GregL

Awesome DT and gang! Knew we should of gone chase tunas instead of jewsss yesterday!! Well done Greg

What I know as white rock off Longreef is the shallow section half way along the "Wall" on the outer edge of Longy. It's about 9-11m on top and is visable from the surface on nice days. The rocks on the bottom are white color inbetween the brown kelp. Yes it's a decent king spot.... Greg

Another decent place to try is Wellings Reserve North Harbour area. Less people, lots of shoreline and good squid all the way around the point to Tania Park. Better off during the day time on the first trip in so you can see where to cast and for walking the rocks. There are some squid around the pool area which is accessable in the dark.... Greg

Cheers dudes Lures that did the damage, Gulp 4" single tail grub in smoke, I think Browney got his on a jerk shad and the others were on the Duel Salty Rubbers. We only scored 1 coota for the day, maybe they are sitting in the deeper water. We were fishing the 30m line. Haven't fished for jews for over a week. Richard was off the harbor for a bit as he was in the Bets GF comp on the harbor and had prefish ban on. We went trouting last weekend. I had a work thing on out at Bathurst on Saturday so it worked out nicely, only problem I donuted Friday and Richard got 4 I think. Saturday before work we snuck out for another quicky, another 4 for Richard and I got 2. During the week I have been trying to get some gars again. Only problem is the bloody tailor. Every time the gars come into the burley the tailor come in and nail them, the gars are so skittish it's hard to get them to bite after that! Might be time to go target the tailor then=) Greg

With nice reports of reds down south of Sydney we had to go explore. With a pretty gusty westerly it was a lumpy ride running down the coast in the Contender at 30kns, took us about 1.5hrs from Hunters Hill to just south of the Hump. The first few drifts didn't produce much so a quick call to a local had us running further south a few more miles and bites happened pretty much straight up. Gotta love local knowledge! There was a few dropped fish but in the end we got 5 nice keepers and a great bag of squid from a few quick drifts out the front of the Hacking on the way back home Great day, top feed and plenty of the usual ribbing though out the day. G

The milk fish fishing in the harbor is something you cant miss. Ask your guide as a part of your day to spend a few hours chasing these. Best thing I did up there, spent 3 solid days on milkys, they strip 220m of 20lb braid in under a minute, carbon spools were hot to touch and we only landed small ones to 6kg. Shortest fight was over 20mins and it was only a baby of around 3kgs. 118cm barras have nothing on milky's! Greg

I'm just worried that the larger boats won't be able to fish inside the harbor. The 35 I think is going to struggle to get between my poles on a airbirth. "Old Mate" keeps waving the 32 in front of me, very very tempting, wonder if a 101 Minn Kota will move it or not.... Divorce settlement hopefully gets signed off by the courts NEXT Monday, so fingers crossed that after 3 years life can move back on track. I'm thinking boat this year as NEXT year will be my 40th and then I get to go through my midlife crisis so I can wait for a car till then LOL

JUst make sure they use good material. Stickers arent all the same quality and can peel or bubble. Great for boat protection to, I have had a few done over the years. Awesome for resale of your boat as they look brand new when you peel the wrap off with no scratches and marks down the side of the hull. Greg

I like the way you think! Done the gunwales and have under t top fitted with LED, I have 3 underwater out the back in blue lighting, thinking a spot light over the front deck and replace the rear deck spotties to LED. Might get a couple more rod racks for up the front under gunwale just to get a few more outfits on board. Keep em coming!

Lucky I bought a 3 bedda!

Awesome video! Love that stuff, it's what nature is all about!

