MannY

I've noticed as well a huge drop in crabs over the last couple years, also the different types of species of fish through the channel. It could be the overfishing with the amount people that camp and fish there along the side of the lake or the increase in commercial licenses a couple years back

It would be good to have it opened like in the old days to allow more water to flow through as well further investigation on what is really causing the drop in numbers. The picture in the article shows the deterioration from 2008 to 2016... also might provide some answers to why it might be happening

http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-08-21/the-mystery-of-lake-illawarras-missing-prawns/8821300

Cheers

That's a hectic session! nice

Target: Flathead & Squid

Got a brilliant idea I'll buy cooked prawns, I can use it as bait and if tough gets going I'll eat it. Practical thinking

I got down south and the wind was whistling .. the water choppy and no squid, so I tried my luck to collect some prawns... no prawns except one in the middle the rocks as I was walking back. I told the prawn you're one lucky bugger cause I'm letting you live today!

A few guys were fishing, I asked and they had caught nothing. So I changed my strategic idea from flatty to perhaps breams? Now I was getting hungry, but what is opened at 3:30am in the morning? nothing close by

I found a spot out of the wind. Gear out and a couple beers & bait in the Esky, I was ready to fish. I started to rig up, opened a beer .. hungry, I opened the cooked prawns .. oh man they tasted good! beer and prawns are a perfect couple.

Feeling silly put on some old bread and pulled in a nice legal bream.. excited my cooked prawn resources went straight in the gabber... Every cast I looked sincerely at the cooked prawn and said "no" you're all mine! .. put on fresh prawn and sent the cast. Sadly in the hour I finished eating my 1\2kg of cooked prawn!! and couldn't test if cooked prawn is equally as good as fresh prawns.

As first light approached I reached my bag limit of breams, when I noticed a ocky. Put on a prawn.. he messed around a bit and then smashed it! First time that I've seen a ocky attack a prawn, pretty cool stuff. Pulled him in, he was huge. I didn't keep him as I don't know how to kill them properly.

I didn't get my target species, but a ocky and bag of breams was just fine indeed.

Nice catch!! that must have been sooo much fun sadly I'm yet to catch one on cabbage..

I reckon if you put those pancakes on the line you would have cleaned up on the flatties

Thanking you.. will try that

I don't use the choke when its warmed up.

Cheers

YUM! that's some good eating! Nice catch!

Hi Guys,

I'm new to boating and trying to get my head around 2-stroke engines. I bought an old Johnson 10hp and had it serviced(it sat around for a couple of months as I needed to completed my boat lic to use it)... now time to start it.

Firstly I had the wrong fuel line connector, so I bought a new tank with the correct fuel line.

Now, I struggle to start it. Once it's started she runs good. The problem occurs when I stop and then start it or do a cold start.. From I have been told this is how to start it, please correct me if I'm doing something wrong...

1 - Make sure I have fresh premium\ unleaded petrol.. 50:1 mix

2- Open fuel valve

3- Prime the line

4 - Pull the choke

5 - Turn throttle to start

6 - Pull until she starts, trying to avoid flooding.

Sparks look ok, I need some ideas on how to diagnose it.. please help

Nice catch mate! I've never managed to catch a garfish there.

Personally I'd like the "Like" button! You've got me hooked...

Thanks guys, really appreciate it!

Cheers,

Manny

Hi Raiders,

New to squidding the last 7-8 squidding sessions were disappointing with only one caught in the net as it swam by.

Fathers day got myself some nice Shimano gear and a early day at work meant a perfect evening to test out my new rods. I ran some new braid grab my jigs and head down for a session.

As soon as the sun sets I feel a tug and reel my first squid on a green jig. Thinking I broke my bad luck strike I caught nothing for 30mins. It was time to change jig again and I was catching again.

The three hours were fantastic with enough squid for feed and bait for my next one or two jewy\ kingy hunting session.

Still a few questions to figure out how to keep squid best in the fridge for extended periods.. and do you need to kill them straight away with a spike if you intend to use them for bait.. but will get there.

Cheers,

Manny

Hi Mate,

I use a $2 plastic pasta strainer from one of those 2 dollar Asian shops. Works pretty good

Cheers

Nice catch! great looking squid !!

