zmk1962

Top job @Rey05 both on the report and the catch - hope to see many more ! Yes my last trip out they were in the 50m depth off Barrenjoey as well. BTW, the Mrs and I love fish tacos (check out the kitchen for our simple recipe for the pico de galo - fresh salsa). Cheers Zoran

Well a catch is a catch ... give you that .... this is definitely a catch and release tho. Best of luck with the op and to a quick recovery. PS - DIOXIN .... in layman terms stands for DIE if OX gets IN ..... Cheers Zoran

Bet you had more than one great northern after that went past ! Cheers Z

Congrats again @pickles and a big thanks for all the gem tips in your post - I have not had consistent results chasing kings - this should help. Much appreciated! Cheers Zoran

Sometimes simple is most satisfying. Congrats. Top fish and top report. cheers Zoran

Thanks @Nyxy ... I carry 2 chutes but no use in this case. Re electric - I’ve been looking at my hull and can’t figure where I’d mount an electric easily apart from the stern. But I doubt spot lock would be effective in stern mount position. Will keep mulling it over. Lots of great suggestions from FRs that don’t require an electric to keep me busy in meantime. cheers Zoran

NICE ONE Scratchie .... looks good enough to eat ! .....and congrats again - it is a fish of a lifetime. Cheers Zoran

Storm just came through Hills district ... very strong winds ... but it was short. Best of luck Rick. Cheers Z

Thanks Brendon, yes very very frustrating. They came up to the boat 2-3m away and were not spooked even after we criss crossed the area and painted it yellow with our track marks... they just would not bite. You're right, we sighted about 5 trap buoys sets .... trolled around 3 of them for zip. The NSW FAD was around 21C, and the NE FAD around 22.5-23C. I agree with you, this schools was definitely sitting in the warmer water just 200m NE. It always pays to explore. Thanks Dieter, yes it was a pearler of a day ... started with cloud cover which suited the flattie fishing, then brightened right up with glassy water for the run out wider 👌 Thanks Sam....and I can report the Wednesday round of the flattie fillets were delish too ! They mahi didn't spook so we kept going back, maybe throwing out a scoop of burley at the buoy helped keep them there. But the boat did start to look like a tackle shop as we broke out the different gear - can't remember the last time I had so much gear to wash down . Thanks Diets and Sam, I've had another FR text me similar suggestions I will take it all on board and add it to the kit bag. The mahi were in an area about 50m before and after the buoy (I guess above the chain and in the eddy), with the wind and current the drift was running at 2km/h ...so we were drifting past pretty quickly. There was just time for 1 cast each and then were were out of the zone. I tried running the donk in reverse, but limited success on the day. Hmmmm now let me re-assess the need for that spot lock electric 🤔 Anyway Donald was TRUMPed by the DEMs on Tuesday, and we were definitely TRUMPed by the DOLLies the same day ! Thats life.... thats fishing ! Cheers Zoran

I reckon @Pickles has this covered - he has the Sydney kings worked out good and proper! cheers Zoran

Hey @kingie chaser it was at gaff length but went ballistic before any gaff strike. We didn’t have livies but threw pillies and various SPs (some with s factor scent some without) when on the drift. We also burleyed to keep them around. Kept changing it up till we ran out of ideas. We could see them swim up to the bait or SP and then flick away. They just didn’t want to play. I’ve also heard that a dropped mahi can spook the school ... and we dropped two .... but in this case the school wasn’t spooked ... just educated! cheers Zoran

Awesome report. You certainly have those kings worked out @Pickles ! The consistent thread I’ve noticed is spending time to get the bait. cheers Zoran

Hey @GordoRetired that jindabyne comment is worthy of its own forum post mate ! cheers Zoran

I’m late to this top report Dieter! Awesome Kingie and such good luck (skill?) to get it out of the snag ! cheers Zoran

