Scratchie

No yowie! I taught him, he's just showing me he paid attention!

Damn, I'm jealous too! Little bugger gets to go fishing at will and I'm stuck with other kids sporting commitments! Then I get half an hour to join him and he gets a screamer! Well done ty! It was great watching you fight and land that fish. A big effort in a decent swell and I know the effort you went to land it! You have a good teacher! Cheers big scratchie!!!

There's a lot of really good advice in this thread! I hope you end up with a good value for money purchase of your new boat! Cheers scratchie!!!

I agree with adsy! It's a bit different with the larger deep divers but with small hard bodies I'd be replacing them with owner trebles too! Cheers scratchie!!!

I live in port Stephens! Happy to give you a tour if the opportunity arises! Cheers scratchie!!!

Nice waz! The water looks pretty still in that photo! Always great to land a target species! Well done Cheers scratchie!!!

He superimposed a bend in the rod! Lol. Great photo. I like seeing action pics! Cheers scratchie!!!

It is a great place Harold. Your family would love it! If you do venture up here and want a guide let me know! The marinas have great facilities up here! And take some fuel for me just incase!

He has a little dog too! Them brown bottles don't count as fish either!

I also hear that your dog is going on the houseboat with you guys???? Good luck Steve! You might find a new bestie!

I should have joined you basil, my fingers have only just thawed out!

Thanks Sam! They're fun to target anytime and make for a great table fish too!

As you can appreciate gamefishing is a very costly exercise. The gamefishing members of this site are very experienced and dedicated fishos that provide a lot of creditable information to this forum. We also have vast network of information to draw from. Sorry if you post seems rather fictional to some members but no one here would send anyone out chasing shadows! Thank you for your post and I look forward to your video if you get the chance to publish it! Regards scratchie mod team

So you had some success ay? Have you put a post and photos up?

Now that's a "wicked tuna". Congrats! Cheers scratchie!!!

There are so many lines I could use right now but I won't. Lol He's probably imitating you when you can't go fishing! Cheers scratchie!!!

For me, I use an improved Albright knot. I guess the thing with knots is that you use what works for you and is easy to tie on the go! Learn a couple of knots, learn to do them well and keep it simple! Cheers scratchie!!!

How did you go? The conditions looked pretty good out there!

The key is to lift the rod and load the pressure. Do not strike as you will lose more than you land. If you feel a bite, lift the rod up and down slowly. This will entice a stronger bite! Remember, hairtail feed vertically so striking hard basically pulls the hook from their mouth. Hope that helps! Cheers scratchie!!!

This time of year snapper flood the inshore reefs. The stormy weather would send them offshore but they return soon enough. I find that they are generally more aggressive when there's a bit of current and the bait is stacked on one side of a drop off or bommie! And then there's some day where no matter what you do they just don't want to play! Better luck next time! Cheers scratchie!!!

Cheers Trevor! Always great to get someone their first!

Yeah you mad bastard! White knuckles, airborne, back slams, it didn't do anything for my tendinitis either. You need some driving lessons lol. Thanks for the trip out my friend. Jake was really excited by his catch!

G'day raiders, Sorry but a quick late report from Saturday. With the weather over the past week, well we all know, Dom, myself and a relo jake decided to give it a crack on Saturday morning. We were greeted at the heads by relatively small swell and little wind. So with the westerly forecast we headed south. Boy did that weather change as we rounded the corner at fingal head. It was blowing at least 15knots and close to 2m swell. But we thought we're out here anyway so let's find a spot and have a go. After dodging numerous whales and seals we found a nice drift. I was keen to get my relo jake onto something decent as he doesn't get the chance to fish much but loves it all the same. Anyway, with the wind behind us we begin to cast and dom the snapper whisperer is on straight away and boats a little panny. We do this drift a few more times and suddenly jake comes up tight and his little 3000 is screaming. With a bit of encouragement from us both he gets the fish boat side and into the net. It went a respectable 54cm and the biggest fish he's caught as well as being on a soft plastic. We then proceeded to find a few drifts with the swell and wind increasing every minute. We tried one more area with Dom coming into his own landing 3 pannies in quick succession. For me, I had one bite all morning and I managed to drop that too! It just wasn't my day but I'm glad jake had nailed a decent fish. We called it a day and proceeded to head home, where by now the wind was pumping and we had to head straight on into it. To say hectic across the bay was an understatement, it was pretty much 2m and 25knots inside the bay which made for a slow journey home. Thanks for reading, Cheers scratchie!!!

Yep. If there in the mood they'll hit anything. Caught them on a 170mm stick bait and trolling an 8 inch deep diver! As you said, free bait a bonus! Cheers scratchie!!!

Shear stupidity! He has no nav lights or radio! Lol These people are called "temporary citizens"