ko76

Hey nice muddy but I thought you arent allowed to take any invertebrate from sydney harbour. Maybe someone who knows better could clarify? I thought thats why you never see crab pots or people pumping nippers in sydney harbour or its tributaries but see the hawkesbury get smashed.

I sprayed mine with industrial strength lanolin applied with a normal air power spray gun. The dust sticks to it a bit so doesnt look shiny but its still greasy/sticky 6 months later. Water beads off it.

Some cuttle fish dont have the two long 'attack' tentacles that squid have. This makes them much harder to catch even though they are very aggressive creatures. My guess this was your case as both will come in from the side to attack and just keeping the same speed of retrieve will usually be enough to jag the squid. This is not the case for cuttlies though.... need a lot more patience and have to strike a bit harder I find. Cheers, Ken

Yeah, the ink isnt a problem as long as youve got fresh sea water pumping through, it might take a while but it will clear up in the tank. Also as the ink gets purged out with the excess water it makes a great burley!! Same as the other posts.....Ive never had a yakka attack the squid but I know that a squid will happily eat a yakka. Cheers, Ken

Hi ya Raiders, Was hoping to pick your brains........ I have a Penn Fathom Master downrigger and want to make a swivel base for it. The Penn bases are expensive and hard to get so if any raiders have made a swivel base or have any good ideas Id love to hear them Cheers, Ken

I was out there on Friday also... not sure if I saw you...were you in a blue boat? It was unbelievebly dark. I couldnt see 2m in front with the fog until the sun started rising. Ive caught kings there before but not so prolific like Syd Harbour, and you have to move around to find them. I landed a 50cm tailor but no Kings that day, I guess I should have ventured further up rather than trolling the lower reaches. The water was very muddy and no bird/surface activity. Cheers, Ken

If you cant be bothered making or tracking down the missing bracket.... the two big boating warehouse stores sell transom brackets for sounders, some of which have height adjustments on them should you need to beach your boat. Cheers, Ken

i cant speak for the reel but Ive got the Shimano Squidgy Spin Heavy 702 and its a good rod for the price. Its a tad heavy for getting into lighter estuary fish(bream whiting etc) but it will tackle a good Kingie very well. If you want to flick soft plastics with finesse then it might be a bit to heavy to get a good action out of a small lure but I only use mine with SP stick baits or normal bait fishing and it works great. As for the Fireline.....Im not a fan of gel spun lines in the heavier classes. I think its very wirery compared to traditional braid. I recommend any good quality brand traditional braid. Have a feel of the two types once they're on a reel and youll see the difference. As for reels..... you cant go wrong with just about any daiwa or shimano and you get what you pay for. Cheers, Ken

Hit the water around 5:30 this morning from Brooklyn. Tried for squid in Pittwater but didnt have much luck with a strong westerly blowing over the water. Once the sun came up we had a look at the heads and realised it was quite nice on the protected side of Barrenjoey Spent the day drifting around bottom bashing for a heap of flathead and pinkies, also a few rubbish fish like wrasse and sgt bakers. All up we kept 7 flatties 45 - 55cm and a whopper 45cm+ leather jacket. A nice day on the water once the sun came up and a good feed for tonight. Sorry, no photos this time. Cheers, Ken

Last time I checked you cant take any invertebrate(nippers included) from anywhere in Sydney harbour or attached waterways. Hawkesbury is OK not sure about Hacking or Botany. Cheers, Ken

Acetone is available in all hardware stores and is the same chemical as nail polish remover. Be carefull not to leave it on the rod for too long(ie dont soak it) as it could eat into the paint or fibreglass of the rod. Cheers, Ken

I have mounted my Penn D/Rigger 90deg out to the side for a few reasons; 1) Its just a bit further away from the prop than mounted out the back. 2) If I get a second D/R on the other side it will be even further away from it. No tangled bombs. 3) Side mounted gave me better access to the winder(handy when fighting a fish by yourself) The main downside is that if trolling shallower water the bomb cant be seen on my sounder. Other than that Im happy with the position, although i wouldnt mind one of those swivel brackets $$$$! Cheers, Ken

I usually use my Kingie set up rod as I dont have much boat space. 20lb braid on an 8kg rod for SPs. I know its over kill but I dont get many drops. I use a constant and reasonably fast wind. If I use the lift-wind technique or retrieve too slowly the squid will usually drop off when they pulse. Just my two cents worth!!

I would say another squid for sure. They seem to like the reefy areas just outside north head. Nice catch by the way.

Fee goes to council. NPWS and local rate payers still have to pay!! Again, Bayview is a great ramp. heaps of parking, good solid ramps, but no table of motor flush.

About this time last year I had a huge sea-lion grab my livie just outside north head at Bluefish Pt. Not my idea of fun and felt bad for it as I had to cut the line, there was no way I could remove a live bait hook from a 400kg rottweiler with fins! 2 weeks ago I saw 3 fairy penguins cruising around middle harbour just west of the Spit. I also have seen a few small penguins feeding around Clifton Gardens too over the last few years. There's no shortage of these non-fish predators around Syd Harbour. They are impressive creatures to watch but seem to send any nearby fish into hiding!

