wacko

Awesome fishing buddy!!! Plenty of sails??? Did you cast any lures at em'?? Wack'

Guys.......thanks so much for all your replies! A very memorable day for sure! Hopefully more to come this season and hope you all have a crack at some beasts! I will try and get the vids uploaded ASAP. Cheers, Wacko.

G'day Raiders!!! Well what a day!! I'm knackered, bruised and busted up but nothing can wipe the smile off my face This might be a long one.............. Good mates Bill, Tarek and myself experienced some truly memorable action on some XOS sized SYDNEY kingies today!! We met at our usual boat ramp and after some quick preparations we made haste to the squid grounds. The squid proved fairly productive and in no time we had a 'school' of them zipping around the bait tank. The call was made early to venture outside the harbour to downrigg and Popper some locations........what a call this turned out to be!! I will explain the days events in point form, cause' each fish had a story to tell..... FISH 1: We had been downrigging for around 20mins with not much doing when suddenly I marked a big shape close to the bottom on the sounder..... as the live squid passed it got hit almost on cue and ALOT of line was loosing off the Saltiga reel! I had control of the rod and pumped-up the drag to 'scary' settings, trying all the while to regain some line and control of this fish. It ran where it wanted to and all we could hope for in the shallow water, was for it to run ALONG the reef and not INTO it!!!! Bill was driving the boat out to sea when our worst fears eventuated.........the fish had made it to reef and I could feel the taut line being stretched across it!!! In a split second, I backed the drag off a fair way and Bill spun the boat 180 degrees and headed straight towards the rampaging king. I wound line like a mad-man and we ended-up straight ontop of the brute......this did the trick and we managed to get his head and our line off the bottom. I cranked the drag and worked this fish hard as we all knew the reef was only 12mtrs under us!!! A few more big runs and huge headshakes and finally this fish was coming out way The rest is history.........119cm and 15odd kgs Video of this fish will be posted soon. Fish 2: After the high-fives we set-out again and started to slow troll another squid. It was Tarek's turn and the downrigger bait got SMACKED big-time. Line was spewing off the reel and it was hard to control this big king. Tarek did really well hanging on as Bill again, gunned the boat out to deeper water. This fish was in a different league and no matter how hard the pressure we applied, the fish had made to reef and completeley destroyed the leader!!! We estimated this fish judging by the fight and drag pressure, around the 20kg mark! FISH 3: With shaking hands we set out another bait and it got hammered almost straight away. Much the same as the previous fish, this one had Bill pinned to the gunnel and was taking line off basically a locked spool! Another monster king and Bill put on immense hurt on the fish while I drove to deep water. 80lb braid and 130lb leader stretched to the max!! This proved futile and we had another monumentous bust-off!! This guy felt way bigger than the other two.....who knows 20kg+??? The braid and FG knot held fine......it's the leader being run through the reef thats the problem.... We might start running 200lb and hope that it's not too heavy that they won't take a bait?? Thats 1 big one landed and 2 huge ones lost so far!!! Crazy stuff. FISH 4: With fear of spooking the school by trolling yet another bait through them.....especially as there were two 'lost' fish freaking out down there....we changed tact and headed right along the cliffs to stick-bait and popper. My 1st cast into the wash was uneventfull.......my 2nd cast and a few big pops later a HUGE bow-wave followed my popper but no hook-up. I 'twitched' the big River2Sea popper almost like a Bass lure to entice the strike.....it sat on the surface stationary for only a second and then was engulfed by a monstrous king!! The big king stripped line off my popper outfit and we all went super hard to land this thing!.........Bill drove and towed the fish out to safety, I hung on and pumped the king with a whole stack of drag. Line kept pouring off a near locked drag reel.....but somehow, in only 11mtrs deep of water, we stayed connected! The fish eventually succumbed to the pressure and 'followed' the boat out to deeper water. A few more heart-stopping runs and power head shakes and finally we swum the big boy into the net, which broke by the way! and into the boat. For the record.......it measured 131cm and was weighed on certified scales at 22.4kg By far the best SYDNEY king I've poppered! FISH 5: I'll keep it brief......Tarek lands a Beautifull king at 109cm and approx 10kg FISH 6: Bill has a go at poppering and hooks a great king of around 1mtr. We wanted to release the fish and with a broken net, I had to try and leader it into the boat. This did'nt turn out well, as the hooks pulled out boatside. Oh well, early release......nice if I got photos though. FISH 7: Another Big king landed around the 1mtr mark!! In the end we caught 11 big Sydney kings.......we topped it off with a couple of 70-75cm fish in middle harbour in the afternoon and a couple of rats. What an amazing day!!! Thanks to Bill and Tarek for a top session . Sydney's got some big kings lurking.....I reckon it's getting better every year. I'm totally stoked with a king over 20kg IN SYDNEY and on a POPPER.....and in shallow water.....what a rush!!! I have video footage of some of the action....especially the 22kg king on popper. I will try and upload it soon guys. Heres some photos for now...... 15kg King Tarek and a nice one Big King head and R2S popper 131cm....22.4kg King on Popper! Tarek and 109cm, 10kg ish Monster king!!! hehehe Cheers, Wacko.

