OneLastCast

PM sent, Jaybee. Cheers, Derryn.

Hi Raiders, Went up near Barrington Tops to a farm stay with the family over the long weekend. Was a lot of fun, the kids loved it and also was pleasantly surprised by the fishing! Got a few feisty wild bass in the nearby river and some tasty silver perch in the stocked dam on the property. Cheers, Derryn. More pics... Last one...

Not sure who this mystery mobile mechanic is but I had my motor serviced this morning by Brett the mobile mechanic... think he calls it %$&** any how he did a great job at a fair price while being watched and asked questions by me and my kids. Will use him from now on. V happy.

Congrats on the great results again Kelvin.

Thats a good one mate. Will have to remember that Thanks for the congrats guys. It has a been about nine months since I chased mr bream. Have been distracted by winter sambo's and spring kings. Cheers, Derryn.

Hi Raiders, Headed out for a late afternoon fish on berowra today with my two boys and a friend and his son. Were aiming to tangle with some berowra bream and they didn't dissapoint. Got two nice ones of about 35/36cm on unweighted half pilchard baits. Also got a couple of big rays - had thoughts both times of big jew but alas wasn't to be. A nice day to be on the water. After the rain showers passed the afternoon came out clear and sunny. Cheers, Derryn.

Too bad about the lack of fish. But good news on the float return (how lucky is that!) I really look forward to your reports. Forster is one of my favourite places. You are very lucky to live there. Cheers, Derryn.

You should have put the tailor out for a big Jewie. I hear they bite really well under a full moon

Gotta love little, productive sessions like that

Good to hear charges being brought. Great work Leigh

Sounds like a good session. A bustoff from a big king really gets the blood pumping hey Better luck next time on getting the big one.

Great king, great report and great pics!

Great Jew there mate. Good on you for letting it go.

Dan (Luringbream) here are some shots of the DR It was pretty easy to make. Just got an old centrepin reel, attached it to the bottom half of an old rod, put about 30m of venetian blind cord on it, then 1.5m of wire with bomb on the bottom and release clip about half a meter up. Some other tips: I have marked the cord so I know what depth the bomb is at. Lowering and raising the bomb must be done by hand (so it would be no good using wire or braid instead). The cord does drag a bit in the water so you get a bit of a belly in the line. You can see in the last photo I put it in a rod holder in the middle of the boat with an occy strap to hold it in place and to stop the reel spinning. The most expensive thing was the lead bomb (only using a small one though) I made it about 5 years ago and total cost was under $50 as most of the stuff I had laying about.

Kelvin, yesterday we got no pickers on our squid!?!? Even pulling them through much of the harbour and MH. Thankfully the only thing that got them were kings. Luck of the draw?

Thanks for the tip Kelvin. I will have to get me a pair of gloves. The power of the King is not to be messed with And they will take a live squid from off the surface no problem. Me and my crew are still getting the hang of this DR caper so it was a bit of a farce at times. But we got it sorted in the end. It was amazing how the king attached to the prop would just quietly cruize along with us until some heavy pressure was exerted, or it saw the boat. It came along with us drifting as we were trying to get sorted for a good few minutes. Funny fish the king.

Hi Raiders, Day started early - on the water at 3:30am with my brother and bro-in-law. Jigged for squid till 8am by then had 4 in the live bait tank and lost a couple next to the boat. Also had a few strike the jig but not hook up. Had 2 surprise catches of BIG cuttlefish! Kept one and let the other go. Ate it tonight and it wasn't too bad at all. I prefer nice little calamari squid though. It was a little tough compared. Anyway, downrigged a number of markers and points in the harbour for naught. So moved into middle harbour. Managed to find a bunch of kings eventually and they were ready to play ball! Over the next couple of hours got 5 in the boat, 2 over legal at 75 and 80cm , and another nice fish managed to wrap the line all around the prop! It struck as the DR bomb was being lowered and must have run around the back of the boat. After assessing the damage (broken rod tip, tangled braid and jammed prop) and preparing to cut the line and clean up we were surprised to find the fish was still attached to the other end so we carefully handlined it in (wrapping the braid in a wet towell - that stuff will cut you to the bone real quick if not careful). Got it to the boat but the hooks pulled trying to net it! Oh well - next time. Was a GREAT day on the water. Squid were hard to come by (one an hour with 3 of us squidding) but it came good in the end with me getting a new PB by 10cm (75cm fish) and brother getting his first legal king at 80cm! Also it was the first fish on the DR (a handmade dodgy job that I made myself 5 years ago). Gotta love that Catch you on the water, OLC Another pic of one of the mega cuttlies

Hey Netic what is that orange gunk on the smaller kingie? Looks like the contents of someones carrot sack... Great report and pics by the way

I caught a good number of bass in that stretch over 10 years ago. Not sure if they are around now. Some good sized ones too. I think the best was about 10 in one session! (up to about 45 cm too) Some of them looked real sick though...

Good report as usual netic. You will get yourself a beakie before long I am sure...

Congrats Diane. Gars are great eating and surprisingly filling. I have caught about that number once, nice big sea gars, and thought it might just feed 8 adults and 2 kids. We ended up having some left over

Thanks for replies fellas. Martin - heres hoping for better luck (or skill ) next time, but I wont be freezing any sambos thats for sure. OK when eaten fresh but mush if frozen! Is kingfish OK to eat after frozen? Or is it like most pelagics, best when fresh?

Great fish there! A king over the meter mark is a serious milestone in any fishing career (and one I and many other raiders have yet to reach ) Hopefully there are many more where that came from

Great report and congrats on the fish. Bring on summer - the summer of the king!

Hi Raiders, Went out on Sat with my brother, his wife, and my two young boys. An early start saw us jig up two good sized squid by 7 am. We tried for yakkas but couldn't find any at our usual spots. We went in search of some sambos at north head followed by a hunt for kingies on the squid. The sambos were there but after a few minutes of rocking and rolling first seasick victim poor sis in law. Dropped her off at nice sheltered quaranteen (spelling?) beach while we headed back out. We gave a very poor showing with the sambos - over about 2 hours we managed about 10 hook ups to only one boated We busted off on a few on 6lb tackle and I think lost a rat king that rubbed me off on the bottom. About an hour into the action my bro gets sick but he soldiers on. The funniest sight of the day was a tight school of salmon on the surface with about 15 boats surrounding hemming them in. Was like this for about 5 mins until the shadow of an aeroplane scared them all. Was like the water was exploding with all the tails flicking at once We went in search of kings in the calmer waters of the harbour - fishing squid at the markers - tried new yellow in the north to the sticks in the south and a number in between. No takers. Not even many pickers. That meant that we had plenty of calamari to go with salmon fillets. Not a bad dinner at all. Cheers, OLC. A pic of my brother with his salmon and son #2 with one of the squid