mattyg_16

Went to TCD on Saturday. What a magnficent day to be out that way. A little windy to start with but when the sun came out and the wind died off it was a beautiful winters day. Topped it off by landing my first ever trout and a solid one at that. Dropped a smaller one only minutes before hooking onto this one. Caught in a bay towards the rear of the dam and returned to fight another day. Finally broke my TCD duck after my first attempt this time last year. Matt

Nice King. I don't think the set up is overkill, I would not go any lighter then 40lb main line when chasing kings because they are dirty fighters. Matt

I've got a HDS7 touch with structure scan and it works great. I found some great structure with it. It has definately improved my fishing by giving a clearer picture of what's happening beneath my boat especially when it comes to finding bait. Matt

I've had luck on Kings in between moorings near the spit and back up near sugarloaf, I have not caught any rats yet, they have even been smack on legal or up around 70cm mark. Need to be mobile and move a fair bit, seem to get hook ups on the incoming tide. Matt

Hey mate, Not 100% sure but you may have turned bottom lock off? Or you have zoomed in therefore lost the bottom. Matt

Hey guys, Couple of pics from my three day trip to Windamere Dam over Christmas. Never fished it before but ended up with a dozen Yellowbelly and a Cod follow. Dropped a fair few as I was only using 6lb braid with 10lb leader. All fish were caught in deep water off rock ledges and drop offs on Vibe style lures like jackalls, feral catt and kokoda's. Had great fun and cant wait to go back, man those yella's are fat. Matt

Trawlers......

Mate, there is no doubt they are in the Harbour at the moment, just need to do a bit of driving around to find them. I have seen some crackers pulled out lately but I am yet to pull one up to the boat, they keep busting me off! Just wish I could take time of work now rather then Christmas when everyone will be in the Harbour chasing them. Matt

Good point Cobba12, I personally don't fish the line class to match my reel drag pressure (which is 20lb). I only fish heavy line and leader to give me a bit of resistance around structure (although clearly it did not work this time) and I usually have a couple of different outfits depending on where I'm fishing. I did try and give it to him after the second run but as they say the harder you pull the harder they pull, and he blitzed me. Pretty excited that that caliber of fish is accessible to most people as I only own an estuary boat. Definitely keen to give it a go, minus all the boats that were out. Matt

Hey Paul, I reackon squid is the go inside the harbour, I'm sure yakkas work but squid seems to be the best. I fished roughly about 15 metres away from the marker. Need to find a happy medium that you are close enough to the structure that the fish find your bait but far enough away that gives you a chance of steering them away from it. Obviously I could not do that on Sunday . But that's fishing, I'll rethink the game plan and have another crack. Matt

Hey guys, Went out into the Harbour on Sunday (with a million other boats) to chase some Kings as it had been a little over 6 months since I had specifically targeted them. Got to tunks park just before 6am with the carpark already full! Set off to find some squid but could not get one (first squid fail in a while) so had to use my back up frozen squid caught last outing. Tried a few spots for no action so headed into Rose Bay for some lure flicking and caught my first flounder on a deep diving hardbody. I actually got to see him come out of the sand and smash the lure in the gin clear water, he was put back as he was well under legal. Tried for some flattys but could not find any. Decided to have one more crack at a king on the way back to the boat ramp at a well known marker. Had to squeeze my boat in between a couple others already there and did not hold any high hopes. However I did feel a little better seeing everyone was using pilchards and prawns as bait. Put my squid out mid water and within a couple of mintues one of my rods was buckling over. The king took one run straight down and I immediately knew it would be a PB king for me (currently 78cm) as I have caught a few on the same outfit but none have pulled that hard. It then took a second run on a down angle towards the marker and I was staring to s%#t myself as I kinda knew I would not be able to stop this thing . Made a drag adjustment and after gaining a tiny bit of line back from him he then took a third and final brutal run straight for the marker and busted me off with ease. I was using 60lb braid and 60lb leader. Spewing that he busted me off but even though I didn't land him he left with the adrenalin shakes and a smile on my face. Put some more squid back down but after 10mins of nothing decided to pull the pin an head home. Definitely got my King addiction fired up again! Matt

