PPSGT

Hi Raiders, Got a last minute fishing pass from the wife so headed out at 7am on Sunday. Was suppose to be back by 10am, so no time for livies even left the pillies at home so only lures. Sounded every marker as i headed out towards North Head. Some had fish some didnt and managed the first three rats of the day Got to North head and sounded two schools of kings and bait. One was solid yellow on my lowrance and was 45 feet deep of kings and baitfish and a smaller ball of king sitting 10 metres away The rest of the area was completley barren so I marked both schools on the GPS and with the wind coming somewhat from the west it blew my exactly from one school to the next. Everytime I threw a lure at the first school i got a hookup - the second school i managed only a couple I guy turned up with a fly rod and asked if he share the school - No problems, and held the next couple of fish in the water while 5 - 10 following kings swam around it. Funny thing, although he was making great casts almost into my transom well, he didnt get a single hookup Its felt nice to embarass a wand waiver for once - instead of them embarassing me Another boat goes past sees me hooked up and drops anchor 5 metres from me right in the drift. After a few comments from me and the other guy (we werent rude - although we made sure he knew he was) he pulled his anchor and drifted away I checked my watch it was already 10.00 and i was along way from the ramp so "started" to head home picked up another rat Every single fish was 60-63cm, nice and fat and under size - well at least no fish to clean I could have caught more, but i get trying to work the smaller school that had some really big soundings - but very few strikes Had the boat at home by 11.30 I think livies would have been the go Jason

The glue used on CD & Marine ply are exactly the same so it seems we are both wrong there .("Urban Myth" from Mr Plywood site) Its only the quality (which increases the strength - which you are right) of the veneers that differ AA not CD When i used CD play i paint it in resin thinned with acetone so it soaks right in before glassing it If your not using it for a hull use CD ply. But as suggested make a sacrificial mould from Cardboard or light wood, so you end up with a fibreglas only end product Look up sites on making an esky or workign with car parts heaps of useful information Try FGI at Brookvale for your supplies if that is close to you, most of the others are further out of the city in Industrial areas

You dont need to make it as a mold, you use the mdf to get the shape then glass it both sides. You could even use packing cardboard - the strength doesnt come from the wood it comes from the glass fibres. Just make the shape out a material that is porous (ie will soak in with resin) then coat in layers of fibre glass. If you dont use wood, do a couple of extra layers of matting. Go to a proper fibre glass shop it is very cheap, maybe $15-20 a linear metre not $20+ a square metre you pay at a boat shop - resin will also be much cheaper You want to a make a sacraficial mould - that will either become part of the end product or can be pulled off at the end. The whole reason to you fibreglass is to save weight as well as being super strong if you make it out of wood its will be heavy than it needs to be. I woudl make the "box" out of card board, and tape and join it all together on the side that faces into the boat. Then paint the inside of your carboard mould with catalysed resin. Wait for it to set hard then coat with several layers of glass mat or a couple of layers of mat, then resin resistant foam, then a couple of more layers of glass let it dry then flowcoat it. Once it is all dry, pull it out of the boat, then either remove all the tape from the other side leave the cardboard on and cover it in resin a thin layer of glass then flowcoat it or remove your cardboard mould material and glass it with a couple of layers then flowcoat. If you want to make it smooth and more like a mould, make your cardboard mould, then cover the whole inside with aluminium foil - the glass wont really stick to it, and you can peel it off though it works better if you wax it. You can then glass it maybe foour times for strength then pull the whole lot out. The carboard thickness will give you clearance when removed for it to fit easily back into the underfloor space Jason

Dont use marine ply - the treatment and glue to make it water resistant stops the resin soaking in properly. If its easier you could use MDF. If you are going to coat it in fibreglass matt you dont need any strength from the wood or ply, a couple of layers of mat will be more than enough. The resin will soak right into the MDF just paint a think coat of catalysed resin into it to seal it and make in completly waterproof. If you then flowcoat it afterwards it will work great. 3mm MDF wodul be even better as it will bend to the shape - ieven if the wood gets wet years later and rots away the fibreglass shell will be strong as the day you finished it Make sure you buy resin resistant foam - if you use regular foam the resin will eat straight through it Jason