Hi everyone, Went out with good mate and fellow fishraider Bill on his boat. Plan was an all-out snapper misson.....Plastics in the morning, Cubing in the arvo. Well, we did'nt get one red fishing plastics....1st plan out the window! We anchored in around 35mtrs and started a steady cube trail. It was looking like a Dud of a day when finally, after around 1 hour of cubes, Bill hooks into a nice fish. It was good action from there on with some nice fish caught..... Bill taking the honours with a nice Red of around 66cm Later into the day, I hooked something powerful with no intention of coming off the bottom. A bit of rod work and 'palm on spool' extra drag got the better of this fish and we were both surprised to see a nice Blue Groper of around 72cm!! Stoked to get him on some lighter gear! Kept a few fish for a feed, then off home as the wind was getting pretty strong. A great day and thankyou to Bill for the boat and trip out. Cheers, Wacko. Wacko.

Good question mate! I have seen some old and oldish photos of Sydney snapper that would make all of us weak at the knees.....truly huge fish. These were a regular occurance off Sydney but sadly, times have changed. I reckon angling pressure has had a little to do with the general lack of numbers and also size of Snapper off Sydney....there are still good fish there, but you gotta work harder to catch em'. The reds, especially in shallower water, wise up to 'clunky, heavy rigs....old not fresh bait, thick line etc etc)....I think a bit of 'finesse' goes a long way for Sydney Snapps. North and South of Sydney, numbers of Snapper suddenly increase and sizes get better too. As for the bays.....the Reds DO still come into Botany and the Harbour....probably not in any of sort of numbers that would make it a regular fishery.....once upon a time aye! Cheers, Wacko.

Hi mate, This time of year off Sydney is quite productive for Snapps. Yes it gets windy in the arvos but usually, it's starting to blow Nor'Easter.(In winter it usually blows Westerly all day long) The Nor'Easter wind is perfect for the cube trail as it puts the back of the boat facing south when at anchor.....again, this time of year the current should be running down the coast too......back of the boat facing exactly where the cubes are floating/current direction = REDS!! Wacko.

Thankyou everyone for the replies. Stewy, No problems mate..always happy to help even if it's only in a small way. Wacko.

Great fish there mate!! Top Stuff!! But.......ALL of those fish are BASS mate....not EP's.......especially if you caught them in freshwater pools. Still, great fish in skinny water!! Cheers, Wacko.

