The Entrance Social 2011

[Guest]

What a great weekend!

Sensational weather, great fishing and even better company.

We arrived on Friday around lunchtime eager to get the weekend started. We decided at the last minute to take swordie's Mum and carer with us for the weekend. They had both had operations recently and had been housebound for a few months and the social looked like the best medicine for them. They turned out to be excellent additions to our Catering Crew and more on that later.

The boys and gals readied themselves quickly for a beach session and everyone was armed with new and old faithfuls.With ganged hooks and pilchards as the chosen bait the beach was being targetted for salmon,tailor and the elusive jewfish.

The bites came pretty quickly and although mostly choppers(smallish tailor) we all had a ball and Roberta scored a really nice flathead as well.

As the night wore on the punters left the beach and only Stewy and Dean stayed on.They were using squid as bait and around 11.30pm Dean hooks into a big fish that loaded up his trusty 7wrap 14 footer to the butt and bammmmm busted off no reason that we could fathom and next bait in the water another big fish with a lot of weight and similar outcome,they couldnt believe their luck .Stewy scored a very nice salmon as a consolation prize and the boys came back around 2am pretty shattered.

The morning was great with a few htting the beach early for some good results on tailor and new member Dan getting a 37cm tailor that was leading for a long time.

7am we all got up early to prepare breakfast for the hungry attendees with bacon and eggs and fresh juice hitting the spot.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in and helped out with our fine quisine.

Most hit the lake in search of flatties,bream and whiting and plenty of pan size fish were landed.

Joco came to the measure master with a top flattie of 59cms which proved to be the best of the weekend.

Browney(Mike) got a reasonable bream on a surface lure of 28cms and that also proved to be a winner with absence of any quality sized bream.

Around lunchtime Joco comes rocking up with a cracker salmon of 69cms taken on a 1000 size reel and bream stick with a small jointed rapala lure,outstanding angling skills to stop such a big salmon on such light gear and a deserved winner of the salmon trophy.

Reggie Rabbit took me out, Mrs swordie for a few hours and we landed a couple of nice flatties on plastics.I really appreciated the offer as well Stephen

Saturday afternoon everyone rocked up at the beach again and it was decided to fish for a few hours and then go over to the Entrance for pizza.

A perfect afternoon with salmon and tailor on the chew straight away and everyone scored fish with Browny scoring the winning tailor of 49cms amongst all the smaller fish,well done Mike.

Roberta also scored her PB flattie from the beach as well.

The pizza and pasta went down a treat then it was back to villa 5 for a few ales and wines and some light hearted banter where Stevo(fishguts) arrived and was hoping to get some takers for a late night beach jew hit.

When swordie arrived back at the cabin he was greeted by Rosetta (Fishy Fingers) who had a reel all pulled apart and had a nasty mess wrapped around the reel.

Swordie helped a damsel in distress and it was fitting that Rosetta recieved a nice little combo from Purefishing for her perseverance.

Sunday morning dawned too quickly and it was time to pack up and feed all the attendees again which was done with great aplomb again.

Stewy gave a nice spiel and thanked everyone for their attendance and greeted all the winners with some great new fireline and plastics from Purefishing.

Big thankyou to Marc from Purefishing for supporting the Site and its members.

The winners Beach...

Joco.....69cm Salmon

Browny......49cm Tailor

No jewies caught this time so a second place to Dan T for his 37cm tailor

The Estuary....

Joco again with his 59cm flathead

Mikey(Browney) with his 28cm bream on surface lure.

There were no whiting caught of legal size, all small fish.

Consolation prize to Roberta for her good flattie off the beach as well as Deano(Swano) for his unlucky two bust offs and lastly Stephen (Reggie Rabbit) for his good deeds and nice haul of flatties from the lake.

Rosetta I hope you enjoy your new combo as well.

We also had a few new hollow belly plastics to give away as well.

And the Gang

Thanks to everyone who attended and Admin hopes it was a success for all of you.

Regards Admin

[cat-as-trophy]

Wow, what can I say. Looks like a fantastic weekend was had by all and another highly successful Raiders social. :thumbup: Sorry we missed this one.

Congratulations to all the winners and grinners.

