casper

Hi Raiders, Just got back from 6 days in Geelong, Vic. Was down there for my Bro in Laws(BiL) 40th B'day. So in amoungst all of the was presented the opportunity for a quick arvo session squiding at St Leonards which is located at the southern end of Port Phillip Bay. My BiL's good mate Chris had just picked up a his new beast - a brand new 5.8m Haines Hunter half cab with all the bells and whistles pushed along by a big 150 Honda Vtec, and asked is I wanted to go for the maiden voyage, there was no need for an answer as the look on my face said it all (And after 4 days in a house with 12 serbs I needed some quiet time!!) Arvo started off at his workshop picking up the boat - he had also picked up a brand new Nissan navara diesel to tow it! Once the gear was transferred from the old boat to the new we were off! With a new boat and a new car the first trip was gaurenteed to be an experience - and we weren't denied. Got to the ramp and readied the boat(I must say the ramp was the best I have ever used 4 lanes each divided by concrete strips plus jettys up the outsides and middle fitted with boarding ladders and loading areas - kyeemagh ramp comes close) Chris jumped in the boat to drive it off the trailer so it was my job backing it down the ramp. Backed her in with no troubles at all, but the water level wasn't the greatest so Chris yelled to back her in some more - but the trailer wasn't moving. With the weight of the boat and the build up of soft sand on the ramp the wheels had sunk about 3/4's into the sand. Not being my car/boat and also brand spanking new I handed over to Chris - he slipped it into 4wheel and still coudln't move it in or out of the water. After several tries and lots of advice from some very helpfull fisho's we hooked up his car to another 4wd to tow the both out - It was at this time Chris realised it wasn't in low - dropped it down and out it came - (there were a few laughs once we were out on the water over that one!) Now out we moved over to another lane that was much deeper than the others and got it down no worries - go to release the boat and find that the dealer ship and put everything in the boat except the winch handle after a pleasent phone call later and searching through the car another fisho lent us a large shifter that did the job! So after all this we finally got out and dropped the handlines over and drifted for calamari, due to the delay we only had a couple of hours and picked up 22 in about 1 1/2 hours - weather was perfect no wind sunny and 13 degress! So after all the stress we got to baptise the boat with ink and pick up a tasty feed! Sorry no pics - had the camera - majority of the squid were perfect size for kingy baits with a couple of larger ones thrown in. Casper

Heard a report from Saturday that there were a few nice Tailor and some small kings caught around the hot water outlet in the bay plus a few trev's around the container wall. Good luck Casper

Hi Raiders, You will have to take my name off this list - Have a work issue and am being flown to Melbourne for the rest of the week, only found out last night. Dissapointed as was looking foward to finally meeting some fellow raiders. Hopefully will make it for the next one (or perhaps the Forster social if the will release me) Enjoy the night. Luke

Please add me to the list. Looking forward to meeting some fellow raiders. Thanks Luke

A mate of mine sells them in his tackle store - they have different colours to represent the differing bottoms with depths,reefs etc. The store is in kogarah down south - send me a message if you want the name. Casper

After dropping my folks off at the airport early Sat, headin out to Jibbon and bate bay for a fish with my wifes cousin. Should be good normally catch a few when he's out with me. Happy and Safe fishing to everyone else and maybe next time to those that aren't! Casper

Fresh is always best, but I normally have a packet of instant bait in the boat or in the back of my tackle bag, in case I run out of fresh bait or if I can't get my hands on some. I have caught bream, whiting, flathead and trevally on the stuff - seems more trevally than anything so far. But I only really use it if there is nothing else availably or if the fish are ignoring everything else. Casper

