Hunkgarian

So sorry mate, I missed this question completely. We specifically wanted to find and photograph leopards so we chose to go in winter when trees lose their leaves, thus making for better game viewing, also winter is kind of like Sydney/Brisbane winter, so it is not too bad at all. We (well mostly I) organised the whole trip ourselves. There is NO chance I would shack up with a photo tour or private game reserve (both ridiculously expensive and I rather do my own thing anyway than be at the mercy of other people in a group and have to compromise anything. If I want to stay with an animal for two hours, I will do that and I don't care about other people in a group, so I don't go in a group! We knew where we wanted to go so I planned the itinerary, booked things via e-mail and phone calls, direct with the lodges etc. Organised car hire through Avis in South Africa, flights from here, got very very cheap flights. I hired a Toyota Fortuner for our first leg of the trip (about the size of a Hilux) and a Nissan Pathfinder for the second part in the Drakensberg Mountains. You have no idea how many people preached about getting the smallest and cheapest rental cars. However, there are a number of reasons for me picking the largest (within reason) for our driving around. 1) People drive fast and somewhat aggressively and on average I was doing 130-140 km/h on the freeways, as were most people. However, overall I was most impressed with South Africans since I don't mind driving fast and with confidence so I was easily able to merge in with the locals. There are far less morons on the roads there (I was most surprised) than here in Australia! The ONLY, and I mean ONLY idiots hogging the right lanes and not doing anywhere near the speed limit were the cabbies. The local cabs are mostly like a Hiace van type thing and they cram way too many people into them. They are a law unto themselves, the idiots. No point getting into arguments with them as many people carry firearms and they will just shoot you for no reason. A flash of high beams once and if they did't get out of the way I'd just go around them giving them an evil stare. LOL The one thing I was most worried about on the roads is if we were to hit a stray animal for example a goat, sheep or cattle. They have NO FENCES in many places so animals wonder onto freeways, well, quite freely! Literally speaking. 2) While most drivers were pretty good and polite (another surprise) I still prefer a larger vehicle in case of a fender bender. And you can't put a price on your safety, or perceived safety due to being in a larger vehicle and also considering the possibility of hitting a stray farm animal. Had a close call with a herd of goats once on an onramp, luckily I was able to quickly slow down and avoid any mishap. Those freaking things just go nuts.... 3) Elephants, elephants and elephants. They are one of the most dangerous animals and could easily crush a small vehicle. Having a larger one, again, gives a sense of comfort. But nothing can prepare better than understanding some elephant behaviour basics and identifying a situation that could escalate quickly. So we gave every bull elephant a wide berth, especially on the roads, if they were near the road or walking along it. We just stayed at a very safe distance, turned and went another way. Those things don't play games and could easily turn and attack a car, or cars. Once a crowd of onlookers gather (and mostly they park allover the road so giving very little -or NO- opportunities to manoeuvre your vehicle out of a situation, you have no chance to get away and put yourself and those in your car into a potentially life threatening situation. Again, what is your safety worth? 4) The grass in the parks is tall in places, even in winter when we went. A small car would have given us probably 50% less viewing opportunities so while I still would prefer to be as close to the ground to photograph, I would rather have the visibility over the tall grass edges. There were many little cars and many little cars full of people trying to see over tall grasses. Quite amusing to witness. We just had one friend helping out locally. He is a professional guide who knows my fiancee from her previous visit. An Irishman with a top-notch reputation from customers. We hired him for one day (of two) at Pilanesberg NP and two days (out of five) at Kruger NP. His local knowledge was invaluable. Fortunately, with my local birding experience I was able to contribute loads of finds too (including the three Pearl-spotted Owlets for the entire trip among other species). David from Khakiweed Photographic Safaris is himself a keen photographer so he never moaned about (especially) me asking him to stop, go back a little to get a glimpse of something (mostly some bird LOL). At AUD 350.00 per day he was the best value! I believe that having years of experience here meant I was easily able to transfer my observation skills to that locality. A pair of African Painted Snipes topped off the Kruger experience on our last day, just as we drove across the small bridge over the Crocodile River. Man, if I had no observation skills I would have missed them for sure. The most fun is the research part in the preparation, and well before we departed I knew exactly what we were meant to find and where (including nesting Martial Eagles at Kruger NP) and the smaller of the two Bushbaby species at our lodge just outside of Kruger. I am advised, that Bushbabies are notoriously difficult to photograph as they are very shy and god, they jump around the trees at night like little maniacs. With regards to park access, Kruger cost more to pay day by day than to get a Wild Card (which is like an annual national park pass) then we still had to pay and pre-book every day's visit. It is also about three and a half times more expensive if you are a foreign visitor than if you are an SA residents (bastards!). The Wild Card does allow access to most NPs in SA, but not Pilanesberg, as it is not a South Africa National Parks (SANPARKS) facility. Kruger is popular and they cap car numbers every day. We stayed outside the park so we had to queue every morning to get in. There were two queues, one for pre-booked vehicles (guaranteed entry for the day) and one for ad-hoc arrivals (NO GUARANTEE OF ENTRY!). We had no issues with photographing and using big lenses in the national parks, you can only exit the vehicles (in Kruger and Pilanesberg) in designated areas due to safety reasons (animals, not people). In Cape Town we photographed at a place called Intaka Island and that is very safe. Then at Simonstown (Jackass Penguin colony) and at the Cape of Good Hope and in Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens and at Strandfontein Sewage Treatment Plant. All were very, very safe, although someone one of our Cape Town photography friends knew were robbed of their gear at the car park of Kirstenbosch BG. So there IS a lot of crime, one just needs to be vigilant to minimise the risks. With Giants Castle Vulture Hide, I booked 18 months in advance (and paid!!). It is best visited in winter when the Lammergeiers are breeding and need food to supplement their diet and feed their chicks. The hide gets booked out about 12 months ahead of time and they give you a bucket of bones for the vultures. Next time, I will call them about two months ahead to start organising a bigger meal, such as a dead cow or impala or something other to keep vultures in place all day, as we had small bones and the White-necked Ravens and a resident Jackal Buzzard were stealing them. Send me a message or e-mail if you need any more info. We are planning a pilot trip to run a small instructional photo tour (maximum six photographers) to SA in 2020. A loosely planned itinerary is to fly in, then do Pilanesberg for three days and Kruger for five then come home.

