Hotzy

I totally agree with oz_brett that often boat shops that get it wrong. I clearly pointed out to the boat shop when i picked up my new boat nearly 2 years ago that the anchor light was in the wrong position as it wasn't visible 360 degrees. I even showed them in the waterways book that it was wrong and the response i got was that waterways are never out at night anyway. My boat is a 4.9 Webster twinfisher with a bimini and rocket launcher so I changed the rear anchor light to a removable one, fitted an extra anchor light on the top of the rocket launcher and on the bracket I made for this I fitted 2 LED work lights for night fishing. The work lights are on the same circuit as the anchor lights and make life real easy. It is annoying to get a new boat which doesn't meet the current specs but now they are no longer in business. Great guys, just misunderstood the rules I guess. It is best to be seen at night and worth the effort and money, accidents on the water especially at night are generally not pretty, I have seen the results a few times. As for waterways and the water rats flexing their muscles I have found most to be very helpful and have checked me several times, once with something wrong and let me off with a warning so i immediately rectified the problem. If you treat them nice they are generally fine, you have to remember they are doing the best job in the world:) Pete

Thanks a lot Waynie and congratulations on 3rd, I was listening this morning too in between planes flying over the top of me, i was fishing in the bay again. Congratulations to little funnierthanu on the junior prize too:).

You would have to fight the for it. I am likely to not see a cent anyway so work out the split with her

I am going to brave the weather forecast and head to the bay early Saturday morning, will be interesting to see whats around. I need to get some fish in the freezer for winter, its near empty of fish at the moment.

Isn't it strange how sometimes everything goes wrong and then you end up with fish and other times all goes well and you get nothing. When you get on the water and start fishing it all seems worthwhile though regardless. Congratulations on the great bag of fish, smart idea giving the rubbish away.

You are certainly doing the right thing getting 7 hookups, shame none hit the boat though. I have been smoked by kings on 30lb mono so I know the feeling but it is a better feeling getting smoked than not getting a hookup. Goodluck after the gear upgrade. Cheers Pete

I know there was some very nice fish amongst them Tony but trust me I need to have a dig at funnierthanu when I can. Up till 3:30 he was bagging me for not landing a whiting yet and wouldn't let up on me, and opportunity is now knocking so I am taking it Cheers Pete

Huge effort, you defintely outnumbered us but I go for quality, not quantity Cheers Pete

I do apologise for taking the 46cm whiting from in front of you , but I was beside you to tell the truth. Had a great day thanks mate, weather was good, company was great and the fishing was fantastic. Started out slow for me with the odd bream here and there hitting the deck, my deckie got his first whiting at around 10am with no more to be found at that time. Wasn't until 3:30 when I got my first and kept getting more bream and upgrades until I got the big one at around 4:30pm This whiting is definitely a pb for me, I haven't seen a whiting this big before let alone caught one, so regardless of the results it is still a winner for me... I hope that everyone else had a good day fishing. Cheers Pete

Went for a fish with my cousin on New Years Day and we met Up with Funnierthanu to go for a bash outside for a feed of flatties. Less than one hour outside (I think it was more like about 25 mins) my webster claimed yet another sea sick victim, with me feeling very seedy also. I quickly suggested it may be a good idea to find a bit of calmer water and we will get a few yackas to have a crack for a few kingys. Once back inside the livies were fairly easy to come by with 20 in the tank before the colour had really come back into my cousins face and we were off after the kings. Spot 1 = $40.00 , wave caught me off guard whilst getting a livie out of the tank, near fell overboard and snapped off my anchor light. Spot 2 = $100.00 , bottom claimed an anchor,chain and 30 metres of rope mental note don't be so lazy when you know you are on a reef use a reef anchor not a sand anchor:) Spot 3 = PRICELESS , 1 x 90cm kingfish (1st ever for me, never tried for them before) and 1 VB to celebrate Off with the tomorrow to see whether we can find a couple more, apparently she must like the taste of them:)

I'm not going to drop gentle hints, I am going to tell her that is what I am doing, you go where you like:) I wish it was that easy hey. That is some serious fishing and sounds like heaps of fun. I will be there as soon as I can.

That is fantasic to see the young fella right into fishing, gives you a great excuse to say "well we are off for a fish / bonding session and we aren't too sure what time we will be home" and what a way to spend a day with your son, even if he is a rod hogger. Cheers Pete

Now that is Gold Looks like you had an absolute ball Pete

Thanks for the posts guys Keflapod, I used to fish all the time with scrubworm years ago and out of around 300 trips I beat him around 5 times, and didn't I hear all about it, every opportunity he could give it to me he would so I have to try to make the most of it while I can. But it's all just good fun and we had a ball. As for light all of the nav lights and anchor light etc are there of course and Scrubbie had a collection of torches onboard and he had a headlamp on his head so there was plenty of light to rebait and rerig etc, I was just having a cheap shot about not having hardwired worklights fitted on a boat that he night fishes from regularly. As for stealing your mates Jewie sounds like he deserved it, at least every time scrubworms rod had a fish at it I made sure he heard all about it. Cheers Pete

