Hunkgarian

Thanks Waza. Legend. I read that White Rock somewhere here on the forum. Was that you replying to a post with a very detailed description of tides and other requirements? Thanks

Thank you Kracka! Appreciate your input! Man, can you believe I actually SAW one of the luderick come in and take my bait? Except I did not manage to hook that fish. It was amazing, I have never seen that before.

Thanks guys. If I had to sell my camera gear to buy a boat, I would still have some change I reckon. ?? Admittedly, I use pro-level cameras and lenses. It makes all the difference. A bit like anything, you get what you pay for. When we were in Kruger National Park, on our last morning at dawn, there was an opportunity to photograph a pair of lazy lions in the dim light. My fiancee was not able to get the shots, as she could not push her equipment. She uses a Canon 5D MkIII and 7D MkII cameras with a more affordable Sigma zoom lens, that is fantastic, but not an f/4 prime super telephoto. Whereas I was able to, because I can still shoot at ISO10000 plus to get very useable images with my camera body and a 500mm f/4 prime lens. Digital image capture is an animal by itself and I could talk about my passion for wildlife photography forever, so I better shut up now. Sadly, fishing got away from me about 20 or so years ago, so I am just starting to get back into it. I figured, there is not enough time for all the things I would love to do around the ocean. But fishing is something I will make time for.

Thanks Waza and big Neil. Nets are not necessary fishing off ocean rocks, as you can float most normal sized fish with an incoming swell when you are fishing at water level (not cliffs). However, here at Bradleys Head it would definitely be very very handy. Luckily, I have a friend who just said he'd give me his landing net, as he does not need it. Once a person gets the basics of it, fishing for Luderick is probably not any harder than any other land based species.

Hi Raiders My fiancee and I just returned from South Africa (my first visit there) where we indulged in our favourite pastime - wildlife photography. We do have a joint web presence on Facebook under 2 Mad Photographers, but the actual website is still under construction. At this stage, my original website hosts some of my images that I had gotten around to processing. Sorry, we did not go fishing. No time in between safaris and image processing etc... Feel free to browse here

I took my 12 year old daughter for some bonding time today. We started at around 7:15am with a patchy NW blowing gusts here and there. I opted to berley with a lot of stale bread, weed (cabbage and green) that I collected yesterday after I fished at Honeycombe Rocks (South Coogee) with no luck, but two Rock Cale only, which were released as well as a lone Sergeant Baker that spat my lure's treble at the edge. No loss there. Anyway, the berley - that I mixed with sand - must have worked somewhat, as in the following three hours I managed to almost land two good sized Luderick and missed four good downs. Damn, just a bit out of touch. One thing I need to invest in is a landing net since I was not able to land the fish onto the steps next to the old structure where we fished and I got too lazy to pull them into the beach. I guess in my younger years rock fishing I rarely needed any landing apparatus, except a small wave. So lesson learned. All in all a fabulous morning with my young one and at least she could see I knew what I am talking about when it comes to fishing. Except I am not taking her rock fishing. I was fishing with my new 11'4" Luderick rod and a 5" Alvey with 6lb line, a small bobby cork and 4lb trace with a 10 green hook. Not sure of name. Gamakatsu something or other. All my fish took the cabbage weed, no downs with green weed at all.

DAMN!!! Thanks for letting me know.

I thought it would be fine, but best check. Thanks heaps folks

I used to have these colour maps when I used to scuba dive in the 90s. Where do I buy them from? I completely forgot about them and there is more chance I had thrown them away two decades ago than not.

Hi fellow fishos Not having the luxury of living close to water like in my younger days, I was thinking of picking some cabbage weed to go luderick fishing with my younger daughter in the harbour on Saturday morning. Do you reckon if I pick some on Friday morning and keep it in saltwater it would still be good enough for the next morning? I would rather not go to pick weed then fish, as I am in the eastern suburbs on Friday so would take advantage of the location proximity. Thanks for any tips.

What a great catch! Congrats!

Thank you for the tips mate. I really appreciate it! I will try smaller lures probably closer to 40g, which I have. I was using an 11' rod with a Penn Spinfisher SSV8500 and 25lb line with an 80lb Black Magic leader. Maybe a bit overexcited hoping for a big kingie. Incidentally, I had never fished further north than Giles Baths (what used to be) at the north end of Coogee. I did nearly 300 scuba dives at Shark Point in the late 90s though. I have seen some great fish during those dives. Big kings, a huge old man snapper (big knob and all) on a morning solo dive and even jewies on night dives. It is a really good, deep water spot. There were always nannygai out NE from the gutter in 26 meters and many bastard trumpeters too. I have some slide photos somewhere......