It is a short finned sea pike or "snook" Different to the normal pike - they have dark or olive back and a stripe running down there side and taste nice Long finned sea pike - much more common in Sydney are much more silver and very yellow tail. they are taller in the body profiel and taste terrible Both would be great bait for kings live as they dont have any spikes so woudl be easy to swallow Jason

Hi Raiders, Hit the harbour well after sun up, went to the usually yakka spot, got one yakka in an hour of trying. Headed off to another wharf, where a couple of young guys were fishing for yakkas. Asked if they wanted to swap a live Bonito for the 3 yakkas they had - they agreed and I promised to bring them back a king if I got one. Headed off to the harbour with 3 live and one dead yakka. Set up the paravane and the downrigging and made the first pass. Both rods go off simultaneously within 30 seconds of trolling. Realising my paravane (which is a family heirloom - my dad would kill me if i lost it) is headed to the marker at a horrendous speed I grab that rod first - In a bid to save it I locked the spool but the fish is already home, luckily i had braid to the paravane and a light leader so I got it back. Meanwhile the fish on the downrigger has hit the bottom and cut through the 60lb leader. I rerig the downrigger and make another pass - It gets hit but doesnt bust the rubber band. Thinking its a bonnie or salmon I bust it off and start winding. Without much of a fight and no drag I have a king 6 feet under the boat that could be beat PB. I reach for the net and start winding the leader through the guides, and it just powers off for the bottom. Luckily i had now drifted into 50 feet of water miles away from anything so his fate is sealed. It is the first real test of my Baitrunner 8000D, the fish made three runs to the bottom, but he was beaten in a minute or two and safely in the net. I now only had a dead yakka, so I headed off back to the young blokes to try and swap the kingy for more yakkas. Got back there and they were gone, obviously though the bonito was a great catch and left, so they didnt get there king and I couldnt steal more of their yakkas Tried for yakkas and got none! Went back out and decided to try Geoff Wilsons Kingfish lure - some random squid looking thing with three ganged hooked rig that i bought some time ago. Tied it onto the paravane, first past up it comes with a 60cm rat which has swallowed all three of the ganged hooks. Finally got it out and sent him on his way. Another past another rat. Then I chucked a halco twisty out and got another rat. Headed back to the ramp and was home just after 9 ready for work - If I had more yakkas probably would have still been there Not quite my PB of 86cm (on pillie on 6kg straight to the hook) - but close, if i stretched the tail it would go maybe 87cm I have been trying to land a Legal king on 4lbs straight to the hook and pillies in MH harbour - currently kings are 6 to me 0. Hooked a 80cm on 4lbs with a pillie that was swimming around the transom when i pulled the bomb up on Friday last week - didnt have a chance with that one. My four goals this season are: 1. to land at least a keeper on 4lbs no leader- might have to wait until they arrive at Clifton for that one 2. Get a landbased King. I'm thinking Lavender Bay might give me a good shot at that one 3. Catch a legal King (or any King) when jigging with Jim77 - Got all the gear, just suck at jigging 4. Land a metre+ king. I have hooked two and both times way outgunned One more day until i go away for Christmas - hopefully I'll get out tomorrow. Wind was strong today, but the water was pretty flat. I think people will do well over Christmas I'll be squidding in Adelaide over the break Jason

Thats why we didnt catch any yesterday..... You'd caught them all! The all look like seagars, not the river gars we caught yesterday. I think the seagars are more agressive and generally bigger. I've never eaten river gars, but the sea gars are tasty! the kings dont seem to mind either way - the surface strike from that rat yesterday was pretty cool to see

A raider I fish with caught and released a Striped marlin (probably what you saw) 2 years ago not far out from North head whilst trolling for Bonnies with a shimano TR200G reel and I have read reports of free jumpers between the heads when the water is warm With so many bonito somethings got to be eating them - they are probably there from time to time but if nobodys targeting them specifically they would be just a lucky by catch if you hooked it on a outfit that could give you a chance Jason

Nice Work Dave - the videos are definately getting better, cant wait to make a Port Augusta one I love the "gloves are for wimps" attitude I bet you payed for it the next day though , those saragossa handles are like sandpaper Bad luck on the Barra though

