Ojay Samson

Thank you so much Berleyguts for answering all my question, and in a very timely manner, genuinely appreciate it. Im sorting out my plotter/sounder right now to just putting in all the marks I can find for the place to try, and have just added the crack thanks to you clearing it up for me. Accommodation was already sorted as of yesterday night, one could say i'll be 'escaping in the trees'. Unfortunately they say they cant accom. engine flushing, so my only hope is the taps at soldier point by the loops of things. So it seems like my only hope is that the taps at the fish cleaning station at soldiers is in working order or I'm in trouble haha. If anyone will be fishing the area around the time I will be up there, feel free to say hi as its always nice to meet up with fellow raiders, i can PM my number if keen. And if anyone has more advise or tips I'm willing to listen via PM if need be, sorry for hijacking this post, i was thinking of creating a new one to try avoid this hijack but at the same time i didn't want to make it seem like i wasn't familiar with the 'search' button... Thanks again Berleyguts Ojay 😁

Awesome post Scratchie. Went through the whole post and took notes accordingly. I’m planning a trip up there from the 28.03.19 – 01.04.19 with my partner for a fishing getaway, have never been before outside of Sydney and am pretty excited for it. Been watching a few YouTube videos etc trying to figure out what is possible up there and where to go with the boat… but would be lying if I wasn’t a little nervous as I’ve never been there before let alone gone up with a boat in tow. Anyway had a few questions to anyone who could answer: Was ringing around at the usual accommodation places which can accommodate a boat and trailer and the consensus was that none of the places could facilitate engine flushing. My question is to anyone who has the know, where do people like me who are from out of town and drag their boats up to Port Stephens for a few days fish flush their outboards at the end of a day’s session? Are there washdown/engine flush bays in any of the public boat ramps there? soldiers point, little beach etc? I will gladly bring my own hose etc but would like to know if there are actually any taps which one can use for a standard 5-minute engine flush?... I’m not even fussed about washdowns too much, but the engine flush is a must after every session and a rinse of the trailer if possible. All the accommodation places I rung seemed to have no idea and suggested that they might have taps at the ramps but could not guarantee it, I found this a bit odd seeing as I am led to believe this place is a fishing comp mecca, with a big fishing comp happening a week after my stay there, and I would assume everyone who has a boat would flush after every session… Next questions: - shoal bay is a pretty big bay, where should I be focussing my efforts for catching squid for livies and any livies in general? East, west, or middle of the bay? Specific marks would be greatly appreciated if anyone’s feeling generous enough to share. Also, could someone show me on a map where “30m near the big crack (Mrs murphys)” is? Whose Mrs Murphy’s and where is her crack at? - When venturing out past the heads to go to broughton island, is the area known as “the rips” basically the heads of port Stephens and to be careful there? Or is it somewhere more specific between the little islands out past the heads? Sorry for my ignorance if I’m not understanding this right. - In the time I will be there, what species of fish would I have the most change of catching … snapper, mac tuna, bonito? … anything else - Would a 4.5M boat be enough to get to broughton island on a decent day, and generally how long do people stay outside in regards to safety and fishing sessions… do people pack it in relatively early? ie do people start early and go outside and start heading back after midday or something and fish inside... or really depends on the day and the person/experience and boat etc? Any other tips, suggestions, info on fishing the place would be greatly appreciated Thanks Ojay

Just my opinion, but I find that there are a few people out there who suffer from motion sickness when viewing footage from head mounted cameras... to much movement I believe. I use a chest mount instead and it seems to do the trick for those who are a bit more sensitive to watching action camera footage. Go with what works best for you though. Cheers Ojay

Hey Frank, not sure if its too late to come but if not, I will try swing by after work tomorrow arvo with Nat if thats ok with you.

Thanks all for the information! Can always count on raiders for timely fish ID's Cheers!

Hi All, can i get an ID for these 3 fish i caught on the weekend. caught them around old mans hat casting at the rocks...

Wasn't the greatest. Caught a few throwback pinkies and silver trevs. Caught 1 keeper bream, keeper flatty, leatherjacket and a squid. Went out in the harbour and tried around manly quarantine station/40 baskets and wedding cake west marker/ sow & pigs. Poked head outside the heads to try and find some bustups to no avail. Maritime came around for a safety check and asked him if he's seen or heard anyone catching that day... only jackets apparently. Was pretty blowy, went out from 5am-2pm.

