rf4@aapt.net.au

Cheers Guys, thanks for the info will give it a go and see if we cant tank a few, looking forward to getting out there several times this festive season.

Hi raiders Heading down to my usual fishing haunt launching from Ulludulla harbour, and was wondering if anyone knows were to get some livies down there. Always pick up a good feed off the reefs on bought bait but might head out to the shelf in search of a few bigger ones and would also like to try the livies on the Kingfish grounds. Cheers Richard

Yeah mate, got plenty at Shark island on Wednesday and the water temp was 18 deg outside. R

Yeah your right there, it was prob the calmest day I've had out there in months, just the wind madethe drift a bit too quick but the sea anchor slowed us down a bit, even coming back in the arvo we still manged to sit the boat on 45km/h and 50 going down so glad we took the punt! Never had 4 seals at once behind me out there but there was plenty of bait fish around and they seamed to just cruise after the dolphins letting them do the work and getting the rewards and yes the did take jackets, makes a good tug of war but the always win. And unfortunatly there were no reds there, well there prob was but our baits never lasted 10 sec after hitting the bottom so hey would have no chance of getting to it, even the plactics were destroyed in seconds.

G'day raiders Despite the windy forcasts a mate and I decided to head out and try our luck from Port Hacking. Launched right on 6am (we were the only trailer there all day) and headed out to catch some livies, with the water temp at 18deg and cool temps was a bit surprised to see we could still get as many livies as we wanted within ten min. Wind had already started to pick up but the seas were pretty calm as it was coming off shore, so gave the Verado a bit of stick and headed south to the Humps in search of some Snapper and whatever else we might find, on the way down we came accross huge areas of bait fish with the birds going nuts on them and literally hundreds of common Dolphin rounding them up and smashing them, unfortunatly nothing bigger lurking under or around them, stopped to drop in a few lures but nothing. Got to the Humps but soon found that those jackets were there in big numbers which they seemed to really enjoy whatever we dropped down, then the bloody Seals showed up 4 of em with one almost putting his head in the boat! they decided to lay around the boat and this meant time for us to move after icing a few jackets we moved in closer on the Flatties were we managed to bring home 12 keepers with one crocodile hitting the 65cm mark and a few others not far off that By now the wind and rain had really started to pick up so we headed back, for a day that was forcast to be pretty bad and prospects of fishing not too good it turned out ok, we even saw 6 whales in total heading back down the coast. Richard

You did well mate, was down there all last week in the pouring rain and freezing wind and hardly got a nibble, but it's a great place to be and good to see plenty of fresh salt water coming through the entrance. Richard

Yeah that was a terrible thing, a mate and I were actually out with him the day before the croc took that poor kid, we did no good that day but the river was ina mighty flood so too much fresh water around. We actually stopped out the front of the river train on the way back were the kid was taken and Jamie commented that he would not even go up on the bank at that time with all the crocs that had been washed down in the floods. The next day we went acrross the punt just as the first boats hit the water in search of the boy, such a terrible thing. Richard

A mate and I decided that we should finally get my Signature 600C out to Browns and try our luck on the Tuna as we have always wanted to get one but just never seem to get around to taking the hike out to Browns not to mention the weather is usually against us. We put in at the respectable time of 7am and headed out, the swell was running pretty high allong with a Westerly wind chop that made for a bumpy ride out but the Signature handled it very well, we didnt spot another boat till we got within a few km of Browns then they started to appear on the horizon, about a good dozen boats out there bouncing around in the chop. As novices in the Tuna department we took advice and cubed up drifting at a fairly quick pace with the stiff breeze that was blowing out there. With nothing showing on the sounder we stuck with it and did several drifts over the next few hours, there must have been some well fed fish out there as we went through about 10kg of pillies cubed up, but just as we thought it was time for a sandwich and a cuppa (always the way) the sound that we had been waiting for Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz as the braid started to scream off my overhead The heart started to race as I grabbed the rod and watched with excitement as the reel kept sreaming and the line kept dissappearing, as a Tuna virgin I let it run for a while and slowly increased the drag which turned him around and let me get some line back on, to my surprise I managed to get him up fairly quickly with a constant thump thump on the way up, but not until he saw the boat and two Sushi hungry blokes did he take off again, at least 10 times they are fit strong buggers, not wanting to loose my first ever Tuna I just played him out till he was spent, got him in the boat to my relief not a monster but a 12kg Bluefin brought smiles to both our faces. With renewed vigour we continued without success till 2pm when we decided to turn tail and head back to the Hacking, the wind and swell had dropped off and the Hianes sat on a repectable 50km/h to get us back in time to see a few pods of whales gliding past Cronulla beach. It was our first Tuna, but has now given us the drive to get out there more often. By the way my mate brought his line in when I hooked up and his mono had been cut clean off without us even noticing anything, does anyone know if this could have been another Tuna or suspect something else? Richard F

Steve Not much happening in the Lake at the moment, the water is really cold, its been very frustrating because the water is crystal clear as usual so you can see the fish but they just not really interested. There are plenty of good size blackfish around the weed bedsif you can get them to bite you will do ok, Salmon out of the beach with whole pillies, and a mate of mine got 4 nice pan sized reddies up at west Conjola yesterday, so if you have the patience you should get a feed. Good luck Richard

Yes I put some weight on a livie after they went quiet on surface and did manage to coax 1 nice dolly to devour my yellowtail approx 100m from the fad but that was it after that.

We were at the Hacking Fad last Thursday and only boat there all day, not surprised the fad broke free as it was being dragged almost completly under by the strong current, we had to push into it the whole time, but it was worth it as we brought home 5 big dolly's all around the 80cm mark Schools of rat kingies swarmed around the boat everytime we slowed down which were fun on the bait jigs, 2-3 at a time kept us occupied between the dollies. Heard last night that the fad was bobbing around of Cronulla beach, maybe the dollies followed it in