Rode Cary

hi there mauritius is well known for deep sea fishing - tuna, mahi mahi, marlin, yahoo etc. some specialised fishos target huge GTs but u need a guide as the good spots are not reachable landbase. all around the island is shallow lagoon, so its useless to landbase casting lures. the only part of the island where there is no barrier reef, hence u in deep sea is the south coast. the catch is most of the south coast landbase are unaccessible as they are private properties - either sugar cane plantation or hotels. the only landbase spot which yields massive, i mean massive GT is at a place called 'La Cambuse beach'. if u on the beach facing the oceau u will see a rock platfrom on u r right that cut across the barrier reef and u can can behing the reef where the GTs, barracuda are. however, u need to cast at least 150m to be able to reach where the fish are. locals fishing the use quite unsual gears - 15ft purglas rod + penn 345gti + 80 lbs main line + 150 lbs trace + yozuri surface bull. with these unusual combo, the locals can cast 150m easy. i've them in action there, its unreal. i myself caught smaller GTs with lighter gears. however, the south coast gets huge wave at times, so u've been warned. other good spots are 'Ile de La Passe' and 'Ile au Phare', they are small islands on the barrier reef. Go the Mahebourg village and get a local fisho to take u there and cast just behing the barrier reef. i grew up there mate, spent most of my spare time on these islands. good luck cheers bertrand

well done on the drummer. looks like they are on the bite these days if u talking about the photo with the fish next to the pliers, i'm pretty sure it's a silver drummer great report and keep posting more cheers bertrand

hi dave, couple of days ago i was wondering how u were going with the blackies and drummer at omh i'm happy u doing well as usual may be one day i'll tag along but too busy now with studies keep us inform cheers bertrand

Hey Bert, Was using my old 7144 bent tip and my ancient alvey fibreglass reel (heavy mother) with 30 lb mono and 20lb vanish as a leader under the float. Last year I hooked a 4kg+ model and couldn't winch it up the cliff so it might be time to get something with a bit more grunt lower down. Cheers Rob hi rob, pretty serious set up you have for pigs. i reckon u can easily tame the 4+ model i'm still fishing medium light - 20lb mono, abu6600 baitcaster (i like fishing pigs with baitcasters) and a 13ft light rod. i'm close to the east coast myself but never thought the eastern ledges were good pig fishing. i myself fish the northern beaches anyway, welldone again and keep posting your latest catches. was a pleasure to read cheers bert

hey rob well done i'm a drummer fisho myself and haven't had opportunity to go fishing lately. i thought bondi was only good for surfing? u prove me wrong what rod and gear were u using? cheers bert

hi big pete were you fishing at bell's point or on the southern side of austinmer beach? cheers bertrand

welcone fisheroo yakka = yellowtail there's another thead posted on botany bay, check it out. also just do a search on botany bay cheers

for me, best value for money is definitely PENN my spinfisher SS9500 is 10 yrs old never let me down and built to last a lifetime of course its not as smooth as a daiwa saltiga or shimano stella but its only 200 box!!! anyway that's my 2c cheers bert

like you i wanted to give spinning with overhead a go, so i invested in an overhead combo last year to spin off the rocks as i heard you get more casting distance. at the end of the day, i'm always using my spinning outfit due to its more practical (for me) - no backlash and i'm happy with my spinning casting distance. as mentioned before by ceph, there great spinning reels out there that will give you good drag and good casting distance. i'm these days using a daiwa capricorn with 20lb mono with a 10 ft spinfisher rod. a real pleasure to rock spin for salmon, tailor and bonitos. if you targetting big kings or tuna, then you propably need to upgrade reel and line. cheers bertrand

that's the poor man lobster great for fish soup, but as mentioned by fellow raiders, watch out those spines, bloody hurt