That sucks, need to come up with a small GPS that you can hide in the float, the lowlife would s%$t himself when you turn up at his front door asking for your pots and crabs back. Matt

Hey guys, Fished the upper hawkesbury on Saturday chasing bass with a mate. Did not take long to see some action as first cast for the day I hooked up on to a small (20cm) model using a 'walk the dog' style lure. Action was hot the whole time we were out. Ended up with 8 bass on surface lures and 8 on divers with the best going 31cm. I have to say no matter how big the bass is you cannot beat a surface strike from them I almost jump out of the boat everytime. Cant wait for some time off over Christmas because I am going to try hard to find some bigger models out there as I herd a 52 and 58 cm bass were taken on spinners a few weeks ago out of the hawkesbury. Cheers Matt

Cheers for you help guys, really appreciate it. That's an interesting comment about the low voltage not being picked up at the car. I would probably lean towards buying a set with cables attached, saves a lot of stuffing around. The reason why I want to replace them is the plastic on my current globe lights has turned a nasty yellow colour and is beginning to crack. Matt

Hey guys, Looking at changing my standard globe trailer lights over to LEDs, and was pricing a set at around $70-$80. Has anyone ever done this before? Are you able to use the existing cabling and connections or will I have to change it all over including the 5 pin car connector? My trailer is a 4.5 m Dunbier. Cheers Matt

Good effort on the jew mate. I thought anchoring under the spit was a big no no? The MSB usually patrol that area often too. Matt

Hey guys, I am heading out to Bourke for a couple of days next week for a job. I am never one to miss out on a fishing opportunity so I wanted to know if anyone is familiar with the area, or has fished it previously. I will be landbased and using soft plastics and hard bodies. I am just after some ideas and techniques to deploy. When I was there last year the Darling was in flood and was carrying so much debris it was impossible to fish. Cheers Matt

Hey mate, I have not fished out of a boat up that way for a couple of months but did have a quick LB session 2 weeks ago. Your best bet would be to fish first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon because once the ski and wakeboard boats start the fish go deep or get spooked. Could be a good idea to head up the Colo river, webbs creek or the Mc Donald River (I think its called that). Good chance of a mixed bag up that way though. Good luck Matt

I am in the same boat as you, always reading mags and checking reports. I managed a nice bream on a vibe off the flats in Kogragh Bay a couple of weeks ago. Matt

One of the best tasting fish by far Matt

Great report, Cant wait to get amongst the Kings in the Harbour this summer. Matt

Had a job on in Carlton this morning and I am never one to let a fishing opportunity pass me by. So I decided to get down there early and flick some lures around at Kogarah Bay. It was relatively quite water and I could see a few fish on the flats that we're spooked very easily. I walked around the peninsula for no takes. As I made my way back to the carpark I decided to have a few casts on the shark netted beach. Flicked a TT Ghost Vibe out which got nailed by a 32 cm bream . The fish gave a great account for itself on 6lb gear and after a few snaps I put him back. Had a few more cast then I had to leave for the job site. Could not ask for a better start to a working day. I only wish I could do it everyday! Matt

I know what you mean, I buy my reels from the states and save plenty of $$$

Thanks guys very useful. I'll be fishing from a boat, I'm happy to pay $300 for the reel only because I want a quality. Has anyone used Diawa baitcasters?

Hey guys, With the bass season now open I am keen to get back into them, but I want to give it a go using a baitcaster. I am normally a spinning reel man but the country I will be fishing in will require tight and accurate casts. I have googled a couple of major brands but not sure what type or size would be suited to bass. I would have a limit of $300 max I would spend. Can anyone help me out here, or recommend their prefered baitcaster. Matt