DerekD

Hi @BluebenbombI think we could take several people combined and still be behind. What @wazatherfisherman showed us on the evening with @big Neil was only a small part of his collection.

@big Neils trip to the big smoke continues... Karma can be a funny and beautiful thing. While I don’t believe in a cosmic force bringing balance to the universe I do point out sometimes that if you p!ss enough people off it is likely to come back and bite you sooner or later. The wonderful thing about karma is that it also has a positive side. Do good things for others and you might find yourself blessed in ways that you never could have foreseen and in a quantity well exceeding the original action. Years ago I did a long reply in a post to help someone asking for advice on catching kingfish. This one in fact: I then received a very complimentary response from @wazatherfisherman . If you ever seen the detail and quality of any of his articles then you will hopefully see that that is high praise indeed. Not long after I was contacted by Big Neil asking for help with ticking kingfish off his fishing bucket list. There were several chats with Wazza on how best to give Neil a shot at a kingfish and John Dory in the same trip. We settled on Cremorne point for several reasons and sent out the invite. While not successful and a kind of miserable day to boot we did get the chance to meet several raiders including @savit , @frankS & @HenryR. This was the beginning of a lovely 3 way friendship. Wazza has health issues and can’t get out easily so I try and call him once a week to discuss fishing (theory, trips, memories, advice, etc.). I also enjoy chatting with Neil on a regular basis and catching up with him on his trips to Sydney and seeing him tick other items off his list (e.g. catching squid on a jig, first kingfish, blackfish on fly rod, etc.). Neil helped me and my friend @Flop get my first Murray cod and trout cod in the same trip down to his area. Where is this heading you may ask and thank you for your patience if you are still with me. One of Neil’s fishing bucket list items is a 1m Murray cod and preferably on lure. He doesn’t have a rod quite suitably for what he has in mind. He reached out to Wazza to get a custom made baitcasting rod. Longer than standard but with a slightly softer tip to allow better control when casting. After Neil left @mrsswordfisherman and @swordfisherman on Friday afternoon we met at Wazza’s place for a catch up, dinner and to collect a Wazza’s custom built rod. Neil being presented with his new rod. May you get many years of joy fishing with it. Neil checking out the balance, feel and details of the new rod. Some of the patterning above the grip and below the first runner. Some of that positive Karma I was talking about turned up during this process. Between Covid and his health Wazza has been very house bound and has had a lot on his mind. Prior to this project, while not coming across as depressed he has been a bit down for a while. Since he started on it this it seems to have invigorated his passion for rod building as he has built many since. Behind the scenes we’ve had many a pleasant chat about the specs and the challenges with Neil’s rod. It was a lovely chance to catch up with friends in person. There were smiles and laughs all round on the night. After dinner we made our way to the lower North shore to where Neil was staying in preparation for two big days of fishing related activities with myself and some other guests. TBC.

@wazatherfisherman is a big fan and collector of Alvey side cast reels and was kind enough to put out his collection on display. It would have done a fishing museum proud. With the exception of two of them he knows the history and materials they were made of. On one of the unknown ones the wood looked to me like Huon pine but I’m not an expert. It was an awesome experience to see such beautiful and historical reels. They will become even more special as Alvey closes its doors. Thanks for taking the time to put these on display and sharing with @big Neil and myself. Regards, Derek

@wazatherfisherman and blackfishing One of Wazza’s passions was (and still is even though he doesn’t get out enough) is blackfishing. While at his place on Friday to collect @big Neil's new purpose built rod the topic of blackfishing was going to come up as it is something all three of us enjoy (albeit in slightly different ways). Wazza had taken the time to get out some of his centerpin reel collection. Some were as smooth as silk and once you started them spinning it took a surprising amount of time to stop. Others were a great snapshot into the history of their development. He even had one spooled with lead line. For those of you passionate about this topic I hope you like this photo. Then came the surprise. Out came an old ammunition tin with a big part of his collection of custom made blackfish floats. Many of these were designed by a friend of his for specific blackfish locations. You told the builder what the conditions were (e.g., current, depth, predominant wind direction) at your favourite spot then you would be given several to try based on past experience. I’ll let Wazza fill in more information on this topic.

Twas the fault of @big Neil and myself. @Ryan.f was in Mosman bay and noticed Neil with fishing gear and started chatting. That led to a quick introduction to lure fishing with an invite for a lesson. Also suggested to Ryan to join that fantastic resource called Fishraider.

If you have the photo with the tale of the tape then that would be perfect. Harder for me and the rest. Be nice to see a few more fly lure records.

