Jiggy

I've wanted to fish up there for a long time but the Wooli bar puts me off. Has anyone tried launching from Minnie Water rather than Wooli? Cheers Rob

I'm starting to question if this does go ahead given the results of the Orange by election on the weekend. A safe Nats seat Orange is now a Fishers and Shooters party seat, so the locals have said stuff you to parties cosying up to the greens, amongst other things, and voted for the most anti green party you can get. YAY! I doubt if the Libs or Nats want to tempt fate in other seats come the next election with lockouts, so hopefully this goes away for now. Cheers Rob

This proposal bans fishing from Kurnell to the end of the National Park, say Stanwell Park or there about. Others want to ban fishing in selected sites; the main thing is that these are proposals put to the government. So what do you do? Write you local member, write the fishers and shooters who hold seats in the NSW senate, write the Premier and tell them what you think, tell them how great a family activity fishing is, the economic benefits it brings to the state, the electoral backlash if they ban recreational fishing in southern Sydney. Be polite and write. Sitting on your bum and whining won't get us anywhere. The green fringe are in the pollies ears talking preference deals for fishing bans on a government that's on the nose. We need to tell the government that they would lose more than what they gain if they did this. Cheers Rob

Have a look at Phoenix Boats in South Nowra, in a previous life they were Predator boats. Locally built, tough as nails and very seaworthy. Cheers Jiggy

I just went through the same issue with a boat down from Queensland and could not find any mobile mechanic that did blue slips. Best bet is to look for a workshop open on Saturdays that issues them. Cheers Rob

This is the new baby I've picked up; a 2013 Galeforce 6 with a 140 Suzuki with 200 hours on it. Well maintained and came with a Simrad NSS 16, auto pilot, VHF radio, fusion sound system Powerwinch on the trailer and more. A 200 litre fuel tank gives me lots of range and it comes with dedicated cranking and house batteries in the console. I added to it a motorguide on the nose and a 4G broadband radar. With this I can chase whiting with poppers in the shallows and kings and snapper on the wider reefs. My first target is a Hawkesbury jew on a lure! I usually launch from Kyeemagh; if you see me come over and say hi. Cheers Rob

Thanks guys; biting the bullet and flying up to Hervey Bay to check it out. I'll let you know what I find. Cheers Rob

Hi Guys, I'm looking for a new boat and have seen a 6 metre galeforce that looks pretty good, but I don't know much about them. Checking on the web hasn't turned up much info; has anyone got ridden in one of these? If so I'd really like to know your thoughts both good and bad about them. Cheers Rob

It's been a while since I fished there but Merimbula is a great spot; I've fished there both with and without boats. Between the bridge and the river mouth are a number of sandflats; on the run out tide fish school up in the main channel next to them. I've caught some huge whiting on worms, bream, and decent flathead fishing in the channel on the run out. Run in tide whiting on poppers on the flats themselves is great fun. If you go to bar beach, towards the wharf, at the entrance there is, or was, a green marker buoy. Cast towards that on an afternoon run out tide when its a bit rough and foamy for bream, flathead and some things I couldn't stop. If you walk up river from Bar Beach there are some rocky points; fish them at night with unweighted baits for bream and big tailor. Water is less than waist deep so it's pretty shallow but there is a hole off one point that is about 5 metres deep. You can get good crabs there too sometimes and prawns if that's your things. Merimbula wharf can get crowded but there are stacks of blackfish to be caught there. Get your weed at short point then fish the wharf from around 5 to dark. This is when the blackfish run into the river for the night. Cast out to where you can't see the bottom and fish about 8 to 10 feet down, fish heavy as you have to lift the fish up to the wharf so it's not the place for standard blackfish rods. I use a beach rod, 4144, and it does the job fine. There are some big fish caught there it's a great blackfish spot. You can also get bonito, gars, salmon and tailor there but the crowds can be a hassle; worth it for the blackfish though. Lots of beaches between Merimbula and Tathra that are worth trying as well. If you want a beach jewie now is the time to try for them on the far south coast. It's a top spot and from now to April I think it's the best time to go there; enjoy! Cheers Rob

