adkel53

My one venture to Norton's Basin to have a crack at rumoured trout resulted in a smashed car window, stolen tools and a bill for $650. Beautiful area (if you can ignore the crap that swimmers, campers and, I'm afraid to say, fishers, leave behind in the form of cans, bottles, lure packets, fishing line etc etc.) It really was a tip down there. I won't be back in a hurry. I did catch a bass that day but no trout!

I am considering replacing my 12 year old 27 meg radio (the aerial is stuffed) with a hand held VHF unit. It seems a waste to buy a new aerial for old technology. My research indicates that they come with either 2.5, 3 or 5 watts of transmission power. I only venture 3-4 km offshore. Any advice re what power rating I will need? Or any other things I need to look for in such a unit? I will buy a floating one just in case the unexpected happens! What have been raiders experiences with brands/models? Please PM me if it is not kosher to post that information here. Kel

I'm considering replacing my old 27 meg radio (the aerial is stuffed) with a head held VHF unit. I Only venture 3-4 km offshore so don't require a really powerful unit. Does anyone have advice re specs to look for, such as power rating? They seem to be either 2.5, 3 or 5 watts. I will purchase a floating model just in case it goes overboard somehow. Any other things to look for? Any recommendations about particular models that Raiders have found to be suitable for "inshore" work? Please PM me if giving brand names and models is frowned upon here! Kel

Not rejoicing because of global warming, but am rejoicing because of interesting new species... Point taken. A new species is always something to remember.

A small Spangled Emperor doesn't necessarily mean that they are spawning here. It could have ridden the EAC (a la Nemo) from further north. If they are spawning here maybe we shouldn't be rejoicing as that would mean our waters are warming and that some of our cooler water fish may move further south to find water conditions that suit them to spawn. I visit Tasmania several times each year to visit family and I am hearing reports of increasing number of snapper and King George Whiting down there. I wonder what the cause of that is?

A young family friend and keen fisherman has just completed a bicycle trip from the UK to Camden NSW, travelling through 43 countries and over 45,000 km. Read about him, look at his wonderful photos and watch his videos here: www.cycling4cancer.com Maybe you can help him out by employing him as a casual teacher (History/English) or engaging him to speak at a school or at a meeting of your service club (Rotary, Lions etc). He is a great communicator and has lots of interesting stories to tell. You might consider making a donation to his charity, Worldwide Cancer Research. Contact him via a pm to me if you are in a position to assist him assimilate back into life at home! Twenty seven months of bike riding is a long time! Kel

Terrific photos John and Luc. What camera are you guys using? I also like photography. I have a Canon 450D digital SLR and have just purchased a Panasonic TZ40 to take on an upcoming trip to the UK, Italy and France, the SLR being a pain to carry around while touring. I'm hoping to catch a fish somewhere in the UK but need to work out where and how I'll manage a fishing trip!

Willyweather is also worth a look. I have to travel an hour to get on the water so always check out Seabreeze, BOM and Willyweather (sometimes at 4 am if things are looking dicey) before I leave home. That way I get a pretty good idea of what conditions are likely to confront me and can plan accordingly. I never leave home without a plan A. B and C.

Re-cycling at its best!! You will have some fun in that boat but please be sensible about where you take her. No fish is worth risking life or limb. Look forward to some photos as you customise her to suit your needs.

This morning I had the pleasure of the company of a young family friend who has just arrived home after cycling some 45,000 km from the UK to raise money for an international cancer research organisation. You can read his story here: www.cycling4cancer.wordpress.com You might even see fit to make a donation to his charity and help him raise the last couple of thousand dollars to reach his target of $30,000. Chris loves fishing and I was keen to hook him up to a few fish. We fished the southern cliffs off Botany Bay and Chris landed 6 bonito and two frigate mackerel. He also got to see whales (one of which surfaced not more than 20 metres from us), dolphins, a large sea eagle and a glorious sunrise. He had a ball and it was great to get a chance to chat about his truly remarkable ride. The bonnies weren't as abundant as they were last week though!

