Kracka

Haha that actually wouldn't be surprising at all lol. I had better keep it a secret. Id be interested to know too. I thought mowies were only found off the rocks yet alone inside the harbour. I have seen one while free diving around la perouse years ago. Mmm coal cooked fish. Bet that was a delight! Yeah I think the crack might be a little daunting at night but only one way to find out. I saw a tonne of urchins there so it wouldnt surprise me if the odd groper would be lurking about there at high tide. Now that u mention the lobsters I'd probably throw a handline with a pillie in as well. See how that goes. I love the idea of not knowing what's lurking down there. Adds to the fun and a lobster is pretty rewarding to say the least. I attached a pic of the ISO rod model. It's black and dark purple. $300 out of pocket. 5.3m super whippy and seems really great for bream and blackfish. Dealt with a few bream well enough but it didn't do well in high wind conditions. It ended up collapsing back down and a few of the line guides came off. So I have to take it back to get repaired...its free at least. I just have to learn to use it properly. Has potential especially off the rocks. It's just a very fiddly rod. Went back to my trusty alvey combo and can't say that I miss using the ISO rod at the moment. Probably why I've been delaying getting it repaired

Hey Waza. Yeah I had extreme butter fingers that day... Dropped everything I touched!! To be honest I was more upset about losing my fishing diary than the phone. I wasted my last few trips fishing for blackfish on the wrong tide phase *d'oh*. Ill give them a go next time I fish the "crack". It sounds like a very versatile spot. I have some free time end of September to trial out a few different tide phases there...and I'm leaving that blasted ISO rod at home. I swear that thing is unlucky. Each time I take it I donut lol. Yeah I had to do a double take to check it wasn't mistaking them for something else. Definitely red mowies. Can't wait to chase them. They're great eating too! Thanks so much for your help. Always appreciated