Hi Raiders, Went out on Sat to take my Dad who's over from Adelaide to catch his first Kingfish. Now I am sure my Dad has killed an Albatross at some stage and is worse then bringign bannanas on the boat , as when he is one board we get ZERO big fish so I nicknamed him the Albatross. Back in Adelaide, I would bag on on big snapper, take him out the next day to get him one and not lose a bait! We hit the Harbour Friday morning, I have got king 6/7 of the last trips - this time we didnt get anything except bait and he thinks he joke about me buying kings from the markets and taking photos is hilarious... the first time wasnt funny So Saturday I said I'd go out early get squid and he could meet me in MH later in the morning as after two double bypasses low blood pressure and various other complications he's not that well, but he wanted to come early so off we went. We got enough squid for the session, plus some fresh frozen ones and headed in MH. Decided not to try for Yakkas, as I have been told several times over ther past weeks by other fisherman who have pulled alongside and asked if I'd caught anythign and what bait i was using to be told "you dont catch them on Yakkas....." ,its amazing how people like to offer there opinions when they are unwanted I just coudlnt be bothered with yakkas, as we had squid a pillies. On the way back picked up some bonnies, every cast was a hookup - fun on the 4lbs squid gear. Downrigged everywhere without a strike - We ended up anchoring, and didnt get a touch except from just legal snapper on pillies. Foul hooked a yakka in the eye on a pillie, he was bleeding badly and almost dead, dropped him down, and he got smashed within 2 minutes by a 50cm king, I forgot to hand the rod to my dad as I knew it was a small fish, so he starts talking about soem store from 15 years ago when i pulled in a metre flathead on his rod...... I dropped the lines down to catch more yakkas, my dad got busted off five times on the 4lbs outfit (and I had a 70cm fish on size 12 hook and 6lb line on for about 2 minutes, got him to the boat then he "spooled" me (i had 20 feet of line on my handline) Everytime we hooked a yakkas it woudl get smashed on the way up - we drop one down on a heavier outfit and it woudl swim around happy as Larry. My Tierra outfit go pulled overboard ( the bloody albatross again!), then why I am helping him tied a size 12 hook on as he forgot his glasses, I get a run on my handline, and it goes into the water and disappears. By now I've lost my best squid rod and favourite handline and he still hasnt caught a king. A few minutes later the bigger rod gets a small run and we pull it in, no fish but the line is tangled up with my handline line and my tierra outfit. So i got it all back and was very happy. We got some more bonito on pillies, then decided to do some more downrigging. We didnt get a touch on fresh squid. Caught one on a paravane with a small yakka in the middle of nowhere while we were crossing from one side to the other, my Dad had a good fight with it as i pulled the leader in, about 15-20 rats followed it up My Dad's not well and has a bad heart, and after the "battle" with the little 64cm King he certainly needed a rest so we headed in. Kind of glad we didnt hook a big one he woudl have struggled with it, but he was really happy with his little King. Heaps of Bonito in MH and middle head - first time I've took some home, always throw them back, very nice to eat Saw some bigger kings being cleaned back at the ramp so they where there, just not where we were fishing. Water was 23.9 degrees in parts, hence the bonnies so far up in MH. around north head inside the harbour was 19.7 Jason

