[Manly]

At a guess 

that unknown fish 

black rabbit fish possibly? 
 

[Bimini upgrade]

Looks and sounds good can you pm his details pls 

[Port Stephens- Great start to the year!]

Well done men 

All the patience paid off 

looking like a good marlin season 

[Coral coast fishing - fiji]

Thanks for sharing the highlights of the trip to Fiji! 
 

well done 
 

I'm heading there in October, got my hopes up now 😃 

[Dangerous Snapper Poo]

11 hours ago, grantos said:

Hey late poster on this on - cleaned a snapper last night (from long reef - good size too) and got the same little invisible splinters in my hands - hurts like a bugger!

Anyone else have this?

yeh I have had this off Sydney long reef too 

It was like small pieces of glass splinters in my hands

Wasn't a nice experience at all 

[Port Stephens- I FINALLY DONE IT 💪]

Well done Jeff!!

Great to see a smile on your dial !

what was the fight like? 

Did it go deep or go towards the top?  

Or bit of both?!! 
 
Great catch cheers 

kent 

[Broughton Black 25-12-21]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:13 AM, dlvbw said:

WOW. What a morning! Congrats mate. How did you process the marlin? 

Yeh we just filleted it down and cut into big pieces put on ice or in the fridge 

I’ve found with marlin you don’t want at all to use high heat other than a quick searing it will go tough if you overcook it 

gentle cooking is best but

also I cut some up and battered and fried it and it was amazing 

[Broughton Black 25-12-21]

On 1/20/2022 at 8:10 AM, Pickles said:

Spectacular work Kent - magnificent photos. What a Christmas present.

Sharing an experience like that is “Brother bonding”.

thanks for sharing.

Yeh thanks

I don’t do Christmas but it’s a good day to go fishing 

And yeh was a good time spent with my older brother 

about 30 years ago we were both on board when my stepfather caught a striped marlin off St. Helens, TAS 

So it’s been a while between catching one together 

[Broughton Black 25-12-21]

On 1/20/2022 at 12:50 AM, Scratchie said:

Nice work Kent! 
Always pays to have a livey drifting out the back. You never know what will turn up. I heard of 3 caught that day until the water turned over from all the nor easterlies. 
Solid effort on that gear! Glad you had a good trip! 
 

cheers scratchie!!! 

Thanks mate, see you out there one day - going up again July school holidays 

[Broughton Black 25-12-21]

On 1/20/2022 at 8:13 AM, zmk1962 said:

Great report and some top shots in there. You certainly lived up to your name Aerialangler with those photos of the acrobatics. 
cheers Zoran 

Ha ha thanks mate 

I actually chose that name when I joined fish raider because I was thinking about starting up some drone photography for fishing but never got around to it 

[Broughton Black 25-12-21]

Yeh thanks mate 

was a very unexpected catch 

well done on your Sydney catch too 

[Broughton Black 25-12-21]

Hi Raiders Hope you are staying safe

Back during my yearly trip to Hawksnest we had an unexpected but amazing day on 25-12-21 – sorry this tale is late

Headed out through the Myall river to a beautiful morning - some people might have been opening presents on this day but I was looking for a gift from the sea

I picked my bro up from Nelson bay wharf and we went to the livey grounds at cabbage tree to find them scarce

So we decided to use what bait we had and go to some bottom fishing grounds off Broughton

We started to get some mowies, and other reef species in about 40M of water but we were looking for some pearl perch which I had found a few days earlier

 

We moved to a bit deeper water around 60 Meters

I hooked a decent slimy mackerel so decided to put it out as a livie on my kingy rod – shimano saragosa-  3/0 circle hook and 50lb leader

(Water temp was 24.9 and quite clear)

Not having breakfast yet we thought the pies in the warm enough for a hearty meal

As we got half way through our pies-  the livey rod started to twitch a bit - we both called it for maybe a small shark was chomping on the bait

I grab the rod and slowly put pressure on it

A few more big shakes of the rod tip and then we saw some thrashing on the surface

We saw a large tail and a lot of whitewater then it disappeared

We still couldn’t make it out but then the reel began to scream - we thought yes it knows it’s hooked now

Then we saw what we couldn’t believe at first - a black marlin jumps -

My bro says “that’s not our fish is it?”

I said “yes I think it is” ( the line was doing the tricky thing of pointing in one direction and the fish pops up somewhere else )

 

From that moment I said to myself - it will be nice to see this fish but there’s no way we will get it boat side on 50lb leader and a 3/0 circle hook

With Broughton as the backdrop fighting this fish it was an awesome time

But I was very nervous and had mixed feelings

Mostly the fact that I thought it the line would break eventually, or the hook would dislodge

After some more acrobatics we had it at the boat in about 30 mins- (reel drag backed off more than normal)

 

 

Unfortunately my bro missed the first gaff shot - and then I thought it was all over as the fish took off under the boat

After that, this fish didn’t want to come back to the boat -

It circled deep and it was difficult to get it up again-

With persistence and a lot of circle work in the boat we managed to have the fish close again in another 20 mins

Taking no chances we both had gaffs in our hands ready this time

 

It was definitely a moment of disbelief when the fish was in the boat

I was exhausted but happy and my bro was too

We looked at the half eaten pies still on the back of the boat after the fight and we just took a moment to reflect on how things happened so unexpectedly - the time now was 8:00am and we had a whole day of fishing planned.

