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Hi guys, looks like the rain over the last couple of weeks is starting to do it’s job. Have had few successful missions on the prawns. Even managed to start catching them on the Southside which is nice although Northside seems to be thicker and more consistent results, here’s a few pics from the last couple of weeks. Southsiders id be trying powerlines northsiders take your pic. Cabo , pine, even nudgee. Should only get better over coming weeks with more rain today and tomorrow. Bout bloody time

Headed out from Mooloolaba last week in some nicer weather. Well it might have been a bit too nice as the fish weren’t playing the game! Fished hard all day for a couple of tuskies, Maori cod, Moses, a nice snapper and the biggest hussar I’ve ever seen! Between 6 of us on two boats we kept about 20 reefies for the day. Conditions were so nice my spearo mate was foaming at the mouth to jump in, even after we saw a decent shark on one of the spots! Brilliant day on the water nonetheless. Mmmm fish tacos!

Fished another Toorbul monthly comp on Sunday. Haven’t been putting up reports each month because the reports will all be the same. Been averaging 10-12 legal fish each trip. Being the start of the school holidays and nice weather there were jet skis and boats flying around everywhere. The middle of the passage is a maze of shallow water and islands with the deeper water in some places outside the marked channel. The sound of outboards running up sand was constant. Jet skis fly through like they own the place, skipping over sandbars which would have boats high and dry. It was with great delight that I watched rider after rider drag their skis off the many sandbars. I managed to get the boat up some skinny water to where the fished weren’t spooked. Ended up with 10 good whiting all over 30cm, 5 average bream and a trevally. unfortunaley no prawns at the mouth of Hussey Ck, so didn’t venture up any further

The bloke I sit next to at work is a mad keen spearo from the Gold Coast and just bought an old Haines V16 4.8m a few months ago. He set himself the goal to catch a marlin out of it and had 3 successful trips before Xmas, even landing a nice black solo. So hearing the bait was still thick and reports of marlin being caught we decided to go see if we could get one. Conditions were a bit ordinary on the way out following the left overs of a storm cell, but we got out and it settled down nicely. We were soon joined by 20 or so other boats (some similar size to ours but no Timmy the Turtle skiffs today) with different ideas about etiquette and found the bait right on the spot. Top to bottom slimies in 80m. We jigged some baits and put them in our unplumbed live bait tanks (2 buckets and an old esky) and started our drifts on 8 and 10kg gear. The current was raging and even though the bait school was huge we drifted through it very quickly. Putting back up to the spot we saw a fish going crazy in front of a 50 footer and wondered who had hooked it. No boat around the fish had the tell tale signs of panic involved with a hook up so it must have been a free jumper. Good signs! After almost being swamped by a courteous neighbour (think he was still learning how to drive his 8m beast) we moved and set our drift. Shortly after my mate had a run, eased the drag up and set the hook on a fish before the line went slack. He must’ve had a nick in his mainline as he only got back about 10m of it. 1-1-0. Spewing! Boats around us started hooking up and our hopes were high for another shot. To increase our chances we found a patch to our selves and dropped our livies down. The skipper had another run and eased the drag up slowly as a nice fish jumped towards the boat. I put my drag up to clear my line out of his way but there was more pressure than just the sinker. I hadn’t felt the bite (very out of touch!) but I also had a fish on and it started moving north steadily. A double hookup on nice blacks! 3-3-? Chaos! His fish was heading to NZ and mine to PNG so he offered to break his off to give me the best chance of landing one of the two. By this time I had lost half a spool of 8kg and he had managed to get his moving towards the boat. Mine started jumping a good 500m from the boat in an awesome aerial display and spat the hook. Ok so now we could focus on landing his fish. I took the wheel and we went about getting some of his line back and had the fish on the surface within 10m of the boat after another 5mins. It was far bigger than we both thought (50kg?) I had only seen small blacks of about 20-25kg up close and this looked easily twice the size. He tried to coax the fish towards the boat but it didn’t like it and jumped away before going deep in protest. This was how the battle went for the next hour or so with attempts to plane the fish up, change direction on him and annoying him with the sound of engine getting him near the boat but not allowing us to reach the leader. About an hour and a half in my mate felt the line was scuffed badly (he had removed about 50m after the first break). We worked out that the tip roller on his rod wasn’t spinning and the line was chafing on the sides of the roller. No good! After 2 hours and 5 or so sightings near the boat he handed the rod over to me. We couldn’t up the drag due to the chafed line so I tried to short stroke it back to the boat with my fresh arms. Any line I gained he took back (stubborn fish!) before he turned as I pumped and the pressure on the line was too much. 3-3-0. Spewing! I was pretty disappointed to lose his fish after so long but we had to try something to end the stalemate and the chafed line wasnt helping. The northerly had come up so it was time to head in. We were both pretty excited to have had our chances but hopefully next time we can land one.