The double blood knot and the double uni knot are different. Both easy to tie and I haven't had any issues with either of them when joining mono to mono - usually a heavier or lighter trace than the main line. Have a look at these links to see the difference. Blood knot http://www.animatedknots.com/bloodknot/index.php?LogoImage=L Uni knot http://www.proknot.com/html/double_uni.html

This method can be used for chunky fillets such as bonito, kingfish, tailor, salmon - any fish with good chunky fillets. I also use it to smoke trout whole. Step 1 Clean and fillet (if doing fillets) your fish thoroughly ensuring that all traces of blood are removed. Preferably, you will have bled the fish immediately after capture. Step 2 Brine your fish with this basic brine solution: 1/2 cup non-iodised salt 1/2 cup sugar 1 litre of water Stir until completely dissolved Place fish in a glass, stainless or ceramic dish and COVER with the brine solution. Place in the refrigerator. Thick chunks of 3cm or more should be in brine 8 to 12 hours. for thin chunks of less than 3cm, 6 to 8 hours is sufficient. Step 3 Remove fish from brine and rinse each piece under cold water. Gently pat dry and lay pieces on a rack to air dry for about one hour. When the fish is sticky to the touch it is ready for smoking. Step 3 Smoke the fish using your favorite wood chips or shavings. Note: The basic brine can be modified by adding any of the following ingredients; chilli flakes, grated fresh ginger, soy sauce, honey, lemon/lime juice and/or zest, bay leaves, pepper, rum pickling spices. Experiment and be creative. Eat while still hot or each cold.

The smoked fillets were delicious while still warm. Yet to try the cold ones. Will post my method in The Kitchen. My game fishing mates went out chasing them yesterday to bolster the skip bait supply but came home empty handed. I hope the bonnies haven't peed off so soon and that they catch bigger fish better than they do little ones!! I'll have another crack in a week or two. Anyone been catching lizards off Botany Bay? That could be the plan C, plan B being squidding.

A HOT post - love the irony! Gazza, I think I might have slipped one through to the keeper here. Some people grow lots of funny things hydroponically!! Glad to see you are growing lots of edibles hydroponically. Have you heard of wicking boxes? They are a great alternative on balconies, verandahs etc and less work to maintain. Check them out here: http://www.mvcc.vic.gov.au/~/media/Files/ForResidents/Environment/My%20Smart%20Gardens/Make%20a%20wicking%20planter%20box%20workshop%20notes.pdf I credit my grandfather with inspiring me to grow food plants. He had a great garden and I always enjoyed helping him in it. My two daughters have inherited the "green thumb" gene and my daughter-in-law has absorbed it too. I taught high school Agriculture for 37 years and for that entire time my students had vegetable gardens at the school farm. Most loved taking fresh vegies home but some, sadly, refused to do so saying that if they did they would be forced to eat them! Not much hope of inspiring them. Many, I know, developed gardens at home and hopefully I have infected them for life!

Good fun and good eating, we need to appreciate what we have, I now realise. Steve Our palates have changed since those days Steve! A good thing I reckon. I kept two of these to smoke after the fillets have been "marinated" in a salt/brown sugar brine enhanced with a bit of dried chilli, some grated fresh ginger and a bit of honey. It will be interesting to see how they turn out. The other eight are destined for bigger things!! And yeah, great fun on light gear. Arthur

I couldn't resist the thought of another crack at the bonnies off Botany Bay. A quick check with my game-fishing mate about the state of the bait freezer sealed the deal and I was on the water to watch the first jet touch down on the 3rd runway right on 6.00 am this morning. I started trolling the ever reliable plastic squids just as the horizon took on a deep orange colour, having watched the full moon drop below the horizon on the way out. In the first hour all I could find were 4 slimy pike - the water temperature had dropped to 19 degrees, two down on last week. I made it all the way along the cliffs without seeing much bait in the water and no screaming of a reel to indicate that my quarry had smashed the little plastics. All that changed on the way back north though. I began to see patches of bait on the sounder screen and some garies skittering across the surface, obviously with some predators hot on their tails. My hopes, which were waning, were instantly revived. Around 7.15 both reels screamed into action and two fat bonnies were boated. Continuing to troll back and forth around the area I landed my limit of 10 within the hour, including another double hookup. Bonnies are great fun on light trolling gear. They smash the lures hard and tear off drag while the rod is taken out of the holder, leaving you hoping like hell that the other rod goes off too. When it does it is on for young and old as you try to keep the fish apart by staying in gear until the first fish is landed, aided by a bit of judicious steering and rod work. Only then do I relax a bit and knock the motor out of gear while landing the second fish. Those O'Shaughnessy hooks seem to hold on well and I rarely drop a hooked fish during the fight. Bonnies - I love'em!!

