roosterman

hi guys, well due to the winds a trip wide for gemmies and tuna was canned and a backup plan to demolish the spawning blackies down the harbour was implemented... last minute call out had Matt join me at sparrows fart down taronga zoo wall and burly and floats deployed. matt was first to hook up so i left my rod and we eventually net the first fish then as i put net down i go to pick up my rod and bugger..... theres about 50 loops of line birdsnest and line goes from rod tip straight down to where my float should be ...... quickly sort line but this fish has well and truly buried my only float deep into the kelp . after a bit of praying and coaxing the fishing gods return my float for me and im astounded i got it back... cracking weather and straight onto fish,looks like a nice day ahead.. well i wish it stayed like that but unfortunately the fishing was ok but weird fussy feeding and my conversion rate of downs took a hiding like the parra eels ... the downs came in patches and a few nice fish converted by me and Matt.. he called it a day mid morning and while packing up i started to get onto another good bite with better downs than previously and lost 2 very big fish due to pulled hooks as they tried burying me deep with locked up rod..bugger.. farewelled mat with a feed of fish not a bad morning but things just started hotting up.. i was hoping you were not gonna regret leaving mate but yep the downs kept going for an hr or so... some of the downs were absolute rockets and some especially my first 2 just sat on baits.. very hard to work it out when sooo varied but makes it all the better challenge.. was nearing packup timre as i knew that wind was due and had a couple of lost fish close in then bang im down good,set hook then all hell breaks loos again....... turn him twice but 3rd time he goes under wharf around pylon and im waiting for that pop.... with my 12 ft rod backwards under wharf i eventually steer him out nearly falling in as i try putting brakes on him but bugger got me deep in kelp...you got to be kidding .. i saw the bugger though and now knew i was in trouble.. after about 3 - 4 minutes of heatbreaking coaxing and basically resigned to losing it he swims free and into the deep... :yahoo:i yell as i am now back in the ring with a chance,albeit with prob badly damaged 10lb line/6lb leader. by now he is pretty much slower and as i get him swimming back in i drop net in his path and wooshka... woooooohoooooo and a little crowd watching it all unfold cheer and congratulate me .. little were they aware of how great this moment was though..this fish answered why some of the downs we were missing no matter how early/late we hit em... a aprox 40cm sergeon .. after re-rigging up i got one more blackie then the wind hit so called it quits.. my tally for the day was about 15 - 16 fish between 40 to just legal and one trophy sergeon on luderick gear. kept 8 for a feed and told the others i will hopefully meet them another day..... some of the ones i cleaned had no food in em and all showed signs of spawning.. a great day out and home by 1pm with a good feed.. plan "B" was a great success... cheers....steve.....

hi guys, due to a last minute change my last shot at the fin has gone due to weather so my backup of blackies is now on... if anyone else is going out give me a buzz and i will either join ya at yr spot or you can come to where i will be... i have plenty of great weed and burly also.... prob hit the harbour at taronga zoo first up but may change...

the tastiest toothy critter ive had thats for sure...

Yeh bit far for mine also but with conditions like we had on 2 days a yak woulda been safe... Been a bit of a boat tart and have been lucky to get a couple mid week days out... Peter when i can get on my pc i will upload to toothy pics thread... Thx for the replies guys,hopefully i can get some weed tomorrow and take my boys blacky fishing fathers day.. Hope i still remember how its been sooo long... Cheers...steve....

