Fish-On

Hi Kitto, thanks for the advice. Someone had the idea to thread the rod through the skip knot, we were concerned that if we did get it over it it may have pulled/snapped the line. Will definitely give it a go next time. Cheers

Hi Fisherking, was definitely a mako, got it all on video. Caught a blue shark a number of years ago while cubeing for tuna; cut the line wasn't sure they were any good to eat. So with the tail rope how u get it over the tail? We had a few metres of rope with a loop in the end, we threaded the other end through to get a sort of slip knot. We got it around the tail but when we went to pull it tight the tail slid through. The only reason we managed to have a shot at it was the line was wrapped around the shark and she came up backwards. Was it the right idea or am I missing something?

Hi all, went out wide on Sunday to try for some late season blues. Great conditions and a lot of bait and dolphins; sadly no beakies! We decides to run a couple of small tuna skirts in amongst the spread and boy we were bloody happy we did. We hooked 5 fish and landed 3 all striped tuna, biggest was about 6kg. When we were pulling in a double hook up one of the fish, still pretty green decided to wrap the line around the prop and fell off. After we boated the other fish I was going to jump with a snorkel and try and free the line. Then upon looking down, not 3ft off the marlin board was a 5.5ft Mako! Scrambled and quickly grabbed a pre-rigged skip bait and threw on a wire trace. Let the blood out of the bait tank and back she comes. Threw out the bait right in front of its nose and watched her take it; feed out line so she could get it down and slowly levered up the drag, line goes tight and we're on. I've heard all about Makos and was pumped to see some good runs and acrobatics! Only was really disappointed; the shark didn't really fight, didn't take much line and didn't jump once. After playing around for 20 mins we started trying to figure out how we were going to boat it. It was a case of the blind leading the blind as none of us had ever caught a mako before, but we've heard how mental they go once deck. We tried a couple of times to throw a tail rope on but couldn't get it to hold. Pissed it off and it wrapped itself up like a Christmas present. When it came along side we went to grab it by the tail and throw it over the gunnel, as it was being leaded closer the line snaps!!!! Devastated! We found the end had all be ruffed up, so disappointing! Definitely was great fun, and now want to go and try and target them specifically! We had absolutely no idea what we were doing or how to get it on board. Any tips, hints and tricks when targeting Makos (or any shark) would be greatly appreciated! Cheers, Steve

Nice catch; with 2 hooks in her already it just goes to show how tough & hungry flatties can be

Thanks for the update Damo! At least the weather is playing ball, all we need now is some fish

Hi Damo, we're heading out wide tomorrow; wondering how you got on??

Pity there aren't scissors in the photo, would have been a good candidate for COTM!!

Man I dream of catching a kingie & snapper that big! Would have been an awesome trip!

I have a few jigs which I use on slimies, never had any luck w it on yakkas! Just trolling really slowly unweighted on the surface. If the fish are deeper then I'm using a running sinker to a swivel then leader to hook. Depth is pretty shallow about 5m leading to a drop-off of about 10m. trolling let's me cover me cover more ground till I find the fish.

Hit the harbour just after sun up this morning, a quick run to the bait spot to stock up on yakkas (didn't bother trying to get squid) which were bloody difficult to hook. There were heaps of them schooling but they were so flighty and kept playing with the bait. Finally got 5 in the tank which took over an hour! Quick run out the heads and slow trolled. All quiet for first 20mins, than found the fish. Yakkas were jellybean size; they were getting absolutely beaten. Twice I'd just thrown the livie over and started feeding line out with it being not even a metre away and some hungry kingie smashing the little fella; wouldn't haven even know what hit him. Pulled in 3 rats then found the bigger fish lurking a little wider and deeper. Lots a decent fish on the stones, he was taking a good amount of line w/- drag at 8kgs. Finally landed a 69cm fish on the last livie & that was me done for the morning. Not a big fish but a keeper & dinner none-the-less. On way back noticed numerous bust ups so went for a flick only to have some muppet drive straight through the middle of the school which sent them down. After 5 they came back up and genius muppet man did it again!!! Tried to calmly explain to him the error of his ways, but he just didn't care! It's people like that that ruin the fun for everyone! So gave up, left him to what was looking like a day full of donuts for him (ha) & I headed back to base! Was back on land by 9:30! It was an absolute cracker of a morning, hardly any wind and next to no swell. Love flying around the harbour at full throttle at dawn, awesome there's nothing quiet like it! Good luck to all! Steve

Hi mate, keen as mustard; just sent SMS!

Mr Issue, mate u are an absolute champion! It wouldn't have come together as smoothly or quickly without you! Ur knowledge and advice is second to none! Looking forward to keeping you posted before the big freeze hits! Catch up soon mate & looking forward to wetting a line with and chasing some bread and butter! Steve

Burnsy74, I feel a cough coming on, ccccoooouuuugggghhh cough cough; wish I could head out tomorrow, good luck, weather looks like its getting better and better over the next few days. Only problem I've got us trying to chuck a sickie then heading back to work with a tan..kinda hard to explain!

