Byron

Great read Reckless, and thanks for your generosity in sharing your bait and squid catching grounds. Much appreciated mate and see you on the water. Cheers Byron

Swoffa, Mick could not work for Craig during the ban last year, and I expect the same applies again this year. The thought behind it is that while he is hitting the wedding cakes for kings, he will come across a massive school of hungry bream to target in the Comp. He is in a very difficult position considering guiding Sydney Harbour is his livelihood, but then again if Pukka and Mick win the whole show, I am sure it will not even rate a seconds thought!!

Where you been Andy?? Looking forward to catching up on the water soon. Great fish btw mate!! Good work on the catch and release side. Is it just me, or do many of our members get pissed off with The Sunday Telegraph's Mr Swinburn publishing shots of giant flathead being killed each and every week??? Surely a more responsible approach could be encouraged by someone in his position. Regards, byron

Bashir, I reckon you might have heaps of gear considering the various types of fishing you do, but I reckon Swoffa has to take the money on this score...........pretty certain he would need one of the 360 degree panoramic cameras to get it all in shot at once. Swoffa.........what are your thoughts mate??

Agree with your thoughts Matt, The essence of fishing for me is good times on the water. Whether it be actively hunting fish with lure or fly, or simply relaxing with your beverage of choice and soaking a bait. It is the diversity of our chosen sport that makes it unique and addictive, and best of all it really offers something for everyone! Love reading your trout reports mate!! Keep them coming. Byron

Now updated with a picture of the 2 fish, courtesy of Swoffa resizing it for me. Cheers

More than happy to keep you in the loop Col. See you on the water mate

Nice work Stevo, particularly the EP efforts!! Mate, I need to get some shots of the deck extension to show my brother-in-law who has been roped into doing it. Let me know if you can help, or alternatively we can meet up one day on the Parra and I will bring Anthony with me......he is unfortunately not too interested in bream spinning as the target species does not grow to 50kg + Cheers Byron

Plans are brewing as we speak!!!

Hi all, Just received an email from my mate Nick Brown at Port Stephens. See details below: "Caught a tub of yakkas and transported them up the beach last night. New moon with a high tide around 9pm. We were feeling confident and my mate ended up having the night of his life. To cut a long story short, I didn't get a run and he converted 2 runs for 2 fish. First jew - 31.5kg, second fish went 21.2kg. To top it off he had caught another jew on 2 Jan 05 that went 29kg. We fished from 7.30pm to 1.00am and got home about 2.30am. Long session but pretty bloody good. Too knackered to go tonight, but will have a another crack later in the week." Nick Brown A recent Saltwater Fishing magazine article written by Nick details his preferred method for jewie fishing from the beach. He certainly has the runs on the board from the photos in the article!!! Try and track a back issue down if you can. Cheers Byron

Absolutely spot on Joe, and I was not short on questions either When I spoke to him yesterday, I spent 40 mins on the phone just talking fishing and his ideas for the coming weeks. Unbelievable enthusiasm and eager to share it all with like minded fishos. The amazing thing with Ross is that he is completely jaded with catching anything but Marlin these days. Tuna and dollies just don't cut it anymore!! I should be so fortunate to get to the point where nothing pushes my buttons unless it is a marlin!!

Coulda been lucky. It was about this time of yr wasnt it. 26537[/snapback] Pretty close to it Allen, but my memory recalls warmer water than that currently out there. That said the hot stuff is getting closer by the day. My fingers are crossed. As to my new found desire to catch a marlin this season, I will need to talk to you about an outfit for small boat fishing....either 24 or 15kg stand-up stroker style me thinks, but you would know better than me. Let me know when we can catch up and discuss as I will need to get an order in asap to ensure I am prepared for the good fishing that is fast approaching!! Anthony and I might be heading out on Sunday for an exploratory mission on a mates 38' Riviera. Will let you know in case you are also out on the day. Cheers, Byron

Hey Martin, More than happy to get a feel for the small boat marlin thing mate. It will be more in my league I am sure. Had a day out with Allen Glover where we ventured VERY wide in his small boat, but unfortunately only managed a few dollies. Just send me a PM with details mate and we can start talking about it!! Cheers Byron

