paulthetaffy

Hi Brett, Appreciate the clarification, thanks for that (though it was my fault for not reading properly!) (Un)fortunately the Boab hire is so well set up and affordable now that offshore marks are easily accessible to first timers, so I'm not surprised you encountered some bad etiquete previosuly. It was in fact my first time out to the FAD's too (though not for the others on the boat) so to be able to get into a few dollies was amazing. Glad you managed to get into a few too! And the water colour out there is just unbelievable huh? Paul

Hi Brett, Unless there was another Boab hire boat out at a different FAD on Saturday then you would have been referring to the boat I was on (at Sydney North FAD around lunchtime). If indeed it was us, I take a little offence at being called cowboys as we're all serious fishos, although normally from kayaks rather than boats. What was it that you thought we were doing wrong? The only other boat we saw out there (presuming it was you) stayed a good half a mile or more away from the FAD so I can't imagine could see what we were doing. Incidentally we too managed a few undersized dollies on livies and pille cubes by setting up a drift past the FAD and burleying on each pass. After the birds arrived and made this too difficult we did a few wide "doughnuts" around the FAD trolling skirts and divers but they wouldn't respond. We found a few more at the traps too but only managed one there. We jigged 9-mile and only found baracouta so resorted to chasing bonnies back in pittwater. Great conditions out there though, just a shame the dollies were not there in larger numbers/sizes Paul

Hi Frankie, congrats on bloodying the yak! All those lessons are ones that I think all of us yakkas need to learn (the hard way) at some point - it's like a right of passage or something If La Perouse is your local spot then you're a lucky guy. It's got some great spots that are just out of reach of the landbased angler, particularly round in Congwong bay (east of Bare Island) where there is an artificial reef (google for it's location). You might need a sounder to find it (or follow a boat/yakker) but it's a great holding spot. But you don't have to go that far - there's heaps of trevally all around La Perouse at the moment though and they're easy to get into. There's a few yellow marker buoys off the front of the headland that you can tether your yak to (or just use it for a reference point). Throw out a few pilly cubes for burley every few minutes and this will trigger the trevally into feeding. Then either bait fish the bottom or my preferred method just throw 3" soft plastics around, and let them sink all the way to the bottom. Hits are ususally on the drop (it's about 10-12m deep out there so takes a while to sink) but if you don't get a hit on the first drop just hop them back to the yak. It's great fun on light gear and you'll get the odd pinkie/bream/flattie/random reef species too. I have to echo Roberta's comments about tethering absolutely everything. You WILL go in at some point and you will lose everything that's not nailed down. But be sensible with your tethers too otherwise the tangle potential makes it dangerous to have lots of them in the water with you. Retractable lanyards are great for smaller items like scissors, while thin bungee cord/coiled plastic keyring chains are good for rod/paddle leashes. Try to make everything as short as possible while still being functional to minimise the tangle potential. Many yakkas have a dive knive permanently attached to their PFD so that they can cut all lines/leashes in an emergency. There's a few kayak fishing specific forums that I think both Roberta and I are members of that will offer you some more detailed ideas. I don't want to take anything away from fishraider though so PM me if you want more info. And lastly I agree with Roberta about testing your yak's boyancy and more importantly practising your deep water re-entry for when things do go awry. I learned the hard way and was lucky enough to figure it out on my own. BUT - big but - the water is very cold at the moment and the shock can cause all sorts of problems. Make sure you're wearing a PFD, don't practice it alone, and make sure you're wearing good thermals or a wetsuit!! Paul

Thanks everyone for your posts and for voting. My intention by starting the poll was to provoke some thought on the subject and to raise awareness of the dangers and the safety measures that we can employ, which is exactly what has happened. Hopefully this thread will be found in future by people new to the sport so they can see pro's and con's of wearing a PFD and make a decision for themselves. Paul

This is totally absurd. People are confusing the litter left at the wharf (which is a problem) with the affect fishing has on the local aquatic life (which I have no idea if it is a problem, just like 99% of people in Mosman). Where do we vote? Can someone post a link please? Couldn't find anything on the mosman daily site Paul

Firstly my condolonces to the families and friends of those that have been lost. Couldn't agree more. I recently bought a PFD for kayaking and purposely went for a PFD 1 to I can use on the rocks too and only inflate it if necessary. Of course there's the risk of hitting your head and not being concious to pull the pin, but I don't have an answer for that. It's just my opinion that I think there's more chance of me being swept in conciously so would prefer to be in a safer position being able to swim and duck dive waves which I couldn't do with an inflated/foam PFD. There's news just breaking of a guy being swept off rocks at blue fish point too (he's injured, awaiting a chopper, but safe). I hope that these two events so close together don't cause a media / government frenzy attacking the safety of rock fishing . Paul

We've covered the news of the recent tragic loss of rock fisherman in another thread and this opened a debate on whether life jackets should be worn by rock hoppers, and if so are they even useful. Rex Hunt has just been on Triple M in Sydney preaching that it should be made law that life jackets should be worn by rock fisherman. So do you agree?

