Nolongeramember
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Posts posted by Nolongeramember
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A belated report from Saturday morning.
Yesterday i was lucky enough to get invited along on a mate of a mates boat. We got on the water at about 5:30 am and armed with assorted colours of knife jigs we went straight out to the peak. It was a bit bumpy on the way out there as there was a bit of a NE swell running but soon enough we pulled up.
Jigs straight over the side. We had several drops for not a lot of action before we came across some huge schools of bait on the sounder sitting in about 75 metres of water. After dropping through one of the schools - a few winds and i was on. This fish was like nothing i have ever fought before. I have caught a couple of reasonable sized (80 cm) kingies in the harbour and they go hard but this was something else. I had 50Lb braid on and 100lb leader and i simply couldn't shift it. Drag locked up hard and it was still managing to pull line...
After battling for a couple of minutes the hooks pulled I was pretty pissed off but not long later i hooked up again. This one was pulling even harder and it was all i could do to hold onto the rod, keep my balance in the lumpy seas and keep myself from being pulled over the side. After a couple more minutes of stale mate... you guessed it same result, hooks pulled again
By this stage i was feeling pretty low with myself but luckily i got another chance. 3rd time lucky i was thinking and this time i managed to get a few turns on the reel and get back a few metres of line - but no hooks pulled yet again!!!
To ease my embarrasment one of the other lads hooked up and had a similar experience. He had a bit more success and managed to get the fish quite a long way off the bottom - but same result, after about 5 minutes of battling - ping, hooks pulled!!
After 4 lost fish we pulled up stumps and headed for home. On the way in we stopped off at the "Trag" grounds off Coogee. As we pulled up there were fish everywhere on the sounder. Jig straight over the side, a few turns and wham! I got smashed and i was on again big style! This fish was pulling hard and taking line and there was little i could do to stop it. Again i just hung on - again same result... Pulled the hooks!! Not happy JAn!! Brought the jig up to find some serious teeth marks on it where it had been hammered.
After that no more action and i had to get in to go to work. All in all a fantastic heart pumping morning with some serious action. No fish on board but not for want of trying.
Just wondering if anyone has had similar experience with pulling hooks. Any reason for it?
Is it becuase there is no "give" in the braid and if you go too hard it just rips the hook out of the fishes mouth? I was very conscious of not giving any line as i didn't want to get rubbed off on the bottom. Is it better to back the drag off a bit and give the fish a bit of line? Maybe the hooks were too small but i don't think so (we were using Surecatch 250 and 300grm jigs with hooks already on them. Green was the colour doing the damage)
Any advice anyone has would be appreciated as next time i hook up to something substantial i want to make sure that i get it on the deck!
Sorry about the length of report - just got carried away. (i'm still reliving all of the fights in my head - and i can still feel the ache in my arms today!)
I feel for ya mate. You would have had some very decent sized fish on the end of your lines..
I dont think there is any specific drag setting for fighting kings or any fish really as I am always changing mine depending on where the fish is during the fight.
What I usually do when fighting a suspected king is to work out where abouts in the water column the fish is. If the water is 50m deep and you have 45m of line out then give him everything you have got. If the hooks pull then they pull there is nothing you can do about it.
On the other hand if you hook the fish mid water and you estimate hes 30m off the bottom then back off the drag a little and let the fish go. If hes takes a stack of line and you think hes near the bottom again then lock up...
When the fish is very near to the boat, or I know Im over a sand bottom then I back the drag right off.
Also, when you have a lot of line out you would be surprised how much pressure is on the fish even with a full loose drag. Try dragging 100m of empty line out the back of your boat at trolling pace and you will see what I mean.
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If it is over $1000 how much do they charge you?
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Where is the easiest place to get some fishraider.com stickers so I can plaster my boat with them? Even mailed would be handy..
Ive done a search for sticker and stickers and nothing comes up??
