laddercat

Epic trip Epic photos Very jealous

The lead would destroy the swimming style of the lure and change its sonic signature in the water as well. Effectively it wouldnt behave anything like the original, thats not to say it wont work. Salmon Tailor and Bonito will react just aswell to easy to cast metal slugs, just choose the right profile and size to match the bait.

If your running a Saltiga surf why not match it up to the latest and greatest in graphite Daiwa rods ? Daiwa sensor surf in the 16ft is a monster of a rod ridiculously powerful and has the leverage to launch baits further then any rod ive seen There is another Daiwa tournament master surf in the size and rating however it just has slightly higher grade fittings. Sensorsurf: http://www.motackle.com.au/sensor-surf-3104473.html

Alot of Salmon ( no suprise ) around in close at the moment. Match the hatch with your metal slugs or soft plastics. Watched three boats drive straight through the schools throwing metals that were 4x the size of the bait fish. Also a strange but productive style ive been using lately is downrigging salmon livebaits near the bombies and drop offs of the headlands Not very deep at all and not very fast. Have taken 4 metre plus model Jews over the last few weeks. A few local divers tell me every year about small schools of large mulloway haunting the headlands around this time every winter, strange to think such large fish are schooling up but after trying for quite literally the last 3-4 winters downrigging these live salmon have brought the best results. I have thrown salmon pattern softs and hards at these fish from the stones while divers have told me they are within casting distance and nothing absolutely nothing I have a feeling none of my lures were big enough because the salmon i have been dowrigging are all around 30cm. Fisherman from yesteryear around the area ( and god there are alot ) will tell you lake illawarra port kembla and the suburbs going north use to be some of the greatest mulloway fishing in australia. Ive even been shown articles from the early thirties of local fisherman being adressed by their first name in the local paper taking 100's of metre plus jews from the beaches in nets. Bays and headlands full of erupting sea mullet being harassed by jews on the surface !! Of course these fisherman leave out the parts where they were most likely involved in the in the rampant raping and netting of aformentioned Jews.

Couple of very nice fish mate. Well done.

Empty but it was poor swell for drummer bream groper etc, flat as a tac. Only good for spinning. Im not sure if there are alot of hardcore rock fisherman in the area but with better swell i assume it would be more crowded. Of course on a weekend i have seen it very crowded. Also this time of year alot less guys there. Bonito in summer really seem to be the key that attracts the big crowds.

If you are after salmon from the beach and your soaking dead baits then your rod will do the trick. In reality this style of fishing is not rod or reel intensive and has been performed for decades by very basic setups. Of course if you have money to burn there are many options including Reels which are resistant to sand and saltwater and also have specially designed spools for long distance casting. If you are after a rock hoping lure casting dead bait soaking all arounder i would advise a graphite rod something in the medium action range 7-15 kg 10-20 kg These graphite rods will save your shoulders back and arms and give you better accuracy feel and control over lures. If you are actively bait fishing meaning holding the rod these graphite rods will return better feel through the blank compared to glass rod. I wont list every brand but both Shimano and Daiwa have affordable and expesnive rods in this rage Shimano: Aerowave Compositie (graphite glass weave ),Aerowave Graphite, T-Curve and catana series. Daiwa: Lateo ( new series only just released consult your local tackle shop owner ), Sensor surf, Seabass, SeaJigger . In my personal opinion Daiwa excel in this land based style of fishing rod and shimano has far less specialised offerings with strange weight matching to their blanks. Lastly if you are tackling Kings really seriously remember the quality gear will pay against these fish Salmon Tailor etc will test some outfits but in general are able to be managed by entry level outfits . Kingfish however will take your gear to tackle to the limit.

Always have enjoyed live baiting Sounds like a alot of fun.

