foulhooked

I've noticed a rise in the popularity of soft vibes being used to target jewfish, especially in the Sydney area. Im guessing it's the vibration the lure gives off that may make it more effective than say your standard soft plastic (even paddle tails). Some people may disagree and say SP's are more effective but a lot of people I have spoken to recently seem to believe these soft vibes are the bees knees. So I was wondering if maybe chatterbaits, like the ones predominately used for murray cod would be effective? Has anyone tried these before specifically to target mulloway?

fished the hawkesbury/cowan/broken bay area for 11/14 days ending yesterday. A few of those days there wasnt a fish landed. Most days only 1 or 2 shovelnose sharks and maybe an eel. Yesterday I got my first hawkesbury jew (undersized) in about a month taken on freshly caught squid. Even with fresh squid, tailor and yellowtail I couldnt manage a decent fish. Something needs to be done about this, the entire hawkesbury ecosystem seems completely shot.

that is absolutely genius! thats exactly the kind of thing I was looking for! Thank you kind sir! Might walk up to the local sport shop now

So I currently own a Salina combo for popping/stickbaiting, but the top grip is too short to get good leverage when fighting fish. I was wondering if anyone has added grips to rods? The rod splits at the butt, so i was thinking of adding a separate grip like the ocea switchbaiting rods. Any advice, recommendations or past experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Headed down to long reef from the Hawkesbury hoping for a few snapper. Spent 3 hours for a few mowies and bakers until we caught a nice cuttlefish which we then used for bait. Immediately pulled up a blue groper from 40m! Then moved back up to around barrenjoey where we found a patch of gummy sharks. Pulled in 3 all over 1m on the fresh cuttlefish and a nice snapper around 40cm. Kept the snapper and one of the sharks for fish and chips! Good days fishing

didnt go offshore but heard over the radio someone found a whale carcass with dollies and a 400kg tiger underneath. didnt sound like there were any fin around though. dunno what happened with the tiger. i think he called over a mate on another boat to hook it

went again yesterday morning to see if i could find that fish with my lure in its mouth. Hooked a king and got it within grabbing distance before the hook straightened. Heavier gauge jigheads next time! Pretty surprised kingfish are making it that far down the river. Anyone know why this is? Cleaner water? or more bait in the river since the trawlers are gone?

Uni has been quite intense lately so haven't had a chance to go fishing for almost 2 months. After looking at reports and seeing a few people on instagram getting into the jewies lately I thought I'd go out for a quick flick. Third cast with the 4inch white atomic prong and I set the hook in a nice fish. Took half the spool of 14lb braid in the first run but it ran me over a rock. I loosened the drag and then actually free spooled it trying to set the line free but it wouldn't budge. Eventually pulled the fish closer to the weed or rock the line was stuck on, then twang! fish gone... devastated... Probably won't be able to get out for another fish for at least 2 weeks. That's fishing I guess My guess is rat king or a jewie. I think I'd rather not know to be honest

what happens to 236kg of marlin meat?

what type of pots do you use? I'm struggling to catch my first muddy

I'd steer clear of fishing near the bridges. While they may hold some good fish occasionally the amount of gear you lose is ridiculous not to mention the current. I cant give you any locations to fish from as i dont fish the river from shore but google earth may help you, combined with a chart of the river to check the depth. The most important thing however is fresh bait. The amount of times I've fished with servo bait and not caught anything in the river really annoys me because i knew what i had to do but i was just too lazy. Hawkesbury prawns from the fish markets is the only bait i would buy but nothing beats bait you've caught yourself. Fresh tailor is my favourite bait at the moment which you can catch from flint and steel quite easily with small metals lures. Another thing I've been experimenting with is poddy mullet traps to catch poddies obviously. The water edges near the marinas in brooklyn are a good place to start trapping. Just finding a spot is the hard part. Youtube has a few videos on how to trap poddies if you're not sure. Just make sure the traps you're using are legal in NSW. Goodluck!

went 3-2-0 off broken bay today. First time chasing marlin as well. Switching to sl12s on all lures for next time. Couldnt find any bait at all though. Was hoping to slow troll some livies to same fuel. Loved seeing the marlin smash the lure about 8 times before hooking up. Lures hit were 6 inch pink and white and 8.5 inch lumo