Cheers

Cath

[Yarraone]

Looks like all had a top weekend and I am so sorry I missed it.. cant wait for the next social i will be there for sure.. Congrates to admin for all thier hard work organising the weekend and also thanks to the sponsers

[mrsswordfisherman]

Wow, what can I say. Looks like a fantastic weekend was had by all and another highly successful Raiders social. :thumbup: Sorry we missed this one.

Congratulations to all the winners and grinners.

Cheers

Cath

Thanks Cath but we missed you greatly.

It was lots of fun but sadly there were no kids there. We had combos for kids prizes and no kids! We will keep them for next time

[sadamson]

As always a great time had by all at raider socials.But it would not happen if we did not have people like Donna and Stewy,A big thank you for all that you do We did not arrive untill saturday morning,but hit the water and had a ball with all the small flathead all on Bloodworm wriggler and my wife Fiona caught her first fish on a plastic.A nice flathead we had a double hook up,i netted hers first.Great weather ,great people cant wait for the next one.cheers Stephen (reggie the Rabbit)

[austral]

well done to everyone for a great weekend and thanks to all those who made it possible..cheers..stevo..

[tide'n'knots]

what can I say, excellent wheather and excellent company! pity I turned out to be the dud fisho!! I threw everything in my tackle box at the fish in the lake and couldnt raise a scale! the final straw was when I anchored next to stephen (reggie rabbit) and Donna and they proceeded to catch 3 flathead in front of me in no time flat then turned to me with -c'mon pete!!!!. I just about whipped the water to foam throwing stuff at them for zilch! finally I gave up in disgust and hit the beach for a late arvo night session and faired slightly better by managing 2 tailor....finally!! I should add that friday night I fished the rocks and beach around towoon bay for a nice bream 30cm and a huge 60 cm catfish that I believe is second place in the raider records. Unfortunately the fish of the trip for me was lost after landing and dehooking it and I am still filthy because I was unable to ID it. I washed up what appeared to be a nice drummer (pig) around 45 cm almost identical shape, but at closer inspection it had the markings of a coral trout???? green and pink speckles over its body and fins on a greyish greenish background,it looked like something that should have been swimming on the great barrier reef. It would be interesting to hear peoples thoughts on what it might have been- anyway, like an idiot I decided to grab it in the gills and wash the sand off it so I could get a better look and as soon as it felt the water it kicked - you can guess the rest!!

A big thankyou on behalf of myself and fishfingers for a great weekend and we are looking forward to the next social so we can all catch up again.

cheers rosetta (fishfingers) and pete.

[Smitty]

WOW, it looks and sounds like you all had a fantastic weekend! I'm very disapointed I couldn't make it .

Congratulations to all the winners, congratulations to all those members who made it to the entrance and congratulations to the admin team for organising yet another successful Fishraider social event .

Cheers,

Smitty...

[dmad_dood]

Thanks for a great day! I decided to come out for the day and make the 3am drive down to be fishing before sunrise, well worth it . It was great to finally put some names to faces being my first social i really enjoyed it.

Thanks again to everyone involved in organising. And hopefully see everyone out on the water,

Until then, tight lines!!!

[Joco]

WOW what can i say...

It was a great weekend away, nice to put some faces to the Fishraider Usernames...

BIG thank you to Donna and Stewy for organising YET another successful Social...

ALSO a big thank you to the sponsor PUREFISHING....

I will put the new braid to good use and score some new PBs (fingers crossed)...

Dan and i had a ball tenting.....

Nothing better then fishing, drinking, outdoor BBQs, with a group of new friends...

First night was a success with everyone pulling out Taylors...

Roberta was on FIRE, pulling out a monster flatty with endless Taylors off the beach.... Everyone started to become jealous...

Along with Stewy i put the hours into catching my first Jew of the beach BUT was greeted with this scavenger...

My heart skipped a beat once i saw the rod bend...

It was so COLD, i decided to pack up, warm up with a few brandy shots and headed out to catch some flatties...

In over an hour, managed to score half a dozen flatties....

Following morning Dan being NEW to flicking soft plastics, score his first Flatty of the beach...

