pacemode

thank you im on the little DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the comments - I am starting to beleive that these fish are more common then we think. I used an unconventional method. Super long trace with a heavy sinker behind a massive amount of burley. My first drift was slow and I caught him - the other 3 drifts I increased spead by double thatnks to the wind that picked up. It felt like the burley was dissapearing too fast behind the boat. I heard about a spear fisho who has seen quite a few fish around this size along the Sydney coast. They are spooked very easily and seem to have adjusted to Sydney fishing pressure. Next 1 I catch will be going back in the water. Next species is a King over 1 meter.

Caught the fish on the 40 meter mark drifting and releasing about 5kg of burley behind me. To the left side of Botany Bay Heads - before the lighthouse. Been a long while since I have been fishing so it was worth it.

Cant tell from photos but it had a huge mouth - it slammed down a yakka.

Spent the night chasing Mulloway in Botany Bay with zero results - first time in my entire life. Anyway got up at 4AM to catch yellowtail for live bait. By 6AM had enough so we went to try for squid then Kingies - No luck on both, so I told my son that we were heading out the heads for a bottom bash. Tried something different this time - used a 3 meter trace and started a drift with Large Baits from the 35 meter mark. Bang on 40 my reel starts to peel fast - thought it was a XOS kingfish but I did not get reefed - I loosened the drag about mid water and I started to thing maybe Snapper. When this beast made an appearance it took me a good 2 minutes to gaff it - then the screams were heard from all over Sydney. It went 75 cm and over 7.5 kg - I have only ever caught 2 legal snapper in my life at around 40 cm. This is a massive trophie for me and the power of the fish was very impressive.

Hi mate I fished it heaps 20 years ago and pulled out a lot of BIG jew - nothing under 10kg. Throw out big baits on right side - whole large calamari / pike / whole tailor up to 40 cm. Go to sleep with ratchet on and wait. Secret to this spot is fishing a certain moon phase which I wont disclose. In the morning there are large groper and drummer along the rocks. In a howling southerly you will pick up big size snapper. Should be some XOS kings cruising past the ledge this time of year - thwy love live garfish! But easier said than done. You have to know what you are doing - good luck - PS never saw a snake there so must be something recent.

I used to fish the rocks whem I was younger - I once had a very large black marlin hit a bonnie I spun up. Then he had the ordasity to cruise straight past my feet 2 meters away from the rock ledge. They are more common in close than people might be aware of. I have heard them crusing in Botany Bay and in Sydney Harbour. Where there is plenty of food they will go. My lesson from those days was to always carry a 15kg or 24kg stand up set up with me at all times. Never saw one ever again though.

Here is my prized catch on 2 pound - you will notice the 4 inch watermelon berkley stick bait - plus my Shimano 1000 sized reel. - good fun!

Hey Twin - I called you a while ago and I think I left a message .. Winter jew session would be nice. I now have a F/T job plus a busness in Newcastle so finding the time is the challenge. Ye that was on 2 pound fireline - fish almost spooled me - but I tried a few rod techniques which changed the fishes direction. Kinfish don't go for very long though. It got tired - they also seemed very hungry as they were chasing hardy heads in the shallows. Fish were caught close to Fig Tree - PS the water was slightly murky too.. which confused the hell out of me but I did not complain : ) Nice by catch - just ate one using the Kingfish recipe recently shown on master Chef - bloody awesome - lime and slightly cooked King is YUMMM..

Hey All, Have not been fishing much lately as I am very busy ... but thought i'd go this morning. Grabbed a couple of squid from freezer to go for jew. As I was driving decided to go to Lane Cove. Anyway no luck on jew. As water began to run out one of my rod buckles... Landed an actual legal Kingfish. Wow I thought so I threw another piece of squid out and within 2 minutes got nailed again - however lost this one. Then threw out another piece and was onto another King... I thought how cool is this! Then I saw massive bubbles of water around the shallows. Grabbed my 2 pound bream outfit - put on a 3 inch softy and waited. I then saw the bubble approach me so I threw the softy in and started jigging. Bang I was on at my feet - I only had 125 pound of 2 pound fireline on... Almost got spooled - then it tired. After 5 minutes I landed a 68 cm King -- how cool 0 sushimi for 2 night.. Always new kings go all the way up river during winter -- they were chasing hardy heads.. This time it was my turn to get them .. tight lines!