G'day Ger. I MIGHT be able to get away for a late arvo/night fish session on the Saturday (29th) September. If you haven't found anyone to go with before then I'm happy to show you. I say MIGHT be able to as it depends if I will be on-call at work. Can't do squat then unfortunately. Nonetheless I can give you a few pointers that will help and also check out some of the previous posts. Plenty of very experienced and knowledgeable raiders on here. Any beaches are capable of producing sharks. North Narrabeen is a good starting point. BUT you will first need to suss out a few beaches. Personally as I live a while away from the beaches I suss out a beach via the Sydney live surf cam. It will show you live feed of each beach. Here you will be looking for structures along the beach that will hold fish - gutters, rips, rocky outcrops and sandbanks to name a few. Gutters primarily are the big one to look at. If you google "beach gutter" you will see what it looks like. Basically you will have a sandbank or two further out from the shoreline where the wave will break...then followed by a deeper pocket of water where it seems more "calm". This can be close to the shoreline or a bit further out. Here is where you want to focus your efforts. The other spot is behind the sandbank where the water drops down but may require a very long cast. *Note: There may be a rip on either side and is evident by no waves but rather, the water is flowing quickly out to sea. Also some gutters are present at low tide and others on high tide. So what may be good on high may not be good for low tide. Same goes for how long a gutter is present for. They may only last a day or two sometimes. Also keep in mind that just because there is a gutter, it does not always mean there will be fish there. But it is definitely worth a shot. More specifically for sharks...a deeper gutter is more important when there is light BUT at night, they will come right up into ankle deep water if there is food. If there is a lot of kelp washing about on the shore or the swell is really up then I wouldn't bother fishing as you will likely spend more time snagged or recasting than fishing. Have a plan B - i.e. bream, whiting or fish inside the harbour. Burley is a key component. You will want to burley when it is right on sundown - when there are no people in the water. If there is - DO NOT BURLEY. On the other hand, you can travel further up north or down south to one of those national park beaches where nobody swims - there is a lot! When burleying...get there at low tide and bury a few pockets of fish frame or fish heads about knee-depth down in the sand close enough to the shoreline. You will be able to see where the water gets up to at high tide...within that zone. Also have some fish frames in a hard crab pot or mesh net that you can have rolling around in the surf. Usually I pin it down at two points by rope within the high-tide surf line so it stays fixed but the burley can break apart and run into the surf. Burley will bring the sharks in and increase your chances of one taking a bait. For ease...i will split all the gear and tackle into large sharks and small sharks. RE rigs...simple is best -Have a sliding star sinker (use 40cm of about 14lb mono) down to a large swivel (to suit your line class). Reason for a sliding sinker rig is to keep the bait a little more mobile to minimise stingray by catch. Then run this to your trace... Large sharks... 70cm of 60lb single strand wire connected to a size 12/0 up to a size 15/0 circle hook. Match the hook size to the bait you are using (bigger hooks for bigger bait... Smaller hooks I. E. Size 9/0 for a strip or slab). Ideally... If your rod permits or you are able to cast or get the bait out... A 1m length of 70lb to 100lb shock mono will do wonders. About 400-500m of 50lb mainline will suffice. You really don't want to land anything that will spool you on this heavier gear. For smaller sharks... 70cm of some heavy 50-70lb mono OR preferably about 70cm of single strand wire in the 30lb to 40lb range will do (sharks aren't leader shy) and down to a size 9/0 octopus/circle hook. Ideally...in between the swivel and trace I would run about 1m of 70lb shock leader. BUT the smaller sharks you wont have a problem skippinf this. Mainline I will run about 200m of 25lb to 30lb on the spool. Usually anything above the 2.5m mark will likely spool you anyway. For your rod, the longer the better - It does 2 things 1) it keeps your mainline above the breaking waves and 2) allows you to have a longer trace while not restricting casting. Any long beach rod will do. I THINK mine is about 16ft - have to check. Baits should be an oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, bonito and mullet. Use them whole or fillets work well. Size of shark doesn't really matter too much BUT your larger sharks will be more tempted by a large bait such as a whole trevalley or large bonito. Bull sharks have a particular taste for freshwater eels. Back when I had a boat large bull sharks frequented the hawkesbury and freshwater eels were a great bait to chase them with. If you have a look on youtube for "rigging a shark bait" there are a few good yankee videos that show you. Basically you thread it on through the fish a few times and have the hook point well exposed on the top of the head. Then strap it all together using a few cable ties. Doesn't seem to bother them. Also have a look at tying single strand wire "knots" as when incorrectly done... Will slip under pressure. If done correctly... Will never slip up. Fillets/slabs of fresh or even a whole live fish is really good for sharks and jewies. Easier and less time consuming to bait up too. If chasing jewies sharks are a fun by catch and that's how I usually get them anyway rather than specifically chasing them...jewies will be put off by heavier gear and will certainly be put off by wire. Yet to catch a jewie from the surf lol. Times that sharks will bite can be any time really. But I usually get some action either side of the rising tide and on the tide change. You can get them at low tide too. Low light periods are ideal and into the night. Just be prepared for a waiting game lol. Anyhoo...hope that helps and I'll let you know if I can get away from work for a night fish. Added: also have some long nose bolt cutters handy for clipping the hook shank (ideal) or as close to the hook as possible for release. Handling them can be a pain. They are very flexible especially the small ones so if you grab them by the tail they can still get you if you're not careful. I had a few close calls with small bronzies (under a meter long) but nearly got chomped as they are very energetic when caught and handled. For that reason...with any shark I would suggest when playing the fish, to ease off the drag (provided there's ample remaining spool) and let the fish go for another run or two... That way they are more fatigued when beached and a little less energetic to handle. I never had anyone teach me to handle sharks when I first started catching them and now I'm overcautious due to a few close calls... So if you see a bloke on the beach taking 10mins to release a shark... It's just me lol. If there's two people it's easier. The bigger ones will probably need to be tail roped too. If you're after a feed... Small sharks are best. Use a cleaver and chop the tail off and allow them to bleed for about 15mins prior to cleaning. Oh and always clean them at the beach. Their guts can stink a whole house quick-smart!

Hey Raiders. Since I lost my phone in the drink a few weeks back (It had a years worth of fishing diary in it) I've been fishing the wrong tides ever since...far out. Explains why my blackfish outings have been producing zip all the past few trips. Anyway... I was hopping around the usual LaneCove blackie spots and I noticed a few pairs of red mowies feeding in amongst the kelp at two out of the three spots. Is this normal? I have never seen them in the upper harbour before, only from the rocks. What bait and rig do you target them with? I'd assume prawns or squid...same as the blue mowies.