Hi @Ben Hall Well done. Suggest you submit this for the records section. Currently there is no record for a dusky flathead on fly. Also being over 70cm it is a cracking placeholder in this category. There will probably be a few of us chasing for this record in the coming summer. Regards, Derek

Quite easily. The kayak gets you out there. It gets you access to the schools that you can't reach from land. Most are pretty stable. Don't bring too much gear out the first few times till you get a feel for the limitations of the set up. One of the people I got into kayak got one of the kayaks2fish range and did extremely well on the fishing front for the year or so before he upgraded to a Hobie. Did you read my two articles on kayak fishing?

Hi Macca, The advice I give to people buying a Hobie is to get the rod holder extensions. It puts the reels far enough away from the water that they stay pretty dry. This is my kayak set up. In your case you may have to look for something similar. Even the classic milk crate with rod holders bolted to it might do the job.

Hi @Little_Flatty It was a pleasure catching up with you yesterday. I enjoyed reading the report almost as much as spending several hours fishing/casting with you. Hope we can get out soon and concentrate on actually getting you a blackfish. There is a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt which says "a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor". If you could get the line out under yesterday's conditions you are well on your way to becoming a proficient fly caster. I'm sure that barrage of "that was a cast" will be ringing in your ears for a while yet. Glad you are making the distinction between the flick of the fly rod to start the loop rolling and the tendency to fling the line forward like with a spinning outfit. For those that haven't tried fly fishing, part of the difficulty is that there are many separate movements of the body required to get optimum distance out of the outfit. Individually they are not difficult but then combining them becomes an issue. Not supposed to break the wrist when moving the rod. Easy enough. Flicking with rod tip. Ok. Non rod hand pumping down then back up to haul the line for increased line speed. Wait... getting difficult now. Getting non rod hand to follow rod hand. Starting to get a little more complicated. A bit like driving a manual car for the first time. Regards, Derek

Hi @Hill373737 , @Little_Flatty , @Koalaboi and @Rebel Thanks for taking the time to help me with some advice on this. My mate still hasn't locked in a date but every bit of information helps and it also makes it easier to track down options. It will probably be October before I get the chance to put the information to use but with the warmer days coming that is not a bad thing. I'm really hoping to get him to find the passion for fishing that the people on this site have. Usually the joy is contagious once you have been given a head start and get a couple of runs on the board (pretty sure I'm mixing metaphors there). Thanks once again. @Hill373737 I'd like to take you up on your offer for a call but I'll wait till it is closer to the date as the information will then take the seasonal changes into account.

I'll mention it to them. It is a bit harder for me as a Nokia bar phone is my daily phone (compact and good battery life plus I don't get disturbed by work emails at odd hours - if it is really important they can call me).

Thank you @Rebel and @XD351 Excellent. It looks like it is off the Avalon sailing club which is where I remember it from last time. I think I would have put us within a few hundred meters of it but I think it is better learning for the other two to be able to put it in their GPS and work their way towards.

Hi all, I've helped fishraiders @Bennyg78 and @AlbertW get their first kayak. Both Hobie outbacks with fishfinder. I got Albert out for his first time the other day and in a few weeks time I want to take them both out for an excursion inside the Pittwater area. My plan is to launch from Careel bay and head towards the Clareville wreck so they can learn about how the sonar and navigation components of their fishfinders work. It is a long enough run to test them but not so long as to shatter them. Problem is my fishfinder spat the dummy and I've lost the coordinates to the wreck. I know the area well enough that I should be able to find it off the Avalon sailing club (then look for all the boats) but it would be more helpful if I could program them in at the start and then get the lads to navigate to the wreck. That way they can learn distances off direct route and distance to goal. My fallback is to pick some coordinates in the general area to navigate to but if someone has this information it would be really appreciated if you could get these to me (even via messenger). I've had a quick look in the GPS section of this forum but I'm having trouble finding it under the term Clareville Wreck. Think it might also be referred to as "aisle 10" but I've never been able to verify where that is in Pittwater. Thanks in advance, Derek

Hi Steve, Will do. By the way are you aware of any easy to access yabby grounds? He is looking at getting a kayak but i want him to enjoy getting into fishing first and getting some runs on the board.

It is certainly a very good start. My mate gets out early in the mornings and I think he will enjoy catching yabbies with his family. Also means if he buys a yabby pump then he has fresh bait pretty easily. It will soon pay for itself.

