Gee

Big congrats to Donna, Stew, Grant and all the Admins / Mods. I'd keep coming to this site regardless, but the new forum release makes it a better experience - well done.

Hi Dusky, I'm a novice too .. takes a while to pick up the lingo. Two of the small bait fish often mentioned here as good live bait ... yakkas = yellowtail slimys = slimy mackerel You can also have a quick browse through here if you ever see a term used you don't know.

Thanks again and as always Slinky - will go away and read/think some more then hit the shops tomorrow. And thanks Iceman.

Thanks Slinky, Is ending the braid with a swivel a bit if a no-no? Assume to do a running sinker, I'm thinking tie my 'first' leader to the braid, then a running sinker, then a swivel, then whatever leader-to-hook I want. For this sort of basic rig, is there another / better way to control the sinker without having a swivel?

Silly questions coming up Raiders ... I'm new to braided line, as I'm new to fishing anyway and have only recently bought braid as I put a new combo together to give soft plastic fishing a go. Looking at my other small combo bought when I had even less idea than I have now. Probably isnt great for SP but I still want to use it for bait fishing. Both Silstar - a 7' 2-4kg rod with a '40' size reel, never sure how size translates between brands (somewhere between 3000 and 4000 on Shimano I think) - its stated at Lbs/Yds 8/180 10/150 12/120 This is almost always going to be for landbased fishing, no real specific targets in mind. So my silly questions .. - I can't see why braid wouldnt also be good for bait fishing? Maybe only 125 yards of 6 or 8lb on top of some mono? - also unsure - is it OK to run a running sinker along braid, or tie a swivel to braid? or is this not the done thing? I guess with little stretch the sinker hitting the swivel might be tough going on the knot. with my early mono rigs I mostly used either a) simple running sinker to swivel, then a leader to the hook or swivel off main line, then a paternoster of some kind. With braid is it better to tie a mono (or fluro) leader to the braid and from that leader do whatever terminal stuff I choose to do? Sorry for all the questions!

In a completely random and unorganised fish I had a great time. Found myself there visiting friends of the ... just looked like it would fish well so off to a local store for some bait and tackle (thankfully we had rods in the car). Land based, caught a stack of little bream off a jetty. From memory, with dusk approaching and the tide running out moved to a different spot where it looked like I would cast to a bit of a drop off into deeper waters .. caught a very nice selection of flatties. We werent carrying any knives, esky, etc. so preferred to let them all go, but damn they looked tasty. This was all near a caravan park / boat ramp, not sure if the only one in town. I guess the oyster beds must holding a few bream?? Speaking of, the local oysters were good eating.

BTW = by the way

I thoroughly enjoy reports from Tristan and Roberta, always appreciated!

Great to see this device. I experimented with a glow stick I found on a wharf tied above my squid jig one night, got some attention but was half-arsed attempt to attach and lost it (thankfully not the jig too).

Thanks for the tips Greg and Slinky ... I sometimes think in the excitement I wrench the line away from / out of the fish.

Welcome Johnny - there's certainly a lot of great info and people on here. Been great for me as I dont know much!

Thanks Lasty, We're thinking of heading there the week after you. Prefer to be out of the busy caravan parks basically, and be able to have a campfire ... but doesn't have to be absolute roughing it, dont mind if there are some amenities and other people around if you know what I mean. Not too fussed about exactly where we are in the area. Thanks again.

.. i know this can be annoying, but just a single any word on good camping spots in the area would be appreciated.

New to fishing so maybe dont understand all the issues, but they may have a good point. I've done a few sessions as I dont really know any 'good' spots and on a few occasions I've managed to drag up from quite close to the wharf masses of other peoples line, rigs, etc. Starting to think that's all I ever get snagged on when fishing there. Aside from the perhaps good idea of funding coming out of licence fees, another good idea is for council and/or state government to get divers in there to check and clean popular spots - good luck organising that in the current state of NSW.

I've been compiling a shopping list from this thread (and similar) so I had some starting points for my recently purchased SP outfit .. Its getting to be a long list