Hi mate, I'd be happy to....... Geez, where do I start??? Ok, I'll give you a run-down on how we go about catching Reds (Cause' everyone's different) Point form might be an easier way to explain things. It's gonna be a long one........... Snapper On SP'S. 1.) Water depth 6mtrs to 23mtrs. I find the 15-19mtr band of water depth very productive. (This depth apply's right up and down the coast too.) You Can plastics fish for Reds in much deeper water, but specialised techniques are needed and we can go into that later. 2.) Rods and Reels need to be fairly good quality. You want to 'feel' the plastics/hits/bottom/kelp etc etc. No use having a stiff rod and Reel way too big.....remember, It's fairly shallow water so a bit of 'finesse' is the go. A graphite rod 7ft in the 8-17lb Range will do the job nicely.....we prefer a bit of tip action rather than stiff so you can feel all those bites. A reel in the 2500-4000 range will be fine. I use Daiwas cause the drags are second to none and the have great gearbox strength. 3.) Braid........we fish 10lb Sufix 832 (It breaks at 18lbs...and it's thin/casts really well)....Most 20lb braids off the rack are too thick and heavy for the work that we do......and if you find a 20lb braid thats REALLLY thin......try to break it on a set of scales, you'll find it will break mostly in the 8-12lb (not 20lb) zone. Alot of Japanese braids undertest, some really heavily. You'll be fishing around the 4kg drag pressure......thats heaps through those kinds of graphite rods......you'll risk the chance of rod breakage if you lock the drags up.......use your palm on the spool to stop any rampaging reds.....once they are off the bottom, go easy and you'll have him! 4.) A MUST is FLOUROCARBON leader.....Sunline 14lb for super shallow work and 20lb for deeper. (If you only have one rod, try 16lb/good allrounder. Forget Vanish, forget some no-name chinese flourocarbon......just get some good stuff cause' the leader is VERY important. A rods length and a touch more is perfect leader size.....I've seen dudes run 2 foot leaders saying 'it's right mate'.......they didnt catch fish....... 5.) Lures........ No joke, most lures will work for Snapper. Dont get into the thinking that Gulp is the only one etc. I've cast out the ugliest looking plastic.....the one that the Muppets threw up.... and it's caught Reds! General rule is Paddle-Tail grubs/shads take longer to sink.......Flickshads/Jerkshads are faster to sink. Lures in the the 4inch, 5inch and 7inch will work great off Sydney. Try different colours, naturals and bright suckers!! They all work!! If you had to narrow it down: 5 Inch Gulp jerkshad/any colour.....110mm Squidgy flickbait/any colour.....4inch Gulp shads/any colour......dohhh smash baits 5inch and 7inch.....Softies 5inch Jerkshad/ any colour. 6.) Jigheads......Lately, i'm finding more success on shorter shanked jigheads. We've been using Nitro 1/2ounce with 2/0 and 3/0 hooks.........5/8th ounce with 2/0 and 3/0 hooks. Even on bigger plastics we will use the shorter hooks......better hook-up and more action to the plastic. TT jigheads are another that we use on a regular basis. They have a thinner gauge so are better on smaller type plastics in shallower water. 7.) Technique......the biggie....everyone is different but this will work. DON'T Sound around looking for fish...... Yes, sound around checking water depth, if it's reef etc. Once happy, switch off the motor and drift. Try to cast in the direction that the boat is HEADING.....if you cast behind you, the plastic tends to get dragged along and does'nt sink properly. Now, in shallower water like 10-14mtrs......cast EVERYWHERE!! Your plastics are getting down there no probs. Cast out, let sink for a while (This will vary depending on wind speed etc)....once near the bottom, give the placcie two sharp lifts and then DO NOTHING......just wind the tiniest bit of slack you've created. You want that plastic to waft down after you've given it some action........wind the line until you are semi-tight to the lure and repeat the process. (Two lifts then super long pause). A big red will hammer the plastic on your lift up OR......he will eat your lure on the waft down. Smaller Reds will tap at the lure and 'short' strike it. This is where you want some feel on your rod. Your reflexes will get better and you will hook em' Try not to move around too much....let the boat drift and keep going. Turning on outboards and driving over fish will scatter/spook them. 8.) Have confidence in what you are doing..... Imagine what the plastic is doing while it's sinking...... Take a mental note of how long it took you to get to the bottom (You'll find out cause you WILL get snagged, it's part of plastic fishing the Reefs).......don't just have a few casts and think 'theres no Reds here, lets go'. Realistically, out off Sydney, you cant expect to smash snapper left right and center......sometimes it's a good 45mins between bites and fish. The techniques I've listed have worked for me and my crew right up and Down the coast......not just Sydney. I hope you get into a few and most importantly, HAVE FUN, it's all learing and trying. Cheers, Wacko. P.S......Do you guys want me to go into our cubing techniques??? Or are you bored of my 'ramblings'?? Hehehe