Hi Spoz, 1) I won't profess to being an expert with SP's, and I'm sure you've read/seen these already, but there are a few basics which are a must when bream fishing. - SP must be rigged sraight on the jig head otherwise they wont swim straight - test them before you use them - use a jig head size appropriate to the SP size and depth you're fishing in - work them sloooooowly. don't be afraid to leave them static for several second after a twitch/lift. - you will get many hits on the drop either when the platic first hits the water or after a lift, so minimise slack and keep in touch with the SP - braid gives you a big advantage over mono as you can cast further, you have better control over the action you impart on the SP, and you can detect subtle takes Having an attractant on the SP is a definite advantage - some people prefer gulp, i personally prefer squidgy pro range with S-factor. With all that said, I personally still find bream fishing far far easier with bait than lures It takes a lot of practice to get right! 2) Bread makes for great burley but not sraight out of the packet. Stale bread is better as it breaks up more easily but either way the best thing you can do is mash it up with some water (always sea water!). The idea is too have small pieces only to tempt them in, not big pieces which will fill them. You can add other things to the mix too such as pellets, mashed pillies, prawns, cat food etc but I find just bread usually does the business most of the time. I find that using breadcrumbs (I make my own out of left over loaves blitzed up) with a little water allows me to make small balls that I can throw a bit further when fishing off the stones. The tide taking the bread away is fine as this creates the trail that the fish will follow. The key to a burley trail is little and often, just a small amount every minute or two. 3) Don't fish the Georges so can't answer that one! 4) Yeah never ever dunk your reel. Tighten drag up and spray (gently) with a hose is fine as m()rgs said. Then dry it as best you can and back off the drag to save the washers. I also spray the handle joints and bail arm hinges /roller with lannox but then I use mine off a kayak so they're more susceptable to getting salt in them. 5/6) I normally find larger baits produce less bites, but better fish when I do get them. Bream can take surprisingly big baits for their size so I often use a whole prawn up to about 3" in size or half a pille. I've seen bream caught on a whole pille and a ganged hook but that's probably overkill! If you're not getting bites then scale you're hook size and bait size down until you get them. If you get bites from pickers as soon as it hits the water then scale it all up or even try a different bait. By larger fish I'm assuming you mean larger bream - I say this because as a general rule you should tailor your bait and method of fishing for a particular species. One last thought is that larger fish are usually far more skittish than smaller ones, so you have a better chance of catching them if you use a lighter leader, smaller hook, and smaller / no sinker. In clear water you will often see bigger fish below the smaller ones in the burley trail and you can often see them shy away from your baited hook but take free offerings - this is the time to scale down! Hope that helps, Paul

Taking the kayak out Saturday morning in middle harbour if the weather holds. Seabreeze looks pretty ugly from a sitting-in-a-plastic-boat-6-inches-from-the-water point of view Paul

Got a 46cm tailor, uploaded the photo, and then saw a pic on there for a 47cm model Oh well, had a cracking day anyway!

Yep good luck everyone, and remember this is a CATCH AND RELEASE event (which they have not made a big enough deal about IMO), so please respect that! Paul

Yep that's the boy I've got my eye on, the 7ft magnum butt. Not sure I want a $400 rod on the yak though, so I think I'm settling for a Shimano Jewel 762 Snapper instead (which seems like an insanely good rod for the money BTW). It has more carbon content so less likely to snap if a high stick it, which happens a lot on a yak due to the angles of being low to the water. Out of interest what reel do you use with the magnum butt? I was going to pair a stradic 4000 with 20lb braid with whichever rod I buy.

