XD351

Thanks Ryder , message received and replied to . All good rods ! All of the Beach/ rock rods I built were on Snyder blanks , probably because they were common at most tackle stores - back when tackle stores were tackle stores and not department stores !

Nice score ! Look to be in good nick for their age . I haven’t been in that store since 2007! Surprised it is still going as many have gone the way of the dodo since the big chain stores took over . I was thinking of getting my mag bream re bound - I gave away building rods about 20yrs ago and can’t be bothered setting up and doing it myself so I might get him to tart it up for me! I don’t know anyone in Sydney that does this anymore ?

I would take a look at joining a fishing club , the Seabees are local to you and have been around for many years . https://www.seabeesfishingclub.com

You can NEVER ask too many questions ! Hi Donna , I get a newsletter from DPI every so often , I think I signed up for it via the fishsmart app but it could have been on the DPI website - can’t remember 🤔 They usually give updates on things like new artificial reefs , re stocking , any law changes and any new guides they have released - it’s one of the few newsletters I look forward to 🎣

You can download these fishing guides from the DPI or they will also mail out the paper version foc but it takes a few weeks to get them ! https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/info If the sign at Silverwater only has no fishing on it and no other info like by order of local council ,dpi or fisheries or something similar it is probably a fake or a generic safety sign that can be purchased from a shop that sells safety signs - usually the ones put up by the Government will say fishing prohibited as in the bottom picture

I tighten the drag and rinse off using the last bit of the salt away I use to flush my motor with and give the rod grips a scrub with some dishwashing detergent then a light spray with tap water as,I found the salt away can leave a white residue on the rod - it seems harmless but I don’t like it . I leave mine in the shade to dry then back the drags right off , i then put a few drops or reel oil ( usually the Daiwa stuff as it is easy for me to get ) on the bail pivots , handle and line roller and give it a spin to flick off any excess . Once that is done wipe it down with some paper towel with some Mako oil on it and put it away . I have tested Mako against Lanotec by cutting up a few discs of mild steel bar (40mm diameter ) degreasing in acetone and applying a very thin coat of each product to each disc - one was left untreated , these were left outside on the awning hand rail where they copped the full brunt of the elements for a month - The Mako only had two small spots of rust less than 10 % coverage , the Lanotec had multiple small spots around 40% coverage and the untreated one was covered in a nice furry coating of orange cancer- 100% coverage . Steve Starling put me onto this product a couple of years back and I have found it to be the best stuff I have used on my gear - it does have a very slight fish smell but nothing overpowering , I’m seriously considering spraying some on a soft plastic to see if it makes any difference to my catch ratio 🤣 Grease - this one can be tricky because if you use too thick a grease you will notice it as the reel will be a lot stiffer to turn , I generally try to stick with the same brand of grease as the reel make . If I stick Penn grease in my Daiwa it bogs it down - Alvey grease is even worse as it is made for sidecast reels where you want maximum washout resistance -just don’t use Automotive grease- it doesn’t have the water resistant qualities of a good quality silicone based reel grease , is too heavy and doesn’t contain the same anti corrosion additives . I know some of the tournament guys will only use the same grease that was used in manufacturing to keep the reel feeling the same as it did when new - I suppose that if you’re sponsored you can ask for such luxuries 🤑 WD40 is essentially kerosene and a very light oil - not something I would recommend putting on any of your gear . I use it as a cutting fluid when drilling or machining Aluminium and it excels at this and only this .

I’m no marine biologist but they look more like some sort of sea slug because of the flattened shape and frilly edges . Ripper Whiting !

This is just some of the stuff coming down river !

Luckily I did ! One thing I do know for certain is that Victas doesn’t work under water 🤣 Flathead Luke, that’s a nice breambo! God only knows what the fishing I’m BW and Broken bay will be like for the next few months 🦈

+1 for Deckee I also use Willy and the Bom app but for a detailed report , charts and radar I have the BOM website saved as a favourite in safari . Surfline is another one I use and although it is not really a weather app I find it useful for checking out the beaches even though it cost me about $90 a year 😩

Mac’s bait bar at Blakehurst is the only one I can think of that might have them .

I have seen those two down there a few times , I often go for a walk around the piers early in the morning but have never seen anything like that going on . One thing that really irritates me is the rubbish they leave behind - mostly squid jig packaging and glow sticks . I would like to see a fisheries inspector go down there from time to time also - that is if they still exist , haven’t seen one in twenty years !