That is a fantastic catch! Congratulations!

I literally just checked my life jacket to ensure it is compliant. It has the 5 ticks. I would've been so bloody pissed if it didn't, after all I bought it from a shop.

That Black Drummer is a great catch! They pull like a train! Well done. Love my PJs, the cutest local sharks around. I used to visit a couple of places where they congregated during my scuba diving days. So nice to see dozens resting in sandy patches!

Thanks Big Neil

Thanks Big Neil. What knot would you recommend in that instance? TIA (Thanks In Advance)

I think my problem is that I am trying this with very thin lines. Most videos seem to use heavy lines, which I guess would make the job somewhat easier?

Hi Raiders, If you are capable of tying the above knot, ignore my post. ? Since getting back into fishing recently, many folks talked to me about using braid and a mono or FC leader. So I got some 6ib braid for my light spinning outfit and 6lb FC as leader. I searched on YouTube and Google and was baffled by the different ways of doing the infamous FG knot. I always used locked blood knots previously with no other knot at al. Now I am no dummy, but trying to learn this bloody FG knot was doing my head in. Keep the line tight, step on the spool, do this, do that, you probably know what I mean. So many things to keep in mind. Then just by sheer chance I came across a video by an American angler and as I watched it then paused intermittently, I successfully tied my first very good quality FG knot. A bit of a light bulb moment. Nevertheless, he does not tighten the lines and the method seems easy enough for a newcomer to FG like me. I hope some of you may find this video useful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQmUN0L4F6c

Thanks heaps guys. Much appreciated. Might even rethink location yet, as a country music festival would be torturous for my ears. ?

Yep. The eyes look pretty popped out. I can't remember seeing any slender fish species with such bulging eyes. Compare the pectoral, anal, ventral fin sizes and the shape and size of its tail over the general shape and colour of the fish with the relative sizes of the fins to the body and you have what appears to be an Eastern Orange Perch.

HI Raiders, I promised our 12-year old and her grandpa to take them fishing so we are going to make a family day at The Entrance this weekend. Would anyone have any suggestions for a shore-based location near a picnic area where the mother in law and wife can hang while I take the younger daughter and pops to wet a line? I was thinking somewhere around Picnic Point or similar? Thanks for any tips....

I completely agree. An idiot is still an idiot irrespective of whether they are wearing a PFD or not. Nothing beats spending time in the water doing things like surfing, swimming in the oceans as it gives most normal folks a good understanding of the power and unpredictability of the sea and the ability to assess conditions to make the appropriate decisions to fish or not fish. And even with a lifetime of knowledge one can never be complacent!

May be a good idea to post general locality: eg. offshore from Sydney or Melbourne or Antarctica? I am guessing you fished offshore somewhere near Sydney based on your profile location. The first one looks like an Eastern Orange Perch: Lepidopercha pulchella The second is a Bluestriped Goatfish: Upeneichtys lineatus.

Great set-up mate! What a nice catch as well! Congrats!

There is no chance I would put my topside DSLR into a housing. I have a GoPro 4 in a perspex housing that I take snorkelling and it is fine for what I need. If I ever get back into scuba diving (I am/was a relatively well-known underwater photographer in the 90s and early 2000s), I'd definitely get an older DSLR and something like the Ikelite housing with at least two external strobes. One does not need as many top features underwater as above so older bodies will do fine and they are cheap as! But finding a suitable housing may be tricky. And no compact can match the versatility of a DSLR. However, for general snorkelling, or sticking a camera underwater while fishing, a good compact with a perspex housing will be fine. Just don't expect the most amazing quality images. Compacts that I'd personally consider would be: Olympus TG-5 Panasonic LX10 Canon G7X II I think the Olympus is in a housing already, but the other two would need housings. Admittedly, no compact camera in my opinion matches the sensor of a full frame sensor (36mm x 24mm) DSLR.

