Kooks

Found a clip...but not the one I watched.

Thanks Mulloway man, Those Lucky Craft Sammy's look great and the Virals really do look identical to the Sugarpens. I've also seen that you can replace the treble at the end of the lure with some stinger/assist hooks. So the fish don't need to get as close before they strike. There is a video but I can't find it.

This is a follow up of my post about catching my first whiting on surface lures. I'm currently using a Bassday Sugarpen 70mm. See pic. I'm keen to get everyone's opinions on various questions to shed some light on this Whiting craze. Walk the Dog vs Poppers? - What is better. Favourite Lure? (brand/size/colour) - Add a pic would be great. Best technique/tips to get whiting to strike? I've had problems with follows but not strikes. Fast vs slow retrieve? cheers Kooks

Hi Raiders, As a chritmas gift for myself I decided to get a ultralight combo to see what all the fuss is about Whiting on surface lures. So I ended up getting a Diawa Laguna 2-8lb 7 ft graphite rod and matched with a Diawa Laguna 2500 reel and loaded it with 4lb nanofil. I bought an Atomic Hardz K9 Walker 60mm to chuck around. So I spent a few days up in Coffs harbour chasing whiting. I had plenty of Whiting following the lure but no strikes. I wasn't really digging the action of the atomic as it has a bit of a sickly side roll on it. So to cut a long story short I caught nothing. So i decide to get a new lure when I came back to sydney. On advice of a helpful bloke at the tackle store I bought a Bassday Sugarpen 70mm. So on Australia day I decided to give it a test down at Gunnamatta in the Shire. It was a super low tide that day So there were plenty of flats to wander around. Right out of the box the lure worked treat. 1st cast and I'm on to a whiting. Next cast I had a few hits but no hook ups then about 20 min later I'm in to another. That was it for the day but I'm enjoying my progress from bait to lures over the past year. Here's my lure. I have a ton of questions that I've put in the chat section so I don't want to clog up the report section. http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=67297 Cheers Kooks

How much time have you spent squidding? I'm not great but I do ok at times. My biggest bit of advice is spend time fishing for squid and nothing else. Forget about the Jew or king and just squid for a a week or so. I spent every night for 2 weeks of lonely nights squidding different locations. I learn so much from this...such as How different twitch techniques can induce bites. How to impart a tantalising prawn like action to my jig. Seeing how squid actually attack the jig. How different weights work ie drop time and action Which jig colours work better. The biggest bonus was I found various squid locations and from that I understood what variables they like. So get out there. The 3 things may help locating them are kelp/seaweed sand Clean water

Good question. I usually catch them in the morning just before sun up and use them through the morning/day. I've never had much luck past 7am except 1 location up the nth coast. So i'm a bit stumped too. I guess your/our options are limited as we are land based. If I have wanted to use them later in the day what I have done is caught them in the morning and used an aerator to keep them alive. I also collect a couple of buckets of water to change the water every so often.

I'd go the 4 entry round pot as it give more opportunity for the crabs to get in. I personally use the stinkiest slab of tuna and put it in a bait bag. As for sydney I don't know locations although I have caught them at Berowra but it not a prime location. The further north you go the more you get as they prefer a warmer climate. I head up to the the Nth coast every year at christmas to see the family and catch about 12 in a week. It's like christmas was when I was a kid...I'm getting excited only a few more sleeps til I get my muddies. I guess you can scout around but my tips on locations are... Muddie/Mangrove areas Steep muddie banks Good tidal flow (I think this works as it takes the scent further) I find the best time is a high tide during the early part of the night. I always seem to have two in my pot if that occurs. So leave the pot for as long as possible. Ideally 12 hrs or check it on the tide change. Here some of my beauties from last year...mmm

Aren't you worried about the dioxins from around homebush way? Kissing point is really close to the toxic area and the muddie would living the toxic mud. You're braver than me.

Nice session. It would be great to know the rough location (Nth, South, East, West?). I've been waiting for a few of these post before I venture out for the Kingie session.

When rigging livies for Kingies I prefer to use a float with about 2 metres of line to the hook. This makes for a more visual experience and is a good depth as I often fish in about 4-5 metres when fishing from land in the harbour. I use about a no. 5 sinker. to keep the bait down. Depending on how many livies I have I usually use a 4/0 -5/0 to pin the yakka just in front of the dorsal fin and one smaller stinger hook (3/0) near the tail. This double hook method will reduce the life of you bait but it double your hook up...especially if a big bonnie or salmon turn up as they seem to like eating them tail first. If you are running low on yakkas go just one dorsal hook. Bare in mind I have only caught a couple of kingies but this is a no fuss method for me.