What a catch! Well done. They pull just as hard as an angry Mrs haha. Congrats! Enjoy the Maldives. If you have the gear... There's quite a few GTs over that way too around Maldives and Mauritius (rocks and reef off the northern part of the island). Always wonder how many lures are these monsters mouths....

Honestly I by catch a few here and there while fishing for bream up around roseville bridge in summer late evening. Unweighted prawns or small lures. As Burleyguts mentioned Nepean is good. I don't fish there personally even though it's just behind where I work Lol. A mate from work takes his kayak there on weekday at sunset and manages a few during summer flicking plastics along where the water drops down and the weed thins out a little.

Would have been a big stingray for certain. They slowly but steadily peel your line as they cruise just off the bottom. Plus they are more likely to nab a pillie or smaller dead bait sitting still on the bottom. Sharks will give u head shakes, direction changes and numerous speedy runs. And there will be a few intervals where you can gather some line (the smaller ones anyway). The big noahs will smoke the line right off your reel unless you have some heavy gear to wrestle them with. I haven't had a shark go for a pillie before but I get them taking a nice fresh strip bait left out for a jewie. Maybe that's why I donut on jewies haha.

Thanks masterfisho. I'll chase the blackies n break in the new floats while I'm at it. Beats flipping a coin over which species to target. I'm not too sure if they move around that much because of the spawn run... But are they focussed on the lower or upper harbour in particular? Or anywhere is fine? Might aim for woolwich or Greenwich as its been productive in the past.

G day raiders. Been itching for a fish for a few weeks now and finally get a chance this coming Tuesday morning!! Anyone have any suggestions as to a target species? I keep going back n forth between bream, blackies and salmon. Not sure what species is biting best at the moment in the harbour as I've been out of action for a few weeks at the least. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Yeah getting a bit carried away there with the revenue raising lol. Just can't quite get my head around the logic behind it all. I would like to see the stats and research they base these changes on. Might have another, more thorough read of the articles rather than a skim over.

Politics... Bunch of *insert something colourful*. Royce has listed really good main points. Hopefully we will see this proposition revoked. Here's to hoping anyway. Glad to see raiders are rebuting it and putting their voices out there. It's worth a shot. Fill out the online survey form if you haven't already. More and more of these marine conservation parks will keep popping up over time (seems to be a bit of a developing trend) and our angling spots will become more and more limited in the Sydney region. Personally I think these parks, although good for us to an extent, is overkill with each park addition now. Invertebrate no take zones are enough to significantly boost fishes food resources which support a larger and healthier population of fish. It's simple food chain mechanics. This in conjunction with reduced bag limits and the abolition of netting and trapping has certainly boosted fish numbers. I honestly question if this is more "conservation" or purely a nice little cover up for a revenue raising scheme. It would be nice for them to tackle pollution which decimates marine health and in term our health too. But nope...that will put too much of a dent in the government's pocket....

It's ridiculous isn't it? Wonder what halfwit is calling the shots for these rules huh?

Sounds like a solid burley mix mate. I would throw a yakka out on another rod as kingies are still around. You can still focus on snapper using your main rod. If it's slow current with some structure u might get lucky with a JD too! I encountered the same issue when fishing around middle harbour. Burlying heavily will attract everything - bait fish especially and the pelagics too. But it's the bait fish that will steal your bait first! So now I burley lightly with the trimmings off whatever bait I'm using at the time. Usually prawn shells if using prawns. Pillie heads or tails tips if using pillies. Squid skin and guts if using squid strips. Mix whichever with some moist sand and it works well. Since you're using a cage which is great also, you might want to make a "mash" of everything in an old ice-cream tub and freeze it. Chuck into the cage and it'll slowly thaw out and disperse. I would also minus the tuna oil as I've found that attracts a lot less baitfish. Hope that helps u out. Tight lines