Saturday was to be a family day on the water with a little bit of lunch thrown in. Julie and the kids were going to meet me at Spinnaker Sound around 10am. I solo launched at 5.30am and could not get a park at the ramp with it being so busy. It was a calm morning with the wind forecast to rise after lunch. Sunrise gives you special feeling. As I headed out there were a few birds at the bottom end of Bribie and I could see good shows of bait. Rather than heading to a spot 20km away I thought I would give it a try and save some fuel. For the next few hours as most boat past me by and some stayed the tell tail bust ups of Long tail tuna were everywhere. Although there were plenty there they were very spooky and hard to get close to. That's Moreton Bay tuna fishing though, with the typical boats coming in at high speed and putting the tuna down. This was not getting anyone any fish so I moved off and marked schools of bait everywhere I could. Once I had plenty of marks to choose from I then positioned the boat so I would drift over a number of them and be away from all the other boats. I didn't have @Poddymullet phone number so I messaged him on AFO but, it seems he doesn't like catching tuna (He didn't get the message till that night) A lot of patience was needed as schools of tuna demolished the bait just out of casting range. There were some isolated splashes as I drifted with the current, I was deep jigging a soft plastic when it was hit at speed and I played a nice LT to the boat and after many circles out of net range the hook let go for some reason and it won its freedom. The adrenaline was rising and shortly after a small bust up in casting range presented an opportunity. The cast landed right in the middle of the foam resulting in an instant hook up. While playing the fish in I was thinking I hope they stick around till the family arrive. This one I got to the net safely and it went a little over 80cm and a nice solid fish. It's most satisfying when you put a plan in action and it comes together. I hooked another one and pulled the hooks. As the morning marched on the aggression of the feeding tuna slowed and it was then time to pick the up the family. We loaded lunch and drinks and headed out with the kids pretty excited to hear there were tuna about. Like before the tuna were still hard to approach without them going down but with the kids on the front of the boat at the ready to cast we managed to get a cast here and there. Luke was the first to land one which we released, to no avail because a shark was hot on it tail and exhaustion of the fight the shark caught up to for a bite to eat. James then picked one up that was sharked under the boat. Julie and I had a double hook up and this was to be Julie's first ever Longtail however the shark was still hungry. I managed to get mine in because Luke's gaff shot was good as the Tuan swam by. We kept a couple for dinner and some bait. James with some by catch. A great morning out and after lunch the wind picked up as predicted and we headed home. As hard as it may, I can not find where this doughnut shop is the @kmcrosby78 keeps going to

After attempting for a while we finally got the stars into alignment and I finally took Tom and his dad Jason to NPD. Tom has been obsessed with catching bass for a while and Jason has been taking him shorebased at Forgans with no results. We launched at 12.30 and did a couple of shrimp pots and redclaw pots to show Tom and got some shrimp and a couple of redclaw. I cable tied one redclaw so Tom could have a close look at it without getting bitten. We then headed to Andrews drop off and Tom got a hook up to a smallish bass on the first drop of his bait. He is a real master angler landing another 2 bass before I even had a hook up. It was an hour before Jason got around to rigging up his own line as Tom just did not stop catching fish. It did not even matter if it was only a forky he still got super excited. WE knocked off at around 3pm and did a few more redclaw pots for little result as a lot of the pots had holes in them. Final score was around 20 bass with Tom catching more than half or them. 10 forkies 18 redclaw. Best part smiles all round. So good to see a little boy enjoying himself.

Today was meant to be some amazing GT fishing but unfortunately my 8 month old Yamaha 4stroke had other ideas and I was forced to take my mexican (NSW) visitors fishing landbased. We decided to chase some jacks with an arvo storm looming, and although it wasnt red hot I was happy to nail my PB by 9cm. I stalked up to my favorite snag and landed my lure right in the edge of the drop off and had a huge swirl on my Nories wakebait within seconds and a more commited stike just seconds later. After a long nerve racking tussle I managed to clear the jack of danger on my 2500 stradic with 8lb braid and 12lb leader to guide it into the net. Stoked to hit 63cm landbased! My dad managed a solid fish of about 40cm on a plastic also which was a pb. Overall a good result considering the lack of boat. Hopefully be back on the water tomorrow!

