Kooks

Possibly the best post ever.

Get a sugarpen and you'll be sorted.

I'd be happy with that for a quick session. What size shad were you using? and what set up? I do a bit of spinning but with some lighter gear - 4-6kg 7 foot rod & 10lb braid. I've been looking to up the ante. I'm thinking a 9 ft graphite rod, 6-8kg that can handle lure weight approx. 60gm. Something like the Jewel.

Rough location??

Sorry for the late report. I went out for a quick flick Monday morning down at clontarf. I was hoping for some topwater whiting. I got there about 2 hour after low as the tide was filling in. Unfortunately only the little guys wanted to play. So nothing to talk about. While in the flats, behind me a jumping mullet got my attention. It was hurtling across the surface. At first I thought it was chasing some food but soon noticed about 5 dark shadows chasing it. Mind you it was in about foot of water but I couldn't make them out. They were about 60cm and dark so maybe Salmon or Tailor. So as they scream off to deep water I cast off my stiffy popper and it gets whacked...literally. So much so it gets launched. It's like the fish took a swipe at it and missed and as it returned to the water it flicked it with it's tail and displaced my lure about a metre away. I continued to cast for naught. I'm not sure how I would have gone on 4lb nanofil anyway. Soon after that a small bust up happened about 20 metres away in the drop off. I cast at the edge and got smashed on first pop. I pulled in a tailor about 25 cm. I caught a few more before that moved on due to a cormorant getting stuck into them. So not what I planed but tailor on poppers was a first for me. So that's a bonus. Any tips how to get the bigger whiting to get on the bite if they are uninterested??

yeh i use 10lb leader on 8lb braid

Yeh I've got some new Yamas as I've lost a few on the bottom. I got one with "live" warm jackets. I got one in orange cloth with a glow and another "live" jacket in a natural prawn colour. I'm not to sure where to go to get deeper. Most of the spots I work are between 1-4 meters. I'll have to have a think about that.

Hey all, I've been doing some early mornings trying to get some squid but I've caught none. I've tried 3 times for nothing. Usually I snag at least a couple. Am I losing my mojo? I'm land based and I've tried various wharves in the east and around balmain. I've even headed down to the hacking..all for naught. How's everyone else fairing? I spoke to a charter skipper and he said he's been struggling too? What gives?

I'm counting my sleeps til the weekend.

I had interesting sunday morning session. I'm still having cold sweats and flashbacks. I went to my land based spot in the east of the harbour with the hope of catching some kings. Got there before sun up and snavelled a few squid. So I chuck out my squid at bang on high tide. Within a few minutes my reel was screaming. I really need to invest in a baitfeeder as I always have the drag backed off so I don't lose my set up. So I grab my rod and dial up the drag and start winding. Nothing So I start winding in all the slack line. when i comes up tight. The bugger must have been swimming back to shore. So it's ON! Plenty of weight and swimming near the surface...so I'm thinking a salmon. Then the fish realised it's hooked and goes on a solid run. I'm talking 50+ metres without even looking like stopping. So I dial the drag up even more and he takes another 50. So now I'm looking at my 20lb mono backing. It's time to lock up the drag on my 30lb braid. I've caught 80cm kings on this set up and have been able to stop them in pretty easily. So I'm calling this thing for a metre plus. So fully locked I try and turn his head as he's heading to some moorings. Then PING! Gone. My 40lb leader popped. My knees were shaking in excitement, awe and adrenaline. So close...we not even close actually. I'm out of squid now due to pickers, so I switch to a yakka. While he's swimming I catch another jellybean size squid and chuck him out. He pretty much hit the water and was snavelled up but another king. It's another big one too. I'd still say close to a metre. So same story I'm down about 100 metres of line. So I decide to increase the drag and .... pop! Gone. This time it looks like my knot slipped as my leader had that curly look to it. So a good and bad day in my book. So i'm determined to right the wrongs. I'm buying more braid. So i'll have about 300m Buy some stronger leader: 60lb I'll also be looking at a different knot. Use a blood knot. So I'm think a uni knot is the way to go??? Also I was trying to fight the fish a bit early. I should have let him run more...but then again I was low on line. Kooks

yeh the rod is 8-10kg So roughly the same.

I'm using 30lb braid on a pfleuger salt 50 reel. It has 11kg of drag which isn't amazing but above average

I recently got smoked by some large kings. I have about 150 of braid on my reel but it was down to the backing. As I already have some braid can I tie on some more? What are the pros and cons? I'm thinking if I buy a different colour I can back the drag off when I get close to the join. This will negate the loss of breaking strain.

I didn't even know that topic category existed. I rarely scrol downl that far. Ha So the general fishing report section is bait only?

What are the parameters that define posts to go in here? I though mine was a fishing report?

I did a post yesterday about Rodd point...it seems to have disappeared??? I've noticed a lack of reports lately so I thought I'd jump into action and help out...now it's for naught. Admin, any ideas? cheers kooks

I just went for a quick flick for some topwater whiting at Rodd Point. I've never had success there but I've been working from home all day on a freelance project. So I took a hour off to have a prospect. I get down there and the water is lower than I had hoped and the wind was a bit strong. So I spent an hour flicking my surface lure with maybe one or two possible strikes/follows but the water is very brown there as it's mostly sand & mud. So 5 min before leave I see some swirls behind my lure then whack...I'm on. A bit of weight to it. So I got my PB whiting on a surface lure. I didn't measure but it would have been about 28cm. So my hr break wasn't a total waste of time. Anyways...tight lines

It fairly polluted there. Lots of rubbish and food scraps. So the bream have probably never seen prawn. Someone should make lures at imitate floating bits of bread or McDonalds fries.

I hadn't been out for a fish for about 2 weeks so I headed out on Tuesday at midday. Due to my girlfriend having the car I jumped on my mountain bike and rode the 10 minutes to Rodd Point near FiveDock. I've never been there but it has small sand flats on google maps. So I finally get there and the water is a nice shade of brown. So my sugarpen surface lure is going to struggle. The plan was to target whiting. This is were it goes wrong. The place seems lifeless. I saw a few jumping mullet and that was it. I spent an hour flicking and gave up. It was a nice interlude in the sun but I'm not to sure if I'll go back. Has anyone had better experience at Rodd point on lures.

I've found a decent deal on some BERKLEY POWERBAIT SQUID JIGS. I usually buy Yozuri or Yamas. The Berkleys are scented and designed in japan...so they could be ok. Has anyone used or had experience with them?

The lure sounds like a bumper bar

Funnily enough I was just looking at these albeit the heavier one. I've been looking for a good rod 10ft rod to chuck lives off the rocks and the SJ325 seems to fit the bill. It can cast 175gm weight. Which I assume is about the size of a yakka. So what do people think of the range?

The forum is a bit slow lately. Where's the help raiders?? Are you asking about a spot to fish through the night? If that is correct. I'm no expert but from what i have seen, done and read on this blog. I'd hit up any of the wharves in the harbour. I guarantee you will catch something if you fish through the night. As for the hawkesbury, I don't know much about landbased around there as I've only ever done it by boat.

I just came across the Jackson T-Pivot (35mm) lures. They look great but don't appear to come in bigger sizes. Has anyone used them on whiting?

Yeh I'm loving the ease and how low impact it is. Normally I'm live baiting off the rocks. Any locations you could offer up. Some place I have penciled in to check out. • Rose bay sand flats. • I spotted some sand flats at San Soci • narabeen lakes