rjc123

STONKER MATE! Surely it was more than 3kg?!?!

Having used both reels i would say that the stradic is "slightly" better than the saragosa overall. Both have similar specs, good drag (smooth and power) and generous line capacities. For livebaiting i would certainly lean towards the stradic, while for jigging i would go for the saragosa. You really have to just weigh up the pro's and con's of each and decide which fits your needs best. Think about which technique (jigging, reef fishing, livebaiting) it will be used for the most. The stradic should certainly handle the jigging but not quite as well as the saragosa from my experience. All in all, both are fantastic reels and it comes down to which one you want/need the most! Cheers, Tom

Hi mate, I fished at Taylors pt wharf. Normally a good spot. In summer i get squid, tailor, bonito, bream and the odd flattie while in winter i get salmon, squid, tailor, bream, leatherjackets and trevally. Normally a few yakkas too but none yesterday. It really is one of those on or off wharves..

Hey raiders, finally got out for a bit of landbased fishing today. Headed up to pittwater to a favourite wharf. Took 3 rods with me. One with a ganged pilli under a float, one with a peeled prawn and the other with a squid jig. The pilli was aimed for a passing tailor and salmon but went untouched the whole day! Unusual for this spot.. anyway, the squid weren't about either. Loads of blackfish around though. Some of atleast 40cm+. Spewing i didn't grab some weed for the tackle store The peeled prawn was getting very few bites so after a few hours of no hook ups i changed to pilli fillet. Nothing for 30min until it got smashed our of nowhere! After a good fight on light gear up pops a lovely looking bream. 33cm of pure winter yellowfin This made me feel a little better about the day so far. Would have put him back but he took the hook right down... Kept on trying for the rest of the afternoon to no avail. A very very quiet day but all in all a nice day. Beautiful weather! The Bream cooked up very well! Whole Thai Style Yum! Cheers, Tom

top sesh mate! Can't argue with a bag of nice schoolies!

During winter they come inshore into places like cowan creek (which is where all these reports are from). Can't say why but apparently they come in from the shelf! Apart from the odd one up north, i'm not sure if they can be caught in many areas.

good work mate ! Gotta love a feed of reds!

There are a few ways mate. A jewie under 100cm i would fillet like a normal fish. Anything over that that has a reasonable girth i would cut into steaks/cutlets. Cook the fillets as you normally would for any fish and for the cutlets pop them in the oven with some lemon and garlic and your all set! Beautiful eating fish!

Cheers mate, i'll try and make some up this week!

Mate, you've well and truly cracked the hairtail code! 17!!! Crazy stuff and that monster (188cm) is a hell of an animal! Cheers, Tom

nice one mate! Can't wait to get out myself. Just waiting for the right tides

Cheers mate! Might order a few. Thinking of mixing it up and having 2 rods with 40lb flurocarbon and 2 with 27lb wire. Don't own any crimping pliers so making up the rigs myself will be difficult..

Don't have any names for you but make sure you have a crack at some dogtooth tuna. They go incredibly hard and grow pretty big. I'm sure you could throw a few poppers around the lagoons for trevally and reefies too! Cheers, Tom

+1 for chucking out a fillet of salmon. You'll have to put the breaks on the jew if your near the reef! Good luck!

unfortunately i just bought some 27lb single strand and a few crimps. Not sure how to go about making a rig though.. where do you get your pre made rigs.

Most likely next saturday night but the tides don't look ideal... maybe delay it until the tides better and have a crack at some reddies and trevally instead What do you think?

good session mate! Always good to get a few flatties

great idea buddy It'd help a lot of people, especially those new to fishing. Survey well thought too!

This is the best news i've had all day! Will do it straight away! I reckon i've had about 7 in the last 2 days! You hang up on them and they call you straight back! AAAHHH! Thank you very very much!

You "can" get jews on that but around the bridge pylons you'll struggle stopping them. They go like a freight train on the first run when they are of any size. With that gear i would suggest another upstream spot. Milson Island is located a km or so upstream from the road bridge. The NW corner of this island has a channel marker. This spot is fantastic for jew, flathead, bream and the odd big whiting. Live bait, mullet strips and squid are your options for the big rod while the humble prawn is hard to go past for bream and flatties. I have caught a few monster bream here. My PB of 44cm was taken from here on a mullet strip. Hook wise, it depends on the bait. For a standard livebait (mullet, yakka) i'd go for maybe a 5/0-7/0 considering the strength of your gear. For live tailor which are also fantastic, go for a 7/0-8/0. Squid can be the same but consider a snelled rig and same goes for mullet strips. I'd also recommend 30-40lb flurocarbon leader considering your gear. You could go 20lb but it would be pushing it if a big one comes along. Good luck!

Many say you should NOT eat anything from west of the HB. Yes, this is due to dioxin levels. Personally, i wouldn't go near eating anything caught around there. Might taste fine but the effects are longterm and don't show up initially. Be careful..

Will a few wraps of electrical tape do?

Have a look at the bridges, Juno point, flint and steel and gunyah point for jews and big bream. Live baits, squid (live, halves or strips) and mullet strips are best. The fish tend to be bigger in winter but harder to find. Good luck! Cheers, Tom

Hey raiders, Working on a few hairtail rigs for next weekend. Can't decide whether to go for 40lb flurocarbon or 20lb single strand wire. My only concern with the wire is that it will result in less bites while my concern with the flurocarbon is that they'll chew through it! Can anyone shed some light on my situation? Cheers, Tom

I'd be downsizing hook size a little mate. 3/0 -5/0 is extremely big for the species your after, especially whiting.