HI mate The Superb Fairy-wren photo depicts a male in his eclipse plumage. He retains the blue in the tail.

In my younger days when I regularly fished the rocks around Coogee and Maroubra I never put myself into situations when things were dangerous. In heavier seas, we fished Mistral Point or The Blessings, or a high ledge at South Coogee. There were plenty of places to go to in probably 75% of the conditions. When I didn't fish, I spearfished or I surfed regularly. This also meant I was able to read the water and as per my first sentence not put myself into dumb situations. In those years I have seen my fair share of silly people taking stupid risks for the sake of a fish or two. Yesterday, I watched a bunch of Asians (true) fishing at Shark Point and while most had the right footwear and lifejackets, one had neither and he attempted to cross dangerous section without even looking at the water movements nearly falling into the drink before my eyes. Incidentally, I am also an immigrant in Australia and had to learn all this water sense for myself through participating in SLSA, surfing etc... The only time I had ever come anywhere close to drowning when I went surfing at The 'Bra in massive swells with no one else out at all and I got caught inside a monster set of waves. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever experienced and while it scared the absolute shyte out of me, I still kept surfing in big waves after the event... Personally, I disagree with having to wear a lifejacket because big brother wants to protect me from harm. I also doubt that there will be a mass enforcement of this law. Maybe at the more popular locations, but certainly not the more remote ones. I will abide by it though, because I am compliant. But a law will not make for rockfishermen with common sense.

I spend four hours in two sessions spinning at Shark Point (Clovelly) in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs over this weekend. Saturday 10:30-13:00, light NE blowing, 0.5-1.0m NE swell, partly cloudy, relatively clear water Sunday 05:30-07:00, light NW at first, turned into a gusty SW by about 06:45, better wash this morning than yesterday No fish were caught. Lures used were metal slices (gold and silver around 60g), surecatch 85 gram metal jig (pink/chrome), blue Halco 125mm popper and a white one this morning with the red head. Also, this morning I tried some of those smelly soft plastics with 6/0 Gamakatsu for jews or kings. Smidgey I think is the name... Had fun, as these were my first two sessions since 1996 or so, despite not catching anything except seeing three pods of dolphins and a lone seal. Previously I used to love fishing the Eastern Suburbs rocks....

Thank you

Hi everyone Years ago I rock fished (among many other things) and never more than 1km from Maroubra Beach so checking surf conditions quickly was easy. Fast forward 20 years and western Sydney is a long way for a quick check of sea conditions. Can any of you recommend any live cams to monitor for current wave activity? Also, if there is/are app/s for swell forecasts etc. to ascertain whether it is worthwhile to head to the coast to rock fish? Thanks in advance for any tips....

Oh no..... Admittedly, I no longer own fish books. I have mostly bird ID books

It's not a female Crimson-banded Wrasse. It appears more like Günther's aka Guenther's Wrasse. It would be great to see more detail in the colours and patterns. Shoot an email to my friend Mark at the Australian Museum. Mark.McGrouther@austmus.gov.au He's an expert of Australian fishes ?

Exactly as Blackfish had said. People often mistakenly call wrasses as parrotfishes (people think that most likely due to the gaudy colouring of males of the species). We don't really have members of the parrotfishes in the Sydney region - may get some strays during the summer months that get washed down via the East Australian Current from the tropics, but most tropicals tend to not survive our temperate waters beyond autumn or so (except Lionfishes).

It is definitely an eastern frogfish, as mentioned earlier. As a long time scuba diver and underwater photographer in the 90s and early 2000s, I am quite familiar with most common fishes of the Sydney region. If any of you are unsure of an ID, or want confirmation, please feel free to contact my good friend Mark McGrouther, who is the Ichthyology Collections Manager at the Australian Museum of Sydney. And he has been for about the last 20 years or even longer. Mark.McGrouther@austmus.gov.au

Hi everyone I'm Ákos (say it like Arkosh). My parents immigrated here in late 1985 and I spent my teens and early 20s rock fishing (surfing, spearfishing) around Maroubra and Coogee mostly. I took a very long break from fishing and have just reacquired new equipment, as I've sold all my rock fishing gear in the late 90s. Looking forward to getting back on the rocks. Admittedly, I'm quite perplexed by the life jacket law in the Randwick LGA. Common sense never killed anyone.