hi raiders, my fishing mate and myself decided to fish a new LB spot, w'gong region as a our usual spot has been quiet lately. wasn't expecting anything special and the aim was to float pillies. after getting lost couple of times we made it at 7 am and we had the whiole platform for ourself. while we were rigging, here came a friendly local with rod, reel and lure ready for a cast. didn't pay attention to him as i was focussing on my rig. then i heard 1st cast 1st fish. he was on a nice salmon. turned out to be be an easy 70-80 cm fish and fat. i continued with my rig and i heard 2nd cast 2nd fish, he obviously was teasing us, friendly though. and it contimues, 3rd cast 3rd fish. so i decided to rig a metal lure only to realise i didn't bring any. lucky though i found one at the bottom of my backpack- hurrah. there i go, 1st cast and after a few retrive i was on, so i turned to the local fisho and said 1st cast 1st fish with a smile. and it contines like that for at least an hour. catching salmon, tailor and bonitos. it was obviously a school of salmon, bonito and tailor i know what you guys are want now?? photos?? we put the fish in a small pool near the edge of the platform as the wave were not big and tide low. but one freaky wave came (only one during the whole fishing session), we backed on the higher leadge but the wave took all the fish back in the water. lucky they were still alive. mother nature taking back what belongs to her. was a nice LB day out, a day to remember. is it salmon time now? anybody else catching salmon or tailor spinning? kind regards bert

hi dave whale beach been pretty quiet lately (where i normally fish). for unknown reason sweeps have taken territory where i normally fish drummer. last year i've never seen any of those bait thief around but now they always there. you guys ever experienced that? how to get rid of them? yeah will give omh a try again one of these days take care bertrand

hi kingiemaster i remember last time i was at OMH i met you and was pretty quiet that day. i'm glad you're on the blackies and drummer again. did you use weeds as bait? i myself went fishing off the rocks at whale beach. it was way to dangerous to get close to the ledge, big big waves that day. cheers bertrand

hi kingiemaster looks like the drummer are 'on' even in summer...if we can it summer!!! interestingly i prefer drummer fishing in spring/early summer and my biggest 47 cm was caught in december. i have never tried old man hat before. would like to give it a go one of these days. anyway welldone and keep us inform on your latest drummer sessions cheers bert

hi there, 2 keeper fish is better than none i do like eating sweep, it taste pretty good to me. just deep fried and add lenon juice on top. looks like the missus and daughter had a good time as seen by their smile. good on you mate and better luck next time cheers bertrand

silstar ugly stick gold 12 ft. very strong rod for rock fishing. i have lifted 5lbs sambos with that rod. strong rod important as most of the time u don't have the luxury to net or gaff your fish off the rocks. its pretty cheap, should be less than 180 box. my mate use a 12 ft snyderglas 8 wraps. similar in strength and price c/t the silstar. i personally think 50lbs might be a bit too strong for the rocks and beach and 50 lbs braid is not good if you gonna get snagged from the rocks. as a general rule, try cheap mono. u will be surprise how good value for money they can be. cheers bert

actually, i caught my biggest drummer in november. good point, i think it's the time when the bigs guns are close and active cheers bertrand

hi mate, welcome to fishraider and what a way to introduce to introduce yourself nice post, pics and report. keep it up which spot did you fish in kurnell? cheers bert

thanks mate you're a champ cheers bertrand unfortunately no info on barometric P and height of tides. just moonage and times of tides. howver it's nice and practical watch and not too expensive. cheers bertrand

hi raiders, i just bought myself a casio 'fish in time' watch. i'm just wondering if anybody knows sydney's degrees latitude and longitude and also GMT. thanking you in advance bertrand

hi ceph, any idea on the where and how that fish was caught? that spot looks very similar to one i know in Mauritius!!! cheers bertrand

so much have already been said on shimano v/s daiwa. if u do a search u will find a few threads on the subject. it seems raiders like both daiwa and shimano. however, value for money, i personally will go for penn. i own a penn 9500ss for more than 10 yrs without a single service and it is still going strong. i chased GT in mauritius for yrs with that reel and in sydney, i've been using it as my 1st choice from the rocks. i dont know about the new models but the old ones are tough. i own a daiwa capricorn 4500J which is a greatr reel - smooth, good castability, good drag, but unfortunately it looks like a toy c/t my penn. cheers bertrand

interestingly i was rock fishing whale beach that same day. swells as mentioned were 1.5m, however, i couln't fish my usual normally safe fishing ledge. the swells were powerful though, very powerful. even on a low tide and 1.5 m swell, it was dangerous on a normally safe ledge. just to confirm that swell size is not the only factor. watching the spot for a while before fishing and common sense are important cheers bertrand

lot of truth what u said mate but please don't put every single migrant in the same boat. pliz be diplomatic when passing on your message. this is a great website for fishos to help fishos, not to used to express one's frustration and personal viewpoints on migrants. i think most of us here in australia are migrants anyway...