Hey All, just wanted to know if anyone has been fishing as of late in either the sydney harbour or botany systems, and willing to share their experience... Im hoping to take the boat out tomorrow morning (20/05/2018) and try my luck... I am planning to just spend my time inside the heads. Are there any bait balls being worked anymore or have they all disappeared due to the cold? Any information would be appreciated so I can make the right decision as to where to try tomorrow. Thanks, Ojay

Hey all, so I made 2 vids yesterday arvo of 2 separate fishing outings. This is a following vid of me venturing out further than I have ever before to build up the confidence as I figured its about high time now I start going outside. In hindsight I probably should have picked a better day to go out as the 2IC was not to pleased with me that day as I sold the prospect of going out to check out the fad and peak as it was a quick affair which would have only took 20 or so minutes based on the boats cruising speed of 20ish knots…. oh, how wrong I was in even thinking I would come close to that speed as it probably took over an hour to get there as I was going a max of around 7 knots as I didn’t want to be bashed around and it being the first time I’ve gone outside that far, didn’t want to push my novice skills. All in all, it was a good day out now knowing what my little boat can do, and how far it can travel, at least when not on the plane (it drunk the full forward tank which was 22L getting out there from foreshore ramp and back to about 2km out from the heads… I was carrying ~100L of fuel that day just to be sure I wouldn’t run out of fuel, already learnt that lesson the hard way in the harbour before). Anyway, got the Sydney East FAD and did about 6 drifts total, threw out 1 livie and tried strip baits of yakka fillets and squid strips to no interest. In the end I tried my luck with my trusty rapala xrap sxr10, first cast and I had a taker right at the boat… my first ever Dolphinfish (my mission for the day was to catch my first ever dolly… so mission accomplished). He was only a small one so had a quick photo and back in the drink he went. That was about the most action I had at the fad so decided to move to the Peak a little bit further out. Got to the mark and sounded it up to find the spot (I need to figure out how to change the settings on my fish finder to deeper water as it was struggling a bit as I remember setting it up when I got it for shallow water). Started my drift with 1 rod with a livie, 1 with a yakka fillet and 1 other rod I was using with a knife jig. The rod with the yakka fillet got all the action where I got a hook up and line started peeling and rod buckling, started reeling it in (quite different to what I’m used to with 20ish Metres being the deepest I usually need tor retrieve). It came up and sure enough it was a barracouta (also another first fish for me so was chuffed with myself. Did another few drifts past the peak for 1 more take, once again on the yakka strip, however once the fluoro leader got to the first rod guide the fish magically managed to spit the hook out, oh well... After this decided to head back in (roughly around 10am). Thanks for reading. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Hey Raiders, haven’t posted in a while so I figured now would be a good time to be less lazy and contribute. Went for a fish on Easter Monday in botany bay after a recon mission at Brooklyn/Hawksbury the day before to see how chaotic the prospect of taking the boat out there would be. Suffice to say I decided against launching there and going botany instead. Plan was to leave mine at 12am and be on the water by 1 having prepared all the gear and boat during the daytime the day before. As we all know, fishing plans rarely ever go to the timeline. well at least for me they don’t. Ended up waiting for 1 hour for a no-show mate who was not able to wake up with his alarms so off we went (3 POB -myself, 2IC & 1 mate). Ended up being on the water at around 230AM and went to the bait grounds next to the tugs and loaded up on livies. 98% of the livies caught were by my 2IC. Then for the rest of the day we were running around going from spot to spot to try and find the fishing activity. Tried several new places for myself including the bommie around bare island where a nice fish was lost by my partner, I saw it and I swear it looked like a rainbow runner… never having seen one in real life I’m not sure but I swear it looked like one, even though the environment where they are located say otherwise. That day was also the first time I poked my head (boat) outside past the heads for the first time so it was a bit of a milestone for me… getting my toe wet for next week where I endeavoured to go to Sydney East FAD & The peak (furthest out I’ve ever been thus far… but that’s another story). Mainly fished for the bread and butter species primarily using bait for the day between my Mrs and mate, while I was occupied keeping hope alive trying to get lucky targeting’ the big one’ using livies. Unfortunately, nothing ever really touched my livies. All in all a good day (albeit a tiring one as we all were running on 2 hours sleep). Called it quits when an isolated storm front rolled past Kurnell as we could see it in the distance with lightning, and the call was made to call it quits for safety sake. Both my 2IC and mate had an absolute blast, although she lost a few good fish for the day (she had fun fighting them, just unfortunate they were all lost boat side- suspected rainbow runner/ silver Trev & 1 unknown fish which we were calling a trophy flatty… if anyone else can suggest another fish based on the video I’m open to people’s opinions…we’ll never 100% know anyhow. My mate also reported that that fishing session was the most fun fishing day he’s ever had, which means I did ok for myself as a host I guess. Anyways thanks for reading. tl;dr took the boat out on public holiday in Sydney, wasn’t too bad in terms of boat/fishing traffic, caught some fish and had some fun. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Hey all I'm planning to head out to Sydney east fad and the peak tomorrow... Since these are the closes fads to botany from what I can see, will I be wasting my effort? I've never been outside before and am hoping it all goes well.

