Assassin

Hi Tomahawk, The electric sounds like a good idea, i have never used an electric but slow trawling will work. The bomb size i use ranges from 10-12lb as i often downrig outside the heads. I have never spooled my downriggers up with wire as I am told the wire hums whilst on the move, also a little harder to use, so i am unsure of what happpens when it gets snagged. I reakon downrigging is great fun and improves your chances of a hook up that much more. Downrigging will be all the go in the next few weeks.. Cheers Adam

Hi Tomahawk, I guess everyone has their own ways of doing things, here is the way i downrig. If downrigging in 20 meters of water i usually set the bomb at the 10 meter mark, the bomb can usually be seen on the sounder so i adjust accoridingly to fish mid water. Or if i spot a school of fish on the sounder i will try to get the depth set at the school. I clip the line directly into the release clip - no need for rubber bands, and set the bait approx 5 meters behind the bomb, you dont want the bait to follow to far behind the bomb as it will start to float towards the surface. Make sure you have a little bit of slack between your rod and the bomb. As far as bait goes, i only downrig with squid as i have never had much sucess with yakkas or plastics. I run dacron instead of wire as i find it more user friendly, but each to their own. It is difficult to judge what the bottom is going to do, and if it rises from 20m to 5 meters in an unfamiliar area quickly then there isnt much you can do except wave good bye to the bomb. But this comes with experience and when you find your favourite downrigging areas you will soon learn the contours of the sea bed and adjust accordingly. 8lb bomb may be a little light, as this depends on your speed and the depth at which you want to downrig. Kingfish/cobia are usually the targeted species for downrigging i am not sure what the sucess rate of catching jews downrigging is- i personally have not hooked a jew downrigging. All the best with your new downrigger and i hope you pop its cherry with a hood. Regards Adam

Good conditions , i wish all the best to those die hard fisherman who are going to fish in 10ft+ seas in wet miserable choppy conditions for the possible chance of a hook up. Good luck

Sounds like your enjoying retirement Macka....and so you should after all those hard years of working. tight lines Adam

I think its simple, we are not gifted enough to predict what type or size of fish is going to woof down the bait, so running a larger class of line may one day help in landing that fish of a life time. I would personally prefer to be outfitted with a larger line class and have that option of winding my drag up should the dream fish pass by, rather than kicking myself after the fact and get spooled. Every rod reel combo has its line limitations, but with technology we can now up the anty with our line classes. This does not mean that i would skull drag every fish i catch to the boat, my drag is set accordingly to the species i am targeting. Cheers Adam

Nice catch well done, think we should invest in a deep sea reel.. why sort do you use and what would you recommend for browns. It would be cool to go home with a feed even when the pelagic species dont want to play. Adam

We stuck our heads outside the bay and decided against it, the time was about 11.00am with very limpy conditions. Did you guys hear the mayday distress call?, a trawler ran up onto the rocks between Sydney and botany. Im getting sick of these non attempts, over the last several weeks and 5 attempts we have only got out once.

If you have the money to spend then go the Saltiga 6000z and pair it up with a Monster Mesh or Saltist if money is no object then look at Seed or Smith Sticks - nothing under PE5. You do not need to pay $2000 + to step into this range, keep an eye out on the secondary market for a good buy. I recently picked up a as new Saltiga 6000z threadline loaded with brand new 50lb tuf braid for $600.00 and also grabbed a new Seed stick on special at $450.00.. thats an outfit valued at well over $2000.00 for half the price. Good deals are to be had just be patient. The above sticks are great all rounders fishing from boats, however they do match the jigging style of fishing more than anything else. Good luck

Gday Oz, I am also very interested in how you conduct your testing?, i should have some new braid very soon it would be great to put under the same testing standards as you have done for the daiwa and jigman. This will be a new product brought into Australia, i am confident that it will out perform the lines already tested. I will PM you.

We need to get those kiwis to point some fish in our direction, a world record Blue Fin was caught on stand up yesterday. A whopping 325kg Blue fin

WD Sam and Chris, nice catch.

I think it has been the same for everyone atm, the fish are just not to be seen in numbers. We jigged The Peak and also 12 Mile with nothing to be had. We spent conserable time sounding 12 mile reef to find an elusive school of kings but to no success. I also heard Reef Runner charters on the radio really frustrated with not much for the day. Looking at some reports from the fish raider yellow fin day, it was also very quiet out wide. I think the very slow currents and green chilly water conditions are why the fish are not firring. Anyway it was an absolute pleasure to be on the water yesterday, smooth seas lots of dolphins great weather and good company. We did end up with some mowong plus i got to try out my new jigging outfit The YTF season is not over yet so lets hope there are plenty more sunny calm days on the water before we hit October. Cheers Adam

If you bottom out with a down rigger than wave goodbye to the bomb, the idea of downrigging is to troll a bait mid water- if im fishing in 20 meters of water then i usually set the downrigger at 8 meters , kings will come up if they are feeding at a lower depth. Bite the bullet and buy a downrigger for whats its worth you will spend more time mucking around with the concept than what its worth. Keep your eye out for second hand downriggers if you cannot justify the purchase of a new one.

I would wait 3 weeks for the new Daiwa Monster Mesh to be released, apparently its an awesome rod and you get alot of bang for your buck. I am not sure whether it is suited for your needs though, i have never jigged from kayak - it sounds difficult. Anyway, some of the boys have used pre-release versions of the moster mesh and reports are all thumbs up. So anyone who is on the market for a jigging rod right now then i would sit tight. I am sure custom jigging rods like Tony,s are fine aswell, i just prefer to stick with big names as companies who specialise in these types of rods throw massive amounts of R&D dollars into getting the products spot on. Cheers Adam

No worries, you do make a good point though - it pays to cross reference several weather condition sites. It was a very last minute decision for us, however i did check coastal watch and sea breeze. Buoyweather is now added to my favourites. I need to be very fussy about conditions as i live a 40 minute drive from the coast, so not picking the best of days costs me alot of money and time. Cheers Assassin