Wow that sounds intense. I'm surprised you would just lose a float. A 7kg model would probably take more than just the float, it'd take the whole cake and probably the plate too... Yeah that's a good idea. I'll start off with the lighter line and go up or down accordingly. Alvey all the way. If all else fails I go croc dundee style and wrestle them with my bare hands Thanks for the advice. Fingers crossed

Haha I love that. A gallery of floats lost to the depths over the years. Might be worth a pretty penny if someone recovered them. Yeah keen to get onto a few and see how they fight. I'll be in for a pleasant surprise I'm sure. It's a very interesting way to float fish. You technically have to wait for that second down before striking. Sounds like a fun challenge. I never knew 6lb line was enough to stop these guys. I assumed it would have been similar to drummer fishing around the 14lb side of things. I also completely agree with the single knot to the hook. Minimise the weak points. What type of rod would you recommend? I have 3 blackfish rods. One in the 8kg line class @12 foot and an alvey 16 foot 3-4kg line class. It handled a 5kg silver drummer well enough the other day. Also have a 5.3m ISO rod I just bought which is great for the blackies but I've been a bit of a chicken using it for drummer yet alone surgeons. Don't want to burn away a $350 rod lol. A mate I used to work with fished for the 70cm models around pylons such as pier 2 using 70lb line and a stocky boat rod to out muscle them from wrapping around the pylons. Unweighted bread baits got him a few. They were huge.

Thanks so much for all the detailed info Waza. Legend! My next trip will be at White Rock most likely. To scope it out at the least. I think I must have hooked a few surgeons in the past while fishing for blackish based on the types of downs you described. The float suddenly sky rockets down to the depths. Once hooked it was unstoppable. The line peeled off like mad and then the 6lb leader snapped like it was cotton the moment I applied a little pressure. I thought it was a Kingie turned vegetarian. Now I know the likely culprits were surgeons. Good thing I have a solid stash of home made wooden floats I don't mind parting with. Will take a crack at the crack and let you know how I go. Cheers.

Thanks Waza. As always such a wealth of knowledge. I'll add it to the list. Along with that king spot down south. Just waiting for some hairy weather for those reds to come in close. Been keen to get onto some surgeons. Pretty sure I've hooked the random one while blackfishing as the reel screams off and the line breaks in a heartbeat the moment pressure is applied. Is float fishing the best way to tackle surgeons in "the crack".

Waza, by any chance are there surgeons around there? Have been trying to find a good spot for em but only mange a few luds

Gotta love it when they're ballsy like that ? bummer you didn't hook him. (edit: if you didn't already try varying the depth of your rig. Sometimes even half a foot adjustment makes a huge difference to hookups) Try out what Waza has mentioned. As one other raider recently mentioned... He's a walking encyclopaedia. Wouldn't mind testing out white rock myself. Sounds familiar I think someone PMd me or it was in a previous post RE white rock

What you have is suitable. You don't need top line stuff... Just something that's comfy to cast with. So really no right or wrong answer. I have a shimano Stradic 3000. Have also used an alvey spooled with only 120m of mono and have used both reels for SPs catching flatties from the beach. It just depends on what terrain/depth you will be fishing and what's comfortable for you and what suits your rod. If fishing a beach or from shore landbased, it will be quite shallow water. 200yards is more than enough. So really a full spool of any small spinning reel or baitcaster is plenty. I say small as you will need something light as you will be covering ground while flicking. If going deeper, boat or land-based you may want a slightly larger reel. You may also want a larger reel if targeting fish that will peel line like bonnies Sambos or kings. Even then a small reel will do just fine. But Unless fishing deep like off a reef, only then would you want to up to something like a Penn spinreel 950 for example. It will have stronger drag to deal with larger species like kings or smaller tuna for example.

