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Dee Why Jim

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Everything posted by Dee Why Jim

  1. I notice the author is Simon Cassettari - I used to play cricket against him back in the late 70's early 80's when we both wpould have been early 20's. Park cricket in Manly Warringah - from memory his team was called Curracurrang Creek.
  2. Conventional wisdom is that, similar to Luderick, this lining has a weedy taste. Easy to remove with a bit of hessian or other rough cloth. Caught and ate a couple of drummer caught recently at Little Bluefish - they are an excellent table fish in my opinion
  3. Hi Waza - a great article. You have an amazing way of connecting to 70/80's fishing. I made a few rods myself back in those days - remember feeling like a more "legit" fisherman with a few homemade, one piece rods tied onto the top of the car. Hope you are feeling better and able to get out and about DY Jim
  4. Hi Waza - good to see you back posting great fishing yarns. I did a bit of fishing in Urunga in the mid/late 70's - I had a mate who knew an old guy who had retired from the Sydney trams and moved to live in a house that backed onto the lagoon about 500 metres south of the caravan park / start of the boardwalk. I was pretty much a beginner then (not too advanced now to be honest) but the old guy had a rowboat and a yabbie pump he was happy for us to use. The guys I went with weren't too much into fishing so we rowed around exploring the lagoon during the day and I went out again in the late afternoon with a couple of dozen yabbies and a 6lb handline. There was another recent post on Fishraider about early experiences that made fishing part of your life. My holiday in Urunga were certainly part of that for me. I can remember as clear as day rowing out to find the narrow channel that meandered its way through the lagoon and holes and banks further south away from the town. I caught plenty of fish - with live yabbies it was probably hard not too - and didnt get anything that would seem special to an experienced fisherman but to a 15 year old novice it was like heaven. Got the hang of feeling the fish bite, slowly take a bit of line and then accelerate off. Mostly bream and flathead but got my first whiting, big enough that it took some line (probably 10 feet but it felt like 50) as it cut an arc around the boat heading across the shallows. Just before covid I drove up to Coff's Harbour on a golf trip and detoured into Urunga for old times sake. Walked out along the boardwalk to the beach and up onto the end of breakwater as Waza described. The Lagoon seemed much shallower than I remembered - there is a section of the breakwater that lets the water flow in and out from the river with the tide but I am guessing that this isn't enough to stop the lagoon silting up. I hope I am wrong but got the sense that fishing in the lagoon might not be the same. The lagoon is, however, a great spot for kids to swim and play and the water looked clear and clean. The town is a little more built up but still has an old time fishing village vibe - worth a visit if in the area and as Waza said the breakwater, river mouth and adjacent gutters on the beach look like prime fishing territory. Dee Why Jim
  5. Lots of more experienced folks than me on here but can't resist a "back in the old days" post. Fishing stores - mine was the old Graham's in North Narrabeen - used to have 100's of blanks of all sizes and wraps of fibreglass. Many more blanks than made up rods. Folks running the shop were real fisherman and were happy to give recommendations and of course sell the kit to build the rod. I built half a dozen or so when I was still at school in the 70's. They weren't super great to look at but catching fish on a rod you made yourself was very satisfying. My favourite was a yellow CR5126FT blank. Still have it thought the top 12 inches is long gone. Added a 6" sand spike and used orange binding - paired with an Alvey 55A and 10 lb line. Sorry for the self indulgence but enjoyed those days!
  6. Went to Burning Palms on Monday to put some of Waza's advice into practice. First time down there fishing since 1976 but it doesn't seemed to have changed much. The path down has been made more user friendly though it is still a big of a slog up the hill on the way back to the car park. Fished the gutter between the platform and the island (Tablet) as shown in the photo - the gutter is not that big, maybe 20 metres wide and 40 metres long but a very fishy looking location. Swell was super low and Waza's recommended bobby cork technique with cunje as bait got my son and I a few drummer. Kept one about 38 cm for dinner and let the others go. We should have caught more but I was a bit rusty and missed more than a few solid downs. Messaged Waza when I got back and he suggested I should have used a heavier sinker to keep the bait at the right depth given the blustery conditions. Will hopefully put that advice into practice next time though 4 hours holding a 650 Alvey and 12 foot fibreglass rod was a lot harder at 61 than it was when I was 16. Very sore the next day! The platform is easy to get too and plenty of cunje and crabs (plus cabbage weed) available. The platform in the photo below is close to water level so it really is a low tide / flat swell spot. As with all rock fishing spots, wear cleats and a life jacket and spent 15 minutes (or more) checking out the swell before getting close to the water. There are a higher ledges close by but the whole platform is very flat with nowhere to go in a big swell. Have to agree with Waza that is a magical place, the old huts give you a sense of going back in time. Hard to believe it is only an hours drive (and 30 minutes walk) from much of Sydney. Didn't see another fisherman on any of the nearby headlands and had a great day out
  7. Denisfisho - great question. I have been reading the suggestions made by experienced folks fishraiders as I am also a beginner with SP. I note the idea to use a slower retrieve with longer pauses. The only two fish I have caught on plastics were both after a slower than "normal" retrieve. Once I was fiddling with the drag and the second time I had a few hits and deliberately stopped to see what would happen. Not a statistically significant data set but my two cents worth. I also suspect that I have made the mistake (landbased) of staying too long in one spot as you have mentioned. I am thinking that next few sessions I with try to have a few locations mapped out in advance so that I have a plan to start in location A and move to B,C and D. Good luck!!
