Steve0

The way I see it calling all tangles 'wind knots' is misleading. Some tangles are caused by mismatched rod/reel combination or unsuitable design; some may be caused by retrieve technique and/or very light lures may contribute; others are the result of twists caused by cranking the handle while the drag is slipping, which twists the line. There are probably other causes, but I'm not sure any are the direct result of fishing on a windy day.

Every fishos nightmare! I had a rod with badly designed runners that combined poorly with a badly designed spool (not angled sufficiently where the line ran across the lip). It was narrower and deep than that, which led to rapidly decreasing line depth when cast. Every time I gave it more than half strength, it made noises like line thrashing the rod before 'pfl bang'. My guess is friction slowed line on one side, while the rest continued at the same speed. The result tied itself to the lower runner. The runner had no design features to help prevent line wrap. Old rod, old reel. Loaded with El Cheapo braid it went back to soaking bait off rocks. My main reel was being overhauled at the time, so I used a Shimano Sienna loaded with braid until it came back (good reel at the price for bait but very rough compared to Saragosa). Using mono, when a fish hooked wide it was more like gradual awareness than feeling the hit. It also 'robbed' me of the jarring when Salmon went aerial, shaking their heads, but I probably dropped a smaller percentage for the short time. It's hard to say with any certainty. Apart from feel (and cast distance), nothing notable changed catching Tailor. Wind knots can teach you a lot.

In my experience, soft line is more prone to wind knots than stiff line. It just demands a bit more focus. Assuming the same brand/type, logically, fine braid would be softer than thick braid. I go further than manual close, etc. I look at both spool and reel face before casting. Loops seen before casting are far easier to fix than wind knots. Their appearance might also help you focus on what you were doing on the last retrieve that may have caused an issue.

Quite a few things contribute to wind knots, including design factors of rod, reel and how they combine, but a lot of knots are caused by loose loops of line, either on the spool or across the face. All I can suggest is checking before you cast. If you discover loose loops is your problem, you need to work on technique but switching to mono would be a viable alternative. It can be frustrating having schools of fish just out of reach. Some think, "that's fishing", but others want longer casts. Braid helps with the latter. Something to consider in your decision is whether it would bother you if a school is out of your reach and someone else is hooking up. There is an alternative option - a spool of mono for stick bait & poppers and a spool of braid for lead lures on occasions you want longer casts.

On the beach with fish on, my rod tip is always to the side and low. The degree of bend depends - straighter lets them pull line easier. More bend = more hurry up. Generally I give the fish a lot of 'hurry up' bringing them through hard locations (against rips, across shallow sandbars and shore breaks). Sometimes I'll be cranking and pumping hard (mindful that the result is not a spool spinning on the drag), while walking slowly backwards. If possible, tire them out wide in calmer water before getting them to the hard locations. Away from stronger shore break and resulting is preferable for landing, but it's not always possible. Angle them across a rip, if possible, towards weaker current. You need luck with the outer side of shallow sandbar on lower tide. When conditions suit, strip all but shorts and fish from the sandbar may help. I use mostly 40g lead lures. I distrust standard trebles. With large fish, a hook only needs to straighten a little to lose you a fish. Trebles often have small barbs. My first job with a new batch of lures is to fit quality rings and 3X 3/0 Mustad Hoodlum single hooks (not a simple job with very strong rings and thick wire hook). They have a long point and relatively large barb that probably raised my overall Salmon landed rate from 85% to 90%. When I used an assist, it was as a replacement for the back end hook, but tied at the front, so the hook sat where the hook would normally be at the back of the lure. I thought that photo showed it, but zooming now, I can't make out the leader. Leader and assist were attached to the same ring. They are fairly easy to tie. Kevlar cord and a relatively simple knot. Some people like to tidy up with shrink wrap. That gives more Tailor tooth protection. As you see in the photo, I didn't bother, and would switch to a regular lure with a lot of Tailor about. You'll also see in the photo, not a lot of trouble was taken trimming the knot close.

