okt824

Just like to say a big thanks to Peter for an awesome days fishing, one that my brother and I will always remember, our first Bluefin and what a cracker it was. Was great to get out there with someone who has a load of fishing knowledge and is willing to share that. His lures really do work and would encourage all to try them!!

headed out form Wollongong harbor early sat morning. Wind and swell was up a little and the journey out was fairly slow. got to Wollongong FAD put the spread out. There was no signs of life (water temp approx. 22 and no to little current). The wind and swell were already dropping (as predicted by BOM - they finally got it right) so decided to head to the shelf. Saw numerous bait schools on the way out siting around 30-50 fathoms. circled the area each time and this produced one nice stripy. No obvious current lines or significant water temp changes, had gradually increased to 22.8. Hit the 400-500 fathom line and turned the boat south, again no real signs of life so decided to head back in to the inner side of shelf. By this stage my brother thought he'd take a nap (brought a pillow and all) however was woken fairly soon after by my excitement. Something had tapped/pulled a lure and by the time I turned around there was nothing there, eagerly watching I hear the clicker slowly start again (found this weird as in the past every hit was hard and strong) and I see a black wing looking thing flapping about at the lure and I think to myself, "s**t I got a bird" . Just as I came off the throttle just a bit, this bird then disappeared under the water and stopped pulling line then busted out thrashing at the lure and again disappeared. by this time my heart/adrenaline was racing as I knew this was not a bird, but a marlin. I circled the area for a while however I could not raise it again. The excitement had worn off and a feeling of devastation was setting in. 2500 Km, 130 hrs and a lot of $$$ spent to get my first marlin just "playing" and not take the lure resulted in quite a few swear words. Brought the lure in and as I expected the leader had been roughed up quite a bit. Water temp was 23.2 and depth was 150 fathoms directly in between shellharbour and kiama. Headed south after this following the same depth to the Kiama canyons with water temp reaching a max of 23.6. saw a 3m shark cruising about and that was it for the day. Would like to mention that this was the first trip using my recently purchased SCENTBLAZER lures. As mentioned 2500 km and 130hrs on the water chasing marlin and the first time I use scent blazer lures I have a strike. Co-incidence?? maybe, but I know what lures im going to be using for future trips. Had them filled with a mix of pilchards and the fresh stripy caught earlier in the day - teaser was filled with fresh stripy fillets. Can anyone offer me advice/experience. Did coming off the throttle a little hurt my chances??? should I punch the throttle to set the hook??? is it common to have a slow pull on the lure rather than a big grab/hit and run? Cheers

Yeah heading straight out of wollongong... Prob put a spread in at the shelf and work any temp changes etc..

Trolling and going to lay out a cube trail... Hopefully come across a school busting up or raise on off kiama

Heading out tomorrow as well.. Plan is straight out of wollongong and then down south past kiama canyons.. Will be on 82 and happy to share info.. Call sign tohatsu

Headed out 6am sunday morninig. Set the spread 3km from wollongong FAD and trolled out to 100-200 fathoms. water was blue and warm (22.5 - need to confirm calibration on HDS7). Trolled south along the 100-200 fathom lines. Ended up directly east of kiama. Turned the boat round and diagonally made for wollongong FAD again. Total for the day was 120km without a single hit/bite. Came across a pod of dolphins and couple of patches of bait but that was it. Targetting marlin over the summer so i will be out as often as work and the weather permits. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Am running a teaser with 20 x 5" inch squids. Using 11" pushers and hawaiian plungers. Cheers

Hello fellow raiders, need some help targeting mahi mahi and marlin. I Have been out to the wollongong fad 3 times in last month and have not turned a single reel. i am dropping various skirted lures from the 40 fathom mark and travelling out to the FAD. Once there i start doing some wide circles and slowly get in closer to it. Have also tried this around/along various fish traps in the area. I tried trolling bibbed lures and also flicking metal slice lures all around the FAD. Have ventured out to the 25km off shore mark and have been unable to even find bait (except for the odd single flying fish jumping as the boat approaches) I am aware (as any one gamefishing should) that mahi mahi particulary like shelter found around floating objects. I begin to question the size of the FAD, being a bit larger than a 44 gallon barrel, to the size of the 5-15 cargo ships that wait off wollongong to access port kembla harbour sitting in around 30 fathoms. Could this be why i have been unable to achieve a hook up as they are seeking shelter under these ships? Thanks in advance as any assistance would be amazing