Hi Raiders, My wifes best friend and her husband are over from the Nashville so why the girls and the babies slept in this morning I took him out for his first ever fishing trip and a shot at some big city kings. We got to the ramp just before the rush and hit the harbour in the pre dawn. As we passed under the Gladesville bridge, the overheat warning went off and it looked like they day would end early. Luckily it was only a plastic bag - we let the motor cool off started it and ran it for 30secs at idle the water pumping strongly and the alarm turned off so we were right to go. We quickly got our livies and headed to our first mark. As we made our first pass - we showed some fish on the sounder and two minutes into manning the rod his onto his first kingy. After a short fight a 70cm king hits the deck, we take a couple of photos for the folks back home Score : USA 1 AUS 0 It went quiet for about fifteen minutes, so we swapped to squid. 2nd pass the rod goes off and instead of going for the bottom the line heads for the surface, I call it for a salmon just before it gets airbourne Score : USA 2 AUS 0 My turn, and time to even the score. As we make another pass with a yakka another Raider came alongside for a chat, as we are talking about where the fish might be, the rod buckles over and the sneaky Yank runs around me, grabs the rod and is onto his 2nd king. Another one just over 70cm hits the deck. Score : USA 3 AUS 0 Time to get serious - this time I make him steer while I wait to break my duck. Down goes a squid strip the drag is maxxed and we await my trophy fish which I inform him should be hitting the deck shortly. We pass over some big marks on the sounder and the rod buckles over - its a really big fish that powers to the bottom with the drag screaming (the other fish didnt even make a sound on the drag) I have no chance in stopping it and wraps the trace on the bottom, we reverse the boat in vain but I can feel it hooked on the bottom. it cant break the 100lb trace but i cant get it off what ever it wrapped around and the fish is still pulling hard. The trace breaks and I wind it back in. Score : USA 3 AUS 0 Its 8.15 and were into extra time. We are suppose to be back home not later than nine to get ready to go out for Yum Cha at 11am. Not wanting to face going out for a duck, i pick out the biggest yakka in the tank and rig him up. We went back to where we hooked the big fish, and they were still showing on the sounder. The yakka gets nailed and this fish is really pulling hard. Although it was the best fight of the day - it was the smallest ( but fatest) of the three fish caught. Score : USA 3 AUS 1 We headed back to the ramp - and spotted a seagull getting chased by a large king. We stop the boat and release its got a large metal lure wrapped around its legs and was skipping it across the water as it was trying to fly. So we we grab the net and try to be Bondi Vet - But its more like Laurel And Hardy. After going around in circles for 10 minutes and missing the seagull everytime. It got so tired from is chasining it just gave up, and we were able to scoop it up. We untangled the linewhich was about 6 feet long and tangled around both legs. I cut it off (I cut the line and the lure sunk before i could grab the leader with my other hand - that woudl have been a bonus) and set it free - Thinking if he could have a point for a salmon, I can have one for a seagull. Final Score: USA 3 AUS 2 We were back home with the boat washed and packed away at 9.30. Just in time for screaming babies..... Lots of sashimi and Kingy and chips tonight It was a great morning on the water, perfect weather and lots of fun. By the amount of boats that went past us, I guessing a lot of people where heading off to the Peak/12 mile after that bag limit report. Would have loved to have headed out of the heads at first light - but our bosses gave us clear instructions to be home at 9am...... it would have been great out there today We am going to Nashville to visit them early next year, and he has already called his mate to arrange a Bass and Striper fishing charter Jason

A lot of times there are tailor at the mouth of the Lance Cove river in the 20cm-30cm range chasing little baitfish, and I've caught legal ones past the figtree bridge, so you'd definately get them in Tambourine bay. Throw out pieces of bread around the mangroves on ther rising or high tide then use bread or chicken for bait and you will get heaps of bream of all sizes. I've caught many 30cm+ bream this way even in 30cm of water I see lots of people catching big bream in the LCR, but I throw them all back, strictly catch and release its the third blinking eye that gets me.... But it is a great place to take kids and get fish, there plenty in there My biggest bream there was 42cm on a whole squid head and 10/0 circle hook fishing for mulloway but I have seen a 60cm one caught there - looked like a snapper A few years ago the river was iridescent green from a "non-toxic" chemical spill - the company probably only reported it as it was so visible Jason

They was a post a while ago on fishraider where someone caught an Atlantic Salmon off North Head, and would have been an escapee from one of the sea cages in Tasmania. Flukey catch Salmon always return to their original spawning waters, regardless where they are hatched, even farmed and hatchery bred fish try to migrate back to the northern hemisphere - so all Atlantic Salmon released in NSW are in landlocked waters. And the one caught was seemed to be headign in that direction NZ seem to have had success with climatising chinook salmon and do sea runs of them, but with Atlantic Salmon which is what is farmed in Tasmanian I think they would probaly try to migrate - although i have since articles where people fish for escape sea trout and salmon around the cages Jason

