inhlanzi

Yea BottomBasher - get out your dads and your granddads old penn reel (the one with your new reels old line on it ) and matching rod with rust fused ferrule, use only the dodgey pillies in the burley bucket, make up a mismatched rusted gang hook set (1/0 to 4/0) will do, use a wire leader off and old buggered rapala 18 that you used in the whitsundays and cast very boredly away from your fancy jewie baits. Its that easy...java script:emoticon('',%20'smid_12')

Thanks for all the good words Raiders. Start geetting your warm gear and your hairtail tackle ready for the social !! I predict we will be catching some interesting fish that weekend. cheers inhlanzi

Thanks for all the good words Raiders. I find it really great to share my experiences with people who are as nuts about fishing as I am. I cooked up some slabs of Hairtail last night for the family and they all loved it...even the kids. It has a unique kind of deep sea taste. The meat is white and quit firm. They are very easy to clean and cook. Just to answer a few of your questions domza - Like one of the wise fishos on this site said to me. You just got to put in the hours mate. They are there and you will get them. maraudingmado - Yes caught in the Hawkesbury, in sight Lion Island. gibbofisho and kantong - I reckon there are a lot of terrified yakka in the system at the moment!! Those front four fangs have barbs on them too. huntingforjewies - You have to be well prepared to bring the beasts on board. If you are fishing with a mate or two you should have some kind of plan in place ie who does what and when. They can rear up like a snake and they are snapping away as they do so. You need to get a firm grip on them behind the head and then they are pretty easy to deal with. wayneo - Yea great bonus. When the first one took I thought I had had stuffed it getting the big jew on the smallest rod. Heart started to race a bit. I have got two more tides to go on that hole to work it out I hope! cheers inhlanzi

Hey Domza Got them at around 11 this morning. Trying to catch a big jewie and had 3rd rod out to keep me busy. There was quite a bit of rain about and it was pretty grey. The tide was also quite high. Slight tap tap and then off like a train. Because I sit in one place for a long time they will come by sooner or later I reckon. cheers inhlanzi

G'day Raiders Just a few more pics of the Hairtail heads. Quite a mean set of fangs on them! The one went 146cm and the other 144cm enjoy cheers inhlanzi

Hey mottymay they are an amazing fish. I will try and take some more close up pics later tonight. There were a few anxious moments on the back of the boat I can tell ya! You have to be really carefull of them when they are on the deck as the rise up like a snake. I have some of the yakka taht they attacked and you can see the marks they leave. YOU DO NOT WANT ON OF THEM ON YOUR LEG OR ARM. It think Ken has had a nasty runin with one of them. I will tell you how they taste a bit later. Just witing for the to get back from uni cheers inhlanzi Hey Haraka Your payoffline/signature says it all. Cheers inhlanzi

Just to give you a size to them. I have not weighed or measured them yet.

G'day Raiders Woke to the sound of decent rain on the roof this morning. Had a look at the wind forecasts and that was it ...I headed for the Hawkesbury in the cold and the rain. As usual I tried my regular haunt for the ever elusive big Jews. Got the livies and set out my baits and waited for the tide. Very few boats about and not a lot of wind. Not much action besides the livies. The rain poured down and the skies turned grey. Not a good omen on the 6/6/6! Then all hell broke loose. Not on the Jewie rod but the pass the time rod!! rrrrrrrrttttt jumped and grabed the old penn squidder and yahooo onto something. Wierd kind of a fight but lots of fun on 4kg. Then the beast appeared....big flashes of swirling silver... yes yes yes a nice hairy! Could see it was hooked well so manouvered the fish to the transom After a bit of a struggle got the monster over the side and anto the deck wahooooo. Straight into the esky. Then it all happened again!!!!! 2 x Hairtail on the 6/6/6 not a day I will forget easily... Also managed a nice flattie and a little fat tailor. Boat, fish and gear to get washed and cleaned and some Hairtail slabs to be cooked! So thats all for now. What an amazing day! cheers all inhlanz! PS I will add more pics later.

G'day Ross I certainly will enjoy dinner tonight. I will be adding a slab of hairtail as well. Got to make sure the gets a good feed! It sure was cold out there today. I tried a new pair of dungarees. The blokes who work in cold rooms and freezers use them. They were fanastic. They have zips down the sides so you can get them over the boots no worries. Just had a pair of shorts on under. Happy to take on the hairies at night now. I also made sure my hands stayed warm. I use a pair of those neoprene flyfishing gloves. They help keep the wind chill down to a minimum on the way out there and on the way back. My boat is a centre console (no cubby at all ) so my mate who came with today was so cold he struggled to pull the pick rope when we went home. I enjoyed the lack of normal weekend activity on the water as well. I thought the weather would be a worse that it was. Some big spashes against the Lion Is though! cheers inhlanzi

