! Matt

Depending what I'm doing i use a 4000 or 8000 even an old 6500 baitrunner. Consider lure/bait size, line class and capacity.

G'day jimmy Gotta agree with paddy. Hard to go past the old fsu4120. I used to use one, good tough rod although maybe a little heavy for salmon, tailor etc. These days i use a 10'6 Daiwa shorejigger 20-30lb. Sounds heavy but quite light in the tip and will cast even light metals miles. I've caught everthing from bream off the beach to big kings off the rocks. Even live baited with it with 50 through it off breakwalls. Massive grey nurse. Oops. The downside is that like all lightweight casting rods its fragile and needs a bit more care when putting down on the rocks. I know it'll explode one day. Good luck mate. Maybe get both. Matt

Thanks guys That *hits insane, like a barra. I might have a sly spot worked out a bit closer to home. I'll keep you posted. Anyone wanna buy a heap of bass lures.