Hi All, A long time friend expressed an interest in taking up fishing. He lives at Bateau bay. Part 1 of my plan is to invite him to Sydney for the day and then teach him about casting, the gear, lures and how to work them, fish psychology, locations and the usual lesson for beginners. Part 2 is to head up his way and show him how to fish his local area. I can get some ideas about what I am likely to expect from Google maps but nothing beats local knowledge. First thing I'd like to know is are there yabbie grounds up there and where they are? Next thing is are there good sandflats for topwater lures such as bent minnows, MMD splash prawns and similar. A bonus would be weed beds where we have a chance on squid landbased (Nora head was a suggestion). I'm keen to get him onto flatheads so will probably hit some of the beaches too unless people have other recommendations. I haven't looked to see what local tackle shops there are but part of teaching him will be visiting them and getting an idea of what help he can get there.. I'll also be going through past posts but any assistance/suggestions with current knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Derek

Part of the fun is the research... 😃 Hope you find something which gives you years of joy.

We often have room to let them run and wear themselves out. The fights can be 5 to 15 minutes depending on how hard you want to go but you are grinning all the way. Couldn't afford to do that with fish such as a mangrove jack close to structure. Best kingfish to date on the 2-4kg outfit was 70cm but on the kayak in the harbour with that outfit I think I have a good chance on an 80cm or better specimen. If you get the chance look at Youtube channel Sandflats Fishing Australia. He is doing what I suspect you want to be doing and he is also using the gear I'm suggesting. I use 4lb Berkley X5 on a lot of my outfits but it is tested to break at around 14lb on a test rig. I usually use 8lb leader but will go to 10lb leader if we have a lot of pelagics around. Don't need it during the fight but it helps during the endgame fishing shore based when they get close to structure.

Two piece doesn't appear to affect the performance. Nice thing about this outfit is I have no issue chasing pelagics such as salmon and kingfish on it. I've setup several people I've been mentoring on this rod (matched with a Sedona 2500 reel) and haven't had any complaints yet. I use the same rod for most of my fishing but upgraded the reel from the Sedona to the Stradic as a get out of Covid isolation present to myself and it is a sweet outfit. Are you anywhere near the lower north shore of Sydney. Can arrange a try before you buy. Based on your species list I suspect you are in Queensland somewhere.

Hi Mike, Not sure at what point someone becomes an expert... I was given a freshwater 7 weight fly rod with reel and line as a present over a decade ago. To learn how to use it I got a lesson with a now deceased Sydney fly fishing guide. He covered the history, the gear and general theory of fly fishing. In the second half of the lesson we went into several casts. I felt particularly uncoordinated on the day but the lesson was worth every dollar it cost me. Later on I picked up a 9 weight saltwater outfit for chasing fish from the kayak. A few years ago I added a 7 weight saltwater outfit to the collection. All rods were 9 foot. I can't quite shoot a full fly line but I'm getting closer. With my friend's outfit the other week I was about 6 feet short of doing so. I think I could have done it on the day but as it was his outfit I wanted him to be the first to do so with it. Coincidentally, to help my friend see where he was going wrong we filmed him and then me during that same session. This is me - you can judge if I pass as competent. 😀 https://youtu.be/FlsMQo5wRaE Now I've hopefully established some of my credentials, technique is more important than brute strength and the people I've helped improve dramatically once they understand that. It is like pushing a kid on a swing. If you get the timing right it only takes a bit of effort each time to build up momentum. My starting suggestion would be a 7 weight for what you have said but in this case I'd suggest a different approach. Look at the Redington Crosswater 890-4 (8 weight, 9 foot, 4 piece outfit) which is the one shown in the video. I tracked it down for my friend when it was on special for under $200. It comes with rod, reel, line and carry case. The rod is impressive for the price and the line just flies. Unfortunately, it will more likely be around $300 at the moment due to the world wide shipping issues. Why this and not something lighter. Unless you want to get several outfits this will be a better all round outfit for Sydney harbour. Just by changing out the leader and tippet we can chase several different species ranging from what you mentioned to the pelagics such as tailor, salmon, kingfish, bonito. Happy to give you a lesson at a local park to see where you are at. I might also be able to drag along my mate so you can see and feel the outfit I'm suggesting. Regards, Derek

ArrowZ Estuary Ultralight. AAS-270UL Specs: 7 foot 0. 3-10lb line rating 3-14gram lure rating. Usually around $139 but can be found for around $100 with a bit of patience. Short butt which means that it can be worked rod tip down without hitting on the meat of the forearm.

Hi Rlac. I enjoyed the report and welcome to Fishraider. Got a lot of respect for you giving it a go and taking the time to work things out for yourself. Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures. Regards, Derek

There was a bit of advice in this topic a few years back.