I also took some plastics. Atomic plazos and some pre rigged Tsunamis. They didn't really work for me offshore as the current was too strong and land based they didn't do I from me. That being said it could have been a different story as a 1.5 metre Spanish followed up my Plazo. Here's my older post about Fiji http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=62510&st=0&p=437750&hl=+fiji%20+landbased&fromsearch=1entry437750

I just got back from Fiji about a month ago. I took my own gear as I like landbased fishing. I fished mainly land based with a few boat jaunts thrown in. I was hoping for a decent GT to hop on my line but to no avail but I was still fun. My set up was as follows. 7 Foot 6-8kg Shimano Raider II Travel rod Okuma trio 40s spooled with 15lb braid I took a selection of hard, soft and metals. I have attached an image of the majority of the lures I took. The bibbed lures worked the best accounting for about 80% of my catches such as Trevally, Coral Trout and mackerel. I used these as casting lures and trolled them as well. My fav was a Rapala slashbait 10 followed by my storm Bara - Both in pilchard colour. The poppers worked ok during the morning but seemed to attract mainly barracuda. The blades got a few bumps but no hook ups...It's the first time I used them. The metal slices didn't work for me, which surprised me. My advice is go early or the first part of a rising tide if you are land based as all the fish scramble to get their lunch before anyone else.

There are a few articles on this site to help you out. Your technique could be right but if the location or time is not good then you will have no hope. Read these for guidance and practice, practice, practice. http://www.fishraider.com.au/fishing-articles/how-to-catch-squid.php http://www.fishraider.com.au/fishing-articles/spit-bridge-squidding.php http://www.fishraider.com.au/fishing-articles/squidding-sydney-harbour.php

Unweighted bait works for me. Peeled prawn but sometimes they are fussy and only eat bread....so try different things of they aren't biting.

LIKE good post...bad result. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Oh and I forgot add I caught 4 squid. I was hoping for more from one of my usual haunts but it was quitet for me hence why I was loitering round Nth sydney wharf.

I think I saw a barra amongst the weeds near nth Syd wharf this morning. I was fishing for squid when I noticed a largish dark shape next to the kelp in about 1.5 m of water. I was pretty much on top of it and due to it's blackish colour thought it was a large blackfish but I noticed the white stripe on the top of the head. I'd say it was about 40cms. I threw my jig at it to get a better look and it rolled on it's side a bit and went sluggishly in to the weed and just sat there with his head poking out.. I'm 98.8833% sure it was a barra...mainly due to the stripe on the head...any other fish have such markings? So I assume some one has dumped it in there as he seemed very sluggish and dark in colour...But I thought they went silver in saltwater. So the colour change may be a due to it's health.?? I'm now wondering why I didn't take a photo.

Top effort. I got some questions. Were you ocean or harbour side? What brand of jigs were you using? What colour worked best? cheers

Pan fry but don't over cook...that's the key.

I've given up smoking so I'll have to try a different technique

I haven't bought the rod yet. I've had a look at it in store but I'm waiting til about a month out so I get duty free on the gear I'm buying. I have the reel already but yet to even spool it yet...maybe this weekend. I'm looking at the snapper 6 foot 6-8kg rod. There is the heavier snapper one that is 6-10kg but it seemed too stiff to flick around lighter lures. I'd have a look at the heavier one if you use a reel bigger than 4000...but head in to a store to test them out. I'd also consider a Okuma travel. I haven't seen one but I'm a bit of a fan of Okuma. The 4piece 3-7 kg could be a good fit for a salmon/ small jew rod. I think they are about $150 though http://www.okuma.com.au/Okumahome/show_one_product.aspx?productgroup=Rods&titleid=GraphiteTravel&iid=280&tech= If I had more money...let me rephrase that if my lady let me spend my money, I'd get this one. About $250 https://www.okumafishing.com/product/view/rods/inshore/nomad-inshore-travel

Cool...I'm staying at the same place. Any tips for fishing there? Did you fish off the beach or kayaks? PM me any info of charters etc

The sale is over but I can send you the link...they might be on sale again

I'm with Sharknett on the heavier line class...well at least til I have sussed out the area. I go about 20lb- 30lb. I don't like losing my expensive jigs to kelp beds. Once I'm happy I know the lay of the land I switch down to a 8lb fluro leader.

Where have you tried? Just find a wharf with lights and go after dark. I've only recently started catching them. It took a good 6 months of dabbling and month of solid (3 times a week) squidding to get a better understanding for how to catch them. You almost have to think like a squid What technique do you use?