That afternoon the big Sambo put up a good fight and tested the light gear to its limit....

Before we left The Entrance we decided to have a few final flicks....

Managed to score over a DOZEN flatties in around an hour....

GREAT fun....

I had a grounp of Jap Tourists cheering me on, everytime i reel in a fish.... Pretty funny....

[sails]

Stewy and Donna,

once again, thanks for putting together a great event for those of us that were able to make it up to the Entrance.

Life has contrived to keep me away from fishing for some time now so it was with some good hearted encouragement from my sister Roberta, that my wife Christine and I managed to get a weekend pass while our 14 Y.O daughter was at a Youth conference in Katoomba. We threw everything in the back of the car and headed up to The Entrance Saturday morning.

Arrived midday and in time for lunch and began to meet a lot of new faces and names and lots of tales of catches and misses. Great to see Tide'n knots and Fishfingers (Pete and Rosetta) again and to meet Mike and Dan (Browney1 and Dan T), and to catch up with Stewey and Donna again after a long break.

After lunch most headed out onto the lake but I joined Roberta, Browney and Dan T over at the beach for some worming practice and a spot of fishing. While the young ones were chasing the elusive worms I put some (that I had pulled from Collaroy the day before) on a hook and pulled a couple of nice 35cm whiting from the back of one of the sand bars. Pity they wern't legal for the comp, but whiting had to come from the Lake, not the beach.

When I rejoined the others they had finally given up the addictive yet frustrating worming attempts and were already getting into the tailor, salmon and flathead with Browney1 pulling a 49cm tailor and a 65 cm salmon. I had some nice hits on ganged pillies, but I was a bit rusty on technique and dropped the first two fish I hooked. It wasnt until I beached the third hook up that I understood what I was dealing with as I landed a 47cm tailor. This one was wearing all three of the gangs so there was no way it was getting off!!. The fish went off the bite before 7pm so we headed for the get together at the pizza place and then back to Fishraider Central at no 5 for more tales of catches and misses.

Taking a leaf out of Browney and 'Dan Ts' book, I set the alarm for 0430 Sunday morning and had the delight of being the first that I could see on the beach. The bite came on at 0530 but this time it was the chopper school, with most of the tailor around the 35cm mark. I had fun with a 48cm salmon and also managed a good sized Trevally before the bite slowed right down around 0700.

While this next part isnt fishing it is something that most of us would have come across in our sport and it remainds a problem that seems to be one the increase.

What really disappointed me when I got to the beach was the mess that I found left behind on the beach by whoever took over the gutter that we had been fishing the evening before. Plastic bags were everywhere, some containing unused yakkas, squid and prawns, along with the paper used to wrap them, fluro light sticks in the sand, drink bottles, a dead baby whaler shark that had its throat slit and left; just disgusting that people that share the same passion as we do could have such a totally different attitude to the territory they should be mindful of looking after. Later on as I returned to camp for the prize giving and wrap up I walked along the lake shore and found more evidence of the same attitude; truly disgusting and disapointing.

The crew enjoyed a bite to eat before the prize giving and it was great that Grace and Val were along to assist with the hospitality side of the event. Legends!!

We cleared the caravan park at 2PM and the weather held off until we had hit Berowra on the run home, so all in all a really enjoyable time had by us.

Looking forward to the next local social get together Stewey, hope to see you there.

tight lines

Sails

[cut_loose]

Sounds like a great weekend, kicked myself i missed it really

I need to get up to the next social, i never go and always kick myself after seeing the photos

[robthefisherman]

I should add that friday night I fished the rocks and beach around towoon bay for a nice bream 30cm and a huge 60 cm catfish that I believe is second place in the raider records. cheers rosetta (fishfingers) and pete.

Glad to see I still hold the record

seriously though looked like a great weekend and glad to say after about 4 years away from a rod I'm finally finding time to get out again so I haope to make it to the next social and catch up with all the old gang and meet all the new members.

Great report

[cat-as-trophy]

It seems amazing that there where no kids at this social. Usually we have a few come along. Oh well, prizes for them for the next social.

Cheers

Cath

[Jewhunter]

Sorry I missed it!

