archilles2

woulda been nice to meet ya, yeah the fish were way too timid , they were all down the bottom, hardly ever venturing up . i wasn't happy with the wind either..

that's funny, today i went to wallys wharf at about 12ish i saw the squid mark and realised a squid must of been caught aroundn 10am. I tried in vein to attract yakkas, gar, anything but the buggers just weren't out today , instead they were out yesterday! Funny how they were there very early in the morning though

Thank you all for your kind suggestions, i'm going to try grated potato and the cat food to attract more. One thing i didn't do was slowly retrieve the jigs , i didn't even really jig them much either! I've now purchased burkley invisible flurocarbon line and new sabiki jigs - i'm not going to give up either! hehe once i catch i'll have to post the photos lol

i had sabiki jigs too, but they wouldn't touch them! i couldn't understand why grrrrr

Hey all, for the first time today i went to the beautiful Gymea baths on a mission to score some livies. Even though i couldn't catch them , it felt great just getting out there , soaking in the sun and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Gymea baths is tucked away from the open sea, the baths sit low, almost in a valley - despite the 30 knot winds blowing today it was soo calm and peaceful in that part of the hacking! THAT ASIDE - I just couldn't catch any live yakkas. After afew minutes of burleying up , i managed to attract about 100 yakkas. At first i tried unweighted daichi jigs - nothing , then weighted - nothing , then baited with bread, prawns , beef, chicken breast , nothing. What peed me off the most though, was that they would eat whatever bait i had on my hooks SO LONG AS IT WASN'T ON MY HOOKS! In other words, i would have beef, bread, prawns, chicken on 6 of my size 12 hooks at a time , to attract them i would throw whatever bait i had on my hooks in the water around the hooks. They would swallow the pieces around my hooks in seconds but would then swim up to my baited hooks check and bypass! i even tried the jigs with no bait - nothing. Fish were there but not hooking on. What the hell am i doing wrong ? i'm starting to think it's the type of mono or hooks i'm using ? Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks

Thanks Jewgaffer! i always love reading your posts, they're so useful and full of great tips! Let me know if you want to join us one night i'm based in the shire

Thanks Toikle, i'll look that up now Cheers

Hey all, hope everyone is feeling fantastic and counting down the days till spring - not too far off lads and ladettes. Anyhoo, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a top beach for beach fishing within 1 hours drive of the city of sydney - north or south ? I purchased two baitrunners and i want to test them out on the open surf - i'm targeting jewwies, tailor, salmon. Any help would be greatly apprecaited as i don't know where to start...

Hey all, I'm going shopping on Friday for a beach rod to match my 6500b or 760 L live liner. To be honest, i don't want to spend too much on the rod but i want something that can tackle big jewwies ( up to 1m ) with a good 20 - 30 m casting distance. 1. How big should my rod be ? 12ft / bigger ? 10 - 15 kg's? 2. Could i find something for under $100 ? I'm visiting a shop on Friday but i don't know what to look for. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hey all, I'm after two shimano 6500b baitrunners , cheapest i could find was $ 225 , anyone seen them cheaper than this ?

Hey all, I'm venturing into unchartered territory as i plan to fish botany bay over the next few weeks. I've never fished at this time of year because i've been told it's too cold and fish are scarce in the Bay at this time of year. Can anyone prove this theory wrong ? pics would be great too

Hey all, Thanks for your great replies. We were not at all happy with the mechanic, i don't think he did anything you mentioned, they never ever got back to us when we would call them and would never explain the problem. I think he took us for a ride because we didn't know anything about how these babies work. Well, let me tell you, you learn pretty quickly when you have to pay the $$ I doubt he used a boroscrope, or even did a compression test because after he replaced the exhaust manifolds the entire engine siezed again and only then was he forced to examine the all internals. We threatened to sue them because we paid $3500 to fix the problem - later to discover that only the exhaust manifolds were replaced. Second time round he fixed everything - then again, only time will tell. He told us all of his work was covered by warranty and if anything happened to take it back. The only problem is i don't want to take it back to an idiot even if it's under warranty. We have been using the boat almost every week since we purchased her in November so it's never really sat for more than 2 weeks. We love our sea ray, and are thinking of getting stainless steel manifolds and installing a fresh water radiator. We'll also try and inspect the risers every so often - but to be honest i don't want to have to do this all the time!

