mii11x

I'd never use cutlets for mulloway.....ever. Sure you might get lucky once or twice, but if you want results consistently, I'd butterfly or fillet a dead yakka or tailor over a cutlet. If I had a choice..... 1. Live bait (take your pick of the species) 2. Fresh squid (whole, stripped, hood or head) 3. Butterfly fresh dead fish bait or fillets (3 baits per fillet, 2 sides and a head) Im sure the same would apply to kingfish with the addition of cuttlefish. I would never use cutlets for kings if I began targeting them as the above mentioned options seem so more appealing in their presentation to me.

Depending what performance gains you're after I guess. Prop selection may even help depending what gains you desire.

I believe most would just single hook. I have never fished for kingfish though. I'd make sure its a solid single hook and depth may vary under a float, I guess I would be keeping an eye on my sounder to see what depth returns are and set the depth accordingly. I would more or less do the same if I were to use livebait. As for inconsistent.......mate that can be fishing sometimes. Most times I fish (90% of the time) is for mulloway, so I know all about inconsistencies. One day/night they would smash everything I present them with, other times they are finicky, but trialing/using different techniques and presentations I usually have success. I doubt kings would be any different. I just remember what I do when they are finicky and go to that when the fishing does get tough. Hope some of this helps you get the results you desire. Mick

Why dont you try go out the night before for a few hours landbased and gather some squid? Just put them in some ziplock bags and in the fridge to use the next morning. Strip bait them, use the heads(cut in half length way if they are big heads even). Small squid id use whole, but if you dont have many small squid use the hood and head as seperate baits, or even strip the hood and use the head. Even if you have a sinker on you dont have to let it hit the bottom.

If your nearby to me mate, i can install

Where are you located mate? Sounders are quite easy to install yourself, probably the most difficult part is transducer placement/positioning. It's just the standard AI 3in1 tranny yeah?

Nearly all soft plastics work for flathead mate, all you gotta do is keep bouncing them off the bottom. Jig head weight will depend on the water depth your fishing really. Where abouts you fishing?

One more thing.......you know the fishing TV programmes, how many hours of filming do you think they have for one half hour show?

Don't be discouraged mate. The Georges River can be tough at times. Took me time on the water to learn the system. I reckon it's still yet to come out of hibernation completely after winter(cooler months), but it will start to produce. Keep at it, even if you don't catch anything, I'm sure you're learning the system, you just don't know you are yet. As for the bay, well same goes. It will start to produce as we warm up. Again, learning the bay does take some time also. I found that targetting one specific species over a month or so in both the bay and river helped me heaps. Perhaps try this method. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, by learning the system's yourself for different species, you will gain knowledge yourself, and for this reason alone, you will feel better when you achieve the results you desire.

Mate how old do you have to be to get your boat license? Or could mum or dad tow it to the water for you? So in front of and east of lugarno seafood I've picked up loads of flatties and bream drifting around with lures. So that would be worth a shot. I have drifted along the northern side, casting towards the banks, at times a little snaggy, but structure holds fish yeah. Also drifting between the moored boats has produced most table species for me. Lime Kiln Head I've never actually tried, most weekends there are a lot of skiers, boats towing tubes etc playing in Jewfish Bay, so I stay clear. I've caught flatties, jews, bream, tailor, trevally, whiting closer to the main marked channel, so there is always a chance fishing near the baths in Jewfish Bay or on the Kiln Head to catch fish. Again, I've never ventured in close there so I can't comment about the depths. As a guess, on a higher tide, I'd say no more than 5m for the whole general area of Jewfish Bay. That is plenty of water though. Some of my best mulloway from the system have been from depths no greater than 4m.......like I said previously, you just have to spend time learning the system and the places you fish. As nerdy as this seems, a fishing diary helps......especially for mulloway. I can't stress this enough. Even for general table species, it gives you a record of fish movements and where they will be from year to year. At minimum, photos......the dates and times will be recorded in photo details. I refer to lures a lot in my comments.........have you tried soft plastics or small hard body lures? It might be easier for you since you're travelling on a pushy. You can also cover a lot of ground casting them around, walking along the banks. Just an idea, and I'm not trying to say don't use bait either. If bait is what you prefer, go get em. Have you tried making a paddy trap? A 2L milk container and some bread works just fine. When you catch them, throw a cirlce hook on them a cast them out......great way to catch flatties or even bream and mulloway. Sink them to the bottom or attach a float and let them swim, they both produces results. Make sure your drag is set accordingly or else you might see your rod disappear. The wharf and accessible spots near the wharf in Oatley bay are also worth a shot. Plenty of bait at times, so things that eat bait might not be too far away. Although it's not too deep where you'll be setup, it does hold fish. Now the western headland of Oatley Bay.........it's a decent drop, so take care first and foremost. Losing a rod/reel or fish is better than falling and smashing your head on the way down or falling and drowning. It's deeper as you look south, but there is a drop off between the channel markers when you are looking east. Heading back to the ramp from the channel marker is more or less 3-4m the entire length. Plenty of fish have shown on my sounder in the shallows, drop off or the deeper section, but I have never fished there as I am generally leaving the ramp to fish elsewhere.....seen plenty of people fishing there though off that ledge. Good luck with it all mate, as the saying goes......"gotta be in it, to win it" or "Even a bad day's fishing is better than a good day at work" or in your case school. There are still good fish in the system, you just have to put in the effort and time to learn a spot, don't give up on one spot too quickly, it might be better on a different tide, part of the tide, or time of year. You'll find your spot with time and effort man, and when you do, it will be your secret. Trust me on that one.