Being the season of fish ( on the table for many of us ). Thought would be fun for us to recall stories about the first fish we each caught and some childhood fishing memories - I'm sure we all have these.. My story . Way back in the early and mid 1960s people could hire motorized displacement boats on the Hunter River at Hexham. My first memory of a being taken fish was going so an afternoon's fishing with my dad and by BB in what was called a "put put" (this the sound the little (2 stroke ?) inboard motor on these timber displacement boats made as they cruised along about walking speed).I was handed a cork handline with a bit of peeled prawn on a hook and small ball sinker which my dad caste for me and then told me to sit quietly and hold the line between my two fingers and let him know if I felt anything - a tall order for little boy about 7 or 8 years old.Within a few minutes I told dad I had something pulling at the line and was told not to be so silly. But I insisted and dad checked telling me "it's just a snag" …. I didn't know what a snag was and insisted and proceeded to pull in the line and to my excitement discovered I had a big fish on the end of the (l was told it was a nice whiting) and was asked if I wanted to keep it or throw it back . Silly question. I insisted on keeping it and remember eating it and really enjoying it when mum battered it and fried it - much better than fishfingers (as a kid I thought they really were fishs' fingers and yep I though spaghetti in the can was worms in a can LOL).From that day on I was hooked and was soon going fishing down along the river bank at Hexham and on Ash Island , riding there with my mates on a pushbikes , and digging bloodworms and catching yabbies' and soldier crabs for bait and often catching garfish using tiny hooks baited with bits of wet bread, and using oyster bottles with doe in the end to catch poddy mullet (to sell live for pocket money). Lot of fish taken from the old Ash Is bridge - is still there and people still can be seen fishing from it occasionally , but it's been decades since I fished it myself , though I do still cross it to go and collect weed for luderick fishing from the "pond" . Plenty of fish taken on the opposite bank to the Sth Arm of the Hunter River to the Steelworks ( nice sandy banks there and places where there used to be mangroves (there's a coal loader there now). Mum and dad always knew I'd be gone on the pushbike about 4am every Saturday and Sunday , and most days during school holidays, .and I'd either be on Stockton BW ( I'd be waiting for the first vehicular ferry of the day to arrive and was always allowed to take my pushbike across for free - no Stockton Bridge then) , I used to fish The Wreck for tailor, bream, flathead, trevally and yellowtail , and being very a enterprising kid I'd keep some yellow tail alive to sell for 1 bob each to the jewie fishermen ( no such thing as battery powered live bait aerators in those days ) , who would use them to even catch jewfish during the day , and back then used either big alveys or Ajax centrepins and big Styrofoam floats. I learnt a lot by watching these jewfish specialists and was soon chasing jewfish too once I built my first Rangoon rod and after I was given my granddad's Surfmaster overhead reel (I still have this reel and still use it occasionally) , til then I was using a kiddie's baketite alvey til I upgraded to a Michelle 306 eggbeater (I still have and use it).. It was then that I saw the biggest jewfish I'll ever see landed off the end of Stockton Wall by a guy using an Ajax reel and Rangoon cane rod , over 6 ft long and tipped the scales at the fisherman's (trawler) wharf at 98 pounds and was taken during a fresh when the Hunter was in flood in daylight hours (and he had quite a crowd of people watching and created a huge sensation locally (writeups in paper etc)). I remember my granddads and dad telling me about jewfish up over 100 pound being taken in the 20s , 30s and 40s using setlines rigged up with cow bells to indicate something was hooked (usually a monster ray, or a huge eel , or a shark was what was caught this way) , the set lines were baited before dark and the swarms of Hexham Grey mozzies showed up, and they'd be checked if the bell was heard or next day. I think monster 90 pound or bigger jewfish are gone for good (at least here around Newcastle (Gosford to Taree) . Biggest I've seen since it were 73 pound (me on Nobbys) , 76 pound (me at Carrington Dykes) and one I took fishing from the Sharkhole (Nobbys) while fishing for snapper from the rocks during the day, a few in the same size bracket taken by fishing pals on Nobbys over the years , and by Joe and the other Stockton BW guys , and my biggest at 86 pound (me on Nobbys) and longer than me (that I landed fishing the Flatrock on Nobby's Wall). It took me over 20 yrs to crack it with a jewfish over 50 pounds with a jewfish weighing in at 73 pound that I had to land by myself at Flatrock in the wee small hours one night in 1990 ( I had to keep in the bathtub with 4 bags of ice til the next day before I cleaned and slabbed it up for freezing ) , my little boy woke up not long after I got home and came running into our bedroom in terror - he though a monster had come up the plug hole and was going to eat him ( memories like that are priceless). Or I'd be fishing somewhere near the Pilots Station (at the old timber tug wharves, or on the rocks at Horse Shoe Beach (back then the beach was maybe 100m South of where is now and it was deep water off the end of what was a small breakwall (and a great place to catch tailor and small jewfish), or along wharf road (was very close to the harbor shore there) , and I've be home after dark with a bag full of fish ( tailor, flathead, bream, soapys, trevally and garfish were usually in the bag and all taken on very simple cork handlines and plastic casting handspool , even coke bottles made it into my kit (the glass ones were perfect for hand lines), Thems were the days …

