Snatcher

My ozzie fishing mate Neil identified them - cannot blame a daft Geordie Bobj John

This session had me fishing at Clontarf,Middle Harbour,Sydney with Neil. Neil is originally from Southampton but has now lived in Australia for over 20 years. He knew that I was desperate to add a flathead to my species list so with this in mind we had fresh whitebait to tempt them and also Neil had a small fishtrap. Clontarf is a lovely part of the harbour with a fine park and protected swimming area there. Check it out on this picture below. We set up about 100 yds to the right of this pool. I set up a running ledger rig with a 2/0 circle hook on the end. I baited this with a single whitebait and just lobbed it out about 20 yards as the water was deep close in. Neil set up with a small lure,hoping to tempt flathead or bonito. I only had to wait a matter of seconds when I had a tap on the rod tip. I tightened into the fish and just hoped it was going to be a flathead !!! I was fairly disapointed when I seen it was a small bream. A quick picture and back it went. Neil meanwhile had a few hits on his lure but failed to hook up. He had his fish trap out and noticed that the bread had attracted some small mullet. I put on a mullet livebait and it got bitten off first cast. This happened a few more times and then eventually I managed to hook up to hopefully my first flathead. No it was a another bream but bigger than the first one. I simply shook it off at the water edge. Neil in the meanwhile managed to hook a small tailor on his lure. After about an hour here we decided on a move to below the pool. On went another livebait and I did not have to wait long for a bite. This was a bigger fish and fought well on light gear. It was no flathead but a snapper. We persisted for another hour and I picked up two more decent snapper but no flathead. Oh well there is always next time. John

For this trip I had my UK fishing buddy with me - Steve Pope. Those coarse fishermen amongst you may know the name as he is one of the top barbel anglers in the UK. Check him out here - - Steve Pope Barbel Fishing - We decided on Little Manly Point Park as the venue,firstly because it is a known big fish spot and secondly thunderstorms were due and this place had two shelters. Also Steve had no waterproofs. This was our fishing spot [/url] [/url] Check out Steve with the thunderstorm creeping up on us [/url] On the way to the mark we picked up some fresh squid at the local fish market. I also asked the lad if he had any "fishbits" and he gave me a right good selection of fish heads/bits of swordfish and tuna. We set up on the bottom with running ledgers with the spools backed right off for safety. Livebaiting with yellowtail here is the way to go for the bigger species but try as we might we just could not get any tiddlers - by fair means or foul !!!!! The heavens then opened with the storm above us,we were thankful for the shelter [/url] During the storm my rod violently jerked over and the line started screaming off the reel. This is it I thought as I had a large fish head/squid cocktail on. It was not to be,this large crow had just flown into my line. [/url] After the storm the sun got out and it got quite hot for an Autumn day. Again my reel screamed off to a fish head bait but the fish dropped the bait again. We tried all methods here including float fishing and lure fishing. Eventually I did get a decent bite on ledgered squid and after a decent fight on light gear managed to get this bream in. A couple of quick photos and back it went. [/url] Shortly after this Steve was into a fish which proved to be a flounder - a new species for him. [/url] Fishing wise it had been poor but the craic and the venue were great. I still have not caught my flathead yet but fingers crossed as I still have 3 weeks to go. John

Thanks for the input Dave Could be fishing for jewfish is Sydney harbour with a local tomorrow night. Looking forward to that John

I fancied a change of venue for the next session so I asked my daughter to drop us off at Manly Aquarium. Not to fish inside it but to fish off the jetty at the rear of it lol. I had fished this spot last year with my aussie mate Ollie and he got a big salmon on livebaited yellowtail here. He also said that you can pick up all the harbour big fish species at this point including all the shark species. This was me setting up First off was to fill my large livebait drum with seawater and then crumb some bread in to get the yellowtails feeding. Then the hard bit was to hook them on size 14 hooks baited with small bits of squid. We managed to get two fish in the first hour !!!! Not good. My heavier rod had 20lb mono on the fixed spool and I was using a running ledger. The hook length was 12" of 60lb mono to a 4/0 bronze hook. I knew that sharks were possible but did not want to use wire trace as this would probably put off my target fish - kingfish,bonito,salmon,flathead,jewfish etc. All the harbour beaches have shark-proof safe swim areas. This is the one on Manly Wharf Beach where we were swimming. It was a very pleasant place to fish. It took about an hour before I had a run on the livebait and as I had the drag set to zero the fish screamed off quite a bit of line before I was able to tighten into it. I was not expecting such a battle and had the fish on for about a minute before the line went slack. On reeling in I found that my main line was cleanly cut !!!! My suspicion is that a shark had wolfed down the bait that far its teeth had cut my main line. Mental note to myself - use a longer hook length next time. At this point Dorothy got a bit bored and had a wander around the nearby shops. I needed more livebaits quickly so I decided to change my tactics to get them. Will not tell you exactly what I did but lets just say I had 7/8 livebaits in the bucket by the time Dorothy returned about 20 mins later. These are the yellowtails I was using for bait. After losing that first fish things died down and I only had two more half hearted runs that bit chunks out of the livebait. It was roasting hot so had to content myself watching some topless sunbathers on the beach. Would have taken a few pervy photos for the boys but would have got earache off the wife lol What a lovely place to catch nothing though. This is the entrance to Sydney Harbour as seen from our fishing spot. While trying to catch yellowtail I did manage a new species though. At the time I did not know what it was but it looked to one of the puffer fish species. I therefore carefully shook it free using long nosed pliers. It has since been identified as a banded toadfish and poisonous !!! Well another poor trip but at least got my tan topped up. Plan to persist with this livebaiting and hopefully actually land something decent next time. I am going to respool with some 35lb mono I brought over and use a longer hooklength. I may even rig up a rubbing leader. John