Gazza - you sure you were only growing chillies!! I am a keen vegie gardener and find them easy to grow. Lots of good advice above. If you live in a frost-free area the bushes should survive the winter but with little or no fruit. Give them a good prune in spring, fertilise them and they should start to produce fruit again. Interestingly, Eastern Rosellas are not put off by their heat as I sometimes need to net mine or they eat the entire crop. Fruit fly may also attack them and spoil the fruit. Here is a fact sheet about growing them: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1059558.htm By the way, chilli plants are self-pollinating and hence very unlikely to produce hybrids unless you manually transfer the pollen from one plant to another using a cotton bud or small brush. I never see insects like bees on my chilli flowers (as with tomatoes, potatoes and egg plants which belong to the same plant family)- they don't produce nectar to attract bees like cross pollinated plants do.

The whole area along the seawall from the ferry terminal to the marina wharf holds lizards. I have only fished it from a boat but find the the fish are usually in 2-4 metres of water and can be accessed from the sand below the wall if you can get down there safely Just watch the wash from the ferries or you might get wet. This is a good area to fish soft plastics for flathead.

whole squid (smaller ones best) 4 tbspns extra virgin olive oil 1-2 chillies, seeded and finely chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed grated rind and juice of a lemon Clean the squid, leaving the wings intact. Separate the tentacles from the head and remove the beak. Pat it all dry with kitchen paper. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl, place whole squid tubes and tentacles into the mix and season with salt and pepper. Cook the squid in a grill pan or on a barbeque at high heat for 1-2 minutes, turning half way through. It should be lightly charred on each side. Cut the tubes into 3-5 mm rings and cut the tentacle clusters in half or quarters depending on their size. Place in a salad bowl. Add some rocket leaves and a large handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley to the squid in the bowl. Dress with 2 tbspns olive oil and the juice of ½ a lemon. Toss gently and serve immediately with lemon wedges. Notes 1. Use mixed baby salad leave if rocket not available. 2. You can cut up the squid before marinating and cooking as described above. You could then serve it with some chips and a side salad. This is perhaps my favourite way to cook squid. Dont overcook it though 2 minutes maximum in a hot griddle pan or on the bbq.

I was acting on a hunch Gazza. I had no indication that they were around. Two winters back they were plentiful along that stretch of the coast and had some mac tuna mixed in with them. I'm hoping that they hang around for a while!! Great sport on light gear and reputed to be quite edible. I think squid might just top them though!! The squid salad is really good. I'll post it in the kitchen section of the site.

Yesterday I ventured out of Botany heads very early in the hope of trolling up a few bonito. Two lightweight trolling outfits were set up with white plastic Yamashita squids fitted with a small barrel sinker and a single O'Shaughnessy hook in the tail. If there are bonito about they usually can't resist these economical little beauties and those single hooks seem to ensure very solid hookups every time. I towed them southwards at about 5 kts, staying in close behind the backwash from the cliffs. After 15 minutes or so I landed a nice plump little bonito. Another soon followed. I just love the way they slug it out on light gear with that distinctive beating of the tail. A great little sportsfish I reckon. A couple of hours of trolling saw me land my limit of 10 fish. I found them to be spread out a little and would get one or two fish in one area before continuing further on, ending up almost down at the end of the cliff line. They will become bait for something bigger one day! They ranged from about 1 to 1 & 1/2 kg in size. Returning to the bay I decided to try my luck on some squid as the tide rose, managing to land three good sized ones - enough for salt and pepper squid for two last night and a squid and rocket salad for tonight. Fresh squid, correctly prepared, is one of the delicacies of the sea in my humble opinion. A top morning out on a warm, sunny winters day.

Great post. To save carrying a long net, you could just take a broom stick along as Howsy mentioned and some cable ties to make a temporary attachment when you arrive.

Send your submissions in!!

Submissions to the review (read increases) of estuary netting in NSW estuaries are due by May 30th. Every personal submission will help subvert this attempt by professional netters to gain more access to our estuaries. That can only have one outcome for you and I - less fish to catch. Read about the waterways that will be affected here: http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/opinion-it-s-up-to-us-to-stop-the-nets Please take the time to write a short submission detailing your concerns and send it to commfish.wg@dpi.nsw.gov.au, office @hodgkinson.minister.nsw.gov.au and your local member (name of electorate@parliament.nsw.gov.au). It mighn't hurt to copy your letter to those supposed representatives of ours - The Fishers and Shooters. They might just support us on this one! Nothing on their website to indicate this though. Sitting back and then complaining when these proposals get the go ahead just isn't good enough! I am happy to share my submission with you should you wish for some help to get started. Send me a PM. Kel

Before the big drought of the early 2000s Wyangala Dam was a fairly consistent trout fishery. i have just read on the DPI website that NSW Fisheries have been restocking it with rainbow trout for the past three years (along with cod and golden perch). Just wondering if any raiders have caught trout there over the past year or two?