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G’day Raiders, I lobbed down to a spot near UTS rowers for a very quick flick in the canal nearby , it was pretty windy which made line control near impossible but I gave it a go anyway. I was using a prawn type plastic rigged weedless ( zman prawz in Houdini colour ) coated with some dizzy scent in UV Mussel. Only got one flathead which was sitting right below where a side drain emptied into the main canal , there were heaps of big mullet cruising around but as soon as I got my phone out to photograph them the seemed to disappear - must be camera shy ? I did get a photo of some mullet but these were the sub 30cm ones and I was praying to hook up with one of the big ones - easy 40cm + and maybe giving 50cm a nudge ! Anyhow while trying to measure and photograph the flathead while on my knees I didn’t notice I had disturbed an ants nest ( fortunately only the tiny black ant variety) and within seconds I was covered in the buggers - I must have looked a treat flapping my arms around trying to get them off all the while yelling out string after string of expletives 🤣🤣🤣 After that I went to the Sydney fish market for a look and was bowled over by how that place has gone downhill! It’s more restaurants, cafes and sushi bars now than fish market and the prices of some things made my eyes water - $23 a kilo for pipis! and they were tiny ! We used to get them for bait at a few bucks a kilo- all be it a long time ago ! They were selling them as live but they were all open and sitting in a tray drying out - yuck !

It is a bit more complex than that ! I can tell you to fish a certain beach but there is no guarantee that the fish I caught today will be there tomorrow - beach formations can change overnight and the fish move out . You can try Wanda beach near Cronulla, all of the beaches from palm to manly produce fish like bream , whiting, flathead salmon , tailor and the odd mulloway but unfortunately because the of the way the sand moves on beaches - literally here today gone tomorrow and back again the next it is impossible to predict where the fish will be. You will just have to do it the same way we do - look at the beach , identify the structure , give it a go and if one gutter doesn’t produce after maybe half an hour move to another . BTW if you want to learn one on one how to fish the beach and rocks there is an excellent guide operating on the northern beaches - he is the only one doing so over there so just type in beach fishing guide northern beaches into your favourite search engine and he should come up.

Narrabeen tends to be more small holes rather than gutters - sometimes there is a decent gutter at the north end of the beach near the lake entrance , depends in how much swell has been around and what direction it is coming from . All the pictures below are screenshots from an app I subscribed to and are from live footage taken at midday today. Below is Avalon showing a typical horse shoe gutter - this is close to low tide and would be worth a fish it high tide - even better if high tide is after dark . Below is Mona vale showing a hole or pocket gutter - similar to what you will get on Narrabeen beach . Below is south Deewhy showing a closed end gutter , which is really just an incomplete horseshoe gutter - sometimes you will get two ( one either side of a sandbar)that don’t quite join in the middle to for a horseshoe. Below is mid and south curl curl - this beach always seems to have a gutter of some sort on it and the bottom photo just shows the end of the gutter where it runs out to sea . Palm beach also has some reasonable gutters most of the time but like any beach- prolonged periods of low or no swell will fill the gutters in and turn it into a fishing desert or a haven for sand crabs and stingrays!

Keep it respectful and state the facts : no scientific evidence, decisions were made based on emotion and sentiment- not facts etc . There is nothing to be gained by abusive or vulgar comments as the person that reads the comments is an innocent party and your feedback will be deleted if it is judged to be inappropriate. We all need to understand that it is no longer about a groper- it is how this ban was enacted that should have everyone ( including the general public ) worried because it sets a very dangerous precedent- if the government can roll in and ban whatever they like whenever they like based on emotion,sentiment or to appease a minority party we are all in trouble!

We need to remember that this is no longer about the blue groper it is about the method in which the ban was enacted . Zero scientific research, Zero consultation with any relevant user groups and all based on the feelings and sentiments of one very misled Minister. If the research had been done and it indicated that an immediate ban was needed I feel most rec anglers would support it . I worry now that if the Government can just roll up and ban something without a legitimate reason what else will they ban ? Maybe two stroke outboards ? There’s one way of killing some old boats off !

It’s going to take a while to get there ! Provided you obey the laws there you will be ok , give circular quay a wide berth and stay away from the naval waters at garden island ! One trick with going under the bridge in a small boat is to ride in the wake of a big boat - use it to iron out the bumpy stuff ! Make sure you have plenty of fuel !

