Tim

Ooohhh yeah, post some pics! Sounds like a lot of fun even if it doesn't work. I don't think I'd be putting my hand up to hold the rod though. If the line wraps around the tip or something you may find a ball of lead flying back at you at a ridiculous speed. That'd spoil the fun a bit I think. Good luck.

Here's hoping DJ. I'm currently boatless, but looking. Was pretty close to buying one not long ago actually, but have had some big expenses come up with our new home so it's kind of on the backburner at the moment. Cheers

Thanks for trying to cheer me up boys, but I'm afraid the only thing that will soothe this tortured soul is a big f**koff fish!

I think the main reason everyone did this was because the original post was asking what was people's favourite combo in the context of fishing for bream/salmon & small kings. Favourite rod over all for me however would be my 12' Wilson Beach Master with Okuma EB-80. Mainly because I have caught some of my better fish with this rod off the beach, and it will cast a 65g slug a mile.

Mine is a Daiwa Procaster X 2-4kg with Tica Taurus TP 2000s. It may have to be demoted to least favourite pretty soon though... The anti-reverse in the reel is starting to play up and it occasionally will wind backwards freely. It's a couple of years old, and has had a lot of use, but I still would have thought it would have lasted longer than this. I'll send it back to the manufacturer and see if they can fix it. If not, then those Team Daiwa TD Z CU2000's are looking pretty nice.

Hi guys I went over to terrigal haven again yesterday afternoon. The water looked good at the point, but I found that some of that slippery black slime has started to grow all over the rocks and it was just too slippery. I didn't want to break my ankle so I stayed off the point and cast from the rocks further back into the bay where it was a bit safer. Tried some silver and some gold slugs but didn't get any hits. Tried unweighted pilchard pieces and didn't get any hits. Tried squid jigs and didn't get any hits. Another waste of time. I hope this slump is leading up to something really good for me cos it just sucks! Cheers Tim

It's a hell of a lot of fun on bream gear, although your forearms get pretty tired. If you get a double hookup and you're both using bream gear it could get messy. Maybe around 4-5kg would be better. I'll leave it up to the other guys with tips on spots to fish from the boat (cos I have no idea). 99% of the salmon I've caught have been off the beach.

Hi guys Went down to CocoBanana beach at 5.30 on saturday morning. Using pilchards on gang hooks for bait. Couldn't get a bite. Fished near the lake. Very quiet indeed. At about 8.30 I gave up after no action whatsoever and went for a look over at Avoca. Had a spin off the rocks with a gold 60g gillies pilchard, and also tried a slow retrieve on my last pilchard that I'd saved... And guess what! Nothing. Thanks to DJmac & Tyrone07 for the tips re copa. Cheers Tim

Thanks for the tip Col. Hopefully I'll have something better to report tomorrow than last week's effort at the haven. If anyone feels like joining in with me, I'm aiming to get there at about 5.45-6.00am

Hi guys I'm thinking of going to Copacabana early tomorrow morning for a fish. I've never fished there before, and as I will be arriving before sunrise was just wondering if any of you could suggest which end of the beach would be best at the moment. Thanks Tim

WOW!!! What a fantastic report. Well done.

Me too! The water looked perfect for them. All churned up & I was casting into a large area of milky coloured water that I thought would have been perfect. I wonder if something with a rattle in it or a pilchard would have done better. I'm glad it's not just me though.

Dead. It was really dead. In the morning I cast a few different lures (Sluggo's & an assortment of different coloured & sized slugs) at the haven into the white water at the point. Looked good to me, but couldn't get any interest at all. There were a handful of bait fisho's around too but I didn't see anybody catch anything. Went out again after lunch to Ettalong Beach, then a couple of different spots around Woy Woy (landbased). Tried pilchards, but I couldn't get a bite. Not even a single tiny little nibble!!! I'm wondering if I had something on my hands that the fish didn't like the smell of, because it was just too quiet.