Just got back from Evans Head with the caravan what a top spot the van park has. It has the river and surf as 2 borders of the park and on the other borders you have the Rsl, pub, surf club and bowls club. As I have never been there before I took this as a challenge to visit everything. So I had a drink in all the establishments and fished both the river and surf. My brother also brought his van down as well as his roof topper tinnie so both he and our partners went fishing up river. The girls outfished us and got some big whiting and a nice flathead which fed us for dinner. We fished off the northern wall which was 300m from camp but had no luck. We went up to razor back lookout for beers and niblies with a spectacular back drop , it was good to see the position of everything. Then after we bought some ocean king prawns from the Co op to finish off our bellies. Here is the rainbow touching the lookout I was hoping it would bring me luck The last day to keep it simple we pumped yabbies off the beach right in front of camp and fished off the bank for more good size summer whiting. The river itself is loaded with these yabbies banks more than I have ever seen in any estuary I have been on and each 1 loaded with yabbies. It is a destination I will be going back to with plenty of natural beauty and of coarse plenty of fishing options.

Thanks for the wishes. The Auntie had a great day out and we threw a few soft plastics here and there as we past feeding fish. They were not feeding aggressively but l still just like seeing them. The wife wanted to catch a fish so we stopped over a small reef and got a gold spot cod, released.

Took most of the morning casting to the edges to get up to 23 bass and one yella, using spinnerbaits. Then on the way back up the dam ran into a couple of small schools of bass and managed another 30 on shrimp. Dino

Original sloppy joe was a rangoon cane fishing rod made popular by Len Thomspon who was australian fishing champion in the 1950,s. He had an engineering works in tweed heads . He was a true gentleman who shared his expertise. In 1953 my family got our first car ( Austin A30) and went to tweed heads for a holiday. We were fishing with handlines when Len came over and gave us some hints plus a feed of fish. He took dad over to the bait and tackle shop that was near where the original bowls club used to be.where dad purchased a couple of rangoon cane sticks,some insulation tape and porcelain runners . Len made his own side cast reels and he gave dad 2 for free , He quickly bound the reels and runners to the rods and we were in business with 2 sloppy joe rods that we shared between the 5 of us. We kept going back to the same rental house for several years and when we left we used to cut the runners and reels off the rods and place the rods up into the ceiling of the house and reassemble them when we returned the following year. The rods had a very fine curved tip and a slow taper and Len pioneered this type of rod and it was the preferred rod for all bream fishing. I was Just talking to my sister and she said that the rangoon canes cost 5 shillings each. Cheers Ray

Last week I went for a spine MRI, monday I visited a back specialist,short story back is ratshit,he told me to carry on what I was doing,gym,other exercise and under no way lifting heavy weights. So the very next day I lifted a battery from the front of the boat to the back of the boat and now I am paying the price. On the fishing side which I had to finish early I managed 32 bass of which one was 54cm and 3 yellas, all on spinnerbaits. Dino

Another day of laughs and fish with two Michaels as deckies. Started the day checking redclaw pots before trying to find some fish. The redclaw are now starting to get some size with plenty of small ones coming on so they will not taper off over winter. No fish were found until we reached the floats where both Michaels had a double hook up with a bass and yella successfully boated. The fish were of good quality in high 30s and low 40s but a little slow. so we went searching again with little found until we located some good sized bass in the new area. before having a last shot on the floats on the way back to the ramp . The bass were cooperative once again but we decided we had had enough. Checked a few of the redclaw pots on the way back and a few of them had between 8 and 12 redclaw in them so the two Michaels ended up with a feed of fish and redclaw to take home. Glass out conditions all day with the breeze maybe getting up to 3 mph a couple of times 20 bass 4 yellas 9 forkies that were converted to redclaw bait on the way back to the ramp as the pots that I put forkies in as bait on Wednesday had twice the number of redclaw as the ones with just dog biscuits.I was bit worried that the dead forkies would stink but all that was left were a few bones. Cheers Ray

For a long time now I have been wanting to build my own deep drop electric fishing reel as I am sick and tired of rebuilding the standard off the shelf electric reels. A few months ago I decided to just get in and do it and so far I am very happy with the results. There is no roller bearings in this reel as they always seem to rust and seize up and there is no drag washers to burn out or go lumpy. The drag system is electronic and should just about last forever. Each part of the reel is modular and runs its own circuitry so in the event of a failure, I can quickly change out any damaged parts, even when out on the boat. All I need to finish now is the mounting frame to fit it in the boat, get the switch panel face plate made and spool it up with 1000m x 400lb braid. So far nearly everything has been drawn to CAD so I can make some more once this one has been fully tested to its limits. If all goes well, I am hoping to take it out to the deep water in about 2-3 weeks time and give it a hard flogging before I make a second one.