Shore breaks are always hard. Water pressure comes at the fish from different directions. They have better reflexes than us and can use the changes or they may get tumbled about. Whatever I do became automatic over the years. There may be something I miss, but thinking it through. 1) Logically, rod tip low would help keep the head down. Make sure you have a good bend in the rod, being careful not to reach the high stick angle. (Edit: remember that guide friction from a more bent rod increases drag pressure). 2) Standing back reduces the severity of the line angle changes as the fish changes direction. 3) Watch the waves carefully. Don't try to pull the fish in against the receding water. Hold it then use incoming water to wash it up. Remain calm if it doesn't happen. If it starts taking line, reduce the rod angle. Keep playing it and remain calm. If you can't catch one wave, you can catch another. 4) Walk the fish along to a friendlier location as you play it. This probably should be #1, but I enjoy the challenge of landing them in tough locations. A lighter lure is less easily dislodged. For a while, I was using only an assist hook on my heavier lures. It lure reduces leverage at the hook.

Braid is first class for lure tossing. You feel everything the fish does. Hooking a fish 50m or so away using mono you feel the weight gradually increasing. Braid is unforgiving of your mistakes. The stretch in mono absorbs shocks and changes and is far more forgiving. Braid casts further (WFT Gliss casts substantially further than braid but I couldn't recommend it - too fragile). If you toss lures for sport, use braid. If you want a better chance of landing your fish, use mono. Two spools may be an option if you plan both lure and bait use.

IMO, Luderick from more remote areas have a more delicate flavour than their city cousins and are better than Bream. BUT the flavour deteriorates relatively quickly if you don't look after them well (not good as a commercial species, but very good for us). ASAP after humane killing, bleed, fillet, skin and remove black stomach lining. Keep the fillets cold. Alternative to carrying a cooler, retain them in a large keeper net (which is not the same as a scaler net) in constantly refreshed water (e.g. large, deep rock pool regularly refreshed by waves, and not 'roughed up' by wave action) and complete the killing bleeding, etc at the end of session. Enjoy them cooked the same ways as you would Bream. I used to share the catch at work occasionally, where we'd wrap them with butter and herbs in foil and cook them in the oven. Minimum fuss; good result; eaten straight from the foil there was no mess to clean up. I forget the recipe we used. Search the web for foil baked fish to get the general idea.

You could try a marine centre to see if they will repair, sell on consignment, and take repair costs and commission out of the sale price.

You feel a slight itch where the tick is burrowed in and scratch lightly without thinking. That's enough to make them vomit a bit more poison in and the itch starts (itchy over a year when I struck a nest of 19). I've had MMA (allergy to ALL mammal meat) since about 2003. I get a bad dose of hives if I eat, steak, lamb, pork, rabbit, roo... (you should be getting the general idea). Fish and fowl are OK. Not much else. Some people have life-threatening reactions. Some people react to tiny doses of mammal product (sausage skins, milk products, gelatine), so I consider myself lucky. Personal focus over, the little b's are spreaders of all sorts of disease. Science still says there is no Lyme disease in Australia, but there is another disease with Lyme-like symptoms. Phones are good for photos, but are otherwise incredibly intrusive. t

My back yard did not fit Many mornings we see fog below (deck was being re-done). The light around sunset is spectacular.

Found a few current locations photos Inside the Mangroves along Calabash Creek (water feeds down from unpopulated bushland and looks a little cleaner, but is mostly very shallow). The rest are different locations along Berowra Creek Gained yet another tick bite scrambling through thick scrub to find this Rock Orchid. Looking down on Berowra Waters from a local knowledge lookout. A strong suspicion of what the high cost of pump-out causes to happen to sewerage is the reason I avoid fishing anywhere along the creek. Float plane dropping someone at Berowra Waters Inn. We went in an aluminium boat. The food is bloody expensive. We had 6 course with wine pairing ($370 each). Food is a small quantity looking very lonely in the middle of a plate. The wine pairing comes in very generous amounts. I walked out three sheets to the wind, starving and p'd off with the idiot who thought it was OK to chat business on his phone most of the evening.

Yellowfin Pigfish looks good to me. https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/1228

There were a few close calls with live fur seals that caused a fright - when you are almost on top of one don't see one behind a rock, its loud panicked bark gets you every time. Here's a seal that washed up on the beach at Eden. Lead poisoning seemed a possibility, but the fragrance deterred a close inspection. A call to Council saw it buried before it stunk out the town. Unfortunately, not at the end of the beach, more suited for worming. It's the wildlife in remote locations down that section of the coast that keeps doughnut days interesting. One memorable experience was watching a Sea Eagle take a dead Salmon I tossed for it (gill hooked - dead if released) then a Swamp Harrier and Sea Eagle seeming to staying in my general vicinity watching releases as the kms passed along the beach. Eventually, they took exception to each other and locked talons, dropping from high going around in circles until they pulled out about 15m away from me, just in time to miss the sand.

