Gene

I have been playing around with the same. From what I can find out the hooks are Mosquito hooks, although I couldn't find any of these and got some Black Magic fly hooks which have a similar profile. Even tried the trailing hooks on a Jackall Chubby & caught a nice flathead. Have also got the trailing hooks attached to other lures but haven't had time to try them out yet. So far I have used 20KG braid, but would like to try a lighter braid as I think the hooks would swing a bit more freely. The home made trailer hooks worked a treat last weekend on a ZX with plenty of undersized Bream, even had a double hookup a litle tailor on one hook with a little Bream on the other.

A gutter is a channel where the water runs after the waves break. Usually the waves will break on a sand bar off the beach. The waves then roll in across the deeper channel or gutter. If the surf is big there will be plenty of whitewater over the gutter. If you watch the whitewater or foam you will see which way it is going. It will go towards the end of the beach either left or right. This movement of water is what is called a rip. The gutters are usaully a bit darker as the water is deeper. You cast your bait into the gutter. If the rip is running left to right then you would cast to the left so your bait would drift to the right, otherwise you will be walking down the beach following your bait. You don't necessarily need to cast a long way as some of the best bites will come almost at your feet as the fish feed on pippies & worms at the waters edge. Hope this helps.

Great, now we only need some decent roads so we can get there!

Try the Chubbys they float & have a deep & shallow diver and cast pretty well. There would be quite a few others, probably a bit cheaper too. Only problem with being land based is the snags. Gets expensive with the dearer lures.

Thats bad luck about the rod & lures, but look on the bright side - at least you were out fishing.

Thanks Mitch, I will try slowing the retrieve down. These lures seem to have good feedback on them which is why I was a bit disappointed. Gene

Has anyone tried the Damiki MU45SP Shallow lure?. I bought one and dont seem to get much action out of it compared to say an SX40 on a straight retrieve. Is it supposed to be fished with a jerking action? I would appreciate any feedback as I am a bit disappointed with it. Gene

What goes around comes around. The refs are generally honest and despite all the technology in the world will still make errors. In the end it all evens out. Manly have had plenty of errors go their way. What about that Showpony Hartley who gifted Manly a Grand Final!

You can put your canoe in at several locations - Tench Reserve boat ramp and head downstream if you don't wan't any boat traffic. There is also Devlins Lane at Castlereagh and Yarramundi. All of these give you easy launching. Gene

Thats a nice snap of Liz in uniform. Personally my retirement date has just been extended by a number of years, almost everyone else would be in the same boat with their super funds all taking a hit. I just go fishing and try to forget about it.

Your dreaming Toby, your trips would in all probability be classed as entertainment and not incurred in the course of your business. If you are in the business of running fishing charters then you would be able to claim these costs.

Jewhunter mentioned the reel. Make sure that the line is laid on flat. I was continually getting tangles until it finally twigged that the line was not lying flat on the reel, it was forming 2 humps. Fixed the problem with a new reel. Also every few weeks I run out a length of line, about 40 metres, and run it between my fingers a few times to get the twist out.

Zippo for me. I thought this was a fishing site.

Thanks Swordfisherman, I think I'm going to need all the help I can get. Gene

February 5th will be my first fish there, and if my past results are anything to go by, then I will be none the wiser. I usually fish around Penrith/Castlereagh which seems pretty quite at the moment. If you have a canoe, then grab a few surface lures and head down there as it gets dark. Nothing like getting your lure slammed on the surface by a big Bass.