Went to Swansea with a friend on the weekend I haven't fished with in around 15 years and ended up with a nice bag of fish, thanks heaps for a good trip Scrubworm. We fished from about 2pm Sunday until around 8:30 Monday. Hard night to fish due to the fact that Scrubworm is too tight to fit work lights to his boat (apparently I am the idiot for not taking a headlight while fishing with no moonlight) but a good laugh was had by both of us, well ok I got more laughs than him cause I caught more than him . The elbow slapping whiting certainly got me excited and the stingrays certainly seemed to get scrubbie exited , I have never seen anyone catch so many in so little time One of the funnier parts of the trip was when things quitened down at around 2am Scrubbie decided to have a nanna nap and left his rods out. I couldn't keep up with the for the next hour or two after he went to bed fishing his rods as well as mine, and with his dog going berko every time a drag screamed and trying to come out to see the fish was, so I am sure he didn't get too much sleep. I was a true mate and let him know what each one was as they came aboard of course though. Here is a pic of the fantastic whiting I need to put in a record claim for this sand mullet too I think but cant find a seperate record for Sand Mullet. Anyway I am now going to sell my boat and all of my fishing gear as I have now fulfilled a lifelong dream, I outfished Scrubworm Only kidding nothing for sale yet. Thanks again for a fantastic night Scrubworm and hope to do it again soon.

G'day wonnie Scrubworm and I used to fish for these as kids after school in the Nepean years ago, I also remember him bringing a telescopic rod to a school camp at Yarramundi one year . The method we used then was the same as I used upriver the other day, which still works by the way. We used to use a quill float or a small blackfish float with a stopper on the mainline to give a bait depth of between 1 and 3 metres and 3 to 4 split shot sinkers below the float. Use a number 6 hook and a small piece of bread kneaded onto the hook. Berley up with dried bread broken into small pieces and just thrown into the water to get them firing and you will be onto them before you know it. If they are there you will start to see surface action after a short time. I agree it is very difficult to use no weight, no float or anything as scrubworm described but he was fishing out of a yak. You don't need to cast 50 metres either, just watch where the surface action is, which will be where the bread thown into the water is and that is where the fish are. let me know how you go. Peter

Thanks Jason They were caught near Juno point on whitebait and prawns, around 8am and they wouldn't touch squid at all.

Went to the Hawkesbury today, first time in a lot of years, with 3 of us catching over 20 soapies in around an hour. I actually got bored towards the end and started trying to score one on sp's with no avail. One deckie had never caught one before and was so excited I thought he was going to pee himself when he realised I wasn't full of BS after I returned the first to the water without showing him. The other deckie is a new fisherman who had never even heard of a jewie before and managed a double hookup All were just under legal size, so they were all returned to the water but what a heap of fun on 4lb line. They will hopefully grow up to be huge fellas when I recatch them one day Other than these we only caught 1 reasonable tailor which went back too, oh and we caught a boat with 2 people aboard, towed them back to mooney mooney ramp after their motor had died. All in all I had a ball even if I didn't take anything home. I hope everyone who went out today had as much fun Cheers Pete

Hey guys Recieved a little package in the mail today. My staff were giving it to me saying this is where customs comes racing in to do a raid on us and send you to jail . No problem bringing them in though (I had checked with a mate that works for customs) and they included all the relevant info including a list of ingredients for them inside the package. It had been opened and checked which I think is great that they pick up on the crap coming into the country. All they have to do now is help keep my brecky down Cheers Pete

Hi Roberta I normally only fish around Sydney. I wish I could fish for 20 days straight but with work that just wont happen for the next few years, but I thought I would stock up while ordering them in. cheers Pete

If anyone is looking for paihia bombs ring them or contact them direct and they will send them to you in Australia no problem. I just ordered 20 days worth for NZ$70 inc freight. A friend of mine highly reccomends them and I stumbled across this thread while looking for their details. I will try anything at least once to try not to get sick. Paihia Pharmacy 2 Williams Road Paihia, Northland 0200, New Zealand 0011 64 9 402 7034

Thanks for the heads up on where to find a bit of weed. I just hope that people that do go there do so responsibly and only take what you need and then there will be plenty there for everyone in the future too I think if everyone acted responsibly and only took what they need whether it be bait or fish there wouldn't be so many spot x's y's and z's because people would be happy to give you the heads up on where to head to collect bait or go for a fish. The days of taking 6 buckets of bait or a pile of fish you couldn't climb over should be a thing of the past.

Great fish Jimmy. As a kid I spent plenty of time trying to empty the Nepean of carp and it was great fun, my best being a 7kg model on 3kg line, great fun on light gear and what a way to learn how to play a fish

I would love to but i am only a burley bucket after the first hour