Summary of the last few days

[HawkesburyParadise]

I've been fishing on and off the last few days. Not too many successful sessions but lots of learnings.

29/1 - Tom Uglys point

After dropping my Dad off early in the morning, I headed out to a popular spot - Tom Uglys point under the bridge.

Lots of bites, lots of snags and the current was way too strong for the 00 sinkers I had. Moving to the other side, I managed a tiny Silver Trevally. Bit of a waste but the sun rise made up for it. 

31/1 - Morning session with Little Flatty

Great to learn about soft plastics from our man Little Flatty. No bites on it for me(Fish can sense a newbie :p) but great experience.

1 big bite on Chicken bait from a resident Bream who disappeared after that. 

31/1 - Afternoon Harbour Bridge Session

Little Flatty asked me if I was going to be fishing all day. I had to be somewhere in the evening but who can resist throwing a line at the harbour bridge at Ives Step Wharf. 

Not a very successful session, I now get what someone said about the current at Milsons point. No matter where I threw the line, it would always end up towards Circular Quay.  Again lots of snags even when I threw the bait straight down using paternoster rig. 

Some kids were throwing big baits and they said they caught a snapper. Eventually, I moved a bit to Hickson Reserve with clearer water just to see what was happening with my bait. I could see fish in the sea weed beds but they weren't interested in my Squid bait.

I think I even noticed a few flatheads take a look and decide to ignore. 

One thing I noticed as I left was 2 old fishermen at the start of Pier 1 at Hickson Rd on the boardwalk. They had caught a few fish and were descaling them. Lesson learnt - Don't try to be cool, fish near structure. 

2/02 - Morning session at Berowra Waters

Incoming tide, new moon and overcast - Should be perfect for Fishing right? Not as much as I would have expected. 

Perhaps, I was there a bit earlier than I needed to be at 6.30am when high tide point at nearly 10.30-11am but I had to be at work. 

I was actually quite surprised as I had 0 bites in the first hour. Eventually, things picked up a bit and I managed to land a 15-20cm bream. I say this without measurement because when I pulled it up the knot went lose on the hook. There's a fish swimming with my hook now.

If anyone has tips of tying better knots than uni for hooks, please let me know. Having said that, I am not disappointed, my record at Berowra still stands - min 1 fish in a session. 

[Isaac Ct]

Nice trips mate. Good on ya for getting out.

[Pickles]

Hey @HawkesburyParadise, I only use uni-knot on hooks and swivels (a double uni’ for line to line) and, as yet, never had a uni’ give way and I fish mostly for Kingies, which will test your gear, so I wouldn’t use any other knot.

for leader to braid I use FG knot or if I’m on the boat, an improver Albright (too hard for me to do FG on a rocking boat) - not many other knots you need in my opinion.

[HawkesburyParadise]

Just now, Pickles said:

Hey @HawkesburyParadise, I only use uni-knot on hooks and swivels (a double uni’ for line to line) and, as yet, never had a uni’ give way and I fish mostly for Kingies, which will test your gear, so I wouldn’t use any other knot.

for leader to braid I use FG knot or if I’m on the boat, an improver Albright (too hard for me to do FG on a rocking boat) - not many other knots you need in my opinion.

Thanks. I must be doing something wrong with the Uni then because it slipped a couple of times. 

[Pickles]

Just now, HawkesburyParadise said:

Thanks. I must be doing something wrong with the Uni then because it slipped a couple of times. 

Are you doing a double loop before going through the (double loop) 3 times? Some blokes go through 5or 6 times, but 3 is enough even on Kingies.
 

maybe check on YouTube?

[Little_Flatty]

40 minutes ago, HawkesburyParadise said:

I've been fishing on and off the last few days. Not too many successful sessions but lots of learnings.

29/1 - Tom Uglys point

After dropping my Dad off early in the morning, I headed out to a popular spot - Tom Uglys point under the bridge.

Lots of bites, lots of snags and the current was way too strong for the 00 sinkers I had. Moving to the other side, I managed a tiny Silver Trevally. Bit of a waste but the sun rise made up for it. 