  8. Interesting data - a 1 metre mulloway could be as young as 4 years or as old as maybe 15. I guess the variation is the result of food availability? Or maybe some fish have genes that make them bigger? Fish release program seems like a great idea but I hope DPI are confident there are enough mullet, worms and other stuff for the mulloway to eat.
  9. Hi Waza - thanks for the welcome lockdown diversion. Your article motivated me to spend a hour or so on Google. Found this link to a Fishing comp organised by legacy in Yamba before our time but it looks like a huge event in terms of both people and fish caught. Some good shots of the breakwalls you talked about in an earlier story about Yamba. Did you go to any of these regional, fundraising type events? Looks like there was a mix of some very serious fishermen and plenty of casuals. DY Jim
  10. Thanks for the diagram - based on your prompting I have started to look at doing it myself. Also found a link that has lots off good stuff on seascape reels. Seems I have the low ratio (about 3:1 ratio) model so no high speed spinning. Maybe that makes the pinion gear a bit more robust - it has more teeth than the high ratio models. https://www.reelmanaustralia.com/jack-harvey-page-20 I found one small difference vs the diagram and thought I would put it in this thread in case someone looks in the future. The drag plate shown as 4a is different in my reel - no key on the outer circumference. The other 2 washers are d section as shown but the middle one is just a normal concentric washer. I thought perhaps that the original was lost but there is also no key way on the inside of the main driving gear. Perhaps not a bit deal but maybe I have an earlier, slightly simpler model. I have ordered a sheet of Carbontex and some Cal's grease and will give that a go. Also looked at the recent thread on using felt so could try that as well. As I mentioned initially not a high usage reel but want to get it in working order just in case. Thanks everyone for their help.
  11. Hi Waza - this is an old threat but just stumbled on it. Great write up. My fishing heyday was the late 70's and early 80's. August was the prime trevally month off the rocks around Dee Why. The fish were often so thick that it was a great time to introduce friends to rock fishing. The fish were typically all the same size maybe 32/34 cm - not huge but they did fight pretty well. Cube of pilchard with a #1 hook was my rig - sometimes with no sinker but usually a 00 or an 0 size. There were times when you could cast, wind in the slack, count to ten, give a quick strike as you have described and a fish would be hooked more time than not. Bought a CR5126FT blank from the old Graham's fishing store in Narrabeen specifically for trevally and bream - the rod is long gone but still have the 55A5 Alvey that I bought to go with it. Great memories - reading some of the comments seems the trevally aren't as thick these days? We were a fair way from the North Head so not sure schools near Dee Why were attracted by the sewerage but perhaps the Sydney Murks boosted the whole population. Went back to some my old spots a few months ago with my sons - we got a couple of trevally so some still a few around around. Hopefully everyone in Sydney can get back to fishing soon
  12. Hey GH - that's great, appreciate your help (and those above). I was a bit wary of doing it myself as I suspect I mucked around with it years ago and could easily have got things in the wrong order but now I can at least check the various bits are all there. I have almost exclusively used direct wind Alvey reels so this might be a dumb question but if I replace the washers etc myself I can roughly check that the drag works as it is supposed to when fully on and fully off. With the drag set at some intermediate point should I be able to get a sense if it is releasing smoothly and not grabbing as can happen if things are not working right? Maybe the only way to be sure is with a decent size fish ?