Hi Stefan, You will probably get a lot of differing opinions on sounders, as you would if you posted about outboards. You current sounder doesnt have the resolution to acurately show up individual fish You really need something at least 480 pixels in the vertical, the horizontal only gives you a bigger screen not more detail. Colour Vs Black and white isnt as important, as long as your B&W screen can differentiate between structure and the bottom If it shows a wreck or a lump as part of the bottom, thats ok if you know the spot and just looking for the structure but if you are searching for a new spot, it will be hard to pick, especially if there is wave movement. To be useful it should show it in a different grey scale. I have used Lowrance for the last 10 years, but have fished on boats with Furuno & Raymarine and all are great sounders. It depends on your budget - but for most of your harbour and jigging the offshore reefs, a sounder under $1000 will do the job. It wont pick up the bottom at Browns Mountain, but up to 250 feet you will have great return. I use a Lowrance HDS5, I bought it the day it came out for $999, they are now about $800 Previously I used a Lowrance X125 (B&W) - both sounders are 480x480 resolution. My HDS5 can do the following Pick a pilchard head dropping to the bottom (see pic below, the dot between the king rising and the group is a pillie head) Read my anchor as I let it down with the anchor winch Read the Downrigger bomb and cable Show weed & kelp as green on the bottom Show mud/soft bottom as brown then rock/wreck or other structure sitting on top as dark brown - it can pick old concrete moorings on the bottom Show kings sitting in or around a bait school Show bait schools 1-2 feet off the bottom with perfect seperation Easily shows up bait balls from 5 feet downwards When i am fishing for yakkas it goes completely red when they are schooled up under the boat Will clearly show kingfish while trolling (arches) and at anchor (lines) I could read my X125 well, and used it a lot for snapper fishing, and if it hadnt disappeared from the boat I wouldnt have bothered upgrading. I still had all the cable and brackets and bought a headunit of online shop for $50 so now have a spare. If i fish on a boat with a sounder that can only read the bottom, I'd rather anchor up and wait for the kings to come, as you'll waste a lot of petrol downrigging phantom returns and fish symbols which are probably submerged palm fronds, drink bottles or other rubbish. I have posted these before, but they may help you Here is a pic on Kings on my B&W sounder And on the HDS5 in colour You can see the kings and bait in the centre of the screen (lhs) as well as kings rising from the bottom to the top. The king in the LHS rising up was eating pillies at the back of the transom and he ended up swimming around the prop while i fed it. The best thing you can do is fish on a boat with a sounder you are interested in - without seeing it working in a area that you know what is on the bottom or that there are fish around, you'll never know if you will be happy with it. The sky's the limit when buying a sounder, but you do need to spend a little extra than the base models to make it useful tool rather than an expensive toy. Jason

Hi Raiders, One of my favourte types of fishing when i lived in Adelaide was going for bronzies... This kid has got a 8 foot or so one from the beach! Adelaide beaches are really shallow and no surf so you woudl see the fin the whole fight hence the crowd. http://video.adelaidenow.com.au/1633943857/EXCLUSIVE-Boy-v-Shark Report from The Advertiser: WOULD you go out in the water this summer? Nick Anderson certainly would, even after hooking this 3m bronze whaler off the Henley jetty this morning. The teenage sports fisherman from Fairview Park spent five hours battling the shark before bringing it into shore off Henley Beach in front of a 150-strong crowd of squealing onlookers. "I hooked it about 7am, just fought it till about now," Nick, 15, said. He used a whole snook for bait. "It ran for about a kilometre, nearly spooled me, I finally got it back in, got it on the beach, tail-hooked it and got it in." But Nick, 15, had no plans to keep the shark. "I just wanted to take a photo and get rid of it ... I wanted to let it live," he said. Though he prefers fishing to swimming, Nick said the spectre of sharks would not keep him out of the water. "Nah, bronzies are harmless," he said. Primary Industries and Resources SA Fisheries regional operations manager Peter Dietman said it was legal to catch sharks off jetties and metropolitan waters as long as only fish or seafood products are used for bait and berley - part of SA legislation. "The reality is, as long as he's not using any meat products, as long as he's using fish, it's legal to fish for shark," Mr Dietman said. "The berling requirements are you can't use blood, bone, meat, offal or skin of an animal or bird." However, he said fishermen and women should be aware of onlookers and treat their catch as humanely as possible. "We certainly don't encourage taking shark off metropolitan beaches because of public safety but it's not unlawful and they need to be as humane as they can to keep the fish. "All sharks are potentially dangerous to humans, that's why people who want to catch them should exercise extreme caution." After watching his catch swim away, Nick said it was time for some bait of his own. "Off to get something to eat - hopefully (fish and chips), I'm famished."

