ashisnothereman

Cheers raiders. posting this pic for BCOTM competition if possible. drink container in right lower corner.

Couple of weeks ago decided to hit up beach, while collecting bait a massive storm front was approaching and my hopes of fishing were sinking. The storm just rolled over with no rain or wind and the plan was go ahead. We got to the beach just before sunset and looked as if this storm front never existed. A decent gutter running diagonal offshore was spotted on the dead low tied and we set up for the night. Straight into it we got a few aussie salmon in first half an hour then shortly after a live yakka got smashed in the last light of the day. Plenty of beach goers still around and watched the fight (there goes my spot). After 20 mins or so my buddy tackled a 126cm fish and was pretty stocked. The fish was kept and enjoyed by many. I released a larger fish earlier in the year and plan to keep releasing them in the future. Amazing fish.

Cheers Raiders. It went 135cm so 25+ kg according to charts. Rig was a simple paternoster rig using a 3 way swivel and a grappling sinker. Two snelled 8/0 circle hooks. Nothing fancy, no running sinker. Keeping it simple in the surf to minimise tangles. Rig livies just two hooks under the skin on the dorsal and half hitch on tail. Still celebrating the capture. What a night!

Report: Headed out last Wednesday night conditions were great only downside was the hightide was at 2am and I like to stick to the runout for jews. Filled the livie tank and headed for the beach. Lugged everything down and were fishing by 11pm. No action at all, usually get missed hook ups and shredded baits or a pesky shovelnose shark. Pretty much contemplating leaving but wanted to stay for the high change and maybe a bit of the run out. Good thing I did as right on 2am (high change) my rod buckled and that beautiful ZzzzZZZZzzzz of the reel. Grabbed the rod and knew something big was on, let it run a bit and i was calling to my mate man this is huge i think its a ray or something, then it was time to give it some hurt, tightened my drag up to fighting strength and tried to get some line back but she did not care one bit and then I felt the head shakes and everything I had read all came together and I knew it was a jewfish. Chased her down the beach and was really low on line so made the decision to trust my knots and up the drag. Slowly made some line back and she took another run and that was about it. Got her in and my mate tackled her in the surf. Fight was about 30 minutes. Oh and she was released. After the adrenalin and endorphin wore off and I was able to physically put a livie on my hooks, we sent out fresh baits and had some fun with bronzies or spinner sharks to 4ft. Cheers!

I started my mulloway quest on this site in December 2012. I remember reading the mulloway tactics thread, taking notes and applying them to best of my ability. I return in 2014 to finally post my first ever jew. 135cm on live yacka.... lol

Forgot a pic

Beautiful day last Sunday went out with my buddy and had a bash with the salmon busting up all morning. Sambos on light gear. My buddy also got one on his fly combo and he also managed to get onto a good sized striped tuna on light gear. I hooked onto one but my rookie ways led to his freedom but it was great to feel one of those fish run! First time fighting salmon on 4kg gear so was an awesome day! Gonna be an awesome summer! Cheers

Gday raiders, I got a Penn 750 ssm SpinFisher that I use in the surf and off the rocks. The other night I decided to loose drag system cap in the sand, which I luckily found. So my delamia is that I want to clean the drag system out and especially remove any sand particles from the drag cap. My research indicates that a white spirit will do the job at cleaning all the washers however the system has what I assume to be HT-100 washers which are some kind of fibre glass material. (I believe they are different to carbontex). So how would I go about cleaning these washers? Secondly my research indicates that I need a Teflon based reel grease for a HT-100 drag system. The best being Cal's reel and drag grease which I cannot seem to find anywear and Shimano grease. Shimano however has 3 different types of grease and I can't figure out which one is appropriate. Theres: ACE2 grease Permalube grease TBMO carbon drag washer grease (have a feeling its this one). My local tackle shop has these greases but don't know which one I need..... Id prefer the Cal's grease as my research indicates it is the better and cheaper option, however the shimano products seem readily available. if anyone knows where i can pick up Cal's let me know. Cheers for any help and guidance.

Will definitely give that a try

Yea if you get a down and no connection you can just leave your float where it is and soon enough you will get another down. also weed is fairly hard to come by during winter months (local spots i know of have pretty crap quality atm and is only worth using for burley) and so these flies are great and saves me the trek to the beaches.

Yea I did get several downs and would strike to nothing. Assuming they had a taste, didn't like it and let go before I connected. They would be gun in the wash, bit of turbulence to confuse them. None the less they work a treat if you can't be bothered to/ cannot find bait.