hi guys, well what a great month August has been for us.. we have had some great days out weather wise and were lucky enough to play with huge bluefin,yellowfin,sharks and gemmies... this trip we were heading out of botany and that fog was a shocker so made trip little slower due to visability and we saw a whale early on.. got to the mount around 730 to be 28th boat there .. we dropped and straight away we watched as the 3 hooks loaded up.. looking good... we lost one on way up but the 2 we got were good size.. we made a couple of drops and each go we were on pretty much straight away.. we got reefed by what we think was a big blue-eye and pretty much escaped the grey suited toothy ones.. call was made with 5 not worth dropping as with 3 crew we had a feed so a spread of 7 lures was put out and off in search of fishy waters we go.. after about an hr or so a stipey hits the shotty but when im skull draggin it in we drop it.. another hr or so we arrive in vicinity of our plan and water looks good around 18.1 -18.3 .. we have a run but as we get color we drop a fin. we circled and crossed that water for a while for zip then continue on.. after another 90 mins we decide to go back to that good water as water wider didnt look as good.. we got back to area to find temps dropped a few points but still looked fishy,no hits on lures but were marking fish deeper.. we decide to start a trail and try to entice up with cubes and jigs.. we were getting pestered pestered by a blue shark about 90kg and he takes a liking to me and i donate 3 hooks over the afternoon .. we heard of a couple boats also marking deep but no hits on troll and a couple getting onto fish so we talk about pulling pin after about 90 min and heead to where fish are on then zzzzzzzzzzz were on, after a short fight a 20kg fin gets dragged in.. woooohooo ... pilly was taken waaay back and no other runs for a while then another bait way back straight after i get sharked and i yell to rob its tuna not the damn shark. .. he is a tuna virgin so we help guide him and he does a great job and i gaff a nice 30kg fin and high fives and adrenaline overflowing... gee i love seeing a cherry busted nearly as much as catching them ..... well by now this shark is at the transom and nothing we do works to leave us alone then i see a pilly dissapear just behind him with a beautiful blue/green torpedo zipping by... tuna in the trail i scream as i wind my pilly in madly while chucking out a handfull... what we saw now was absolutely amazing,clear water bright daylight and barrels swimming from under and around boat being hand fed . i toss my pilly in amoungst a couple and hook misses mark as fish zipping ant turning alot,repeat again for similar result... hmmmm this may explain why sometimes a circle gets a short run an drop em as there quick turn yanks hook out... meanwhile this damn shark is still hovering around.. i toss my bait in and tuna grabs pilly near mine then in slow motion sharks jaws are closing down on my pilly as he swims from under transom i yank pilly sooooo quick he just misses it and i nearly launched it into space... damn you no time for tie hooks here,i splat the bait back in and watch this gracefull torpedo of the deep engulf my pilly and as i slowly up drag im on... wooooo hoooo... he goes straight under the boat and i lean right out and after a few minutes i stear him out but now my dodgy back is letting my know it..... he makes a couple little runs then heads out bach where shark is and my mates doing his best to entertain it,nooooooo i see its teeth go soooo clost to line then again i feel his boduy rub ... i eventually get him subdued and a 30 kg fin is dragged aboard... wooooohooooo.. hi fives all round. the near full block of pillies gets fed to tuna and we head home early with a feed for our families and friends and an awesome end to a great month of fishing wide... have cooked my first batches of gemmie last couple nights and i see now why the mount is like a carpark when there on... absolutely devine.... couple pics of the day not real good but memories wont fade for a looong time .. . cheers....steve......

I have got my first batch of fresh gemmies and need help in what ways to cook it.. Thinking one time just salt/pepper and crispy skin fry but need input into what others have done with this yummy fish.. Cheers...steve...

Check out the fishing reports from this week... Lots of gemmies but getting them past the big toothy ones is another matter.. Good luck, we will be burning a shedload of fuel looking for them tuna again.. There is fish out there but finding them is hit n miss.... Cheers...steve....

i think its about half way to heatons not sure though,look on gps plotter and contour lines show it... you going out sat..... cheers....steve.......

yeh that water at heatons looked horrible.. what current did you get closer in as we only got around .4 ... we were headed back out to the 1000 when a jumping fish made us throw 20kg of pillies for zip..... water was nice and blue with lots of jellyfish etc.... what was defining thing that made you stop for cube, the temp rise ? ... the big bf we got last week was in 18.4 deg water , could this be a sweet spot for them atm ?? cheers...steve.......