Scratchie, yep well said; but a moment like that, I'll let it slide, just this once only! & cheers mate appreciate the encouragement!

Hi Raiders, don't you love it when a well orchestrated plan comes together!! Planning started Monday last week, once we saw a window in the weather opening up for a Sunday blue water session. Pegged down a crew, headlined by a brilliant deckie (known to us raiders as Issue) to help us pop the boats cherry! Sunday morning we cast off from the Spit at the gentlemanly hour of 9:30am after respooling the reels. Steaming through the heads we were greeted with what can only be described as immaculate conditions we knew we were in for a cracking days fishing. Pointed the boat due east and ran to the shelf. On the way Issue ran a session on how to stitch live and skip baits. At around the 70fathom line we set the spread & crossed our fingers. Arriving at the shelf we could easily pick numerous current breaks in the sapphire blue water. Jellybean tuna and schooling slimiest were in abundance, jumping and schooling on the surface it couldn't be looking more fishy! At Issues advice we switched the lumo for a pinkie with a slant face. Now I'm not completely against out there colours for lures, but I couldn't help but think that this lure looks like nothing in the ocean, why would a beakie hit a lure that looks like some persons wig who just arrived at the mardigra?? In any case an hour in and BANG mardigra gets whollopped on the long corner by the Mack truck that just went past, and starts burning line! We clear the deck and strap Matt (a marlin virgin) in for the ride of his life! As we start backing down the fish is about 700m away and we get a couple of nice jumps. Lookin at the size we thought it was a nice black. Fish heads deep and we managed to plane her back up. Poor Matt, each time he gets within 50m of the windon, the fish just strips everything he worked so hard to get back. We finally get the fish within 30m of the boat to have it break the surface with some more acrobatics and realise it's a massive stripe! She finally tires and we get a couple of wraps on the leader and bring her along side where Issue places her at a good 90kgs and cleanly releases her. Clapping, cheering, high fives and I'm not ashamed to say it, few man hugs! After 55mins we had successfully popped two Cherry's; Matts and the boats! FINALLY!!!!! & on a good sized fish too! Cracking a round of beers we relived the moment, everyone grinning from ear to ear. We start the run home around 4 and we managed to raise and get hit by another 2 fish but couldn't set the hooks. All in all we return to dock victorious! It was an absolutely brilliant day out and one we won't forget. Luckily we got video, so the wife can't doubt our success! A huge thank you to skipper Frank for his continued persistence and a MASSIVE thanks to Issue, who with his mentoring and years of invaluable experience helped make this day an epic event, with many more to come! Bring on this Sunday! Tight lines, Steve

Just took a look at both the elite 4 & DSI. Loving the DSI!!! Now just gotta think of a way to attach the sensors to a removable mount/bracket

Hi Geoff & Bluefin, the unit needs to be portable as i fish out of a 4m tinnie, which lives chained to a tree in North Harbour. Will look into the two you mentioned; didn't realise the one I was looking at has been discontinued. Cheers all, thanks for the advice! Steve

Nice jewie Paul, still trying to crack my first one!

Nice haul, always wanted to head out deep and fish the reefs but never gotten around to it. Your post has definitely motivated me to get out and give it a go over the Easter weekend. We're you using a patinoster or running sinker? Circle it J hooks?

Leather jackets taste better!

Hi Raiders, I'm in dire need of a good quality portable fish finder for my tinnie. I fish around Sydney harbour and around north and south head. I don't want a wristwatch one, but would like a decent finder with colour. Any advice, thoughts & ideas would be really appreciated. I have been looking at an Eagle Fisheasy 350c portable from the USA and wanted to know if anyone has bought finders from the US before? Thanks! Steve

Yummmm love flattie fillets! Well done & congrats on a nice catch!

Nice red! Close call w cutting the line. Lucky boys, I'm still trying to crack a keeper red.

Nice reel scratches, must admit I absolutely love my tyrnos 30, smooth, heafty and runs real well; looks good to! I'm sure you'll have lots of good fishing outings with it. I've had mine for around 5 years and just had it serviced, for no reason inparticular but just thought I should & it's running as good as out of the box. Let us know how you go with it.

Mate depends on what you're targeting. I run a tyrnos 30 w 24kg mainline and use that for live bait trolling around the heads and channel markers in Sydney. Whenever we head out wide to fads etc we run 50 & 80 tiagras. Even though you may be targeting dollies/yft outside you never know what's going to jump on & it'll always be the case when u hook onto a big fish it'll always be on your lightest setup. I know a lot of people think a 30 is overkill for kingies around Sydney, but I've been smoked plenty of times running 7-8kg of drag. As for one or two speed, forget the two; one will do the job and there's no stuffing around. I've seen it happen before where a beakie is straight down deep and we're trying to get some line back & she's just sitting there, only to have the fish decide to bolt resulting in a lost fish cause muggins didn't flick it out of low speed and had slack line. He was winding like a sailer working the winch. My 30 is too big for jigging, I've got a nice trinidad 16 which does the job beautifully. Completely agree when it comes to jigging the narrower the better.