Simmo Was good meeting you also - good to have company - I have plenty of spare parts for reels if you need a spare handle. I was gonna suggest last night for you to give me your reel - I can fix then post out to you. Like I said last night - fresh squid = jew (100%) - just have to fight of the pickers on ocassions. Jim

Hey mate - try using whole squid caught locally. I have met a lot of people in my ventures fishing with me. I have seen people throw out live fish, octupus, fish market squid and pilchards. I have only seen 1 guy catch a fish on a pilchard 5 years ago. I keep using whole freshly caught local squid. Jew cannot resist. This is my prefered bait in the night. During the day I prefer using live tailor, yellowtail or hearing. The fish still feed in the day. Butterflying these fish is also a great bait. I do not mind fishing from any warf or headland. It is all about timing - jew are like clockwork - they will feed at a certain time, as that is when they will come out of there hidy holes and wander around warfs to feed. I limit my fishing to 2 hours. Someone wrote something about 80 pound line. You do not need to go that heavy for jew. 20 pound main line plus 50 pound fluoro trace is fine. Jew are very easy to stop. I have never had a jew on for more that 5 minutes and have caught them over the 20kg mark on occasions. Location - cannot reveal - no offence to all but i have had nights where I have driven around for 2 hours only to find that I cannot fish anywhere as every spot I fish is packed with people. I do not own the spots, but I cannot stand too much noise and swearing and people casting over me, which I have experienced fishing in a packed spot. I fish to relax not to be anxious cause people get in my way. Fish are just a bonus. Not accusing anyone on fishraider for being like that also. Plus both nights I fished I found rubbish left behind at all spots. I was sickened by people's laziness to p/up there own trash. Could just imagine what these peoples homes look like. Regards Jim

Wow Great fish - gees there have been some good size Kings coming out of Botany Bay.' Looks a bit like a samson fish head. Wander if it is a cross? Looks weird though - I would be heaps proud of a fish like that. Congrats.

Hey Marcel, Been quiet as my wife gave birth to a beautiful little girl, plus been working heaps ... not to say I got addicted to catching just squid for some time. Still have to take you out one day. Send me a message and I'll tee something up with you. Thanks guys for all the nice comments.. Jewgaffer - there was very little baitfish - which I like sometimes because the fish are more likely to take your bait - jew this size are found in the upper reaches nearly all year round. Sometimes there is too much bait in the water and you do not get a run -- my secret is - the water was nicely discolored, not even bream were around. I love this type of water for jew in rivers. In the Bays and around headlands I search for bait schools, different method.

Hi All, Started on Thursday morning at 3AM. Hit Gladesville area landbased and scored about 8 jew. All ranging around the 2kg mark. Action did not stop in 2 hours of fishing. Released a few and kept a few. Next morning started at 3Am again. Hit another spot in Gladesville. Spent 30 minutes there and did not get any runs. So I thought I would move on o the Lane Cove river. Last weekend I scored a 4kg fish in there so I thought the fish should be large. Got to Lane Cove just before 5AM. Through out 2 squid strips and a whole squid. Whilst I was half asleep walking around the warf, my FSU5120C loaded with a Stradic 8000 buckles and starts screaming. I ran over grabbed the rod and tussled for about 2 minutes. The fish went from side to side trying to find a snag to get me on. Finally got him close to the wark and it surfaced. F%^$* I knew this would be my PB landbased on a warf. Took my time as the fish was still GREEN and had the pilons in its site. First chance for a gaf shot and I screwed up - I did not lock the gaff and it popped out. Anyway whilst holding the fish I locked the gaff and set it into the fish. Brought the fish up and was VERY happy. My prior landbased river PB was 12kg and this fish was bigger. Took it home and it reached 15kg. Last night went to Lane cove again. Got another 4kg fish and dropped another. The jewies are on the chew guys. Just get ready for plenty of small fish between the bigger ones! Good luck.

Thanks Stewy - spoke to a local who said the rainbows this time of year feed on hatch - small fish, and the only small fish in the lake are the hatchings placed in there - now small are found close to the shoreline both in salt and fresh as they prefer the warmer water which allows for tiny plant growth to live, which is what they feed on. So I hit the shallows which dropped of to the deep and use small spinners which imitated baby rainbows. My thought process worked! That is what I love about fishing - its not about chance but about the thought process behind the catch.

Spent last week working out west. Packed the fishing gear in the back hoping to cast into some rivers and creeks. Work got the better of me till the last day. Had 1 hour to spare after 4pm so I drove down to lake Lyle. Paid, got into the park and drove on top of the Hill looking for rises. Saw heaps of activity in a small cove so I drove down. Put a spinner bait on and within 3 casts got this beuty of a rainbow. My first ever trout caught. It measured 47cm and had a great hook nose on it. Spent the next 1/2 hour spinning with nil results. Fish were there but were not intereseted till I put a pink celta on. Got hit instantly and this fish was much bigger. Peeled line and jumped in the air. Pulled the bloody hooks. At that time got a call from the wife so I had to go home. Decided to take family there on Sunday. Scored some free worms and caught a couple of small trout (brown ad raibow) - but the blue green algae had moved in and thus the fish were not active at all.

