woodch0p

Hey mate I caught a few at clifton gardens late yesterday, use bread on an unweighted line, and a small hook size10 did the trick for me. Keep the burley going also I had around 20 in my trail at one stage, and yakkas/slimeys feeding below them. Hope this helps.

Well guys headed out today, no luck on the surgeon's did manage a nice flattie cept it was sharked at the wharf, only a small one around 2ft or so. Threw a slab of fresh mullet at it but wasn't interested. Pulled up stumps when the wind picked up. Will see how I go Monday. Daniel

Common rickster have a bit more faith in us! By the sounds of things I should ditch my blackfish setup and bring my tiagra50 and get it spooled with wire trace....let's see who wins then! Might be heading out today to try one of your hotspots, wish me luck! Daniel

I've caught heaps of them fishing clifton gardens while chasing baitfish. There are a fair few around the pylons, sometimes in plague proportions.

She actually knows how to tie knots she just plays dumb. Can't trust her at the tackle shop...last outing goes as follows Missus - why are you spending 500 on a reel? Me - I need a kingfish reel. Missus - why do you need such a big reel you don't catch anything big. Me - shut up. (She goes for a wander) Missus - found a really nice small rod you can buy me! Me - what sort? Missus - st croix. Me - how much Missus - $85 Me - umm there's a 0 on the end of that figure Missus - oh! So its pretty! Me - catch me a $850 fish and we will talk about the rod. Missus - catch me a $500 fish and we will talk about the reel. Eventful times.

Wicked. Can't complain going on a charter and scoring $300 of profit.

Went on a charter on the weekend down greenwell point hoping to chase some marlin, went to the bait grounds and ended up with a tank full off slimeys in about 10mins. Unfortunately the seas were pretty unfriendly and we turned around after about 1hr of the charter... rescheduled for 2weeks time so hopefully they are still around. There are also tonnes of bonnies off greenwell point taking small skirts and feathers.

The down side is that fishing is no longer an exuse to hang with the boys. Just hope she will learn soon to rig up a rod on her own and take the fish off the hook.

Sitting around today and decided to take the girlfriend out for a fish, I was keen for a flick on the sticks but the girl doesn't want a bar of it so off to clifton gardens we went. Wasn't expecting much besides the usual yakkas and fantail jackets. After continuously loosing the prawns to the pickers i decide to downsize my hook and put some bread on. Was helping Renee remove the hooks from a small tarwine when my rod buckled over it a big way. After some touch and go moments around the pylons it ended up surfacing and was a thumper trev. I made the decision to attempt to lift it up the wharf as I didn't want to risk it walking it around to the stairs as I thought it would dust me on a pylon, luckily it was a solid hookup in the lip so no issue with the lift. It was a pb for me at 47cm. Soon after a few kingies came out in front and didn't want to play, through basically every lure in the box at them. Did have one pay some attention to a lucanis jig but the hooks didn't stick. While I was stuffing around with the lures a nice 80cm model started cruising around the front. Renee decided that it must be hanging around for her bread bait on her number 4 hook. Sure enough she moved her bait infront of it and it smashed the bread and headed for open water. She was using my 2kg flick stick with 8lb leader, not a chance at stopping it but the way my reel screamed I though it was going to shatter a bearing. The hook pulled after about 30seconds, but she still had a blast feeling the sheer power of them. Secretly I was cheering inside that she was using the light gear as I would never hear the end of it if she caught a kingie before me. Anyway the kingies left at 430pm and we decided to pack it up. Good day fishing none the less. I will put some picks of the trev up when the girl gets em off her camera. Regards Daniel

I fished the bay thismorning, nothing biting from 1am-6am, but as soon as first light hit scored heaps for just legal bream and undrrsize squire, heaps of yakkas but none got touched, also ended up with a 69cm flattie which is a pb on whole servo squid. Berleying with bread and using nippers and squid. Was anchored between the drums and the sticks. Packed up at 9.

Not sure what species of catfish it is but I caught one when I was fishing whale beach off the northern rocks on a prawn also. Was a beast around 2 1/2 foot long! I wasn't putting my hand anywhere near it, so I cut the leader and pushed it back in the water using my net.

