Plectropomus

Hi there, Palm Cove jetty produces some great fish -- especially on live herring/sardines castnetted underneath it off the ramp. Huge GT's and spanish mackerel have been caught there. The trouble is the (cursed) sou-easter mid-year that re-suspends the muddy sediments and keeps the pelagics offshore. So your fishing will be governed by the wind and water clarity. The sou-easter blows for weeks on end (and makes the climate bearable) between about late March and late October. The various mackerel species come right inshore when it clears up in winter. Here is article for starters: http://www.fishandboat.com.au/articles/item/193-palm-cove-jetty-dan-kaggelis?fbclid=IwAR1gCmDzBEMNR34a88KBKL4BaEGD7bbYRhELv7iPQ4AV8Eqj4o7bBAhU59w Here are some pics from the young jetty rat who features in the article. Barra school up underneath the jetty but are no easy capture. Suspending unweighted live baits under the lights at night is a proven method used by the locals. Barra don't mind your Murray-River type murkiness at all.

I will give it a go and post a pic here when I do it. I bent up some heavy 316 stainless rod to make my own gaff, using heat and a piece of water pipe as a sleeve-lever. I have some SS chain and thinner rod I can cut to make the "crook" to weld under the gaff hook. Thanks for sharing the idea! All the net closures and license buybacks from NSW up to the Cape have certainly been a boon to rec .fishers in many ways -- but they have released the inshore bull shark/pig-eye shark pups from a major source of mortality. They were a significant gillnet bycatch and sold as "flake" (fillets) in the local market. Now folk are being sharked like crazy by "bull sharks" offshore. Tagged bulls (acoustic tags) have gone from Botany Bay to Townsville, and from Cairns/Townsville back down to NSW. I even saw a shark get "sharked". Anglers in sthn WA eat little "bronzies", but Qlders scorn shark. If we ate some little bulls caught in the creeks we might dent the population a bit. Here are some bits I "got back"

Chasebait "Flick Prawns" have hooked me lately. I use them in shallow drains and shallow drop-offs on flats. They drift horizontally, life-like, and I've caught flatties, estuary cod and pikey bream on them with more or less a "do-nothing" retrieve. However, they are snag-prone, even if rigged weedless, and are not cheap. Good old gold bombers continue to catch barra for me night (Tinaroo) and day (shallow drains in the Hinchinbrook mangroves), but YellowDoor's Sebile Magic Swimmers need some more time on the field up here. They look sooooh good in the water.

Sharks are a menace up here when floating out pillies for mackerel. If they eat the pillie you think you've hooked the mother-of-all-macks, but mostly they eat the mackerel after you hook up. I gaff the hooks on those littlies I do get boatside and let the shark bend them open to release. Not easy, and not good for the shark. Yours is a good idea, but more clutter for the tinny on top of the net and gaff (both of which seem to leap up and play trip-n-tangle when stumbling around fighting a decent fish). I reckon weld up a "crook" onto the bottom of gaff hook. Bottom of the hook gape so it does not foul the line when missing the gaff shot, and facing in an opposing direction to help "push" the hook(s) out.

15 rods! incredible

I'd love to see how many lures they actually use on the day! You'd be changing lures more than casting?? I guess there are whole videos of them in action to see how they select hardware for each spot/depth/habitat/light-level

Hi All, I picked up a 4120 and a 5120 from "GumTree" after posting my query here and getting some answers. Yes, the old glass ones are worth money....there is a FaceBook group called "Snyder Glass Fishermen Australia" (or somesuch) where folk trade these rods and rebuild them (or just appreciate and use them). There is another one called "Alvey Anglers Australia" where the old blanks are also traded. The trouble is the cost of freight interstate. where most buyers (like me) reside. Thanks

Thanks. It turns out the rod is "South Seas Tackle" (not "Southern Seas") but I am not going to pursue it. There is a "South Seas Tackle" wholesaler listed in Kilkenny.

Hi, I have googled "Southern seas" blanks and found nothing. I have been looking at an old "Southern seas BW141" rod for sale online and wondering about its origins, composition and taper. Has anyone any knowledge of these? Thanks

Thanks, Projoe. My rod may even have been a Butterworth blank as I had it custom-made in SA in the early-mid 1980's. with an extra-high winch mount (I have long arms). It was marvellous for belting out "Wonder Pilchards" for salmon and poling them ashore. I cannot even recall the rod-builder now. I wish I had never parted with it.

Hi, Can anyone inform me of the difference (if any) between the rod blanks specified with prefixes "FT" and "FSU" in the old Snyder Glas system? I know "FT"=Fast Taper and "SU"= "Surf Utility", but am wondering if there is actually any difference in the blanks themselves? I really enjoyed the old FT I parted with decades ago and am wondering if an FSU is the same stick? Thanks