Hey Flattieman Yup your'e right ...there are two nice fillets waiting to be grilled for dinner tonight. If I had more time I would have rigged up some wire traces just to see what it was. Normally the small whalers and hammerheads don't cut you off that quick or that hard. cheers inhlanzi

Tired of having cabin fever so got out early this morning and headed down to near the Lion Is. 1st cast with a ganged pilli a fat f^&*$& red rock fish, 2nd cast a 46cm soapie, 3rd cast moray eel. Caught some livies and put them out as the tide slowed for some big jews. Waited for an hour or two, then lost all three livies in the matter of 5 mins to a decent size shark. Strong fierce hits that were breaking 80lb leader as if it were 2lb mono. Took the two on the top then headed for the one on the bottom. Wondered if it could be a smallish mako as it didn't muck about. Hit ...run...gone in under a few seconds. I had to be back home by 11h45 so called dit quits and buggered off home. It was very windy and thus very chilly. Still fantastic to be out on the water. Cheers inhlanzi

Trying to get out later tomorrow to avoid the bad weekend weather. Will have a crack somewhere in the Hawkesbury system. Still inspired by all the big Jewies floating around. There are also some Hairies to be had!

You can't fool the King! Wayneo well spotted... The pics are two different pics - taken at two different places I don't know but I really respect gerg keeping the location secret as requested by Criag. If Craig wants to tell that is his perogtive. Pics aside still a magnificent fish! cheers inhlanzi

G'day netic Is ther anything on the web on these downriggers? Love to have a look. I have been looking at Scottys and Penns. Chers inhlanzi

Well done greg awsome fish!!! Now you are buggered ...It will take a long time to get one of them again. I think you have done the right thing as regards deleting the background. T^%&^$# has worked long and hard to get his spots. Do you mind me asking what gear you were using ie rod, line, reel, trace, hook size etc? Cheers inhlanzi

Well done Mick Jr - fantastic fish Owzat you taught the young man well. Look forward to more pics

Goodstuff ...must have been a lot of fun Were there many birds around? Dollies in beerbatter for dinner maybe?

Not very big - didn't know they were that good to eat. Here is one which hit a yakka right next to the boat.

Some more Pics 43cm Tailor What a place to fish

G'day Raiders Bit of a late post because the weekend just got away from me. Set out mid Saturday morning with a mate and went to my usual haunt in view of Lion Island. Got a few nice livies real quick. For the day got Flathead, Bream, Hammerhead Shark, Tailor - (small to 43cm), Squid (Couple of thumpers), Small Snappper, Eels, Lots of Yakka some going well over 30cm! Another really good day on the water. Took home a few squid and a some big tailor for a great feed with some mates. Added the pics Sadly the big jews eluded us but I will keep after em. A good size squid A nice little Bream

Wayneo Well done again. All hail to the jew king! Please leave some for us...

Freelance Graphic Designer.

Nice one Netic What livies were you using?

G'day sammy where are you going in the system? I can give you a few pointers as to where some of the spots are and whats catching them. In the last two weeks I have got Hairtail, Leather Jackets, School Jew, Salmon, Tailor 10 to 55cm, Small Snapper, hammerheads, Small whalers, Yakka, Slimies, Assorted Bream, Flounder and a few very nice flathead and squid. Attached is one of the big flatties I got. Went over a meter!!! good luck

G'day Raiders The Fish Gods must be with me at the moment. Went in search of the big you know whats again this morning. Had planned to be out all day but got a call from the better half to say she was crook and thus get your butt back home and fetch the kids from school. Caught some nice smallish yakka and set them out as livies. When I put out the big baits I always keep trying to catch more livies. Anyway my livie stick gets hit for six and the mono trace parts at the swivel. That was no livie so I thow out a heavier stick and as I put her in the holder ...bang... hmmm bit bigger than he average tailor and is pulling all over the place. Big silver flash and what the? Yahoooo first hairtail of the season!! Stoked. Tackel: 3/0 ganged and a small bead sinker 8kg mono. Couple more hits but they turned out to be +_35cm tailor. Got a visit from a pod of Dolphins just to make it an ever better day. Time was running out and the livies had not been touched all morning. Clean up the deck and pull all the other rods in. I thought I will leave the livies till last ...you never know...Just as I go to pick up the first big stick rrrrrrtttt on the other one. If there was someone else on the boat I would have thought they were pulling the piss for sure. Ready to grab the second big sick and nothing for about a minute. Pick up the fist one again and wind her in and as the livie reaches the boat the other one heads of again short and sharp rrrrtt rrrrttt. I Think I have totally stuffed it and finish stowing the first rod and off she goes again...bang yup hookup and she starts to run not a big you know what but solid none the less. Out of he dephths appears a 60 to 70cm flattie. Out with the gaf and swing it onto the deck. Pull the pick and rush home... I will try to get some pics to post over the weekend. All the fish still on ice. My mate has my camera at the moment. What an awsome half day!!! Hope all you Raiders have a good weekend