Stealthmission

Avoca, Cockrone, Terrigal and Wamberal lagoons are open...

HI Raiders... I am based at Gosford and have a boat which I am getting more confident in taking fishing out in Broken Bay and near shore reefs. I was wondering if anyone has a map or aerial photo of the various reefs not too far from Broken Bay (i.e. where are east reef and west reef, boultons etc ). Dot have all the offshore safety gear as yet so not wanting to go beond the 2 km mark. Cheers Stealth

Hey there Gatts, I am from Erina and have also found the squidding tough. I am new to it though so not sure if I have the technique sorted! Let me know if you find them! Stealth

Hey members... Been too long since I have been out on the boat. Was thinking of heading onto Broken Bay for a troll and wondered if anyone has some tips as to what is biting and/or lure spreads which may work this time of year??? Cheers Stealth

Nice work mate... Brisbane Water is an excellent system for fatties!

Mate it is a great facility... rap to pontoon exists, safe ramp and well protected. Council has done a great job rebuilding the seawall and collecting stormwater off carpark! Stealth

You can track the freshwater coming down the Hawkesbury from the Warragamba dam release http://mhl.nsw.gov.au/projects/hscsal/ and at Berowra Waters http://mhl.nsw.gov.au/projects/berowra/latest.php Most notable at Gunyah point is the drop in salinity. These graphs are updated every 6 hours. Notes on the data if you do click on the links : - These probes measure surface waters (1m depth) - Due to vandalism the Courangra Point is not operational and is being replaced - The "spike" at Laughtondale in the CHLa was due to faulty probe which has been replaced Stealth

Woke last Sunday to be surprised by birds chirping and sunshine! We thought we should get amongst it and head out on Brisbane Water for a fish... put in about 9 a.m. at Gosford. Drifted with prawns and squid strips in Paddys Channel for about 30 minutes... got a nice bend in the rod and a few runs... to pull in a nice thick 58 cm flattie. Followed it up with a 28cm bream before moving to the entrance reach for another keeper bream. Flatty fillets were a treat on the BBQ... bream tonight! Nice relaxing few hours on the water Stealth

I was the same... having only just got a boat I headed there last Friday for yakkas... the sounder showed a mix of reef and sand/wedd patches. We just used the sand anchor in an area about 50 m from shore and it worked a treat... unfortunately the yakkas weren't such a treat with the Jew! Stealth

Bloke at the Persley Bay Boat Ramp had cuaght a 70 cm kingie from near Lion Island last Friday if this helps?

Ditto with Wrigglers comments... the other thing to be aware of is that gutters can run both parallel and at right angles from the beach... As they are constantly changing you may be best to check out the fishing spot at low tide there the gutters will be more obvious.. Hope this helps Stealth

Thanks wriggler... hope to see you out there some time mate. I am in a Haines Profish 495.... just starting to set up my lure selection so the tips are appreciated! Just saw in the NSW Government Gazette that waters adjacent to Buiddi National Park are banned from commercial fishing! Only going to get better for us! Cheers Stealth

So have finally traded in the old JJ Savage 3.88m runabout for a brand spanking Haines Hunter 495 Profish with 90hp E-Tec. Picked her up on Friday and spent the day on Saturday getting used to it. Headed around north side of Broken Bay entrance, over to Palmy round Lion Island etc... only used about 18 litres of fuel, handled the wind chop nicely coming home. Surprisingly easy to launch and retrieve. Got to thank Craig and the team up at Huetts Marine who made the purchase a pleasant one... and happily answered my million questions! Can't wait to get her out.... feeling a sickie coming on! Stealth PS - not sure how to post a picture here!

Hi Guys... just got a boat capable of getting offshore and headed for a troll. Headed from Brisbane Waters around the northern side of Broken Bay in close. There seemed to be a few nice reef features on the sounder but had no joy. Too many boats to be able to get right in close... Just wondering if anyone had any luck on this run before and, if so, what they caught and the best type of lures for the spread? Did manage some bream, flounder and small flatties off Ettalong. Had some massive Flatties follow and one massive croc chewed through the leader right at the boat too! Stealth

Working were ya Plankton...lol!