Heres my tip Use very long heavy trace as the shark can cut your line with its rough skin by rubbing on it. 2 meter trace with 3 meter add on to your main line of the same weight. Then go tp Parra river or Lane Cove river and live bait a small jewfish up to 5kg under a balloon. It should get taken very quickly by a big bull shark. PS place hook towards the back of the fish on top. I have brought a head in before, other times it has been the whole fish taken. So I am thinking that the shark attack back end first. Sounds quite stupid but I assure you guys these beast have a delicacy for jewfish. Oh yeh - minimum 24kg - I have seen my 20 pound line speed of VERY quickly! If I had a scanner i would display the results of a Bull shark on a jewfish, but I don't/ Jimbo

Kings travel up Parra river every year. The furthest I have heard them caught by specialised bream boat spinning specialists is Ryde bridge. I personally have also seen a 4kg Cobia caught at Breakfast Point area and a friend of mine caught one at Gladesville last year. If the food is up river the fish will travel - and before a big fresh like what we are getting now, fish like kingfish will happily travel almost up to the brackish water. Larger kingfish actually will stay all year around about mid way up the harbour - have seen them in July, over 10kg of Longnoise many times but they will not take livebait or even squid. Jimbo

Hey guys Don't want to spoil the fun - but there are some BIG bull sharks around at the moment. I sighted 3 last weekend and very close to shore. Must admit it was in the Parra river but I definately know that they go chasing fish up the Lane Cove also. My biggest fear is that a canoest will get taken one day. Last Sunday morning there was a canoest 20 meters in front of me - then 50 meters in front of me a bull shark approximately 3 meters long breached the water, jumping about 3 meters in the air, possibly to hit a school of big mullet or a jewfish. Sorry to spoil the fun, but I do not want to see someone get hurt. Jimbo

Hi All, My piece to the puzzle in point form.. 1) Jew will feed on any moon phase. 2) Jew are full of food come the night of the full moon - they usually spend a few nights before to feed. 3) Prawns runs on the dark of the moon - excellent time to fish for them.. 4) Barometer is a huge factor to jewfish success.. 5) Jewfish bite all year round. 6) Find the bait and you find the fish. 7) Shifting winds puts jew of the bite - shifting directions in a 24 hour period. 8) Change tactic or spots If the fish are not biting. Sometimes jew feed on the surface or midewater. 9) Biggest mistake I have seen people do is to use big chunky leads on their rigs at all times. 10) Full moon = king tides = jew feed more in the shallows, not in the deep holes or channels. 11) Jew can be caught any time of the day or night! 12) Day is good to fish in holes - night better to fish in shallower water. 13) Jew are lazy fish and feed where there is plenty of bait - prawns, whiting, hearing, mullet, tailor, yackas, nippers, and squid. 14) Don't do what everyone else does - think outside the square and you will have success. 15) It pays to burley if things are quiet. Good luck

Hey Chris, No fishing this morning - crook as a dog! We'll catch up soon again before the baby is born!

Chris, Well done mate - very well deserved - and you fought it like a champ, kept the head up on the jew and it was all yours in the fight. Hope you took better photos when you got home! Plenty more to come this season for you. I am having fun with the weather station here, it says its raining -- I think it has gone mashoogana Congrats Speak to you soon.

I don't think the jew have been quieter this year. I think fishermen who target jew have slowed down on the fishing because of the cold temps. The jew are here all year round... Float Stopper - I use a little fluoro bead ontop of the float - I then tie 60 feet of 40 pound fluoro carb leader onto my braid - this acts as the stopper - have tried little stoppers but don't work well on braid. Hope that helps.

Hi All, Started on Saturday night - going for a squid session around warves in Sydney. Started at first spot and managed 2. Then the light drizzle started to come down so I went to another spot. By this time it was midnight. We where absolutely amazed to see about 100 squid siting next to the warf. The next 5 min utes was mahem. We had 2 rods and simply dropped both in the water and hooked up instantly. We managed about 15 squid in 5 minutes - (heavenly).. They then moved on and came back in a smaller school and managed a few more - I did notice some THUMPER sized bream underneath them.. Through out a soft plastic but no interest. Ended up with 24 squid - happy as Lary! The next day I decided to go for a jew bash. Left home at 1.00 pm to cath the 2.00pm low. Got to the spot at 1.30pm and threw my floaters out. I tried something new again - used a float and dropped down squid 60 feet with a small ball sinker. As I waited I noticed the float fall then the rod bend.. Caught a small jew at around 3kg..