Hey all, My father in law just got his bowrider back from the mechanic after the inboard engine Hydro locked . Water got into the cylinders and in the oil, not once but TWICE! ( thanks Mercruiser ) First time we took it to the mechanic ( after about 20 outings since we purchased it 2nd hand ) he replaced the exhaust manifolds, telling us they had rusted out. Then after 3 outings the engine siezed AGAIN and water was found in the oil and cylinders on the right hand side. We went off at the mechanic because he had already charged us $ 3500k He offered to do what he should of done and take the whole engine apart for examination and free repair. I don't know much about engines, but he said one of the pistons was stuck and rusty , he said he had to re bore the hole and clean out all the rust. After hefty research i discovered that these modified car engines use RAW Water ( Sea water ) to cool them down and don't have a fresh water radiator ( like a car to cool them down ) , it is said that major engine parts need to be replaced every 5 or so years, costing $$$$$$ because of this system. Why ? because polluted corrosive seawater is pumped directly into the engine to cool it down rather than having clean fresh water circulated around the engine like a car. As the boat sits between trips salt builds up along the walls and starts rusting out the engine. FINALLY - WHAT SHOULD I DO ? We love the boat, it's absolutely perfect except for the engine lol I'm not comfortable with the the cooling system and am almost sure this problem will occur once again. I heard you can get a conversion to a fresh water cooling system , good idea? Also, could anyone recommend a good additive as i plan to start flushing her in a bucket of water with a really good additive to rid all the salts and pollution. This is a 3.0 l alpha one mercruiser and it's U.S made . I think these engines were really designed for fresh water use like the Mississippi not Botany Bay

Just wondering if it's possible to catch octopus all year round in Botany Bay ? Anyone know ? I'm not sure if they drop off in winter ?

thanks Swordfisherman and browney1 - i'm going to keep doing what i do but maybe reduce the pressure on the hose a little more , i don't like the idea of just using wd40 and only wiping dwon the reels, doesn't seem to get the salty residue off!

Hey all, After losing my old rods and reels i've now purchased 4 new shimano 2500 and 4000 size reels combined with new rods from+_+_). After each trip i like to soap up my rods and reels then lightly hose off the soap after each outing. Once the soap is off i take a towel and drag off the excess water before i loosen the drag on all the reels. Problem is I only recently asked myself - What if water can get through the reel internally from the drag and go right down to the internal part of the reel CAUSING IT TO RUST? I called SHIMANO and this guy told me to never hose the reels, only to use WD40 every now and then.. I'm still not sure whether i should take his advice as i have heaps of salty residue / water splashed on the reels after each outing. I need some advice from experienced rod and reel cleaners who have kept their rods and reels in Great condition/ no problems in excess of 10 years ? Can anyone tell me what i should do ? i don't want to have to keep forking out money every few years to replace siezed reels

Hey all, Calling on all occy experts, just wanted to ask if occies go off the bite as winter approaches just like the fish in the bay ? I fish in Botany bay and love the feel of those little critters. Also, lately i've been fishing the bay and have found the fish aren't biting as much - would anyone attribute this to the temperatures dropping?

i'm in the city now but live in the sutherland shire, i'll travel almost anywhere though

Hey all, A good friend of mine recommended i purchase a can of glowmax for squidding, i've tried all the tackleshops and they're getting new orders, anyone know where i can get some for TONIGHT ? Any help would be greatly appreciated, happy to buy off anyone on here too

this is exactly why i love this site! people actually care and help out - i can't thank everyone enough for the advice, i'm going to go try again hehe , definetely have to invest in those hooks! can't wait to get out there again

Hey all, Today's mission was to try catch me some fresh yakkas off a local wharf to put on my squid spikes later on tonight/tomorrow. I purchased a cheapo 6 hook hook jig rig( little beads and small triangle wing looking things ) from *****. The hooks were tiny and i could barely fit any pilly or bread on them. Problem is i could see the yakkas and they were going for my jig but not getting caught! Also i found the bait would get smashed in seconds and it would take forever to re bait - maybe i'm only meant to use it as a jig , i thought bait would attract them though ? What am i doing wrong ? a. Should i be using pilly as was suggested at the bait shop ? i found it was just soooo soft. b. should i just stick to one hook ? c. could anyone suggest what bait/rig set up i should use ? do i need a sinker ? also what size hook? i just can't find any info anywhere grrr! thanks for all your help gang

jewgaffer, you're a star once again - thanks mate. I reckon if you ever had a show you would kill ET ESCAPE ! I can't stand that show, it's just one big advertisement, he absolutely plus everything even when he's catching fish lol The bay has been quiet for us over the past two weeks! I'm freaking out lol

Hey all, This is my first season fishing the Botany Bay consistently in the summer months , could i ask when should i expect the fish to start dropping off as winter approaches ? Anyone noticed a difference yet ? Thanks ladies and gentlemen. p.S. If anyone saw a white bowrider ( with a marone canopy ) getting towed by the coastguard on saturday, that was me and my father in law... Last week we lost four rods and a rod holder, this week our engine siezed, water was found in 3 cylinders and the when we lifted the oil lid, water was found there too - expensive trip once again !

Hey all, It didn't cross my mind at the time( to post this on Fishraider ) , but about 3 weeks ago on a Saturday i was fishing at Clifton on a Saturday morning and a large group of people ( possibly lebanese, italian ) we fishing all together at the right hand side of the jetty ( off the baths ) .. I spoke to one of the fisherman, and after afew hours the group left... They managed to leave a small rod behind with a float and a bit of bread on the end. It was situated right at the end of jetty, on the right hand side - pm me if you see this msg... Describe the rod and reel, and it's yours . p.S. I remember what everyone looked like, so don't bs.

hehe thanks fellas, now i have a genuine excuse to get new rods