31/1 - Morning session with Little Flatty

Great to learn about soft plastics from our man Little Flatty. No bites on it for me(Fish can sense a newbie :p) but great experience.

1 big bite on Chicken bait from a resident Bream who disappeared after that. 

31/1 - Afternoon Harbour Bridge Session

Little Flatty asked me if I was going to be fishing all day. I had to be somewhere in the evening but who can resist throwing a line at the harbour bridge at Ives Step Wharf. 

Not a very successful session, I now get what someone said about the current at Milsons point. No matter where I threw the line, it would always end up towards Circular Quay.  Again lots of snags even when I threw the bait straight down using paternoster rig. 

Some kids were throwing big baits and they said they caught a snapper. Eventually, I moved a bit to Hickson Reserve with clearer water just to see what was happening with my bait. I could see fish in the sea weed beds but they weren't interested in my Squid bait.

I think I even noticed a few flatheads take a look and decide to ignore. 

One thing I noticed as I left was 2 old fishermen at the start of Pier 1 at Hickson Rd on the boardwalk. They had caught a few fish and were descaling them. Lesson learnt - Don't try to be cool, fish near structure. 

2/02 - Morning session at Berowra Waters

Incoming tide, new moon and overcast - Should be perfect for Fishing right? Not as much as I would have expected. 

Perhaps, I was there a bit earlier than I needed to be at 6.30am when high tide point at nearly 10.30-11am but I had to be at work. 

I was actually quite surprised as I had 0 bites in the first hour. Eventually, things picked up a bit and I managed to land a 15-20cm bream. I say this without measurement because when I pulled it up the knot went lose on the hook. There's a fish swimming with my hook now.

If anyone has tips of tying better knots than uni for hooks, please let me know. Having said that, I am not disappointed, my record at Berowra still stands - min 1 fish in a session. 

It was good to meet you mate and that morning, it wasn't just you; fish were generally scarce. Meadowbank is quite capable of putting on a good show (just see what happened the day after) but it can be somewhat inconsistent.

Glad you got out again in the afternoon as well. Why waste a day off? Even without a fishing rod, I could sit on the harbour shoreline all day.

If you visit Berowra waters again, see if you can rig up a small float (research how to do this) and use cheap sliced white bread for bait. Use a size 4 or 6 hook. Set the float such that your bait will be about 1.5m under the water. Squeeze a piece of the white part around the hook like dough. Get a berley going by putting a few slices of bread into an onion bag and giving it a shake every few mins, or wet some bread in a bucket of water and throw this out every few mins. You have a bite when the float gets pulled under the water. Start winding. Tell me what you catch  

Regarding knots, maybe try adding another turn or two to your uni knot, if it's slipping. I use uni knots for all my hook connections, except when I'm fishing bibbed hardbody lures when I often use a lefty's loop to free up the lure action. The other thing I do is I test every knot I tie. I've lost lots of fish because of poorly tied knots, so this is hard-earned lesson.

@Pickles I've never heard of the double loop uni. I must do some research!

Edited February 2, 2022 by Little_Flatty

[Rebel]

Super report and Super photos.

Well done.

[mrsswordfisherman]

@Little_Flatty Mike and others here is a list of links we have here on fishraider. Knots are animated. 
 

Some might have missed this list of links  

 

[HawkesburyParadise]

2 hours ago, Pickles said:

Are you doing a double loop before going through the (double loop) 3 times? Some blokes go through 5or 6 times, but 3 is enough even on Kingies.
 

maybe check on YouTube?

Are you sure that's not this knot - https://www.animatedknots.com/trilene-knot

With the Uni, I wasn't doing an loops at all. Just once through and twist then back through the head again. 

[Pickles]

6 hours ago, HawkesburyParadise said:

Are you sure that's not this knot - https://www.animatedknots.com/trilene-knot

With the Uni, I wasn't doing an loops at all. Just once through and twist then back through the head again. 

No uni knot has to be one of the most simple knots to tie check this link also.

 

[jenno64]

Great tour of the Sydney basin! Also good to get some links for the knots, I might try them too!

[Fab1]

Enjoyed reading the report and great photos.Keep up the great work.👍

[Larkin]

Great report mate 👍

sometimes you get those days.