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Thanks again luke...had a top day....kings, salmon,sargent baker, sweep, whales, seals AND you can't forget that MASSIVE school of horse yakkas off the lighthouse.
Had a great day, weather was great aswell as the fishing.
cheers james
I was anchored at mollineux Pt at 5am and 2 dolphins come past about 10m from my boat aswell!!
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Hey man, I saw you guys out there today. I was trying out my new downrigger aswell... I trolled outside the heads around plently of bait schools but no kings...only hooked a few salmon. I couldnt get any squid either only yakkas. I hooked a salmon at mollinoux when fishing for yakkas on the tiniest hook you ever seen. I thought crap...this is one big yellowtail, and next thing I know this decent sized salmon is doing acrobatics out of the water!
I saw those whales aswell. Pretty cool hey...
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Hey man, have a bit of a search in the boating section theres plenty on electric's and batt's there...
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Nice.....................catch. I would be pretty happy with that for sure. The water conditions look so good there. Alot calmer than I would have thought from the forcasts for today. Turned out well for you
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hi - I just bought the x126 from the states - same guts and menu as yours.
I have no probs with mine - try taking it back to factory default- I did this with mine when I got it, as it was second hand.
If no joy, talk to lowrance.
Oh yeh. So have you taken it into deep water yet, like 25 metres or more? Does the screen go across at a good speed?
I have master reset it all but am yet to try it on the water... hopefully it will fix it...
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Ive got a Lowrance X125 sounder. Its rated to a depth of about 280m and has 300WRMS.
Its fine at depths of about 15m or less but when I start getting around 30m or more the chart speed is sooo slow it becomes useless. It barely moves. (the chart speed is how fast the screen goes across from right to left)
I really dont know if its always been like this or if there is something wrong with it because I dont usually go in deep waters but Ive only just noticed it.
So is this normal for a sounder of this power and do I need to get something more powerful for deeper water is there a fault with my sounder.
PS. The ping speed and chart speed settings were set to 100% aswell.
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Hi all,
Went out on Sunday, mon, tue, wed caught over 26 kings @ 55-64 cm only 8 over 65cm, quesiton is does anybody know the dinamics of the school? How do I target just the big kings? where abouts are they swimming in the school?
cheers,
thereddragon
You can try bigger baits or lures but then you will probably catch less fish overall. You might have to try a different location where the bigger kings are. Sounds like you got all the fish in the same area..
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There was a bloke on here selling downrigger bombs not too long ago. It was in the for sale section but its deleted now. Does anyone know who it was?
Thanks..
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Not sure at the present. Trying to decide if it will be worth while trying to put the boat in at Port Kembla. Not sure about the weather.
I was going to go out into Botany but it looks like its gonna rain tomorrow ... Probly wont now cos Im not going hahaha.
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could have been a king?? in schools like that let lure sink to search deeper waters for those bigger preditory fish
Where is long bay anyways? sounds like it is accessed from outside?
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Hi mate. Now I know why I havnt caught a metre plus lizard yet. Ive been wearing my pants too high. hahahahaha. Nice fish man....
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To make it easy to get them out of the net I like to spike them first so they dont keep moving around.
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Hey everyone, wanting to get a few tips on spinning for the mysterious Jewie in the Hawkesbury.
I usually fish plastics and for Jewie, i use a sqiudgy fish, 110mm in black and Gold, 10lb line with 17lb leader.
The biggest area i need help in is locations and tides. I recently tried road bridge, rail bridge and Juno for many hours for nothing.
Would anyone be able to help me with spots for the present conditions in the river, and appropiate tides.
Also not sure where exactly to throw my plastics at rail bridge, how close to the pilons and which side of bridge in what tide.
I know I'm asking alot but any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks heaps,
Shan
I dont know much about fishing the Hawksbury, but just remember to strike at the slightest sniff of a touch to your lure. You will be very surprised what you might find connected on the other end. Nearly every jew Ive caught felt like something tiny having a nibble until I stuck and felt the heavy weight.
