PaddyT

Funny- only one complaint- you didnt mention ETEC and Shimano enough!

Agree with Apple Tree BAy- was there yesterday for a family trip and even with heaps of jetskiers and us doing an 8-4 day (worst launch and retrieve times) we were in the water in about 7 minutes and out in 10. If i am going up to Pittwater or out to sea from Broken Bay its an extra 7-10 minute run on the water compared to Brooklyn. If I am working the Hawkesbury itself then Berowra is a good choice- its also only about a 10-15 minute run to Bar Point.

the new state rules only apply to longer periods of time- 1 week is not an issue under the new rules .

if it smells its a pike, if it smells and its long - its a longfin pike, if it smells and its short its a shortfin pike. Damn good bait for kings,jews and spanish mackeral- I think i ate one when i was about 15 - and I havent been back to try again!

Biminis and plaits will act as a "spring" in your system and take out shocks, they are very worthwhile for a lot of fishing circumstances. Can I ask you a question- have you ever checked your drag with a set of scales. With 6lb line you should be running 2lbs of drag- a bit more with braid (cause the breaking strian is higher than whats on the package). I actually doubt you would even come close to putting 6lbs of strain at the knot under most circumstances unless you are redlining your gear for kings , etc. have a play in the garage with your gear and you might be suprised at how much pressure 2lbs is.

I get what you are saying - the doubled line AT the knot where it is tied to to the terminal tackle WILL break at around 12lb. BUT the knot created to form the double (Bimini, Plait, Spider Hitch whatever) will still break at best at 6lbs. Doubles for most light tackle fishing are not really a must (I do tend to tie them out of habit anyway). For heavy tackle fishing the double is a bit of extra security plus once it is on the reel you can apply extra pressure to get the fish up (as in gamefishing) when its in close. The other advantage of a double is a bit of extra abrasion resistance down at the terminal tackle. For a while their I was using "twisted leaders" for heavy tackle land based spinning chasing spannies and longtails but it all got a bit too complicated and I went back to a 1 meter 40-60lb leader albrighted to a short double. That way i had no knots getting bashed by going through the guides.

its an area where you can get a bit of bait congregating-just inside the shelf- its more a general area than a specific spot. Just on the SL12's- they are a great hook- but 1. you need to wrap them in anode tape to stop them corroding away very quickly and 2. after you have hooked/caught a fish on them - chuck 'em in the bin- once they are stressed they fail- I can usually straighten them on the leader which makes for an easy release- I have had a reused one break on a fish too.

Nice-we got out in the arvo-tracked up to the 9 mile, 12 mile for not much- saw some bait on the surface at the 12 so stayed for the tide change but saw nothing. Trolled down to the peak and on our way back north from their hooked a nice black but couldnt stay connected- seemed a bit surreal hooking a marlin at 645 in the evening- so we stayed till dark.Nothing more after that- heaps more life in the 50 fathom area - will try agin on Thursday.

keeps the line and bomb clear of the hull and the motor

Last two seasons ive caught 10 marlin off Sydney and hooked about another 18- most in the 70-80 fathom area where the bait holds- some as close as 2km offshore- my son and I went 4-3-1 one hectic morning about 2km off South head Feb 2015 - we had boats driving past us all morning - and spend the rest of the day whinging on the radio about nothing happening out wide. Blacks can be anywhere, Stripes tend to hunt the edge of the shelf . Caught one black off Coffs a few years back in 10M of water. Key to nearly every marlin ive hooked has been the presence of bait- I will add one thing to my comments- I know nothing about blues.

Bigger the better!- seriously have a think about your placement on the boat- but longer and stronger is better- just get rid of the wire and use 200lb braid- less "hum" and more bites, had a long chat to one of Sydneys best kingfish guides about that recently and he reckons he gets twice the bites with braid and not wire- I have the Scotty 1085 (so does the guide I mentioned ) and its great

FSU 4120 G -$119 from the big store in Coffs-virtually indestructible and light- I spun the rocks with the glass version for over 20 years- it caught kings to 6 kgs, longtails to 15kgs, about 3000 bonnies, rats, salmon, tailor, spotty macks, striped tuna, throws a 60 gm lure into the next postcode- good Aussie made technology proven over many years.

Sydney is full of fishos obssesed with "going wide" , its amazing how many times you will hear on the radio- "saw heaps of bait in 70 fathoms but there is nothing going on out past Browns or at the Hill"- why drive past bait?

probably worn bearings- send it off to Shimano and get it serviced- will come up like new. Mate of mine runs a tackle store and whilst Diawa gear is good his biggest gripe is their lack of aftersales service - and as a shop owner that gets him offside with the customers. I have mainly shimano gear but also some Diawa-they are all good but as far as I am aware the Aird is a price point well below the Stradic. Like all thinks you get what you pay for.

Whats wrong with the Stradic?

Most underated fish in the ocean- they are very good chewing- I fillet mine , dust with smoked paprika, salt and pepper and pan fry- in Europe that would be one of the most eaten sea fish-

Boat of that size is a 1-2 person boat, not 3- no matter what the compliance plate says- that said you can use it to your advantage to get up into all sorts of interesting places that bigger boats cant get too-have a look around the back of Berowra Creek, upstream middle harbour (up from Roseville)Cowan Ck- have a look on some maps or google earth and explore-stay away from more open waters .

bass,carp ,mullet-freshwater bits of the Hawkesbury/Nepean- but boat access can be tricky in places-or overrun by waterskiers. Closest boat accessible trout water is Lake Lyall

The area between Balmoral and the Spit opposite Clontarf- the schools can be anywhere in the general area

The drowning report blows away a lot of myths- as ive said elsewhere I run a swim school and when you point out a few facts to people it blows their minds- like 80% of all drownings in all situations across all age groups are Males-also the stat above makes the current blitz on rockfishing look pretty stupid- also as Ive said before - that is driven by other agenda's - mainly locking Rec fishing out of certain areas

Chris, go to my link above it has all the info you need

Weve had both netted and un-netted- my daughter is 13 (still uses it a fair bit) but the netted one gives them a lot more confidence to do tricks (flips etc)- no broken arms yet but a couple of split lips when she put her knee into her face on a couple of occasions- my girl is absolutely not the princess type- so presents have always tended to be sports stuff.

Trampoline

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130808123719.htm Read this guys- Fish dont feel pain in the same way we do! Giving human like characteristics doesnt make sense when at the end of the day they are primitive creatures that operate on nothing but instinct and have limited learning abilities .

Was out last Wednesday and there were stacks and stacks of yakkas around the fridge, the artificial, long reef- they are just shutting down and going deep as soon as the sun is up , they are being hammered in the harbour by swarms of kings and are a bit gunshy- no shortage at all- often the days its hard to catch bait are because the bait is spending most of its energy on avoiding predators .