Bit quiet yesterday Checked out area around new fad One if the bass had a bit of fin rot. of 13 bass only 4 were legal and they were only in low 30s. Owen had never previously caught a forky and found out that the spines hurt. Cheers Ray

It was one of those days out at NPD this morning.Kept getting overcast conditions in between the bursts of sunshine. I done a bit of double dipping, half the fish were on lures and half on bait. I would pull up, drop 2 baits down and then start casting to the bank with spinnerbaits.I had the time of my life, with quite a few stuffups as well.Managed 82 bass with 3 of them over 50cm and 5 yellas with 4 of them over 50cm, cant ask for much more than that.Sure does make you forget your cares and woes for awhile. Dino

Hi all, After exploring a new area on my kayak two weeks ago and seeing a heap of good crab sign - as well as free walking muddies on the mud flats which is probably the best sign of all - a plan was hatched between @Old Scaley and I to make up for our last two dismal attempts at crabbing. The area was only accessible at high tide so the plan was to head out on saturday to set the pots and then collect them on sunday. Owing to other commitments, the Scaley one was unavailable on Saturday but was kind (or keen enough for a feed of crab) to hand over the keys to his boat to me for Saturday. So I employed the old man as a decky and launched out of Jacob's well about 8am Saturday. We snuck into the new spot and set our 8 pots. Signs were good as we again saw a muddie just walking along the bank on our way out. We went for a bit of a fish on the last of the incoming tide, unfortunately we were plagued by mongrel pike eels - mine was the biggest though at about 8ft long. Given the tide was still just running in, I decided to do a quick check of the pots before they became inaccessible, mostly to see if I was on the right track. Turns out I was, every pot had crabs in it after just over an hour in the water, we pulled 4 full-as keepers out of the pots and re-set. We headed off for a bit of a fish, the tides weren't right and we didn't have the best kind of bait but we still managed to have a fairly constant stream of fish coming over the side, a GT of about 35cm was kept for the old boy's dinner. Scaley then met me at my place at 5am Sunday and we launched about 5:45. We shot straight to a yabby bank that was fast disappearing and despite a few pump issues managed to secure enough bait for the day in the available time. We weren't yet able to access the pots so we went to one of my favourite spots to fish up to the high tide. The bite started slowly but what was coming over the side was pure quality. Getting towards the top of the tide things went a little crazy for about an hour and the final wash up was 8 whiting to 38cm with only 1 under 30, 2 grunter, a GT and a 34cm bream. We then headed back to check the pots. The pots had a heap of crabs in them and after sorting out the heap of undersized crabs (about 7 or 8 that were 14-14.9cm) we were left with 4 more very full keepers. Not exactly the big result I was hoping for but at least Mrs Scaley would allow Steve back into the house this time. A field goal in extra time still counts as a win I guess! Interestingly, only 2 jennies in all the pots, the rest were undersized bucks so might be a good area to target early in the next season after they have all had another moult. We then headed back to my favourite outgoing tide spot where I was hoping to add some more whiting and hopefully a couple of grunter to the already good looking esky. The bite again started slowly but schools of fish kept coming through and we ended up with 20 whiting in the esky and another decent bream. Despite landing a heap more, we were not able to add to our grunter tally. Steve thought he was onto a really good one at one point only to have a different kind of grunting fish appear - a catty about 45cm long. Steve again called a good fish not long after and a mulloway of about 50cm was boated - and then promptly released without charge. I managed to hook an unlucky sand crab that was easily legal size so he was also added to the box. Huge thanks must go to @Old Scaley for allowing me to both decky on Sunday and skipper his boat on Saturday in his absence. It was great to have a day out on the water with the old man again, something we haven't been able to do since the good ship rebel-t left the family. Hopefully the crabs were well received on the home front mate! I'll upload some more photos tonight when I pull them off my go pro, here's one to get you started. Cheers, Benno <'><

Just a heads up if you currently have health with one of the big funds have a look at their rates . I have just changed to Qld Country health fund who are Townsville based and have saved $1000 per year with exactly the same cover that I previously had with HCF who are also a not for profit fund. Qld Country do not subscribe to any of the comparison sites so do not pay a joining commission or trailing commissions and have lower management fees. Apparently HCF are owned by Mancheter Unity and pay management fees to Manchester Unity. Do a bit of research I am certain that you could save by looking around yourself instead of paying commission to the parasite comparison sites who tend to direct you to whoever gives them the biggest kick back. Cheers Ray

