dodgem

just to add another option these goso upf50 shirts are mega comfortable, easy to wear when its hot aswell cheers david

been using a sarca for two years now, its been great, cant fault it cheers david

yeah getting a tank welded into the transom, should save a little bit more space cheers david

hi all, went out last thursday chasing the usual calamari and kings. i started off lucky, getting into some really big calamari, look at the size difference. i started off using smaller 1.8 jigs, and for a change i went to 2.5 and thats when the calamari came on the chew. so with two big and a handfull of smaller ones i set off in search of kings. tried downrigging most of the structure in the harbour and then moved onto shark and clark islands for a big zero. thought id make my way out to north head via a few of the structures i bummed out on previously. finally i had found quite a few kings on one of buoys, and they were good size, got 7 in total, kept 3. nothing under 70cm, and for the first time got big time smoked on my locked up saltiga 4500 biggest went 83cm. until next time, cheers david ps my bait tank is now in the for sale section for anyone who is interested

awesome stuff, thanks for that netic

thanks for all the awesome replys, forgot to mention the charter was primo charters, guides name was paul, highly recommended, certainly knows his kings and hapuka. the boat is (grouse) , an 8m surtees (bar crusher) very well set up for the type of fishing he does http://www.primocharters.co.nz/index.php?pr=Home_Page here is a link to his site "By the way what did you do with him? Sushimi, steaks...?" couldnt do much with it, i was leaving bay of pleanty the next day, the guide was having a party the next day and im fairly sure that fed everyone cheers david

hi all, went into the harbour targeting just squid today for the first time i wanted to make it a meal and not bait. found a really good patch of them. they were all really good size and ended the day with 13. never been so lucky with calamari, but there was a heap of them. i dropped as many as i caught and also lost one massive one at the boat when i couldnt get to my net and tried lifting it in by the jig downrigged a couple of squid heads around some structure in the harbour and scored two quick kings, 1 going 70cm and the other a tiny 52cm. wasnt to keen for kings today so gave up after those two. also got a nice blue swimmer in a net that i set early morning it all went down great for dinner with the family cheers david

hi all, went to new zealand with the last week. spent the first 3 days working in auckland and then went on to spending a few days in tauranga, bay of plenty. let me start by saying that the area is just beautiful. i had organised a charter from sydney to chase marlin and kings and left it upto the charter operator to decide on the day what would be best. the day had arrived and it was perfect no wind at all and a very slight swell rolling and with the talk of a big blue marlin being caught the day before i was exited to say the least. got picked up early morning and we set off. the guide decided that marlin would be a pretty good option and tried for 4 hours trolling lures without a touch.so we gave up and started collecting bait for kings. we set out two small trolling skirts and with the lures in the water for barely a minute they both went off with a couple of big kahwai (aust salmon) i was happy just to catch something and then i couldnt believe when he placed these into the bait tank, i thought he was kidding but he was serious. these were our live bait for kings, 2.5kg aussie salmon. so after we had the bait we headed to a few pinnicles out 50 odd miles to sea and started off by jigging 300g jigs to first locate if there were kings and what size. took a while to find them and they werent to keen on the jigs, but judging by the sounder we thought there was something bigger there, so down went the salmon. not even 30 sec later we were watching the rod as the salmon was getting inhaled by something big, it didnt do any big runs, it just had pressure and very slowly moving away. we gave it a good 30 sec to swollw the bait and then pushed upto strike and hit it. then there was just this ridiculous amount of weight and strength trying to rip the rod from my hands, not a blistering run but a mad tug of war,thank god for harnesses. not sure what the drag was set on but it was a penn 50w filled with heavy braid all i know is it was bloody high, im 100kg and i had trouble holding onto it. after a 10min battle up came the biggest bloody fish i have ever seen in person and to make it even better it was the fish i love the most. kingfish, and a whole 27 kg of it and 1.41m. thats mayor island in the background as you could tell i was over the moon. we sent down the other live bait only to have it snagged on the bottom and lost. so it was back to jigging and we came across a few smaller kings and also some baracouta which were also good fun. after all that action the day was over and i was glad cause i was out of steam. just thought i might add that bay of plenty is a stunning place to visit and if your thinking of going, do it, the actual underwater structure around this area is amazing, you can 40 miles out to sea and its 600ft deep the all of a sudden theres a reef that breaks the surface. go, you wont regret it at all cheers david

