garryl

If you go over to the other side of Broken Bay there is a place called Box Head (or maybe Little box) there is a large rock and there will be half a dozen boats doing the same thing. I believe West Head is there area you'd be after coming up the Hawksbury, but I haven't used that spot myself. If you berly up around Lion Island they usually come in as well. Good luck.

My brother an i went out to the Wollongong FAD last Friday, my first trip out, in a fair bit of swell, one other boat out there. The other boat looked to pick up a few, but were all under sized. We only got one, just legal. We were using yakkas. Saw quite a few right on the FAD, but were all small. Nothing out around it, but it was probably hard to see given the swell.

Hmmm. It's hard for me to explain not being a local. If you put your boat in at lions park, head out of the creek and turn right (head towards the rip bridge) the islands are just around the corner on the left. Need a boat to get to them. Hope that makes sence.

If you have a boat the gap between the two islands just upstream from lions park at woy woy have heaps of them at low tide. Even I can get them! Google maps has the area marked as st Hubert's island. It is west of the st Hubert's property development.

Finally got an opportunity to go out with my brother a.k.a. Uncle Rocket. He's been at me for ages to go out trolling for king fish. Got up nice and early and were fishing for yakkas before 6. Struggled to get many. Only if we were after sweep! It was all I could get! Managed to get about 8 before the frustration really set in. Went out the front of the Hacking and drove around I circles until that got as frustrating as the yakkas. A guy in a yak was struggling with something huge. I called it for a shark, but we weren't sure. After not getting a bite for a while drive right across to Boat Harbour. Then looked for Osbournes reef but only picked up rubbish at both spots. Went back to our trolling spot for one last try. Got a few hits and finally Uncle Rocket was on! We thought it would be a keeper for sure bit she pulled up just shy. So went back for next time. Second king I've had in the boat. Next one is bound to be a keeper. Fingers crossed.

Thanks guys, the ramp at Patonga is "interesting" one if the benefits of taking out the 11 yo is that I've got him trained up to drive the boat off and on while I look after the car. I spent a lot of time going through ray's and other Raider's posts to learn how to fish the area, everyone's tips were really appreciated. Thanks so much. Got out again this morning and pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday. Ben wouldn't come in untill we beat 5. So we had 6 in the well before 9 and got home to the girls waking up!

Got out early this morning with the padawan. Beautiful morning to be out and not at work. Managed to keep junior busy with 5 flatties landed and lost a couple at the boat. No monsters among them but great size for a feed. All taken on soft plastics, jerk shads, shrimp, and one on a squidgy fish.

Took the young fella out with big plans on Wednesday. Got out a bit late because of some rain. By the time we got to the live bait grounds they weren't in the bite so took a heap of time to get 6 in the tank. Tried drifting around Ettaling with the lives and sp's but the wind was mAking it difficult to get up a good drift. Drive around broken bay looking for some surface action but it was all quiet, even tried around the Pittwater but still no good. After 3 hrs in the water headed back to my never-fail spit off Patonga. Landed one flattie on a sp and the young fella dragged in a 53cm model on one if the live yellowtail. Lost a nice one at the boat. Cardinal rule no 1 don't lift their head out of the water!! Outfished again!

Took my young fella out this morning, first time I've had the boat out in what seems like an eternity. We headed over and tucked in behind the North breakwall and started getting a few yakkas which Ben just loves doing. Nothing like keeping the kids busy when they are in the boat. I threw a hook in one of the first ones and threw it overboard, just in case. After a while the heavy rod buckles over and line starts peeling off. Ben drops the yakka rod and grabs on for the real fight. After a few minutes a nice Flattie of 54cm comes up (which nearly got lost overboard in the mandatory measure in) We went outside around the closest Island but were getting smashed by the wind so came back in close to the South Breakwall. Dropped a couple of livies over the side and started flicking the plastics around (Ben using his brand new birthday present). Then the same rod starts going at an even greater rate of knots than earlier on. We pulled in our first ever Kingy, just over 50cm. Didn't managed to get anything else in the boat, but it was great to be out and having a go. How fitting that I always call Ben "The Rat"

I was wondering what the differences are between them. I have started fishing a bit with the Gulp! SPs, mainly 5"Jerk Shad for Flathead. Then I came across the Gulp! Alive Jars and thought this was a great idea as it fixed the problem of the leaking not-very-resealable packets. Now every packet I open I throw the unused lures in the jar with the juice. I was lucky enough to get along to a Gary Brown talk and he suggested it was OK to do that and that there is no problem with colors mixing etc. I was doing a bit of research and on the new Berkley web site found the Powerbait range. I found some for sale and on the face of it they don't come with any juice in the packets whatsoever. So my questions are something like... - Are Powerbaits made from the same plastic formula as the Gulps? - Can Powerbaits be put in the Gulp Alive juice jars? - If so, will they "improve" by putting them in there? I've also come across the Gulp Bio-dip coulouring jars. I haven't found many references to these through the forums. Does anyone use these Do they improve the strike rate? Thanks in advance for any replies. Garry

Thanks guys, forgot the important bits. They were all caught on 5" gulp jerk shads in nuclear chicken and the white colour (can't remember what its actually called)

Finally got out after a dry spell. Was a little bumpy for me outside so I stayed inside the harbour. Tried looking around for bonito / tailor around teh entrance but didn't get any takers. Moved back in to the sandy spot and flicked for some Flatties and managed 5 within about an hour spell, biggest went 60cm which was great. Nice morning to be out as well.

From what I've seen in use (and on other posts in this forum) there are a few options for inlet configurations. The kit system that I bought has the inlet into the bottom of the tank (like yours) then an elbow fitted and a riser pipe running to the top. The riser pipe is capped off and holes drilled in it to act as a spray bar to sprinkle the inlet water onto the top. This agitates the water and adds a bit of air. Initially I didn't seal the connections up, as I planned to pull the riser pipe out to drain the tank out through the inlet, but, of course, while I was driving around the riser pipe came out and the tank drained down when I was stationary. So, I have sealed the connections up and added a drain plug as Geoff has suggested. What I'll be putting on my next setup is for the inlet to come in at the top and a pipe running on the inside to the bottom of the tank to push the dirty bottom water up and create a bit of circulation. The trick is to drill a small hole in the top of the pipe above the water level. This will stop the water from siphoning back out out through the inlet, and add a bit of splash at the top. I think that adding the fresh water keeps the livies alive more that the splashing or any aeration system. (But I could be very wrong) My system is also plumbed up and held in with straps so I can remove it (the kids love to tube more than I like to fish). Would you believe I didn't think of using garden hose quick disconnects like you have. I have been undoing stainless steel hose clamps. What a dumb! Time to get out there and have a look to see how I can fit them in. Thanks for sharing your post, it's helped me!

Hey, why would there be a black market in particular for tailor? They are a fairly ordinary eating fish?

Well done. You won't forget that in a hurry!