I haven’t done it with a 5 hp but I used to fish middle harbour with a couple of mates in a12ft tinny and a 10hp motor . The area circled in red ( known as the sound ) is a place I would avoid with your set up as the ocean swells roll right in here and if you get a run out tide with a wind running the same direction the wind swell and current smash into the ocean swell and turn this into place your boat doesn’t want to be ! If you stick to the eastern shore and channel ( green circle ) you should be ok - the western channel ( blue circle ) is always busy with traffic - usually big boats and ferries which can swamp small boats , I would give this area a miss unless you can get into Clifton gardens a bit more and get out of the shipping channel . Under the bridge is always rough going and if you have to go through there stick to the milsons point side - just stay out wide enough to avoid anyone’s lines . Rose bay ramp is probably your only option to launch unless you like spending half a day getting out there ! You could also look at around the spit bridge and upstream from it - you get kingies up there as well and it is way more calmer and safer for small boats . The amount of traffic out in middle harbour nowadays is just insane - I fished there in October last year and came home with a sore neck because I found I had to keep looking around to make sure no one ran over us - one yacht missed us by a few metres - I had to sound the little air horn I keep in my fishing bag because the skipper of the yacht couldn’t see my white 4.2m boat -apparently. Oh yeah ! make sure all your safety gear is up to spec as you will get a visit from either waterways or police ! Don’t forget you can get kingies in Pittwater at the right time of year .

Awesome bream ! Epic report ! Well done !

The use of WD40 on a 5inch alvey will make little difference - it has a heavy spool and the spindle diameter is much larger than a steelite which creates a lot more drag. You can use the technique as shown in this video but I would probably go to a local sports field or park to do some practice first as you don’t want your line to fly off and touch the rocks .

Could they be the elvers of the eastern short or longfin eel making their way back from the spawning grounds in the coral sea ?

For night fishing I use a head torch I bought online from an astronomy supplies shop - it has a white light and red light which is great because the red light doesn’t ruin my night vision . The one I have has separate buttons for each light so I don’t have to cycle through different light functions to get to the red light .

Nice pig mate ! The old Snyder has caught a few of them I can tell you ! Where the alvey will come into its own is after you have finished your session on luderick ( using a centre pin )you can swap reels and fish unweighted or very lightly weighted baits for pigs and bream in the washes . The ability to get a light bait out using the side cast feature and the bigger diameter spool makes the alvey superior to the centre pin for this style of fishing . I would still look at getting a centre pin , personally I wouldn’t worry too much about the nostalgia of using an old steelite or Avon - they won’t make you a better angler or catch you more fish and there is a downside with bakelite reels - it gets brittle with age so you have to be careful not to knock it around too much - the Avon doesn’t have this problem but with it you need to look for corrosion issues. There are a few blackfish/ luderick pages or groups on facebook, sometimes reels come up on them for sale .

You can adjust the spool tension by loosening the knob in the middle of the spool . You will find it difficult to get that big heavy spool spinning enough to cast it like a centre pin - just cast it like a sidecast and you will be fine .

I noticed a decline in the early 80s , maybe that generation succumbed to the lure of the lure ! When I was a jetty rat in Sydney harbour literally every wharf and rock wall had a lud fisho on it and the hole at the caravan park et Narrabeen lagoon was chockers ! Last time I fished there I was the only one there fishing for luderick 😭😭

You could try the wall at foreshore boat ramp - might be worth a try when the swell is up ?

Do you get any beep noises when pushing the buttons- especially the squelch?

Great report and you got a feed - gotta be happy with that !

Forgot about the parra ! When I was a kid we used to catch them in the canals at meadowbank and there certainly was no shortage of them at Rydalmere last time I was there - some nice 100mm units would be nice !

Awesome work guys ! Congrats on the win !

A nice 45cm flattie would have been better 🤣🤣🤣 Reel has been rebuilt and will find a new home as a mullet rod in a mates boat - swapped it for a tub of worms to get my worm farm up and running . I might even try some freshwater mullet ( live ) to see how they go , I can catch them more reliably than poddies and do it closer to home . The Sedona sure isn’t anything special in the way of a reel ! 3 bearings , no line roller bearing and pretty flimsy imho - I may have an older model as the big box store says they have 3+1 which is a line roller bearing but still not worth the $150 price tag - $80 maybe but no way $150 !