Looks like an awesome weekend with great company, great weather & plenty of fish.

Well done to all that attended & to those of you that came away with some great prizes.

A big thanks to Marc & Purefishing for their fantastic support!

Cheers,

Grant.

[arpie]

Hi guys

A quick update on Keith ..... he is in the US just now, with his twin brother, spending time with their older brother. This is a pic taken at the Airport! He is really looking GOOD!!!

Well, they've all said it, so I'll say it again ...... what a FANTASTIC Fishraider Social we had at the Entrance this weekend. Many thanks to Stewy and Donna for organising this brilliant event and also to Pure Fishing for putting up some terrific prizes, especially the new Berkley Exceed PE Braid!!

We had a terrific group of enthusiastic Fishraiders fishing all hours of the day and night, with just rewards. Some terrific Flatties, tailor & salmon were caught, many bust-offs by BIG FISH - however, bream & whiting were strangely conspicuous in their 'relative' absence!!

I arrived at the campsite on Thursday afternoon - it poured with rain all the way down from Forster, so I was pleased to put up my Oztent in sunshine!! It boded well for the weekend!!! This trip, I've fine tuned my 'easy meals' theory - keep it healthy & keep it simple ...... I've decided that WRAPS are the way to go these days!!! I tend to have 'late breakfast/brunch' and then dinner when travelling ion my own ...... bacon & egg wrap for brunch & steak & salad & hoummus wrap for dinner!! A little bit of Carbo & lots of good stuff!

Here's my Steak Wrap! Nice healthy salad

Add your steak (I admit - I DO use Fillet Steak, but, if sliced up this $5 piece of Top Quality Meat, could easily be spread over 2-3 wraps & still give a good feed of meat!!)

Hmmmm, good weather for my stay at The Entrance ......or so I thought!!! Friday morning, the skies looked heavy, but I got my yak out anyway! By the time I reached the bridge, I was using it as shelter, as by 9am, it was already raining quite heavily! I chucked lures at the pylons for a couple of follows but no decent hookups. I caught a heap of chopper tailor like this one ....

I headed over towards the Boat Hire place on the southern side of the bridge, thinking I'd get a hit near the boats or poles ....... NUP! Flicking along the stone wall produced more chopper tailor, so headed over towards the 'flats' to try for bream on top water! (I found out later from Mike, that I hadn't gone quite far enough!) In the meantime, the rain kept coming in squalls - I had a raincoat on, but was still pretty wet! I had a couple of explosive hits that I was hoping were bream ..... but they were MORE chopper tailor! Heading back towards the camp, I cast around the shallows in front of the camp ground & caught a baby whiting on topwater!

I may not have caught any legals on the Friday, but I DID have a strange capture! I found this strange object floating in the bay ....... a carved timber Buddha!!!

Luckily the weather cleared by the afternoon (and I'd had a quick change of clothes & was dry again!) A group of us headed over to the beach (a 2 minute walk away.)

Mike, Stewy, Dan & Dean

This was really MIke's first real Beach Session & was keen to blood his new setup!

With pretty well my first cast, I felt some weight on the line & struck .... expecting to see a tailor or salmon to be beached, so was amazed when a 50cm+ sand flattie appeared in the wash!!! Mike and Stewy were egging me on with 'Go Roberta'!! "First Blood of the Social!" I was really excited, especially as it was A PB Beach Flattie - I'd never landed a Legal sized flattie from a beach up til now!! I have a 'cut down' Fisheries length sticker on my Beach Rod, so that I can even check the length of the fish whilst even on the hook, to determine whether it should go back or not! This one was a keeper!!!

Then Mike was onto a good fish - the first of his many tailor on pillies!!! His first Beach Fish on his new gear!

Somehow, I'd lost 2 of my gang hooks, so was just left with the one hook on & started using cubes instead of a whole one ......... a couple of casts later, I was onto a 35cm tailor & within minutes, caught another similar sized one!!! Woohoo!!!! I was loving it!!! I hadn't beach fished for some years, as I feel a bit vulnerable fishing late afternoon & into the evening on my own, so just don't do it much any more!! That could well change after these few days at the Entrance!!! I was running about 12lb braid & 20m+ of about 15lb leader, then got busted off at the braid/leader knot!! I was halfway thru re-rigging when DanT comes up to me saying - "I've caught your leader!!!" It even still had the sinkers on it!!!! Amazing!!!

