XD351

A weekend away or new rod 🤔 I would have to think about that 🤣🤣 You equation only holds true if the n=an odd number , The laws of physics must be obeyed and your rod rack must have an even number of rods in it else it will tip over and the universe will implode 🤣🤣🤣

Awesome report Derek ! Sorry to hear about your job - we never know what’s around the corner though! That is a nice Dory ! Conditions look mint !

From what I can find they spawn in winter / early spring in the ocean and the juveniles move into the estuary to grow - see linked documents below . I wonder if the northern migration of tuna in winter is just a coincidence with that or something that has evolved over the eons? A lot of fish species shut down in winter , the cold water shuts down their metabolism and they don’t need to feed as often . One paper I looked at mentioned that they the yakka population disappeared at temps near 13deg and didn’t return until 17deg was reached - no mention of where they went but maybe that temp drop is the trigger to spawn ? https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1453760/Stock-Status-Summary-2022-23-Yellowtail-Scad.pdf

Why do I all of a sudden have this urge to make shrimp eyes 🤣🤣🤣 Anyone ever tried dressing up a prawn style SP with these eyes ? Careful! Getting caught raiding the wife’s nail polish stash could dangerous- possibly fatal 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the help guys ! I knew I could rely on fellow raiders to clear things up and get me started on the right path ! From what I have seen on YT fly tying could be an enjoyable hobby on its own but I think catching something on a fly you tied yourself would be blast! Probably similar to catching a fish on a home made lure , might even carve out a few small hardbodies in the future - something I haven’t done since I was in primary school!

I don’t see why they wouldn’t work , I have seen people use them on the beach with great effect .

I haven’t heard of any on my socials but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there . You might just have to give it a go , worst that can happen is you don’t get any but look on the bright side - you got to go fishing and that is always a good thing !

Thanks Mike ! It’s a bit like someone who has never worked on a car trying to work out what tools they need ! Like everything these days there is rubbish , sort of works ok , good , great and overpriced equipment out there so I thought it best to ask before buying!

G’day Raiders, Now that my transition away from other hobbies ( model engineering ) to focus more on fishing is nearly complete I am looking at satisfying my need to make stuff by doing things like making my own floats and maybe giving fly tying a go , this may lead to taking up the chucking of fluffy things but for now I’m mainly interested in weed and bread flies I can fish on conventional gear . My main question is where to start ? Is one better of buying some sort of kit or buy things separately? What do you look for in a vise? I don’t want to buy junk but don’t want to spend too much on something I will only use occasionally. I doubt I would ever tie dry flies for trout but more looking at flies for luderick, mullet , carp , flathead, whiting , bream , yakkas and garfish . I did what I feel was a comprehensive search on here but it seemed that every thread wandered off to talk about rods or line . Any guidance is appreciated! Ian.

As far as I can tell you can , you could probably get bait off the rocks at the other end of 40 baskets beach and use that .

From what I can see in the guide linked below you can line fish but I don’t think you can get bait there - bit of a grey area really as it states that no plant life can be removed but weed or cabbage is algae not plants ?? I don’t know . https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/marine-protected-areas/aquatic-reserves/north-harbour-aquatic-reserve

Depends on you really - if you can afford a new reel then that is what I would recommend . Any excuse to buy new fishing gear is a good one 🤣🤣🤣

And out in that weather there are still the nut jobs jogging ! They were probably on the smaller size of the sets that came through over maybe 2 hours. Touch wood - we haven’t heard of any fool getting washed in while fishing in this and I hope we never do .

Who is up for a spot of rock fishing today ? Photos take at clovelly carpark . Personally I think I will pass 🤣🤣🤣

I think I remember someone referring to him as Steve starving back a long time ago 🤣🤣 I commented on that video saying if he can make carp edible he will have achieved god status - he reckoned he has eaten it and it can be good if done properly but I have heard this many times from many different sources and I’m yet to see someone eating one of these mud marlin delicacies on YouTube or in person ! I want to see someone cook one and eat the lot - not just one mouthful then spit it out once off camera .

