rocknev

the first time i fished the santos jetty ( restricted access to workers and 2 friends) i landed a 45cm snapper, and didnt even hook it.it had a pair of gang hooks, one in each side of its mouth, and i hooked where they were joined together, 2nd fish was also similar, got him in the arse.also on local jetty last week my squid float took off at speed and was heading back towards me, pulled in a nice squid that had jigged himself in the wing...

Yeah I know the feeling, spooling up alveys can be an expensive excercise. I've never used braid on an alvey as i am always worried about the way the line slaps against the back of my hand when I cast and laying it back on the spool, even sometimes 20lb line starts to burn the fingers laying it back on, and don't want a cat'o'nine tails effect on the back of my hand.

yeah....sorry to hijack this thread, braid from the rocks is useless.... one rub on a rock and its history.

now thats an idea....brother has tried that and said it was good, but fishing as much as i do it could get expensive. but i will give it a go, could be my soultion ....thanks...

should also mention i fish 3-5 times a week on these rocks and other rocks.... so the line and gear is getting a good workout....good thing i use an alvey as its maint free, i can drop in dirt,sand,mud, dogshit , give it a rinse off and im good to go again.ive tried spinners and overheads but they dont last the distance the alvey does...can be a PITA not having gears sometimes, but i find the alvey far easier to use, more comfortable to hold and wind ( as its down low) and the drag is simple to use with one finger even while fighting a fish.sometimes the basics are also the best.ive had it almost 20 yrs, it has a big chunk missing from the spool (fell of workbench)but still works a treat.(must get around to a repair job one day)ALVEY ALL THE WAY....

450m on an alvey? Must be using about 80lb! My 650c's hold 750m of 15lb and 600 of 25. But yes i'll agree it is a pain in the arse. Doesn't seem quite so bad when a mulloway has taken all ya line off though, somehow then it seems easy.

i can get 600mt of 25 if i try, but i can only buy 450mtr spools....ive tried the line that comes in 1000 mtr spools, but it doesnt like the rocks much at all.... ive lost some nice fish when they rub the rocks.instant snap.ive tried a fair amount of lines, and so far the best is ALSO the cheapest....$ 4.88 for 450 mtrs from big w....and im not cheap.... it works BETTER for my style of fishing. sure its got a bit of stretch in it, but dont worry me none... its changed at least every 2 mths...sometimes more.have tried braid, and some highly recommended line that was crap IMHO.... it either frays, twists, or just plain snaps at the slightest rub im sick of it...even spent 50 bucks on some 30lb line that i could SNAP with my hands..... aint no way its 30lb line, and its NOT pretest either...and its a very good name brand which i wont mention , because its not worth a mention.that line is now only used for the squid jig....and even then ive lost a few jigs when its rubbed a rock.am open to any suggestions on line that wont fall apart on me.

when the cuttlefish move away from rocks around whyalla the doggies move in to breed....our tally for one night? 57 dogsharks..... we started to throw them back, until we caught the same one that had my hooks still in it as to remove them would have prob killed the fish.so now we dont throw them back straight away...there is ALWAYS good sized rock pool nearby so thats where they go until we finished our trip, then they are returned to open sea if the tide is running out, but mostly they swim out themselves on the high tide.got to laugh though....they are stupid animals...swimming around the rock pool banging into each other and every rock in the place... they will even beach themselves, then frantically shake until they manage to turn around, then do exact the same thing next lap around.

just back from an early morning rock snapper session....left at 4:30 am and as soon as we got set up, it rained....then it rained some more....then it REALLY rained...seas were howling in and around the 3mtr mark, perfect for off the rocks.cept the fish didnt want to play cept for one undersize that we threw back, bro got a salmon then i got stretched by a stingray real good...totaly trashed my line rubbing it up and down the rocks but i got it in, had a look and cut it off for next time.

good job....now if i can only find a way to spool an alvey easilt i would be laughing...i jue just a screwdriver shoved through the hole in the spool and then still it blade of the driver in the vice....this way i can apply pressure onto the spool by forcing it against the side of the vice.....helps but the alvey must be wound on level by your fingers....whcih can be a PITA when spooling on 450mtrs...WHICH IM DOING LATER ON TODAY.....

ive been experimenting with again using cat food, but in a berley pot mixed with dry food,and tuna oil,thrown from the rocks on a handline....seems to be working ok, but only on an outgoing tide....otherwise im forever throwing it back out hahahaha....

Just out of curiosity when you guys arrive on your mark.. when berleying do you:Drop down a small plastic pot with pellets?Send down a berley bag, similar to a scaling bag, full of all sorts of crap?or small portions of chunk berley every so often?

Depends what species we're fishing for!If Snapper, I believe burley up big time, so go the scaler bag filled with a frozen block.

tend to agree with that.... pro fisher i knows uses that much berley its incredible.....mostly kingfish heads that he can see getting slammed by big snapper.

Rocknev go and ask your local chemist they should be able to get you some of the most potent aniseed oil you will find

now thats a good idea..... cheers.

hey good pics ov the lightning i tried getin sum lighting pics at grange but it was too quick :icon_e_sad:

yeah have to be very lucky to catch it sometimes.... i took over 1000 pics that night for 2 good and about 4 average photos...with the camera i used it doesnt have a setting to open shutter for an indefinate time, just a firworks mode, that when pushed opens the shutter for about 6 seconds.... so just by chance there happened to be a flash that happened in that 6 seconds, a lot of the time i was too early, late or in the wrong direction for the lightning but had a good time trying to get the pics.