It was great meeting up with Joco/Joey and Daniel - Daniel showed me a terrific way of stopping rain from 'pooling' in the roof of our Oztents - and Joey came along the beach, with offerings of his special 'pear brandy' (similar to 'slivavistchitsz' or something that sounded like that!!) It sure warmed you up from the inside out!! Wouldn't want too much of it tho, or you wouldn't be able to feel your legs, I reckon!

The hot bite ended not long after dark - so by 7.30, we were ready to head back to camp & cook up some dinner! Mike & Dan invited me back to their Villa to eat our meals & discuss the exciting evening's fishing! Dan had been using a spinning rod on the beach & had some good hits, being busted off as well like the rest of us, so was keen to get out there & do it again early the next morning!! I politely declined the invite to join them at 4.30am!!!

Next morning, Bacon & Eggs were being put on by Admin & Donna was manning the Hot Plates for a yummy breakfast.

Tide'n'knot's partner, Rosetta/Fishfingers

Hungry Fishraiders!!

Lyn and Jeff (Mr & Mrs Dalucius) were also there & it was terrific to see them again! Unfortunately, they had to leave on Sat afternoon for a family function. Lyn had a fish from the campsite wall

I headed out in the yak again, this time, keen to try the shallows just behind the bridge for flatties, as I could see there were huge sand patches between the weedy flats! I cast some small Squidgie Lobbies in Granada into the sand patches & came up tight against a flattie!!! It was 50cm+ (didn't actually measure this one!)

It had totally scoffed that lobbie!!

The next one was a tad smaller at 42cm

I caught up with Pete & Rosetta on the way back - Pete was having no joy on the water, even using live nippers!!

Heading back to Fishraider Central, I logged my flatties in & when Donna said that Stewy's Mum and carer Val had been making sandwiches for lunch and would I like some??? How terrific was that! Many thanks to Grace & Val for their hard work feeding the hungry Fishraiders - and there were quite a few catered for at that lunch time!!! The sammies were yummy (food variety, not lure variety!)

Mike & Dan were really keen to pull their first beach worm, so we headed to the beach again to worm initially, then fish with the worms caught & pillies, into the evening again - with Cam following shortly after as worm teacher No 2 (having just arrived with Christine & nearly put up their tent.) Both Mike & Dan were able to recognise the worm territory (the flat groin where water washes slowly over it, rather than the steep sandy slopes with fast flowing water.) I managed to get about 8 fat worms & Cam caught some too.

Mike is onto a worm!! Unfortunately, he only got the head, not the full worm.

Whilst I continued worming, Dan started fishing & was immediately onto good fish and being busted off by better ones!! I returned to the beach just as Mike hooked into a massive fish - a big salmon!! Woohoo!!! His new gear has truly been blooded now!!

I managed to catch a new species on a bit of worm - a dart!!

Cam had wandered further down the beach hunting for whiting (and found some!) Then came back to join us on the big hole closer to the mouth of the estuary than we fished the previous night.

Dan & Mike were swapping outfits, then Dan put a spinner onto his spinning rod & had a huge hit from either a tailor or salmon, which got off in the wash, before being identified!! He reckoned the fish were in a lot closer, so we stopped heaving the pillies out to the back of the waves, allowing the bait to wash around a lot closer in.

Then Mike got a huge hit & skillfully brought it to the beach - a massive tailor!! It nearly went 49cm! Top fish, Mike!!!

Whilst I was taking a few pics of Mike & his fish, my line was just lying in the water, unattended - so turning around, i started to wind the line in & there was a very heavy load on it!! I brought it in, putting a HUGE bend on my 'custom' beach rod ........ a massive flattie!!! I now had ANOTHER Flattie from Beach PB! It went 57cm!!!

Very proud of this fish~

Christine came down to keep us company

We had all been bitten off by big fish at this point in time - I had reverted to ganged hooks again, still using cubes of pillie, tho, to tempt the bigger tailor! Cam finally hooked one of the monsters!! It went 46cm!! Top fish, Cam!