It was our 58th wedding anniversary yesterday and the only thing that I have learnt over the years is to always do what I am told ( When I want to). I aked Judy what did she want for an anniversary celebration and she said go fishing and leave me in peace. Bit cool this first off plus a stiff westerly but I had my coat and trusted BOM who said the wind would drop off. The wind made it interesting doing my redclaw pots at the end of Koala straight but I persevered and only ended up in the lilies once where I had to turn the bow mount around to assist the stern mount to reverse out. Plenty of bass in the usual spots End of second rock wall,Andrews drop off,the floats,the old old far marker.the inlet near the old old far marker plus some in the new area where the forkies outnumbered the bass by 2 to 1 so I returned to Andrews drop off and picked up another dozen bass and a tandan.Percy provided a bit of entertainment getting agro with an interloper. Also spotted a deer on the island Final tally 86 bass 1 tandan 1 yella 9 forkies that were converted to redclaw bait. one happy wife as I did not get home till 5pmVery long day talking to myself and not back to the ramp till 3.30. Cheers Ray

Deckies were afraid of getting their raincoats wet so it was another solo trip. Quite a few rain squalls with some rock and roll. Few wobblies feeding on the green pick half a bucket of forkies for redclaw bait. Percy could only manage 2 big ones. ended up with 46 bass and uncounted forkies all off andrews drop off. Bass were 2 distinct sizes either high or low 30s. Cheers Ray

Finally got back out to the dam this morning, managed to fish the edges while the sun was hiding behind the clouds.Even trolled a few up on the spinnerbaits as well, havnt done this for years. Managed 42 bass and one yella on lures, 2 bass on bait. Dino

Yeah I’m looking for new recipes. I’ve been giving most of them away to friends and family. It’s funny how everyone wants to come visit me when they hear I’ve been out on the water lol.

Ovington, you Sir, are a deadset legend! Keep casting mate! Only a matter of time until that big, mean, prehistoric, thug turns up! Gee Whiz I love GT's!!! This 1 was probably around the 15kg mark. That gash on the side is where a true behemoth GT grabbed him during the fight. He grabbed it and took off... reel started screaming and I thought "here we go" but then he dropped it. it wasnt to be. I reckon He was well over 50kg. maybe 60. That was on a Saragosa 20k with 80lb powerpro and a Tcurve GT special. It was the first time it had ever been tested out. Ive caught 10kg+ kingies on it and 1m spotties and they felt like whiting haha! Dont "think" about getting that bigger rig mate. If you dont have it when the big daddy turns up you could possibly regret it for the rest of your life!

Give them all a ‘B’ most will be happy and a couple will be disappointed but, then you will have time to go fishing

Sorry Steve, I've been busy ...... might get out next weekend though ......... Great report @Andrew_P. Unlucky not to leader him but a fight and experience you'll both remember for a long time nonetheless. Can you give us marlin/gamefish rookies a rough idea of how far out this was? Something I'd like to have a crack at with my boys in a few years time

Gday from a very dry CW NSW. I’m currently sitting back after a big day fishing out the back of my place. ( Lachlan River is 30 metres out the back door ), and can report heaps of under size Murray Cod to about one of about 700 mm. Other than that I enjoy all forms of fishing and have joined this forum to gain knowledge of when and how to catch more fish or at least make it more enjoyable if I don’t. Cheers Migs and tight lines

Apart from having to roust a couple of backpackers who had parked in front of the gate we had another good day yesterday with another bass virgin introduced to NPD. Weather was a lot better than forecast with only a couple of light showers and nowhere as much wind. Found around 50 bass on Andrews drop off and tried around the floats with nothing there and found another school over towards the old far marker where we picked up more until we ran out of bait even picking up a few on red dead shrimp that had been sitting in the boat for a few days. We did the redclaw pots first off and when we were heading back to the ramp noticed a couple of pots were too close together wand when re pulled them to redeploy they both had good sized redclaw in them so they are also starting to come in daylight. Final bass tally was 116 bass. Cheers Ray

So they have both turned up now. The Catfish grew a bit. It was supposed to be a 3m version. This one is a Beast. Cracking prizes. Get on it!!!

After loosing connection with my drone this afternoon in a deep valley l had my first crash. Basically once l lost connection l panicked and hit the return home button. That didn’t work well with the drone flying into trees and crashing. I made my way down the embankment and went to where l last saw it. Using the phone GPS l tried pin pointing it. An hour plus later after walking through a stream and fighting my way through the steep hill of Lantana with showers of rain making all rocks supper slippery. The joy of finding my drowned drone on/in the edge of the creek was amazing. Why? Because l took insurance out called DJI refresh, which means as long as l can return the drone body and pay $79 dollars l can get a new replacement drone. I tried drying it out with a hair dryer but no go. Take 3 drive coming up.