G'day all, Well anyone who fished early saturday would know exactly what I am talking about!! Nice fat southerly swell and blowing at 15knots at dawn. Let me start at the beginning. As mentioned previously, I was the fortunate enough to get an invite out on Ross Hunter's famous boat, Broadbill, on Saturday morning for a full day chasing the elusive "Stick Face" (registered trademark Ken Alexander). After tackling the chore of feeding a 5 pack of hungry fishos at 11pm Friday night (Chicken schnitzel tortilla wraps (12), 4 charcoal chickens, 3 cases of beer, water, softies, chips, choc chips cookies), I cabbed down to the W Hotel at Wooloomooloo to meet the guys and grab a quick coffee before firing down to San Souci public wharf to meet Broadbill. Arrived at 7am just busting to get out there, despite the average conditions that greeted us. Quick introductions all round with Ross Hunter, deckie Rob, and junior deckie Jordan. First stop was the Vega Voyager, or rather the bouys it had been tied off to on the southern side of the bay, quickly followed by Billfisher, Broadbill's sister boat. Proceeded to burley up for about 10 minutes until the slimeys (which were holding very deep) proceeded to get amongst our baits. Some 30 minutes later we had 16 absolute stonking big slimeys doing laps of the bait tank. As we made our way out through the mouth of the bay, Ross detailed the approach for the day. We would troll 2 teasers (Lumo Sprocket and similar colour big Bloodshot). The plan being to raise fish on the lures and feed back a fat juicy bridled slimy once a fish was up. With teh conditions looking pretty ordinary at best we rounded the outer point and copped the full force of the south swell. Almost immediately one of the novices went down with sea sickness and retired to lie down. Ross explained that although he had done well fishing north over the previous few days, the sea conditions prevented us from targetting that area and we motored SE toward the shelf. At about 10.30am Billfisher, who was tolling with us at the time, raised a fish and as per the plan fed a livey back and watched the 90kg marlin turn and swallow it up. A close fought fight ensued and the fish was tagged and released as per the Ross Hunetr doctrine of never taking a marlin We now had high hopes for a fish ourselves as all was looking the goods. Great blue water, good temps (though not quite perfect yet) and reasonable bait readings on the sounder. Had a fish come up and hit the port teaser 6-8 times but had no luck with the livey. Ross called it as a tuna and we recommenced our run again with anticipation running at an all time high. Apart from sighting a "Tailer" that swam with the boat for a few 100 yards and sped off in rapid fashion when we attempted to get ahead of it, we did not raise another fish. Billfisher also raised another with no luck on the baits. Ross was marking a few good fish deep and we comprehensively covered a 2 mile square area with Billfisher and Marquis (I think) also doing the same, but they were simply not interested. Ross was keen to have a crack slow trolling some of our crackerjack slimeys around the bait, but the conditions would simply not allow it. To be honest, I was already feeling for him with the battering he was copping in the flybridge. Regardless, I spent most of the time quizzing the boys on their techniques and ideas on the small boat version of what we were doing. It was some education let me tell you. Well let me say that despite the conditions and lack of fish, I had a tremendous time. Ross is one of life's gentleman, and he could not have done any more to put us onto a fish. His enthusiasm for fishing is infectious and that travels down to his 2 deckies. Rob in particular, though only 21, was mature beyond his years and has traced and tagged more than 400 marlin already for Ross. Ross rates him as the best in the business. he was more than keen to answer any and every question I had....and I had heaps!!! To anyone looking for a great day out game fishing with a very professional outfit should look no further than gamefishingcharters.com.au. Ross or son Glenn will be only to keen to help out. P.S. According to Ross we are 2 weeks away from good fishing. Right now it is hit and miss. They tagged a 330lb marlin on Thursday, but a lot of ocean between fish right now.

Great report Simon!! High quality info and details, and like your generous sharing of the White rock "spot" waypoint. Hope to see you out there one day mate

Great stuff Joe, and loved the story! Could totally picture your elation at this capture. Mate as for cleaning them up, a big cleaver does a better job than a hacksaw with the spine. I am not a fan the bone shavings from a saw cut. I had a good mate catch a 20kg specimen off the beach and he swore after 2 hours cleaning work that he would let all future fish go!! Congrats mate!!

Mate what she lacks in creature comforts I am sure she makes up for in seaworthiness. So tell us about the fishing or should I assume you were "Recreational Boating".......hmmm always leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I speak those words

That is some cod mate!! 37kg would not have been enough!!

Great report Matt!! You really have a soft spot for Mr Speckles don't you? I expect this family catch up would be one of your highlights of the year. I myself would cherish the idea of spending a few days wetting a line with Dad and brother.....shame neither seem that interested in fishing, though Dad has expressed enthusiasm at having a go in the new Poly! Cheers, Byron

Nice work Chris!! Good luck with the kingie upgrade project. I would be expecting the kings to be getting bigger as the season progresses. Cheers Byron

Awesome stuff!! I have been at Patonga for the last few days and targetted jew at Juno for the most part. Saw a 20kg plus jewfish boated on Sunday morning, but no luck myself. I will be back up there for the weekend and guess what will be target No.1 this time. Great report Downriggin! P.S. what sort of boat are you in Dan?? I will be either fishing in a teal coloured Polycraft or a blue/white 5.4M Savage Centre Console (Mongrel). I will keep an eye out for you over the weekend.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I will be heading down to make the necessary purchases today. Looks like I will get a couple of different lures instead of just the one. Pink and a Lumo seems to be the consensus. Cheers and Merry Xmas!!

Update for all those that were waiting: "The king went 22.6kg (weighed on the scales at work) and was caught at the same spot at Broughton as we went to. We had a live yakka and a live slimey on the bottom but as usual it ate a bait in the trail while fishing for snapper. My mate had caught a legal king and snapper and I got smoked up about an hour before hooking up to the king. For once it went the wrong way (west of island) and stayed up top. Got the anchor up and an hour later about 2km of the back of Broughton we gaffed it. Got him on the Penn Spinfisher 850, 30lb braid and 26lb flurocarbon (Byron, you converted me to the merits of flurocarbon...) so went pretty easy on him once clear of the rough territory. My mate also had some fun with a mako that showed up at the boat while we were taking some pics. Great day." Nick Brown 26lb trace!!!! Unbelievable stuff!!

G'day all, I need to buy my brother-in-law Anthony a trolling lure for Xmas and looking for some advice. What I am after is something that could be trolled in-shore for tuna, dollies etc on 15kg. Looking to spend up to $40-50 and thought a small size Pakula (Micro Sprocket, Zipper etc) So to all those bluewater trollers amongst the members, please give me your thoughts on what you would recommend. Rgds, Byron