Raiders, Fished middle harbour for blackies using green weed flies I picked up from my local tackle shop. Worked a treat and didn't need to rebait or anything, was a great session. Had to burley a tad with just bread, sand and some weed that I scraped off the rocks nearby. Fished exactly the same technique/ rig as usual just with the fly on the terminal end. Any intel of blackfish in parra river yet? I will be getting myself an alvey blackfish reel soon, probably start with the cheaper centre pin model, love to hear what rods people have got matched to their alvey blackfish. Anyway Tight lines. Ash

i live in the hills to. i usually head around lane cove river when i cant be bothered driving to far and its close to uni. roseville bridge isnt that bad of a drive if you plan around the traffic. also blackfish will be thick in parra soon hopefully. so i will be fishing for them around drumoyne, hopefully find an even closer spot this season. good luck.

I got a few yakkas Thursday night off the boat ramp jetty in ATB, while I was waiting to be picked up. Just using bread. Good Luck.

thanks guys much appreciated. thanks a lot Roberta that's just what I'm after.

Hi, I'd just like advice on reel maintenance for two specific reels. I have heard so many different methods on how you should clean your reel after use and there is so much contradiction so if anyone has the following two reels I'd love information on how to go about cleaning and maintaining them. The first reel is a 2500 Shimano Stradic CI. It gets on average, two uses a week. I clean this reel by taking spool off and rinsing the line carefully so that it does not enter the drag. I then get a damp cloth and remove any sand or dirt that might have got under the spool cap. The rest of the reel is cleaned with a damp cloth. I recently had a lot of salt or calcium carbonate build up inside the 'elbow' of the handle and rinsed it out. I've noticed there was grease in this area and am concerned I have rinsed it out. Does anyone have advice on this? Finally are there any things I should look out for with the Stradics. Certain colour of the grease? What indicates that it needs a service? The second reel is a PENN spinfisher 750ssm. I clean the same way as previously explained. However grease which was originally blue is starting to get a bit mucky and gritty. It is a beach/ rock reel and gets used often. Any advice on cleaning/ maintenance of these reels. Thanks raiders! Ash

i caught a few of these before didnt consider eating them. we caught several shovel nose sharks on the same night and i had heard they go alright so we kept one. they are a pain in the arse to fillet due to their super tough skin, but the flesh isn't bad at all. didnt batter and deep fry, just cooked over the open camp fire with seasoning. was very nice but i was fairly hammered by that point. i would say that the banjo rays would taste similar. it is just flake.

there were heaps of squid mate. they would follow our baits in and hover around in the shallows, attacking anything near them. the water was ridiculously warm which may have contributed. would have been around mid 20's. 10' bull sharks would require some really serious gear haha. seen vids online of people getting smoked by those mega game overhead reels that our about the size of your head!

Thanks for the advice tom. Headed out there again tonight but was slow going, things started to pick up around midnight closer to the tide change and we managed several just under legal bream, yakkas, a pike, tailors and most surprising several squid. However there were a bunch of idiots who left two fires going and left a ton of rubbish. What can ya do... nope. just anywhere really. burley hard with bread and tuna oil then you can get them on prawn or pretty much anything. need a small hook.

i have had a read of that, but i should make time and go through it and take some notes thanks mate.

Monday night decided to go for a jew fish, didn't have the highest hopes as it's my first attempt and had little guidance except what I have read online. Managed to get a few live mullets which I sent out on a 10kg out on a two circle hook rig, while I flicked around plastics. Had a few bumps on the rod, half expecting the drag to just take off however there appeared to be swarms of chopper tailor that would bite chunks out of my baits leaving them dead and shredded up. Having no luck on plastics I switched to fresh banana prawns from coles and managed to catch a few yakkas which I sent out. In the end nothing touched the live baits but managed a nice 32cm bream on unweighted prawn which put up an awesome fight. Fish was released to fight another day. Ideally the conditions wern't the best for jews from what has been explained to me. As far as I know it is best to work the last of the run out tide on a sunrise/sunset with a waxing or wanning moon? I'd love any advice if people are willing. Release video Hope people are getting onto some fish! Cheers!

if you don't find a mentor, this thread was very useful in my quest to get the hang of blackfishing. http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=23679 ive never had a blackfishing session with no action, then again, i was lucky in finding a good spot. good luck!

beat me to it mate

I've read several times that they only live for about a year, so it would be around a year old.

Z mans are great! Swim action is awesome, they are buoyant so the tail swims really nice when the jighead sinks. Super tough, you rarely need to replace them therefore more time with a bait in the water. I've used the same plastic on several outings and it's still going. They also look more realistic. The minnows and swimmers have special slits to hide your hooks for snagless rigging as well. Also no smelly juices!