KayakPat

So I now realise the fish just know that the weekend is when anything tasty has a hook ina it... I went to the usual south east rock yesterday for a short avo session. As I arrived someone hooked up on a coco nut rig but dropped it. So I put on my new hard body lure and started cranking. I wasn't seeing much action so I changed my retrieve up, going for a medium retrieve speed with some rod sweeps and bumps to get the lure moving about more. That worked and I got a hit on my first retrieve and hooked up on the 2nd, just a small bonito but a good start. Then a few casts later a hit followed by a hookup after resuming the retrieve, this one pulled a some drag and wend deep so I thought maybe a king, that is until it charged back up for a spectacular leap and head shake, aus salmon doing what their famous for. He gave a decent fight and when it came to landing it made sense, it went 65cm and 3.5 kg, such a fatty. Same bummy retrieve landed me a 2 smaller salmon and 2 more dropped hookups. The other guys there pulled a few 20-30 cm bonito and one guy caught and kept a 50ish king again against my advice of legal size... Such a pity people keeping undersized fish... But all in all a good session where i finally out fished one of the guys I'm often there with and who always out fishes me haha.

The lure is a g-control casting lure 32g, smaller than the 36g xxx rapala. The silver/black striped rapala has worked for me recently for bonito, the g-control is a really nice size but isn't as forgiving in the retrieve. Novice is right on about the coco nut rigs/islander rig and Eastern suburbs Rock platforms. I used to use a 9ft 5-8kg rod 2000 reel with 10lb line lots of fun but really not quite good enough if you get a nice king (not impossible but very difficult). Now I have a 9' 8-15kg rod 4000 reel and 20lb line with 30 lb leader seems to pull most things in pretty well but still exciting/edgy with big fish. I'm giving hard bodies a good workout at the moment and they are performing well

Hey guys, fishing this weekend wasnt that good from the southeast rocks. Friday evening 3:00-18:30, zip. Saturday morning 8:00-14:00, zipo (2 bonito taken by others at the rock). Sunday morning 5:30-13:00, first bonito before sunrise, 2 more hookups that flicked off at landing, and 2 more big strikes over the next hour then nothing until 12:00 ish, at tide change. some kings and bonito chases so next cast cranked my HB as quick as it would go and on to a king, the strike feels huge when your cranking at max retrieve! turns out to be 63cm so back he went, after a quick snap. some boys rocked up with livies and one hooked a king within 5min <50cm claimed it was deeply hooked and bleeding so kept it. I and another bloke mentioned that it doesnt matter to fisheries and he should throw it back but he was stubborn... then some yahoos rocked up in thongs and with k-mart $30 rods they started throwing out pillies on snapper leads... so i figured I'd leave before i got hooked by a miss timed cast.. Alot of hours for a bonito and a rat but hey it makes you love the hot days right?? Cheers, Pat p.s. small diving HB seem to be out working coco rigs atm... sunday 2 guys with HB got more hookups/fish landed than 8 guys spinning coco rigs. The fish are wising up ay?

Thanks Calvin. I use 40g metals most (kings, salmon, Bonnies all take that size) and green seems to work well. I retroed them with single jigging hooks, very few spat hooks since then. Bonnies have taken to hard bodies lately, 5 or 6 coming on hb today with coconut rigs pulling nil... Pays to have a mix of lures.

yeah i've seen them do really well and have some in my tackle box, there was a guy using one with no success for a while...

Im on my way up to newcastle this weekend, has anyone got some general advice for a decent rock/spinning spot?

Hey guys, Last thursday went to the south sydney rocks after work and got there at 4pm ish fished hard for 2 hours with 3 other spinners for nil. I was packing up and thought ill head off if no one gets something on this cast.... as always someone hooked up and i stayed for another 2 hours.. the first guy was using a rapala casting lure and pulled 3 bonnies and 1 sambo... i had 2 big strikes at my raider over an hour or so and the 3rd missed strike had me cursing and swearing like the best of them... my erratic rod movements did the trick and i got a good sized bonnie. headed home as the light died after having worked hard for my bonnie. myself and the one other bloke were the only ones to catch fish, so a hard session, but that makes you appreciate the hot ones. cheers, Pat p.s. any hot tips on a rock/spinning spots up at newcastle? ill be up there next weekend for work.

