noelm

Just to kind of add something, the size of the swell doesn’t mean you can’t fish, I have a few great spots that are only good when the big winter storm swells are running, Shellharbour Harbour is great during this time (and safe) the “Boneyard” down towards Kiama is another spot, and the rocks directly in front of my house at Barrack Point are red hot when the swell is big, but, it’s sheltered in a bay and only fishes OK at high tide. So (to me) the clue is to know where to fish in the prevailing conditions, all three of those places you fish with Cunji that has washed off the rocks and collected on site. edit….just remembered another great spot when the swell is up, east of the gravel loader at Bass Point there is a big bay, and during big storms there is a dozen locals fishing there, it’s on the north side, so no swell gets in there.

This is exactly the case at Hill 60 Port Kembla, but the “cliff” behind is only about 1m high, where people fish is a great looking flat area, with deep water right at your feet, they leave all their gear just at the bottom of the mini cliff, but every now and then, a big swell just comes over, floods the flat section to a metre deep, and once it starts running back, a metre is simply too deep to keep your footing, and when you see your gear going over the edge, most try to grab it and in they go. The same thing happens all the time, but fortunately most just get a few cuts and bruises and lose a bit of gear, you never hear about those people. I have been washed in myself, we were diving and got out of the water, I was standing at the mini cliff, taking my goggles and stuff off and putting them on the top, a bigger set came through, filled the metre high ledge, me with a wetsuit on, just floated and over the edge I went as the water poured back, now I had just about done everything wrong, standing where I knew I shouldn’t (but it was calm, we were diving) had my back to the water, busy talking and not paying attention.

Hill 60 has claimed a lot of lives, but, only because people fish in the wrong spot, everyone fishes the lower flat ledge with the metre high “cliff” behind you, once a wave comes over, it builds up against the cliff, then rushes straight back, taking tackle and people with it, there is no “freak” waves involved, it’s a natural formation and it happens ten times a day.

It’s impossible to say where to avoid, what’s great this morning might be bad after lunch. Lots of places can be dangerous, especially sloping rocks that drop into deep water, or steep “cliff” like locations that have deep water right at your feet, big green walls of water will just rise up those kind of places, with no warning, unless you are experienced at seeing “sets” well out to sea. Once it gets deep around your legs and the water starts rushing back, you will not be able to keep your feet on the ground, and in you go.

Almost every beach has worms, look for a flat section of beach with fine sand, not lots of shells and grit, go at low tide and use your “stink bag” in the receding waves. You will see the worms sticking their little heads up, then the tricky bit begins….trying to catch them.

Not good eating, but rare to catch off a beach…….there must have been rocks where you were fishing?

Even as a last resort, don’t do it….welding a patch is probably not a great option either, but it might turn out to be your only one. Unfortunately I have seen plenty of tinnys with pinholes that are just about unrepairable, the metal gets so thin and there is so many holes. Old Stacers had an issue at one time, where the floor touched the sides, the “reaction” just ate thousands of holes right around the entire boat, some you could just about lift the top half of the hull off.

You mean real Gummy’s, the ones with the white spots, not just small Sharks?

OH, and do NOT putty/glue/pop rivet/silicon those holes….

Hate to say this, but if you found pinholes, there is going to be hundreds of them once you start cleaning it up, the metal will be like tissue paper.

You tend to get then in about 25-30m of water towards the middle to end of summer, don’t know anyone who targets them here, they are just something of a bycatch.

They are OK to eat, need to be “just” cooked or they tend to dry out a bit, but similar to Kingfish on the plate.

That’s a decent one for down this way, you get quite a few during summer, but they are usually only about 30cm or so long

You caught those off the beach?

I found this old thread.

Not much on that beach, it’s pretty flat from what I can see. The best option is to look for a high Headland at the end of the beach, gutters and so on are easy to see when up higher. On a flat beach like that, I would fish the ends beside the rocks, that said, in a couple of days, the whole thing can change.

