zmk1962

What a great report and read. Perhaps the title should be - The story of two Mikes. Do you guys carry half of the big store lure rack each? But it just shows it pays to mix it up. I did hope to read the last king hooked up Zzzzzzzz 😜 cheers Zoran

@squidjigga all of the above reports reflect my experience with sabiki jigs for bait…. Including yours. They manly work dropping through a school of bait fish - and you need to experiment with size of jigs and the speed of the drop on the day to get consistent hook up rate. Because you are relying on dropping through the school it implies you need to be in fairly deep water given Sabiki rigs are generally around 1.5 - 2m (5-6ft). No point trying to drop that length jig in 5m of water. The only way I have been able to get a bite on a sabiki in shallow water where you can’t drop is to use an attractant scent on the jigs - something like Gulp or Squidge Gel. This corresponds with your experience of needing to bait the jigs. But on that point, from memory the DPI site states you can only use a max of 3 hooks when line fishing (sabiki are excluded as they are jigs/lures) but once you add bait technically you have a 6 hook paternoster rig. Happy to be corrected on this point. Anyway, since I mostly catch my live bait in less than 6m of water I have reverted to a simple handline. I do carry a string or two of sabikis in case we encounter baitfish offshore in deeper water. cheers Zoran

Well done Chris. Your persistence paid off. The toads were at Browns as well. You could see them swimming up to the baits on the release and retrieve. Both Wazza and I had sinkers bitten off at the boat side 😡😤 while gaffing the blue eye. Let’s hope they don’t hang around too much longer. cheers Zoran

Thanks Chris yes it is some effort but I enjoy the mystery of what comes up from the depths. Mince Interesting. My burley this time was a couple of flattie fillets (found fallen to the back of the freezer), run through a blender with stale bread, tuna oil and pillies then frozen into logs. Usually it’s fish frames, heads etc instead of the fillets and makes them ravenous and has never failed. It brought them around but they were not biting. Thanks @whiskey299 and @Blackfish I stand corrected. I always thought of perch as having flatter deeper bodies like bream/snapper … this fish’s body shape closely resembled a rock cod - rounded and spiky. Regardless it tasted great 👍 cheers Zoran

🤔 probably… but if I don’t take her she can’t outfish me !

That may also make for a very cold, silent and icy trip back home - Maria's eyes are BROWN !

Thanks Col ... yup can't complain. You just have to roll with the conditions, retry until you succeed, and keep it safe. It's a no contest ... at the end of a day's fishing I get "a good feed of fresh fish" ..... at the end of a day's golfing ??? - please show me a decent golf ball recipe !!!! Cheers Z

Thanks Buddy .... one could say any day on the water is great(er) than a day on the golf course 🤔 ! In the spirit of Boomtown Rats regarding not fishing: Tell me why? Some don't do Mondays Tell me why? Some don't do Wednesdays Tell me why? Some don't do Fridays They want to Golf ... the whole day's a-down(er) Cheers Zoran 😁

Nicely done Dave. Lots of feeds there - Mrs Yowie will be ecstatic. Now this is more like your usual report - all is good in the world now. cheers Zoran

Great decision especially after witnessing that. Thanks for sharing. cheers Zoran

… 1.7kg clean and skinned off mine !

Frank...sadly it doesn't look like that now ... I'm inbetween DIY jobs (painting YUK!) so it's become a painting equipment storage area, with other side projects squashed around the place.... can't wait to sort it all out .... e v e n t u a l l y ! Cheers Zoran

💯 agree with @DerekDcomment. A very informative post @Steve0 Thanks. Cheers Zoran

A different report from you for sure mate. Sounds like you had fun even though it wasn’t Bate Bay! Hope the shoulder heels quick. I’ve just had my skin check - 6 buggers frozen off face and nose. Cheers Z

Not really a Men's Shed ..... but it keeps me occupied ... More a Man CAVE .... with rules !! Cheers Z

Thanks mate. It is a fair way out and conditions change. You’d be surprised at the boats I have seen out there over the years … but then some people just have a lot of ball(ast) and test their luck …. And others like @JonD have a lot of skill and experience to take a small vessel even wider - but the one he used was fg not ally. Thanks Mike. Hahaha yes last trip was 70-80s rock and Maria pulled up a bigger blue eye. This trip was my mixed playlist … maybe I shouldn’t have changed the list !!! Hmmmm Old Blue Eyes… now there’s a thought 🤔 … let me think about that. Any specific song you would recommend? Thanks BN. Blue Eyes are great on the chew. Lots of firm white flesh with no bones suitable for just about everything. It’s hard to cook them wrong. Some folks even roast the heads after basting with marinade as there is a lot of flesh in the cheeks etc. cheers Zoran

😱😱😱 that’s a more appropriate emoji !!!