I had a friend up from Canberra that last time I was down there I got her into spinning for Redfin in the lakes. So naturally she wanted to give spinning the rocks a go. We rock up (South East rocks) and I give her my rod fitted with the trusty green raider fitted with a single hook, I burly up with some salmon chunks and go to set up my gear. I'm 1/2 way through my leader knot when I hear some shouting and look over. She's holding the rod quite low and there it a slight bend in it, I watch for a second and see some shakes so she's on. It looks pretty tame so probably a bonnie. I put together my long handled net and trot over to see how she's going... I arrive and still only a 1/3 full bend in the rod so figure she'll be right. Then I look a little closer and she's struggeling to lift the rod and the reel is running.... So I tell her to put more of a bend in the rod and she's if she can bring it up abit and it runs again... This might not be a bonnie, more big salmon really. So after that run I stick my hand in a give the drag a tighten and she starts to make a little more head way. 2 min later up comes a king, with a few more runs, some into the rocks below, we get it into the net. Looks close to legal (a legal king still eludes me) and this is her first fish off the rocks and it came in the first 10 min!!! It came up at 63cm and she said "aww yeah dinner tonight" I broke the bad news and back he went. We only stayed for 30 min more with a few chases but no more fish, but I think she has the bug now... It took me 3 months for my first king with plenty of salmon coming first so she's chuffed haha But good to see they're there and are taking lures.

my best recent bags have been middle of the day to early afternoon. Bonnies, kings, and salmon. Big schools all coming in to visual range around 2pm. Fished plenty of early mornings recently with zip to show, plus it's a lot nicer when you're the only bloke on the rocks in the middle of the day... But yeah I hear mornings are amazing, keep going for it...

Hey I never said anything about impersonating anyone... just showing them I'm upto date with my size and bag limits... If they don't recognise a licence as a licence I'm not sure it's my fault... I've thrown a few people's rats back, only after letting them know it was undersized of cause.

middle of the day no one early morning and avo a few more, you can see the edge form the church so if your not keen on fishing with lots of people just check it out from your car thats what i do.

haha I've taken to getting my tape measure out walking up measuring it and saying it needs to go back. You can flash your fishing licence and for some reason they think your official... funny because they should all have one just like it in there pocket...

haven't landed a fish since new years day been out 5 or so times... so I took some burly (less common for me) and tried the stones again. given my run of quiet mornings I didn't get up early and got stuff done around the house. I got to the rocks at 12:30 and started flicking my metal, about 30min in and I'm on to a big fat lazy salmon that got 3/4 the way to the rocks before its first jump where it spat the trebles straight back at me... had to use some of my matrix skills to save my pretty face. I had a few more follows and decided to change to my metals with single hooks (just set these up so didn't know how it would go). I then started to focus on the wash zone and got a good strike but it wasn't pulling hard and I felt a gentle thud, thud through my line so thought i may have fouled something. Turned out to be a nice little bonnie. I kept at it in the was and pulled a good sized salmon out. Next cast the whole school followed the few that broke off to chase my lure i recon there were 40 big fish visible from the rock. Obviously my lure went straight back out and I got another sambo who this time was followed to the rocks by 3 kings, they were attacking the lure in the salmons mouth... zzz. Got a few more salmon and called it a day. Filled the freezer with fish for burly and had the bonnie with some thai food last night

lures can be tough to get the hang of, a good all-round SP is Zman 2.5' motor oil grub there action is great and they float so with a jig when they hit the bottom their tail floats in the current. I've picked up most of my bream on these, pinkies, flatties, whiting and tailor. Its my go to when im not spinning metals from the rocks. On that note always carry a small metal with you, if you see any splashing/bait balls about they're worth a flick with tailor and salmon coming on them mostly but if your really lucky even kings. I've been landing big salmon and rat kings on 10lb so in the harbor I'd fancy my chances on my lighter bream gear (maybe not on a legal king hahah) I was at balmoral baths the other day and saw a huge bait school pushed up against the beach. No splashing in them but when you were up on the bath wall you could see the tailor and salmon getting into it. 5-10 people were bait fishing from the wharf with no luck, I grabbed my tackle from the car and flicked my 10-20g metals in and pulled a chopper every cast. Gave the kids fishing there each a metal form my box and got them all onto fish too. Nothing to take home but it makes you feel better about those hard days. Baiters are waiters, spinners are grinners. haha each has its time and place, leather jackets are near impossible on lures unless you jag them (not legal) fishesh is onto it with his advice for them. If you can get the bait to move a bit with current or gentle jigging this makes them take bigger bites at a moving target instead of picking your hook clean with precision picking.