Where I fish it’s easy going, but, it’s only ever any good at high tide (it’s completely dry at low tide) and is way better at daylight or just on dark when the tide coincides with those times. Look for places with scattered rocks that might be dry at low tide, go for a walk and turn a few over, you will see lots of little crabs, worms and prawn looking things. These are what attract the Bream at high tide, and under the cover of low light, they will come right in to the shore line, feeding on the “.stuff” living there.

More than 50% of my Bream fishing is with bread, I like a high tide right on daylight, fish close to shore where sand and rocks are mixed, no sinker, just a hook and about 6lb line, squeeze the bread on the hook and it will cast quite good, and last a while in the water. Blackfish, Mullet and Trevally will readily take bread. One small tip (I have posted this before) when using bread for burley, wet is well in a bucket of water first and break it up so it doesn’t float, floating bread attracts birds and the birds scare the fish off…..

Just to add to the above, probably the best riding and seaworthy of those boats I listed, the Alloy Cat topped the list, keeping it in one piece was the problem. With some modifications (design mods) the Rebel Cat was a sensational boat, especially if you were game enough to “give it some…..” all the tinnies are just tinnies, most serve the purpose, the Stacer is well fitted out (roughly built) and with the 50 tiller steer it gets along OK. Always loved Sharkcats, great boats, pretty poorly built (like Seafarers) but super stable, soft ride, easy to launch and retrieve, lots of room….. All boats are a compromise, you have to decide what you want, then sort out the must haves from the would be nice list, being honest with yourself.

I have had a few over the years, not counting various dinghy and row boats, let me see…. 1 a 13’ Easyrider with a 50 Merc (always breaking down) 2. An 18’ Graywill Commando with a 135 Mercury “tower of power 3. a Seafarer Viking with twin 55 Johnson’s (fair boat at best) 4. An 18’ Alloy Cat with twin 70s 5. a 13’ Savage tinny with a 9.9 Mercury 6. an 18’ Sharkcat with twin 90 Yamahas 6a,,,,forgot one, Quintrex Explorer with a 20 Mercury. 7 a 20’ Rebel Cat with twin 120 Evinrudes, then 115 Evinrude Fichts 8. an 18’ centre console Sharkcat with twin 90 Suzukis (still got it) 9. a Stacer 4.29 Outlaw with a 50 Yamaha. (Still got it) Those were boats I actually owned and used for a long time, there was heaps as well that I just bought and sold, but never really fished out of them. Oh, I forgot, I also had a 36’ Trawler in Jervis Bay for years around the time of the Graywill Commando. Some of those boats I had at the same time, the tinnys are for crabbing in Lake Illawarra. Boats I bought and sold, Seafarer VC (crap built boat) 18’ Easyrider, some kind of unbranded half cab, various aluminium boats and motors, a Swiftcraft Seagull, a 16’ Cruisecraft, Haines Hunter 16 or 15’ with a 120 Evinrude, a Clarke centre console with a tiny 35 on it, that’s just the ones I remember.

Making your own lures is great fun, and very addictive, one issue we face here in suburbia is “fish rich” waters to fully test stuff.

Just to add, you will need a fishing license to fish in NSW, most tackle stores sell them, don’t want you to get caught……

They can be fun to gather, kids love pumping Nippers, I take my grandkids bait gathering all the time, they reckon it’s way more fun than fishing, Nippers, Pippis, Beach Worms, Squirt Worms catching Garfish or Yellowtail are all free bait and lots of fun, and probably the best bait possible. edit……they can give you a decent bite!

It’s funny how the humble old Nipper is such a great bait, they are easy to catch, are free and work a treat, yet people go to a shop/servo and buy packets of bait (most rubbish) when the best bait is right there under their feet…….one of my “tricks” is to pump Nippers at low tide, then fish the same spot as the tide rises, all the stirred up sand/mud and left over Nippers is natural burley.

I assume you mean crabbing? That’s a warm water activity, you can get crabs all year, but it’s summer when you target them mainly. Shrimping Prawns to us, is also a Summer time thing, lots of the south coast lakes have Prawns, you will need a scoop net and an underwater light, and some waders make life easy. Not too sure about Prawning around Sydney, but there would be a few places to catch some.