Mr Squidy

Great catch as always Yowie, certainly seems the pillie schools and tailor/salmon/bonnies/kings/etc are all a bit late showing up in any real numbers this year. Cheers, Rich

That's one confusing game of chess... Nice catch and good work getting your son into the sport, he'll never look back!! Cheers Rich

One for any raiders up that way in case you haven't already seen it. Looks ridiculous!!! http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/depths-of-despair-as-20000-ravenous-kingfish-hit-port-stephens-marine-park-20180201-h0rpqi.html Might explain Scratchies catches up their recently!! Cheers Rich

Nice work as always Yowie, always good to see the reddies getting up to legal. Any signs of pillie schools abouts in the morning? Was that what the rats were chasing? Nothing wrong with keeping a jew that's 70cm on the dot, a couple of years back that was 25cm over the size limit!!! Good on you for all the efforts to release her though. Cheers R

Yeah, our drift did go past it but got his one a reasonable distance off. R

Yep, certainly does, the Australian Museum also have a tail pic also here Marbled Flathead Tail Cheers R

Caught an interesting 35cm flattie on the weekend in 55m off of Marley and in looking for the answer on what it was I came across this old post. Definitely looks a perfect match to the one in the post including the blue/green fins. Based on the suggestions did some more searching and found the following link to the Australian Museum Marble Flathead and its a definite lock so madasacutsnake was on the money (tail was definitely dark with no markings other than a white edge). Know its an old post to bring up but might help anyone else looking to identify one of these interesting critters in the future. Cheers, Rich

Yep, for squid a reel with very smooth drag and small increments to the setting at lower drag levels is far more important than the rod its sitting on. For me these days, get a shimano sonic pro for under $50 and you've got a great little rod for squiding. You should be able to get one with a sienna real for about $60. I use these as my light weight set up for fun on pretty much everything from squid to dolphin fish. Great set ups and who cares if you eventually break it or such at that price. Just silly how good some of the cheaper gear is now. Cheers Rich

Some seriously impressive adventures there mate, top stuff and thanks for the reports. Cheers, R

Thanks Volitan, great info there for everyone.

Epic. I'm guessing Lord Howe Island, they get some big tuna of the stones there pretty regularly. Cheers Rich

Hard to complain that the rules are too harsh when we have huge stretches of beach in Sydney where they are practically extinct. Rich

Yeah, Bream love an unweighted slowly sinking bait, reckon your rig would have had it wafting down perfectly for em. R

Good on ya bojulabah!!

Great fish, love those soft plastic vibes, absolute killers...

Top Stuff Yowie.

Spotlights are best avoided imo as they really dont show you that much more that you can travel at speed, all they do is blind the guy in the boat coming the other way. Just keep your speed down to a sensible level . Rich

Great footage mate, thanks for sharing.

Great stuff as always Yowie, you never miss a feed. Was out there a week or so back and got a few watson's leaping bonito along with a heap of tailor so they may have been surface fish you were spotting rather than frigates. Rich

That looks an awesome trip mate!! Great work in making the effort and and thanks for the interesting report. Maybe the site should start a section or thread for most interesting places members have fished? great for travel ideas and I'm sure there are a million amazing fishing spots i'm still yet to hear about. Rich

Been a few things with big teeth abouts the Hacking recently. As you say, not sure I'd be dressing up like a seal and splashing about outside the baths there at the moment. Rich

Great fish on 6lb mate, especially landing her solo, well done. Rich

As others have said, its all about what you do with it. Aus Salmon can tend to be a bit dry when cooked so avoid just frying them in a pan. Most people who don't like eating them do this and then declare them as not worth keeping. Lots of ways to use them that avoid this problem as people have said like curries, fish cakes, etc.I usually do it as ceviche with mint, coriander, lime juice, fresh chilli and cubes of avo. Last trip I did this along with Thai style fish cakes using tailor, both fish a lot of people turn their noses up at. Suffice to say I'd have missed out on a bloody awesome meal if i'd thrown these all back.

The Stradics are one of the most proven reels out there in that price range imo, A season or two back I hooked a small black marlin (40-50kg or so) on my 8000 Stradic FJ and we would have landed it if the hooks hadn't pulled after 17min connected, the reel never skipped a beat (although it was a tad warm)... I also have a 3000 that I've used for about six years now on school sized jew and kings and its as good as the day I got it with minimal maintenance (oiled maybe once a year). As for size, a 5000 will do fine for jew and 98% of the kings you'll ever come across. For really big kings I'd look at a 6000 but this will be overkill and not as much fun to use on the majority of the fish you'll get as it will be a heavier outfit (The 5K to 6K step is much bigger than the 4k-5k). Another option if you want to go lighter again is the Stradic Ci4, I have a 4000 paired with a Veritas 6-10kg rod which is just and awesomely powerful outfit for its weight and certainly capable of handling any jew and most kings. At the end of the day it is always a trade off of fun/sport of a lighter outfit vs the ability to really lock up on a big fish. Best to have a look in store and feel the difference for yourself, especially if you can mount them to your intended rod and feel the hole outfit as a combo. Cheers, Rich

HI Wellzy, I've got a surf cannon as well and they are a great start for what you are after. At some point you will need to replace the guides as they are cheap and start rusting pretty quickly but they used a damn good blank for those rods considering the price, got mine for $60 also\. I'd look to go a bigger reel than the 4000 as they cop a beating with that sort of fishing, the bigger reels are just more forgiving for dealing with repeat casting, sand, etc, something like an 8000 would work better. I've found 20lb braid is perfect, casts well and enough strength for casting heavier lures. 21g lures will be a little light given you really want to get some distance on the casts, I'd be going more around the 40-60g range at least. Buy some cheapies to start and see what you are comfortable casting. Lastly, Wanda can be a tough beach, you are going to get very sore and tired with all the casts between fish, good luck though. Rich