Hi Mate,

Have a search through the forum... Here's one that should help you out:

http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=68646&hl=%2Bhow+%2Bto+%2Bfind+%2Bgutter

Cheers

great catch buddy any tips on where to drop crab nets in the hacking for those blue swimmers......

The use of nets in the area I fish is prohibited, I use lines... Check the area you want to fish on dpi website before using nets(http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/info/closures/rec-sw-loc/central-coast-index/port-hacking)

Generally we look for the area the tide slows down, I've also seen some guys scoop them up nets as they swim by on the run out. have a read of this article - > http://www.fishraider.com.au/fishing-articles/blue-swimmer-crabs.php. Hopefully it'll help you landing you some huge blue swimmers

Cheers,

Got a last minute call, 'lets go fishing’. tired after a 20hr shift from work, said .. meh, what the .. lets go fishing,. I told my mate, there are no crabs… its too cold.. I’ll tag along.. thought might finally catch my first jew

Headed down to the hacking, dirty water, thought crap, I ain't gonna catch a thing tonight!! Nevertheless, lines out to catch some yakka's.

Set out some livies and now time to snooze, thought to myself, I might catch finally catch my first Jew!

About an hr goes by and my line goes tap, pull, sap!. I call it a Jewy, get all excited and land my first blue 65.5cm claw to claw. Rigging up another yakka, my goes crazy, 10 mins later I land its brother blue 0.5cm shorter!

Butterflied a yakka and feel asleep, about 1hr my 6lb screams…. By the familiar head shakes I called it, it was a bream and pull up a nice 37cm bream. 30 minutes later my line crazy again and landed a 35cm bream.

Considering that I slept through of half of it, it was a blast of a fishing trip but sadly no jew

Nice catch mate! looks like a really beautiful spot there..

Looking to chase some bonnies of the rocks this weekend, has anyone had luck catching on to them?

Cheers!

Thanks Cowan CowBoy

I never thought about continuous wind in my formula... I definitely will be considering your points!

Cheers

Thanks Flickn Mad, I've fished the same spot over 50times and can roughly tell the tide change at that spot. Its just that sometimes it doesn't turn and continues that way till the next tide change.

Your right Krause really does my head in trying to predict it before going out to fish. So far have noticed it to be around the 1\2 moon period..

My question is in relation to tides. I've noticed that tide flushes very differently.. some low tides are lower than other low tides and some higher than other high tides, but this type of tide boggles me.

On Thursday midnight I went fishing and notice the same thing. 6pm was supposed to be high tide and the tide did not turn until 10ish pm. 12:30ish am Friday was supposed to be low tide but the tide did not stop running out and continued to run out whilst filling up. I stayed fishing till about 6am and the tide was almost high and still running up whilst filling up.

The perfect scenario would been for the tide to have turned at 12:30am and start running in instead of running out. Does anyone know what this is called and how to predict it before heading out to fish?

Cheers

Nice catch mate! what sort of plastics were you using?

Target species Sambo's, everything else a by catch.

Unpacked my backpack and loaded with the usual sambo rigs. Wife nagging be home early, why do you have leave so early.. and so on..

We gear up and left home early for a sunrise fish. Line out I was only catching snags.. It was difficult as I couldn't see the direction of my line.. While the current washing it on the rocks.

As day broke it started to pick up and I caught a big fat bream.. Tide turned, wind calmed, waves flattened and leather jackets came in. My mate started with tailor and sambo, then questioned and said you're got the wrong size hook.

I scratched my head, big hooks = big fish!! From there it was sambo, tailor, then sambo, sambo, sambo!!! it went wild I lost count how many sambo's I caught, I would throw a line and within 2mins I was on!! Never ever seen a sambo frenzy like this at the rocks. Would have caught at least 20+ sambo's in 3hrs..

I had some old prawns in fridge decided to try it and up came the massive salmon. Pillies were getting the smaller Sambos. I could have stayed there all day and caught fish, but I had work.. so back home it was.

I threw back all the big ones to make more babies and kept the smaller ones to eat and share with some elderly couples who can't fish cause of arthritis and disabilities... nothing better than putting a smile on there faces. The hard part was walking back with 20kgs of catch + fishing gear. Really need to find something to carry gear from and to the car.

Another mate heard of the catch and went out today, caught a Port Jackson...nothing else except a undersize bream back in the drink.