RockHoppin

Mate i was there over the easter long weekend as well but didnt really get a chance to fish as much as i wouldve liked. Anyways, i was at the top of tomaree lookout and took a few pics. From what i know, none of the ledges looking south are known sanctuary zones...water looks very very fishy though! Wish i had taken my spin stick!

Hi Can anyone recommend a top reef fishing charter operator in Port Stephens? heading up there over easter and would love to get amongst the reef species up there. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Cheers

hey guys, just wondering if the spit is still a reliable source for yakkas from the wharf?

nice work greg - the swell kept me well away from the rocks over the past week..ive been having some crazy thoughts about buying a boat after all this rough weather! couldnt fish the rocks not even once!

awesome catch there Dave. I fished OMH a few weeks back using cunji and got bricked by a few solid drummer no doubt. Which ledge/gutter were you fishing? I was on the main ledge facing east. I see many fishos try that spot for nothing, but it does tend to fire up when the NE are on the up.

Im with you mate..i cant see myself hanging up my fishing rods if they succeed in pulling this rubbish over us...there is no bloody way I'll stop fishing and i dont know how the hell they think they will police this. This will piss even the most calm of us off and it will no doubt get ugly. I havnt seen one inspector in 14 years of rock fishing...they wont have the resources to successfully implement this but i'll be very surprised if it gets through.. Cant believe the stupidity of the #$*&$# greens!

Nice fish mate, well done. I just cant believe people get the time to fish 3-4 times a week!!! Wish I was that lucky...

Nice work mate, good to see they're moving in close. Im looking at chasing some kings on sunday morning..water temp just keeps gettin better and better..

Still amazes me to think these morons can point the finger at the recreational fisho and blame them for a decline in our fish stocks. Some of the best platforms I know have been closed as 'marine parks' - stupid thing is you'd be crazy to dive these spots and I dont think many blokes would be willing to walk the 45+ mins to get there!?!?!? So whos really benefiting from this bullsh*t???! If anyone wants to protect our fisheries its us recreational fisherman... this is clearly obvious by the fact that thousands of fishing licenses have been purchased since this policy was introduced. So what do they do? They close down a few popular rock ledges as 'marine parks' and pretend to be acting in our interest??? what a joke.....

Try the Compleat Angler tackle store above Dymocks in the city (they're on level 3). I bought mine from there and they've always got em in stock...

Thanks mate red crabs can either be baited in segments or ideally put on whole. They are usually around 8-10cm including the legs. they're found at low tide near the waters edge - thus making it a little risky gathering them in any kind of swell. The black crabs that live a little further up from the water are still good for bait but i find the red crabs get hit harder when baited whole. Black crabs are better in segments i reckon...they make a nice stinky fresh bait that sit well on the hook. Dont be surprised if you catch a few stud bream using this technique as well as drummer - which are both a big no show on the 20kg line...Anyways, try a full crab for starters and move if 1 spot doesnt fire in the 1st 15 minutes. p,s 10 crabs per session is the limit...nothing worse than going back to find a ledge has been thrashed of all life..

mate going by what you just said it seems you're doing everything right. Red rock crabs are definitely the #1 bait and you're getting them so no problems there. Urchins are the #1 burley and u got that covered too. Maybe the area ur fishing is overfished?? Id ditch the snapper lead and go with a light running sinker - depending on swell. We generally only fish calm flat seas for groper which makes this style of fishing easier - the fish are usually right at ur feet. Again, Id go 24kg tortue...80lb is crazy IMO...still thats just personal preference but i cant see how u can cast 80lb very far if thats what ur trying to do? Another thing, fireline aint the best in the heavier line classes so ill ditch that in favour of tortue. As for the bait, i thread it through the 2nd leg from the back and push it towards the claws. hook point is supposed to come out through the gut section and be a little exposed (3 ormm or so) and I use a 4/0 big gun rather than a 5/0. If ur getting the smaller browns then the bigger blue will be there too...if not, keep moving around..if there are any big blues around they will take your bait first...no doubt about that! Look for ledges covered in barnacles, etc that drop straight into deepish looking water....its only a matter of time mate. Cheers

..wont fall for that one again..

Hi, Just curious, whats with the new format when viewing responses to a thread? Cheers

Thanks mate. The big blue will come, dont you worry bout that! Its just a matter of time. Much like kingy fishing you tend to get destroyed and demoralised about 20 times first before you actually land one! Where you catch the small ones, there will be big ones..and you will definitely know when a big blue has taken your crab! My rig is pretty simple - 4/0 big gun with a light running sinker straight to the hook. Just make sure the hook is well presented and away you go. I personally dont like fishing with the heavier lines.. we started off using 80lb schnieder mono - never again! 20 or 24kg is still plenty strong and you will land em with a good fight...80lb+ just takes away all the fun and is just much harder to fish with in my opinion.

yeah, its not the easiest place to get to. Pretty rugged territory with deep water otherwise known as Spot X Serious gear for serious fish! But I dont know how we'd stop a blue bigger than this tank...he really gave the gear a good workout. Anything bigger will be pretty much unstoppable...some blokes use 80lb mono or more?! It'll be like fishing with anchor rope?? I wouldnt want to get snagged using that...

Thanks mate, they're great to eat IMO. Firm, white, moist flesh - I've had em at around 7-8kg and they've been just as nice but it all depends on how you cook em. Cant go wrong with the usual combo of herbs n spices, garlic, chillis and lemon all wrapped up in foil and chucked in the oven or on the bbq . Anything above 15kg and I imagine they would taste much the same as any old fish would - very dry and tough - Ive seen some that would be pushing 30kg or more...these would no doubt be like rubber!