Hi everyone, Geez, its been a long while since i've put a post let alone a report up!! I've been checking the site and all you Raider's are getting great catches!! Well done to everyone (Collective pat on the back! Hehe). Me......well, been super busy at work but, lately I've had the chance to get out and chase the elusive Sydney Red. What a blast we've been having! Catching good Reds close to shore in shallow reefy areas and light gear really gets the heart pumping!! Been averaging quite a few fish every session and some nice sized ones thrown in (to around 80cm). They are out there!!! Plastics in shallow water in the mornings.....then cube session in deeper water in the afternoons. Fish coming on both techniques. Some fish let go........some kept for the table! Heres a few random pics from recent sessions.......... Cheers, Wacko

Just look for Yamashita Jigs mate, cant go wrong!! Wacko.

Wicked mate!! Well done Wacko.

Hi everyone, Big Swells and not much wind greeted us when we rounded the heads on wednesday morning. I was fishing with Bill..aka Salmon-Hunter...we had a loose plan...maybe troll out to the shelf or go and have a snapper bash. Quick blast to the snapper grounds was the call... and started throwing some plastics round'. 10th cast in 19mtrs of water....plastic gets crunched by a sizeable fish........end result, nice red..... later weighed at 5kgs. Got a few more smaller reds..... 1kg jobs....and a few micro kings. Had to work hard for the bites but a great fish to start the day!!! Cheers, Wacko.

Hi Folks, Just a quick report. As you know, Sydney on wednesday experienced a quick but intense storm..........we were out at sea and saw the storm build from the coastline and head North/East. Anyways, we trolled through a 'clearing' of the storm....found a patch of fast moving Striped Tuna........Hung around the patch for about 30mins and...........bingo, Blue Marlin crashed tackled the short rigger'. Fish released in good condition...... Still stoked to keep the running tally up off Sydney! Instead of photos, I thought i'd post a quick Vid of the Storm/Marlin. Cheers, Wacko.

Great fish Nicko!!! Cheers, Wacko.

Thanks for the replies fellas! Much appreciated! We backed it up again on wednesday for another nice Black Marlin of around 120kg's! This time, we were home at a better hour...... Cheers, Wacko.

Thats a big marlin bait Ray!!! Hahahaha Nah, seriously......big bonnie mate, well done! Cheers, Wacko.

A very, very big day!!!! Start at 1am.....dong some fresh live squid in quick time.....get to Jew spot at 2am....catch jewies.... 6am, blast out to continental shelf and put lure spread out......time now is 8.30am.......lures get totally smashed by TWO marlin at 9am.....double hook-up but first fish throws lure from it's bill..... Still connected to other marlin......it jumps 10mtrs from boat and we identify it as a nice Blue marlin of approx 350lb!......9.45am, I grab leader and pull marlin to boat...still not ready goes for a power dive and we are still fighting the Blue........ 10.15am, I grab leader again and this time we get lure and release an awesome fish!! Fish swims away and Drazen is stoked cause' it's his first 'captured' marlin. 11am.....deep drop at browns mountain.....catch ooglies like Gemfish, Ocean perch etc. Blue Eye cod today are quiet. 1.30pm Resume trolling......... 3pm, I spot a free swimming marlin. We get close enough and troll around it for no hook-up. Marlin is still there so we drive boat slowly to fish and I cast popper 6ft away from it's nose. Marlin races to popper but does not eat it. Goes underwater and is never seen again. This time I filmed the whole scenario.......only part missing was the fish eating the popper!! doh!....next time... Time now is 5pm.......no more action on the troll.....blast to secret inshore snapper spot. First drop, Trevally then Snapper, Flathead, Pike, Morwong. 6pm.....hook onto much bigger snapper. Line is zinging from the reel. 14lb leader gets hammered onto reef....lose fish. 6.30pm......pack up and head back to boat ramp inside the harbour. Totally knackered, but well worth it! Asleep at 10pm......dreaming of Big snapper lost and unidentified marlin on double-hookup and marlin that did'nt eat popper!! Cheers, Wacko. P.S- I might edit that marlin/popper footage and put on you-tube for those keen to watch. Rob's Jew Drazen Jewie Drazen Fighting marlin Marlin ready for leader. (Thats a 14inch lure hanging there, gives indication to size of fish) Nice pan size snapper Mixed Bag fish box Wacko.