Hey John, I am really keen to learn how to better catch squid on the central coast (having moved up from Sydney myself)... PM me if you are open to having me tag along some time with you on a squid session! Cheers Stealth (Tim)

Mate I usually go right at the entrance... narrowest point if possible. You want a run out tide.. high before dark maybe about 7 p.m. so by the time it is dark the flow is really running out... all the prawns will come right at you! Be sure to keep your car keys safe too... I remember a guys droped his half way into the channel... not a happy guy! Stealth

Depends where you want to fish mate. Offshore you can put in at Fishermans Beach Long Reef (wave conditions depending). If you prefer to fish Pittwater go to the Bayview Boat Ramp. Cheers Stealth

Hi Raiders, I am looking to upgrade from my small tinnie to something that is suited to fishing the Hawkesbury, Broken Bay and inshore areas (i.e. within a couple of kms from shore weather permitting). With a budget of under $20,000 I have been looking at the Streaker 4.58 Cuddy (probably 1997-2001 model). Looking at the cuddy for better protection and comfort for the wife and family.. We loike the look of them and they seem to be functional.. thought I would se what fellow Raiders think? Does anyone have any information on these boats, how they perform as an all round boat? Being manufactured in Victoria there seem to be very few in the northern states... I look forward to any advice. Stealth

Great read there Jim... inspirational stuff!

Hey Adrian, The best place to source information on water quality in the Lower Hawkesbury is via the Hornsby Council webpage: http://www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au/environment/water-catchments/hawkesbury-estuary They have a number of WQ probes in the river which collect real time data, and work with Gosford Council, oyster farmers and other agencies to improve the health of the estuary. Of course what happenss further up stream is harder to control! Check out the Office of the Hawkesbury Nepean webpage for furthe rinfo on the river as a whole: http://www.ohn.nsw.gov.au/ Cheers Stealth

Just got a squidding rig for Xmas (from the wife!) and being a novice to catching squid I was hoping for some advice. I went out the other night with yamashita jig(s), the right gear and on high tide from the rocks at Terrigal Haven then Booker Bay and Ettalong Wharf.. for nothing! Let the jig drop then a couple of quick raises of the rod... Not sure if I am in the wrong spots or just was a bad day for them (a little windy)? Any advice on some good squidding locations in the Gosford area (or even someone who might be keen to teach a novice!) would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Stealth

Hi all, I am heading to Lake Gelnbawn this weekend with the wife and thought I may be able to sneak a bit of a fish in.... I hav enever fished freshwater and wondered whether I have any hope catching anything from the shore? If so which areas might be worth trying.... have checked out the various spinners and other lures... any tips would be greatly appreciated! Stealth

When I first got my boat... I went to the boat launching spot at Kincumber Creek as it is out of the wind and less used than others. Now that I am efficient at launching and retrieval solo I and confident to go anywhere. Main message being to try and keep the ramp as clear as possible at all times. Best to move boat away from ramp when takeing car to park etc. As for the grumpy ones... they can stick it (maybe take an extra minute to stir them up!)

HI all... just a quick report to say what a magic day it was out on the water on Saturday. Its days like that catching fish isn't such an issue (maybe just my excuse?) Anyway, I headed out on my runabout which I have had for only one month.. and into the Kincumber Broadwater and cockle channel. Was just using crappy servo prawns, but ended up with a couple of whiting arounf the 30 cm mark and a heaps of 25 cm bream.. jsut undersize (although I did let all fish return to fight another day). Being new to the waterway, I was surprised at the number of boats out on the broadwater... must hold fish then? I was mainly drifting and then anchored near the oyster leases to throw unweighted prawns on one rod and a lightly weight prawn on the other... the smaller bream were smashing my baits... lots of fun. Is this technique good for big bream too? Also had a big blue swimmer latch on but he wasn't keen to come up to my landing net! RDO on Friday... can't wait to get back out there! Stealth