Moments later, the Dolphins hit the Salmon and they moved to my side of the sandbar. A long way down an incredibly steep hill, but the fishing was good I have no idea what this may have been. It looks like it's purpose was winching, but rocks below would not have suited. A Leopard Seal on it's holiday in the sun. It was very lean but very much alive.

Because I'm having problems stirring up enthusiasm to fish in filthy water around the city, I have few current photos here, but a stack of photos around Eden. Cast in the surfers direction (too far to hit). A good location for Salmon and Tailor, but Kings gave me no thinking time before they hit bottom. Had I held them off the bottom, the cunje covered rock is an overhang. The spectacular gutters along the beach generally produced better fishing. I didn't have anything to take a photo on the day a large Bronzie was relaxing in a gutter in almost flat conditions. Natures garden above a Tailor hotspot Shallow water trapped hundreds of jellyfish My last session at Eden. That's a totally empty beach as far as can be seen. Behind it stretches about 1/3 as far in the opposite direction, also empty. Not long after, lightning suggested I find a location away from the carbon stick until it passed. Waiting patiently for Luderick cleaning time

A diary is a great tool. You may not ever read what you wrote but, the writing focuses your thoughts, helping you analyse how well your plan went on the day.

I'm sure you'll be delighted with it.

Mostly I fish office hours. There are a lot of fish to be caught during the day. I doubt any fish bite more in the middle of the day. Change of light just seems to fire them up. My best ever session on Luderick was during a solar eclipse. They were biting OK beforehand but from when the light started fading until the eclipse passed, they were on the weed before the lead settled the float in the water.

You can edit in a bit more about the drag system if it falls short. Saragosa has dual drag; Spheros has front drag.

I tie FG at home (only if line or leader is damaged at the end of the last session). In the field I keep moving and prefer a knot I can tie standing with rod leaning on one shoulder (but do use anything convenient as a rest). The reason for short leader is that mainline is lighter than leader. I explore some fairly daunting structure and cunje is a lure magnet. Unless lucky enough that the hook tears through, snag = lost lure. Up to five per session. Any fuzzy braid is discarded when a new leader is tied. Other than that, my rod tip doesn't get much opportunity to leave a salt crust due to evaporation. However, I plan to keep salt crust in mind in future.

I'm fairly certain you answered your own question.

Flouro is traditionally used as leader. It's a fraction tougher than mono (e.g. for scraping across rock), but there's not a lot in it. I don't subscribe to the theory that invisibility to fish matters (but for some species, feel makes them hesitant). Mono is generally more flexible and stretches (more forgiving), but I doubt that makes much difference in the length used for leader. How much leader to tie is a 'piece of string' question. From a boat (or rocks) chasing huge fish, a long wind-on leader stops the fish's tail and scales abrading the line (FG knot is THE thin knot, so easily the best choice). For other fishing, I recommend a length that avoids your leader knot passing through guides during casting. So, use a little less leader than you would hang from the rod tip during a cast. This is a balance between running through guides and the need to re-tie a new leader as lures are lost, or the section close to the hook is nibbled by pest fish, or a little leader abraded by structure. Others may have different thoughts. The FG leader knot is the best knot for resulting thickness and strength, but it can be a frustrating knot until you learn it. I suggest you start easy. Here's are two fairly easy knots for you to try (OK for joins between any combination of braid, mono, flouro). Lefty Kreh and Yucatan. Here's another fairly easy knot: I have no doubt someone else will post an FG knot. There are many different ways to tie it, different people think different ways are 'the easiest'. In the long term, it's a knot you may need. The FG knot works like a finger trap. Tie is slightly wrong and the braid losing grip on the leader. It's a knot you need to practice a few times to gain confidence, before you tie it in the field.

Official advice - https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/fishing-skills/fishing-in-sydney-harbour . I'm not keen on eating a lot of fish caught around cities, at all. People don't seem to care what they toss into waterways.