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Steve0 last won the day on September 17
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Berowa Heights
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A quality stainless steel and brass pump pays for itself fairly quickly if you fish often. You can make one yourself from PVC pipe (instructions on YouTube), but it looks like it takes a bit of work. If you do buy a pump, look for this style of washer. IMO, they are superior to the style with a single piece of compressible foam rubber Also, make sure you aren't going to jamb your fingers in the handle mechanism, including between top rubber and handle. Rinse your pump at the end of the session to get rid or the salt water and sand. I normally pull mine apart totally, rinse then assemble with the nut not done up. Carry a spare washer kit for the day haven't been out for a while and find the washers perished, or you lose a wingnut. IMO the rubber washers work better the thick foam style.
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For 6M, you might start thinking about a cliff gaff. Limited discussion only here: Search Google images for "cliff gaff" to get the design.
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Well done on your first. I'm sure many will follow.
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Before you go out, look for fronts and troughs on BOM synoptic http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/synoptic_col.shtml, (animate to see prediction movement) but always be aware weather prediction is not an exact Science. When I asked, years ago, I was told those lines are hand-drawn. Interpretation: https://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/2391/the-art-of-the-chart-how-to-read-a-weather-map/ Storms can roll in incredibly fast. I was fishing a beach once, with about 1km run along a channel and 2km across a wide inlet before the safety of the ramp. We were about 200M from the boat (13'6" tinny with 35HP) when I saw black clouds on the horizon. "Run, I said". By the time we made it to the inlet full throttle, after a couple of minutes diversion to warn others who were in a location where dunes blocked their view, the waves were building along the inlet. I could not see through the screen, so had to put my head above the screen to pick direction. Running fast, the rain hit like needles. Only arriving at the inlet minutes later, the people I warned said waves were too big for them to open the throttle wide. They had a slow, scary trip into very peaky waves with wind break.
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Do sand fleas/piggies live in NSW?
Steve0 replied to nosignificantharassment's topic in Saltwater Fishing Chat
You made me curious. A bit of research found they are Mole Crabs (Emerita). https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/47183-Emerita If you look at the map tab, you'll see zero recorded sightings in Australia, which may not mean they are not here, just not observed by people involved in the iNaturalist community. -
Better bruised than broken. It's good you shared the experience, so others may learn. It's not a location I've fished. Presumably the swell arrives across deep water and waves build very quickly.
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Micro crack on reel. Replace with jury rigged part or buy new?
Steve0 replied to faker's topic in Tackle Talk
A good old-fasioned tackle shop may have a stack of old reels for spares out the back. You might try phoning a few. Yellow pages might reduce the chore a little. https://www.yellowpages.com.au/search/listings?clue=Fishing+tackle+shops&locationClue=Greater+Sydney%2C+NSW -
Real Estate isn't near as bad in the region as around Nelson Bay but the sandflies are horrendous. You itch for ages after the sandflies treat you as a banquet. Good fishing; bad sandflies. Nowhere is perfect, I suppose.
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The reason I started digging into the archives was to find what areas are closed for bloodworms (I'm not having much luck searching DPI). I know my old hunting ground where that photo was taken was shut down, but thee is always a chance it re-opened. Someone from Tanilba Bay/Lemon Tree Passage may have an answer. If you don't know the area, there are large expanses of shallow water with a bottom of sand and mud mix and some stretches of mangroves. The photo was taken on a day I decided to get out into the sulphurous slop just outside the mangrove root line (mangroves are behind the camera). Normally, I would dig in a mud/sand mix, well away from mangroves (do not disturb mangrove roots). The easy to walk area probably had mangroves back in history, but frequent digging possibly turned the digging area into ribbon weed beds. Whether that's right or not, the easy-to-walk area, required far more digging between worms (maybe every 10 clumps, compared to 3 in the slop). I heard stories about people upending large empty food cans on squirt worm holes and stomping to blow worms out, but never tried and don't know enough to understand the difference between those and other species of tube worm. Incidentally, I found that in Qld digging worms using tools is prohibited. You have to gather bloodworms by hand only. Slowly dig your hand in, scoop out a clump and search it.
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Nice photos. Being close to nature adds to the fishing, even when some birds make a bit of a nuisance of themselves. Except Gulls. The pesky b's have no respect. My starving Shearwater plague experience was about a week or so trying to keep a 40g metal away. When they did catch hold, they'd get the middle of the lure and let go only when you lifted them from the water. Do you contribute your wildlife photos to iNaturalist?
