Navigation
September 25th, 2008
This thread will cover a full spectrum of navigation tecniques starting from chart and sextant and moving on to Gps and Dig.Chart mapping.
Suggested reading-The American Practical Navigator by Bowditch,Duttons Nautical Navigation by T.J. Cutler,Mariners Celestial Navigation by W.P.Crawford and my personal favourite The Weekend Navigator by R.J.Sweet.
The main topics will flow on as time goes by!
A really cool Navigation course to begin with, is this site from Greece. Very informative.From there you can branch out on your own!
advanced-navigation-courses-sailing-schools-greece-and-the-greek-islands
Grab a Nautical Chart,deviders,compass rose or parrallel rule at home and plot a fix.Begin with dead reckoning first as you may need to know, where you are, exactly.
In the early 1500s the Chinese plotted there Lat.&Long. by the stars,just like sailors and fishos do today.
With the advent of GPS and the disastrous 54th Sydney to Hobart race in 1998 things would get a huge wake up in water safety in OZ.
Below are some pics of our Garmin handheld Gpsmap 76,Garmin 172c colour chart plotter,Navman 4600 sounder and Navman 7200 marine Dsc radio we used on our boat.We linked the radio and gps together and joined Coastal Patrol Sydney for peace of mind.
Garmin East Coast dig. mapping is a great way to pre/plan your trips at home on your PC.Download to a card on the chartplotter and away you go.You can zoom in on an area and check it out,then download a series of waypts.that will form a route,including proximity waypts such as dangerous areas e.g. rcks.or favourite hotspot.
The Davis and preferred Astra 111B sextants below will be covered to provide an insight into Celestial Navigation.Below is a chart for calculating azimuth etc
Check out this star navigator programme-
Click on earlier posts at the bottom of the page for more threads.
The Shores Of Botany Bay.
September 24th, 2008
We have recently begun to explore this part of Sydney and its waterways.After reading Scotty Lion’s reports in Fishing monthly N.S.W we began to check out the endles options.It’s a big place!Below is a Garmin East Coast Dig.Map of the ramp off Foreshore Drive,Airport runways ,on to Molineaux Pt.”Trevalley Alley”,Bare Is.,Etc.
Trevally-
Garmin Dig.Map.Left click on the map twice for + zoom!
Jigging for Kingies.
September 23rd, 2008
This very physical way of fishing is becoming so popular these days.It’s brutal on your gear and taxing on your body but can be extremely rewarding when it comes to catching Kingfish.
Basically you drop your blade jig quickly to the bottom and rip it mechanically upwards through the water collumn with remarkable results.
An excellent site for this art is listed below.Also check out Youtube for heaps of cool vids.on jigging
This post will cover the essential gear and tecnique involved!
Click on/
jigging-for-dummies
Zest jigging lures have an excellent range .
Jms rods are vey smooth!
Browns Mountain
September 22nd, 2008
“My name is Ozymandius king of kings
Look on my works ye almighty and despair”
Shelley.
Browns Mountain lies about 38.1 klm(20.6 nautical miles) off the coast of N.S.W.In the near vicinity of Browns the water depth ranges from 429 to 703m deep.Based on this, the depth rises from the ocean floor 273m.
It’s a long trek out by boat from Sydney and back, and not for the faint hearted.
In Dave Lockwoods Sunday Herald collumn he states “Last sunday at 5.45pm,with 25 knots of Nth.Easterly blowing,three small boats had to ride behind the 13m charter boat Wahoo just to get home.The trip took 3 1/2 hrs.Who knows what would have happened had they been out there on their own”.
Anyway fishos will always push the boundaries to get into the thrill of deep sea fishing.
The species targeted are albacore tuna,blue eyed cod( trevalla),dolphin fish,gemfish,hapuka,skipjack tuna,striped marlin,swordfish,wahoo and yellowfin tuna.
It’s Gps co/ord is 34 02 130 151 39 400 taken from www.marinews.com a wonderful site for offshore locations around Sydney.
Here’s some pics of Dan Welch fishing out there for tuna.
Rapala x/rap
The Camden Haven.
September 21st, 2008
Above are pics of this area Sth. of Port Macquarie.
Click on this file to open
camden-haven-river-recreational-fishing-guide
Below are Pilots Beach,Diamond Head and The Camden Haven River.
click on map to open
Some more pics.
There’s so many options when fishing this area .The pics tell the story!
Flathead,Bream,Bonito,Estuary perch and Dolphin fish.
Swains Reef
September 20th, 2008
Booked aboard The Iron Joy in October out’a Gladstone and counting the days.She’s more like a ship with a fleet of small dories aboard.
Some of the many species we expect to run into.