Hi Raiders, Planned to hit the harbour early, and try and test out the drag again. Had set the alarm clock for 4.30, but was woken at 2am by heavy rain, so it wasn't looking good. The baby woke me at 4, it was still raining rang my mate Kieran- who was packed and already ready to leave, I asked if he had any of his Crazy South African Jerky, he did, we got me over the line to head out, so off we went. It was one of those magic Sydney mornings, pouring with rain, a bad forecast and the ramp all to ourselves - guess smart people wait to see what the weather is going to do at first light, but crazy people know better.... We were late as we had to get extra supplies on the way, and by the time we started fishing for Yakkas it was already starting to get light, I passed my mate a bait rod and told him I havent got time to show you how to catch yakkas, just throw it in try and catch one while I fill the tank. When he'd pulled 8 in a row in and I'd still hadnt added to tally, A call was made to swap sides and give me the bait rod, I pulled one in that was ready to fufill its destiny, it looked like it had be swallowed and spat out by a kingy before, I swapped back to my handline changed baits and tactics and pulled in three in a row we had a enough for the session and headed off into the harbour. We got to the first mark, and sent down the yakka that looked like it had done it all before who also was the biggest in the tank. I often wonder what happens to the yakkas went they get hit as i've never seen one down the throat of a king, but by the looks of this guy, some do make it and escape after the strike, and by the look in his eye as he was pulled down with the bomb it wasnt something he was looking forward to and was rattling the rod in protest. The rattling did not go unnoticed, and in a repeat of Wednesday the first pass results in a hookup. Kieran was first on strike and ready to pull in his second ever king - well that was the plan - so with the charter special's drag maxed, he pumped and wound the fish hard up to the surface and managed to turn it head away from the structure and back towards to boat. Rather than change sides, he stayed on the downrigger side and the fish charged straight down and for the downrigger line, I raced to the side and tried to wind the bomb in and unhook his line, by now the fish was in view and was easy PB for Kieran and my boat. Now I am sure I got the line unhooked, but somehow I was still holding onto the leader when the fish bolted, this fish which had been skull dragged was still green, and saw the bottom of the boat and took off like a bat out of hell - leader soon turned to braid which turned inot a cut hand, which turned into me swearing, the reel screaming and seconds later, in the famous words of Kevin Bloody Wilson "it was over, before it began" Round two. We line up again for a second pass, this time the rod doubles up and where on again. Without a squeak from the drag, an 83cm very fat king is netted and Kieran says he accepts my "appology" for losing his other fish (which was somewhat bigger than this one) The fish shut down and so we change to squid we'd bought - first pass a little rat of 40cm. It was now pouring and we were soaked so headed off to another location. The rain seemed to follow us, and we got even wetter and didnt see another fish on the sounder. Headed back to the orginal mark to fish the tide change and we got another King 72cm but a lot thinner than the first. We missed another hookup on a squid head and then the rain seem to get heavier. We raced back to the ramp tied the boat up and the rain stopped. Big difference in condition of the two fish - Fat & Skinny And of course it didnt rain again all morning should have stayed out When we returned to the ramp there was a few other trailers there so we obviously werent the only crazy ones Kingy & Chips again for dinner Jason

