DerekD

Glad to hear all those conversations have broadened your approach to fishing. If the line is in the water there is a chance of catching something (as this short session has proven).

While out for a drive, came across this beautiful motoring project. The owner put a lot of time into this and it was both his pride and joy. Anytime he takes it for a drive it puts a smile on his face.

Hi @tommo1 You don't need a big budget. In that article I've recommended a rod + reel combo which is $100 currently at member's prices at one of the big chains. Throw in $20 for backing/leader material and $30 for braid then another $50 for jigheads, plastics and some miscellaneous terminal tackle you can walk away with a setup for around $200 which you can build on and which will give you years of fishing pleasure with a little bit of care.

Hi @sashkello, I came to the exact same conclusion over a decade ago, hence me talking about folding the weed into a bite sized morsel in my article above. I like and respect that you have thought your way through to this approach. Regards, Derek

That is a second on the Gamakatsu Panfish hooks. I generally get them in size #6 and #8 for my luderick fishing. For leather jackets I've been using the longer shank Mustad hooks for years (not that I chase them often).

Hi @Fergie, The sandflats at Sans Souci are where I get my nippers. Long shallow sloping sand flats here. The inner harbour of Sydney is protected (to prevent harvesting of invertebrates) so this is probably the closest legal location to get them from the Eastern suburbs. Regards, Derek

You should be right but the grease drying up on you is a gradual issue. It just gets a little harder to use over time but you think it is because you are getting older and slower (which is probably happening in parallel). Do some research to be aware of what it takes for your specific drive (mine was the V2). Do it once in the coming year to make sure you have a clean start and it will be a few years before you have to do it again but for the cost of a $10 tube of grease which will last at least 3 services and some time it is worth the satisfaction of a job well done and the peace of mind. I used to do it annually in the winter.

Hi @jaybez Congratulations on the purchase and may it bring you many years of pleasure. I've got an older 2010 Hobie revolution and found that after several years the grease in the drive was drying out. When you get the time look at the model of the drive and work out what servicing is required. Mine had the bushes but I've helped service one from a friend which has the plastic roller bearings. Also make sure you use water resistant grease so it doesn't wash out. I use the Inox MX6 with ptfe. Takes me about 45 minutes to strip, clean, re-grease and reassemble which is faster and cheaper than a trip to a service center. There were some good videos out there for my drive. Just watch you don't tighten the cables too much.

It was strange. Haven't seen them behaving like they were today before. There were plenty there. We could see them darting around but also it looks like the larger ones were aggressively chasing the smaller ones. Spawning maybe. It is the first time I've gone there and haven't had at least a down. It was great to get out in the sun and catch up with @Little_Flatty so I was already on a win.

We did everything we could to not cut the line and lose the bird. The hooks on the sugapen are pretty robust and would take a very long time to rust out. A bit of short term pain to clear the lure was the right decision. Also I got my lure back. I've rescued a cormorant hooked by someone else with about 4m of 100lb line (or heavier) hanging behind it. I'm pretty sure the owner of that rig cut the line rather than deal with the bird and that p!$$ed me off big time. it highlights the importance of cleaning up discarded tackle in our fishing environment.

Hi All, For those of us doing topwater bream and whiting our typical season is generally October to late April. It is not that you can't catch those species outside those times but the aggression levels of the fish seem to drop off as the temperatures drop and as a result you have to put in a fair bit of effort to get a result. It might also be that there are probably a fair bit less of their favourite topwater food around - the humble prawn. Fortunately, there are other species such as salmon and tailor which will take a topwater lure in the winter months and those hits are spectacular. This year I've decided to try topwater bream and whiting the whole way through to see if it is really as hard as I think it is or if I can still catch really good fish. I introduced a very good friend to topwater when he came back from Europe in March and it turns out that this style of fishing has sparked his passion for fishing again. When he said he was up for some topwater yesterday I was keen to hit the inner west. We hit one of my favourite bays with him using a 58mm sugapen and me using two popper type lures (Skinny pop jr with assist hooks and a MMD splash prawn). My friend's technique looked fantastic and I know he would have had some hits in the warmer months. We had some follows but no proper hits. After a quick meal we then went to the bay run area with the tide dropping. If the fish are hungry there is no reason they shouldn't hit a topwater lure. I figured a dying baitfish is something the bream would be used to seeing all year round so I switched to a bent minnow. After about 15 minutes of working the lure I had a solid hit. Even better, line started peeling off. My initial thoughts were tailor but as I saw a flash of silver in the water I realised it was a good bream. My friend came over to help me unhook, photograph and release it. Based on his shoe size we called it for the low 30s. It looked really healthy and I was rather happy with this catch. I then switched to a small sugapen to see if I could get success on the same lure my friend was getting. This is where things went a bit sour. There was a small cormorant in the area which went for my mate's lure. He was quick enough to wind it out of the way. It then startled and flew through my line and unfortunately hooked up. We were able to get it to a small beach in the area without breaking the line. I threw a large tissue over its head which enabled me to grab it by the neck and wing. My friend managed to get the sugapen out of the birds wing using my long nosed pliers. If we hadn't had those pliers with us we would have struggled far more to extricate the bird safely. It was released. Ok it was a two species topwater session but I don't want to catch another bird. If you do topwater sessions with treble hooks keep some pliers handy because it makes unhooking whatever you catch a fair bit safer for you. The idea of hooking myself with a jumping fish attached to the lure really doesn't appeal to me. Regards, Derek

Welcome aboard.

I try. It was the way my parents raised me. My first living memories are in that suburb. I went to two schools there and still spend a lot of my spare time there. I care about the place and make an effort to leave it better than I found it whenever I can.

When you can, also get into the topwater fishing. It is the tail end of our topwater season (my preference is October to late April) but there are still good fish to be caught. In the winter months these techniques used with a Sugapen can be effective in the main harbour with the schools of salmon and tailor but you are at risk of losing some lures. Start with this one: There are several of us that are addicted to this form of fishing and several others that I have managed to also get into this style of fishing. This was one such gentleman: And one of my own reports and I've had several sessions where I've picked up more than one bream or whiting over the 30cm mark In my article on getting your first light lure outfit there is a whole section on hardbody and topwater lure fishing further down the post:

Yes you are allowed to fish that spot. There are signs on the posts on the actual wharf advising that fishing is permitted and how to keep the area open for fishing in the future. Basically don't make a mess, be respectful of other users of the facilities, remember it is a ferry wharf for ferries and the passengers so give them priority, clean up after. I fish it fairly often and if there is a mess down there (made by others) I clean it up.