nice bag, I need to try this black fish fishing but I'm such a spin boy... no patience..

I may have ordered the part and bought a new heavier rod too... >.<

Went out yesterday at 2:30 to the south east rocks on syd, it was surprisingly quiet and I had the rock to myself for 30 min. I managed to hook up on 3 big salmon, all of which spat the hooks. Some more people arrived as I got into my 4th and helped me land it. A very fat fish indeed, 64cm long and 37cm around.... Continued fishing with salmon coming thick and fast to me and the bloke next to me (I was using a 40g knight and he was using a shallow diving hot pink and yellow lure). I was packing up when the other guys called me back. He'd hooked a rat king and there were a few hanging around. I got the ol'knight out again but let it sink abit, on the way down I felt a tap so started a quick retrieve and within 5 winds I was on to my first king managed to land it after a few good diving runs. He came up at 60cm so back he went but who cares I'm on the board!! The 2 salmon I kept were full of pillies.... I was using a 10lb kit so am happy with the results but now feel the itch of going to get some heavier gear... Lol Needless to say fishing was good, but the session got spoilt by my trusty knight some how getting caught on my rod, broke my line and took the end segment of my rod with it out into the Pacific Ocean... Oh well, time to order a new part and maybe get some heavy gear to tide me over haha Cheers and tight lines, Pat

Hey raiders, I want to take a mate out on a charter next week to chase kings and the like. Any suggestions on whom to go with?

hey guys I'm heading down to narooma/mystery bay this weekend looking for some rocks/beach to spin off for pelagics. Does anyone know any easily accessible spots?

probably repost in general section.

got out by 6 am but there was no action until about 10 am. Had some big sambos chasing my poppers hooked one right at the rocks but it spat the hooks on the first jump. Kept at it for a while, then changed to a raider and hooked up on the 3rd cast after a series of strikes with no connection... The hooks we set well enough for me to let it exhaust its self with acrobatics and runs. My mate got down on the lower ledge and helped land it There were a few more hookups and frustrating chases but no more fish landed.

Spent the morning out on the rocks looking for some pelagics. First hit was after 3 casts but it didnt stick... 3 hours later I get busted off by something big enough to think a 6' halco popper was bit sized... spewing, it was my leader knot that gave :'(... After much swearing and 20 more min of nothing, the ocean taunted me... the biggest bait ball/salmon smash up I've ever seen exploded out of the water... on the other side of the bay, well out of reach... Then out of no where the water in front of me began to boil and my slug was coming straight through it I was on!! After some acrobatics and a short fight I landed him. not the biggest model but he was exploding with white bait. Called it after a bitter-sweet sesh.. finished off sweet so ill be back tomorrow Pat

Got some time to spend wetting my lines for a feed and hoping to hook up with some fisho's to share the fun with. Flexible with location in Sydney keen for most times. Cheers, Pat

Your name: Pat Your Location: Sydney Fishing technique: anything goes Availability: Monday, Thursday, Friday days, evenings and weekends vary. Preferred location: Sydney anywhere really Provide your own gear? Got my own light 2-4kg rod, 6ld line, and medium 4-7kg rod, 10lb line and lures to suit. Provide your own boat? Got a yak so happy to go yakking. really not too fussed on my target but pretty much a lure fisho but happy to learn the smelly stuff.

Hey, I started fishing for bream and flatties last year and just started on spinning for pelagics. I've got to say I'm very keen to chase some more fish and chat with some more experienced fisho's. I have got my own light and medium gear, obviously happy to put in for expenses. PM me if your planning a trip around the Sydney area. Cheers, Pat