Hi Raiders, Late last night I decided to test the drag on the scales for my two favourite reels. My charter special pulled a nice smooth 8kg on a straight pull at strike while maintaining freespool My Saragossa 18000 pulled 16kg's extremely smoothly on a straight line pull -thats with the drag knob as tight as i could do it by hand, and pulling 8 metres (the length of the apartment) off as fast as iIcould My wife wasn’t happy as I had braid from one balcony in the apartment to the other, with me playing a tug of war with the scales walking across the room while she read out the scale reading. I have the charter special on a Wilson 15kg Live Fibre, when I loaded it up it could pull 10kg on the scales I have the Saragossa on a Pioneer 50lb jig rod, and it wasn’t really safe to load it up in the apartment, but I am sure with the extra leverage of the rod I'd get close to 18kg out of it. I have nearly been pulled out the boat on that hard a setting, with reel screaming but going super smooth like it was in free spool. After all these effort I thought why not hit the harbour to test out the Charter Special this morning before work. I left everything else at home except my handline and my charter special - had my tank full of yakkas within 10 mins and headed towards the first marker. First pass with the downrigger with a 100lb leader and the drag at max (only a short time on the water so I was only after trophy fish) the rod buckles over within a minute of being in the water. Although the drag didn’t budge, the fish was bloody hard to pull in as I had to skull drag the rather angry and green fish to the boat - a very fat little 68cm king. The sounder was full of kings, but with no ice and needing be at work by 9am for a meeting I did a couple more passes, lost a couple of yakkas then headed off and was back home upstairs by 8am, with the boat washed and away, the fish cleaned. Ironed a shirt, put my suit on and headed off to work for a 9am meeting. Didn’t even wake the baby or the wife. The perfect crime! ( I am not even sure she knew i went out) No trophy fish, but it was beautiful out there. I got the first fish when the tide was still running in. It was a huge tide, with lots of rubbish in the water and I would have loved to fish the runout, as soon as the tide stopped the fish switched off, although they were still there. If i'd taken some squid i reckon i could have tempted them and got a fish every pass - oh well there's always Saturday..... Got some nice fillets for dinner tonight Cant wait to get something that can pull my newly set drag. (i am suppose to be writing a report... well I am sort of, a fishraider report!) Jason

That was sooo funny! I was waiting for everyone hanging onto the rod to get pulled in

Bled, gutted and gilled then into a cold esky (not an ice slurry) straight away they are hard to beat eating wise Maybe king george whiting, john dory or mahi mahi might beat it in my books I skin, debone and cut all trace of the blood from the fillets so its pretty much sashimi grade When you buy them from the markets, they have sat around for at least 24 hours with their guts, blood and gills still in them. The guts turns the flesh a yellow colour around the belly and a lot of bacteria live in the gills all which effects the taste I like to cook kings asian style -steamed or BBQ'd with corriander,lime,chilli & fish sauce dressing or old style fish and chips - just fried up in Tandaco Fish coating mix with tartare sauce or Wasabi,Soy & Mayonaise dressing If you leave the skin on and blood in the fillets it still tastes nice, but it does increase the fishy taste The little bits of red you can still see run all under the skin and long the pin bones and this is what is what you need to remove for the best taste. With Salmon nearly the whole underskin has this red blood, and unlike Kings if you leave it in it makes the fish unpalatable. Australian Salmon also taste nice treated the same way - we caught a Salmon on Saturday and had it for dinner and the King on Sunday. I had the same people eat it both times and they loved both, although the king won hands down they certainly enjoyed the salmon, I did warn them before hand that they may vomit & choke on the salmon as they have a reputation as being the worst fish in the sea to eat I dont know why everyone is so negative on Salmon - treated properly after capture and cooked properly they taste nice, I woudln't rank it in my top five fish to eat, but better than most fish from the Fish & Chip shop such as basa or hoki Anyone that says otherwise maybe havent eaten it, or doesnt know how to cook it Although if someone served me a salmon fillet skin on I'd have to be hungry or have lots of tartare sauce I've eaten SeaBass in Italy, France and Egypt as the cooking shows always rave on about it and I made a point of ordering it- It tasted very much like Australian Salmon to me Jason

