f1shen

Be careful using supermarket prawns meant for human consumption as bait: https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/aquatic-biosecurity/aquaculture/aquaculture/white-spot-disease/important-information-for-recreation-fishers-use-of-prawns-as-bait

This is correct - I was fined for it the other day. I was fishing alone and wearing my inflatable life jacket, which had been tested in the last 12 months like they want. I also had an old life jacket which had been in the boat for 25+ years, stashed under the bow. The Maritime officer stated that all safety equipment on board had to be in good condition and must be replaced when it expires. The old life jacket I had stashed under the bow came to pieces when I pulled it out when he wanted to see it - clearly not in good condition. The fine is $250.

Great looking fish, but be careful eating too much that comes out of the Cooks - especially those apex predators like Jewfish. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/621241/cooks-river-warning-sign.pdf

E10 fuel isn't a good choice for outboards as the ethanol in it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. This causes your outboard to run rough, stall and so on. I find as well that it gunks up the carburettor quite a bit as well. Haven't had any problems since I switched to premium petrol.

Jackets get a bad rep for stealing baits and tackle, the trade off being that they're a great feed when you do catch them.

Absolutely great spot for a holiday - was down there over New Years. Did a bit of beach fishing and caught trevally and flathead, along with seeing an absolutely massive stingray come up into the swash zone for fish bits. Couldn't find a good spot off the rocks, where did you end up fishing from the stones?

It's a boxfish. Don't eat it!

Have a look on Google Maps. The lighter areas, particularly between Lilli Pilli Point and Dolans and Burraneer Bay are shallow (3 - 6 metres) with a sandy bottom. The deeper water is dark in colour around Gannons, Yowie and Gymea Bay. The deepest water, from memory, is between the southern part of Yowie Bay and Dark Bay to the west - it bottoms out at about 25 - 30 metres with a muddy bottom. There's also deep water in the majority of South West Arm after you cross the sand bar, around 15 - 20 metres. Any further upriver from these places and you start to hit the sediment being washed down from the rivers (you can see it on the map, it's darker in colour than the sand being washed in from the sea). There are deeper holes and so on, but you'd need a sounder or a lot of patience (or some local knowledge!) to find them.

You could amalgamate the bag and size limit posts into one, current go to resource - some of the info is outdated now. The video referred to in the Fireline video doesn't appear on the right any more (at least, not for me). If people can't use their initiative and click on the articles link at the top themselves, I don't think they deserve a reminder! Just my thoughts.

Was it ok? Poor buggers usually only come in when they're sick or have been hit by a boat.

A second vote for Adventure Bound on TVS. I think my favourite episode was the one where the host was fishing for kingfish close in to the cliffs south of Sydney, and EVERY fish he hooked roared off like a freight train and busted him off, I don't think he ended up boating anything. Sadly, the host in the earlier episodes (Neil) died in a skindiving accident. He was great - no nonsense, no silly catchphrases, just solid advice. Well worth checking out.

Really not worth it, it's like bedlam out there on New Year's Eve. You won't be able to relax and have fun if you're the skipper, whether cruising or moored - there will just be too many people and boats on the water.

You can't pump nippers or collect worms in Gunnamatta Bay - Maianbar is fine. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/info/closures/rec-sw-loc/central-coast-index/port-hacking

That mackerel is a yellowtail. You can eat them, but they're very 'fishy' tasting - they go ok smoked. Much better as bait!

The Fisheries and the Department of Lands - two of the LEAST 'Green' and most bureaucratic government departments in my experience - will not approve ANY new development that threatens weed beds, particularly Posidonia strap weed or Zostera eel-grass. This rule came in in the early 2000s, from memory, and is a blanket ban - even when the dredge the Port Hacking, the dredge is meant to stick to the main channels where this weed doesn't grow, and avoid disturbing it where they can (obviously more of a guideline in this case). More of an issue at the Kurnell boat ramp is the fact that it abuts a groyne - any dredging that takes place there will be filled in again with sand relatively quickly which is captured by the groyne. You can see how the sand is creeping up the concrete ramp. Unfortunately it's not worth the Council's time or money to get a dredge in every six months. The smart money would have been to replace the groyne with a longer, built up ramp to take boats past the weed and into deeper water, but that means big initial outlay for the Council, and they'd probably prefer to spend it on more cockatoo proof bins, or redoing the pavement in Sutherland than spend it on improving access to the water.

It's good to let the bigger, bright blue ones go. They've fully matured and are male. The other, smaller ones you catch with a brown/red tinge are all females - they change sex as they grow older and bigger.

Victa used to make outboards like this - literally a mower engine mounted on the back of the boat with an extended shaft. Instead of a propeller, with all its associated gearbox and elbow joint, the shaft ended in a horizontal propeller which sucked up water and spat it out the back in a jet. The jet provided the propulsion, not the propeller. Here's one on youtube:

Went out this morning to fish the incoming tide - anchored just off Lilli Pilli Baths in the eddy that forms there when the tide comes in. Hooked into a solid bite of bream and trevally. The winning bait for the day was old chicken breast and parmesan, which I always thought was an obscure joke, but turns out it's a great bait too! The fish went off the bite as the sun came up. Saw some kings of decent size there too - they were following the trevally up as I was winding them in. I couldn't coax them on anything - not chicken, fresh squid or a bit of slimy mackerel from last fishing trip. I even tried lures to no avail - I wish I had a yakka or two! I know they can be picky at times. Anyone got any tips to get them on the bite when they're not keen? (Sorry, no photos)

Were you fishing in the Hacking? I caught a little reddie a couple of months back up South West Arm that had its tail bitten off by something nasty. Glad to see that it's doing well!

Yeah, colloquially we always called those things 'doctors', they look pretty vile. They're common on yellowtail and in little red bream, as well. They're very similar to this one found in America: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua Another one I've seen a few times in a much larger parasite which burrows into the abdominal cavity of leatherjacket. The leather jacket looks as though it has something abnormal out of its side - that's the 'tail' of the parasite. Gross as hell.

Had some luck a couple of weeks ago in some spots further up the Hacking. Fished over the weed around the point where Rathane is, and then up towards Carruther's Bay. SAW a lot of nice sized squid, but didn't get too many enquiries on the lure. Managed a couple of nice ones in the end. Had a bit more luck fishing Little Turriel Bay. I got in amongst where the boats are moored in the deeper water and then cast back towards the shore where the big beds of weed are. Got some nice squid there, and saw a monster who shot up after the jig but wouldn't touch it. This was before the rain and the water was crystal clear, the squid obviously pooh-poohed my super cheap jigs.

Sounds like a good fisherman, but not much of a salesman. Which would you prefer?

Same thing happened to me. I was in open water in Bate Bay and copped a warning from the MSB - fair enough, I'd drifted over the line between Jibbon Point and that big white pole at Oak Park. If there was more than one person in your boat then you were fined without just cause. Fair enough if you just want to pay the fine and be done with it, but if it were up to me I'd raise hell. The Water Police have a tough job, but there no cause to be fining people who are doing the right thing.

Great fish! Where in the Port where you fishing?

Two stroke 15 yamaha pushes my 3.7 tinnie along at 15 - 17 knots, depending on the tide.