campr

Hard to beat striped tuna, fresh best but salted and frozen great too. Only thing better when you can get them is frigate mackerel which are also my fav jewie bait. Ron

I went to the Peak heaps of times in a 4.5metre quintrex Lazeabout with a 60hp engine with no probs if you pick your days. I went from Botany Bay which is an advantage as afternoon NE winds are more in your back for run home. If conditions deteriorate its ok to try a fast run home before it gets too bad, but once it gets nasty it is much safer and comfortable to slow down and put hull back in the water and take your time. Doesn't hurt to put a lure or two out as well as you never know your luck. Ron

Didnt get into the money prizes in Vancouver, but came 3rd in International teams with a salmon over 7lb. Ron

Another feed that mentioned stories of finding the Peak pre GPS reminded me of a funny story. Way back in the 70s I won a fishing competition run by the extinct "Fishing News" paper and won a trip to fish the Canadian Salmon Derby with fellow winner Pam Hudspeth. On returning she invited me out on her boat with her then famous boatman Jack Farrell who previously captained Bob Dyers boat as well as having newspaper columns and radio shows. Anyway, Jack said when he went to the Peak before the location was well known he would often be followed by a mob of little boats to lead them to the spot. He would stop in deep water but only put his anchor down a few metres. When everybody was firmly anchored to the bottom all around him he would quickly pull up the anchor and leave them stuck as he quickly roared off due east and then slowly swing back on coarse to the Peak leaving his followers behind. Crafty old bugger. Ron

These big schools of traveling cowanyoung used to be fairly common. Biggest school of fish I have seen was when spinning off the rocks south of Jervis Bay in the 70s. There was a school of fish about 30 metres wide about 50 m out and when you brought a lure through them you would see the panic boil run north and south until out of sight and the school must have been miles long. We would jag one occasionally and to our surprise they were big blackfish/luderick. Ron

I think you will find that white vinegar will also remove rust like this but usually takes overnight. Prob is they rust up quicly if not coated with Inox or similar. I have tried stainless pliers but disapointed with rusting up nearly as bad as normal pliers. The only thing I have found that doesn't rust is an old pair of Hookout brand pliers with small jaws and handles at 90 degrees to shaft. They live in boat and never rust and makes you wonder why nobody can make anything this good these days. Ron

My fatherinlaw had a profishing mate at Wolli who used these on his longlines and he got me a box. That was nearly 40 years ago añd I caught my only marlin on one out of my tinny. From memory they were made in Japan and model was called Taiwana Bari. These could be used to tow a truck and were increadably strong and once the point went in it never came out. In reality a non curbed circle hook. Ron

Mostly used for high rise units and office blocks. Mine came from a huge block of home units being built at Sutherland. Ron

Don't want to hijack topic but regarding light scaring fish. Suddenly turning on lights or flashing them over or into the water will definitely scare fish off at night. I fish with deck illuminated by big LED floodlight and also have blue squid lights on and it doesn't appear to spook jewies, tailor etc at night as long as light is constant. Ron.

You've lucked out Baz. Took me months to find a bit and it was a little shorter than I wanted. Ron

Try talking to supervisors of commercial building sites like large units, office blocks etc. Home sites dont use pipe this big. Ron

I tried for a 300mm pipe but these are even harder to find and cost is crazy. I used Primary Industries roll up mat (Fisheries) as I had a few of these from comps and raffles etc. Don't know what they charge for them. I don't believe you get any of the rolled up type flat when rolled out and its a lot of fiddling around when your by yourself and have a big mumma in the net. Baz. When you get to this diameter I think you should still be able to measure a snapper ok. Ron

Measuring tubes are quicker and easyer to measure fish as they calm them down by being cradled as you slide them down to the front. If wet they are better for the fish and make releasing quick and easy. My old one was made fron 150 tube but only 750 long which is annoying when flatties and jew are often longer. My solution was to make one from 250 tube and preferably 1200 long. This is hard to get and expensive with off cuts fetching about $60 a metre. Lucked out with a freeby broken piece just a little short at 1180 long. I cut into 3 pieces along length. Added end made from cutting board offcut with a handle. Experimental gluing of measuring mat with plumbers pvc joiner appears to have worked ok. I have caught 2 flatties at 97cm and now all ready when I hopefully get my metery. Ron