Location: Bass Point, NSW - Land Based Target Species: Salmon. Kingfish Conditions: Overcast, Water temp 15, wind westerly 19-20km NW, Temp 20. Gear: Rod: 11ft Daiwa SeaBass medium action 7-15kg Reel: Teben CBS 5000 Tackle: Line :15 lb Braid Mainline 30lb Flurocarbon Leader Lure : 45gm Custom Metal slug Thought i would head down to Bass Point south of Wollongong to throw some slugs from the stones for some winter pelagics, arrived and heard talk in the carpark of a 30 kilo Kingfish being taken by a spearfisherman the week before. No surface action or birds so i wandered around scouting some possible Drummer spots and checking out the rock formation at low tide to get a lay of the land. 2 Blokes rocked up around 4pm and setup their dead bait pilchard rigs waiting for what i could only assume would be salmon schools etc. Hit about 4:30 and about 100 metres out massive areas of surface action, i set about testing out the new Seabass and was getting around 40 meters with the metal slug on a good cast. It felt a little undergunned to begin with and i thought 45gm might be too much for the blank...... OH WAS I WRONG. i spent the next 30 minutes working lures in and out as the fish sounded and then would resurface 10- metres away for more surface carnage. Around 4:40 i got my first knock around 4:40:10 i received what can only be described as a terrifying demolition of my lure. I lost easily 30 metres on its first run, i can imagine i would of looked the sight me standing at a whopping 5"5 holding a 11 Ft rod leaning almost to the horizontal to keep myself being dragged down the rocks. After the mystery fishes fourth big run i decided it was now or never and had to tighten the drag, well wasnt that fun Mr fish decided he would simply peel off even more line at the higher drag setting. Luckily for me, and it all honesty it was pure luck not any smart or talented angling on my behalf i think the fish had fought its way into a heart attack and within the next 5 minutes i had retrieved line and had scene my first flashes of colour. KINGFISH ive caught a few off the stones however nothing that came close to this absolute Hoodlum, i can honestly say it would have went 20 kilo plus. So as im highsticking the fish like a complete idiot shaking from head to toe looking at this fish being tumbled back and forth in the eb and flow of the small swell, i forgot one thing. Kingfish are cruel cruel creatures, Mr Kingfish turned its head and with the swell sucking out turned and went to take off straight back where it had come from. I had to make a split second decision to make risk the rod and the blank in its stupid left handed high stick position and try wrestle control or drop the rod and watch 20 kilos of kingfish rub you off on the rocks as it swims away. I went for option 2 and ended up with a rod but no kingfish. The two crusty old blokes watching sure had a laugh as i howled and sat perfectly still for the next 5 minutes. What i Learnt: Daiwa Seabass performed incredibly Your salmon setup wasnt really designed for hoodlums oh and i should "stop using that girly pink braid " according to one of the blokes thats why i lost the fish. Consolation Sunset:

The entire headland is housing commission and a very notorious theft hot spot dont leave your valuables in cars etc. The cleaning tables are sensational, still makes me so sad when summer rolls round and i see boat after boat bagging out on flatties cleaning them all on the tables. some people seem to take the bag limit as a suggested amount to take rather then a LIMIT. Side note: have caught a few drummer there against the break wall with the right swell haha.

Sounds like good fun, Think you might have been onto a SBT ?

Still trying to tick off the last of the boat mods on my mates new custom. Was wondering if anyone could give any idea of costs or expected challenges. The last two things to be installed are: Livewell and Fuel Flow meter Livewell: The well in which i plan to have it installed is the back center well on the rear casting deck, it holds approx 120 litres and is sealed. My plan is to have a professional plumb the well and install the fittings. I dont really feel comfortable with plumbing on a boat, electric i can mange but holes and seals etc too scary for me. Could anyone give an idea of price and any difficulties this might present ?? I am not sure whether it will be plumbed through the hull or through the back to the transom. if it were to come through the transom it would need to pass through the side walls of one of the wells directly to its's left or right. Fuel Flow meter: This one i think i will leave to the professionals aswell, from what i have been able to google these things seem pretty expensive for a connection at the engine and a small screen on your dash, over 200 dollars. The engine is a Mercury 84, 150hp blackmax. Is there any reason a fuel flow meter wont work with said engine ? Once more any idea of cost here. I plan on getting them installed in the one go to hopefully minimise labor. I have been qouted labor costs at around 90 dollars an hour does that seem fair ?? Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Heading down to the far south for the weekend any news on how the estuarys down there are fishing after the recent cold snap ?? i will be packing a rod or two with slugs and bigger profile softs for tailor and salmon as they are usually always around this time of year but anyword on the bream etc would be great.

Epic catch on light gear nice one.

40lb Jesus..... I remember the first time I used 20lb chasing groper and I thought it was heavy. 40lb must feel like rope.

i never went higher then 15lb on mono when i was a young bloke and now ill lever go higher then 15lb braid with 30lb fluro leader. If a drummer is going to brick you it will brick you. The higher bite rate and ability to also target bream on the lighters stuff is far superior in my opinion. Land your fish with the wash, and buy the highest quality 15lb u can afford those are the two rules i stick by.

Ideal conditions NE wind making a nice amount of wash, fish the upcoming tide ( gather your cunji at low tide and fish on through ). In my experience Westerlys flatten the swell and make for bad fishing, so i avoid these. When you grabbing your cunji look out for red crabs, big bream will love them and all my 60cm drummer models have come on red crab. I prep my red crab like so. Use the flap on the belly (only take males the flap is triangular) pull this out and back over its head and the shell will come with. Use an old knife to break the legs at the first join so as to leave small knobs. Cut the crab in half leaving to perfect hemispheres of crab meat. Thread your hook through one of the leg joins and have the point come out through the meat. gather you legs and shells mash them together with wet bread and there is some super charged berley. There is no better bait off the rocks for big Drummer Bream and even groper if thats your things. P.s if you ever manage to score a read crab that has just dropped its shell and has a new leathery soft shell these things are big fish dynamite.

A nice thick healthy looking lizard nice one !

Covered around 90 litres worth of travel with a keen eye on the sounder the entire trip. Pulled 40+ fish out of there last trip but nothing on the weekend just gone. No bait on the sounder and nothing busting up on the surface either. I could be wrong and perhaps people pulled fish out of there on the weekend, but the wind the water temp and the barometer werent really condusive to good fishing and the cleaning tables were empty from what i saw.