woooohooooooo well done Geoff we went out wide around heatons and hit that ne area and the fin were apparently allergic to our offerings or maybe we just got him all excited for your lures later in the day be careful though as it can be very addictive.... congrats to all on reef magic as looks like a great time was had by all... cheers.....steve........

hi guys, well after tussling with big bluefin recently we were itchen to get back out there again. looked at the weather and wednesday seemed the first good day after that bad weather over the weekend. we decided against going to the mountain and made course for heatons. the weather was absolutely sensational and dropped a spread about nth of browns for the long troll. water was green 18.1 on way out except for 2 patches of blue water with very slight temps up to 18.9 around the 500 line and i think it was between 750 to 1000 fth line,.. we picked up a 5.5kg albie amongst some bait on one of these and kept this in mind if things were not good wide. there was not alot of chatter and once we crossed that 1000 line the water stayed 18.1 to heatons.. trolled a bit then decided to hi tail it to where the bait was and hope for yf foregoing the bf beasts we were after. found the first patch but there was no drift so pulled pin after 15 - 20 minutes with only a blue shark with some very fresh battle scars prob from big mako for our efforts once i get pics i will post pics as we got some great pics of him and then off to closer waters.. checked in with another boat and 3 hrs cube and they had same temp and shitty drift we had,not looking good.... this was nth east of mount and water looked good and i know fin went nuts that area day before but we decided last ditch effort and at 28knts we head back out wider looking for better water.. a fish was spotted jumping near boat so we imediately kill engins couple handfull of pillies go straight over.. well we pumped 20kg of pillies over 2 hrs for not a touch with .4 of a drift prob not the longest trail but def the widest trail out there .. Marquis got a 65kg BF out back of heatons i think as im sure they were who i saw in the distance,maybe someone can confirm.. also a couple of other fin reported as we hammered it in perfect seas home but missed who got them.. well done to team raiders on reef magic for getting one as there was alot of water between fish... i had a ball even though we didnt get the blue bandits we were after... anyway thought i would put this up to help for those heading out over the w/e .. seems wide is still the go but might need some current to kick in a little, hope sat brings better results but if not its great to just be out there in the salty stuff.. cheers...steve...

not sure why ... unless ya meant other steve......... cleared extra room anyway.... not sure of our plans yet but prob do early drop for a feed if we can avoid sammy and the grey suited bandits then look for that good water again.... cheers....steve.......

you can read bottom as i have seen it on a 5... as with all sounders tranny setup is crucial then you need to fine tune the settings a little... im sure if you google it you may find how to do it,not hard... if i find the vid i will post it... cheers....steve......

weather looking great for Wednesday boys...snap up the last spot or you will regret it guys... how wide you guys going damo,pm me if ya want.. we are going that day also if last couple things get sorted tomorrow .. i need redemption with a fresh spool thats itchen to be tested,rd 2 is my round.... gee i love tuna time...... cheers...steve.......

lets hope those big barrels hang around... bit of luck i will be out there getting some redemption tuesday in mates boat... guys if you ever even considered getting a big bluefin dont let this opportunity pass as they dont hang around long... good luck guys .. cheers...steve........