Once again, the bite went a bit quiet after dark - word had spread that Stewy & Fishraider Central had headed to a Pizza shop across the bridge & a quick consensus was taken ..... Pizza is better than standing on a beach, catching nothing!! We headed off & were soon awaiting our Pizzas!! Top call, Donna & Stewy!

The late comers had their own table!

Drinkies and much hilarity ensued back at Fishraider Central as Stewy regaled us of some of his recent fishing activities, especially when in the kayak recently, chasing bass!!

Sunday morning had arrived all too quickly & as everyone had to vacate their accommodation by 9.30, there was an early conclusion to the Social - Breakfast was once again well attended and the presentation of 'prizes' started shortly after.

Cam & Christine with Donna at Breakfast

DanT, Tide'n'knots, Sails, Reggie the rabbit, Browney1 and Jonathon

Joco/Joey with his innovative wine glass holder!! A great idea!

Another great idea - Reggie the Rabbit's neat Camera Float! If you drop it overboard, the camera will float & the flotation is bright enough to see easily, too.

Val, Stewy & Grace - amazing that Grace is so active after major hip surgery recently! I enjoyed chatting with Grace - I reckon both her & Val had a blast at the Entrance!

Some more pics of the presentations ......

Fond farewells were made to our new & old friends, as one by one, they units were vacated & Fishraiders were heading back to Sydney. Cam & Christine stayed on a bit longer & MIke parked his car outside the end fence of the campground & came back in, to try out the Hobie!! There was a strong wind blowing which made it a bit difficult to get around easily, but he was able to give my small yak 'a go', to see if it suited him at all. Cam went out on his South African Fishing Ski & also found it hard going - I don't think any fish were caught!

Mike looked pretty comfy in my yak!

I caught up with Joey and Daniel as they packed up their tent - it was terrific meeting up with you guys, too!

Lots of fun was had, fine fish were caught & new friendships forged! I know that Mike & Dan are planning on visiting Forster some time soon!!!!

Once again, many thanks for all the hard work by Donna & Stewy in getting the Entrance Social off the ground and to Marc Pure Fishing for sponsoring it with such great prizes - I can't wait to spool up my 6.6lb Exceed braid!! The Entrance is one of the best sites around for a social - so put it on your MUST DO list for the next one! They even have their own private boat ramp (most long term users have small wheels on their tinnys so they just wheel them down the ramp!) and many land based fishing spots are within a 5 minute walk from the camp. Believe it or not, there was even green weed growing off the grass that was being lapped by the water in front of Fishraider Central!!! INCREDIBLE! I meant to get a pic of it, but forgot!

Looking forward to the next event already!!!

Cheerio

Roberta

[james7]

Sure looks like it was a great success! Sorry I missed it.

Plenty of good fish caught and some great photos.

Roberta, there's no doubt about it, that Buddha looks like a FR record!

Cheers

Peter

[robthefisherman]

Fantastic report Roberta

We're holidaying in Forster in October so I'll be hitting you up for all the hot spots before we go with some luck maybe you can get down and have a fish with us

We'll be staying at the lakeside resort for a week

Cheers

Rob

[michelle]

looks like everyone had a great time with some nice fish caught

hopefully I will get to the next social

[swano]

hey raiders,thanks to everyone who attended the social for making it a great weekend for debbie and me. special thanks to donna & stew and the catering crew. some great posts,made me realise what a great weekend it was.Had some good fun beachfishing at night and had a relaxed fish in the lake with deb who was using plastics for the first time.caught &released a few small flatties between us.Thanks again to everyone.

[PRED-ATOR]

Hey guys when is the next social??

[PRED-ATOR]

I think Kiama would be awesome. Its a nice town, endless fishing possibilities and great picnic/BBQ areas. I believe they also have a caravan park?

Cheers, Stan

[PM79]

A Swansea social would be good too.

I'll try and make it to the next social, I've been meaning to attend one for some time.

Edited July 5, 2011 by reLapse

[Swaz]

Where exactly did you fish? I have begun fishing The Entrance and not having much luck. Any help appreciated!