On the contrary @MSB. They were early adopters of TV, but I suspect that it was just to distract us kids while they got down to the serious business of procreation

Couple of things stand out for me in your post Scaley, first is, you really don't need 2kg line to catch whiting, second is, your Mum and Dad never had a TV hey!

I can clearly remember my first fish. My mum and dad and six of my brothers and sisters (another six were to follow in later years) were on the homeward leg of a caravanning adventure to Melbourne and back. Hard to imagine now having 8 humans in an old Humber sedan towing a van all that way and not being arrested or killing each other. Anyway, we stopped in at the caravan park at Currumbin on the way home and my dad let me have a go with his cork hand line spooled with that old green fishing cord. I was six years old at the time in 1961 (hence the “old” in Old Scaley). I can’t remember what I was using for bait but I clearly remember running backwards up the sandy beach on Currumbin Creek to skulldrag a tiny whiting to dry land. The thrill of that capture never left me and I still get the same feeling today on the rare occasion that I catch a fish. Being from such a big family there wasn’t much time or money to indulge any one child in their preferred hobby but I was lucky enough to be sent to Amity Point to spend most of my holidays with relatives who were early settlers there. I spent many an hour with a handline on the old jetty catching butter bream using dough my great uncle made up for me. Then I was allowed to cook some on a small fire on the beach in front of the house for breakfast or lunch. Occasionally I got to go out in Rainbow Channel with the men and catch some amazing reefies like parrot and sweetlip, or to run around on the Nash banks at low tide filling a sugar bag with spanner crabs that were then cooked up in an old copper to be eaten later around a campfire on the beach. Happy days indeed.

Ok my mate Tyson whipped the ear bones (called otoliths) out of the Moses and hussar today. Otoliths are like our ear bones - they help fish stay upright in the water and hear sounds. You might have heard or seen the “jewels” from mulloway - these are their otoliths. They come in all shapes, sizes and thicknesses depending upon the type of fish’s habitat and behaviours. They sit in a cavity under the brain (slightly behind and above the top of the eye) so depending on the species of fish you can access them from the top (by scalping the fish) or from underneath. For the hussar and Moses Tyson cut away the gills and went from underneath. We use bone cutters to prise open the cavity, and the otoliths can be plucked with some fine tweezers. Some species’ otoliths (ie mackerel, tailor, bream) can be viewed whole under a microscope, but fish like snapper, pearl perch, mulloway, red emperor, Moses and hussar need to be set in a block of polyester resin and a thin slice cut using a low speed saw. The slice is then mounted on a slide and viewed under a microscope. The otolith displays growth rings (like in the trunk of a tree) and show periods of fast growth (wide, clear material) and slow growth (narrow, opaque rings) that corresponds with annual cycles. There’s a bit of science to determine whether a fish species lays down annual rings, but generally this applies for most fish. So now we have the otoliths of these two fish out, we have a bit more work putting them in blocks and slicing them before we can estimate their age. I’ll post the next steps as I get round to them.

Pretty cool session I know it is an old video but very cool. I would love to see this IRL.

I got to go to BCF today and get some more prizes for the OzFish Wynnum Fishing Classic. Yew I am not able to upload some photos so will try in next post.

No overcast conditions this morning, so had to wear a couple of headsox, plus my sunnies and my hat.It was enough to scare the fish away. Lucky for me they were hungry and of good size, managed 33 bass, of which 2 were over 50cm and 3 yellas, of which 2 were over 50cm. All caught on spinnerbaits, half on TT and half on the new Hot Bite spinnerbaits. I fished in areas that I normaly dont fish in and was surprised by the fish around. Dino

Reasonable day yesterday with perfect weather with glass out most of the morning. The Redclaw are really loving using forkies for bait I though that it would stink the boat out but with a 3 day soak all that is left are bones. The numbers are starting the glory days best pot had nearly 30 redclaw in it reckon it will only improve over winter. 45 bass 1 yella 2 tandans Plenty of forkies for redclaw bait. PRFMA are currently assembling a huge number of various types fad to be deployed in the dam commencing next saturday. Cheers Ray

Here you hopefully the mods won't get too upset. Re sediment there was heaps floating around around...

Low maintenance pot plants for fishermen...more time for fishing, less time in the garden

My wife thinks a floral spread is nice. Lucky I had this to fix it.