Fished twice at night during the last two weeks targetting mulloway, and boated mulloway on both occasions. Both legal and released. Sunday past, fished with plastics for 3 hours, probably landed 10 flatties and 2 bream. Bream legal and released, 6/10 flatties were legal and all were released. Areas I fished were from Como heading downstream, but

Oh yeah, oatley point......id love to see a landbased fisho lift a legal mulloway up the rockface without some sort of roped gaff. Not saying you cant catch them there or cant lift one up landbased, but you would be wearing you're balls as earings lifting the whole way up that 5-8m rockface with a rod hahaha. Again, there are better spots both landbased and boat based for mulloway and for basic table species. Being overfished for decades and people generally having no respect for legal limits, the Georges is tough when you're starting. You just have to put in the time and effort and you'll find the more productive areas both land and boat based. Once you learn it, you'll get fish every time though man......and by that time you won't be revealing your better spots to those who fish 6 times a year.

Will you be fishing by boat or landbased at jewfish point? The deeper hole your referring to is more west or upstream of this 82r youre mentioning. Looking at your map id say 78 to 72. Ive picked up whiting, bream and flathead next to 82r.....its shallower there say 4m max at high tide. From 82r to towards como bridge it would be 4m max on that side of the river on high tide. It is a good area to drift in a boat with both bait and plastics though. The hole you refer to and that I mentioned at jewfish point is considerably snaggy with a scattered rocky bottom. Ive picked up mulloway on both bait and plastics, but more so on the opposite side of the river. Boat traffic kills this spot during the day and in the warmer months. The pylon at como bridge on the northern side is a little deeper than 4m deeper though.....say 50 to 100m on the east/west side 4-10m. But if you're in a boat, take care not to anchor in the navigation channel(north side pylon to 3rd pylon from north side). Maritime will move you on if you anchor in the channel during the busier months. If you anchor to close to the northern side headland though, all you'll get is snags if you're fishing the bottom bith east and west side of the nirth pylon. It takes some trial and error to get the right spot in relation to how the current moves through that area and where you're lines are in the water. There are better landbased spots to fish the georges than jewfish point and it does take a lot of time and patience to figure out where the better positions are. Remember patience during the upcoming months as you'll begin to see more and more wankers that have caught 3m flatties hahaha. Having said that, if you havnt got a line in the water, you won't catch anything. Hope some of this helps

I can ask my mates father, but he's in Campbelltown area. He may have one though. Let me know if thats too far to travel mate. Post reply or pm if need be

Yeah you cant let them dry out and have to reseal the packs for gulps. I did, years ago, drop them all in a sealed container and mixed them all up, but the red colour(2 inch worms) bled through them all, and I havn't done that since. I still like my gulps, I just make sure I seal the packet up properly and the wallet sleeve as well so it's completely airtight. I use all 3 major brands, Gulps, Squidgies and Zman. I mix and match the scents really.

Its a great read, most of it is common knowledge when targeting this species and can be found anywhere online, fishing mags, fishing books etc etc.