Will be adding to this thread discussing gear and species targeted.Whilst we are away we will record our experiences and pass them on.
Some very interesting links on the reef to wet your appetite are-
www.gtpopping.com/
www.feverfeverfever.com/content/swains-reef.html
www.jgharris.com/gweston/index.htm
Some fact sheets from the above site from a traveller who has been there many times over the years.
Click on the pics to open and zoom in.
Saumarez Reef at 21 40 S 153 46 E
Here’s some pics from Kanimbla another charter co.
2009-information-letter-iron-joy
Click on the above link to open for more info.
fish-species-1fish-species2
This image was scanned from The Australian Pilot Book 1973 showing the different reefs and currents.Click on the pics and then click zoom for a closer look..
A shot taken from Aus.Chart 367 showing the complex reef system.Click on it to open and zoom.
Well finally back to the land of the Big Smoke and will begin to update this post soon!!!
Here’s some extracts from the diary-
After flying out of Sydney to Gladstone we climbed aboard our boat ,The Iron Joy and set sail at 4.30 pm Oct 3rd.Rough and bumpy ride tossed around in the top bunk and hoping the travel calm would kick in.
Fourteen of us all entered our name in the hat to set up a leader board to see who would go in consecetive order of a strike at the trolling gear on the stern.When your name was up and the reel screamed it was on for young and old.Dog Tooth Tuna the order of the day.We arrived the next morning steamin’ through the night.
Each day there were prizes for the best catch and a tally kept.
Spangled Emperor,Coral Trout,Sweet Lip, Red Emperor and Jap Bream filled the kill tanks in fast abandon.The Job fish are toothy and are cannibals,attacking anything.
Lake Macquarie
September 19th, 2008
The Lake has really come back into it’s own since the commercial fishing ban!Over the years we have travelled and fished all over it with mixed results.
Launching out of Summerland Pt. puts you out to the Sthn end chasing flatties and bream around The Power Stn.,Wyee Bay , Pt Woolstonecraft,Pulbah Is. and the artificial reefs at Gapalaba.Check out www.reefball.org/ for artificial reef construction.
Dora Creek is another good fishing spot to the left of Wangi Wangi Pt.
At Swansea in the Nth.,Blacksmiths or Pelican Beach have good ramps,where the river enters the sea.Great fishing around the channel and bridge for Jewies,Tailor and Kingies.The drop over where the river enters the lake and along the sandflats is also excellent at dusk or dawn.Try Lucys wall near the coast guard for niggers or livebaiting squid.
Click on the pics. to open !
Ah!baby bream back you go!Most of the time we practice catch and release but love keeping the 45 to 65cm flatties for a feed.Anything over is usually a female to release.
Flatties on S/p Gulp minnow with an added bell sinker to create more vibrations.
Dig maps(click on to open then click to zoom.)
For more info on the tackle and gear needed scroll down in the site to “Estuary tackle and targeted species. ”
Fishers of Men.(Matthew 4:19)
September 18th, 2008
We come from a long line of merchant seamen and commercial fishing skippers so growin’ up around the Northern Beaches of Sydney it’s got to be in your blood!
Grandpa Capt.A.A.Brown had sailed from Glasgow in the early 1900s aboard “The Lancing” a merchant clipper.
Moving on to “THe Nth.Coast Steam Co.”which travelled up the East coast of Aus. delivering cargo and passengers at each port.Later these magnificent boats were commissioned to carry supplies in the war.A few that spring to mind are the SS Willochra,SS Orara and the SS Wollongbar.
They moved to “The Haven” at Long Reef on the Nthn Beaches in the early 1900s.
Roy Brown
After being wounded in The Kokoda campaign Roy obtained a War grant and settled on Flinders Is where he established a sheep spread at”Saphire” for many years.Later he moved to Cairns and purchased a 54Ft trawler chasing Barra in The Gulf in the 70s.The “Soltropical” is still reg. up in Gove as a working boat on the Ships Reg.Wild country in those days !
My Father S.E.Green a Sergeant in WW2 had moved to “The Narrabeen Lakes” area in the 1960s so the water and fishing played a major role in our childhood days.
“Thru The Gate To The Lake” will introduce this site from those early times, to the present modern day technology ,looking at advances in all facets of fishing these estuary systems.
The Gallery will be set up to view a large range of fishing,boating and navigational pics. related to these topics.
Finally here is a wonderful site with Gallery I would recommend!
Click on Waterborne,images,then print section for some excellent pics of Sydney Harbour!
Hope you enjoyed.Please leave a comment.
Charlie Green.
Liquid Blue Fishing
September 17th, 2008
Thanks for visiting!Leave a comment!