Location: St georges Basin, NSW Boat: 17ft Bass/bream style fibreglass custom with 150 merc Target Species: Bream and snapper Conditions: Clear skies, Water temp 11, wind westerly 25-35km, Temp 14. Gear: 4x Daiwa Gen black rods each 4x Teben CBS 200 All spooled with 4lb braid 6lb fluro Tackle: Assortment of 35mm TT blades Squidgie Plastics from 60mm to 100mm (mostly whipbaits and wrigglers ) Ecogear Hardbodies ( too many to recall ) A close mate just bought a modified 17ft glass boat setup tournament style with 150hp oldschool merc on the back. We decided we would take her down to St georges basin for her first run. Arrived about 6 and was on the water by 6:20, boat felt very nice and after a few minutes fiddling with the trim we were on the plane flying over to the artificial reef at around 80km/h. Plan A the Reef: The first light meant a drop in the wind and almost an hour of serenity with about 6 boats all anchored on the reef, we were running small zig zagging rungs across the structure with the electric working 80mm softs and 35mm blades. We were hoping for snapper as we had a feeling the monster westerly would shut down the bream. Well what can i saw we tried at it for a good 3 hours not a single nudge absolutely nothing and the sounder looked barren as well. Plan B Sussex inlet mouth: Not feeling too discouraged seeing as we still got to power around in the new boat we set off to see if any bream were schooling up on their way to the ocean. Here we tried the same method as on the reef very slow retrieves and lots and lots of casting trying to cover as much ground as possible. Nothing again... we decided to move on after another two hours after things had deteriorated into who could cast their vibe the furthest. ( i will add the Gen blacks are beautiful to cast ) Plan C Work the fringes until dark: We did just that we worked anything that looked fishy all around the fringes of the basin. Nothing on the sounder and nothing chewing at all. We did however scope out beautiful 1-2 metre deep sections of glorious cocckle bed terriotory. I hate to think how many casts i made across these sections with one of the ecogear hardbodies convinced that "this cast" will be the cast. Wrap: Zero zilch nothing not a single take for roughly 11 hours of fishing. I will go out on a limb and say the conditions were some of the worst i have fished in a long time clear skies very cold water and big westerly front dont make for great results in my experience but slamming around the bay and plotting some promising spots for the future was fun regardless. I didnt see any other boats take fish but i dont doubt that someone did, maybe the bait fisho's did alright ill never know. Thought id start my fishing report history reporting on zero only way is up from here !

What a beast !

Ecogear has these new plastic crab imitations on the market under the name Marukyu Crab Coming three Colours: Brown,Olive,and Purple. 2 sizes Medium (unsure) and Large (20mm) I have ordered some large brown models and am eagerly awaiting their arrival I plan on rigging with hidden weights as per this video for structure and using a standard ball jighead for deeper water/ From what i can see their action looks very nice and crabs have produced my biggest bream to date 48cm off the rocks. Im hoping that these can reguvinate my love for crab baits crab works great on many species but as with all natural baits if fish are not on the bite they simply will turn their noses up. Hopefully this great looking action and movement through the water can trigger agressive respsonses on even the most docile of fish. P.s If these work on groper and big drummer in the washes ill be buying up big. here is a demo catching Bream: here is a demo of their swimming action:

If you are fishing from a boat stick with a 2500 FE stella much more sport and 10kg drag is plenty. If you are from land you might want to upsize to the 4000 In terms of spool size im not sure but i would love to know aswell !!!

I would suggest a Gen black Wild Weasal 6"10 2-6kg It will man handle any Estuary jew from the Yak. Most yak or boat jew addicts i know wont go over 6kg because of the loss of sensation in the tip on heavier outfits. From land it will handle most jew unless of course your off a breakwall where really you need a whole other outfit. It is under 7ft perfect for the Yak covers your desired lure weights and is damn light. Ive said it once ill say it again the gen blacks are so popular at the moment because they are a 250-300 dollar rod priced at 150. In terms of reels: Expensive: (If your using stellas in a yak your a brave man... or wealthy man ) Stella FE and go 2500 that is more then enough line and it pumps out 10kg drag which is as much as some 4000 size reels. cost 699 Value: Symetre 3000 the extra 2 kilo drag from the 2500 model is worth a little extra weight cost $129 Budget: Sedona 2500 very similar to the symetre without a few bells and whistles cost $89 ( and slightly cheaper ) Experimental: These days i use Chinese OEM reels in my tournament and rec fishing. It is a manufacturer who has started to make reels under their own brand at a quality standard similar to Daiwa Shimano etc Teben is their brand and at the moment you will find very little information on the internet on them. Essentially using the power of chinese copyright laws ( or lack of ) They get Shimano and Daiwa reels from say 12 months ago and copy them from head to toe, they then import japanese washers bearings and all the 'important' parts and wollah you have a stradic clone that cost you $50 or a Stella Sw20000 that cost you $300. You can pm me for details if you want, im still very new to using them and am still very uneasy in suggesting them because fisherman are very unwilling to use untested product. Obviously with these warranty dont even think about it and spare parts impossible. BUT my little stradic and stella clones id put them up against the originals anyday. Goodluck in your rod and reel hunting sometimes i enjoy it as much as the fishing !!

Epic report Great catch