He had my mobile & I had his home number. I was pretty disappointed but I'm not angry about it because I wasn't able to get in contact with him to find out what happened. For all I know there could have been some family emergency or something. Either way, no hard feelings.

Sounds like you all had a good day. Sorry I missed it. I was all set to come along but there was some miscommunication between me and the person whose boat I was supposed to be on and we never crossed paths at the boatramp. I also couldn't remember what park you were all meeting at for lunch so I drove home a little disappointed. Hopefully I'll get to the next one.

What a haul! I would keep that many fish though. Too much bloody work cleaning them all! haha

Thanks for the tip bluefin. I'll give it a go. How do you attach the swivel? You could attach one end in the eye of the bottom hook, but what about the next hook up? What stops it from sliding off the end of the hook? Cheers

Hi guys Went to Avoca Beach this afternoon for a fish. Had a look see out on the rocks at the south end first. As usual, lots of fishermen and not many fish. There was one bloke with a kingfish though. I was chatting to him and asked if he'd caught anything & he said "yeah, a little yellowfin". "Really?" I asked excitedly and he pointed to his keep net. I had a look and it was actually a kingfish of about 40cm. I told him and said it wasn't legal. He thought it was funny. Anyhoo, back to the fishing report. I went down to the beach near the lake at about 3.30pm and casted a 65g raider around for about an hour. I got hit on the first cast & was connected for a few seconds to a good salmon before he jumped & managed to throw the hook. After that, not another touch on the lure. At about 5pm the surfies vacated my gutter so I moved in & switched to pillies on three 4/0 gang hooks. Got a small 25cm bream on dusk, and a few hits after that. I hooked another salmon after dark and again, it jumped and threw the hook after about a minute's fight! On my very last pilchard I managed to hook another salmon. I wish it had been daytime, cos he must have jumped 7 or 8 times. It would have been great to watch! This one didn't escape. I dragged him up on the beach and he was a healthy fatso of just over 56cm to the fork. With all my bait gone, and my fingers getting cold, I decided to call it a night. One question... Do salmon eat other salmon? I considered killing this one and using it for flesh bait, but changed my mind and decided I'd had enough. Cheers Tim PS. I also had a spin session off the rocks at the south end of umina beach today. Caught one chopper & nothing else. PPS. I think I've typed enough now.

Hey fellas I know a few of you would have bought older boats in the past and done them up for yourselves. Just wondering if it's a very cost effective way of going about getting what you want? I've been toying with the idea this week of buying a cheap 2nd hand hull without a motor that I could tidy up, add in the mod cons & whack a new outboard on the back. It seems to me that it would be pretty cost effective and that the end result could end up saving me a few dollars. What are people's thoughts on doing this? Cheers Tim

Hi Buster Thanks for your reply. That's a very similar boat to the one I'm looking at. Is yours a millenium hull? How do you like it? Any pros or cons? Cheers Tim

Thanks guys They use less fuel than I had imagined. Thanks for your replies. Just let me know if all these questions start to get annoying... (I'll change my username and start asking them under an alias)

Thanks Jo How does it go on fuel? The bloke selling this boat claims that he will do a fair bit of running around botany bay in a day and would only use about 25 litres of fuel. How much fuel would you usually burn on an 'average' day and how far would you go?

Hi guys Sorry for all the questions here. I'm just wondering about the versatility of a 70hp motor on an aluminium 475 centre console. I know going quick won't be a problem, but how about slow trolling dead baits? Any of you guys have one and can share your experience? At very slow speeds, would a 70 be a bit rough and use lots of fuel? Also, does a 70hp motor use much more fuel than a 60hp? I saw a boat on the weekend that is so close to being perfect for me, but I'm concerned that it might be a bit overpowered. Cheers Tim

16' aluminium centre console like a quintrex reef hunter or similar

Hi guys I'm searching for a boat at the moment. I've been looking in the trading post, boatpoint.com, local newspaper classifieds, and the fishnet classifieds. Can anyone suggest other websites/magazines that are worth looking at? Cheers Tim