Reeso

Yeah, I think the 7th'll be all right, I need to check a few things but Ill let you know for sure soon.

good one joe, laugh it up but yeah I do, cant believe it myself sometimes

fishraider social, covert fishing operation! I can go designated driver, no worries.

Im up for it. I want a monster carp to put in my pond at home.

When Im targeting blackies I have only used the string weed successfully. This weed is very sparse and I can only find it in a few locations near my place. North head and Dee Why are the main spots. However Cabbage weed seems to be on the rocks everywhere and everybody seems to be using it but I dont really know how to rig it on the hook. With string weed I do the normal 3 wraps around the line, pushed down over the eye and then wrapped around the hook. I tried a bit of cabbage weed yesterday at middle head just out of curiosity, I put it on just by threading a leaf onto the hook. But it bunched down in the bottom of the hook and attracted no attention from any fish. Its probably bloody simple but I havent been fishing for blackfish for very long and just need an explanation of how to present the cabbage weed on the hook? and does anyone have a preference for cabbage, or string weed? I havent had any success in my blackfish sessions over about the past 3 weeks. Middle head, which is my normal spot and is usually pretty productive, has gone very quiet so Im either doing something different or theyve just simply gone off the bite. When I was there yesterday for four hours, I gave up the weed after a bit and just fished with bread for one decent drummer.

Fished the south end of balmoral beach, shore based, on Friday evening for 2 small flathead. Both released. I was a bit concerned about this thick pink substance that was colouring the water right along the shoreline. On saturday I fished from my kayak, using soft plastics in Sirius Cove and caught a nice flathead, which I kept for dinner. Bit worried though because today, when I was walking the dog down at the cove, I noticed that pink substance all along the shore and lots and lots of dead leatherjackets washed ashore. Anyone know if there has been some sort of chemical spill in the harbour, and whether we should not be eating fish from the harbour at the moment?

Theyre certainly not mythical, I was up at Avoca Beach a few weeks ago and there were huge schools right up and down the coast, they were there the whole week and close to every cast would result in a hookup with big sambos in nearly every fishermans keep bucket up and down the beach. They cant have eaten salmon before?

one other thing, is it important to hide the whole hook with the bait or is a bit of doe just on the tip good.

Hey Ive tried this a few times and its great asian style, served with rice. -scour fish sides a few times. -marinate whole fish in soy sauce, veg. oil, garlic, ginger, red chilli with seeds removed. -put a bit of red capsicum and parsley on the fish -steam it in one of those cheap bamboo steamers over a wok of boiling water for about 10 mins. -Serve immediately. enjoy.

Where are some good spots for pigs in the harbour on the north shore or northern beaches that are reasonably safe to climb down to? Ive read that some of the blokes get them at middle head, is this a reliable spot for them? Also, what about Bluefish point or North Head, and are these two spots easy to get to? Cheers.

I was there too and I want my $20 back.

Add to that Manly were a disgrace yesterday arvo and are looking like missing the 8, and its was weekend that leaves you on a real low. I took my kayak out at Balmoral and had to hold onto one of the moorings to stop myself being blown away, whilst I fished with sp's. Caught nothing but a cold, no bites, lost my best lure to a snag. I ended up scraping some mussels off the bottom of a boat for my lunch, I should have stayed in bed.

Me and my family did a similar thing last holidays, took a houseboat out and fished around cowan. Whilst we were able to catch a few yakkas and a few baby tailor, we got literally hundreds of baby snapper, they even ate the whole yellowtail we put down at night trying to entice a jew. But nothing even as exciting as a pj shark, nope. Good to get some crabs at this time of year though, very tasty.

How do you get to the obelisk Macman, do you have to cross Obelisk Beach, and is it in view of the beach? Cos I really dont want to walk down that path, bad things happen down there. I want to take my old man fishing for blackfish, but he's too old to get down the cliff face at the eastern side of Middle Head and I dont want to take him past a whole lot of questionable characters going at it in the bushes. I fished from the bottom of the cliff at the eastern side this arvo and caught one blackie and hooked 3 more but they kept spitting it, I put that down to my hooks being a bit blunted.

Thanks mate, I thought that bloke died at Bradleys Head.

where do you go exactly, when Im looking for blackfish spots I normally look for kelp beds along the shore but I didnt see any when I went down to middle head yesterday.

I went down there yesterday after I read your report, it was freezing cold and windy but the "naturalists" were there oblivious. I walked right past, eyes straight ahead, not stopping, not bending over. Anyways, when I got round onto the rocks I couldnt find a single strand of weed to use, so I had to come back. Do you get your weed from round there, or from somewhere else?

Thanks those articles were reallyhelpful, I headed back down there early this morning and caught 2 nice flathead, with a minnow type soft plastic, Released both.

look, Ive really got no Idea about fishing with lures, I have fished with bait all my life. Although I get salmon on chrome lures, all I do is cast it out and then wind it in real fast off the rocks, thats pretty simple. But Ive tried to get into the soft plastics a bit. I went out and got some berkely power grubs, pumpkinseed colour I think and some jig heads I thought looked about the right sort of size. I rigged it and went out on my kayak over the sand flats and around the moored boats at Sirius Cove on Sydneys North Shore, always good for a flathead there. But I cant get anything on these sp's. I have tried winding them in fast, real slow, jerking it and stuff. Just nothing you know. I really need just a rundown on what its all about, the way to retrieve, the best lures for certain fish, the retrieves for different types of lures, where to fish them, do you need to try another lure if one isnt working immediately, Is the colour important? I read your replies about the best all round lures but I couldnt find any of these at Fish Outta Water, up Pittwater Road. Id be targetting flathead or bream, so what works for you? Ive also seen some of you type that you troll from your kayak, what does that involve? just flick it off the back and start paddling? Cos' I tried that too. As for hard bodies, I have real difficulty casting some of the lighter ones, Ive got a little bass lure that I tried up at manly dam and could only cast it about 2.5 metres. How do you cast a lure thats light as, out to where the fish are at? This particular one Ive got looks like a grasshopper.

just beware of the nudists down obelisk beach !

Mate, Another sea eagles supporter, I thought I was the only one. I might catch up with you on the hill one sunday afternoon at Brookie.

Sounds familiar, those baby snapper follow me everywhere I go, like the plague. Its good to see that theyre breeding though!

If you were just going to get one lure that worked pretty well in general for most popular saltwater estuary fish, which would it be? Im just after a general soft plastic or hardbody lure that can catch a range of fish on any given day, like flathead, bream, whatever.

does anyone know what the chances of survival are for fish that get hooked and then break free with the hook still embedded in their mouth. Would a fish be able to feed normally witha hook in its mouth and would it be able to rub it free on a rock or something? or do they just eventually die?

Did the sambo, wrapped in foil with a bit of veg. oil and lemon juice, on the barbecue. Served with rice. It was good, not the best tasting fish but still pretty nice. only problem was there was too much of it, that one fish could have seriously fed 4 or 5 people. They fight better than they taste, but theyre certainly not bad eating.