I believe it started out as a track to a lookout then someone clambered down behind the end house and put the peg in . I remember the bloke who owned the house used to hate people going down there as it was eroding the ground around his support pillars for his house . Iirc the last straw was someone fell off there and they cut the peg off and fenced the area off . We mostly got tailor and bonnies but I have seen few 1m + kings caught in there - buggered if I could get one to eat my live though !

There are two ovens platforms, inner- access from the beach and outer - down the rope , I believe this is no longer accessible. you also have a few options at south palm beach , on low swell you can fish off the front , if it is a bit wild you can go around to the side where the baths are . when you are looking for spots think about your egress or retreat path - if you have to beat a hasty retreat because that really big set is about to smash you the last thing you want is to have to clamber up a ledge . Also plan for the worst- if you get washed in how would you get out ? Many places on the northern beaches have angel rings fitted - think of this as part of your personal safety equipment and if it is missing report it and give the area a miss until it has been replaced. I would highly recommend you do at least one trip with either a guide or someone that you are 100% certain has some extensive experience fishing off the stones . The reason for this is they have spent the time on the ledges and understand the nuances of each one intimately- the ledge you fish today and it was safe to do so could take your life tomorrow because of a swell height or direction change .

We used to do overnight trips down there ! I think it has been closed off now .

G’day Raiders, I lobbed up to the lower Hawkesbury for a quick arvo sesh arriving at 11.30am and with a high tide around 9.45am it was going to be another run out drift session for flathead . Bait as usual was whole and half pilly on a spikes half pilly rig and cyclops rig . I started off on the southern side of dangar island and drifted all the way down to the mouth of Cowan creek , these were a series of short drifts adjusting to run along any drop offs or to drift through any current or trash lines -this resulted in one bite and a missed hookup on what I feel was a small flathead. A few more drifts around the mouth of Cowan were performed but still nothing 🤬 I could see the trash / current line extending in a long southerly arc towards flint and steel so I decided to try again at a spot just south of middle ground and drift through the current line again . This resulted in a 58cm mulloway which had me fooled into thinking it was a big flathead -I was now excited- until I saw silver ! Not complaining though as it was good fun on light gear and it was released after a quick photo. I then decided to go up river to moony and try a spot which has treated me well over the years but once again I couldn’t lose a bait and there was a fair bit of what I call glass noodle weed ( clear weed that looks like fine noodles ) and every time I have come across this weed fishing in that area has been poor . I decided to try the deeper water along Long Island - first 10m depth then in the main channel which resulted in the loss of my green cyclops rig 🤬🤬 I decide to give one last spot a try on the way back to the ramp , this is a hole between dangar island and the point next to the rail bridge . A few minutes into the drift my rod went heavy and thinking it was weed I wound it in but I could feel some very faint kicking as I did so - maybe a crab ? Anyhow I felt my leader knot go through the guides and spotted my hook - no crab but I had hooked someone else’s braid so began hauling it in - still feeling these faint kicks . A few seconds later up came rod and reel and not long after that a small mulloway still hooked in the lip ! The fish seemed ok as it swam off so hopefully it survived, the rod and reel (Sedona outfit ) are in great condition and will get a rebuild - the reel is currently soaking in some outboard engine flush to kill the salt off . Back at the ramp I pulled up next to another boat to strap my boat on and got talking to the guy who owns it , he had done a two day trip and caught a few fish. Mostly Mulloway around the same size as mine but also a few 60cm flathead ( he didn’t show any to me so can’t confirm this ) but I did ask him what he caught his fish on - live herring which he apparently caught somewhere in Cowan - I wouldn’t know where to start looking for them , maybe the end of Jerusalem ck?. He reckoned he was using whole dead squid , butterfly yakkas and lives - only the lives got touched . So where to now ? Do I go back with lives ? Do I go and try jigs and lead vibes ? Maybe some big paddle tails ! Will live yakkas work ? Or will live poddies ? I dunno. I have 5 days to decide ! On another's note I spotted on one of my FB feeds a big hair tail was caught in the Hawkesbury in the last few days so maybe they are here early !

You’re not alone - trust me !