After losing that big flathead on my first session I decided to go back to the same venue for my second session. This time I had my good lady for company. Again the initial plan was to get some yellowtail so that we could use them for livebait for the bigger fish. This was our fishing spot and it was like fishing South Shields pier when the mackerel were in. I will not be fishing here again at as weekend. I rigged Dorothy and myself up with light rigs and size 14 hooks tipped with squid. I crumbed some bread in directly below us to get the small fish on the feed and this worked a treat. The tiddlers were at the bait every drop but we simply could not hook up. After an hour at this and no fish I decided to get them by other means - where do you think my fishing nickname Snatcher came from lol !!!!!!!! Anyway I got a couple of fish into my bucket and rigged up for livebaiting on my heavier gear. After a few seconds the bait got hammered but I could not hook up. This happened time after time. I suspected Chinamen Leather jackets or bream. The bay seemed alive with small fish. Just at this point a guy fishing with live squid just down from me got stuck into decent kingfish. What a great scrap - and here is a picture of the fish. We stuck it out for a while longer but as more fishermen arrived I decided to move around the corner a bit looking for a quieter spot It was just as busy in the next bay but I did find a spot for us to fish from. Here is Dorothy chilling out I tried every method at this spot - livebaiting/squid/pilchards/worm but the small fish were trashing every bait within seconds. There was a bit of drama though as a boy hooked into a VERY large stingray on a squid bait just a few yards away from us. He had it on for about a minute before it bust him off on 20lb mono. It was an idyllic place to fish though and got even better when a booze cruise dropped anchor about 60 yards away and the young bikini clad ladies started diving in lol You do not see many paddle boaders going past North Shields fish quay either !!! As the day went on more and more anglers arrived,it was rammed !!! Well it was a bite a cast but could not get past the small fish and also could not hook up despite trying all hook sizes. As far as the fishing went it had been very poor but had enjoyed it. I will be trying another venue on my next outing - and I have just the spot in mind. Took a picture of this line bin which was beside us - a good idea for the UK I reckon Hope to post up a fish picture on my next report !!!!!!! John

We have been out in Australia now for 3 weeks and I have just had my first fishing session in Sydney harbour. This is due to a combination of babysitting duties/my location and horrendous unseasonal weather !!!! I picked a spot where I had done well last year for bonito,salmon and kingfish. My ozzie mate had also had a bronze whaler shark there last year and I had been bust off by something big. This was my fishing spot at Little Manly Point Park .About a mile to the left in this first picture in the entrance to Sydney Harbour. This was my view straight ahead - some VERY expensive real estate This was the view to my right. You can make out the protective shark netted area on the beach. Also any large fish have to be "walked" to the right were it is a scramble down some rocks to lift them out. The way to fish here is to livebait with yellowtail - and that is the first job to catch them on small hooks and baits. Sods law - the yellowtail did not make a show but I did manage to catch a new species for me,a male senator wrasse (34 ozzie species to date) I could have livebaited with this fish but decided to return it. I then decided to try a bit float fishing with squid for bait. I just had the one take which I missed but did have 3 remoras have a go at the float !!!! After this I decided to try a few lures and after about 5 minutes something smashed into my sidewinder. Woohoo what a scrap and after a few minutes a very large flathead came into view. It was another new species for me and a whopper at about 30" long. I was on a real adrenalin rush as I started to steer it to the right when disaster struck - the hook pulled out. To say I was gutted is an understatement !!!! At least a passing paddle boarder lifted my spirits a bit lol I then tried the plastic lures again hoping for a flathead but by this time a shoal of chinaman leatherjackets had moved in and were tearing every lure to bits. I decided to pack in at this point and try again another day. As I was tackling down a penguin went swimming past which was nice to see. Its the first one I have seen inside the harbour before. Hope my next report includes a few more fish !!! John