Once if you wanted to catch YFT few people went further than the peak and as far as I know no one went to Browns; most people had 16 ft tinnies that they customised for fishing and they just didn't have the range that boats have today. The tuna season would start in March when the first big fish would turn up but they were around all year in small numbers. It was common to hook YFT when trolling for bonito or kings close in and they were a regular target for the LGB crew; I used to see them regularly in the bay at Merimbula and Tathra and charging bait schooling at the wharves there. We cubed back then but on the inshore reefs so usually you'd be anchored up and the cubes would bring more than tuna, kings, marlin and snapper were regular by catch. A mate almost lost a 92 kilo YFT as his dad was tight to a big king when he hooked up and no one could lift the anchor. They ended up cutting off the king much to his dads displeasure! Up to the late 70's it was much the same for Bluefin apparently, they too were a regular target for the LGB guys at the time and would run in very close to shore. As Stevefish mention in the late 80's/ early 90's the YFT population on the east coast got hammered and the inshore population got wiped out. Gone for good apparantly These days, to me, the offshore YFT population seems to be on the way out too, there seems to be less fish each year. I think that it won't be long until YFT are gone from this part of the world if things don't change. And it's not the local pro's who are causing the problem but uncontrolled commercial operations in PNG waters more than anything else. It's great that BFT are making a comeback but something needs to be done to recover the YFT stocks before they are gone. I don't want to travel 50 km east of Sydney and cube all day for nothing as is often the case these days. I want to catch them in the shadow of the cliffs like we did before. Cheers Rob

If you want cuttlefish in deep water this is the 100% method that works for me; a raider jig in 65 to 100 grams. Drop it to the bottom and fish it using a slow yo yo method; if they are around it won't take long for them to find the jig. I find fishing over gravel the best spot to try this and you often get some big ones jumping on. Squid sometime jump on them too, but fishing a squid jig tied to a paternoster while drfting seems to work better. In the deeper water they are definately bigger and time of day doesn't seem to matter to much. Cheers Jiggy

Hi Locodave, I went through the same sort of issue a few years back, but for a slightly different reason. I had at the time a 4.3 Predator tri hull (fibreglass) which was great but I was running into a couple of issues. Space as you mention plus I was spending more time offshore, than in estuaries, which the boat was really designed for. Plus as a side console she was wet. I upgraded to a viking 5.5 and can't be happier. A boat that size can fish 4, though 3 is better, has a ton of storage room, a far better and more comfortable ride in any weather, dry...I could go one. You will find that as the larger boats can handle the weather and seas better you will be going out in conditions that you currently won't get out o bed for. And sometime conditions that aren't great for people can be good for fish. The downsize as the others have mentioned is your fuel bill is going up. The predator had two 20 litre tanks and I could run all day and still have something left. The viking carries 130 litres and I most trips see me use half. You may also be looking at an upgrade in tow vehicle. I currently use a verada 3.5, which does the job, but really I can only use it locally. To go away up/down the coast my mate used his 4wd, which the bugger has just sold! I am trading for a turbo diesel which will do the job so much better and is what I reccommend you think about getting in time. So basically the downsize is going to be cost related but in exchange you bet a far better fishing platform. Cheers Jiggy Oh and I regularly go out solo and launching/retrieving is no problem once you get a bit of practice and follow a routine.

I haven't been to Merimbula for a few years but I used to go there quite regularly. Once you cross the main bridge there's a ramp next to it with plenty of parking. I used to launch a 4.5m boat from there with no problems. Didn't fish the lake much but there are fish to be had on the river from the bridge to the mouth. I found that the dropping tide was good as all the fish would come off the flats opposite town; pulled some huge whiting from there. You can get worms/nippers/soldier crabs from the flats opposite the town and the flats near the game fishing club. Offshore there are the usual suspects, flathead, and off Haycock point there are kings and sometimes snapper to be had. If you want to go outside I'd actually suggest launching from Tathra. Good ramp and very fishy offshore. Shore fishing can be great here. If you travel up towards the wharf you can go to main beach which is where the river mouth is. At the mouth there can be some big bream and flatties; fish the run out tide in the afternoons when there is a bit of bump and cast towards the channel marker. At night on the rising tide this stretch of the river from the mouth to as far as you can walk can fire! The beach has a few rocky points and these can fish well for bream at night if you fish light and burley for them. No sinker light lines and fresh slimeys are the way to go. The downside is that there can be a lot of taylor, sometime pretty decent ones, in the river and ya get no chance with them. You can go though a lot of hooks. But where there are taylor there can be jew. Along here is a very deep hole, 5+ metres, which can be worth a throw at night if it hasn't silted up. Lost a couple of jew here over the years when they got me wrapped around anchor chains; there's always a boat nearby when I hook up! But they can get into the shallows too. I lost a really nice jew that took a strip bait in 2 foot of water one night off this stretch (anchor chain again); one day I'll get one! Crabs can be a problem some years from here unless you like to eat them of course, in which case you'll be happy. The wharf itself usually is too crowded to bother BUT there can be stacks of blackfish off it. Fish from 4.00pm to dark and about 8 to 10 foot down. You can usually get cabbage at short point for them. You can also pull bonito and kings, or at least try to land kings. Usually you'll loose them when they charge into the pylons. Tura beach is good for salmon; Bournda for salmon/taylor/bream/jew at night. At both the Merimbula and Tathra wharfs there are usually gars and slimeys if you are early enough. But the crowds can suck big time. It's a lovely part of the world and can be very fishy, even when it's quiet. Cheers Jiggy