for all thats interested, i was told the grounding screw on the back of the sounder is for boats with generators that produce noise?? not needed in trailer boats cheers dave

thanks huey, was planning on calling them tomorrow, just hoping to get a head start on installing it tonight cheers dave

hi all, just got myself a furuno fcv620 and was wondering if anyone can help with the wiring. instructions are fairly brief, i assume red = + black = - but do i have to ground a wire to the back of the unit?? i dont wont to hook up anything fancy like chartplotter to it, just want to get it running cheers dave

awesome, thanks for the info guys cheers dave

hi all, just trying to determine if the sounder quality in the furuno fcv620 is much better then the sounder thats built into the combo unit gp7000f. the combo dosent have the digital technology, and i do prefer a quality sounder rather then an average sounder and plotter. so if anyone has used both is the sounder in the combo as good as the 620?? cheers david

congrats on that incredible flathead, what a big lizard

hi all, looking to get a new pair of downriggers and was wondering what people thought about the penn fathom master range?? or is it recommended i stick with scotty?? cheers dave

thanks again kelvin, you just saved me $150. cheers dave

hi raiders, just wondering if anyone has used one and if there worth the $200. I need to buy a bigger bomb so i need opinions on if i get a ball type or the shark type and maybe where you guys recommend i buy it from cheers dave

thanks for all your your support, i absolutely love this site, i read it like the bible and i look forward to posting more reports and helping out where i can. now zenman, the boat is a 2004 455 coastrunner cv with a 60 4stroke yamaha. the boat has been good to me and typically suits the type of fishing i like to do. its not a real good outside boat because of how the nose dips when dealing with rougher waters. but i have been out to reefs and fads you just have to select your days and keep your wits. but if its fishing in the harbour, chasing kings, squid, jew etc, it seems almost perfect. the ride is a little back breaking but that dosent bother me too much, it all depends on your wants and needs. when i bought the the boat i ordered the most basic package with the best engine and then dropped the boat off at a fabricator to do the bait tank and underfloor storage, it was cheaper and much better quality and also it my design. id love to get a new canopy with front clears and storm covers i think that would top it off. (it rained the last two times ive been fishing). it is really well set up for what i like to do which is live baiting. but the funny thing is that even at this small size it has been a money pit, how can you put a price on catching those king!!!! cheers dave

Hi all, after countless attempts at trying to get some kings in the last two months using the same methods as last year(which worked really well last year), it finally came together yesterday and i got me some. Well im kind of relieved to hear that its not just me thats having trouble catching squid, couldnt get one to save my life. Lucky for me i had some squid heads and guts in the freezer and got some yakkas. Anyway caught the bigger of the two king deep into middle harbour on squid gut and the smaller king downrigging with the yakka in the harbour proper. Its the first time i have got a king on the rigger and its an awesome sound when it releases. I only really want to know bait collection, can anyone reccomend anyone other then Mcgill or stick with him?? cheers david

hi all, my quinnie is called SMELLS FISHY, if ya see me give me a wave

hi robbie, ive never taken notice but i easily get my boat in with rocket launchers up and i often see bigger boats in there. i live close by so i will check and get back to you david

theres one on parramatta rd, concord. city bound. handy for anyone using bayview ramp at the end of burwood rd.

hi there, i know its a little out of your way, but viking marine at taren point do that sort of stuff really well, i have dealt with them for my bait tanks and underfloor storage and they were good. give em a try

Hi all, im new to this fishraider and let me say, this place is great. I have a silly question to ask, id like to know a good place to start downrigging in middle harbour. I had some success last year in the harbour proper for kings but it seemed every time i tried to get my wife out it blow a gale and she wanted to go somewhere sheltered, which is understandable. Middle harbour seems to be the right place to take her when its windy. Any help will be much appreciated, maybe just where i should start. thanks dodgem