Just to follow up on the hawksbury Brooklyn area, I went on a recon trip last night to check out the ramp at the bridge and the ramp at parsley Bay. Both of them were still packed with cars being parked on grass and hard shoulders of roads... This was already at 830pm so I can only imagine how much chaos the place was during the day time. Decided not to go out today from what I saw last night and what I read on this thread about botany.

Thanks for this bit of info, I was planning to launch from there tomorrow morning for a fish... doesn't seem like its the best idea. Was hoping it would be less busy than say in the harbour, but doesnt sound like it. Would anyone know if the hawksbury would be any better (ala brooklyn area)? Wanting to go out on saturday and monday... just dont want to play washing machine bumper cars on the water.

+1 for a catana 702 to, they are a great rod for the money (was my first plastics combo sienna/catana combo and apart from snapping the tip a few years ago... its still going strong with a new tip). Also had a pflueger trion 2-4 kg which was good - broke that to due to user error... the connection point between the 2 pieces got pinched in my boots goose neck and crushed the rod. still works but wouldn't really count on it for a big fish... is good as a squid rod i guess. Also use 2 sahara rods (got them as combos with symetre reels) in: 7ft 2-4kg and 6f10 in 2-5kg... they are ok rods for the most part but i did find that the largest guide on the 7ft sahara was cracked recently due to unknown reasons... I cant for the life of me figure out why the ceramic ring cracked and broke there but it broke closest to the rod blank and i don't recall any incident on breaking or dropping it so oh well... they are my land based gear so get used more than others. the line doesn't seem to contact where the sharp cracked bit is so i am just playing russian roulette when fishing with it haha. My 'nice' outfit which i only seem use when on a boat seems to be my daiwa generation black wicked weasel 2-6kg (gen 1) paired to shimano stradic FK3000HG. All rods perform the same for the most part, personally i don't see the need for throwing to much money at a rod. you'll just cry more when it breaks haha.