Its another 3 month trip Elton and we will probably just stay in Sydney this time apart from a possible trip up to Byron Bay. We are due to arrive the day before Joshuas second birthday so that will be great. Looking forward to spending some quality time with Joshua. Steve Pope is doing the same with his grandson Henry. Henry and Joshua are great pals Steve says he has not fished yet and is waiting for me to go over. I am sure you will be following our pictorial Australian adventure on Facebook. I try and update the pictures as regularly as I can for the benefit of the rest of our family and friends. Right,best dig the cases out John

Our next Australian trip is nearly upon us so I had better get my fishing gear sorted out. I do keep some gear at my daughters in Sydney but always take extra over with me. Also last year got spooled whilst livebaiting in the harbour so will be buying a heavier set up as soon as we get there. This time I will try and write up reports as they happen instead of waiting till we get back to the UK. I will be fishing with some of my Australian angling buddies but will also be tying up with our very own "infamous" Steve Pope again. My target is to add to my 33 Australian species (this total includes my turtle capture which made the local Sydney papers last trip) Last year kingfish was my initial target but this time around it will be flathead. It is a bread and butter fish in Australia but I still have not caught one yet. Tight lines to everyone whilst I am away. John

If I had not retired I would sort it for you free gratis John

No offence taken dave this link should give you more of a flavour for the place https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tiger+balm+gardens+singapore+photos&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a John

The colours have not been "tweaked" in either case The tiger had been recently painted by the look of him as had many of the hundreds of figures in the garden. If ever in Singapre take your camera along to the Tiger Balm Gardens. The gardens are free to get into and are right next to a MRT station. Give yourself 2/3 hours to see everything. John

Been looking for some more candidates to try the use of"spot colour" on. I have thousands of images on file but really struggled to find a couple that I thought that the use of "spot colour" would enhance the image. These are the two I settled on. Does it work for you ? Critique more than welcome. This first one I took on the Southern Upland Way just north of New Luce This one I took in Haw Paw Villa (Tiger Balm Gardens) Singapore,last year. My conclusion really is that it can be a very powerful tool indeed but has limited uses. John

Some lovely photos there team,well done :clap: :clap: Here are a couple of my latest sunrise shots from my local beach. John

I think everyone will struggle for outside shots the way the weather is at the moment !!!! Would be nice to see pictures of members children opening their Xmas pressies Anyway here is my contribution. I was up Newcastle on a photoshoot the other night and here is a shot of the Millenium Bridge. It has 4 different colour phases but this is the one I prefer I just hope Xmas tree on the extreme left qualifies this picture for the competition John

Anyone who has been to Newcastles St James Park will be familiar with the statue of Sir Bobby Robson at the south west corner of the ground. Not much thought appears to have been given to where it was sited and to be honest - he deserves better. This is where he was sited Well I decided to resite him to a better place so broke in last night and moved him to Leazes Park. It was quite a task to undertake single handed and I forgot how heavy the statue would be. Anyway he is in his new position,do you think he looks better here ? Best keep this to yourself though as the club officials may not be too happy about it !!! Will take this oppertunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and happy snapping for 2013 John

Yes more than likely. John

This video does go on a bit but its worth watching it it just to see the action section when he hooks a monster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ZD85OjjTA John

Watch the unfortunate lady in the black get knocked out as she hits the pillar John

Here is another one I have just had a play with - again Beverley Minster but different windows. You have got the before and after. Did not lens correct at all as I was quite happy with the original image. After all this play about I am still sitting on the fence over this John

Here you go Ayjay,the original of Beverley - spelt correctly this time John

That works for me Steve John

I have never been a fan of "spot colour" in photography and had therefore never tried it before. I just happened to be sorting some photo files out yesterday on my passport hard drive when for some reason I thought of that technique when looking at a picture of Beverly Minster I had taken. Its certainly not a difficult technique to apply but I still cannot decide if I like it or not. What do you think ? It certainly has its uses to the professionals as they can highlight products using it. I am still sitting on the fence on this one John

After the the Blaydon Races of course John

My initial thoughts were that Amanda had set the shot up !! No she said said that Joshua picked out that book himself from the bookshelf Just checking out his roots John