keenist

That last one is the killer - for moments the fish were absolutely frothing the surface to foam All time! Where else in the world do you have such good fishing right on the doorstep of the capital city of a developed nation?

Frangke, yeah mate that would be us in the Topender. Didn't get any kings, to be honest didn't really bother as we were having too much fun with the sambos. I did have a slab of salmon hanging below the school on a 12/0 and 100lb wire (trying for a shark) but to no avail... Was that you in the big tinny, I think I remember commenting to my mate on your camera when you were taking shots of the school. By the way, nice shot - that close up of the feeding fish - Do you have any others from the day?

HB, whenever kingies follow a hooked fish up to the boat you can usually entice them to strike by casting baits or lures. Number 1 option is a live squid of strip of squid. If squid is unavailable, the second best option is a lightly weighted, or unweighted soft plastic - such as a sluggo, jerk shad or even a large squidgy wriggler - or a blooping popper, like a halco rooster. Fished erratically near where the kingies just were can turn the lookers into goers.. Tight lines

Spent the good part of yesterday yelling and hooting to double hookups on 2-3kg salmon! The plan of attack was to fish just off long bay and yellow rock for a king or two. Upon arrival we werw greeted by several massive schools of fish that spent all day feeding on the surface. The weather was perfect and for a good part of the afternoon we had all the fish to ourselves! Fish weren't too choosy, provided that you position the boat correctly and present the lure in the direction that the school was feeding. Most fish caught on 4" stickbaits in a variety of types and colours. Gulp 4" minnows in white/blue fished on weighted jigheads were the standout. After about 20 fish each, I started to experiment with a yo-zuri blooper and had some champagne surface fishing action! Overall it was one of those halcyon days where everything falls into place perfectly... and the fish are biting their heads off! They should be around for a while so if you have the opportunity in the next few days, get out there! Cheers

Raider Snapper is the goods, I cut the butt down to make it more comfortable for working plastics. (see my avatar). However, I agree that this rig is a touch light for kings though. The rod doesn't have enough power to turn bigger kings. I have hooked several fish that have absolutely smoked me using this gear when trying for sambos and bonnies etc For a light outfit, I would be going with something like a Millerods BayBuster, or one of the lighter japanese casting/jigging sticks rated for PE3. The Daiwa saltiga coastal range are perfect. Also, I would look into a drag upgrade on whatever reel you choose - to a Jack Erskine Carbontex system, this will enable you to fish PE3 through a 4000 size reel effectively. Best of luck with the purchase

Nice kingies - well done. And you aren't wrong about the toughness of the modern Jigging Specialist, its serious work! If you don't mind me asking, where were you fishing. Not asking for GPS coordinates or anything, just wondering if the fish are wide off Sydney? Cheers

I love all these people that think they catch 2 kg bream..

Unblievable Well Done!!

For those of you who have bathed in and drank water in Japan, singapore, the UK, France, Germany, anywhere in Netherlands, and countless other developed nations, that was recycled water !! And not on;y recycled stormwater (grey water) but that included BLACK Water. Black water, for the unititiated, is any water captured in drains, waste, or flushed down a toilet ! Technology is so advanced nowdays that the purified water that is produced from treatment plants is exactly that - PURIFIED WATER ! The fact that so many Australians can't get their head around recycled water is the very reason why the Govt is about to spend all that hard earned taxpayers money ripping up half of Botany Bay !! The Port upgrade, I guess, is inevitable. But the timing couldn't be worse if both projects get up simultaneously...

So the govt is pursuing the tragic story of the desalination plant at Kurnell http://www.smh.com.au/news/drought/desalin...2623785807.html As a local I have seen the Bay evolve into one of the premier fishing destinnations in NSW, let alone metro sydney. Since the banning of the pros the waterway has gone from strength to strength. Seems the good times won't be lasting too long with this ridiculous desal plant and the port botany upgrade Not happy!

Its official. The kingies have returned with a vengeance. I guess its a clear depiction of what can happen if we ban Human intervention - NO TRAPS + NO NETS = GOOD TIMES Spent Saturday morning hanging over the gunwhale with a bent stick with rat king after rat king after rat king... you get my drift Bait was abundant, although surprisingly hard to come by. Yakka rigs weren't very effective and even the humble no 8 hook, split shot and pilchard combo had a tough time with the yellowtail. However every bait sent down was eaten, and eaten within 5-10min A memorable catch was a 78cm King that hit a 6" Sluggo on bass weight tackle. Mangaged to tango dance it away from the breakwall and in and out of the several boats that were parked in the area That fish, So if you get the chance get out there, the bay is firing !!!

With braid, I find that running a length of mono tied to the mainline, then attaching that to your terminal rig works best for abrasion resistance and shock absorbtion. For example, Mainline - braid of your choice, doubled using a 60 turn bimini twist, tied via a 15-25 turn albright to 2-3m of 50-60lb (as you would if spinning with lures.) Now attach running sinker, or loop to sinker setup, tie to swivel/ring stopper and 40-50lb leader to hook(s). Done this way you have at least 5m or so of shock mono at the end of your rig offering obvious advantages. This works well for slow trolling kingies (beef up trace yo 80-100lb), but I think for Jew Live Baiting, Mono is best...

Yeah, I have had varying success on lures. Most commonly I experience a thousand casts between fish. So what lures/retrieve techniques you use to good effect? Haven't given up on braid for spinning, I am thinking only for live baiting for jew.

