jlloyd

Just got back from a trip to Japan to show off or little bub (6 months old), no real chance for fishing (and it was bloody cold!!) but I did visit a few tackle shops around Shibuya in Tokyo. I found what I thought at the time was a good deal on a classic reel which may not be up with the latest and greatest but was a good reel in its time. I picked up a Penn 6500 SS J (Spinfisher series in other countries), also the Japanese model came with 5 sealed bearings not the standard 3 (I think). It cost about $40 with current exchange rates with box, reel bag and all original paper work. The box is stamped 1999. My question is, is this reel still good enough today (I know Its no top end Shimano or Daiwa) but is it still good enough for general beach fishing with say 20 lb braid for salmon, tailor and occasional Jew or is it better to relegate this antique to the pool room? BTW whatever the responses I love the workmanship on these hand built old reels and don't regret my purchase. Also whilst in Japan I ate Aji many times in various guises, smoked, steamed and pan fried. (Aji is the Japanes name for or ubiquitous Yakka) and being an Aussie I was not keen but the taste is quite good (the Yakkas are generally larger than the ones we use for ideal bait here.

I have been using chicken, pork and beef for catching yakkas and slimy macks for several years and the occasional trev, flattie, bream etc is handy throughout the harbour. Doesn't matter what type just get the cheapest as they are often the tougher cuts which last longer. I did try minced meat (rolled in flour) like the old Mediterranean guys do but the bait is very easily lost. As the meat is very hardy it takes a while to lose it unlike pillies or prawns (especially with sabiki bait catching rigs). The or kids also love fishing with this as the smell is magnitudes less on your hands. Just don't expect to be catching monsters of the deep but I find these meats excellent at catching bait fish and always have a burley stream going (can be bread, meat offcuts even old cooked meat shredded/minced).

Had the evening off by the so I headed to North Narabeen with some frozen yakkas, pillies (refrozen off course) and a first effort with mullet fillets. Got to the beach by 6:30 to find all the gutters riddled with rods already so tried to find a good spot for when high tide hit and gave the mullet fillets a try. Got heaps of hits and pulled in several mullet too big for poddies but too small to keep. (just like yakkas it seems mullet like to each themselves Once darkness hit I switched to the pillies but found they wouldn't keep on the hooks so switched to the yakkas which are a bit hardier. got heaps of hits but nothing stuck until right on high tide a 40 cm tailor came in (a bit boring on 30lb mono). nothing else happened and I left about 11. with the 20 odd people lining the beach this tailor was the only fish i saw caught. talk about a bit slow.

I think unless you had 40lb braid you would even get the Pelican close enough to try to pull the hook out. Thankfully I have handled plenty of chooks, ducks and even turkeys so it wasn't too hard to keep the cormorant quiet (cover its eyes helps). If it had been a pelican this morning I would look like a pelican trying to remove the hook

Went out this morning for a yakka catching session and a try for kingies/tailor in the harbour landbased off a wharf east of the harbour. Nothing exciting occurred but one thing occurred which I have dreaded for a while as a result of fishers feeding cormorants and other birds whilst fishing for a laugh. I was sitting around when the drag went off and I thought, great I'm on finally when a cormorant burst from the water with my yak and rig in its mouth and tried to fly off but was hooked . I reeled the cormorant in and had to battle its claws and beak (which I can say is bloody sharp) to unhook a 3/0 hook from its beak . Once this was done I noticed and even larger hook in its mouth which I tried to remove but the bird managed to escape and was sitting nearby drying itself when I left. I have previously seen people fishing off this wharf feeding these birds as a joke but all this does is attract the birds to anywhere people are fishing and then the birds run the risk of being hooked and the people fishing getting annoyed as the birds pinch the bait. All I can say is that it is quite disturbing seeing a bird hooked up and with the push for nature reserves we don't need more ammunition against the general fishing community (ie destruction of other wildlife). So if birds are annoying you don't feed them and move on if they threaten to pinch baits.

Hasve seen photos of old guys hauling in Bulls sharks around Lower Portland and used to go on the prawn trawlers in the area and they had plenty of stories of sharks in the Hawkesbury, stories also abounded of sightings in the lower Colo. We did see sharks at a previous work location at Waverton off the coal loading wharf when we where jumping off the wharf. Funny enough no one else jumped off the wharf following these sightings

having just got back into fishing to be told it may be taken away from our doorstep is a little rude. Also having seen the Kingfish population recover so well with minimal intrusion why interfere any more, as it currently stands a large portion of Sydney Harbour has fishing banned anyway. Voted and against the exclusion of recreational fishing in any marine park.

Eastern Suburbs

This is my first post and was hoping to introduce myself with heroic feats of my first kingie/jewie etc but this story was way to weird to not tell. Was out LB for kingies in the harbour early this morning when one of the guys alongside us cast his rod out and laid it down for 2 seconds, something smashed the bait and the rod slid into the harbour and coasted off into the wild blue yonder never to be seen again ... or so we thought About five minutes later a guy fishing off the wall about 20m up from us who was casting lures pulled out a rod and reel he hooked up. He then discovered a large fish still hooked up ... Yes it wa the one and same rod and reel. Following a short fight a thumper fat 69 cm salmon was netted. Thinking someone should be buying a lottery ticket. Other than that nothing of mention was caught but a fun morning was had.