Paul

What happens at Middle Harbour beaches, stays at Middle Harbour beaches We couldn't really get mad at all the boats, maybe they were racing out to get Kingies at the Heads or offshore. The one boat that did p1ss us off was the one that went straight through us when he had pretty much all of the harbour to get to his destination. We're all pretty relaxed anyways so we got over it pretty quickly. I've never seen Alan not hungry for snags til then

You can try right behind the Newport Arms Hotel. You're not supposed to fish off the wharf but people do at night when there's no boat traffic. The rocks next to the wharf aren't off limits though. I've only managed pinkies & bream there myself but heard flatties and salmon can be caught there. Good luck! Cheers Paul

G'day Raiders The regular kayak crew (nbH00d, A.dawg, Thanh and myself) decided to hit Middle Harbour earlier this week for some surface action on lures after recent reports of the water boiling up. Our main target were bonito, salmon, tailor & although unlikely at this stage ... Kingies. Launched at 5:30 am and headed to Balmoral to look around for weed beds and half assedly attempted to get some squid while looking around for birds and boils. We ran into Spongy and another friendly kayak fisher who had the same goals in mind so we all hung around each other off and on. Wasn't too long before the birds were spotted and we noticed the boils and headed towards them. The early casts produced some tailor & salmon for our crew while the other kayakers managed some bonito and salmon as well. Took a few more goes before I was able to land my first ever salmon coming in at 50cm. Fantastic fight on a 1-3kg rod, 4lb fireline & 6lb leader. Lure was a 15g gold Halco twisty lure, wasn't really rated for my rod but all I had on me that would do the job. Took a few runs and did 2 air jumps before I was able to land him. Hooked onto another but shook himself free on an air jump. At this point, my yak started to look like a bloodbath, so when the action died down, we decided to beach up and fire up the portable BBQ for some snags and I gave my yak a bit of a rinse. Turns out we were at a nude beach as some dude started to strip about 50 metres away so we quickly ate, packed up and got back on the water to meet up with the other kayak fishos and the action picked up again. Some more bonito (still none fore our crew) and salmon were landed and then the action really died down so the other fishos left and we decided to head to Clontarf for a dip and all take turns on nbH00d's Hobie Adventure Island which was incredible fun. Afterwards, we had to get some ice from the marina so decided to have a few flicks around some of the boat moorings and pontoons near the Spit Bridge but the best we could manage were pinkies after pinkies so we anchored up and had a nap. nbH00d got bored so he went back out to look for some boils and it wasn't too long before he spotted some, caught himself a salmon and gave us the call to get back out there. He came back for us and towed us back out there to see that it had really heated up! Birds and boils galore and the salmon were clearly seen at the top of the crystal clear surface. Problem we had were boats were driving straight through the schools every time we got near so we set up a square formation about 15 metes from each other and a boat decided to go straight through that too . Didn't matter though as they salmon just kept coming back up to the top but we couldn't entice them with any of our lures and the boils were starting to appear too far away so we decided to head back. There was some more action when we got back though and the boys managed to get a few more salmon before finally calling it quits. Fun and exhausting day. Pics Below A.Dawg and one of the 3 salmon he landed in rapid succession Thanh leeching a ride nbH00d's salmon while we were caught napping nbh00d's salmon and Hobie Adventure Island Me and my first ever salmon Kayak Choo Choo Train Some future shark bait and dinner Hope you enjoy Cheers Paul

Congratulations! Now the true fun starts with pimping it up

Agreed. I went out with Gav (nbh00d) who owns an Adventure Island the other week and he cut through the water with ease and at considerable pace with the sail up while I struggled to maintain a steady pace and couldn't catch up. While the PA will go offshore, it's not as pleasant an experience unless the conditions are superb. Cheers Paul

There's also the Native WaterCraft propel range: http://nativewatercraft.com You're given the option of reverse as well. From what I've read the pedalling takes a bit of getting used to as it's different to the MirageDrive, but nothing that can't be overcome.