Ok , the weed ( really it is an algae - ulva intestinalis) growth rate slows with colder water and less UV light which both occur in winter . It is still around , it just takes longer to grow and if you can eliminate one of the two occurrences above - ie warmer water or areas exposed to more sunlight you might do better . There used to be acres of the stuff in ermington bay and the bay next to the putney boat ramp - even in winter but the rivercat killed it because the wave action or wake tends to break the weed up and it doesn’t grow back to a usable length . The stuff in the photo is worth a try as long as it is long enough to make a bait out of - I would like around 50mm as a minimum as I can roll that then wind it around the hook .

The floating pontoons are your best option if land based , if you have a boat or kayak then life if much easier because you can add channel markers , the steel mesh on shark net baths and moored boats to that list . For pontoons the biggest hassle is getting to the cabbage or weed as the top of the pontoon is usually around 1m or more above the waterline. You can make a couple of tools to help , a small scraper attached to a broom handle and a small net with a fine mesh to scoop up the cabbage / weed you scrape off the pontoon- also attached to a Broome handle . There is a reason why luderick anglers won’t share their bait locations on social media- I know of a few that did and when they went back a couple of days later it had been pillaged, nothing left - probably someone supplying a tackle shop with bait had read the post and took the lot -money and greed are well known bedfellows. Other areas you can try are the ocean pools or baths . luderick are everywhere in the harbour , even right up the rivers but some locations will hold bigger populations than others , caught plenty from a boat under the spit bridge and a few off the shore up around Castlecrag. My biggest came from Valencia st wharf many years ago and places like Greenwich wharf , Clarkes point and Kelly’s bush are well know locations amongst the luderick fishing community. luderick off the beach is nothing new , not common but it does happen occasionally. Weirdest thing I ever caught was a tiny cobia !

Fishing news - now there was a paper with buying ! this is all google could find - not Noela but Noel chambers, it does mention fishing though so maybe the same person ? https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/162456659

The only consistent catches of bream I have seen in the last month or two are from shroom fishing at night with bait . I always thought of march , April and may as the best time for big bream in Sydney.

G’day Raiders, I went to Rydalmere yesterday (25/7) and morts bay today for a look and a quick flick . The upper parra has cleared up a little since I was there last but there were literally no signs of life - iirc I spotted one toad and that looked nearly dead , driving over silverwater bridge today I noticed that the storm that blew through last night has turned the river to coffee looking water again . Morts bay is clear water but not much doing in the way of fish that wanted to play . I spotted a couple of decent luderick and one just legal whiting but they were shut down . Just before leaving my mate got a small flounder on prawn so not a donut day for him , I seemed to have turned into the donut king 😭😭😭 There was a small amount of cabbage weed on the ferry wharf so maybe these back bays haven’t copped the fresh water as bad so if you are hunting weed maybe focus on these areas ? Just thought I would post this in case anyone was wondering about these locations. Bring on spring please🙏🙏🙏

According to the same page DLX = 2 piece .

Had a look on the snyderglas group and A.W.B is according to someone on there all wooden butt.

Generally in the rivers the hairy stuff seemed to work better ( for me anyway) and closer to the ocean cabbage always seemed better . Sometimes they want the black weed I have found that sometimes it is the fine hairy stuff and others it is a much coarser weed they go for - different systems , different weed , different tides are all part of the puzzle inside of the puzzle that is luderick fishing - you just got to experiment and keep trying . You could try the spots below for weed - no guarantees of any being there .

Yep if it’s not raining it’s windy - just can’t win !

There are a couple of factors at play , salinity and turbidity. The salt water weed doesn’t like lots of fresh water which floats on top of salt water in a flood situation, the weed ( which is really an algae ) needs UV light to grow so murky water and the sun being lower in the sky in winter will slow it’s growth down. Look up Ulva intestinalis or Ulva lactuca on the interwebby and you can dive into the fascinating world of green algae ! Still haven’t got around to the home grown stuff ! Still waiting for the fresh water to dissipate so I can get some decent salt water that has some algae in it to seed the tank .

Still got a good feed ! I’m stinging for a fishing trip- hopefully in the next few weeks I will get out !