I had so many good sessions out at the Stake....and elsewhere around The 'Bra, such as Mahon Pool , Mistral Point (cliff fished there) then Lurline Bay and Honeycombe at South Coogee and North Coogee point. The most amazing thing was, last Friday, I went into Global tackle at Kingsford and got my luderick rod, reel and other bits. There were three guys in there, including the owner. After a bit of chit-chat one of the guys asked if my name was so and so. I said yeah, that's me. It was a fellow I always saw fishing or surfing out at Maroubra, Johnny. I remember him catching a jew at Big Greeny in the middle of the day I think on a live sweep. That jew was some 40lb plus! Just to bump into one of the fishos of my generation was fantastic. Had a good yarn. The bastard is currently fishing at the Montebello Islands in WA. Grrrrrr....

No wuckas TheSillySalmon. Enjoy the fishing out there....it can be really good. Or not so good. Depends on the day.

Sorry for such late reply. I knew Steve well and Josh, as well as Wayne who also worked, I think mostly weekends. All top rock fishermen whom I held in the highest regard and all really nice fellows with good tips for locations and other bits of info. Don't know if anyone remembers the photo on the wall of Steve and his team at The Mattens after they took out the rock comp and from memory they berleyed for the best part of a week then over the days of the comp they smashed it with about 600 fish! South Sydney Bait and Tackle was the only shop I ever bought gear from in the day. Don't know if anyone remembers old Kenny Carr, who used to man it most Sunday mornings. The funniest bloke.

Congratulations! What a great first kingie!

Maroubra Beach and North Maroubra in general are great spots. Well, when I used to fish it in the late 80s and 90s. You can get all sorts of good fish there from bream, luderick to snapper and jew. In the top picture with the beach and sand bottom showing: 1 - the wreck of the Hereward (ran aground in 1899) lies in front of the stormwater drain. Every few years bits of wreckage become uncovered from their sandy grave and there are also the rocks in close that hold luderick on high tides, shallow fishing with a bobby cork in very calm seas or flicking light baits out should smash them. Same for spot 2. Luderick come in and feed on cabbage in the shallow rocks there. The general area over the sand is good for whiting, bream and trevally at times too. At spot 3 there is at least one rod hole carved into the rock that is a bit higher off the water. I used to catch good bream (most times) and tailor (mostly colder months) off there at all times of the year. You also get whiting. There is usually a big gutter that runs along the reef out to sea and an old schoolmate even landed a 35lb jew there in the late 80s. I am sure jewies are still caught around the 'Bra. A bit of whitewater spilling over the gutter would be better opposed to clean, calm seas. It is a relatively safe spot in a swell, but not a big ground swell. Common sense should dictate one's decision to fish here, or any rock fishing spot for that matter. At the spot X I speared a huge flathead in my younger days, easily 1 meter long. In the second image, 2 is the best wash for luderick with 1 marking the stake in the rock (if it is still there at all). Also bream, drummer and other wash-based goodies await you here. Spot 3 is higher off the water by about one and a half meters and there are at least a couple of rod holes there where you could throw a bait out to sand (4) and leave the rod in the holder while you fish a light bait or luderick in close. I remember an old Austrian bloke - everyone called him Snapper Steve - who would get nice reds there. Enjoy!

The second is a Half-banded Seaperch (or McCulloch's I think) and the third is definitely a Rainbow Cale.

I've never ever heard them called False in 33 years that I have been checking out fishes, however, seeing the scientific name it was instant Southern Fusilier in my mind. Fortunately, usually, there's only one scientific name.

Thanks Campr and Dirvin21. I ended up ordering the 2pce Shimano Raider 762 Bream rod (2-4kg with cast weights of 3-12g) at 7'6" with the Shimano Stradic Ci4+ 2500 HG FB reel and some 8-strand braid of 6lb BS with 6lb FC leader material. Not to mention the 50+ lures for either bream or trout....never do things in halves I reckon. ?? Now to get fishing with it.

That's a great Sambo! Congrats!

Hi guys I am going to get a light outfit for trout spinning that I can also employ in saltwater for bream, whiting, flathead etc. I am thinking of an outfit between that handles 1-3kg line and spooling it with 4lb mainline. I want the ability to cast light lures from about 1-10g. The rod and reel I am thinking of are the Shimano Catana range (there's one that is between 1-3kg) and the Shimano Stradic Cl4..... Alternatively, I am OK with using baitcasters. Which one would be preferred? What do you reckon? Thank you Raiders.....