Ewan

well, i recently left the far north coast of nsw for the very southern most section of victoria, melbourne. Ive only fished off the St Kilda pier and have poked around the New Brighten, Sandringham areas. Tryin to line up a boating trip but for the moment im looking for land based spots, very interested to find jew down here so if anyone has any suggestions let me know. Any fish raider members in Melbs? thanks, ewan.

great stuff hal ...do you have any more photos of the short billed fish? I've never seen one before..

well, a lovely calm day and the weekend warrior squadron was out in force when we got out to a local reef about 9miles out there was already ten boats on it most of them on the troll and a fat trawler anchored directly over the main pin. 25 degree very blue looking water! we trolled around trusty laser pro 190's and I got a hook up within minutes. Dropped ... as it came near the boat after two fast little spurty runs. I was thinking rat yellowfin. We ran the gaunlet of boats again to come over the spot where we had the hit. Again my gold halco got hit. Daz kept driving the boat a bit to try n get a double. Nope. But he then hookd up on the retreive. Again mine spat it after a few runs. Daz got his in a beautiful 7kg wahoo. I gaffed it and it came aboard kicking up a stink , beaky mouth slashing everywhich way. so we kept on the troll, for a bit nothing but a good encounter with another fisho whoose line had gone and tangled around the anchored rope of the trawler with a wahoo on the end! We had to let him drive around us and pass the rod around our backside. They lost the fish.... It went quiet for an hour or so and we switched to skirts and did some run s thinkin of marlin. Had a bump on a big lumo skirt and another on a black and red jet head but no hook ups. A few more laps and a change to blue coloured lures as ther were schools of bonito feeding on the surface and I hooked up and landed my first ever wahoo. With xmas lunch in the esky and a northly comin up we headed on in. Wahoo sandwhiches for dina!

yeah best year ever for GT's around here, well ive been fishing consistently for 3 or 4 years here. picked up another two this afternoon, gave one to a friend ate the other. Dan latched onto another trouble maker! 85 gram metal blades are getting most of this fish. Although great to see big fish slamming poppers again!! Would love to here any descriptions of BIG GT fights - successful landings and bust offs. The first one i got tonight was simply explosive and violent, just locked him up as sure as I could trust my knots and line and held him then just used waves and my legs to keep him off the bottom and away from bombys until he tired out. Lifting these fish up and out of an 8ft plus rocky barnicley washy ledge is an anxiety inducing moment. we really ought to start gaffing the one we want to keep.

Thats a sweet fish amazing colours!! Looks like the decky is reaching up to close its eyelids like to honour the dead!

Went out with a freind Daz today early only too wait around a few hours due to a big low tide and a bumpy surf on the Brunswick bar. Made it out for hi tide and trolled around pink squid as the water was 24 degrees and nice n blue and clear looking and we were thinking mackrel... not a touch. The local reef was devoid of bait so we headed out to a spot we have called "mirrors" which is an odd spot as there is not really any structure and has a sandy bottom but has held massive amounts of bait in the last few trips. Got livies, good sized slimeys and yakkas and started unweighted live baiting. Didnt take long before my slimey got belted by something which took off then just after I struck just bit through 60lb jinkai leader clean. Switched to a thin wire trace and put another slimey. Daz already with wire got a speedy hit and number 1 spotty mackrel for the season was boated. I havent seen too many spotties come fresh out of the water and I was impressed with its dark gleaming shaped and speed and teeth! Daz hooks up to the first spotty of the season. We ended up with four all up, all about 5kg and dropped a few as well. I was totally green for most of the day a combination of a greasy takeout squid dinner the night before and a rocken south easterly sea. Plenty of Mack Tuna about as well, they seem to be in plague proportions and all aroung 8-10kg, solid and heavy fish to catch and really becoming a frustration and a bore to catch them one after another. Anyway - I was super happy to catch my first spotty ever - bodes well for a good Nth Coast mackrel season. Bruns river and boat ramp spot on:

here a few pics i snapped off dan hooking into tailor with his new rod. - you can actually see dans face loose interest when he realises its just a lousy stinky tailor: I fished for 2-3hours this morning with my trusty 7 wrap multi tapered schneider (spell?) flicking out 85 gram blades as far as possible to cover the most of the bomby strewn reefy n sandy area we were fishing. I've learnt I get the best distance if I absoliutely heave and heft really hard. Mostly I cast good but when it goes wrong it really can be nasty! Anyway, finally Dan offers me a flick with the new rod whcih from the moment I handle it is silk. If this rod can handle being battered around oin the rockjs a bit themn im up for one. It was so light compared to the fibreglass shneids whjich i love but seemed really strong and i was impressed watching dan rope up a solid trevally. The trevs here seem to be getting wider and ther tails bigga as the seasoin progresses, the last one i got a few days ago was a 5minute ledge hoping head thumping battle of will. Anyway, exciting stuff as I have never used anything like this rod for rock fishing in reasonably hostile conditions. It kind of reminds me of the new jig sticks light weight and really thin and tough but built for rock or beach fishing. well made Saqa, i might be next on the custom order list!!

Nice trevs, are they big eye?

Nice. What size were these clones? All on worm?

I like those simple wooden pencil poppers. And when there is no surface action try putting a ball sinker just off the front of one, you'd be surprised.

I haven't formed an exact idea about the implications of marine parks for the environment or for rec fishos. This however is certainly no place for a sign: Dan and I have raised two very serious questions which maybe the parks authorities can clarify. "Are you allowed to stand in a marine park area and cast into a sanctuary zone?" "What happens if you hook up a fish in the marine park and it runs into a sanctuary zone?" The other great things about the above sign is that it is placed square in the middle of a somewhat dangerous rocky ledge pathway making one awkwardly climb past it to enter the area designated A O K to fish in. And to even see it you need to hike and climb down thru a whole section of "sanctuary" area. Its a great spot to fish around the cape but because of its inaccessibility and nature of the terrain there are I guess not too many people who actively fish it. A beautiful spot to fish but what I really dont need is some overweight Dior wearing gold jewellery encrusted 40 year old woman who has sweated her way up the hill to try n see a whale and has a blast radius of chemical deodorant or some equally powerfull noxious perfume questioning me that 'This is a marine park, your not allowed to fish here.' I was amazed that day of Dan's gentlemenly and informative answer; "Only some areas are sanctuary zones."

Sorry to hear about your Fiji trip. I can relate. I paid $400 for six hours dragging lures around the north east tip of Zanzibar back in July. One hit all day. Big Current running. Water looked amazingly crisp. It was a painful day of real excitement expectation and dissapointment. But hell if I had not gone out I would have been wishin i had. Spent a fair bit of time just fantasizing about having my own boat in those waters instead of being a passenger on a resorts boat.. Still, if i ever get another chance and could afford it again id go again.

Nice sourworms, those fluro/soft pink and green colours look preety hot!! Yeah a friend Daz and I stayed out for far too long on the boat on the local reef. We had no food so I was scouring deep into the hidden corners of the boat to gather month old muesli bars, old moth ball eucalyptous lollies and a moldy old bag of milk bottles all of which we proceeded to eat then catch flathead on!!

Chomped by fish. They are fun to fish with and can be worked fast and shallow or deep. Not sure. I'd love to know they are great fish. Think it is a Great Trevally but maybe someone can tell me specifically?... They certainly are nutrious!!