fragmeister

Yes, there can be some frustrating things about other boats. I fish early so I am usually first to my preferred spot but if I do turn up and there is somebody there already I give them at least 30 meters. My most frustrating situations are where I am close to the shore and clearly standing and fishing towards the shore and someone comes in between me and the rocks. I guess people need to learn somewhere and posts like this may help in the boat etiquette department. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I guess the point is that as you say, the quality of the fish on the plate can depend on how it's handled. For all those anglers who avoid certain fish because they had a bad experience this could be a very valuable thread. You just gave a classic example with the trevally. Another is the salmon. Treat it we'll and it's pretty good on the plate. I can see potential for a list if all fish and the best ways to handle them and serve them up.Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I like the idea and its worth expanding on with input from all the Raider Chefs out there but its a little hard to read. Lets work on this further. I have found that some of the fish that I found poor eating were a lot better with some tips from fellow raiders. Cheers Jim

Thanks Dave, I'll give it a go. Cheers Jim

I remember reading in an old Wal Hardy fishing book that mentioned the early settlers called them salmon because the used to enter the estuaries in huge schools and resembled the salmon runs they were accustomed to. Apparently they were so thick they turned the estuaries black. The commercial canneries almost wiped them out and they were pretty non existent north of Eden during the sixties. They came back nicely after the commercial fishing collapsed ... surprise surprise! Don't know if any Raiders have eaten tinned Australian Salmon but it tastes pretty much like tinned tuna with a different texture... must be the high temperature canning process that makes the meat taste like it does. Anyway, thats enough useless information from me! Cheers and good luck with the beach fishing!

Now that's pretty funny too! Don't feel too bad ...we've all had boat launches that went bad but at least we remember the boat! Cheers Jim

Can I ask if you salt the tailor yourself? If so whats your method? Cheers Jim

Sounds like a good plan that paid off. The harbour wharfs can really put you on to some good fish after the ferries nick off for the night. Cheers Jim

Sounds like a great day on the water. Great to see the girls keen on fishing... I reckon its great for all youngsters to experience a day out on the water. My girls outfish my boy time and time again. Cheers

Seems incredible... do we know the whole story? Faulty fuel gauge? New boat owner?

Well, It happened so I am with you... I think the poor bugger was a few bricks short of a load... actually, a car short of a boat!

Cheers mate...if the kids like it you're a mile in front! My kids call it "fishy steak". Saltwater dog has a point about the rice bran oil. The bigger the portions and the more you cook at one time make this more critical... nothing worse that ending up with the steaks steamed in the pan. Cheers Jim

Hi Scatchie, I always recon that yellowfin is good enough to eat just like you would eat a steak. Fry it up in a hot frying pan with olive oil and season it with salt and pepper. Cheers Jim

Good work on the kings. I can see that you were off the rocks. I have almost given up on kings in the harbour but perhaps there is still some action outside the heads. Cheers

I think that is a worth a try. If a lure is the wrong shape and size the salmon may ignore it but if is smells like a fish maybe that will be enough to interest them... beats trying to find the right pattern for the day. Cheers Jim

I think he was a loonie. How can you drive any distance without being aware of whether the boat and trailer were behind you. It's in the rear view mirror, you can feel that you are towing, you are checking as you turn corners and make sure you stick inside the lane. Nevertheless, it happened and it was the funniest thing I have seen in a while.

Thats a nice drummer... they are built for a fight too aren't they! Cheers Jim

Pity the fishing wasn't as good as the photo!

Even in slo mo look how quickly they inhale the bait!

Sorry, confused the issue there. I change the post to fix that. There was no trailer at all!

So I am at the boat ramp after fishing yesterday and there is no one around except for a guy with a yak. There are only 3 trailers in the car park so I pulled the boat out into the boat prep area just to take care of the post trip stuff. I would only do this if there was no one around but thats not the point of the story. I was just taking the bimini down and this bloke swings his car around the road up to the ramp and positions himself to reverse down into the water. Everything about this guy speaks about the excitement and joy of an evenings fishing. He is singing boisterously, he has a smile on his face from ear to ear... even his car engine sounds excited about delivering his pride and joy down to the ramp for a much anticipated fishing adventure. Except there is just one thing wrong... there is no trailer on the back! The guy starts reversing, looks into his rear view mirror and his face drops. Joy turns to complete disappointment and then instant frustration and culminates in blind rage. "YOU F$%N IDIOT" he screams at himself " YOU FORGOT THE BOAT AGAIN! He roars away in his car presumably to get his boat and the Yak fisherman and I are left in stunned silence. Now its amazing enough that you could actually drive somewhere and not be aware of whether the boat and trailer are on or not but according to this guy he forgot it AGAIN. Hilarious! Cheers Jim

Thanks, No pics sorry. I normally take pics as you probably know from my older posts but I left a bag at home with my phone, wallet and lunch in it. Can do without the phone and the wallet but I was struggling after 10 hours on the water without food! .. I had to open the emergency "lost at sea" water supply! If I had any soy and wasabi those trevs would have been on the menu! Cheers JIm

Thanks for the SP suggestions. I think the SP's are certainly the go if the Salmon are fussy. I will be better prepared next time with a few choices rigged up and ready... Yesterday I was a little disorganised... spent half the time moving the boat and digging around in my lure box to find something they might be interested in. Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, I headed out early this morning and ducked in to Clifton Gardens for some yakkas. They were there but it took a lot of burley and patience to get then to take a bait. Bread and pilchard burley and pilchard for bait did the trick after about 45minutes. Then I went straight over to the point off the quarantine station. My plan was to fish there until dawn and then check out whether there were any salmon on the surface. I fished about an hour and a half until dawn for some pinkies that fell just under legal size and two port jackson sharks... it seems every time I fish there I catch PJ Shark or Wobbegong. Trevally were there in numbers but they were undersized. When the sun came up I headed out past north head. There was very little swell and there was a lot of bird action and I could see Salmon busting up the surface so I skirted around the side of them and cast some small metal lures at them. They were not interested so I tried a few different lures as I followed them inside the harbour and up towards Old Man's Hat. I tried a little white bait pattern, a clear surface popper amongst others but hook ups just weren't happening. There were half a dozen boats around the school by now and plenty of casts into the school but only a few hookups... it seems no one could match what they were feeding on. I hooked up on a metal lure about 5cm long and got it the boat and it saved me the job of releasing it by throwing the trebles at the last minute. It was around 60cm in length. The school went deep every so often and popped up 50 meters away each time over a 30 minute period but eventual it stayed down for good. This was about 10:00 am and the wind picked up from the north so I moved over to sow & pigs. It was a little slow on all species except for Trevally which responded to burley. I ended up keeping half a dozen at about 35 cm each. No real sign of any bream or tailor. The weather was a little windy and cold... the 20 degrees, mostly sunny and light winds promised earlier in the week didn't eventuate. The water temperature was around 16.5 degrees. Cheers Jim

Posted a Friday Harbour Fishing report.