exhail

Went wide yesterday off Sydney to find the hot current and what ever was cruising down it. Found it about 35nm east of botany and around 25.5C. As soon as we got there saw a good size blue or black free jumping and also a heap of dolphins. Trolled around the area for a couple of hours looking for a good edge as it was a bit patchy and found it just south of Heatons. Trolled north on the hot clean side and got a good take on the long corner. Had a nice blue of 150kg after an hour battle on 24kg. Popped the leader as we were putting a bill rope on him so only a couple of poor deep photos next to the boat. The waters great out there, good edge with heaps of weed and junk in it. Hooked an old rose bush as we got to close at one point. Goes from about 22 to 25.5 degrees. Current is raging south, gps said we were only doing 5knts but the lures were going very hard. Cheers Joel Trophic 6

Delicious as sashimi and lightly fried in a pan. I always keep them to eat straight away or the day after and freeze the rest for bait. Don't over cook it!

Thanks mr e.d.

Hey guys, Does Roseville ramp get very busy on Boxing Day? What's the capacity for trailer parking down there? Cheers

Well thats great news guys! Sorry to here of your day cut short, not to worry, there's a full season ahead! Did they take sea sick tabs before the trip? Where did you get the kings? Did you get them on jigs?

Ha ha, best net fumbling action followed by a miraculous gill grab! Well done on the 35lb mono! The fish looks a bit skinny through the stomach, very similar to one I got from the 12 mile a couple of months ago. What was in its gut?

Thanks for the update buddy. Good to hear what's going on, even if there's nothing going on.

Had a couple of mates keen for a fish last Thursday, they're both quite inexperienced and happy to chase anything. The weather looked great and I had a freezer full of pilchards, stripey frames, slimeys and a few fresh bonito I'd saved from the day before, so I made the call to head wide. After a quick search around botany for live baits to no avail, we headed to browns with a nice 10kt SW behind us and got to browns around 9am. As i set up two jig outfits and explained how to cube, jig and burley to the boys, we heard chat on the radio of people losing their bottom fish to sharks! We got the burley trail going and i decided to keep the cubes for later in the afternoon. After 5 mins had a hit on a jig but pulled the hooks which the boys were devastated with, but Within 15mins we had a nice Mako circling the boat. I clipped on a pre-rigged leader and circle to the 50W, threaded it through a fresh bonito slab and lobbed it out. The Noah swallowed it down and the circle found its spot. A few back flips and 40mins later, he was thrashing beside the boat. I was only using 120lb leader with a 9/0 circle, so as soon as you grab the leader and put a bit of pressure on at the boat, and he thrashes around a bit, it pops for a quick easy release. As we were fighting this fish, we had another follow us till the end of the fight. So after a quick gimbal change, and leader change with a butterflied slimy attached, we were on again. With me being able to concentrate on driving this time, we had him boat side in about 20mins. We dropped a fresh tuna frame in the pot and gave it a few mashes and viola', another Mako was nibbling on the pot. So we gimbald up the next crew member, hooked and landed our third. We were all pretty knackered from the excitement so we had a few beers, sandwiches and decided to feed the two sharks that had joined us for lunch by rope instead of hooking up again. At around 12pm we started a cube trail and landed a nice Albacore on a jig, around 8kg. The Makos wouldn't leave and kept eating our cubes so i fed it one with a 16/0 and wire trace attached so we could get some close up photos. We ended the day with 4/4 Makos released around 120kg each and a delicious Albacore that was shared with friends and family. I think it's my favourite fish, sashimi and cooked rare. Unfortunately i didn't take my tag pole on the trip, very disappointing. None the less, a very successful and enjoyable trip. JA - Trophic 6

Hi guys, I'm about to make up some live bait tubes for my boat out of stainless pipe. 4 for slimeys and 2 for bonito/frigates etc. I'm thinking 3inch for slimeys and maybe 5 inch for bonito and frigates. Any advice on what sizes people are using would be great. Cheers.