Hey Raiders, After all the atrocious weather, the promising forecast for Tuesday inspired me reach out to Wayno and by a stroke of luck he was free as well. The plan was quickly hatched to go stock up on some flatties at our favourite grounds off Barrenjoey. An early 430am departure saw us already on the mark by 610am ... .....and two top fish in the ice water by 617am (the white crate is 64cm). Water temp 19C and the conditions as forecast. There was a little slow easterly drift but after striking these two, we dropped anchor and swung on the rode... picking up some similar models and a horse of a yakka (which was quickly repurposed for fresh bait).. By 930am we had landed 4 banjoes (all released) and a total of 10 flatties on ice ... it looked like we would bag out, but the sun had come out, the conditions calmed right down till there was no drift at all, and sure enough - no run no fun - the bite was dead. We moved to deeper water and spent 30min bobbing around with tiddler bites and just another yakka and a squid to show for it ... Well we had a feed in the bag, so the pressure was off... it was bright and sunny and too early to head back so an easy decision to head out and check if there was any action at the North Sydney FAD. Good decision ! The water temp kept rising, 21C as we approached the NS FAD... surprisingly there was another FAD 200m to NE - I'd never heard of another deployed there. We broke out the trolling gear (pakula and bullet head skirts etc) and started a run past the NS FAD for nothing.... kept going to the NE FAD and whoa there were mahi-mahi of about 1m length jumping around it !!!!! EEEEWWWW ! Noticed the water temp was now 22.5C ... it was looking hot ! First run past NE FAD we had a strike and a short run ... but it was off. Bugger. So we looped around for a run to NS FAD. 2nd run past NE FAD had another strike, solid hookup ... we were on. Played the 1m mahi-mahi to the side of the boat ONLY TO HAVE IT HEAD SHAKE AND SPIT THE BULLET HEAD SKIRT...dropped at the boat ... double bugger. The next 4 hours we had the FAD to ourselves, and we tried everything !!! Trolled skirts, hard bodies, surface, mid and deep divers, threw metals, jigged, drifted past the FAD - we could see the mahi-mahi -- threw SPs, pillies on gangs, right in their faces ..... if we had the kitchen sink, that would have been rigged and gone over as well ... but nothing. They would not take a bait or lure. A sample of what we threw at them .... Our track marks... .. painted the sea yellow !!! In the end .. we had to face it .... we were TRUMPED by the mahi-mahi .... and so we left them there for another day. Get out there chaps ... the warm currents are definitely here. The highest temp I saw was 23C, current was running about 2km/h North to South. Cheers Zoran

Looks simple and effective - thanks for sharing. cheers Zoran

Great report and photos @dlvbw ! Very good eating size flatties. When the drift is running that fast and you want to stay connected to the bottom to target species like flatties then you basically have following choices ... go heavier (sinkers and rods), go sea anchor, go lock spot (either an electric or your outboard in reverse) or go deploy an anchor and swing on the rode. There's good flattie grounds off Barrenjoey for sure. Cheers Zoran

Good stuff Yowie. Nice eating there. The weather has kept me in but now you have me inspired to take the next reasonable day and head out. cheers Zoran

And of course there is absolutely NO FishRaider rivalry on this site .... bahaha 😂 cheers Zoran

Wow. Now that’s a graduation present. 👍. Well done and congrats. Better speak to Mrs Swordie regarding a name change “landlubberless”. cheers Zoran

Good stuff Gordo. Can’t complain about some quality time on water and a feed to boot. Personally I’ve stopped being inspired to go wet a line by solunar forecasts - I prefer to just go and treat it as a challenge to bring a feed home no matter the solunar forecast. Cheers Zoran

Hi Jerry, I wasn't sure which unit was installed in Pickle's boat at the time but understood it was for a 90HP ... I have the OBKIT1 which is rated to 300HP and is overkill... but did a quick google on my phone before posting my original reply ... there are HyDrive complete kits around the $1000 mark ... Commander series from both Bias and Whitworths.... @Pickles, I'm posting this just as possible options for you to consider. Cheers Zoran

Now to catch my kingfish. cheers Zoran

I have a hydrive obkt1 bullhorn which has been in service 20yrs+. the whole kit is around $1000 (helm, cylinder, pressure tubing, fittings, fluid) replacement helm around $700 replacement cylinder around $500 etc Almost makes you want to buy the whole kit and eBay the bits you don’t need!!!! cheers Zoran

Great stuff Dieter! Some sweet eating there. Knowing you I bet you found a way to repay the fisho kindness. Cheers Zoran