This one still Sh*ts me to this day. Hadn't been for a fish in ages due to family commitments which seem to happen every weekend (must be something to do with marrying into a large eastern european family!) Thought I would give the motor a good service to avoid any issues - changed the oil,cleaned the filters and replaced the spark plugs. As the battery was on charge didn't bother trying to kick her over - why I didn't take it off charge for a minute??? Next day pick my mate up and in the water just before dawn - full tank, freash bait and all the gear ready to go. Only thing the motor won't start!!!! Spend the next 2 hours going over the whole thing - battery.filter,fuel and pull the plugs out and back in again and still nothing!! 2 weeks later after the frustration subsided - pulled the cover off the motor and hard a good hard think, then it hit me!! I had placed the plug cables around the wrong way - swapped them around and she started first turn of the key. Talk about a dumb arse!! (but it's good to see I'm not the only one!!) Casper

Hi Simon, Don't bother casting out to the channel - there is a hole just off to the left and about 30ft out of the old ferry section next to the ramp. A mate has caught a few 70cm+ flatties in there and a couple of jewies on plastics. The noises where definetly mullet plus since it was dusk there may have been bream feeding off the surface also. Casper

I have read several articles about LBG guys using 1 kilo snapper as live baits for BIG kings. so I couldn't see why a bream wouldn't work also. Didn't one of the posts recently about 2 XOS kings caught of the rocks up the coast say that one was landed using a live snapper for bait? Casper

The first time I took my wife fishing was Australia day last year, for her it's just like a fishing charter - doesn't touch the bait - doesn't touch the fish!! It was about 6am and dead quite on the river then all of a sudden my wife screams - I deadset thought she had stepped on a hook or something. I turned to find her holding her first ever fish - a flounder about the size of my palm She couldn't stop bragging as she was first to catch!! She went on to land another 15-20 undersize bream and snapper - I had to swap her bait from prawns to squid so I didn't have to keep baiting up her hook! She finally caught her fist leagl size fish the other week (she doesn't come out much - I normally fish while she goes to kickboxing) she landed a small trev and a nice 30cm bream! Going to Thailand in March and I am trying to get her out on a charter with me - so who knows she might get her first marlin next month! Casper

Awesome mixed bag!! Where do they all go on weekends What type of lures were you throwing at them? Casper

livo, That shark is still in that tank but now(mid 90's) it's at Vic's museum up at Airlie beach in nth qld - and from memory that shark was freakin huge. I think Vic caught it while it was choking on a whale I can't see how anything bigger than that would be cruising around the bay - maybe in South Oz or South Africa? Casper

Hi Raiders, Just heard in the news on the radio(Nova) that an 8 meter shark was spotted off yarra bay beach today, with helicopters searching for it all day. Anyone else hear of this? I know that there are a few sharks around at the moment but 8 meters? Casper

Still beats being at work right now Casper

I haven't seen anything that ugly since the last time I was at Biggles at 3am!! After getting home early and switching the tele on - there was a kids show on 9 that was talking about Puffer fish and they showed one that looked identical and called it a Porcupine fish a relative of the puffer. As I saw the post before the show the colouration and the size of the spikes look spot on. Casper

Hi Milts, There are a heap of places on the Wonnie, on the Sutherland side you have Janalli reserve which has the main boat ramp and is next to the 2 car bridges, there is plenty of spots next to the shore with picnic tables etc. but at the moment this place is hectic with end of footy/soccer season BBQ's - I launch from there a fair bit and 2 weeks ago was a mad house. There is also Prince Edward park further upstream on the Sutherland side which is where the footbridge is and a smaller boat ramp, this place has been good for flatties and bream. On the Bangor side there is a small reserve where the shop is. You can also try Bonnet bay which has a similar set up as Janalli reserve. Just check your street directory for exact locations of the parks. And there is plenty of small fish that will love a small hook and prawn in that river! Good Luck Casper

It was some time ago - early to mid 90's but as teenagers we used to walk up stream from the weir to a large section of the river where there was a large rock face that we used to jump off. A mate of mine used to walk up there and was successful on the bass - I managed to see a photo of one that he caught on a small hard body lure, it was about the size of his hand if not a little bit bigger. So they are/were there - I haven't been past the weir in ages, but as this section of the river was quite deep there should still be enough water up there for fish. Good Luck Luke