So tomorrow my mate and I are trying for our first marlin off broken bay. Looking at the ripcharts altimetry ive noticed theres a big upwelling (purple zone) covering the entire area i was planning to fish. I've read it's better to fish the edges of the upwelllings and downwellings so i was wondering if i was wasting my time. 12 mile and browns mountain look as though theyre right on that edge but its too far for us to travel. Any information or advice would be really appreciated thanks!

sorry scratchie forgot about that. Just need info on which islands to visit etc. At the moment I have no info at all cheers

My family is heading to Vanuatu in july this year so I was wondering what would be the best locations to go to. Live aboard charters are out of the question but if anyone has had experience on single day charters or good places to fish landbased, any info would be greatly appreciated.

Really good effort. I've tried for a few weeks around that area for only 1 rat king. I seem to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. You're right about the squid though. There's about 30% of the population from 2 years ago. Not quite sure why??

false alarm. I looked like a total idiot at the tackle shop... The damage was actually residue from the braid that had turned rock hard. Had to scrape it off with a knife very carefully. I washed what i thought was all the residue off the guides but alas i was wrong. Mods please delete this. im begging you! At least i didnt have to buy a new rod or guides. I did however end up spending another 80 bucks anyway on various things. You were right Stevefish!

Ok so I made a mistake. What makes it worse is that i predicted it would probably happen but i went ahead anyway to try and save money. I bought a backbone elite 24kg runner tip rod to match my tyrnos 30 II which I just spooled with braid. While spooling the reel under some pressure the guides melted or something and they are now damaged. Now after walking around the house swearing at myself I need some advice. Should I ditch the rod and buy something more suitable? Or should I get the guides replaced with braid friendly ones?

yeah the kings just didnt get out of bed today. We tried reefs up northern beaches way with live slimies only to get a small mako. We brought home a feed of flatties and bonnies as well. There are slimies everywhere at the moment. Found loads of schools in 40-60m. What size x-raps are you running by the way?

hi guys, im heading to lord howe island in a few weeks with the intention of getting my first king and hopefully yellowfin on the surface off the rocks. I've recently bought an assortment of stickbaits and poppers but was wondering the best way to attach them to 100lb leader. Is it best to tie directly to the lure, crimp, or via a split ring and swivel/solid ring? Id imagine if the lure have a bit of movement it would work better. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

My penn spinfisher recently fell apart so I have been looking around for a new reel. The fin nor lethals stand out as being really good value for money. I'm interested in the 60 and 80 size as it will match a 7ft 15kg rod. I know the lethal 100 is made with different heavy duty parts compared to the smaller sizes, but the 100 is just too big. Has anyone had much experience with these reels in the 60 or 80 size? Or can anymore recommend another reel? The combo is to be used for kings so I'd like roughly 300m of 50lb braid on the reel. Thanks in advance

Nice haul of fish there. Yakkas are pretty hard to come by up the river. Your best bet is lion island / west head. I can only find yakkas in moderately clear water with sand instead of mud

Youtube the FG knot. Its incredibly thin and doesnt catch in the guides. Tested it out today chucking poppers on 40lb gear and it casted perfectly. I was using 40lb braid and 50lb FC leader so im sure if tied correctly you will get the same result

After reading all the reports about kings starting to arrive in numbers I thought I'd give it go. Picked up a tank of livies at west head and dropped them down the usual haunts off the beaches but couldnt even find rats. Kept going from spot to spot until we arrived at Long Reef. Still nothing wanted to livie so pulled out the snapper stick and started drifting some sp's. 30 minutes after the tide change i set the hooks in a good fish at the 50m mark. A few nice runs and I had my first decent snapper, and first snapper on soft plastics. Pulled up a nice morwong on bait and a few more snapper on the gulp as well. I was always skeptical about people saying they always got the big snapper on plastics even when fished right next to bait. Well today it that was proven to indeed be true. Special thanks to Formosan for all the tips on snapper Fish went 57cm

drift in 45-60m straight out from barrenjoey. Sooner or later you'll get a feed of flatties. Squid seems to be the best bait as of late. Havent been a lot of pelagics except for tailor and salmon. I'd much rather fresh flattie tails though!