hi guys, well it started nearly 2 weeks ago when the grapevine was running hot with the arrival of big bluefin. work ,family and life in general kept getting in the way and with my stress levels running like krakatoa and a sleepless sunday night after seeing the 130 bf a decision was quickly made.. seeing the bad weather was rollin in tuesday was looking like a possible last shot at these massive barrels out wide... headed off later than expected due to a late arrival around 9am a quick 2 drops for zip at the 12... yep ya read that right no jackets or even a pickhandle,not that we gave it mach anyhows.. set course for heatons dropped a spread at the shelf and trolled in what could be described as the fishiest conditions ive seen for a long time... bugger all swell,overcast etc.. passed wide of browns saw prob 8 or so boats on the mount and kept on to heatons where there was good water hopefully still. finally got there and trolled a great temp break of about 2 deg over a mile maybe a bit wider than heatons.. heard about the fin on in closer but we kept at this good water for a while.. finally decided to drift a trail back into the break but after about half hr temptation got us and fin of any sort is better than none.. high tailed it at a rate on knots to fishier waters still wide of browns and jigs and cubes deployed.. we were prob only looking at an hrs cube as suns setting by now so hopes were not high but the witching hr was apon us... i hear a guy say i think i got a bump,yeh mate check ya pilly then as he pullys in my mate is on next to him and it moved of like a medium sized alby...... well after a few minutes of increasing power he was on backing and we chased it down.line back on real so i feed a pilly out and 30 metres or so out my line starts screamin off like a bat outa hell.. notch up the drag hoping circle finds its mark then bang woooohoooooooooooo.. my mate was again in trouble line wise and this was obviously no alby but a fish of a lifetime so i scramble up the bow nearly getting pulled in twice.. i could hear down back my mate screamin his way into backing and its not slowing so i decide if any fish is to be landed i have to go hard from ther get go. god this things hammering me now and it start heading towards back again.. nooooooo stop i scream angle rod finger spool pray to gods and it turns after some hefty head shakes.. i have prob got around 200+meters out by now but have 250 left so no worries except keeping both fish apart.. my first double and on my pat malone up front... fish goes deep i nearly get pulled over with wobbly rail locked drag but he turns from under and goes wide towards eds fish again...not again i think,repeat the process and bugger this things alot bigger than i first thought as the yf were only schoolies others got earlier.. went deep but screamin again turns towards back with power not slowing,then he slows and i have him stopped with massive head shakes then................ POP.......... yep ya prob heard me say some rather colorful words around 6pm 30 miles back in sydney.... gutted was not fitting a word.. by the time i got out back my mates fighting his with no handle as it broke off.. i quickly compose myself and help tear the boat apart looking for a solution meanwhile ed keeps gaining inches handlining then losing it all again... anyhows ya prob already heard about that with anths post but after 3 hrs we won and i was sooooo glad we got to see it as it helped heal my pain of losing a similar fish of a lifetime... only cure is to land one so hopefully if work doesnt get in the way i will find the antidote next week.... cheers....steve......

Awesome effort on 15 .. Well done.. Looks like the cellar-brations were sorted by looks of that 2nd pic... Pitty you didnt get a proper weight , did ya get a length.. Congrats... Cheers...steve....

spot on mate... moving them away from waterway while alive is very expensive if caught and are best dispatched quickly and used as burly/fertiliser etc.. they are prolific breeders and each mature female has millions of eggs and the damage they do is insane...... they are fun to catch at local waterways/parks and loaf bread and corn kernals should see action pretty quickly and great for kids.... cheers....steve....

do you flush yr pump/impellor after each trip ? i recon most failures are due to people forgetting to flush the bait pump... i flush the bilge and bait pumps each time and have not had one fail yet.... food for thought... ive mentioned this to mates and its something easily overlooked... cheers....steve......

..... great report as usual... great read and makes me miss going up there... soooo tempted to come up next time jaime goes to mums... forster is such a beautiful place and pitty the riff raff spoil it for everyone.. lets hope they are silly enough to taste their ill gotten gains around a nice rainy period as a side note oysters are a filter feeder so any pollutants in the water will be in them and they are actually used as a water quality guide... cheers....steve....

they are a nice livey tank but i found that it def needs a bigger overflow with grid to stop escapees... i eventually gave mine to mate and made one out of 60 litre drum as overflow runs straight out over transom.. i use this venturi airator inlet as it airates the water going in... awesome bit of kit... theres lots of ways to setup a livey tank so look around and see what fits best..... cheers...steve.......