Headed out to a very windy NPD this morning, first thing I was confronted with was my shrimp pots were raided by some lowlife maggot, out of 4 pots I got 3 shrimp. Ah well just as well the lures are doing OK.Next thing I was right out in the middle when I knew I had to get to land to have a dump,I have been crook for 2 days. I turned both elecies up to full blast and headed for the bank, where I had another blast, a much relief. On the fishing front, managed 37 bass of which 2 were over 50cm and one yella, all on spinnerbaits. Dino

Might interest anyone that likes local history MSB History of the Dredging of the Brisbane Rive.pdf

It was a bit windy when we launched but by the time we got into Koala straight it got up to about 15 to 20 knots as the change came through. We decided to do few redclaw pots and see if it would abate. As the rain came the wind commenced to drop a bit so we went to Andrews drop of where we quickly picked up 40 bass but the biggest would have only been 35cm . By the time we arrived at the floats the wind had dropped out completely and more bass were boated. More caught at the old ,old far marker and then into the new area where more caught. 68 bass and one yella and 3 very wet bums final score. Cheers Ray

The Entrance is famous for its fishing, both in the ocean beaches and lakes. Whether you fish for sport or leisure, there are many locations where you can drop a line in and try your luck in those waterways. The Entrance has many good spots for fishing including: The Lake Around the bridge, especially at night for bream. West of the bridge is the wall, a popular blackfishing spot. Find structure like bridges, wharf's etc. Avoid somewhere with a lot of people walking around with lots of lines in the water. East of the bridge is great for prawning, whiting on the flats, a range of fish in the run to the sea where at the mouthjewfish and flathead can be found. Blue swimmer crabs can be found in much of the system. Rocks The local rocks are difficult to fish as they are mostly pretty exposed to swell and wind. Calm seas, winds and low tides should put you in touch with some drummer and other reef species. The rocks close to The Entrance offer limited opportunities and require specialised techniques and gear. They are generally pretty low to the sea and need low tide and very calm seas to access. Great but crowded fishing at Terrigal and Avoca. Norah head is also good with lots of different spots for different conditions. Estuary Try the estuary for flathead, whiting, bream, luderick and mullet. The channels running away from the bridge to the west, north and south are also worth a look for flathead, blackfish and bream. The channels near Picnic Point, east of the road bridge and the old Co-op at North Enny The rivers that enter the lake hold perch and bream and further upstream bass. Prawns and crabs are also popular catches in Tuggerah Lakes. Beach The beach at The Entrance is a great spot for bream, whiting, flathead, tailor, salmon and of course jewfish. Fish the beaches for mulloway, tailor, flathead, whiting, bream and salmon Always worth a go for salmon, tailor on pillies. Beachworms will get you a chance at most species. The beach seems a bit of a hit or miss thing. You get the tides, wind, swell, weed situation etc right you can have a lot of fun...other times can be pretty slow. Bait/Gear Fresh bait with an incoming high tide. Try using prawns, squid & chicken gut Go on the low tide and pump nippers on the sand flats, These are probably one of the best baits you can use for bream. Light mono line maybe 6lb main with 8lb fluro leader. Conditions Low light / night would be best. There are plenty of spots to try but like all fishing it's a matter of experience which helps you select the right spot at the right time with the right bait using the right gear in the right tide, moon and sun, wind and swell conditions at the right time of year for your target species. Good luck Fishing Regulations When fishing in NSW waters, both fresh and salt water, you are required by law to carry a NSW fishing licence. This applies when line fishing (rod or hand line); spear fishing; bait collecting or when collecting invertebrates using methods such as hand gathering, digging, pumping, trapping and prawn netting. This also applies when in possession of fishing gear in, on or adjacent to waters. NSW recreational fishing licences are available for 3 days $7.00, 1 month $14.00, 1 year $35.00 or 3 years $85.00. You can purchase a licence by calling 1300 369 365, online at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au, Kmart stores or from our Visitor Information Centre located in Marine Parade at The Entrance. Recreational fishing licences issued by other states, territories or countries are not valid for fishing in NSW waters. All visitors must pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee. See http://www.theentrance.org.au/explore/water-activities/fishing for more information

On my way for a sleep over the island to get a early start tomorrow hope the fish play the game will try for some squid once I sit the boat

what odds do you think you would have got on tigers and eels top two after two rounds? not even @ellicat would have predicted that in his wildest dreams. although, come to think of it, i don't know that he worries about footy at all during his wildest dreams...

Pledge given Here’s hoping your prediction is spot on! By the way all I managed was this for my trouble on a Saturday - so no donuts for me with this schoolie

Heres a few more pics from the dad and mates visit. Unfortunately not much boat time but a few pbs for them still.

Cheers boys,a yellowfin leatherjacket it is then https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/fishes/yellowfin-leatherjacket-meuschenia-trachylepis/ John