  13. Hi Folks - I have an old seascape reel (see picture below) that I haven't used in decades - not sure it has ever really been used much. Does anyone know where I could get it serviced ? I am thinking the old drag washers will need to be replaced with whatever is the latest and best material. I don't intend to use it on a regular basis but would like to get it into shape so that if the opportunity arose the drag would be in working order. Somewhere in Sydney would be my preference. Thanks for any help provided - I hope this is outside the rules of the site. Delete if this is the case Jim PS Hope everyone is coping with the lockdowns ok and the next few months see some positive changes
  14. Thanks for the article Warren - helping us all get through lockdown. The visual of an octopus wielding two knives as it tries to escape is fantastic - wont be able to keep a straight face next time I see an octopus at the fish markets. This might be outside the scope of a fishing site but as I am stuck at home behind a desk through I would share. I had a job about 8 years ago that got me to South Korea. We had a local agent and visited customers and other boring stuff. After one visit Suhwan asked if I was up for a traditional local lunch. Only possible answer was "no problem". We went to an old building right on the coast - jutted out into a shallow bay that was a mud flat at low tide. I was told that the local delicacy was octopus. "No problem - I like BBQed octopus". "No not cooked - it will be raw - like of sushi style" A small octopus with legs about 12 inches long soon arrived, wriggling on a plate. I didn't ask but assume it had come from the bay over my left shoulder or maybe from under the floor we were sitting on - not table or chairs in this less than fancy joint. There was a momentary pause from the Koreans - I guess allowing me the opportunity to bail out - before a pair of scissors was produced and the octopus was quickly turned into a plate of wriggling pieces about an inch long. Before we tucked into the writhing mass there was a safety warning. "Dont eat them too quickly and make sure you chew them properly". This was probably unnecessary as I wasn't planning on going too hard but I answering with "Ok, but why the warning?" "People have died if they swallow too many without chewing because legs will attached themselves to the back of your throat and strangle you to death". Yikes !! I was part way through a jug of Korean beer and wondered if I would need the remainder to combat the octopus if came for me. As advised they were still very much "alive" and sucked onto the inside of your cheek and tongue and it was actually quite hard to chew and swallow each segment. Heeding the safety warning I worked my way through my share of the 8 legs and had a few more beers and we went on our way back into Seoul. The taste? As you may have guessed very much like garden hose with a touch of salt.
  15. Wonderful story Waza and also some great replies from other Fishraiders - enjoy checking into the site to see what new threads have been started. My first fishing trips were to Manly wharf which was probably a reasonable spot if you knew what you were doing - which my mates and I didn't. We got plenty of yellowtail on the standard #14 long shanked hooks and occasionally saw a big John Dory cruising by among the pylons. Anything over a pound of two looked enormous in those days. This must have been 1973 or 1974. It was before the boardwalk / swimming enclosure across to the aquarium was damaged in heavy seas. I also remember that slimy mackerel would appear for about 15 minutes in the afternoon. The wharf was pretty high off the water so if a floating bait was thrown out you got a great view of the fish taking the bait right on the surface. A few years later I had a mate who lived at Killarney Heights and we fished off the wharf near the old Dance hall on Killarney Point. It seemed totally bizarre for a old building with no access except by water to still exist so close to suburbia. I was a bit more knowledgeable by then and we caught some nice leatherjackets using oysters and floats made out of a wine cork and a golf tee. Occasionally some old timer - person over 30 - would drop by and try to give us a bit of advice based on past success nearby. I can vividly recall being disgusted when it transpired that some fabulous story dated from the late 60's!! Ten years ago seemed like ancient history to a 17 year old. Now, of course, it is comparatively recent. I share the regret Waza and others have expressed that young kids these days don't get the same opportunities to get out of home and explore Sydney's waterways and bushland. I moved away from Sydney in the mid 80's and never returned to live. It does seem so crowded now. Went to Curl Curl beach on a weekday morning a few years back and there were hundreds of people on the beach - used to be nothing there and the place was mostly deserted unless it was stinking hot and Dee Why was too crowded.
