Day's Fishin

I have no luck with cat food where there is any current but fresh mullet works well as does freshly killed roosters. The cat food tins have worked for me in dead water areas. Regards Jeff

If they still sell the crap like last year when one of the boy's stoped there because he left his bait sitting on the kitchen bench for his mother to spit the dummy over when she got up then I wouldn't bother wasting my money. Get some bait from one of the tackle/bait stores the day before you go and give yourself a chance at seducing a nice feed onto the houseboat. Good luck Jeff.

What Geoff said is true! Watch the areas you fish as you can be done for just going across some areas with hooks on your line in the boat. Hope you get some good fish. Regards Jeff

Using bearing buddies does not blow the back seal out! The bearing buddie will pop off first unless the back seal is stuffed and needs replacing. If the grease liquefies then you are not using high temperature bearing grease. You only pump enough grease in to squeeze out any moisture, if you keep pumping until its squirting out the back or pushing the bearing buddie off then you don't know how to grease a bearing! MY OPION AND I WILL STICK TO IT! My business uses trailers with heavy machinery and all have bearing buddies fitted which get a squirt of grease at the end of every week. Since putting them on the trailers we have not had to change a bearing in the last 5years so I will stick to my opion of them. Regards Jeff

Hi Fabian, after going with 3 other blokes on my boat fishing from South head to Bondi and up to 3k out Ron was using a hand line while the rest of us where using the latest come in spinner gear. He out fished us easily. Now it's how did you go with all your expensive gear whenever we see him, we don't ask him how he went in case he tells us and give him more ammo for the BBQ get togethers:wub: . Regards Jeff

Broken bay, any live bait. Spencer The Wall, live nippers or fresh Hawkesbury prawns peeled for good bream, school jew and flathead. Oyster leases around Bar island and Berowra creek use soft plastics for some great bream and big lizards. Where are you planning on launching maybe I can point you to a couple of spots. Regards Jeff

Just checked maritime on line and as I said you only have to have a non electronic chart off shore not in enclosed waters. Regards Jeff

Hey Ray that's a new one on me! You sure your not mixed up with fishing outside. Hi Loco Dave, The vines is a large area on the northern shoreline up from Peat island and opposite Milsons island. Unfortunately there are a couple of trawlers working along it on a regular basis and is nowhere near a prime spot anymore for bream. However if you get some fresh green weed you can still catch some nice luderick on a slack tide. Regards Jeff

Just one thing to keep in mind is when replacing the bearings is you make sure that you pack them with a high temperature marine bearing grease. When you purchase new bearings don't think the grease you see in them is all they need. They only have a small amount of grease that will make the bearing overheat and fail very quickly. There is a trick to packing the grease in and that is to put a small amount on the palm of your hand and then continue to smack the bearing on your hand until no more grease will go in. To save having to remove your bearings annually and repacking invest in a couple of bearing mates and pump them full after each trip. Make sure you do it after each trip and not before as some people do. The reason you do it after is to make sure any moisture is pushed out and not left in to seize the bearing during non use. Regards Jeff

I said they were on par with tailor (eating quality, in my opinion) not the same flesh as tailor! Regards Jeff

I would say that they would work their way back out like they did when they were small unless they found a good feeding ground close to where you released them. They travel in schools not families so they would join up with the first school they encountered. That's my opinion! I don't think anyone could say for sure. Regards Jeff

Hey Mcgoo, what a nice catch of blackies! They would have to be in my top 5 fish to eat and catch. Pound for pound they would be up there with bass in their fighting ability and usually caught on a lighter leader. I sure miss fishing for them at the Bondi Murk with the odd pig playing tug of war. Regards Jeff

If you like blue swimmer crabs eat them fresh. If you like washed out taste then cook them, remove the meat and freeze that. If you leave them whole you will taint the flesh and taste like crap with a P not crab with a B. Regards Jeff

The old sargent baker is not that bad to eat if you BBQ the fillets. You have to get quite a big one as they are sure full of bones. I would say, in my opinion, that they are on par with fish like tailor! Regards Jeff

As there is a law against them coming close to you and jet skies have a rego number you can report it to maritime or water police. Put it in writing and then they have to respond to your complaint. Regards Jeff