The 50lb leader was grazed up a bit and it appeared that when we got the fish into the boat the circle hook was just around the bill…

Now…the pressure to catch a feed now was definitely off

We covered and iced the fish - we wanted to keep the flesh in good condition for the table

We were very grateful for this gift from the sea- ( by the way we feed many families and relatives fresh marlin and it didn’t disappoint)

We managed to find a few bonus Pearlies after that and we called it a day at 10:30am

Won’t forget that morning for a while and now I’m convinced to always put a livey out when I’m bottom fishing - but also be prepared for what might come along and eat it

Tight lines raiders and get out fishing while you can!

And thanks for reading

[28-10-21 Long reef exploration and a few fish]

3 hours ago, blairy69 said:

Did you check for the record for Goatfish in Australia that looks a decent size - don't think the record is very big mind you I haven't checked in years.

 

No I haven’t checked 

I didn’t take a picture with a tape over the fish but was around 40cm

you can see the difference lined up with the size snapper 

[28-10-21 Long reef exploration and a few fish]

12 minutes ago, 61 crusher said:

Well done & sticking at it, you turned a potentially fish less  day into a great day, out of curiosity how did the goatfish taste 

Yeh had a firm white fillet from it 

I read some info on them and one source said they feed on prawns so taste a bit like that 

when I opened its stomach yes it was full of small dark reddish prawns 

Cooked it simply in a pan to see the flavour and yes wasnt like anything I’ve had before - but tasty 

had that gelatinous shine if that means anything ha ha 

[28-10-21 Long reef exploration and a few fish]

Thanks for the comments fellow raiders! First time catching the goatfish 😀

[28-10-21 Long reef exploration and a few fish]

Been a while between posts 

In the lockdown downtime been working on the boat as no doubt many of you have too- with about 4 months of very limited work 

Paint touch ups, install a simple freshwater water deck wash, small boat mods and bought a new cmap card for the sounder 

So I’ve been keen to use the the cmap shade relief to find some new spots out off Sydney 

Well Thursday was looking good so I did a couple hours work then headed out around 10am 

Plan was to just investigate a few spots north of Sydney heads towards long reef 

Was nice to be accompanied by light winds and good swell conditions 

Not much current 

Got some live yakkas on way out 

Spent the arvo looking at spots between 30-40m mark occasionally dropping a metal jig or a soft plastic and dropping a live yakka at times 

No good fish came from that but I was marking good bait 

When I found some good bait I thought I would go back to my basic fishing for the evening

Anchor up on a spot off long reef and start a bread berley trail and pilchards cubed

Also had the live bait out 

Well on the first spot no action for 40 mins so decided to move - not much current 

Tried another spot with a bit more current but once again 30 mins no action 

Sun was getting low now so my mind was telling me it’s not a good day for fishing head home before dark 

 

But being a bit stubborn I thought I would head in shallow - 7-15 meters and try some plastics and a light jig in the rod holder 

First cast in towards the reef and a good size pan snapper 

Next cast a 45 cm snapper 

Then the jig rod went off and a 45 cm black spot goat fish ( or banded goat fish)

I kept the cast up but the fish went a bit quiet 

Caught a couple more pannie snapper on the jig 

Then nearly almost dark throwing the plastics and then the light jig rod went off 

Big runs and a nervous 3-4 mins and a good broad shouldered 57cm snapper was up at the boat 

So happy to land a reasonable snapper for Sydney 

Interesting day no fish for most of the day and some exploration and then the last few hours the fish came - all on lures 

5 inch jerk shad green color plastic 

And a 20 gram jig in the rod holder 

Thanks for reading and tight lines raiders 

[Port Stephens- Proud Dad moment (BIG SNAPPER)]

Wow!- what a great time with your boys!! 
Awesome time and good fishing 
“Teach a kid to fish…..” 

congratz mate 

 

[Port Stephens- Back to Broughton (Monster)]

Well done mate-

great fish for your efforts 

keeps us all dreaming 

[Naming your new boat...]

I have often thought how a name like “radio check” would go as a boat name ...

I imagine it would cause a lot of confusion and NOT be the best name ...

[Getting Closer - Took a while to get over it - report from 27/2/21 off JB]

Thanks for the detailed experience mate

its always hard to get over 

sometimes little mistakes like will keep you awake at night for years to come ha ha 

you guys deserved a fish 

but everyone has their story 

you’ll get there for sure!! 

[Terrigal Beakie 27-12-20]

Fantastic report and experience

thanks for sharing

[Port Stephens- Turns it On!]

Fantastic effort

[Windamere Yellas 21/22-11-20]

Awesome story and fishing report

nice photos to go with it!!

want to try that form of fishing one day based on this experience 

[1 Metre King broke the metre mark OMG!]

Well done 

Epic catch mate 

[Got My Snapper Mounted!]

Congratulations mate

Very nice looking piece of art there!! 

Love the detail!!