Mr Squidy

Great stuff Yowie, i'm sure you were glad to see the sun come up out there!!! Rich

What are you chasing? Shore based or boat? I have a 4000 Ci4 with 20lb braid on a Abu Veritas 6'6" 6-10Kg rod that I use from a boat for jewies, kings, dollies, etc. Fish a mix of soft plastics, live and dead bait depending on what we are chasing. Love that outfit to bits and rod goes for about $150 from memory. Cheers, Rich

Top stuff Jani, great looking fish!! I love hearing about different fishing experiences around the world so your reports are always fascinating, thanks for sharing. Rich

You must be confused, the mate who holds those records has a mug like a horse's backside Cheers though Dan. Does get a tad disappointing when the the PB jewie, king and now red for my boat all belong to passengers, but one of these day's that karma has to pay back in spades... Surely?!?! Rich

I'm sure the reps at that store will be highly knowledgeable and provide you with top advice. They may even be able to tell you which part of the rod you hold on too As for a genuine answer, the most important thing is that the outfit is 'balanced'. In every fishing outfit there is a trade off between the advantages of having gear that is light and responsive so you feel bites, don't get exhausted, etc vs gear that has brute power to land bigger fish. Due to this there is no sense in having a small light reel on a super heavy rod as you are just going to get the worst of both worlds. An outfit that is heavy and clunky but also one that doesn't have the power needed to match what the rod can do. Based on what you have been able to provide I suspect your reel is slightly smaller than it should be to 'balance' the outfit but it is hard to know by how much without all the details. Try and confirm the rod material for starters as graphite/fibreglass. Fibreglass are much heavier rods for their weight range and as such would usually go a slightly larger reel, maybe something in the 6000 - 8000 range. Graphite being lighter and more sensitive usually works nicely with a slightly smaller reel so you might be good there, I'd be looking in the 4000 - 6000 range depending on the rod in question. For comparison I personally run a 4000 shimano stradic Ci4 on a 6'6" abu garcia Veritas 6-10Kg graphite rod with 20lb braid and its an amazing outfit. Theory is great but at the end of the day, if it feels comfortable to use, is sensitive enough for your preferred method of fishing and has the stopping power you need that is all that counts. Cheers, Rich

Nice work Dave, looks a beautiful part of the world to be fishing. No doubt those trevs would be great fun on the light gear. Cheers, Rich

What a capture, well done indeed. Rich

Yeah, I grew up fishing nippers on hand lines around the deeper bays in the Hacking. Those Jewies are great fun when the line really starts pulling through your fingers. Don't use hand lines much these days but I reckon it was the best way to learn how to properly play out a big fish. Cheers, Rich

Nice result inside for this time of year, looks like the rain is keeping it ticking along which is great. Shame that biggger Jew couldn't find 2cm more for you!! Still a nice catch at 73cm. Cheers, Rich

Great report Yon, one of the most exciting types of fishing you can get casting at big schools of Sambo's, such a great sports fish. We are certainly lucky in this city to have this on our doorstep and to still be able to enjoy these sorts of things while the world is going crazy, Cheers, Rich

I came very close to having to sell my boat a few years ago for similar very reasons so understand how disapointing that can be. Lived in a unit and used to store it at my Dad's place but he decided he had to downsize so I was going to be left without a spot to keep it. I had pleanty of mates telling me just to keep it on the street in front of a park or the like but always knew if it came to that I would inevitably have to sell it for all the reasons you've just spoken of. Thankfully the place my Dad was buying off plan ran quite late and in that time my wife and I were able to stretch ourselves a little and buy our first house which has a decent street frontage on a culdesac, so I was able to keep the boat. As you say, there are pleanty of people worse off in the world but it still hurts to have one of your passions in life taken away in that fashion and there is certainly a whole lot of emotional attachement that builds up with a boat that you have fished off for many years. Hope you still get out there pleanty with your mates and with the kayak. You're clearly an extremely knowledgable fisho so I'm sure there should always be people keen to have you along. Well done putting it down as a warning for others. Cheers, Rich

Nice work braving the cold nights for some fish. They are solid lumps those PJs, quite a few abouts at the moment. Rich

Great report guys. Shame not to bag a few more but sounds like a great learning experience for Crusher, im sure it will translate into some good fish on future trips. Cheers, Rich

Thanks All, Not quite to the level of your Port Stephens monsters Scracthie but finally feels like we are heading in the right dirrection. Definitley time for me to go back and review your write up on these fish now 👍 Cheers, Rich

Top breambo's there, well done!! Rich

Top stuff, great feed of fish there. I love getting the salmon now I've got a decent fish cake recipe. Just cant expect to fry them up and have them eat like flatties. We've had them in curries before that was pretty good as well. Rich