I fish ANSA comps using 1kg pretest line and use fairly good quality reels, but the only rods I can find with the action I want are 8 to 9ft nibble tip rods that mostly cost me about $40. Best to date are 2 flatties 97cm weighing over 5.6kg. Ron

I use poddies in pursuit of big flatties (released) and have tried every way possible to catch them. Sabiki rigs haven't worked for me but if you used the smallest ones with a little bit of bait they may work if worked very gently. I usually set a homemade trap and then catch them by line to fill in the time and sometimes get a bigger sized baits this way. Rig is a 9ft light telescopic rod without runners with line attached to end of rod. Two size 14 green square type luderick hooks are suspended about 4 and 6 inches below a tiny white foam float about one quarter x half inch in size. Bait is small bit of squashed fresh bread on point of hook, but a tiny bit of chicken works better and stays on hook better as well. Ron

I caught 9 flatties off jibbon 2 weeks age and noted that they had started to roe up again and looked like another spawning was occuring. Maybe so many small ones were there were males with a female or 2 close by? Ron

Thanks for reminder. I usually grease mine but they are probably overdue. The trend these days is to use capped wheel nuts tò reduce water exposure and rusting. I am going to upgrade mine to capped as well. Ron

I had a look at JD last Friday looking for slimies, but they weren'tthere for the first time since I started looking for them there. There was some bait but not as many as usual and I didn't see any big arches. Funny thing is that the 3 times I have been there I have never seen anyone fishing it. Ron

Cobia from the Lilli Pilli drop off are almost an annual occurance but the one I caught just inside Wagonga Inlet at Narooma is the furthest south I have heard of. Ron

Took boat for a run for the 1st time in in months last Friday in beautiful conditions. Wanted to stock up on slimies at New artificial reef for jewie bait but unusually none at home. Had a drift for flatties but hard to find keepers despite lovely drift under 1 knot. Plenty of just legals but decided on self limit of 36cm. Ended up with 9 with 2 ok ones at 46 and 47cm. Nothing exciting but had a run and a couple of feeds. Had problems loading photo wanted to show off the new measuring tube I made 1200 long. Ron

I lift floor and clean out once a year or straight away if I suspect something has gone down there. I also have a rule I never have coins in pocket as they can be worse than stinkers. Ron

When I was a kid {a long time ago} I used to have a local Greak guy let me know when he wanted some eels. I would use a handline baited with poddie mullet and throw bait into tunnel under the road and would catch heaps. That creak is now mostly underground but if you have a local creak with big pipes or low bridges etc I would give this a go. Ron

Took the boat out for a run last Wednesday as I hadn't been out for a while. Disappointing results due to strong winds which made drift too fast. Wanted to stock up on slimies from new artificial reef but couldn't hold on them long enough to get jigs to them. Also poor results with bottom drift with only 2 flatties about 40cm and a good sized flounder among a lot of little spikies. Short attempt at squid resulted in 2 small ones. Funny incident when I was flagged down by boat in trouble wanting a tow. Fairly newby to boating said overheat alarm was sounding and I suggested lifting motor to check if he had picked up a plastic bag over intake. Tried not to laugh when I saw he had left flushing ears on motor from last trip. After removing flusher all was ok and he made his way home. Gotta laugh. Ron

I've caught heaps of big bream on small black crabs fished with a small ball sinker and metre long trace. Soldier crabs are easily caught at low tide at night on sand flats where present when they feed in huge aggregations just back from the waters edge. Putting a few of the tiny pea sized ones on a hook can at times be deadly for big whiting. Ron

There are no issues with shallow water at ph ramps that I know of except maybe the ramp behind Cronulla near the ferry wharf. Water St has very limited street parking as well as Wallys Wharf. Yowie bay ok but parking fills very earlý on weekends. Greys point not bad but the longest run to ocean. Ron