thats a great jew beach... can get blackies in creak then lob a fillet out for jew.... been a long time but i love that part of the world... if i coulda got a decent job there many yrs ago i would of stayed up there... if ya ever there when the mullet are running and the beach haulers are working get a mullet out asap and hang on...... cheers....steve......

i cannot see why it wouldnt work... never tried but worth a go.. my old man used to swear by nans pudding that was flour/oil/cheese and cotton balls put on safety pins... now none of thats natural but worked a treat.. i could see how it can resemble fish roe so prob why it gets nailed by fish hard... cheers....steve.....

nice.... i have had many aquariums and even used to surply some shops many moons ago but i always wanted a nice pond setup like you have... if i knew we were staying here i would dig a nice one but know the minute i do that we will get an offer and will move on. cheers....steve.....

hi guys, had an unexpected trip to canberra tuesday and threw some gear in the car.. finished with client around 1.30 so off to get a pie for lunch and check out some fishy waters... first went over to the dam wall area of lake burly griffin but a fisho who was packing up got zip after a couple hrs burly so i went off in search of better waters.. found a nice spot and commenced a burly trail and sent out a weightless corn laced size 4 and my already rigged blacky setup with bread and corn.. sat there watching the ducks playing etc.more on this later..... after about 30 min i hear line peel on the blacky rod,bugger missed the down.. after a spirited fight on 6lb braid and 4lb leader a carp around 3kg is brought to shore and bugger cant find pliers so finger in gob and out he comes... .. all dramas of work gone now.. dispatched into reeds and back into it.. he was caught on corn so i start using some kernals for burly also,glad i got the large can,expensive fishing here ,$1 loaf and $1.60 for corn.. soon i look down current checking floaters out and see a nice swirl... mmmmmm pull in the line and head off 30-40 meters and just as i am sneaking up the debris i walk on cracks loudly and poof down he dissapeers like the titanic.. i quickly lob my hook loaded with about 5 kernals and in about 4-5 secs my slack line pulls tight.. woohoooo im on..proves how much a sucker they are for corn... now this is in a little corner loaded with lots of debris trees etc.. im in under and around everything with those burrowing runs the big ones can do.. after a couple of tense moments with me waiting for the inevitable i get him to shore but cannot get close due to shoreline and no way of lifting with damaged 4lb off he burrows again i finger spool stop him but buried under and between branches..i eventually grab a long branch an poke the bugger in nose and he hits reverse... .. i then use stick and help guide swim it over stuff to where i can ,nearly fallin in grab it and pull it out... cannot believe i went to all that trouble but i was determined to win this battle of the mud monster.. dispatch him and he pulled scales to only 4kg as he was pretty thin without the huge gut normally... this is what worked this time... ended up getting a handfull but that was biggest.. now i was watching in amongst the bites what i thought was a big carp surface feeding and after about 20 min he came closer.. he duck dived a couple times and was very curious and playful.. PLATAPUS...... bugger me... watched him play for about 10 min then he dissapeared again.. highlight for me as i havnt seen one in wild for nearly 30 yrs.. really made my trip.. now i watched the ducks playing and occasionally flying off a few meters etc... i then noticed a couple times big splashes/swirls.... bugger me if i dont recon it was big carp pecking at em from under and scaring them to move... piss funny once i worked it out stopped off on way home at a nice spot as sun setting burlied for 15 - 20 min and somethings splashing about 20 meters away other side near a duck.. after about 10 min it makes its way over... bugger me i nearly fell in.. another platapus... 2 locations hundreds ks apart and im blown away.. he plays around in fading light and another comes over and they dissapeer in the darkness... i am really spewin i had no cam and the iphone...well never an option in that light... well a tiring trip but full of wonderfull surprises that nature shows anow an then... only took one pic of the big one and of weapon of choice..all caught on corn..bread not touched.. i might be heading down again in next few days so i will def be taking a cam and looking for those platties.... cheers....steve.....