Nice work on the blackies. Took my Mrs there for some sight seeing on her bday. Beautiful place to fish and you can even see the blackies chasing each other around if you look long enough. Couldn't think of a better place to fish and spend time with loved ones. If you're not too keen on beaching the fish, u can get one of those telescopic ISO nets (about 5m long some of them). I got one the other day for about $150 which is pricey but you can lift boulders with em. Cheaper ones do very well too and can be scored for about $70...still a little dear but worth it in elevated fishing spots. The luds can be finiky sometimes but I've found the cabbage is generally better in the clearer waters closer to the heads. You know the fish are there it's just a matter of figuring out what will get them to bite which, although frustrating for the most part, is extremely fun and rewarding. Tight lines and thanks for the report. Keep em comin Edit: mate the sgt bakers are great for fish stock. A nice clear broth simmered down with a little kombu (Japanese seaweed) and a splash of seawater to get that true, but subtle taste of the sea. Some nice wheaten noodles and fried crispy fish on top with the usual condiments... Great on the chew.

After a donut trip on the blackies in the harbour I decided to give my trusty standby spot at long reef a go for pigs and blackies. Donut on those too... despite using red cooked prawn, cungie, weed and bread. Nothing tempted them so was scratching my head a little. Probably the westerlies being the culprit?? Anyway... Nothing but dozens of wrasse...UNTIL... Bam! The rod buckles over and the drag starts peeling off my alvey as I loaded up the fishes weight. Figured woohoo I'm gonna have myself a nice tussle with a big silver drummer as it was fighting pretty clean. Started sweating too as I only had 12lb line on. After a solid 5-10mins I lost count of how many runs this fish took I got it up to the surface to reveal my first ever winter rat kingie (scraping in at 67cm - made some fine sashami and ceviche). Lucky for a few helpful ISO fishermen close-by with their long landing nets helped me land the fish. Gave them a dozen leftover cungie as thanks when I called it quits not long after. Caught this little fella on a peeled prawn about 1m from the ledge. Who knew. Will probably target kings more often now. I'm hooked! (pun intended). It made up for the donut tripS on the blackies and drummer.

Just realised you're using floating line. Like waza suggested... Float fishing is best in your circumstance. Best to cast out at the back of the white wash and allow it to drift back in. If the float gets too close to the rocks quickly reel in and start again. I've found floats to be a little hindering in larger swells and spots with variable depths so I always take two reels. On with float line and another with plain ol mono.

In my experience I've found the simplest way is to have 14-20lb mono all the way to a size 4 up to a 1/0 hook (match the hook to your bait type). Fish unweighted if possible or add the smallest ball sinker to keep your bait where you want it - in close and under the wash where that milky water is. I'd probably up to a heavier line of about 30lb if using red crab in case a big blue jumps on it. You will know if it's a big groper. Burley up with white bread soaked in water until it's all a mushy paste and throw it up against the rocks now and then. Let the wave action slowly do the dispersion part. Another good tip is if using prawns... Just deshell as you bait up and throw in the shells. That's all the burley you need sometimes. You just have to make sure when you burley... That it isn't drifting away in the current. Baits include cabbage weed, cungie, prawn (cooked or raw), crab and bread. Red crab are dynamite on the big pigs but cungie and prawn works well too. They're usually not too fussy. Fishing is ideal in low light conditions I.e sunrise sunset and overcast days. You will catch them In clear skies too but fishing in an area with good wash is more crucial here. Tide and swell depends on the location. Safety first as always. Some spots fire on a low tide. Others at high. Majority of spots are best on the rising tide. Pretty much any headland will have them. All advice other raiders have given are spot on too. Some really snaggy areas are best fished with a bobby cork. Or unweighted - just keep in contact with your bait to avoid most snags. Hope that helps

Hey mate. No probs. I'll keep you posted when I go. I'm a shift worker so my days off are all over the place lol. Kurraba point is a good place for blackfish on a runout tide. Same goes for cremorne point. Never tried for bream around there but I'd put my money on some thumpers being there early morning, late arvo to dark. Leather jacket I would be around too I assume. Key would be fishing an hour or two either side of a tide and look for the structure I. E. Jetties, dropoffs, kelp etc. I like to fish a ballasted float or better yet... Unweighted bait in a thin but regular barley trail. Should see you onto some fish. If you go for the blackies, some nice string weed should do the trick. At night they'll take prawns and cunjevoi too. Just keep your hooks a little smaller. I. E. Size 6 to 4. Maybe u can post up on the chat board. I'm sure there's a few raiders who will fish that spot more regularly than I would.