Nice bag flatties Yowie. Interesting to pull out that little Occy. looks a cracker bait for a Jew, I know what I'd be doing with him, 6/0 circle first thing in the morning... Rich

Thanks all for the replies, Yeah the Jackets are an absolute pest, reckon we lost half a dozen rigs to them but at least they were manageable. Eat alright at that size too. Deffinitley seems that way on these fish. The amount of hours i've wasted on Osbourne shoal... 😕 Yeah, really hopeful. Its such a long trip trying to get down to the hump or similar spots. I usually find if the weather is good enough for me to take my boat that far I'd prefer to head off shore to the FAD or trying our luck finding a Tuna (one day...). We saw one Southern Wright go past and lots of dolphins Sunday but didn't notice any cuttle bones yet. Great to hear you saw some 👍 Fishing is such a great way to spend a day when things like whale watching just becomes and added bonus on the side. Yep, not quite the same reef available out of PH as there is to the other systems. Thanks Yowie, I owe you for those Salmon in the first photo 👍👍 We snagged them over the flats in front of South West arm a couple of days after your report where you'd got into a couple over there. Cheers Rich

Mates and I often head out front in winter when the Hacking is shutdown and bottom bounce for a feed of flatties and over the last few years I often spend a little time trying some of the obvious reefs for snapper. Aside from the odd smallish fish here or there we've never had much luck and as such it's always felt like one fish that I really can't claim to have figured out. Anyway, back at the start of June I was out with two mates bouncing for flatties and we hit a very small patch of reef I didn't know was there and up came a nice 40cm pannie. We re-drifted the patch half a dozen times before the day came to a close and manged to grab four more keepers and three throw backs making it one of the best sessions I'd had on sanpper off Cronulla. Pic of that days catch, salmon and tailor were all from inside the river: Anyway, having found a nice looking mark I was very keen to give it another shot. Unfortunately, the boat was then out of action for a few weeks but $1,000 in repairs latter I finally had it back ready for a session on the weekend just gone. Launched with my mate Dan around 6.30am and headed straight to the spot. Unfortunately the westerly was quite stiff to start and our drift was just that bit to quick. By about 10.30 we had a couple of flatties, a mowie, pigfish and a leather jacket in the bag and had only seen one undersized snapper at 27cm which obviously went back. The weather then really started to improve with the wind dropping off but we lost two rigs in a row to jackets and decided last drift before we would shift to getting a feed of flatties. Just as we were past the back of the reef and about to call it my mates rod buckles over and its game on. This fish wasn't zipping about enough to be a king or shark but was still pulling good line so we knew it wasn't just a banjo/PJ or the like. Given this I called it straight away as a really nice red. I'd tried many times to convince my mates it was worth figuring these fish out as we were a chance at a really good fish but I'm not sure they ever really understood/believed it. Anyway, after a great fight on lightish gear we had a 64cm red in the net and I can safely say that Dan is now a believer. Such a great looking fish once they get up to this size, reckon he was somewhere around the 3.5-4kg mark, we were both stoked. Given this catch we obviously persisted and managed four more keepers ranging from 30 to 40cm along with some more assorted fish to nicely fill out the bag. Absolutely stoked to finally have a couple of successes in a row now on these fish, fingers crossed we might just be starting to crack the code on another species. Can't wait to get back out there and give it a try over August when the dead cuttles hopefully show up. Cheers, Rich

HI Mate, I used to fish there for squid a couple of times week over a good few years. In that time i only saw one person target Blackfish properly there but he cleaned up, nice bag of at least 7 or 8 fish. Thing is he was a much older bloke who really knew his stuff, the sought who'll tell you "the first 40 years of fishing for them is tricky but they come easy after that". He had his burly and weed all ready to go and I reckon he knew they were there up river at that specific time as I never saw him back there again. Anyway, yes you can get them there so give it shot. Great spot for land based fishing. Cheers, Rich

Oh well? Oh well?!?! Most of us down here in Sydney would be close to tears loosing a 70cm red boat side haha. You guys sure have a great fishery up there. Shame to loose a couple of good fish but still a nice feed to come home with, top stuff as always. Rich

Also some that are protected and can land you in pretty serious trouble if you keep them illegally. Always best to release a fish if you cant identify it and make sure you find out for next time. Cheers

Just awesome fishing you and your kids are getting right now John, top stuff.

Awesome stuff, you never forget your first Jew!!! They really are a fish that rewards commitment and dedication to the fundamentals more than most which makes them one of the most satisfying captures when it all comes together. Cheers, Rich

I regularly fish the Hacking of a night. Virtually every trip we see boats moving at speed with no lights in pitch black. Only a matter of time before there is a collision and a tragedy out there... Rich