I have used aniseed oil a couple of times in burley and it worked well on kgs for me.The supermarkets dont stock it because of the alcohol content but I found some in a health food shop (certainly didnt go there for the food :icon_lol:) It is bloody dear tho, cost me about $22 for a small medicine bottle!!Rocket 102 "aniseed pellets" ? Where do i get them? How much?

BIG W stock aniseed oil in there fishing section, and ive seen the aniseed pellets there before as well... trouble is the nearest big w to me is 80kms away in another town.

Good photos Nev, just like the movies i make compression is an ass, takes the edge off of great photoscheers chuck

yeah thats the thing....the photos just dont do it justice on how breathtalking it really is.... the first set of pics had us basicly not care if a snapper bent the snyderglas and screamed off the alvey, and being a camera i just couldnt fit all of the sky in.... it was also the same colour above and hehind us just darker...

while im in the mood, and if nobody has any objections i will post a couple more of the fantastic sunsets whyalla seems to get.the sunrisers are just as breathtaking

I managed this guy (or girl) last week from maslins

hes not a bad catch either.....proves there is some monsters out there.... ive caught a few largish myself but not as big as what the brother hooked....if my brother looks a bit tired its because i got him to come out at 10pm for a 2 hr fish, ended up getting home at 6am..... :icon_cool:with some nice snapper landed and most released...wont say just how many we hooked, as i wouldnt want to make people envious, but suffice to say i went monday and last night for 5hrs each session and never got a bite...funny how they there one day and gone the next.

for a 300 doller camera ive had some great results with it.... doesnt have a setting to allow for lightning photos BUT does have a fireworks mode, again without using a tripod i captured these 2...took over a 1000 photos to capture though.....i just jamb the cmaera next to my car mirror and click away....first is from hummock hill overlooking the boat ramp,second from base of mt laura in whyalla overlooking the city.

was on the rocks the other night, and the most amasing sunset happened....the good bit wasnt the sunset though, was the clouds over us that really stole the show...days like this if i catch a fish its a bonus...pic at black point near whyalla in the background.camera is a cheapy kodak easyshare c643 6.1mp...no tripod used...

brother landed this on sunday night off the rocks....92cm about 8kg...released unharmed

impressed...seen a biggy caught on local jetty the other night...not as big as that though, he needed a crab net to bring it up...also found this on youtube of usa squid....http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OKrR_xLs1pQ&feature=related

brother has an old jozuri that belonged to my dad before he died.... its now about 10yrs old, and has lost all colour(was pink), has been glued up 5 times, has had new swiel glued in, and one eye is missing....IT WILL OUTSQUID anything i own 10/1.

i have heard ppl talking about using whiting frames as bait.. hook through the head and the frames swims in the current... apparently it works.. i haven't used it myself though..I have caught mine on squid heads and tommie, sometime butterflying the tommie fillet and baiting it up inside out.. (skin side facing in)

caught my one and only snapper of 13.2kg using a skeleton....i have also caught many a fish from the rocks using t as well.... cept i cut the head in half(lengthwise) and just send that out minus the skeleton...the skeleton gets used as berley,(try and see just how much you will find in the guts of caught fish) and bait if the wind is good for casting.... one thing i have learnt....ITS BLOODY HARD TO CAST A SKELETON INTO A 30KNOT HEAD WIND.... if you get 50 feet its a fantastic cast. ;D

WHAT THE HECK IS S FACTOR? never heard of it...aniseed oil also works good as well...but i was amased a few weeks ago to see and old bloke pulling them in using a peeled potato that he had shaped like a fish,with a wire jig shoved up it

I have a pair of hornes to and while they haven't had a great deal of use they are still completely waterproof after almost 10 years. I don't use them much because most of the time using waders freaks me out. You see guys using them down salt creek and places like that wading out into the swell you just wanna go and slap them. If its too cold to wear boardies and i need to get wet normally just go for the wetsuit. At least I'm confident in swimming in that. Down salt creek you'd be sucked along the beach quicker than I think anyone could swim.

i know exactly what you mean.... i onlt fish the rocks these days, i find it more fun and more of a challenge.anyone can catch a snapper in a boat if you know where to go...its not that hard.(famous last words.... :icon_lol:)but the rocks, EVERYTHING is against you... the tide, wind, waves, sharp rocks weed picking up line and taking it sideways.etc etc....so i wear my waders at least 3 times a week...VERY rarely do i go above knee hight,and even THEN im amased with the ammount of pressure on my legs the waders give. some bad rips out there.WILL NEVER USE THEM ON A SURF BEACH... have seen a bloke go under about 30mtrs away wearing waders at sheringa, he was very lucky when he got dumped, the big wave pushed him up the shore, until he managed to sort of crawl out with the help of his fish buddy.shudder to think what may have been. bloke i work with also got slipped on the rocks once. he said he just tipped up end with feet in the air from trapped air.... he also lucky as he was able to use his hands on the rocks to claw himself up.take car folks....NO FISH IS WORTH A LIFE.