After owning NEXT, a 28ft Contender for the last 3 years I went to this years Sydney boat show with open eyes to see if I could find what the NEXT upgrade would be. Strolling the isles, boat after boat with so many to choose from but none fitted bill..... Heaps of options for family boating or something with a cabin. There was a few decent cross overs but all had compromise.... All I want is a fishing boat, not a big ask so you would think! I also looked at Express boats to 38ft, great for comfort, nice and social when game fishing but less fishability than the current vessel and a half a mill change over I have toyed the options of upgrade to another Contender, a 35 with triples would be nice but 75% of my fishing is 2 up so a 35 CC is a bit over board. It would just mean more cleaning and running costs to do the same thing in a little more comfort with a $200k change over.... The current setup works very well but there are a few things that I would love to have on board to make fishing even easier. First is an electric motor. MInn Kota Riptide 101 with IPilot, this should hopefully hold the boat in current and this mod should open up alot more fishing to this boat. Breaming will be back, squidding would be perfect and a few other fishing options like blackfish n drummer out of the boat without the need for and anchor. All the things that I miss of the Skeeter (except speed) now NEXT could do it. LOwrance HDS10 with Side scan for console to use as a searching tool in shallow water or in the harbor. I'll keep the console and bow Furuno units to use outside. The Lowrance will just complement the others. After using Richards and Jason's up at Barras, I'm sold on these side scan units. CHEATING I TELLS YA! A custom Carbon fibre box to hang from "T top" to house HDS unit that will match my console. Battery and charging/mantain system for all 5 batteries on board. Shore power system so when I get back to the dock it's only 1 plug to power up the whole boat. New deck wash hose. Old one has a pin hole leak that gets me on the leg evey time I use it A windlass to drop an pick up anchor. I havent really used and anchor in years. Fishing lures is usually out of a moving boat so never really use it. Last skeeter the rope was never undone from new! Of late tho I have been anchoring, trying differnet things and I want to start fishing baits again with the kids. Pulling up 5m of chain sucks big time, specially when you have to do it by ya self including controlling boat. Anyone know whats the better systems? Drum or drop down? Brands? Toying the idea of repowering, Just checking with Contender on a relable to up the HP rating of the hull. I know they have done a new one and just need to check if hulls the same. 600 is so much better than 500Hp Lastly a new wrap for boat protection. Last one did well. 3 years, 400 odd hours of running time (only 8 days trolling) and still looks ok from a distance. Not until your NEXT to it that you can see bill marks and other bumps and scrapes down the wrap and I know when I take it off that the hull is still going to look tip top Print me a cool one Rich! That's it so far on the list, boats booked in for mid NEXT month for refit, so I have about 6 weeks to do my homework and get me bits ready to go. Anything else? Greg

Great report Matt Awesome pics and descriptions! Your reports just keep getting better and better. Maybe one day..... G

What a cracking arvo it was, beautiful conditions (criminal if you weren't fishing)great company and a awesome cup of coffee to warm up as the sun went down. The bonus was a nice little jew! Re the boat ramp, sometimes it's very amusing being and aussie in a asian looking body! Thanks again "4 rolls" and we'll do it again soon! hehe G

We usually just wear wet weather pants and hiking boots. Keeps the wet grass off the feet and helps on the soggy bits.

Harbor has cleared up last night. looks fishy atm.

Nice pig of a pig! Size of the fin review, beast!

Gamagatsu make small gang hooks. We used as small as size 2 fishing pilly fillets.

Awesome stuff. Man they look chunky, no wonder they pull so much string! A species on the list for sure. G

With crap salt water conditions predicted for last weekend we set our goal to head west, away from the swell and get Browney his first ever trout! In complete darkness we set off on the treck to the back of TCD running down the eastern shoreline. The cold morning breeze froze my ear lobe that had not been tucked in under my beanie, brrrrr Hopes were high as we chatted on the walk passed the pond. I could hear a fish or two but still to dark to see. By the time we made the steep climb upto the dam wall I was covered in sweat but it was still only a few degrees in temp. We pushed on and a few bays in the sun started to rise and I could turn off my head torch. The morning glow on the dam was beautiful. We had dark clouds east with orange glows cutting through, big white puffs of steam raising up in the distance from the local power stations and just the huffing and puffing from 2 unfit buggers pushing to the limit to get over the grassy hills. Mean while there's Browney walking along like a stroll in the park! Could of been a nice fella and offered to carry the bags for the older generation! LOL On arrival to spot 1. We quickly rigged up and spreaded out a little along the shore line and started to cast. I recon I was only half way back through my second retrieve and I heard Browney NEXT to me yahooing over something. I quickly wound in my plastic and watched as he slid his first ever trout onto the bank! A nice rainbow about a kilo and a half. NIce fish for your first ever trout matey! Richard quickly followed with one further up the bank and it took me only one spot change another 30m further away to get my first for the day. We leap frogged each other heading back along the shore with a few fish hitting our lures per hour. There were fish there swimming the edge in the newly sunken grass. THe dam it self had to be 6ft deeper than a month ago but the fish were very hard to temped. I think I only got one fish from sight casting. Around lunch time Richard scored what we believed to be the first brown trout, well done mate! you bastard! lol For me, today was a day filled with little buggers! Still cool looking fish and yeah they kept me in front of the fish count though! Total score #8 me, 5 Richard , 1 Mikey My little buggers GregL

G'day Jet I have 2 different outfits that I use. Ones a Daiwa Steez Chilidog rod, Daiwa 3000 Branzino reel loaded with 30lb Branzino braid which is extremely thin. I have been using leaders from 10-30lb, thin leaders of late to see if there is any difference, not so far. NEXT I will be trying heavy, which might aid in stopping bite offs and save a few lures from the bottom. My lighter outfit is a Branzino AGS rod, Branzino 2508R Special loaded with 16lb braid. This is a long rod at almost 9ft. Great casting distance, nice and soft n can't wait to use for lighter vibeing in shortly. I usually chuck the Chilidog as I know it will handle larger fish and they are the ones we all want to catch! G

Man that's very high! Went out on the weekend and it had to be 6ft deeper than a month ago. Found fishing tough as well. Greg