What an awesome outcome James ... love the footage and effort you have gone to document and produce this. Just outstanding. From what I could see I think (know) I love your uncle's vessel as well ! Cheers Zoran

Well done Bob and Peter !! ... excellent result. Even the mowies ! Glad you found the yakkas we could not boat one on Monday. Cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders/Deckees, Finally had the opportunity to head out again with Warren @Fishingwazza2019 ... with Monday's calm forecast conditions holding we agreed to hit Brown's for some deep drop action. Sunday afternoon - devOcean all fuelled, packed and ready to go ! Monday, we left my place on time at 5am, and were launching at Ermo ramp at 545am - a very low tide added a bit of fun to the launch but we got the rig off and pretty soon were heading up the harbour. There was one other rig launching as we left, 3 lads heading offshore to chase Marlin. Stopped at Middle Head to join 3 other boats having a go at livies (yakkas) ... just in case there was action at 12mile ... but despite plenty of yakkas coming around the burley there was no enticing then to take pillies, squid or sabikis 😞. With no bait action seen on the other boats either, we pulled stumps around 7am and headed for Browns. Hit Browns just on 8am and positioned ourselves at my favourite Southern mark. Half a dozen other boats there to keep us company. Water temp a low 22.9 - 23.3C. The current running S - N and pretty slow judging by the angle of the lines (we were held in place with Fishpoint). First drop I managed to pull up a red deep sea cod but the action was slooooow after that - we persevered for about an hour then moved to my West mark. Bingo, I had a decent strike and up came one blue eye. As soon as it was dispatched into the kill tank, Wazza connected and up came the pidgeon pair blue eye. Great timing ! We kept at it, for a few more hours. A young chap came alongside for a chat and tried to show us his catch from earlier in the day - he bent down and was clearly struggling with the lift - all we could see over the gunnels was a massive bar cod head - what a fish ! With that encouragement Wazza quickly add another blue eye to the catch. But, sadly that was it for me for the day, I did have a very decent strike but whatever it was took my rig deep and fouled the rig on the mountain ... we could see the rod tip dancing with the fish (must have been on the top hook of the paternoster) but after 15min of driving around trying to free the snag the braid let go. Bummer. So final count for us was 1 red deep sea cod, and 3 blue eye. Can't complain about that: We struck back for Ermo around 2pm. The weather changed as forecast with the wind now NE, which placed it behind us and made for a comfortable and quick ride sitting on 45-50kmh. Back at the ramp we managed another challenge - low tide retrieval - requiring several drive on attempts but we got there in the end. We also met the Marlin lads - they arrived back as we were pulling out and reported a 3.0.0 day. Thanks for a great day Wazza.... here he is offloading the catch. Cheers and Tight Lines, Zoran

Nice report. At least you got a feed. Let’s hope third time lucky - no engine issues and no toads. Toads are a destructive nuisance, I think they are worse than jackets … at least jackets are good on the chew! cheers Zoran

Excellent outcome and report Tim. Would have given your heart palpitations for sure. Marcus sounds like a quick thinker and top crew. Congrats. cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders/DECKEEs ITEM: 23-25ft Boat Cover: Please PM if interested in this boat tarp. Its a lightweight fabric - has a tear as per the picture but there is plenty of material for a smaller boat or box trailer. Location: Castle Hill Price: Free Cheers Zoran

Also check the cable and connections. The screw on metal connectors are notorious for corrosion resulting in loss of signal. I use dielectric grease to try and minimize that. cheers Zoran

VHF can get a similar effect .. called "ducting" that increases the range but again it is more line of sight as you say .... the following might help explain: