patl

Leave Saturday to spend a week fishing Lake Awoonga behind Gladstone, the following week one of the other bass dams up that way. Home on the 27th

Roberta, Thanks for the info much appreciated, closer to the date I will talk to a couple of places up there. I have caught lots of barra before when I lived in NQ, just wanted to try something different later this year for a week or two. Hopefully we will get a couple, still havent decided what other dam we might try but will may even decide on the way up. Thanks Patrick

Roberta How did you go up at Lake Awoonga? We will probably stay 4-5 days there and then onto another dam I am going up there early September....any advice Thanks Patrick

Mick, I am going to be up there in a couple of weeks working on the new store in town, great place

I have fished the lake a few times and have done really well with most days catching double figures, a couple for tea and let the rest go. It can get a bit cold on the water in winter there with icicles hanging off the guides when trolling. DONT FALL IN!!!!, and it can get very very windy so keep a close eye on the weather Mostly trolled up browns and rainbows around the 2 islands (Lion & Cub I think they are called). Trolled tassie devils behind fenders seemed to be the best. Small minnows worked well as I couldnt handle catching fish with all the junk on the line. When I have been there in summer the fish seem a little deeper and have used leadline or paravanes to get the lures deeper - no I dont have a downrigger. There are a couple of tackle shops, one near the shell servo next to the caravan park and one in town. Both have got a fair bit of gear

Have a read of this, it may help, a fair bit about etecs plus comparison between etecs and 4 strokes. Of course be careful what you read especially on the net etecs

When filling the tank with bait I run it full bore in case any spew up berley and to aerate the water as much as possible When I am sitting still and the water has been turned over i pretty much run the pump every 15 minutes or so for 15 minutes or so, it will depend what is in there, 1/2 dozen reasonable slimys i dont turn it off when stopped, a couple of small yakkas - 15 minutes. When running on the plane the pick up below the pump puts a heap of water in the tank so i turn the pump off Be careful putting an aerator with a suction cup over the back of the boat and the forgetting to pick it up, when you take off, it could fly up back into the boat and hit you bloody hard. I have seen that happen with a guy using a suction cupped transducer on a tinny that let go and left a rip snortin bruise, the trouble is he let go of the tiller when it hit him and he just about rolled the boat over at full tilt

Bob This is what i have done

Going to SWR in the morning for a week

Haraka These are the regulations for commercial fishing that should give you a good idea of what is lawfull or not Thanks Patrick

A couple of points regards the above *Firstly there is no trawling in Pittwater itself (has been banned I think since the 80's or longer) I also think up to where trawling is banned they can only work less than half the river and then most of it Monday to Friday *Trawlers can work in a line between Box Head and Barrenjoey (somewhere east of this would become an ocean trawl and not estuary trawl) *The main catch is prawns (mostly night time fishing) and squid (day time fishing) *they are allowed to keep legal bycatch, and do but I believe there are a list of species they can keep that includes whiting, flounder, silverbiddys' etc * there is some fishing methods that I think are legal in Pittwater which incudes beach hauling (eg as in sea run mullet) and meshing (setting a net) but you need the endorsements to do this * you also see traps set, mostly around west head, steel and barrenhjoey And most importantly if you see something illegal being done get the FB number, write the details down and any witnesses and if possible take a photo, then ring fisheries Patrick

A thing that not everyone checks is the earth, incuding the battery terminals. If you boat is ally dont use the boat as an earth but run twin core wire (should be tinned) to each of the access. Also solder the joins instead of crimping them. Also if you have fuses (which you should have) check there hasnt been moisture around there and the terminals arent corroded Hope this helps Patrick

Brett When are you going to SWR. I am up there 28/1 for a week Thanks Patrick

Thanks

Ready to leave home just after 4.30 am to launch at Patonga but when I went outside there seemed to be too much wind compared to the BOM site, waited till they issued the next forecast at 4.45am which was no real change to the night before so lets go and see how it turns out. Ran straight over to the joey and trolled around there for a while, no good. The weather was getting better so headed south trolling along the rocks to see if any kings wanted to play. Got down as far as mona vale when i came across a school of yakkas on the surface, pulled the lures in and lets catch a couple of these. With a bait jig got a few in the boat which i bridled up and put back over the side. Before i tried trolling them I wanted a couple more so jsut drifted around the schools a bit and as they came up got a couple more. The ratchet on the calcutta was starting to turn over very slowly, almost like I had snagged. Anyway lets have look, this wasnt a snag as the afterburners kicked in for a short burst and then settled into short runs and hanging down deep. Now I am confused to what it could be - kingie??cobe??, iam on mono so probably not a shark, dont know.....then colour....this is not a bad fish....it looks at least a over 3 feet long.....then down deep again.....I want to at least know what it is.....so lets get it back up.....now its under the boat ....here it comes....oh shit its a bloody mako about 5ft long. anyway I pull it up beside the boat for a good look its just sitting beside the boat .... what to do, on my own so I cut it off. Pretty wrapped as this is probably the best fish I have let go out of my 12 ft tinny, and sorry no photo as the camera is sitting on the desk where i was supposed to pick it up this morning. That was the only fish today but I am happy. Patrick