Managed a good session on Mulloway yesterday morning in the Bay. Landed 3 from 5 hookups - all schoolies but 1 that pulled 10 or so metres of 40lb braid of locked drag from my OH jig stick (Shimano Trinidad / Saltiga PE4 Coastal). That fish proceeded to spit the hook, or it pulled, not too sure. What I am sure about is that all fish hooked on mono were landed, and both hooked on braid were lost.. I am begining to lose faith in braid for live-baiting for jew. Notably the runs were very tentative and all fish caught on live herring or yellowtail (frozen squid were munched at, but no serious takes). Anyway, here's a pic. I was lone soldier, so no real size comparator but the spin stick...

I am replying so as to resurface this post and keep it alive and at the top for just a little while longer. It deserves at least that. What a fish. Well done mate!!!

Managed a good session yesterday, with 3 kings and a few bust ups within an hour. Fish caught slow trolling live yakka. Interestingly the bait shoals were around the whole time, and the sounder was marking all sorts of bigger fish, but the kingies only came on the bite for about half an hour, then stopped. We managed this double hook up (below) of 75 and 90cm (approx) fish.. it was mayhem I tell ya! [Apologies for phone photo] Good times.

Well done - some nice fish there. Interesting tactic, jigging in shallow water. So what jigs you use and how heavy? I have just started gettin jiggy with it, with the purchase of a Saltiga 4500 blast + 50lb T Curve jig rod and a handful of metal. My jigs are el cheapos as well as some Smith, River 2 Sea, and Jap models, Knife jigs etc. 150g lightest I have, that ok for 10-20m water or should I be fishing lighter? Also what jigging retrieves work? I have watched it a few times on video, but mostly OS on Samsons etc, never for kings. Cheers, Keenist

Thanks for the responses. Fellas, techniques were burrowed from other situations - but worked a treat! Fish were caught slow trolling live yakka on standard running sinker rigs (no down rigging). Essentially the same techniques were used as you would chasing beakies inshore. We find the bait, drop bait jigs into the bait balls, then simply pin two on and fish the same areas where the bait is holding. Using the leccy we motor around following the schools. Whilst my mate continued with catching livies, I flicked around a 6" sluggo (salt and pepper) on a 1/8oz jig head and fished it much as you would bream on slightly heavier tackle. Fishing the plastic slow with some erratic twitches and pauses seemed like an obvious way to mimic a stunned, dead or dying yakka. This technique usually picks up the kings under the bait. I was stoked to pick up the jew using the same technique. As for area, all I can say is that yes it was in Sydney. The kingies are everywhere at the moment, so whether you fish Pittwater, Middle Harbour, Botany or the Hacking - and everywhere in between - if you find bait you will find kings. Good luck!

Headed out for a quick sesh Caught 5 Kings all 75cm+ on slow trolling live yakka around the bait schools Antman with one: Also landed this nice 103cm jew on a twitched 6" sluggo and 4000 size spin outfit. Awesome! Pic to come.. Fish all caught within 2 hours - Hot bite Stop Hammertime

Bankso, No need to scream mate, we are all friends here. Nice fice there mate!

We were out on the weekend and got stuck into the schools - good fun on bream gear. Some interesting lessons were learnt, so I thought I'd share them with you. We noticed that we kept catching fish on plastics well after they began to get finicky, as we started to notice that all the other boats around us stopped catching them. But after a while, they became super selective and we started to lose them as well. All the while the fish kept power feeding up on top. We once believed that the best method to pick them up is to position the boat in front of the leading edge of the school, and retrieve lures in a direct line away from where they are feeding. That tactic would work, although it would take alot of driving around the school to the front, and commonly sent the school down with the noise of the boat. Those days we fished metals almost exclusively. They other day my mate fished metals and I fished plastics. I outfished him maybe 10 to 1. Until he decided to change! I began with a 2g 1/0 head on a 4" Blue bass minnow - and picked up fish. Once the Salmon started to get choosy, we began to try different things. We found the most successful option was a plastic fished on a resin head, size chosen to "match the hatch" so to speak. Fishing like this, with unweighted lures, allowed us to successfully fish the school at all angles, and at all edges of the school. The lure is cast in and flicked and paused - not dissimilar to spinning for bream. The placcy sits there on the surface struggling like a stunned or injured baitfish and gets walloped almost immediately each time. Some of the takes I swear were within milliseconds of the lure hitting the water!! We ended up with probably 40 or more fish in 2-3 hrs, while all the other boats maybe caught half that between them... We couldn't how successful this tactic was. Beefing up the trace from 6lb to 12lb and pushing hard on the drag shortened fight times and would probably increase survival rates.. Food for thought...

I have been fishing a Shimano Trinidad 12, mated to a Saltiga Hirshima PE4 Rod with 40lb braid. When setting the drag, I pretty much tighten it as much as possible, cause it can't even push 10kg of drag. I recently have been busted up fairly easily by some resident kings so I am looking to beef it up. Have any of you tried the Carbontex drag washers available through Jack Erskine? If so, were you happy with how much drag they push? Do people have alternatives, say yumeya from Japan etc?

Thought i's share this with you fellow raiders. First solo marlin mission. No guides, no charters, no experience! View the thrill and excitement of virgin game fishing success. Est 90 - 100 kg Marlin out of a 4.6m Bass and Bream Boat!! See:

Some fish is better than no fish. Well in. We ran into some Salmon a long way from home today - caught at the mouth of the georges spinning for jew!! Fish took 4" BM (watermelon and smelt) on 1/4oz heads bumped slowly over a drop into the main channel. Saw a heap of arches mid water on the sounder, figured they too were Sambo's.. Fishing never ceases to amaze. Other than that 2 Bonnies taken on Rapala CD9 and CD11's near Long Bay in close.. Can't wait for spring!!!!

39cm Bream = 1.4kg now???