What a crazy day Stewy!! Love it when fish throw caution to the wind and belt everything you chuck at em'!! Wacko.

Hi everyone, Well it's nice to report that there are some nice kings lurking round' the harbour in amongst the rats. 1st session- Invited out by fellow fishraider 'Salmon Hunter' aka Bill. Started the day off with a bang, with plenty of live squid caught in quick time! First few spots downrigged produced rat kings. Next few spots produced some fat kings all in the 80-90cm bracket. We even re-fuelled in the afternoon and had a quick troll out to the fads and had a bit of fun on some MICRO dolphin fish. Thanks Bill for a great day out! Look forward to another sess' soon! Session 2- Got out with good mate Dave and Bernard. Plan was to hit the harbour markers for some more kingy action. Same thing again....Crazy squid session at a couple of locations!!! We were catching so many that we released at least 10-12 squid. It was triple hook-ups every cast for a good part of the sesssion! Having a good supply of squid meant that we could hit everything we came across with the dowriggers, without fear of losing too many baits to pickers. Well, first location, first pass.....Dave nails a nice fish of around 85cm. Second, third,Fourth and Fifth pass all produced some nice fat kings! The 6th pass round this marker got hammered by a real good fish that we just could'nt stop! It was only 9am and we had already belted 10 nice kings!! The next hour or two saw us having fun on the light spin sticks on the Harbour Bonnies...great fun! Last few kings spots also produced...so in all a very rewarding session and a plan coming together! Thanks to Dave and B-Boy for a great day out!! Cheers, Wacko.

Thats a great fish mate!! Well done!! Robert told me that he heard you guys on the radio after the capture.....I was at work drooling!! Cheers, Wacko.

I woke bleary eyed at 3.30am Thursday morning, brushed my teeth and almost like a light switch, I was fully awake and suddenly excited.....I was going fishing today!!!! Expectations were high as Robert and I left Sydney heads at around 5.30am. Main plan was to get to Browns mountain...fish for Blue Eye cod...then have a marlin troll for the rest of the afternoon.... Marlin number 1: About 2 miles from our mark at Browns, I noticed a heap of birds working. The sea surface charts read the night before that there was some good water right on top and surrounding the mountain. I said to Rob to hit trolling speed and promptly put 2 lures out. Only 2 lures, not a full spread.....as we were really just about to get the deep drop rigs ready and fish the bottom. The Pakula Lumo Sprocket and Marlin Magic plunger were working away nicely coming down the face of a few lazy swells. Literally 3 minutes into our troll the Sprocket gets clunked and with a howling run I thought we were on......... It was a tentative bite that missed the hooks....however....., I freespooled the lure back into postition and the marlin came back for a second go! This time we were well and truly on. A nice Black marlin of around 100kg was dancing across the ocean to the rear of us. We played the fish for around a half hour and just when we were about to leader...the mono main line pops. Oh well, what a great fish and a nice 'early' release. (Even though we lost a lure!) Marlin number 2: So after the excitment of Rob's marlin. We set out and dropped some rigs down for Blue Eye. A fairly successful drop resulting in a couple of Blue'ys each. I got one around the 20kg mark which gave the rod a good workout! Now, a quick bit of background.....Fishing deep with electric reels does'nt really do it for me...don't get me wrong...I enjoy it, but I'd rather be sportfishing or something like that. Robert on the other hand, loves it. He can spend hours dropping and fishing the depths for behemoths and ooglies. So, an hour or two into our Blue Eye fishing....I get bored and decide to set myself up a little cube trail to tempt a passing Mahi Mahi or Yellowfin etc. We quickly saw something zoom in on my unweighted floating pilchard about 30mtrs away from the boat. Rob calls it for a Mako shark. I wind in the pilly at speed and it gets chased by a very lit-up and energetic Striped Marlin of around 70-80kgs. The marlin was litterally and arms span away from the side of the boat. It was dashing and flashing in clear view. But still would'nt eat my offering. We had no livebait so I called to Rob to throw in a couple of pillies to keep the fish interested and around our boat. He did so, and the marlin zoomed straight in on the floating morsels. This crazy fish flashed and dashed at the pillies but still did'nt eat them. At this point, I've come down from the front of Rob's boat, grabbed my Saltiga Popper rod with a lure on it........pegged it out around 10mtrs and with 3 almighty splashes and bloops, the marlin (who was lit-up at this stage like a neon sign) came racing in and destroyed the lure in front of our eyes!!! We could'nt belive what had just transpired no less than 6 feet away from the boat!! What an awesome sight!! I only just wished we had one other person on-board to film that scenario and to take some photos! Arghhhhh!!! The fight was on! Line ripped from the Saltiga reel and the rod buckled under the strain of an angry marlin. It jumped and peformed some beautiful aerials across the ocean before going deep and slugging it out. I harnessed up to shorten the fight using the Aftco spin rod adapter also connected to my Aftco harness. We had the fish boatside around 50mins later. With Rob driving the boat and me fighting the fish....it was all to hard to take photos when the fish was right there....Damn! We gave the nice Stripie a quick release and off into the blue yonder he went.....probably to terrorize other fishos boatside!!! What an awesome experience! One I hope to repeat with a video camera rolling!!! We finished the day with a great catch of Blue-Eye and some action that we will never forget! Sorry for the long write-up...heres only a few pics we could manage that day. Marlin finning round the boat.... Harnessed up to the Striped Marlin.... Big Blue-Eye...... We were visited by a pod of dolphins. Playing close to the boat......I managed these shots. Cheers, Wacko.