Hey everyone, Was planning a relaxing fish on the harbour tomorrow, was wondering how the new years eve festivites have an effect on fishing. With all the boat traffic, lights, noise and pollution does the fishing shut down in the harbour? Should I just go botany instead of wasting my time? Cheers and happy new year! Daniel

I followed the fishraider site for close to a year before I joined, looking through post after post and have learnt a lot of valuable knowledge. When I started fishing as a kid the only thing I targeted was bream on nippers in the upper hawksbury due to dads influence and his style of fishing. Since joining this site I have learnt valuable lessons on other fishing techniques, from soft plastics for flatties and hard bodies for bream. My biggest conquest is I'm now a 100% converted blackie fisho (minimum 1trip a week!) which would not have been possible with this site and the members on board. The knowledge you gain through this forum is astonishing, and the best part is there is no bais from members to specific brands who pay to have their gear in every shot like fishing magazines (but people will always have their favourites) , and everyone has a unique story to tell. I own copious amounts of fishing magazines and there is a photo of a bloke holding a blackfish repeated in 5 issues over 18months, all with a very similar article! My advice on fishing: Knowledge is power and you have to be in it to win it! Regards Daniel

WOW...dedication and commitment! Surprised you have time to fish! Great effort Regards Daniel

Hey guys, I had a pair of mirage boots and wore the spikes down pretty fast. After that I brought a pair of mirage workboots and fitted them with cleats. The cleats I got are not the usual, they are hexagon shaped with every 2nd edge facing down. They are made out of top grade stainless steel and have flat edges, not spiked. I was optimistic at first but now I have used them I will never go back to regular cleats. I won't post here where I brought them but if someone is intrested pm me and I will send you the place to get them. Regards Daniel

If you end up giving sp's a go, definitely put a stinger hook on the end as they always smash the tail end.

:ey guys, Would be interesting to find out I have a friend who is an environmental scientist and for her degree she did water sampling in botany bay, about a year ago. Should have seen her look when she found out I was eating fish out of there. Supposedly the results weren't as pretty as people may think. But at the end of the day a huge amount of fisho's eat from there and if there was anything harmful to us I am sure the dpi would release a warning.

I wish there was that much light here at 9pm!

For lures and sp's I use daiwa td competition fluro, off the rocks for blackies I use spiderwire as its cheaper and I go through a bit and for heavier leader (30lb to 60lb) I use pioneer saltwater. For me they are all reasonably priced and do the job quite nicely.

Awesome catch! Lucky bugger getting amongst them.

This topic could be compared to the good old holden vs ford debate. You will never have an outright winner. My personal preferences both happen to be made in the USA. Spin reels I love Browning reels (Browning as in the firearms company) and for overheads I love avets. I must say but I have been temped in buying a saltiga spinning reel due to the toughness of the reel. I bet 10yrs ago no one would have thought 30kg drag out of a spinning reel. I will never buy a shimano reel due to one of my mates loving them and we are pretty competitive, and I love to pay him out, it would be blasphemy for me to use one let alone own one!

Hey guys, I'm no top bream fisherman but my dad was an excellent bream fisherman winning plenty of championships with smithfield rsl back in the late 80s. When I was 12 I went out with him and his mate, first time in a boat on the hawksbury to his secret location which today I cannot remember for the life of me, armed with 100 odd nippers, nearly every one of them turning into a legal sized breambo, I remember there was one massive bream which tipped the scales at just over 2kg gutted! Didn't get a measurement but to this day the biggest I have seen and probably will be the biggest I have ever seen. It was caught on 6lb mono using an old daiwa spin special 112mc 6ft with a abu cardinal 55 eggbeater. They are out there but chances these days of a monster aren't as good as they use to be.

I have a pair of wetsuit pants I use, with a longsleve shirt and if cold I use a lightweight wind cheetah jacket. It gives me good freedom on the rocks not having the wetsuit upper part and is a bit more comfortable if the sun is burning hot. From what I remember they cost me 150ish + but I surf also so I get double use out of them.

You would cry if you scratched that thing.

When I got it there was no bulk spools at the shop of 60lb braid which was my first choice, so I have just under 400m of 80lb braid on it and run a lighter leader. Have it on an ugly stick bluewater 5'6" 24kg jigging rod that I had lying around at home. Sounds like massive overkill (and probably is) but I was surprised that I could boost the drag up while mantaining free spool and put a serious bend in the rod. I was also surprised by the amount of line it could hold. When this line gets of age I will be spooling it with 60lb braid and I will also probably be putting it on a different rod, probably something around 6ft and a bit lighter, just depending on how this setup gets me through this summer. The black magic model is an older style of avet reel and there has been some improvements to the new avet range. Check out the avet website and also google the reel for more information. Even the sx models are a tough little reel the deckie on a recent charter I went on up on the gold coast hooked up an estimated 5ft mako using 30lb braid and gave it a good show until it breached and snapped the line like dental floss. Regards Daniel