galini09

is that 20%off the price on the website? i'll take the full f/glass kit is thats the case?

thanks guys

can anyone reccomend a really good quality rail mount rod holder? I have to rails at the back of my boat that a perpendicular ropd holder would do wonders for our type of fishing but im concerned about rail mounts as we like to fish tight drags and i worry about them slipping. Any suggestions on mounting them or a good brand that you've used would be awesome.

It's so painful because we are still learning and have spent so many nights waiting for a strike on a big bait and then we get that. Fisho.sid - i only ever use owner hooks mate. I would've thought the same thats why i was dissappointed he managed to spit the bait out somehow.

im with tef1onI Usually pull the line to the first guide on the rod as a guide to the best cast. Of course that is using where your weight is as a guide. So for a lure it would be the lure itself. for baits it would be the sinker.

Hi Raiders, Unfortunately this is a heart breaking report from a not so great night. However, we must share and learn together I guess. Started out collecting some live bait at about 7pm Friday evening. Went to our regular spot and grabbed a few yellowtail and 2 nice tailor which in my opinion are the best live bait for Jewfish apart from the obvious Squid. We setup just off a point in the main channel of Sydney Harbour. Not sure what its called but as you head out of rose bay towards the heads its the first corner you turn tight around and there is one of the Tee Pee Style channel markers off the point of the rocks. I've seen numerous boats fishing the area at the crack of dawn (assuming for Jews) so I thought we'd sound around and try and find some structure off there and sit down for the night. Out went the Livies and my good friend Pescatore flicked over half a pilly as you must always do. Then we waited, and waited, and just when we thought it was bite time before the turn of the tide, we waited some more. As per the usual night targeting Jewfish, we were lounged about around the boat, having drinks and nibbles whilst keeping a constant stream of pillies and Tuna pellets running over the side. About 1:30 am, 2 hours after the tide turned and started running in it Finally happened. A 35cm tailor absolutely inhaled and screaming toward Sow and Pigs. The reel was sitting on fighting drag quite which is quite a firm drag IMO. After 30m or 40m of line disappeared I thought surely this things hooked. Then... Nothing. Pulled in a whole, partially scaled, dead tailor that had a few scuffs and scratches. A sad moment for us guys who've put nothing but the hours and effort into collecting the right baits, fishing the right times but I guess its back to the drawing board. We've caught our number of small- mid sized Jew's but the big one still evades us somehow. Happy fishing everyone.

I'd reccomend you learn the bimini twist. Make a two rod length double that will wind on to the reel and join to a heavy duty snap swivel. then join regular 60-80lb leader onto your lure or live bait rig.

dont get confused fellas, a uni knot will fall apart quickly on a big king, but yes i run the double to swivel and crimp on the lures.. no mucking around with knots

thanks for all your tips guys - i always run a lumo sprocket way out back no matter what where or when. I've caught more fish on it than any other lure i own. I will keep your ideas in mind i particularly like the comment about running less gear. Will definetely give it a try. and i definetely wasnt expecting this to be easy, hopefully this will be our year.

Thanks Scratchie, I guess i'll just have to spend most of my 4 days out there hunting again. Those bloody big dolphinfish get me every time. I hear the screams and we jump from the seats to see the same bloody yellow green bastards every time. Not that they aren't beautfiul fish but 40 50k's from shore your thinking its gotta be.....

Hi Raiders, have 4 days straight fishing just after the new year at south west rocks and i have one thing on my mind a filthy dirty beautiful blue marlin. I am by no means an experienced Marlin fisherman - but the weather up there that time of year usually gives a few days of opportunity to get right out into the deep blue and have a crack at these guys. if anyone has any friendly advice to offer it would be great. last year we had our first strike on a big skip bait and had a big fella on for all of about 3 seconds. I've consistently found dolphinfish and stripeys out over the shelf there as i go every christmas so im certain ive been looking in the right areas but how do i entice that bite and stay connected.

Amongst the herd we has a fantastic day at 12 mile yesterday. I got a green LED light that goes in the water off ebay and apparently they attract squid. So at 2am we anchored up at my secret squid spot and popped the light in. No Squid lol.. but tailor, yellowtail and pike were absolutely dumbfounded by the green light. So we collected some reasonably sized tailor and yellowtail and head off to the artificial to throw some slimies in the mix and off we went. Not often you can cruise at 20 knots out to 12 mile in an 18 footer so we enjoyed the ride. Slimey down = Kingy Up after some battle for a 70cm model. Great Start. up to the end of the cue again, Slimey down Kingy Up. Sweet. However we found that the yellowtail were being pinched but in a very finicky fashion. I left my master friend pescatore to the task of striking the mum out of them though and boy was he on cue. he was pinning them in the jaw through the head however it worked on the yakkas. i dropped a river 2 sea green and yellow jig down, a few lifts and bang onto a 78cm model and my first fish for my stella and first on a jig in deepwater. I must say what an exciting way to catch a fish and break your back all in the one motion. and i used to laugh at thes "clowns wearing gloves" im wrong there. After having enough of dropping yellowtail for the softest bites i've ever seen we learnt something new. Live Tailor on Deep Reefs makes Kingfish Horny - the first tailor, around 40cm went down and was absolute enhaled by a king of similar size to the ones we got earlier. Next one down same result. just goes to show never be afraid to try a new bait or something that looks tasty. Every day is different and i wish we spent time catching more tailor, and also proves the point if your targeting big fish, use big baits coz if a little king can eat that i cant imagine what a big one could eat. Great Day on the water we took 5 home for a good feed for our 3 families and sent the rest home to most likely end up in someone else boat yesterday.

