manama

nice array of fish gibbo, always good to get a few different sorts of fish... a damn good sizes

Hi sammy, Congrats on the purchase... nice looking boat! When i got my boat i made sure i brought along someone who had a history of boating just as bluecod suggested doing. I actually got them to do all the work and i studied intensely. once i had taken everything in i would repeat everything they did and for me it worked a treat. just having someone there who is experienced just gives you more confidence as well, it could be something as simple like ensuring the bungs are in. trailers are a weird thing, its not easy on a weekend when you turn up at the boat ramp and there keen boaters everywhere trying to get into the water, waiting to get that sea spray on their face. some boaters are patient. for some reason others aren't so patient and this sensation of sea spray can turn an impatient boater into a beast , i have experienced this first hand. the best suggestion i can give is one that may make some people laugh but what i did is i went with my wife to the local boat ramp at stupid hours of the day/night, when i knew there weren't many people around. we took turns in trying to revers the boat to the waters edge. we were really lucky, the second night we tried it there was a guy who had just finished his fishing trip and saw us trying. he came over and gave us a simple tip, try and use a line to keep straight i.e at our ramp there is a deep concrete line straight down. at the beginning i always used the line as a guide to keep the trailer straight and so did my wife (i love it when my wife reverses the boat, all the guys watch to see if a women can do it, and boy is she good at it). i hope these silly tips help. enjoy the boating/fishing...there is nothing like being on the water, OH except being on the water and catching a nice fish

thanks to all for the welcome, i forgot to write about how i caught the kingfish. i took 2 of my mates who arent so keen fisherman but do enjoy chucking a line out. i brought 4 rods to play with, 3 set up for general fishing and my bigger rod setup specifically for the kingies (fresh caught squid). anyway i was getting slightly annoyed, waiting for 2 hours and not 1 bite on my rod but the 3 smaller ones were getting lots of bites. i decided i would take one of the smaller ones and have 2 rods going to myself. when i decide to use this smaller rod i notice that somehow one of my mates has really stuffed up the spool and i have to lose half of the line. so i put on my no2 sinker and a decent size hook and a fresh prawn. my mate at the back somehow manages to get his line near mine and hooks up for a small fish. i have to reel in my smaller rod to get it our of the way and as im doing this BANG! the rod almost doubles up on itself. my spool is like zzzzzzzzz and its then i notice that i can see the silver through the line to the spool, this is where is start stressing, i think "damn im going to run out of line". i knew it was a nice fish. I start trying to reel in before it runs out of line and manage to start retreiving some line. just as i feel a bit more comfortable with the amount of line on the spool and the fish seems to be tiring the fish just takes off again, its then i get this little thought in my head "maybe its a kingi... no cant be". i get to the stage where there is hardly any line left and i start retreiving and make some in roads on the amount of line, this happens numerous time (about 5). after this keeps repeating itself i think, "it has to be, its gotta to be". after 5-6mins of hard work i manage to see this beautiful looking fish, something i have never seen before. I shout "ITS A KINGIE". now im real nervous because the easy part is done, the hard part is not snapping the light line and getting my not so experienced mates to get the net and land it, but they did great and we got it on board. i can't belive i caught the kingy on a prawn after reading all reports and any knowledge i had how how to catch a kingy this seemed to go against all theories...i will not complain about it though... i think it was just pure luck and one hungry fish involved. its almost been a week since i caught it and i cant stop thinking about it... i just cant wait to TRY and get another one

i know its a very delayed response but the best and the closest boat ramp would be roseville (garigal national park), great ramp. you have to pay for parking (i think around $7) or if you have a parks pass its no charge. make sure you buy a ticket if you dont have the parks pass or expect a nice ticket from the rangers on weekends. this ramp gives you great access to middle harbour, just beware, when you get out of the 8 knot zone when heading the spit way, lots of wake boarders and as mentioned previously, large cruisers. have fun

nice way to finish off valentines day. where do i get one of these wives that asks to get the rods ready and go fishing. your one lucky guy

Hi guys, First of all i would like to say what a great website this is. I have only been fortunate enough to have expereinced the site for a week or so, and since the first time i read it, its now become the first thing i look at when i turn on my pc every morning so i can see what great fishing adventures everyone has been on. Not only is this site great for reading what everyone has been upto in regards to their fishing expeditions but you are all so generous in your tips to fellow inexperienced fisherman like myself. I have probably learnt more in the last week by reading all the tips than i have fishing with friends for the last year. Anyway, im excited, i have a 4.4m fibreglass boat which i use in sydney harbour. I have a very inconsistent history with my fishing trips, and i mean very inconsistent. It seems this inconsistency may have changed for the short time. The last 2 times i have been fishing are since i have explored and taken on some valuable information from this website. we (me and friend) have had keepers on both occasions (1st time - blue swimmer (fluke), trevally about 40cm and a flounder...2nd time (today, my first kingy 62cm, flounder and a nice flattie). I could not contain my happiness today with my first kingy, you read about how everyone goes on about what a fight and experience it is to catch one and until you do, you realise how true it all is . I have some photos on another pc which i will try and add to the post. I cant wait to tell you about some more of my adventures and in the meantime i look forward to reading about all your fishing trips and hopefully gaining some more knowledge about our great friends of the sea. Im still beaming from the kingy, i can hear that reel zzzzzzzzzzz