That sounds pretty cool. What you may want to do is let the pellets soak enough in the mix until they start to break up, then freeze them. When you stick them in your burley bucket then you'll get a fine stream of mixture as the block melts. This could be good in low flow areas but not so good where there is a lot of current or depth? Maybe mix it, up some soaked and some not, so they travel a bit before breaking up? What do you think? Gee I like these sorts of experiments! Cheers Jiggy

I'll have to try blood and bone; chicken layer pellets are pretty good too. They contain cereal, animal protein and bone in a handy little pellet that sinks as it breaks up. Used pellets many a time for very good result. Cheers Jiggy

There used to be a pretty big coutta fishery in Vic years ago and some mexicans are still keen on them. On the basis of a science experiment I filleted and ate a small one I caught off Merimbula a few years ago; it was a bit boney but OK. So I think that they fall into kind of the same category as salmon or sargeant baker, if prepared properly they may be alright. That said I'd rather eat a flatty than a coutta any day. The big ones can get worms so if you want to try one maybe stick to a small one. Cheers Jiggy.

As finin said this is caused by warm water temps, as far as I know cold water kills the parasite that causes it. Kings from the north coast and Queensland are often afflicted with this problem. It's not that common in Sydney but it does happen, when it does there isn't anything you can do about it. Cheers Jiggy

Hi Guys, Hopefull I am not stealing anyones thunder but my sister works with Bill Heaton's daughter and she sent her this photo of a big blue caught off Sydney yesterday. Don't know anything else about it except that it is one help of a capture. Cheers Rob

Thanks Guys, I thought that it was a design feature to prevent damage. I'll see how it goes next trip out. Cheers Rob

Hi Guys, Took the boat out yesterday and when washing it down I noticed that the transducer had been pushed up, it was flat against the hull rather than sticking out. The only thing that I can think off that happened is that I hit something when recovering the boat as the tide was low. I've pushed back into place and there is no damage that I can see, however the transducer can be flipped up very easily by hand. I can't say of it was like this before as I've never touched it. Should I be concerned that it is damaged and that now water pressure will flip it up or is this normal? Oh and its a 600 watt airmar transducer for a furuno 585. Cheers Rob

Banning a particular type of reel is a bit daft; if there is a concern on the numbers of deep water fish that recreational anglers catch then they need to review the bag limits. Or maybe reducing the TAC that the commercial sector has would be a better answer; at the end of the day the number of deep water fish caught by recreational anglers really doesn't compare to what the pro's can catch. Cheers Rob

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies and the info, very much appreciated. Yes your spot on Huey, hull only is for sale. I used to have a predator 4.3 and thought that the company had become defunct years ago. I thought the 4.3 was great and loved it, if I know the RAV's were around a few years back I may have gotten one of them instead of a Viking; unlikely that I would trade down to one now though. Shame about the Predator guys splitting up they made some of the best custom boats you could get. Not pretty but very solid and reliable boats. Cheers Rob

Hi Guys, I was browsing through boats for sale last night and a dealer in Brisbane has a 2009 Predator Rav 16 for sale. I thought that Predator Tri Hulls had gone out of business years ago, does anyone know if they are still in production? Cheers Jiggy

Yes I've read the same and it is highly likely that this ban will go ahead. From my understanding this is being driven by CITES concern on the crash in mako numbers internationally, mostly due to shark finning for the asian market. Once makos and other sharks started to come onto the radar for CITES it was only a matter of time before something happened. CITES is a global treaty to stop or restrict trading in endangered species. You could say that the rulings that are supposed to prevent the trade in elephant ivory, rhino horn etc is what is being appled to makos. They have a site here: http://www.cites.org/ Whether Garrett wants to ban them or not is a mute point if this is being triggered by CITES; we are signatories and have to comply. I may be wrong on this though. Does anyone know if mako's are targetted by local commercail fishers? If so will there be an exclusion to allow them to continue or will that fishery be shut down? As for extending it to other species I think that BFT, at least, probably fall into this category already if you use the same definition. The current population level is supposedly 5 to 10% of the population 20 years ago and is recognised by some groups as being an endangered species. So will we, Japan, NZ and the other stake holders pass similiar legislation to protect them. Not likely and they would fight any ban all the way! What they could try to do is ban recreational fishers from taking BFT. That would be an interesting one to fight in the courts, if you were ever fined for taking a BFT, should such a ban come into effect. Cheers Jiggy

I was there last month and I don't hink there are too many fishing options in Rome; in fact in Italy from what I could see. The Tiber is pretty polluted and I doubt that there is much there. Anyway I doubt you'll have much time to fish, if there was fish there, as there is lots to see in Rome. Five days will go qiuck. Cheers Jiggy