The technique is to lift or whatever you like doing and then wind down as fast as you can to get your line tight again and in contact with the lure to feel for a take. A faster reel retrieve is an advantge here because the more time your out of touch with your lure the greater the chance of missing a take.
Good luck man...
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Hey guys, i recently ordered one and am undecided what rod to match it on. I dont have big bux to spend as i used most of them up on the reel. Does anyone have any reccomendations , im looking at spending upto about $250.
Rob
Dude. Go the Nitro Distance Spin. Thats what I have. Should be around $250. 7Ft 6', 2 piece. High quality graphite and guides. Perfect for harbour pelagics- tailor, bonnies, salmon etc. Will be good for everything except big kings. But if you go heavier for the kings then its overkill for everything else. I Reckon you cant beat 2 piece for conveinience, and 7Ft6' is good for tossing unweighted plastics.
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You also get the machined handle with a bearing in the knob too!!.
I dont think there is a bearing in the knob..
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What size and type of battery are you useing and how many hours do you get out of it?
Im using 100amp/h Trojan deep cycle battery. I cant tell you how long a full battery lasts because I charge it straight after every time I use it. Its not good to leave a battery under full for long.
Although I can tell you Ive used it all day and it still reads 1/2 or more.
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I find metals the most basic of lures to use, and the first salmon ignore on hard days.
My first choice is an unweighted 4 1/2 inch stick bait. This is the best I have found on the salmon in the Bay and on the Harbour. I use sluggos but probably anything similar would work. You have to position your boat correctly and cast with the wind with these light lures.
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Hi mate. I cant tell you too much about other brands but I can tell you about my Minn Kota 55Lb bowmount.
I use it on a 4.8m tinny and it does the job ok for positioning the boat, but sometimes more power would be nice, especially when its a bit breezy or choppy. I cant troll lures with it. Its too slow for that even on full power.
I reckon bow mount is the way to go. You get much better boat control when the motor is pulling the boat rather than pushing from the back. You dont have any foot control on the transom mount so its all by hand, which is hard when your fishing and have a rod in your hand. Also, I dont think you cant get electric powerdrives in transom mount, or remote control which I cant live without hehe.
So in your case the ideal set up would be a 55Lb electric bow mount. Or on the cheap you could get away with the 44Lb transom but it wont be as good.
One more thing. Ive been using the freshwater version 100% in saltwater for about 4 years now and its been fine. No corosion either.`
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albright has worked for me ...
my hooks snap off WAY before the join before my braid to mono leader does...
8lb braid to 8lb mono
If it works for you that cool man. Its just my personal opinion on what I have found.
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Im surprised so many people use the Albright knot. Ive pretty much strength tested all the knots out there and I reckon the Albright is very weak. I can tie an Albright on a braid to mono connection and a simple blood knot on the end of the mono and the Albright will let go WAY before the Blood knot. This tells me the Albright is no good.
With braid the only way to go is a double. Either a bimini or a plait. Anything else is weak.
I am a huge fan of a correctly tied half blood knot and use a slight variation of it to tie to a braid double and its the strongest connection Ive tested.
Something else Ive found to be extremely important to knot strength is how well the knot is tied.
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Best braid- Rapala Titanium Braid
For abraision resistance the slightly thicker Rapala Braid Core.
Ive tested this stuff out alot and its good. Very strong.
I can use a 30LB leader on the end of my 15LB braid and the mono leader will still snap first.
After battling for a couple of minutes the hooks pulled 
Fitting Scotty 1085 Downrigger To Cruisecraft
in Tackle Talk
Posted
Its too easy man. I just fitted a 1050 to my quintrex. Just put it straight out the side, as close to the back of the boat as you can while still being able to reach it to wind it. Drill 4 holes and put in the 4 bolts that it comes with.....Make sure you use the washers aswell. If the metal is a bit thin then use bigger washers to spread the load, or even something bigger like a square piece of wood about 10mm thick inbetween the mount and the boat.