Hey raiders, So i've got a plan of going out on the harbour this friday and would like to know some info... How is the fishing at the moment, is there anything biting or are my efforts better pointed elsewhere (botany or hawkesbury brooklyn area?) Planning to launch at rose bay and be on the water by 530am to try catch some live bait squid and yakkas (not really sure where to look for it so if you are willing to share feel free to PM me). Going to make a day of it with my gf and 2 mates on board (one mate doesn't even fish lol). Will be using lure and bait, just hoping to stumble onto some fishing action. I am planning to just explore around the the port jackson area namely from taronga zoo area and east towards the heads and possibly to manly area. (I don't frequent these areas as often as if i launch from rhodes ramp and have never fished around manly area by boat so i'll be shooting blind in that area). Just a few more questions if anyone can answer them: Besides back at rose bay are there any other places that i can dock at to use restroom facilities? Are there any other places one can recommend getting lunch at besides at sydney fish markets (only place i know that I can go with a boat and get a feed in the harbour) as we plan on just buying lunch somewhere as opposed to packing or brining cooking equipment) as the fish markets are a bit to far for my agenda i think. How does one anchor their boat at a beach? Ive never known other than beaching it bow first then pulling it back into water ( i did that with my small tinny but not to game anymore trying that with the now bigger boat... ive always wanted to beach or anchor just off the beach at cliftons to go for a swim etc but everytime ive gone its already been fully anchored up and nowhere to find a spot to attempt. From what i saw everyone just anchored just off the beach and was stern facing the beach and nothing else at the stern it seemed, how do they stop their boats from swinging sideways, and do you just jump in from the boat and swim to shore? or do people drop their passengers off at the dock where people fish at cliftons then someone stays behind with the boat? ive had a read of some methods and have made a sand spike with rope hoping to try the anchor out then reverse in slowly till close enough to swim or wade to shore... is that the standard way of doing this? last thing i want is come to close and snap my transducer off or i dont know, sorry i might be overthinking this since ive never done it and have no clue. I'd greatly appreciate any help to my questions, i'm also interested in peeking outside the heads if weather/time/mood of passengers permits as I just finished mounting my first epirb (xmas pressie thanks mum :D) and its like a feeling of unlocking a new level or something in a game... I can now venture outside and explore places i haven't been yet (yes i know i need more than an epirb for open water, got them all already, epirb was the final piece for going 2nm out). if anyone's heading out on friday give us a wave. Also if anyone has any battery recommendations you have my attention as I've decided to finally bite the bullet and replace my 2nd (house battery) which powers all my electronics as i tried it today and its not even worth its own weight anymore. I am thinking of getting the Supercharge Sea Master MFM70. I want to install a dual battery system with VSR/ASR (ie blueseas add-a-battery) further down the track so want a battery that would suit both mainly powering electronics and helping crank in an emergency for redundancy sake. Will be picking one up sometime tomorrow for hopefully $194, if anyone has any better recommendations im all ears. Since this 2nd battery is mainly for powering my electrics would it be a better option to just get a deep cycle?... Cheers raiders.

Seems a bit lumpy in the bay by the sounds of it. Good report, gotta be in it to win it as they say.

From my personal experience everytime i see a lot of jellyfish about (the clear glass looking ones which don't seem to have any stingers or trailing arms), I pretty much don't catch anything in that session or at the very least in my mind dont seem to get the frequency of 'action' if they were not around. This is fishing the harbour and parra river system.

Good read, as Neil already mentioned, thats fishing... If its any consolation my past 2 sessions out (yesterday and the day before) had all been for zilch, travelled to rose bay throwing lures for not even a touch between the times of 11am- 3pm. The day before i went to parsley bay for also zilch from 1230pm-330pm, then moved to rozelle bay for a fish from 415pm- 6pm for nothing. This was all land based btw and all these locations were new for me, bit of a mission to travel so i rarely am in this side of sydney and to think all i wanted was something to touch the line for a bit of catch and release fun.

Wow that's a rotten bit of luck Jeff.

I'm still amazed how they managed to strip the trailer without anyone even suspecting some foul play at work... i mean i know that ramp gets really busy as you have everyone and their dog launching there, not to mention all the general foot traffic with exercisers etc frequenting that location. By the photo to, the trailer was stripped right in front of the ramps... it wasn't even a trailer that was parked in the corner out of the way behind bushes with minimal eyes on etc. These thieves literally had zero f&%#$ to give, certainly makes me nervous about parking my trailer at any ramp.

Thats awesome info to know, thanks for sharing.