Hi mate I know where you're coming from and like you, I too do quite a bit of diving and seeing one up close is an awesome experience. Only reason this one came back to the ice box was because it was my mates first 10kg+ fish and also because it was still a baby compared to the tackle busting 20kg+ examples that we know swim around the areas we fish - any fish in this size would definitely go back (that is if we can actually land one!). Same can be said about all other fish I guess (dont see anywhere near as many big tuna as we used to - especially off the rocks! ). But I'd be more worried about those that are taken illegally (spear fishing) than the big blues that are landed once in a blue moon by line...besides, they still taste great in this size and groper are no longer endangered or a rare thing. In addition to this the spots we fish are no where near any regular dive sites and the fish are plentiful. btw - to answer your question rice, outfit used is a custom built FSU6120 (by Fishfinder) running 20kg tortue through a 651E5 alvey. No bream gear here!

Hey guys Went out on sunday with my cousin to have a cast from one of our fav rock ledges hoping for a mixed bag. Had some nice pillies, prawns and even some fresh squid to work with. Plan was to set a few baits out wide and fish the wash early on to take advantage of the conditions after saturdays wind killed any hopes to throw a line. Got there at 5.15am, set the baits, started a nice burley trail and conditions looked picture perfect with no wind & a 0.5m swell and a clear blue sky. It just didnt look perfect for fishing...not enough wash for mine. Anyways, this spot usually produces the goods...we have never gone there without atleast catching a feed of fish...by 8am we had nothing!!! zilch! I couldnt believe it! The water was calm enough to fish right on the edge and we could see the bottom - I put the lack of success down to the swell being only 0.5m so there wasnt enough activity to get the fish going...until that is, we decided to have a fish for the old faithful - The Eastern Blue Groper. So, feeling a little defeated, off we went and managed to bag a few crabs with no dramas at all thanks to the low seas. Picked a nice looking spot and threw our first baits in. I couldnt believe it when my mates rod buckled over in the 1st minute only to come up hookless and fishless!?? "What happened??" I asked, to which he replied "It cut my bloody line!?"....."Impossible mate, they dont have sharp teeth?" Turns out it was a poorly tied knot that proved to be his doing..but more on that later. Anyways, we moved spots as we thought the fish may have been spooked and ran back to his cave. In go our baits again and what happened next was one of the best fights ive seen in a while...forget tyson and lewis, this was bigger!!!! There I was still bumming over the lack of table fish when my mates rod just doubled over... again! But this time there was no questions about his knot and this fish was big! Now we both got a pair of brutal custom built 6120 outfits and my cousins no light weight but he was struggling to turn this blues head! Its initial run was awesome..all power and diving straight for its cave. He managed to turn it and actually got it to the surface...but as soon as old bluey saw my mug waiting to land it he went berserk, dove again and nearly took my cousin in with him!!! By this time the rod was doubled over and so was his back...a few solid winches and I saw colour again. Up he came a second time but this time his head was out of the water...a few nail biting seconds near the barnacles saw this fish wash in and out a few times until I managed to get a hand in his gills and lift him out - all 12 or so kgs of him! As I tried to remove the hook though, I realised that there were 2 hooks in his mouth - one attached to his line, and the other clean and new but with some crab still attached!! It was the same fish that stole his 1st bait!! No doubt, my mate was destined to catch this fish! (See pics for close up of 2nd hook). As you'd expect, we were over the moon. Theres nothing more satisfying that actually targeting a species and coming home with the goods. This was my mates first 10Kg+ blue and he was wrapped. We had no more action the rest of the day either and it was the ONLY fish we managed to pull up - but what a fish. Another rock hopper who was there (cheers Josh) took a few happy snaps and we decided to call it a day not long after. The walk back for him was terrible - the strap on his backpack snapped and he had to lug it all up by hand!...it was well worth it though Cant wait to do it all over again next week. Cheers RockHoppa

Yep, sounds familiar! Just curious, what bait/rig did you get them on?

Hi mate Caught my first pig just off the rocks on the north side of the pool around 10 years ago. Havnt fished that spot in yonks but I remember getting bricked with 7kg line last time i fished there. The south side also has some nice gutters and washes to work with. Id fish an afternoon session when the shadows provide a bit more cover. Rockhoppers are a must! Dont know why I stopped fishing there???? Used to fire at times! Anyways, good luck! P.S any chance you can get some better pics up? Cheers

Like all spinning mate it can be taxing on the back and arms after a while but even more so cause your gear will need to be heavy enough to muscle em out before they bust you off. so unless you're geared up with a nice n light graphite/carbon rod you'll be putting your rod down before the sun clears the horizon! But you'll know soon enough if you're onto one... like Ian says, hookin em up is only 1/10 of the battle! i'd try live baiting first. If the kings are there, they will most definitely smash any live bait you float out there.

Hope you got the right gear for spinning gars mate cause its back breaking work! As for your live baits, just burley up with bread and mashed pillies and you should be able to score a few. Just make sure you get there real early... Cheers

Yep definitely agree there. Been a mono man all these years but casting 40lb mono aint no fun and you cant really fit much on your spool unless you're using an alvey so some tough braid with a nice mono shock leader is what Im looking at here.

Hey guys, Summers just around the corner and I'm looking at filling 2 new spin reels with some nice braid. Anyone have any preferences here? Being a rockhopper line abrasion is a big factor for me so would like to hear your thoughts on this. Cheers