  16. Thanks for the story Waza - I camped and fished down there in the late 70's, hiking in from Otford just as you describe. Caught my one and only Mulloway at Burning Palms - still have the photos and it looks to be about a metre judging by the 51/2 inch Alvey lying next to it. Got it off the rocks at the northern end of the beach in the afternoon using the standard pilchard on ganged hooks rig. I guess I was about 16 at the time and when it took off on its first run I can remember thinking it was headed to Wollongong. By some minor miracle I managed to land it after walking around to the beach. Went back there a couple of years ago for a hike - came in from the south, camped ay North Era (the only place where camping is now allowed) and caught the ferry out at Bundeena. No fishing but still a great walk - the cliffs north of Garie Beach are quite spectacular with miles of inaccessible rock hopping territory. I remember we would sneak a beer at the Bundeena RSL in the 70's - it was a simple fibro shed with a few photos of diggers around the wall. Much bigger and glitzier now! I guess limiting the camping to North Era makes sense as the city has grown but I felt sorry for todays kids when i walked past spots at Curracurrang and Little Marley where we just stopped and camped back in the day. From memory I think the NSW government has changed their policy toward the hut dwellers - they did have rule to pull them down when the owners died/moved away but I kind of think they now allow them to pass on to family and friends. Not 100% sure of this but hope I am right. As you mention some great Sydney history from the depression years. Where else in the national park did you fish Waza?
  17. Wangal reserve is correct!! Nice little park very close by. I actually live in Melbourne but my son lives in the inner West so when I visit any spots nearby with grand kid friendly surroundings are my target areas. Tried the eastern side of the Wangal point (not sure of correct name) but much more rocky so plenty of snags with plastics - maybe a hard body that stays a bit off the bottom would be the go? Thanks for the suggestion re Hen and Chicken and Iron Cove will give them a shot
  18. Hi Everybody - my first post so hopefully of some interest. I was a keen rock fisherman in Sydney back in the late 70's and early 80's but moved overseas and decades went by doing things other than fishing. Now too old to climb down cliffs chasing tailor and drummer, so spent some time on Fishraider and You Tube to see how to catch a few fish in Sydney Harbour. Luckily there are plenty of very generous folks who put up videos and answers questions from people like me. After three of four zero fish outings I got my first flathead on Sunday - a quick trip with my son who supervised my grand daughter at a nearby playground. It was probably legal size (I was too excited to get an accurate measurement) and hopefully not a complete fluke. Released successfully to fight another day Location : Southern side of the Paramatta River Plastic : 2.5 inch Z man Grubz Watermelon Red Jig Head: 1/6 Oz TT with #1 Hook (tried to give myself a chance of a bream) Line: 8 lb braid with 10 lb fluorocarbon leader Time/Tide: 4:30 pm - bottom hour of the run out tide (super low tide 0.26 m) Conditions: Sandy/muddy bottom with a few small rocks and oyster shells (no snags in a hour's fishing!!). Cloudy and a bit windy but overall good afternoon fishing weather Not a very exciting report but wanted to put something up to thank all those who provide tips and feedback for newbies - being able to get some questions answered and read the basics is a real help. Hoping to get a few more in the months to come but kind of nice to get a fish with a new technique in a new location Dee Why Jim
  19. Hi Waza - thanks for the great read. Put up a picture of the cliffs near some my old spots north of the harbour. Nothing like the 400 ft cliffs you climbed down. In fact in our case we just walked around from the beach - a bit of a hike but after doing it a hundred times or so you knew how to hop over and around the different boulders and narrow spots. There were a couple of dodgy ladder arrangements near where the photos was taken but never saw anyone using them. Had a few instances of kids chucking rocks down at us - tried yelling at them but obviously they knew we were at an enormous strategic disadvantage. Best strategy was to wait for them to get bored. Enjoy looking back on those early morning trips - rigging up just before first light and getting the first cast of the day out into the darkness. Not as dedicated as you (plus an easier walk out) - we did the low light species, ganged hooks for tailor and occasionally a snapper first then a few bream and trevally. Back home for a fish breakfast and whatever else the day had in store. Not a care in the world and a lifetime still in front of us!! Jim
  20. Waza - was there a similar competition for clubs on the northside of the city? I was never a member of a club but we had the Warringah Anglers over our way and there was also the Manly Fisho's club whose building sounds like the Brighton fishos. I would also guess Manly Leagues Club and maybe Harbord Diggers had fishing groups. You mentioned that you made the representative team - who did they compete against? Did you do any good?