Bobfish, Ive just bought myself a Shimano Backbone 15kg with a Tyrnos 20. Very nicely weighted combo for fishing the bottom and a large 5.0:1 ratio to bring it back up fast. Havent had a chance to christen it yet but I think it'll go great. Also thought about the Daiwa Sealine Lever drag but the Tyrnos came in a bit cheaper and havent had a Shimano fail on me yet! If you're after a smaller profile then there are a couple of posts referring to Tyrnos 16s & 12s new in the USA. Ken

The specs refer to the battery charging system and not the power that is required to run the engine. Does your motor have electric start & did you purchase the motor new? Usually, if you get a motor with electric start, a charging system is automatically fitted also. If yours is pull start only then it may not have it fitted and might be a dealer fitted option. One way to tell if your motor is charging the battery is put a digital multimeter(voltmeter) on the battery when the engine is running. It should be reading around 14v doing medium to high revs and drop down closer to 12 - 13v when at idle. Or take it to an outboard mechanic and they will be able to quickly tell based on the wiring (or lack of). If you dont have one Im sure a Merc/Mariner dealer can supply you with an alternator/rectifier/regulator factory set up. Hope this helps. Ken

Mike, If your ' 97 20hp Yammy has done some hours then its probably putting out less than 20Hp due to wear & tear so you may not notice any difference if you buy an 18hp. As for Tohatsu, I own a 30hp black 2 stroke and think its quite a good motor. I bought a tohatsu because they were cheaper than most other brands and got a good trade-in from the tohatsu dealer. (If I had the money I would have bought a 4-stroke Honda $$$$$ though!) Yamaha have proven themselves as a top quality motor over the years but if the tohatsu works out a fair bit cheaper then I dont think you've got anything to lose.

Nicely done on the fish mate. I have to agree with your comments I havent fished Botany this summer/autumn but when I fished there last year I was very impressed with the Runway & Mol Pt. Its a nice bit of waterway and I would fish there more often if I lived closer to it. Cheeers, Ken

Yeah, heard on Triple M that there was a 3m+ Great White or Tiger off La Perouse came as close as 15m from swimmers before the beach was cleared!

After a fairly successfull trip to Pittwater last week, I thought Id try again to make sure it wasnt a fluke. Headed out 5am from Bayview and went to chase some squid. Managed four squid including one large one but it was an expensive effort: I was casting away with my pink Yozuri when it gets smacked by what I thought was another good size squid. When I got it near the boat I realise that its actually a seriously oversize porcupine fish. I eventually managed to free it but when I pulled up my Yozuri it no longer resembled a jig: They are made of a hard thick plastic body and this was absolutely smashed, even the lead weight was a bit squashed! Those porcies have jaws like snapping turtles! I then broke my graphite Ian Miller rod! Not happy but I was the only one to blame. Anyway, started fishing with the squid around the western side of Pittwater. Got 3 Amberjack ranging 45cm - 55cm. Kept 2 for dinner. Hooked up to a couple more good fish but the hooks pulled. With the last, and largest squid I threw it on the downrigger in hope of getting a hoodlum as this was a fair size squid. Trolled it around for a while and eventually got nailed. Drag was going off and I thought I was onto a better fish. When I eventually got it to the boat I realised it was only a rat. Measured 55cm but pullled like at least 80cm! Quick photo and it was returned to grow some more. All up a good day even though I didnt manage a hoodlum.

Dan, The Amberjack was caught on a whole squid at Dobroyd. The Cobe I caught last summer was also on a whole squid at North Head. I didnt have any luck with the yakkas but a fellow at the Eastern Weddding cake was cleaning up on Kings with yakkas. Kenji

I went over to the eastern wedding cake and realised that there are over half a dozen massize wooden jetty poles holding it up and was wondering how the other one keeled over, even if the wood was rotten it would be difficult. I had it listed on my GPS but couldnt see it on the sounder. Not sure if the sounder was playing up or they have removed it altogether? Thats very true about the intersting by-catches when fishing for Kings. I thinks its fascinating that we get these wonderful tropical and exotic species coming into our harbour. I managed a cobia last year (only 3kg) but this is my first(and P. Amberjack. Love to get another Cobe this year though! Kenji

Headed out 5am this morning with a mate. Tried for squid but found it hard. Not sure if Im the only one or is everyone else having this problem catching these patience-testing cephalopods? Anyway managed a cuttle fish and some yakkas. Tried a few spots in the harbour, north head, remaining wedding cake and dobroyd for no Kings but did manage one 40cm Amberjack. Although not very large I was impressed as I believe they're fairly rare for Sydney and it put up quite a good fight for its size. With no size limit(to my knowledge) I thought Id give it a try as it made some great plate size fillets. Turns out, with a little soy/garlic/ginger it came up a treat. Looked around for the remains of the western wedding cake but couldnt locate it on the sounder. Does anyone know if its been cleaned up from the harbour? I was hoping they'd leave it there as it would make a top reef! Anyway, here's a pick of the Amberjack. Not very impressive once its in the sink but proof none the less!