Went close off palm beach today and found plenty of bonito. Found them following the scum line out from the head land in 20m to 45m of water on the troll. Kept a few for bait.Has any one heard of tuna reports off Sydney over the last two days? Heading out tomorrow and would like to know if anyone's got any albacore or yft before i go wide.

Good luck boys!

Great surface action footage boys. Well done!

Hey guys, I'll be out on tomorrow. Heading to the patch between the two warm eddies ENE of botany. Trolling till we hit some good water then might cube, looks about 60km out. Boats called "Trophic 6" on channel 21. Good luck to everyone!

Purple yamashita got a couple quickly for me yesterday near bear I.

Hey guys, myself and 3 mates are all set to fish for the morning but the tow vehicle has just fallen through. The boat weighs over three tonne so the vehicle needs a high tow capacity. We're going wide chasing game fish so you're welcome to come along. Call me on 0409342631

You should have approached them if they were taking undersize fish. There are always people keeping undersize fish at the south head of Maroubra and I have no issues with questioning them. It's tough, but has to be done.

Well done on landing your first and great report. Good to hear they're on their way down.

Im boatless for two more weeks and have been for four months. They should be off Syd by the time my boat lands. Hopefully we get another run of wahoo!

Good to finally hear a report and that there are tuna around hitting lures. Great stuff

Well done on the troll, delicious as well.

Share the pic dude!

Ha ha, " I now only want to chase game fish". Sounds familiar. Brilliant.

About time some one put a report up! Great fish fellas. How much fuel did the cat use to Heatons and back?

Hi Raiders, Has anyone installed top mount outriggers on a hardtop walk around style boat? I'm looking to set up taco grand slams on a 23 proline express hard top, but the hard top seems a bit flimsy. Even with backing plates it seems they would put a lot of stress on the top. Any advice? Cheers

Hello all, Made the call on saturday night to head wide on sunday. The weather was looking great and surface temps weren't too bad.There looks to be great water about 250km south east of botany at 2000 fathoms, unfortunately my range for the day was restricted to about 50km. My regular fishing buddy had to move house so he was out. My girlfriend is as keen as beans to catch a big tuna so she was in and another mate also joined who doesnt fish and had never been offshore before, I promised i'd have him home by 10pm. We left for browns around 1:30pm and trolled the area for an hour or so. Had a good hit on a30ft X-rap on the 24kg gear, took a fair bit of line and dropped it after about 20sec. We started cubing at 4pm 2km north east of browns and were drifting at 2.5knots south east. I jigged till dark for doughnuts, we also had a slab of striped tuna off the outrigger which wasn't touched. My mate had a touch around 6pm but missed the hook, 15mins later we landed a stripey. We cubed for another hour or so until we used up all the pillies then decided to head home. As my girlfriend and i packed up the rods, my mate emptied the dirty pilly love tub over the side. I started the engine and was washing my hands over the side, as I noticed a large silhouette cruise past. After i changed my shorts, we clipped a trace onto the 24kg gear and lobbed a nice slab of stripey out for him. We waited for a few minutes but he was gone, so we started the engine back up to gain his attention, sure enough he came back. We watched him munch our tasty treat including a 14/0 circle. As the hook found its place he splashed behind the boat and slowly the reel turned to expose a fatal loop of line hanging out of place on the spool. It must have happened while packing the rods away in the dark. As he started to move i had to leave it and hope for the best, not an ideal place to have your fingers when he decides to run. He moved to the bow and thrashed in the water and sure enough the line snapped at the spool. As we all sighed with disappointment, a 2m mako with a shiny new lip ring launched about 1.5m out of the water next to the engine. Im sure i saw his finger up. At the rest of the crews request, i put another loaded meal out for him to no avail. We packed up again and headed home. My Mate got home around 10:30, Im sure the action was worth the extra half hour.