Guinness

Thanks for the heads up @DrRaymondSnapper. I will give your suggestions a try on the weekend.

Sensational catch of dollies Zoran. What size reel were you using? They look like 4500 threadlines from the photos or did you upsize to something bigger?

Hey thanks for that XD351. I will give your suggestions a shot. Not expecting miracles but if I can manage to locate some green weed my mum would be thrilled. Regards Guinness

G'Day Raiders Just a quickie. My 84 year old mother is coming up for a visit to our house on Lake Macquarie. We are fortunate in that we have a jetty that runs out into deep water. Mum has always been an avid angler but her favourite fishing past time is definitely black fish. I spied a couple of luderick lurking off the jetty the other day so I thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone knew of places in Lake Macquarie where you can grab some green weed. We live at Buttaba just south of Toronto on the Lake's western foreshore but I would be willing to travel if I knew I could find some green weed. Thanks guys.

With the great advice you have received from the Raiders I think you will be well on your way to increasing your squid catch Birdy. One technique I have used when squidding is to increase the Gain/Sensitivity level on my sounder. I find the increase in gain can assist to locate squid schools, particularly if you are drifting. Next time you are out and about give it a shot. Good luck.

Super effort considering you didn't have a sounder to identify structure and bail schools. I might head over to the reef myself and give it a go. Well done

I have moved up to Lake Macquarie now but I did fish out of Broken Bay for 30 years plus in my Southwind. I have 3 suggestions for you for tomorrow: 1. Trawleys Reef This is a highly structured, narrow reef close in off Palm Beach. Trawleys is a great king ground, especially if the bait is holding up top. You may need to wait for the kings to come through but if and when they do it can be a lot of fun. You MUST have squid to fish this ground. GPS Marks: S 33 35. 997 E 151 21. 039 2. Boultons Reef Arguably the most popular reef out of Barrenjoey. A large expanse of reef without the sharp structure of Trawleys. Holds a wider range of fish- snapper, moeys, jew, jackets. GPS Marks: S 33 36. 550 E 151 22 416 3 Flathead Drift Ground A good drift ground that holds reasonable size flathead as well as the odd flounder. The wind maybe too strong tomorrow for a flathead drift but this is a solid patch in calm conditions. GPS Marks S 33 35. 248 E 151 24.447 I hope these details can help you in some way as I am still attempting any sort of offshore success out of Swansea. All the best Hooligan2. Be sure to let me know if you clean up. Regards Guinness Guinness

WOW. That is one cracker of a barra! It certainly shows the value of fish release being propagated in the NT, WA, and Queensland. The $ such prize fish bring to these states is a true tourism boon.

Thanks for your input Rick and Noel. I will give it a real go over the next month. If I come up trumps I will let you know.

G'Day Raiders, I have recently moved to Lake Macquarie and have just started taking my 5M Seafarer Vamp offshore out of Swansea. The boat is a solid centre console rig and gets around nicely offshore. Last weekend I shot down to Catherine Hill Bay, and also sounded some reef area in about 30 metres off the Caves Beach break wall. I haven't hooked up on a reddie as yet and wanted to know if anyone could give me any tips such as best depths in certain areas. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Brilliant day out Whiskey299. All great quality table fish as well as giving you a top workout to land them. Well done.

Great effort Rebel. My wife and I lived at the 'Golden Triangle' at Newport for 12 years. I never thought to have a toss off the stones (which were about 70m from our home.) Congrats on your big effort driving down from the coast.

Well done Kirelda. I still recall my first fish on a lure. It was an Australian bass. Being winter and the fish not so active you may want to add some fish scent to your lure. It may help you increase your catch rate. Anyway, great to see you have broken your duck.

We had the grand kids over to our humble abode on Lake Macquarie last weekend. Apologies for the late report however I have been interstate this week. I was attempting to woo the family away from their favourite form of angling- namely bait. I have been successful of late using vibes to nail some quality lizards around the concentrated bait schools of Eraring Bay. The wind was up a bit so I thought it best to introduce the youngsters to lure fishing off our jetty prior to taking them out in the boat. I have been having some success with the 85gram pearl white vibe and had a few of these, as well as some nice 'green' vibes. (Can't remember the actual lure description). Our eldest grandson, Billy (10 years old), was very keen and kept casting lures whilst his 8 year old brother and 5 year old sister were losing interest. Of course I was copping the comments, 'We've never caught fish on lures', they just don't work. Well of course young Billy hooked into a nice fish, and after much commotion managed to land a nice 68cm flathead. After much pleading Billy agreed to release the fish. The photos show the excitement. It was obviously the biggest fish he had ever caught. The look on his face and that of his sister, Rocky is truly memorable. We continued to fish and managed to catch another 4 flathead, 58cm, 56cm, 53cm, and a smaller fish. The 2 largest fish were released as was the smallest. We did dine on the other 2. Rather nice that we didn't have to go anywhere to catch a feed, however the kids of course want to come back next weekend! Fortunes of living by the water.

You have some absolutely brilliant intel already on this conundrum. The only very basic suggestion I have is to ensure the muffs you use are soft and flexible. I have made the mistake in the past of buying cheap, rigid muffs that can't adequately 'grip' the contours of the outboard's leg. The result is they can't exert enough water pressure into the intake and therefore you won't see the expected tell tale. The muffs made from the softer material are much more effective. Depending on your outboard you may need to adjust the 'fit' of the muffs to secure the required seal but it is a lot easier with the softer material. Looks like you are already pointed in the right direction. All the best Hammy.