Day's Fishin

Nice little outing, at least by the looks of the water behind you the showers kept the boats down to a minimum! Jeff

Your Showing miles away from the area in question including private marina ramp? Jeff

Great stuff, does that mean you will catch twice as many fish now? Jeff

Great colour to that Bass! Did you get your stolen gear Back or did you buy new gear? Jeff

There is only one more in that area and is very busy on weekends, anyway why should a mobile homes/caravans and campers be allowed to block boat ramps and take up car and trailer parking areas? Jeff

That has become the norm at that ramp. Mobile homes in the launching area and 4wd's with awnings off the side parked in the trailer bays having a picnic and sleep over. It's about time the council rangers earned their pay! Jeff

2 or 3 meters of water is fine for blues when the water is as warm as it has been. They tend to be on the hunt in shallower water. Try changing your bait in the net, I find that fresh killed Roosters (or chickens,but I prefer to eat those myself) that have not been bled and cut up as you set your net work great on blues and mudies. Just be warned though the grinners also like them and can destroy your nets one after the other so be on hand if you see a float being dragged. Jeff

If your talking about the first island up river from the road bridge then yes that's Milson island. I would agree on the shark being the culprits. Bull sharks, maybe but there are a lot of silver sharks in the system and are aggressive feeders although if you were behind the island between the houses and the island you should have seen a shape or colour as its quite shallow there especially at low tide Jeff

Every one is entitled to make a living, however when there is a constant poor catch it's time someone stepped in and stopped the take all attitude of some of these trawlers( not by any means all ) as some of these fishos are trying to stamp out some of the pirate tactics too! When there was a abundance of prawns near me about 10 years ago I watched 11 trawlers working between Lower Portland ferry and Souths club. They were sweeping the river clean 3 abreast. This part of the river has never recovered from that onslaught. The trawlers were not our local boys but came up the river from Spencer and Wiseman Ferry areas. After prawn trawlers have fished the river you might as well not go fishing unless you fish for bass up a tributiary where they can not net. If they do not catch fish then I would like to know what happens to all the fish that were there before they netted an area? Jeff

Laughtondale area Jeff

The best way to catch crabs is with fresh bait, i.e. mullet or blood fish like Bonito are great for blue swimmers and I find fresh killed rooster that has not been bled is best for mud crabs. Jeff

We fished Lower Portland to Wisemans Ferry and caught virtually nothing. A couple of small flathead, 2 undersize bream and 1 lone soapie. I talked to a couple of prawner's and they told me that the river was full of trawlers but were not catching much only a small amount of small prawns. A lot of shops that normally sell their prawns are sadly out of luck! I rang my local butcher who I get fresh prawns off and he told me that the trawler that supplied him had told him that his supply is cancelled due to the poor catch. They tried another supplier who said the same thing. So it's not only the problem with QLD prawn farms but we have a problem here too! No prawns in the river means the fish are scattered as well. Maybe it's time the river had a break from the trawlers for a couple of years and let the prawns regenerate. (my suggestion only) Jeff

Some nice blackfish, reminds me of the days catching fish like that around Ben Buckler and Bondi Murk. Jeff

That water looks great. Very calm with a good color to it! Looks like the fish liked the conditions to! Jeff

A great healthy looking bream. It's great to see fish in that condition. Catch and release in my opinion gives one a high that is equal to none! Jeff

Chilli Mud Crabs tonight. Not huge but will be tasty. Caught in trap with fresh rooster. Jeff

A lot of small flathead get caught around the mouth of the colo opposite the ramp some of which venture up further under the bridge. After a long dry spell the water gets a little salty and they go in further. Be carefull walking in shallow water near the banks as snakes are in abundance along the colo, not long ago a little girl was bitten by a brown that swam out to her near the colo bridge that crosses the putty. The Hawkesbury is very quiet at the moment due to the huge tidal flow, even the prawn trawlers are battling to fill orders. Jeff

I find peeled hawkesbury prawns unweighted work best in that area. Try using small blades around the moorings in Bobbinhead. Jeff

Their has been warnings about different parts of the harbour for years. Same as blue algae signs for parts of the Hawkesbury. Warnings about fish caught around Nth Bondi outlet. I have been eating fish from all these areas for over 50 years and no sickness or effect. Trevally and tailor do not stay in one spot so the ones you caught may have been anywhere 10 minutes before you caught them. A king you catch outside the heads may have been in the harbour for weeks before you catch it. Jeff

Hi Krause, great read. I have only just started with kayak fishing and hooking a hammerhead and then getting towed out to sea is one thing I am not looking forward too! As for hammerheads feeding in the top coloum of water, we have constantly had hammerheads feeding on burly trails behind our boat. On 1 occasion fishing from a mates 17ft easy rider of Ben Buckler a hammer head came up the burly trail and swam past the side of the boat and as it did it had 1 eye out of the water and looked all along the boat as it went past, ( this beast was longer than the boat) it then turned around and came back for a second look before disappearing into the deep. I will not be using a burly trail of the yak as that would be a nightmare! Jeff

Estuary perch are very bland to eat.( in my opinion) we catch a lot of them in the area you were. Great fighters and well worth fishing for on light tackle. Jeff

I don't get were your coming from with the ( middle class and wealthy ) crap? $3000 can buy you a good little fishing boat, and your talking about a BASIC Torpedo Set Up costing that! If fishing is not a sport than what is it? What I was referring to was a line with 25 hooks or more set on terminal tackle and then having it hauled up a beach that would give fish no chance of survival after being skulled dragged up a hot beach. Most people I know fish for sport, with the added prize of taking home a couple of fish for Dinner, majority of fish get released and have a good chance of survival, because of the way they are caught and handled before release. I do not understand if you disagree. I believe it is wrong for NZ or any other country to allow fish to be caught by long lining and that is close to what they are doing! Jeff

I have seen that on one of the fishing shows on tv. Highly illegal here and should be there as well. We call fishing a sport and that sure is not sport! Jeff

The rock fish can sure put up a fight. I have enjoyed watching many inexperienced fisho's fight a suspect catch of the day until they wake up that its the current and boat movement making that rock seem to be taking drag! Sea sickness is not great, laying down can make it worse. Not for every one but jumping into the water for awhile settles the inner ear and is one of the only ways to come good without heading for flatter water. Jeff

Unless they have changed their rules since I fished ANSA comps, only fishing club members could fish their comps. Then again it was in the 70's that I was a member of eastern suburbs anglers and fished ANSA through that club! Jeff