rjc123

That one would do the job for sure! I guess i get a bit comfortable with the PA thinking that no one in there right mind would try and take it purely because its so heavy!! I still keep a bike chain on it for good measure though. If someone really wanted it, i guess they could take it relatively easily providing theres more than one person. Better to be safe then sorry i guess

How heavy are the zings? I mean like are they light in hand, but also do you reckon a 6-12lb would be heavy enough for LB Jew? Most will be schoolies but the areas i fish are know to produce a few very big fish (25kg+) from time to time... Cheers, Tom

Nothing wrong with 47cm mate! That's a good perch! Gotta get one ASAP!

Thanks for that Roberta. I normally avoid leaving it on the car unsupervised for long periods of time, but when i do, i just use the old bike chain lock. Does the trick but yours looks a bit better. Will give it a go! Cheers, Tom

It certainly is paradise! Practically my 2nd home. Been coming up there a couple of times a year for a long time! Very tempted to come back in April. Hopefully the jewies will be on the chew then! Had planned to head out into the bay chasing bonnies and kings, and maybe even sneak out around the heads and offshore providing the weather was ok, but was too busy in the river to do so! Looking forward to coming back again Cheers, Tom

Okay, I'll go with the 6-12lb then. I can't go too light because I'll be LB some of the time. After catching that little 58cm jew on 3lb and the black label im hooked on light tackle! To think I was looking for a 6-10kg for school jew a few months ago! Gotta love the z-mans. Awesome plastics. No exaggeration, of all the fish i caught on my recent trip to port stephens, 95% of them were caught on z-mans! The shrimpz should be good on the jewies at times when the prawns are running! Cheers, Tom

Thanks Stan! Yeah, I've got the Black Label 3-5lb matched with a caldia 2000 and so far very very happy with it! I have to say I like the grips on the zing and have always been keen to try a samaki. So you have the 6-12lb? Do you reckon it can handle decent jews? And yeah, ultra fast action is preferable. That bream in the display really made me work for it! Took 5 minutes to get him in as he took it parallel to a pylon and shot through the other side! Still have no clue how he didnt get me!! Cheers, Tom

Can't stop mate! Yak fishing has removed the boat idea from my head at the moment. Addicted to it!

Hey raiders, About to buy another caldia (2500) and looking to whack a Samaki Zing on it. Just wanting to know a few opinons.. I'm looking at getting the 7' , 8-15lb model using it predominately on jews, with a few rat kings and snapper mixed in. I'd go the 6-12lb but it just seems slightly too light considering the areas i fish... Whack some 10lb braid on the caldia and should be all good. Anyone got experience with the zing? Any good? Or am I better off grabbing another black label? Cheers, Tom

Thanks Matt! Just need a bigger jew now. From now until end of May is prime time for rosie jews! Thanks mate Kayak fishing really is a whole new world! Opens up so many new doors every day. Would highly recommend it Cheers, Tom

No worries mate. Yeah I find myself hardly using anything else these days! Apart from the 4" Curly Tailz and 3" Minnowz of course!

The Sugapens are great! Along with Lucky Craft Sammy's and Strada Virals these are my 3 top surface lures for whiting. The Strada virals are pretty much a cheaper identical twin of the sugapens... Catch just as many fish though! So I'd say my favourite is a Strada Viral. I personally find that if they're following it and not taking it, you need to excite them a little. This can mean retrieving a little quicker or giving your lure more and faster action. If all this fails its either not your day or you could try small clear poppers or even plastics. Fast retrieve is better on the whiting and slower with the odd pause for bream. Mix it up as things change from day to day. Some days the whiting will hit it when your working it a million miles an hour, and some when its hardly moving! Definitely is a brilliant way to get a feed of whiting! Cheers, Tom

Well done mate! It was only a matter of time before you crossed paths with one. A jews a jew! The first of many Cheers, Tom

I have the Elite 4 DSI on my Pro Angler. Pretty good sounders. Perfect for a yak. I quite like the DSI but its definitely not a "must" when it comes to picking a sounder. Been working really well for me though! Cheers, Tom

Tomaree is the #1 spot for yakkas, slimies and at times squid. You can get yakkas off the nelson bay marina. You need to burley hard though. For Squid ,Barnes Rocks on the north side is my spot but you can get them in shoal bay and off the nelson bay breakwall at times. Tomaree is definitely your best bet though... Cheers, Tom

Still a bit shattered about it. You don't see many flathead of that size these days. I guess the 70 flatty and jewie made up for it a bit!

