ganymede

Great report, Roberta, and an enjoyable read. Seems like you had a lot more fun at SW Rocks than we did at Nelson Bay

Congrats on the jewies! You did not mention, though... land-based? or boat?

Great catch, Luke. Fancy swapping backyards? :biggrin2:

Excellent! Hopefully you'll have a fishing companion for life now

Folks, I do hope you will NOT allow these people to drive you away from here. As someone else suggested, the point of this forum is precisely the sharing of information, expertise and, occasionally, tales of good luck (or better management!) As a long-time fisher who is probably one of the worst and least successful anglers in Australia, I find the stories of big catches interesting And instructive. Yes, I got annoyed recently when I saw the size of the catch that Cungee George and his mate scored on or near the Hacking. But guys, it was jealousy, not political correctness, that had me spitting :thumbup: I am delighted to see that a Mod has drawn attention to the rules - if not actually read the riot act - and think firmer action should be taken against the negative commentaries to ensure that people Do feel free to tell their stories here and share their knowledge. I don't post much because I don't catch much and have little knowledge to share. (Though I would if I did if I could...) But I enjoy reading about techniques and success in the areas I am able to reach. So please, Keep Posting! g.

Hi p2f. I'm in pretty much the same position as far as wanting to catch a first kingfish. My son and I went out on middle harbour in kayaks on Sat 18th, and caught diddlysquat, not even bonito. We're thinking of trying landbased in January, once the christmas merry-go-round is over. If you haven't had any more exciting/promising offers from gun kingie experts by the new year, you'd be welcome to join us and share the learning experience We drive in from the mountains, so depending on where you are based and where we end up fishing, we might be able to pick you up en route. One important point though: as you are 15, your mum or dad would have to know what your plans are and would have to give me a call to confirm they are okay with you going, and more to the point, that they are ok with US taking you. (That, obviously, should apply to any trips you plan to go on with folk from this or any other forum.) Meanwhile, I'm going to keep watching the reports to piece together some useful info on the best landbased kingfish locations. From the sound of your equipment, it sounds pretty much the goods for kingfish without being overkill. Luke and I would be fishing a fair bit lighter than that - probably too light, but we're more interested in the buzz than showing the fish who's boss If you are interested, let me know here, or by message. I'll then shoot you my phone number so you - AND your parent/guardian - can suss us out. cheers, and good luck with the kingies

Similar story here. Went out Saturday morning with my son, kayaking. We were on the water before 6 (driving down from the mountains). Trolled up and down and across; not a damn thing on lures. We both picked up a few pretty baby snapper when we dropped a prawn or two, but registered a fat zero on keepers of any description. Might try Hacking next after drawing blanks on Middle Harbour twice this year

Sounds like a brilliant day, apart from the "wounded in action" bit But the odd small injury is worth it, for that kind of fun - as long as it's your mate who cops the hook, not you!

Fishing is supposed to be fun, not a grind. And you sound like you And your daughter had a LOT of fun great stuff!

So... my usual two sticks of dynamite probably wouldn't be welcome then? :biggrin2:

Went out by myself this afternoon to target some bream off Clarke's Reserve in the Harbour. Couple of people leaving said they'd had no serious bites in a few hours. I set up, a solitary soul on the wall, at about 2.45, with a couple of rods, one baited with prawn, the other lightly weighted pilchard cross-sections tossed out to catch the flow. A smallish bream, maybe 20 cm, hooked itself on the big rod that was cast out wide; threw that back. Then the smaller rod, with a 1000 reel loaded with 6kg braid and a sufix fluoro leader, bent double and started screaming in the rodholder. Got to it, tried to tighten the drag a bit to slow whatever it was down, but it still kept stripping line for a few seconds. Dragging it in was a whole new ballgame. The reel was pivoting in the reel seat of the rod (an old silstar), and I was fearing both rod And reel would give up the ghost. I had no idea what it was at this point. Mulloway or Kingfish I was hoping. I managed to reel it in by securing the line and reel with one hand, bending back as hard as I could, then snatching a few turns of line before the reel starting twisting in the reel seat again. Sadly, no Mulloway or Kingfish, just a salmon. But a salmon that measured 70cm. I hadn't realised that was anything special until my son checked the 'Raider records. Seems it equals the 4th or 5th biggest salmon caught on bait. Yay team! I stuck it out for two more hours, but caught nothing more. G.

Sounds like a brilliant day with the kids! Glad you had a successful day there

Hi Jason You mentioned "We have had some brilliant catches, but they are few and far between". So you haven't done that badly, after all. You'll notice, from the many posts in these forums, that you are not the only fisho who often ends up with nothing worth bragging about! And if you assume, as I do, that people are FAR more inclined to post about their successful trips than about unsuccessful ones, the logical conclusion is that you are one of many who visit that fish shop on the way home! I'm no expert, so I'd hesitate to suggest I could teach you anything, except ... learn from your brilliant catches. "Luck" is overrated. You must have been doing something right at the time, so be analytical about your fishing. The old saying that success breeds success is true for fishing, too. When you find something works, make a note of it, and think about how it was different from other occasions. There's not a lot of spare room in the kayak, otherwise I'd offer to take you out I guess the offers of help will be a bit more frequent when the weather warms up a bit and more people return to the water. I hope so Good luck! G.

LCR is where I most often go kayaking - usually at the bottom end near fig tree. May I ask how far up you went to catch those? Planning to go there again on Sunday; would LOVE to hook into either of those critters cheers, and well done

Great read. Sounds like a great little expedition you had there. Now I'm going to have to backtrack and check your previous posts! I'd love to do a spot of trout-flogging in the BMs - big question is whether my antique knees would cope with the hiking