  21. Thanks Waza - another great story. The AFCA never considered having officials with the various teams? Like golf clubs will have rules officials with the players for important club events. Fishing and golf both rely on honesty but if the stakes get high enough some will feel the temptation to bend the rules. I guess that would mean telling the officials where the teams were going to fish and in your case having someone willing the climb down the cliff. The 1.5 to 2 lb tailor and about 1 lb trevally were what my mates and I mostly caught on the lower northern beach rocks in the early 80's. My experience when fishing near home was that the signal for tailor to start (or stop) biting was that there had to be enough light to see the pilchard/garfish hit the water - in the morning no fish until just enough to faintly see a splash and in the evening the bite would stop when you were casting into the dark. You were obviously able to keep catching them into the early evening (and beyond). We didn't use much burley and mostly only two or three of us. Maybe we weren't organised enough to keep a couple of baits in the water and the fish moved off to their night location. There have been a few pictures lately of massive schools of salmon off the rocks near Waverley and Coogee - do you think tailor school in the same way? I had the feeling that they moved up and down the rocks in smaller schools - sometimes we would get two or three in quick succession then nothing for 20 minutes before another group would pass by. Are the big schools of trevally still around? They were thickest for us around August (after the tailor started to drop off) and as you describe it could be as easy as cast, wind in the slack, count to 10 and strike you would be on. They were good fun on 10 lb line and not too bad to eat. My memories are mostly from 40 years ago - hope there enough fish and unoccupied rock platforms for today's teenagers to have fun like we did. DY Jim
  22. Thanks Wazza - as usual a great response, you obviously fished in a great area but clearly also put in countless hours to learn what conditions, baits, tactics, time of the year/day worked for the different species that were available. Love the story about the Murk floats with the built in pen torch - once the light disappeared what was the signal to set the hook? Maybe they hooked themselves? Did some mental arithmetic on catching 139 fish in 15 hours - that is almost 1 every 6 minutes with no spells for food, sleep or toilet breaks!! Can't imagine how much bait and burley you must have used. In addition to simply landing that many fish your group then had the not insignificant task of hauling, literally a tonne of fish, plus gear etc up a 400 foot cliff. What time of year was the annual comp? Assume the various teams got huge hauls when conditions were favourable with smaller catches if it was too rough or too flat? I have been thinking about how many fish I have seen caught in one session - maybe a few hundred on a charter boat trip around Stewart Island off the South Island of New Zealand (with maybe a dozen folks fishing). All bottom dwelling Blue Cod - no fight but good fish to eat. Off the rocks around Dee Why and Curl Curl maybe a few dozen trevally plus a few tailor and bream would have been my best effort - if the pile got too big someone would point out (a) the time required to clean them and (b) that it was time debrief at a pub somewhere DY Jim
  23. Hi Waza - this might be a bit off topic but you have really captured the atmosphere and feel of rock fishing around Sydney in the 70's and 80's and it has got me thinking about how things have changed. Could you talk a little about the transition that was happening around that time from bait fishing for bread and butter species like bream, drummer and tailor to lure fishing for pelagics? I assume before high speed reels became available tuna and mackerel were just an occasional by catch? Once the gear became available were you able to spin up tuna and mackerel from the Mattens and the other eastern suburbs spots or did that mean going to different locations more suited to this type of fishing? You have mentioned the club competitions that seemed to favour catching lots of fish in a defined time period (landing 100 fish off the rocks in a 24 hour window seems like incredibly tough work!). The LBG scene that was big in 80's seems very different - a lot of time and effort spent chasing a single big trophy fish. Was there a generation gap between the older guys who were brought up on alvey reels and rangoon cane rods and the younger crowd who needed to get high speed retrieval rates?
  24. Thanks for the story Warren - getting up to the Magpie ledge sounds pretty scary but you would also have to have your wits about you when you got there and started fishing. I would be worried a big drummer or groper would pull me over the edge if I wasn't paying attention (which is not that uncommon according to my wife). Also must have been crowded with 8 or 9 guys all with 12' rods in the pitch black. Maybe in your next story you could give us a bit more background on Wally - sounds like he fished down there for decades. Get the impression from your earlier stories that he fished with a hand line - no rod even for blackfish? When you use garfish under a bobby cork how deep did you run the gangs? I mostly did slowly retrieved unweighted pilchards when chasing tailor - my guess was that the tailor were only a meter or so below the surface but maybe that was wrong. Caught a few snapper spinning this way with pilchards and am wondering if a bobby cork with the pilchard/garfish set a bit deeper below where the tailor were feeding might be worth trying. One last question - did you see many salmon in the 70's / early 80's? My recollection is that they were pretty scarce (all caught down the south coast by the canneries?). We certainly caught far more tailor than salmon in fact I can remember catching my first one in about 1980 checking the pictures in the fishing books to double check what Aussie salmon were supposed to look like. Enjoy the stories about the old days of blue collar fishing and fisherman - look forward to the next chapter. DY Jim
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