SimJ

wow thanks ray appreciate that. Looks good mate got all the necessary gear ill try it next time I go out. Cheers, Simmo

I read that cowanyoung are generally bigger than yakkas and also yakkas have 73 'scutes' (those ridges down its body) whereas cowanyoung have 74 or more. So if u really care then get counting! When it comes to using the biggies as bait Im with Jewhunter, chop off the tail or a bit more depending on how big it is, then butterfly and use with a 2 hook snell rig. Cheers, Simmo

nice fish there Ray, just wondering what u used to catch the salmon i.e. rig and bait. Cheers and good work, Simmo

nice catch man, impressive. Simmo

Next time come extra early with me and we can take the good spots . CG is so hit and miss and lately I havent seen many kings there at all . Good to hear no rubbish. Cheers, Simmo

thanks for the replys everyone, really appreciate it. Ray Ive read ur posts before about the scum that leave trash everywhere. To be honest mate you would have been blowing steam out your ears if you saw this. I thought about taking pics of it but after a few attempts I realised I would need about 15 shots with the cam phone just to do it justice . Cheers, Simmo

Thanks sniper, i just looked it up and it looks spot on . Have you caught/eaten any before? Cheers, Simmo

I give the fish I catch to my olds I rarely eat them myself. So they can risk it if they want . any info on it would be good though...

Thanks Grant thats my point exactly I can totally understand why the ferry companies ban fishing from wharves even though it makes me annoyed. I thought it looked weird, the mouth is a lot more rounded like a trigger fish maybe? but everyone I was with just called it a leathery... so any ideas anyone? Cheers, Simmo

Had a shortish session today at CG, the amount of rubbish when I arrived at 6am was absolutely unbelievable. Seriously I have never ever seen any spot as trashed as today. Obviously some one had caught a jewie the night before and left all the scales and guts everywhere as well as a few bags of prawns emptied, some undersize bream just lying there and much much more cr@p, they hadnt even bothered to urinate in the water instead they had just pi$$ed on the wharf and it stank. cant believe some people, that was beyond a joke. On the fish scene, I saw one kingy the whole time i was there . It was still a really nice day and I saw a whole heap of interesting fish all day. There were some massive leatherjackets crusing around all day, they were actually trying to eat peoples floats??? A mate i was fishing with ended up hooking the smallest of the group, it was still pretty big though. mini yakkas were the only kind of bait we could get all day, and nothing was interested in them. My mate ended up getting an ok trev on some pillie but that was it for the day. Im still amazed by the size of the 5 or so jackets that were around, there were some that were easily double the size of the one we got. trev was 46cm didnt measure jacket but it was a little bigger. btw what type is it? Cheers, Simmo

Cheers guys, Simmo

Very nice breams! and good haul of jackets too.

any ideas?

use the smallest metal lure u can buy, cast as far as u can and retrieve as hard as u can(without the lure leaving the water). Chees, Simmo

Richard1, I told u its normally a decent spot, sorry bout the time u went there. Ray, the duck was fine. Bagga, this is two of their four 25lt buckets, no water just yakkas. Thanks for the replies everyone, Simmo

Went to the northern beaches last night to collect a bit of bait. Got to a favourite jetty and there was yakkas galore, really big ones too average 30cm. Not only was there heaps of big yakkas but there were some huge squid stalking around. I sent out a few livies to see if anything big was around, every one I sent out would be hit within 5 minutes of being in the water. Not by fish but by massive squid. After dropping the biggest squid i had ever seen (easily 50cm hood), I set up a spike and put a half dead yakka on it. Dropped another big squid right next to the jetty, then lost the spike . I had lost $80 worth of jigs in the last week and i only had one 2.0 yamashita left. In my opinion it was way too small for most of the squid and on 10lb line and a small rod I dropped a lot of good squid . Tried switching it up by using a bigger rod and 20lb braid. Worked a treat and I soon had a few good inkers. Biggest one had 30cm hood. My 1 trusty jig was torn to shreds at the end of the night. The only others fishing on the jetty were some friendly women and impressively they had caught around 180 big yakkas. They also caught a duck that I rescued and set free. Ended up with about 40 yakkas biggest 34cm and 6 squid. Enough bait for a day out I think . Some of the bigger yakkas. The poor duck. The squid. Cheers, Simmo

Bad luck on the squid mate. normally its like Adawg says and they go for the jig atleast 2 or 3 times but occasionally u will get these really timid buggers that spook as soon as u move the jig. If they are the timid type and are grabbing the jig from the side I try to strike them as u would a fish but aim the strike so that the spikes of the jig hit the squid. it is hit and miss but once u get the hang of it its pretty easy If they are following whole fish try using a pilchard spike. and yes the squid and especially cuttlefish will tear ur jig up eventually. Cheers, Simmo

mate that is one impressive haul there! but i must correct u as im only 22 and im definitely familiar with ur deliverance referance, oink oink Cheers, Simmo

Went to a couple of my favourite spots last night, started in the Balmain area. There were some big squid around but they wouldnt touch any jigs or the pilchard spike, they just kept roaming back and forth making me frustrated. Normally the spot I was at is a killer spot to collect both squid and yakkas. However last night there was barely a yakka to be seen which is weird because normally I collect around 30 of them easily??? instead all there was was heaps of pike... after catching a few and sending them out live and butterflied I had no action . I finally caught ONE yakka and very soon after having him in the water he was hit by a decent flatty (53cm) After not being able to get anymore bait I took the remaining pilchards I had to North Sydney and went to another favourite bait collecting spot. By the time I got there it was the top of the tide and I was keen to get some bait out for a possible jew having lost 2 massive runs a few nights ago. The first bait that I dropped in the water was hit by a yakka! woo things looked up! I sent the yakka out live and kept fishing for bait. Then it happened again for the next 3 hours there was nothing but pike!?! The yakka i had sent out got a decent hit and a short run but came back chopped in half I was thinking about heading home with only 3 pilchards and no yakkas around when finally I saw a decent squid and jigged him up. I sent mr squid out live and within 5 minutes I had my first promising run of the night. After tightening the drag and giving him a tug I could tell it wasnt even a soapie but it still had some kick. When it got to the surface I thought it was an ok bream, but I brought it in and it turned out to be my first legal wharf caught snapper (32cm) nothing special but a first atleast. As I was packing up a fillet of the last pilchard got hit and it was an ok bream same as the snapper at 32cm. A mixed bag is always good but seriously where are the yakkas? If i had more live bait I think I couldve got some decent fish as all the ones I caught were smashed within 5 minutes... pity but a pretty good night. Simmo

I used to go there a fair bit and I have never had any trouble with the police, Ive even walked past them a few times on the way there. But its not hard to believe they are cracking down now because everytime I went there the place was a dump. Some people must think rubbish just magically dissappears or something? sad news

pm sent

um think u should check the size limits of those fish mate...

hey mate, if ur near northbridge ur not too far from Spit bridge. The fish there are safe to eat and something i like to do is go down to Clontarf reserve just under near the bridge. There are heaps of edible fish here if u dont mind getting a bit sandy. The best thing about it is a free hot plate that is on 24/7 so u can catch, cook and eat all in the same place. Hope this helps, Simmo