Yeah very nice. I've been looking at the shorter nitro spin range for fishing of the kayak - they're all beautiful rods - but I can't justify the money for them at the moment. And can't go wrong with the saltist either. It's on my list to try out as a replacement contender for my Tufftackle XTA5000 which fell to pieces on a rat king last weekend! Hope they do you well for the Pirtek! Paul

Saturday will be doing prep for sunday (re-tieing leaders, greasing reels, etc), as well as getting various baits in (who knows what we'll need!). Sunday will be fishing the Pirtek. Where depends entirely on the species but I'm hoping to fish two sessions to cover both the outgoing and incoming tides. It's interesting that a few people seem to think that flatty's will be in the target species list. I'm hoping for a curveball like tailor or trevally, something different. Good luck to everyone who takes part. Post your pics and stories even if you dont catch as it's all for a good cause. Paul

I think Apple have finally copyrighted the lowercase "i" and are systematically removing it from advertising material all around the world

Welcome Nautica!! Yep certainly echo Slinky's words. Read read read, ask ask ask - helped my fishing no end! Looking forward to your trip reports! Paul

Yep got mine too - I'm quite impressed actually, particularly with the hat! I find myself getting quite excited about the day now too I really hope I bump into a few more people who have entered on the day The letter that came with them says to take a few extra shots with us holding the fish, in case they need them for publication etc - that might be quite tricky for those who are fishing alone, or even worse fishing from a kayak like I probably will. Gonna be tricky to take my own pic

Yep liking it! Good work team! Paul

Cool first time I've seen them - how are they for eating? Might have to go try tempt a few! I'm presuming bread would be the go for them, just like poddys?

Quick report from me today as I'm late for work! Got to Balmoral at 6:20am to find the water still brown and full of rubbish but clearer than it has been. Managed to get a bucket of yakkas in quickfire fashion which I thought was a good sign for the day. None of those tiny chopper tailor around that has plagued us recently, thank god as they've taken me down to my last couple of size 12 hooks First yakka out got munched within minutes - short run on the baitrunner but no hookup and didn't see the culprit. Second yakka I could see was getting mouthed around by something and thought I had lost it so reeled in to find that it was still on - for about 2 more seconds because then the first bonnie of the day grabbed it and whizzed off! Quick tussle and landed it. Next livie out also got hit, but no hookup. Called it for a bonnie again as I could see it splashing the surface next to my float. There were a couple of other guys there (who read FR but have never posted so I made them promise to write a report!!!) who were bait fishing with pillies and not catching much so I suggested they try a lure for the bonnies. They only had one - a 20gm halco twist - which was perfect! They were getting into them pretty quickly so I grabbed the only metal I had with me - a 40gm twisty - and joined the fun. All up I landed 6 bonnies, the biggest going 42cm, and dropped maybe another 5-6. Kept three for a feed for family and friends. Met another raider there too - Dais (spelling?) - who got into the bonnies too with a twisty and managed a few. He also had something tear off with a livie that was unstoppable - no headshakes either so no idea what it was but it was big. Finished up just after 9am when it was starting to get hot and the chopper tailor turned up. Just as I was leaving there was a large school of something I hadn't seen there before. They were quite big maybe 60-70cm+ and the school was at least 50 strong, but I couldn't make out what they were as they were too deep. Possibly large mullet or jews - moving quite slowly so not palagic. Who knows! Long, storey short, Balmoral is firing despite the water colour! And I just realised that wasn't a quick report either Oh well! Paul

Hi Groper, That's a great haul! Sounds like you had a top day! Just curious but do you keep your bonnies for baits later as I hear they don't freeze well at all for eating? If so, do they need to be salted? Cheers Paul

Sounds good. I'm not there for a few weeks yet so hopefully things will settle down after all the rain. I had read about the marine park but thankfully I think that is further up towards the north end of Tallow beach near the headland. Paul

Hi raiders, Im off up to Byron Bay for a week soon with family. We're lucky enough to have hired a beach house right on Tallow Beach so with water at my feet I just *have* to take a rod Now I don't think I'm going to be able to spend much time fishing due to being there with family but there's a good chance of getting out for an hour in the mornings before breakfast. So can anyone tell me what it's like up there? Is is worth throwing slices for salmon, plastics for flathead & bream, poppers for whiting, or just plain old surf bait fishing (bearing in mind I'll be walking from the house so no driving out to the headland etc)? I'm hoping lures are the go so I don't have to think about getting/storing/smelling of bait Any info appreciated! Thanks Paul

ROFL

I always struggle catching yakkas at spit bridge land based too. As you say you can usually see them in the burley but hooking them is another matter. The sweep and baby tailor get to the bait before the yakkas can! On a couple of occasions now I've hit Balmoral at first light to get a bucket of yakkas and then transported them to the spit using an aerator to keep them alive. Much more reliable if you're serious about getting into the kings there. Catching squid and using them live is another option too. Again balmoral is a good spot for catching them but it might take you a bit longer to get enough for a session, so start early an hour or so before dawn.