Wicked fish mate!!!! Thats one fat king. +1 For the Sakana Saltwater Pro rods.....insane strength and so light! We caught a nice Striped marlin on one last week. Cheers, Wacko.

Thanks fellas! Keflapod- The marlin was not in the best shape for release (Trust me, I have let a lot of them go)....rather than leave it to the sharks....we decided to bring it home. It was the boys first ever marlin and were stoked to bring it back to the ramp with all their families waiting. Funny thing bringing a big fish like that back to the ramp.....it sure does draw a crowd! The plus side is that we gave fish away to any random by-stander that asked for it. Not one bit of that fish went to waste. Cheers, Wacko.

Hi Everyone, What a great summer it has been! I have been busy fishing with lots of different folks (still boatless at the mo.) Feel privilaged to get invited many times. It's been great fishing such a diverse range of styles and it's also been rewarding watching newcomers get their first bream or bass or marlin etc.! I've learnt a lot along the way too....it's been a two way street! A quick run-down: Bream sessions- Lately it's all been about surface lures........ Teasing a big bream into crunching a lure right at the boat is heart pumping stuff! I never get tired of it. Watching some people who have never done it and looking at the expressions on thier faces when packs of hungry bream come racing behind a rock to slam a popper is even better!! We have had some great sessions with 30+ fish landed and some of those have been brutes! W've been fishing the Hawkesbury, Lake Mac, Brisbane waters and all systems have been on fire! Outside sessions- Boy have it been good lately! Recent captures include 2 Small black Marlin just north of the peak. 1 Decent Black wide off Long Reef... Big Dollies......a Wahoo...and just last week, a Big Striped marlin off Terrigal. This was Brad's and Ben's first marlin. They invited me out and with condtions looking good, we made our way off Terrigal. Warmer water was to the East, but with recent reports of fish in close, I put out a spread basically 300mtrs from the boat ramp. We got the hit just inside the shelf line and was it a ripper!! A big Striped marlin going berko on the surface then she went deep and stayed deep. Solid, even pressure and a long fight.......I grab the trace and the rest is history. Lure that did the damage was a Hollowpoint in Gai-Bob colour. Cheers, Wacko. Good Bream on a Lucky Craft Bevy Prop Nick and a nice Dollie Benny fighting Striped marlin on Sakana jig Rod The end result.... Nice Stripie!!