Hello fellow raiders, need some help targeting mahi mahi and marlin. I Have been out to the wollongong fad 3 times in last month and have not turned a single reel. i am dropping various skirted lures from the 40 fathom mark and travelling out to the FAD. Once there i start doing some wide circles and slowly get in closer to it. Have also tried this around/along various fish traps in the area. I tried trolling bibbed lures and also flicking metal slice lures all around the FAD. Have ventured out to the 25km off shore mark and have been unable to even find bait (except for the odd single flying fish jumping as the boat approaches) I am aware (as any one gamefishing should) that mahi mahi particulary like shelter found around floating objects. I begin to question the size of the FAD, being a bit larger than a 44 gallon barrel, to the size of the 5-15 cargo ships that wait off wollongong to access port kembla harbour sitting in around 30 fathoms. Could this be why i have been unable to achieve a hook up as they are seeking shelter under these ships? Thanks in advance as any assistance would be amazing.

try picking up some livies (yellowtail, slimmys) as i have headed out trolling sqirted lures for donuts both times. A boat close hooked up a 60-70kg black marlin in 55-60 fathoms (100-110m) drifting the livies near the FAD. u could also down rig them however trolling speeed would be much slower obviously. and if u raise one on the sqirts but they dont take the lures its always handy to have a livie to throw at it. could make the difference between seeing one and catching one good luck!!

hi, Just wondering whats the best way to get onto some dollies. Planning on heading out to some of the FADs Got a 5m half cabin (no out riggers) so can only run 3 squirted lures, one in close one medium and a shotgun. how far out the back should i be setting these?? The squirted lures i have have various head sizes and colours, any tips on what i should be running and where would be amazing. the heads are a large pusher, small pusher, a jet, a bullet and a slant head. coulors include, reds, pinks, greens, purples also have jigs and soft plastics. Thanks in Advance

On the water at 5.30am saturday morning and headed out to wollongong FAD with my brother in search of some mahi mahi or a stray small stripped marlin. First time heading out that far so was more of a trial run than anything, seas were fairly calm with a smallish north easterly swell and light easterly winds. 3km from the FAD dropped 2 sqirted lures out with no success. When we arrived at the FAD there was lots of bird life with them swooping down and circling at various spots. None were diving though. This continued over the next 2 hours without a bite with various lure changes. Big south westerly hit just before 9 so headed back in, getting drenched as we went. Was very pleased with how the boat went and gave me some confidence in the 40+ year old wodern girl. Picked my sister and dad up from the jetty at wollongong harbour and targeted flattys in close ( seeking protection from the wind). Using pilchards on patanosta rig drifted along fairy meadow beach. Started off a bit slow and as always a competition broke out of who has caught the most fish and who has the biggest. By the end of the 3 hour session we had all lost count as we were pulling them in thick and fast. an estimated gues between the four of us is around 40. sizes ranged from 10cm (with the hook and bait being half the size of them....crazy) up to 45cm . the majority were on or near that 36cm legal size.... we kept 5 to cook up as a late lunch (38cm, 40cm, 43cm, 44cm and 45cm). hadnt had a family fish in over 5 years so in all was a great day on the water! sorry no pics.

Hello fellow fishraiders, Have been a member for a while now however this is my first post, Put in at wollongong 24/11/12 at 4 am and headed out off fairy meadow looking for some flatties at a spot that had never let me down , until this outing. conditions were perfect with a slight breeze with high tide just before sunrise. Spent 2hrs drifting between 12-20m and got donuts so change of tactics as the sounder was picking up large schools of bait fish all over the place. Droped down the bait flasher rig and got a mixed bag of slimmys and large yakkas. Caught 20+ in a matter of 15 min. only kept a few to down rig for kingfish, was good fun though on light gear as 4 decent sized slimmys all pulling at once can put a nice bend in ur rod! put them in the live tank and headed out to the islands off port kembla. dropped 2 over the side and they didnt even get a sniff. Surprised that after 30 min cruizing about they still had plently of life in them so i let them go to fight another day. Again changed tactic and found a nice outcrop of reef. dropped a padanoster rig over with half a pillie on each hook. after another 30 min only hooked one sargent baker (went around 50-55cm) called it quits after that as my brother was dead asleep in the cabin and there was no action. Planning on heading out over the next week and wondering if anyone has had anyluck with anything either bellambi, wollongong or port. espectially interested in popping my kingfish cherry!! Cheers