There are plenty of anglers who would still release a big jewfish mate. And I'm one of them. Would only keep them if i had to. For me i NEVER keep a flathead over 60cm (even though at that size they're probably still male). Having said this, there's nothing wrong with bringing a feed of fish home. Just "limit your kill, not kill your limit". Cheers, Tom

You'll get him soon mate. It'll happen when you least expect it! All the hard work fades away once you land one

Thanks guys! Was a great trip. All fish caught on z-man grubz and z-man curly tail streakz! Lovin the zmans! Cheers, Tom

Hi Raiders, Just spent the week up at Hawksnest, Port Stephens. Got A LOT of fishing in, especially from the yak. Be prepared for a fair read as it was an action packed week with plenty of good fish! Day 1: Headed out on the yak to test the waters of the Myall River, In Tea Gardens. As i'd only ever fished the area landbased, i wasn't sure how I'd go. Decided to keep it simple and fish like i do back here in Sydney. Flicking little plastics under wharves and moored boats. Didn't take long to produce a solid bream. Took the plastic on the drop and went like a train! Measured up at 32cm. Not a bad start at all Continued on picking up 2 more decent bream of similar size over the next hour. Before the rains came an hour later i managed one more just legal bream and a fair few flatties to about 48cm. Nothing big but considering it was my first session here in a few years, was pretty happy! Day 2: Elected to go for a feed of whiting from a favourite spot at Jimmy's Beach. Had a top early morning session on them using live worms as bait. Landed 20 or so and kept 8 for the table. Not big fish, ranging from 27 - 32. Still a bit of fun on a 1-2kg rod and 3lb braid. Day 3: Ventured out on the yak again today. This time chasing flatties. Started off by flicking some HB's around the oyster racks. Just one bream of 27cm coming from here. Moved on down the myall towards the mouth. Found a spot that looked the goods for flatties and it certainly was. Managed 6 good flatties to 52cm on a mix of plastics and trolled HB's. It was a fast moving channel with a sandbank on one side, and an undercut bank dropping straight into 2 meters on the other. I found most of the fish to be sitting right in close to the under cut bank. Just before moving on, my little plastic was smashed. Initially i thought i'd got myself a snag. How wrong i was! Felt a couple of big headshakes and immediately pedaled out to the middle of the channel. For the next 10 minutes i fought this fish. Not only was a battling the fish, but also the strong current! Just as the beast reached the surface i pulled the hooks. Absolutely devastated. Got a good look at her and can 100% say that this flattie was over the meter mark! Absolutely devestated The wind picked up which made conditions a little sloppy... Gave the racks another quick go on the way upstream and surprisingly pulled 2 good flatties in 2 casts. Going 45cm and 52cm. They were sitting right under the racks in around a meter of water. The wind was too strong at this point so headed in. Day 4: The wind was extreme today so skipped the mouth entirely. Started off with a few bream and flatties from the oyster racks. Nothing big but still a bit of fun. Next I Gave the wharves and moored boats a go for bream but no takers today. Unfortunately the bream stayed pretty quiet for the rest of the week! Just as the tide neared the bottom, a sandbank was revealed in the middle of the river, with a nice drop off leading into a channel within casting distance. Immediately had a gut instinct to put in some time here. For the next 3 hours i had some great fun landing at least 40 flatties to 50cm. At one stage i managed 8 in 8 casts! Goes to show how healthy stocks of flathead are up there compared to down our way... Never had a session on flatties close to this good in Sydney. Picked up a few more flatties from under the wharves before the wind became a problem again... Was the curse of my trip for sure! Day 5: Had planned to give the whiting another go off the beach. However, I was tempted into taking the yak out for the afternoon. Wind was down for once! Headed down to the mouth and had a cracker session on the flatties landing some really nice fish! Had to wait for the current to slow down before i could fish it properly so wasted some time catching a few small flatties on drifted whitebait. Finally the tide slowed enough to fish it from the yak. 2nd cast hooked up. Turned out to be a nice 53cm flattie. Picked up a few more just legal flatties in the next 15 mins before i hooked a good fish. Really tested me out on 1-2kg Rod and 3lb braid/4lb leader. Another 5 or so minutes later i netted a beauty of a flattie! Pedalled into shore for a photo shoot and to brag mat him up. Went 71cm The disadvantage of fishing alone is there's no one to take photos of you and the fish! Ah well, got a few good shots anyway before returning the big girl to the water. Watching here swim away was great to see! Back on the water, next cast and hooked another good fish! After another great fight i netted another really good fish. This time going 63cm . Over the next few hours landed another 30 or so fish with at least 10 of them over 50cm! What a great session. All fish released Day 6: My final day. Even though i was landed some quality flatties the day before, the metery that got away was haunting me. So, planned to do the same thing. Hit the same spot and hopefully come across that big girl i was after! The wind was terrible today... Made things very difficult. Over a few hours only landed 8 flatties to 45cm. I did drop another 60+ at the side of the yak though. With only half an hours fishing time left, i headed up to a spot i'd found earlier and knew there'd be something special hanging around. It's the deepest part of the river with plenty of structure meaning it's a likely holding point for a few jewfish. After a few casts hooked up to a big fish. Smoked me on 20lb braid/leader! Thinking good jew i was pretty devestated. With only 5 mins of fishing time left, i only had my really light rod rigged up. A 1-2kg Daiwa Black Label, Daiwa Caldia 2000, with 3lb braid and 4lb leader. I knew what i was about to do was most likely suicidal but didn't have a choice. First cast my little Z-man 2.5" Grubz in Watermelon Red got smashed! Straight away i knew it was a jew. Having hooked it hard up against structure, i pedalled my way out of there verY quickly. Somehow the fish didn't get me on the structure and the fight moved into deeper water. 5 mins later up comes what i was hoping for. A jewie Not massive but big enough considering the gear I was on. Anyone who says Jews don't fight well have rocks in their head. If you fish light (not too light!) they're an awesome sport fish! Headed in for a photo shoot. Measured him up to be 58cm. Not massive but enough to bring a very big smile to my face. Any jews a good jew if you ask me! Especially on plastics What a way to end the trip! Couldn't have asked for anything better Wish I didn't have to leave the place! Will be up there ASAP to tap into the amazing fishing once again! Enjoy the pics Cheers, Tom