Mate, do you have a sounder with gps fitted to the yak? I know they say fish holes, but ill test your knowledge here......what other areas do they say to target mulloway?.....it has to do with the depth. Im not going to give it away, a quick search on google will even provide you an answer, as well as the mulloway pinned post in these forums. Pm if your really stuck. 13-15m is pretty much bang on, tide depending, but the whole area of CC bridge is around that depth apart from the pylon on the southern side which becomes shallower. Same goes for the north eastern side, becomes shallower as you head from the channel markers to the yacht club(i think it is)....can get whiting and nippers around there, bream and flatties also. Keep at it, youll get your mulloway. If you drag up a legal tailor, chuck a hook in it and drift it around. Even a 75cm jew will have no drama attacking that!!! I fish both bait and plastics, caught heaps of mulloway anchored and drifting. I dont generally fish the deeper sections in particular. Not that i havnt caught them in the deeper sections i must add. Also, bream, tailor, flatties, rays, eels, squid, baby snapper, trevally can be caught using both plastics and bait. I wont give away an answer, id prefer you to think for yourself, research, put into practise. Your in the right area in general, think a little more. Pm me if needed. Not trying to be a smart arse either. Keep at it man, research and try. If it fails, dont give up. Try and try again, you will be rewared with your mulloway. Mick

Ive got tt, squidgies and berkely brand. Hundreds of them lol. I organise by brand, weights and sizes, using seperate containers and cut the weight/size off the packet and drop them in the relevant compartment in each container. I also get a piece of paper and write up what each container holds and place it in as well. I also have smaller containers/storage boxes with species related heads that I just take with me when I go for a fish. When the smaller species related containers run low, I just top them up. I find that some brands of plastics work better with certain brands of jigheads and certain style plastics work better with certain style jigheads. For example I prefer to use a berkley jighead with a berkley jerkshad or squidgie flickbait plastic. Another example, I use squidgie round or pro range jighead with a squidgie whipbait plastic. I find the tt jigheads fit a zman plastic a little better, so thats what I use with the zmans. Its just my personal preference, I just find that certain heads on certain bodies make them swim with a better action, while some heads have a detrimental effect on some bodies. Example, I dont like using my berkley heads with plastics that have a paddle style tail, they just seem to lose all the paddle action to me. I'd be keen to hear if other raiders share my views. You will find that most brands have a heavier guage hook available, tt state that with a "H" after the hook size....ie 2/0 H. Berkley have a range of bream pro series heads available which are thin guage. Go to a shop mate, have a look at them and take note, you will find a jighead quite easily to suit your application. Unless you know exactly what you want or are buying, some things you just can't/shouldn't do online, this is a perfect example. Another is buying rods and reels or trying to match a rod and reel without physically holding them setup together. Can you see where I am going with this? Online tackle is overated lol. I highly doubt your going to save $5 per packet of jigheads by purchasing online anyways. Most decent small non chain tackle shop owners will always give you a better price on anything if you're a returning customer that supports them. Sorry about my opinions on online shopping for tackle, no offence was meant to be given. Hope you find what you're looking for. Mick

If your in Sydney mate, wait till the boat show.....pretty sure its in August sometime

I used to do this mate, then realised i could use two house bricks

After that comprehensive answer to my comments mate, you don't sound clueless. By my understanding of boating rules and regs, all boats with decking must have a bilge. Check the boating rules online at sms mate. Sounds like your well on the way to wasting money hahaha. Seriously though, keep your outboard and rig in great condition and it will probably outlast you

I should add, dont forget about your trailer, check all the lights and wiring. You can pick up led trailer lights and trailer cable for cheap off ebay. Much cheaper than superautorepcobarn. Replace the wheel bearings with a fresh set also. Check your tyres also... Norhing worse than blowing a tyre or having your bearings shit themselves at 4am on a sunday morning on the way to the ramp.

Tell us what you want to do mate when you say fixing up. Id start with giving the outboard a service to make sure is running fine. If your not confident yourself to do the service, take it to a mechanic. Get them to check steering as well. Next thing would be to completely go over the fibreglass hull checking for soft spots and have them repaired if you find any. Electrics......id completely rip out what you have and start rewiring from scratch all the way from the battery. I have no experience with a glass boat, but im sure you would want to check your hull for soft spots and damp spots as this would be rot and will eventually let water in. There are loads of members here that can help if you ask the right questions, maybe being a bit more specific may yield more answers. Welcome to the world of boating. Cheers Mick

Well done mate, a fantastic effort on both fish.....you'll always remember your first mulloway

Send that biddy out live with a 8/0 mate