Thanks mate, kings are always good fun to catch. Thanks Neil, I'm glad you liked my report, really appreciate your kind words and words of encouragement. I hope my other vids are just as entertaining for you. The gear i'm using to film are: Camera 1. Gopro Hero 5 black mounted to a Gopro Chesty (the camera footage you see which is POV style). Camera 2. Gopro Hero 4 silver mounted to a UKPro Pole 54HDF (The camera used for underwater and 2nd perspective shots). Editing Software: 1. Adobe After Effects CC 2017 (pirated lol) 2. Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 (pirated) 3. Adobe Bridge CC 2017 (legit cos free from adobe) I'm still very new to this editing thing and as i'm learning as i go, its a pretty big learning curve using adobe stuff (compared to say Gopro studios - ive used that once). my editing software progression went from the tried & true yet very simple windows movie maker 2011 & microsoft paint ---> Gopro studios free software ---> Adobe. Thanks for that, I'm actually very flattered you recognise the effort and that comment means a lot to me. I don't post much on raiders, but when I do I like to think my posts are made with quality & effort, and will actually entertain people as they read as opposed to the same old same old. Its the least i think i can do as some of the people in this community have really helped me out in the past with their advice & actual physical help. Glad you like them Jeff Yeah i figured I'd try give as much information as possible on this latest vid to try and separate myself from the other plethora of fishing vids on youtube so its not only entertaining, but also informative. As mentioned to BN above I use the 5 black as my POV camera (this is usually always on me at all times ready to go when fishing) and its mounted to myself using the Chesty strap. I believe this is the better of the 2 strap styles as the head strap if not done right can give people motion sickness when viewing the footage. I also find it more visually pleasing to watch in the chest area as it gives your eyes a frame of reference with your arms and rod and reel in the shot. Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed. Please excuse my ignorance but what are air collectors? I actually have no idea what you are referring to haha. Thank you all for taking the time to comment on my post, glad you all seemed to have enjoyed, it lets me know i'm not wasting my time. Cheers OJ

1 king is fun, 30 is just ridiculous. would have been an absolute blast

nice haul at the end, good stuff.

Hey Raiders, Just making a quick report fishing in botany a couple of days ago. I'll keep it short so here goes (skip to bottom if you lack an attention span, 3 variants for this report below): > Plan was to leave mine and be on the water by 7am, didn't end up leaving mine till 730am. Travelled 10 minutes down the road with boat in tow heading to botany bay, pulled into servo to get backup fuel (just in case 50L wasn't enough inside the bay lol), only to realize there that I didn't bring the boat keys =/. Made a phone call to mum to bring the boat keys as friend and I waited at the servo eating breakfast at the HJ's. > Went to a local tackle and bait store in kyeemah to buy backup bait (exorbitant pricing@ 1 fresh squid costing$6.30 & 1 small ziplock bag of frozen pilles ~ 10 igaf? pilles @ $10) Launched at Kyeemah boat ramp and headed off to gather live bait around where the tugs are usually parked. > Gathered yellowtail scad & slimey mackerel in a maritime security level 1 zone. (Not sure why no one told us to move along, port authority etc etc drove right past a handful of times, safety in numbers?). > Then went to squid grounds to try and find squid, none were found in the 20 minutes we tried (squidding is the bane of my fishing, i have no patience for it). > Went to oil wharf (my 'secret spot' is not so secret anymore after this vid, oh well) to drop some livies down and fresh squid strips (bought before launching as insurance). Caught 2 kings. 1@ 55cm on squid strip, 1@60cm on live yakka. Lost a few more livies and strips due to fish missing the hooks. Accessory battery couldn't keep fish finder alive anymore so was fishing blind for the 2nd half of the day ~1pm (its due for a replacement/ had spare older fully charged 12V battery on board but were to lazy to swap them around). > Things died down so moved to oil drums to try (without the aid of aforementioned fish finder), only caught pinkes, grinners, live bait tangles, & slimeys. Managed to catch 2 keeper flattys and 1 keeper bream though, so had something to take home. > Things weren't so hot at drums so went back to my secret spot as it got later in the day, no success. > Headed home on 'mood lighting' before it got to dark, earnt my paycheck driving back to the ramp from the oil wharf due to a decent wind blowing to the north east, pushing the boat from the port rear sideways the entire time and driving in an awkwardly angled sea/waves. > All in all a enjoyable day as that's the first time the Formosa has been taken to the bay and the weather cleared up nicely. Lots of bait schools around and the bay wasn't that busy with most people travelling elsewhere for the long weekend. For those who have a short attention span, here's a video instead (warning 10 minute video): Click here --> Fishing botany bay using live bait For those with no attention span: tl;dr version Went botany bay, caught fish, heres pics. Thanks for your attention. OJ