I'm up here now. Just got a Jew on plastic from the yak! Will send you a PM with some info later Cheers, Tom

Nice one Paul! Salmon and Tailor are always good on light gear. You gotta be careful about going too light though... Kingies will destroy you on 6lb (usually). I made that mistake today. Fished for flatties of 4lb (leader) and ended up getting more than what i bargained for. Fought this fish for 15 minutes on a 1-2 kg rod and right at the yak it wore through my leader. This flathead was comfortably over a meter!! Very Very gutted Thats the good thing about holidays, the yak will be on the water for the next 3 days! Anyway i'll stop ranting, onya boys great stuff! Cheers, Tom

Hi Koi, Your certainly doing the right thing by livebaiting which is a great way to catch big fish generally speaking. One thing to keep in mind, match the hatch. Using live slimy mackerel or squid around roseville is unlikely to catch a jewfish because it's not part of their natural diet. Whenever i've caught them in that area, its been on the most plentiful bait in the area. Usually this is tailor but mullet and yakkas have had some attention too. Another thing to keep in mind is burley. Not too much but a little burley goes a long way. Jewfish will often be found hanging underneath schools of bait and by bringing the bait closer to you through burley, in theory your attracting jewfish to the vacinity. Doesn't always work out this way but its not going to do you any harm to try it. In terms of fishing bridges, it does pay to pay a little attention to the tides. Jewies are real lazy fish, they'll sit behind the pylons waiting for a free feed to be swept by. Tide changes are a different story. They come out of wherever they're holding and move into hunting grounds. For example, a drop off with plenty of bait holding on it could be a potential jew hunting ground at the right time. Night is similar to tide changes. Fish areas you think they'd be looking for food. I'll flick you a quick PM about roseville. Cheers, Tom

Good ol' power pro is perfect for you. Grab some 4-5lb (which actually breakes over 10lbs) and you should be all good for the species mentioned. For flathead i go 8lb on average fish but if targetting 70+ 12-14lb is ideal. For bream and EP's 4-8lb depending on structure etc... Cheers, Tom