I just got my first set of Mako ploarised sunnies and i am impressed. i work near the harbour so went down and had a browse into the water and on a bright sunny day they are just awesome, really light and really comfortable on the eyes. I'd reccomend them to anyone looking for a quality pair of fishing sunnies. Especially for those like me who require a prescription, Mako actually makes and sends the Lenses to the optometrist and you know the lense is of the same quality as the factory ones. No they aren't cheap but here's to the health fund paying half.

i wouldnt bother with droppers under 60lb leader. you do lose a lot of knot strength. It took a lot of lost fish for me to work this out.

I advised my Girlfirend before we got engaged that I need time for fishing, it was quite clear that if she didn't allow me time to go fishing at least every fortnight then it wasnt going to work. (my trips are a day adventure its not worth me taking the boat out and cleaning for jsut and hour or so). So twice a month for me and yes she gets whingy but the trick is every other weekend you have to do what she wants so she somehow still wins!

Great idea for light tackle, anything over 20lb i reccomend tying to the jig head!

There is no exact Science to this. As you said fish eat like we do regardless of anything. In keeping with the theme though, it all depends on what you're fishing for and what style of fishing you're doing. You need to adjust your fishing to the conditions as like most of us you probably cant pick out all the perfect days ina month and go fish them. I do find it ideal to be fishing low light conditions especially in shallow as thats when the preadtory fish seem to be more active. However, in midle of the day then the tide changes in deeper water would tend to turn the fish on.

I'd be fishing for Jewies up there this time of year mate, The Northern breakwall of the macleasy entrance holds good jews and as they head out of the river to the beaches for summer its a great time of year to land them at the mouth. Not many better locations to fish either. your baits are beach worms or live mullet if you can get them. as a matter of fact the best mullet spot is behind the break wall which is the upper reaches of the river. how handy is that. not much else at this time of year to be honest.

I have made the Excat same mistake. i now always hold rod in hand when live baiting kings unless i am downrigging of course. I've found, espcially in deep water kings will often play with a bait and sometimes it's mecessary to have a crack at setting the hook yourself. i learnt this one day loosing about 10 livies to the decent but not wild bites. i had a genuine crack at stiking one and up came an 85cm king. so I'd say to a beginner fishing for kings to put tough drag on and hold on tight, you need a fair bit of experience to get them up with lght gear and a whole lot of luck.

ahh the broken knots is they key to these buggers mate. when i first started fishing for them i lost 2 or 3 absolute brutes to knots between braid and mono. there is a lot of opinions on connection knots and i just had to keep trying different methods until i found one that worked. i now use a doubled braid (bimini) to reverse albright and i can tow a small boat with it when tied properly. In my opinion there are two methods to catch good kingfish. Ultra light and mobile (so use lighter gear and stay extremely mobile in your boat to manouvere quickly and get in front of the fish.) this is good for top water fish. The other method is my Stella 20000 locked up from the get go, a broomstick and a whole lot of strain on the back. with 100lb gear. and even still a number win their freedom.

doesnt matter where or when you fish.. you must always have a piece of pilchard in the water. Good stuff guys.

Story of my life mate. Fish 80lb gear catch the bait you put out, fish 20 lb and all hell breaks loose. That's bad luck mate, i had a bream hook snap in a nice jews crunchers about 2m from the boat not long ago.

Raiders, with a good tide lining up with Sunset tomorrow afternoon, going to see if we can land ourselves a nice big Jew. we know they're out there somewhere. i always have trouble finding squid and have a limited timeframe to catch them tomorrow before this tide. anyone had any luck in certain general areas over the past few days/ nights as we are going to rebait and sit till the early morning low tide 12:20am. any tips would be appreciated.

I respectfully disagree mate, i've been fishing the hawkesbury since i was about 4 and we've always pulled the bigger and better fish in the winter. The freshwater in this volume destroys the hakwebury though, yes there is is some clear water underneath but the amount of rubbish that runs through the river after these rains keeps most fish in hiding. I agree you want to wait a few weeks to fish there to let the rubbish settle. And dont forget an important part of the hawksebury is, if you want to catch fish, fish the small tides. Big tides in the hawkesbury are bad news.

pescatore5: im going to give up on life if i dont start getting some fish soon. sydangler: what a horrid morning to be fishing aye.