Hi Nineworlds I've also got the PA 12 and it isn't much lighter than the old or new PA 14 but it is a very comfortable and stable platform. So stable I anchored up and had a BBQ on it the other night (not something I'm advocating btw in case the nanny state brigade is out there). You're more likely to fall in the water than the kayak ever capsizing. I've got loading and unloading it down to a tee and sometimes find it easier to do myself with just the use of the beach cart & yoga mat than with assistance, but maybe it's just the shape/height of my car that allows for this. As Roberta suggested, there are several tricks available on the net that show you how load and unload it. I've never owned an Outback myself but I have read reviews from some people who have owned both the PA and the Outback and said that although the Outback is lighter, it's more awkward/difficult to load due to the hull shape so it's also something to consider. Cheers Paul

I usually forego the sunscreen with a buff. It's a great UV protectant for the face, lips, ears and neck which also helps keep you warm if it's cold or you have wind blowing in your face and surprisingly still allows you to breathe very easily. Between that, the rashie, hat and polarized sunnies, I no longer have to deal with the mess of putting sunscreen on or forking out any extra cash. Prior to that I used Banana Boat

Yeah it's great feeling landing your first one and a huge sense of achievement when you can start landing them regularly. Check this out for some more squidding tips. Got me going from frustration to jubilation as all my mates were catching squid at the start while I was getting little to nothing. http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=66861 Cheers Paul

Great haul there. Heard nothing but good news about squidding @ Kurnell. Will have to see for myself shortly!

Well done. Better to get a tattoo on the boat than on your face

The joys of fishing for Kingies! Great stuff mate, glad you were able to get one on the table Now that work has started, gonna have to hit up the Bay from now on. No chance of getting onto the Hacking on the weekends.

G'day Raiders Found this movie on Youtube the other night to look for ways on improving my squidding and thought I'd share. Quite some handy techniques and my results have already improved alot. Hope this helps anyone out there Cheers Paul

Great shots there mate. Is that due to a really good camera or a skilled photographer? "Catching live squids can sometimes be as hard as finding where the kings are." I managed 3 in about 40 minutes last night and managed to lure 2 to Alan's smaller jig last night. Getting better at this. Thank you Youtube! Gotta head out again sometime. Cheers Paul

Same. According to my mate, they aren't doing my local haunt this year ie Canada Bay so will be a few road trips further out. Good luck and all the best

Smashing the bream there Tom You thinking of doing any tournies? I'm gonna enter next year for a bit of fun with a mate. Need to get a few good bream sessions in soon.

They're all along the edges of the entrance of Yowie Bay where ever there are weedbeds. But like fishing, you may catch alot in one spot and then none the next day so you just gotta drift around really and pick your times, spots and the right jigs. Cheers Paul

Great stuff with the croc and the squid. Some great bait there. I'm finding stripped FRESH squid is almost as good on the kingies. Bugger is catching them Cheers Paul

Me, my Hobie Pro Angler 12 and a recently caught rat kingy.

Was pretty lucky on the very first one that about 4-5 other kingies came up to the surface as we were bringing it in. My mate tried to flick plastics at them but no use. Was still a spectacular sight to see. On the yak I’d be lucky to get one... can’t cover as much ground. But should be fun getting towed around and would be quite the experience! Yep hope to see you on the water. Happy new year. Cheers Paul Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

True story lol. Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Great report Rob! Got onto my first kingy on Friday and I'm very familiar with getting carted around the boat scenario on the first one too. Didn't know what to expect at first either. Got the bug as well and having a crack from the yak tomorrow. Tight lines Paul

Thanks Yowie. I've just managed Duskies in the past so wasn't sure what it was so thanks for clearing that up

G'day Raiders Hope everyone is having a good holiday and getting lots of fishing done. Thought I'd start this thread as this week I've had a few new firsts and on several outings I've come back empty handed when targeting other species so just wanted to see if other raiders have any species targets out there or if they've managed to knock them off recently My main targets to catch (In no particular order) The elusive Jewfish, had several runs, been busted off a twice and spat out a few times in recent weeks. A good sized snapper, the pinkies have been extremely fun so I can only imagine what the big ones are like. A Mahi Mahi. Long way off but one can dream A Morwong. Out of curiosity more than anything. A Bonito. Heard they're fun. Australian Salmon. Heard they're fun. Rock Cod. Mum got a big one in front of me when I was in WA and it was a damn good fight. Kingies. One of the species I've knocked off this week, but can you ever get sick of targeting them? The adrenaline is something else. Squid. I've had one on the line but dropped bringing him up Added a poll too to see what the most popular target species are. It may not cover all the species out there so let me know if I should add anything to the list

Cheers I've caught heaps of flathead before, just none with pretty patterns like this, so I decided to take the photos