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@Peter K Your tubes that crumble will be the tubes of a variety of tubeworm (Wikipedia says there are over 10,000 species of Polychaeta). Seeing tubes does not guarantee worms below nor that any worms found will be useful as bait (I imagine living in tubes reduces the need to for tough skin). However, definitely worth a try if you have a pump handy. IMO, the softness of tubeworms limits their versatility. They do work but Bloodworms are far tougher, stand up to casting, drifting (including through ribbon weed) and are less susceptible to the attention of pickers (which does not mean they leave them alone).
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Intriguing. I've always done far better with worms chasing Whiting. Perhaps it depends on where you fish (as in 'match the hatch')? Yabby pumps are usual in estuaries. Smelly baits, teaser, catch the worm and slide it out are beach worm tactics and not something I've seen in estuaries. Quite a few times, watching people failing to catch worms on beaches put me off trying. In fact, I've never witnessed a person catch a beach worm. You do have me wondering whether a staked smelly bait might result in a gathering of bloodworms. Magnified end of the bloodworm that latches on (tubeworms lack that dentistry):
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No idea. I like peace while fishing. Other than in a boat, which opens up more choice, my fishing was all done walking in from Berowra. Fish, move, fish, move, fish move and so on. It's a long walk to Apple Tree Bay, let alone Bobbin Head. I don't fish Apple Tree Bay, either. There is a pontoon adjacent the launching area at Apple Tree Bay. I only know of people complaining about tiny fish destroying their bait there. In locations like that, a lure would increase your chances.
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I only fished the area with bait. I cannot give a straight answer about which rocks. Fish move about. You need to move as well to find them. There's nothing wrong with relaxing, waiting for a fish to do you a favour, but hunting them generally produces better results. So, any rocks you can safely get to, preferably in a way you can sneak a peak into the water to look for Bream, glancing over or around - stealth mode. Bream often feed very close to shore. Looking for moving shadows on the bottom will help you work out fish in deeper water. Where you cannot make out the bottom, be aware they may flash belly-white as they turn side-on to feed.
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Researching for areas to legally collect bloodworms, this old post appeared with no response. Probably too late for the OP, discussion may help someone else. First and foremost: Check legal restrictions before collecting any bait. Based on personal experience, bloodworms and sandworms are located in estuaries around sandflats oozy mud and areas between. Tubeworms are soft worms. As the name implies, they live in tubes that they construct as they grew. There are many varieties. Usable varieties are mostly collected using a yabby pump in a relatively sandy area. Tubeworms are soft and break apart easily but do make very effective bait. Being soft, pickers will strip them off your hook very quickly. Finding them is similar to finding yabbies, but their holes are smaller, and you see a little bit of tube sticking up. Unlike yabbies, results do not come from restricting pumping to holes. Work in the vicinity of holes, moving 20-25cm after success, but pump up to 3 or 4 times if you do not get results on the first pump. Once ejected, they often self-destruct. The most effective way to pick them up seems to be to gently grab them at the head end. Transfer quickly with a smooth action to a bucket of seawater. They may stay intact. The head end is toughest on the hook, so ensure you keep the head of any that break up. Kept in seawater, they taint the water quickly. Change the water regularly. Once you've had them in water for a while, they seem a little less prone to self-destruction. Kept in cool, fine dry sand in shade, they seem to last longer. The main advantage of tubeworms over bloodworms is ease of collection. They are usually relatively thick in the sand. That leaves the problem of finding where they are. Pump and move about areas containing holes. When you start having success, work the area well. Bloodworms are fast, very tough worms that can be dug in the sulphurous ooze zone to firm sand with a percentage of mud. They have four curved black 'teeth' coming out of the front (not showing in the image) and will latch on when given the chance. Personal experience is digging them with a specialised worm fork (like a garden fork, but with four flatter tines at 90 degrees to the handle - 4 prong hoe???). At low tide, you drive the fork into the ooze like swinging an axe and pull back. If you see one going into another area, dig again immediately. They are very fast, but you may get it. Otherwise, manually pull apart the chunk you dug out. Put any you find straight into a bucket of fresh seawater. Bloodworms make tough, fish-attracting bait. Great for whiting and Bream. The downside is they are very hard work. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: While sometimes bloodworms are found in ribbon weed zones, avoid digging there. Ribbon weed is the nursery area for many species. Protecting habitat contributes to continual ability to catch fish. Emerging from a successful dig in what later became a protected area. I was not aware of ribbon weed damage back then. How to use depends what you are chasing. Personal choice: #4 long shank hook for whiting; #4 hook for Luderick; 2/0 for Bream and other species. Rig as you would normally for each species. Moving bait seems to work best, in particular for Whiting and Flathead, but movement tends to break up tubeworms relatively quickly.