Here is the Ryobi unit

If you look at the photos below you will see one important thing that you need to check before you try charging any battery and that is that the polarity of the charger matches the polarity of the battery. This becomes even more important when using non OEM batteries + just make sure you have + to + and - to - otherwise something will go bang ! This charger can do two types of batteries which can be seen on top of the charger itself and although this one is li-ion the same principles apply to Ni-cad or Nimh. Also note that cheap replacement batteries may not have the inbuilt thermal cut out ( this is the third terminal on the battery which can be seen at 12 o’clock position in the charger socket and on the battery )so they can catch fire . somewhere on the charger it should tell you which types of battery it can charge as seen on the label of a Ryobi charger ( bottom photo)

What a harrowing tale ! Sounds like a spot we used to call the gulf at curracarrang . Sorry to hear that you had to go though that ordeal - definitely something I am glad I have never had to deal with . Can’t say I agree with the cops going down to get the fishing gear back - not worth the risk imho but that being said leaving it there could act like a lure drawing some one down there to their peril. I have recently been thinking how we can educate some of these fishos as to the dangers of rock fishing and I think maybe some of the recreational fishing licence fees ( which has now become a slush fund for the pollies ) could be used to make some tv and radio ads or maybe make up some pamphlets to distribute through Schools and various religious venues etc . When i walk in the door of a tackle shop big or small i would like to see a rack full of free info pamphlets staring me in the face instead of what they are trying to flog to you -something like the guides you can get from the department of primary industries that have a map , a tide chart and a warning of any dangers at that location etc etc . They could have these printed in a couple of languages - like most reasonable instruction manuals are . The language barrier shouldn’t be used as an excuse in this situation . At least I could see my licence fee doing something useful ! The mandating of wearing a life jacket hasn’t done much to improve the situation and I doubt anyone is even policing this . The government as usual just turned this into something they can raise revenue from without having to spend a cent on it .

You could try the Suzuki marine website and they should have a list of dealers . No connection or affiliation with any of the above !

Nice flattie and a great report ! I noticed that you are from Umina , do you fish in Brisbane waters with lures very often ?

Fantastic haul and great report ! Flatties must be everywhere at the moment ! Looks like down river into broken bay has stacks of small tailor and upstream piles of small mulloway- they can be a bit of a pest at times but they are a good indicator that these species are doing ok 🎣

Congratulations on you first so flathead Jim ! The parra river has become a bit of a lure fishing wonderland in the last 10 yrs now and there are some big flathead in there ! Dave it’s the western side of Mortlake point ( Wangal reserve )but there are many spots like this in the parra river . If you take a look at the YouTube channels by Shroom and Windsor bait and tackle you will see where they fish and it’s just a bit of detective work to locate the spot - i use Google maps, Google earth and street view a lot !

Thanks everyone! Dave you gotta get out there - now is the time ! Rebel , The newish Samsung takes great photos but it automatically converts them to some weird format that email doesn’t like , I have now turned this off in the phone settings ! It was a real Pia just getting those pics over to my iPad so I can post on here I can tell you ! Antony, i have seen heaps of them swimming in the rivers out near Bathurst but never the lower Hawkesbury , I think it may have come across from Dangar island . Big Neil , i always see something amazing up the Hawkesbury - I just love the place ! It was a bit of a learning curve with the sounder , my last one was circa 2003 lcd furuno but it died . Gordo , I have a personal slot limit of 38 to 50 but if I can keep a couple between 38 and 45 I am a very happy fisho ! Guess what’s on the menu tonight 🤤

After that I only got one more flathead - undersize so back it went ! I decided to have a play with my new Garmin sounder so spent probably an hour or so chugging around peering at the screen and I ended up over the deep hole at the mouth of mullet creek when out of the corner of my eye i spotter something swimming towards the shore next to the northern end of the rail bridge - a snake ! Don”t know what type it is and I wasn’t getting close enough to ask it 😂 Don’t know why but the photo won’t upload anyhow it was a small olive coloured snake about 3ft long

Things went quiet there so I moved west to the western side of flint and steel reef as I had caught an 84cm flathead there a couple of years back and it usually produces something. I had now run out of the prawns , whitebait didn’t get a touch and Pillies fared no better but hiding in the bottom of the mystery bait bag was an arrow squid - probably 250mm ( 6 in in real measurements ) so I sewed this onto a 4/0 and sent it to the bottom . I was thinking maybe a mulloway might take pity on me and eat it but I wasn’t feeling confident ! I don’t know how but for some insane reason fish seem to know when I’m stuffing my face or putting sunscreen on etc as they always seem to hit my bait right in the middle of what I’m doing ! Well the squid got smashed and my initial thoughts were of it being a mulloway - not a big one but the way it fought was different to what I usually expect from a flathead ! Peering over the side of the boat the shape of a good flathead emerged all 68cm of her !

Next fish went 48cm ,another couple that went 41 and 37cm I only kept the 48and 41 as the 68cm and 37cm fish were outside my personal slot limit . Didn’t get a photo of the 41 as I got sick of fumbling around with a phone and trying to dodge fish spikes ! This is the 48cm flattie.

Quick trip up to my favourite flathead drift , low tide when i arrived at 5.30 am , water@ 23c and bugger all wind . The first fish went 61cm caught on a dirty old prawn from the depths of my bait freezer and a lot of chopper tailor working the bait schools around the bay - they were everywhere ! More photos to come !

Looks like they had a ripper day out ! Great to see another Polycraft on the water !