Hi Raiders, Went out in todays horrible weather to finish the mission of getting my cousin his first king before he flys back No early start, no livies and 2 shop bought squid. Downrigged a mooring at Seaforth with a squid head, first pass hooked up with the dragged maxxed - only after trophy fish It put quite a bend in the rod and a very short fight a fat 75cm king was landed. Second pass, foul hooked on a old submerged mooring line or anchor and lost our 2nd head. So we called it an early day and headed home in the rain for kingy and chips! and my PS ( personal smallest) catch yesterday - only slightly longer than the jig Did anyone else fish today? No one else was out fishing on the water, just sail boats We have all the spots (in the pouring rain) to ourselves Jason

[ Hi Raiders, saw these two keen kyakers chasing a bucks party boat with a topless waiter (i have digitally added a pasty over the exposed nipple so knowone is offened ) Had my cousin over form Adelaide, and promised to put him onta a kingfish..... we went outside the heads and got squidded on a our live baits, and he missed his only hit. While I was watching him drop his fish, i left my jig dangling mid water for at least a minute without movement. When i pulled it up, it has a 45cm kingfih on it. It was my smallest king to date, almost as big as the jig so i took a photo and let him go. Only got another rat on a jig - it went 55cm We tried all over the harbour for zero kings with squid and yakkas. Finally got a strike on a whole squid head, but it didnt bust the rubber band on the downrigger on the strike. So i busted the band and passed him the rod, the salmon must of made a last ditch bid for his freedom, and got airborne, but on 80lb braid on a 15kg outfit ( we were only after trophy fish!) there wasnt much of a battle and he skull dragged in a 50cm salmon - but at least he got his photo with a fish with the harbour bridge in the background It was great to show a vistor the harbour, he's only ever been here on business, so gave him the grand tour. Had a ball catching yakkas, throwing metals at the north head salmon hordes, downrigging almost every marker in the harbour and getting caught in the downpour in the afternoon. Some times I think we take Sydney fishing for granted. Today we saw: Penguins Two tall ships Big Cruise ship arrive Sunrise over the bridge Three fanous landmarks (Bridge/Opera House/Kiribilli) More sailing boats then you could count Drove the boat into the fish markets for lunch And saw a stripper on the water Who needs Adelaides 30lb snapper... Even without catching fish there is so much to see ( and for once Jim77 didnt catch any more or less kings then i did when we were out on the water though he did catch yakkas a LOT faster then me with his secret burley mix.... ) Heading out tomorrow rain or shine to have another go.

I had the "Tailor Terror" in my bag - the guy in my local 7eleven gave it to me I should have tried it, those puffer fish eat anything

Hi Raiders, For Fathers Day today I took my 3 month old daughter fishing in North Sydney. She has her own fishing rod - A pink Ugly stik and caught her first fish today I know its only a Fugu - But its a start. We also caught a wrasse. Both were released. Hit the harbour after lunch with another Raider picked up a 72cm King and a big salmon (which released itself) Hope everyone else had a great Fathers Day Jason

Hi Raiders, Had a "work" trip this week to Perth and went fishing in Fremantle of the rocks during my lunch break. After 20 puffer fish (and many double headers) i caught 3 Tommy Ruffs, enough for lunch. There were heaps there except the puffer fish were lightning fast Has anyone caught Tommy Ruffs in Sydney? I dont think they come up this far north, but we get snook here sometimes so you never know... Have planned more Perth "work" trips in Nov & Jan, which happens to be right in the middle of the Samson fish season I picked out two charters after speaking with the local tackle shops, and also going to go out on my brother in laws 25 footer whilst i am there. Can't wait to put the Saragossa onto something that might break it. I spoke with a guy over dinner who'd caught a 50kg last year (and had the pic to prove it) Jason

Its definitely a snook and a nice one at that! They are great eating as long as you skin them, and taste nothing like pike. If you skin them the flesh cooks up very white and very fine taste. Leave the skin on and they taste very very meaty and fishy, so most people who say they dont like snook have eaten the fillets with the skin on. They also taste nice coated in Tandaco Southern Fried Chicken seasoning - makes them taste like KFC Fish I've caught them over 4 feet long in SA, best in Sydney has been only 35cm... Looks like i might need to try the paravane in the harbour again... last time i got a very confused 75cm Kingy everytime it tried to go to the bottom, the paravane popped it back up the the surface and we just dragged it into the boat Snook usually are in bigs schools, so hopefully yours wasn't lost loner. Jason