pmak

Congratulations Donna & Stewie! Big milestone! Hope everyone is keeping well in these unusual times

Congrats Stewie and Donna! A new chapter begins. Very happy that Mike and his team are now on board to take your little baby to greater heights. Do you guys feel like Parzival and Art3mis at the end of a long quest?

Sorry to hear about the loss of your crab nets sleepydragon. Just wanted to share my own experience in the area - was out at Kurnell/Towra a couple of days before the new year. There were a couple of crab floats in the exclusion zone in Towra (south of the yellow bouys) which when I saw them I thought to myself - they're not supposed to be there! I was crabbing in the restricted area but did not venture too far from my nets. Sure enough later in the morning, a Fisheries boat rocked up. They zoomed straight for the buoys in the exclusion zone, checked them and seized them. We got thoroughly checked (nets, buoys, catch sizes, license, etc) and had zero issues. The officers were friendly enough and were doing what they were supposed to do. We also saw them remove some crab traps north of the yellow buoy (only hoop nets allowed in the restricted zone). I've lost a crab net before in the past from boat traffic cutting the buoy off. I've also had nets get carried away in the current where my float rope was too short or something big got caught in the net. Have been fortunate so far not to have my nets stolen but i try not to leave them for too long anyway.

Stewy & Donna, Like a phoenix rising from the ashes ... from sadness to joy. It's the right progression/evolution for the site I think. For the amount of learning, camaraderie and support I've got from the site I don't think a small fee is even enough! Even though I don't read and post as much nowadays, I'll still support the site for being there when I needed it and see that it does the same for the new ranks of anglers just starting out or rediscovering their love of the sport. Where do I sign up ... . You can consider adding one-off donations too in addition to the regular access fee. I 'donate' sometimes to Wikipedia because they provide a useful information service which I use regularly. You can add a 'Donor' badge to recognise donors if you want to take it further and add donor tiers, similar to the posting tiers which are related to fish species. Whatever you come up with, I'll be there to support it!

Stewy & Donna, so sad to hear the news but at the same time, really happy for the both of you as I can imagine the release from the burden of managing and supporting what must be the largest online community of anglers in Australia. The community you managed to foster and grow is unprecedented and may never ever be repeated ever again. Kudos to the moderators over the years who helped as well as the many people at the forefront and in the background who made the site genuine and a place we can all come together to share our love for fishing and the great outdoors. My kids are now taller than me and don't fish as much any more but they still remember the Botany Bay social! As a family, we are eternally grateful and feel privileged to have been part of Fishraider and wish the both of you all the best in the years ahead ....

Congrats on your captures and getting your mate onto a fish! Looks like you've got a case of fishing addiction which many on this site suffer from! As you develop your technique and gain more experience, you might find downsizing your tackle further might get you connected to more fish. Lighter line (say 4lb braid to be able to cast further and let the lure sink faster) and light leaders too (4lb to start with but will depend on water clarity and if there are lots of snags. 6lb is good at Cooks) and lighter rods (say 1-3lb graphite rods). Part of the fun of fishing is also playing with the endless options of fishing tackle ... Good luck and keep the reports coming in.

Great teamwork Jani and Vili. The last cast always works ....

Congratulations - that's my favourite dam to fish. To pull off a win when there's so much fishing pressure is fantastic. You guys obviously know what you're doing

Congrats on the little perch or bass - hard to tell from the photo but then again I'm not an expert in the species. Local help is great and good on the mystery bloke who took time to share his knowledge. There are plenty of folks in this great forum who do the same all the time to help spread the joy of fishing ... Good luck on the next outing.

Baga me Jani, but doesnt Vili look like a mini Jani! What a great fish for little Vili and what a great occasion to have 3 generations fishing together. Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

Wow! Just stumbled on this post and had a great read of everyone's experiences. I never knew about Donna's gaming background but then I can see how it goes well with running the Fishraider Forum. Congrats on the RN/IT thing too Donna. Thanks too for tef1on's personal story on how gaming has helped him professionally. As a father of two teenage boys into their gaming, it helps me keep things in perspective when I see them spend 'too much time' on their games instead of their studies. In fact I enjoy watching them play Destiny on the XBox console and marvel at the rich graphics of the current games. I see them play with virtual 'friends' from all over the world and see also how easily 'friends' can be easily added or dropped from their 'friends' list and wonder if its a good or a bad thing. In any case, I know the future is going to be quite different for them. I'm now helping them with their first PC build as they want to make the leap into the PC gaming arena ... Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

Always enjoy reading your posts Jani, so interesting to see fishing and outdoor activities in your part of the world. pmak

Great report - trevally and rat kings would have been great fun and lucky you to have a Mrs into fishing!!

Jani, you're a big man with a mushy heart and we love having you on Fishraider.

Welcome to the site Sebcox. You'll love the camaraderie and information sharing on the site Stewie, Donna and the rest of the Moderators work hard to keep civil and family friendly. Look forward to reading your reports in future ...