Mate I fish the Hawkesbury 9 out of 10 times and always catch fish! Every one that whines about the Hawkesbury tells you WHY they don't catch fish in their story. If your going to keep fishing where the trawlers are sweeping then you will end up with nothing. Why is it that everyone fishes Juno, the vines, bar point, , Patonga etc when these are the top of the hit list for the pros. I fished these spots in the 60's and 70's and they where very productive and yes there were trawlers working the system then but no where near the amount of nets being dragged around as today. My advice to anyone thinking of fishing the Hawkesbury is to stop reading where to fish in the Hawkesbury ( every map I have seen over the last decade is reproduced in the main from the ones printed in the 60's and 70's ) and go find where the fish are now not where they where when your father was a young bloke! Now for Sydney Harbour, everyone is going on about how good it is now the pros are out! Why is it when I lived at Bondi and fished Sydney Harbour in the 60's and 70's and there where trawlers everywhere we caught more fish then than now? Maybe it's the pollution that hit the harbour during the 80 to 2000 years and not the trawlers. Since the water improvement in the Harbour the fish are returning and that happened not because of trawlers being shut out but because someone in government finally had enough backbone to stop big industry pumping toxins into the system. And yes they where doing it before the 80's but not on such a scale as later. Fishing off Rosebay wharf ( which extended 5 times further out then it does now ) on a good day you could see the bottom. You would be lucky to see 1m down even now. Regards Jeff

After month's of not being able to access Fishraider I decided to invest in a new computer to alleviate the problem. I was going through withdrawal symptoms and getting very down hearted at not being able to respond to some great catches from you guy's! I have had a lot of good fishing trips since I last posted and will be posting on my next outing's now that it is possible. I can assure you that the Hawkesbury is not dead as some have been saying. We have been catching bag limits on flathead, bream, jewfish with some great mud crabs and a lot of huge bass for catch and release fun! Regards Jeff

I worked at Taronga Park zoo when I first left school and there was a hand raised fox there that I used to play with and yes they do tame pretty well and play just like any other dog. The downfall is they won't stay with you if not confined and dosn't matter what you do the smell they have is not crash hot. Regards Jeff

My 6 year old grandaughter was here and after much pleading not to hurt the fox I had no alternative but to release him or my little ray of sunshine would have had a boken heart. I did keep him in the trap all day before releasing him and hopefully he will only have bad memories of my property. I guess it's really up to me to make sure that the chook pen is fox proof! Regards Jeff

Thats a great size flattie Pete. There must be some big jews around if the soapies are there. Theres been a few catch of soapies in the Hawkesbury lately as well. Regards Jeff

Mate that hi tide video is like a lot of other similar ones out there. There was one a couple of years back withe Dave Buterfield that suggested that he caught all the fish over a couple of days when in fact the video was shot over a couple of weeks. A lot of the spots on the hi tide video have been wiped out by trawlers. When you leave Lower Portland make your way down to Dad's Corner. It will take you about 1.5hrs by houseboat. Watch the rightside of the river for a small beach and the rock wall coming out of the beach has Dads Corner written on it. All along there is a good spot for bream and school jew of a night. Just before there on the same side of the river is a marsh area and is another good bream and flattie spot. Make sure you peel your prawns as the bream can be a little timid here. There's very few catfish here but some bloddy big eels so don't bring them on board the houseboat if you don't want to practice some serious dancing steps. About another 1hr by houseboat and you will come to Webbs Creek ferry with Wisemans ferry only another 15minutes around the next bend. There is numerious spots around this area to catch bream, flathead and school jew. This area produces some nice catch's but mainly at night. Hope this helps. Put up another post when your trip is a week away or send me a PM as I fish this area a fair bit and I can tell you how the area is firing. Regards Jeff

All fishing reports are encouraged pic's or no pic's. Read the post the way it is written and don't put your own slant on it. Regards Jeff

Hi Raiders, just thought some of you may be interested in a little bit of trouble I had during the week! Walking up to feed the chickens I could see a lot of feathers stuck to the enclosure wire. As I got closer the carnage was unfolded. There was dead chickens laying everywhere. Only one black hen was alive. 9 dead hens and 2 dead roosters with 1 hen missing. Looking around the outside of the enclosure I found where the killer had entered to carry out his killerfest! This happened to me about 18 years ago as well. The Killer gets in and kills the lot then takes 1 back to its lair. The idea being that if he kills them all they will be there each night he returns for an easy meal. I removed all the dead chickens and the 1 live one. Put 1 dead chicken in the trap and placed it in the gateway. As predicted he returned that night for an easy meal but got more then he was expecting. I don't think he will be eating anymore of my chickens! Luckily I had another hen with 6 babies in another enclosure and another rooster that was locked up by himself to restock my egg producers. Regards Jeff

Long reef is one of Sydney's best close in fishing spots that produces on a regular basis. Two flatties and 3 morwong would make a great dinner for you and your daughter. A pic, or two in your next post would be great. Regards Jeff