roughstyler

Interesting. I have also read the same thing. There are some that say don't touch anything other than Shimano for bait-runner sort of stuff. I, of course, don't have enough experience as of yet to offer an informed opinion about them.

Unfortunately, no. I wish I did. Sorry, I completely forgot to mention that. That's why most of the time I'm only able to fish overcrowded spots near to public transport.

I'm 19 and live in the Inner West. I'm quite new to fishing and have been targetting Kings with live Yellowtail recently, but fishing for anything with someone much more experienced with me is always rewarding. I don't think I've ever caught a fish longer than 30cm and have only hooked on to a King once, so I'm stoked with just about anything I catch. I don't have a boat, and have never really been out on one, but I'm happy to fish land-based and wherever is the least hassle for anyone willing to take me out with them. I don't have much gear, but enough to support myself (assuming we're fishing with bait and not lures), and I should have enough money to buy some bait. I'm not fussy with the spot as long as it isn't too windy or cold. I'm available most Tuesdays, Fridays and weekends.

Yeah, I've read that a few times (after I'd made the purchase). I'm not very experienced and bought what I could at the time, not knowing what would be the most ideal. There are so many mixed opinions too, which makes knowing what to do as a beginner all the more difficult.

Cheers for the great advice! How do I know when the drag is set to about 30% of the line's strength? I have a Baitrunner reel, so I can leave it open when the fish jumps on and takes off, then switch over to the pre-set drag.

Yeah, I think it was tricky cause it went under and over a few people's lines. I think they would've been happy to move, but I was too caught up in the excitement to properly think about how to go about it. Inevitably, I'm gutted now knowing that I lost it through poor technique, but I can't wait to head back. It's probably really difficult to tell based off a video, and I know hook placement also affects how hard a fish pulls, but does anyone have some sort of idea as to what size that King would've been? Also, off-topic. Has anybody had some success with Kings at Birchgrove Wharf (at the end of Louisa Rd)? I think I'll be heading there soon to have a shot at getting my first King, and I much prefer the area to Pier 2.

Cheers everyone! All the advice is really appreciated. Here's the video (you don't have to download it): https://www.dropbox.com/s/1r0p3l4yn2s84ag/20150327_183942.mp4?dl=0 Letting me know what I did wrong would really help out.

Cheers guys. I guess I'll know what to do next time. It's really disappointing that I could've potentially landed the fish, but messed up because I didn't know how to handle it. I really wanted to follow the fish but my line went over so many people's and it would've been an absolute mess of tangles, so I wasn't able to move too far. Next time I may be fishing in fairly open water (Birchgrove Wharf). Should I go a bit easy on the drag in that case?

A couple of mates and I headed up to Pier 2 last Friday, and while not a whole lot was caught, I really wanted to ask you guys about what happened. We arrived at around 1:00 PM, and no one landed anything for a few hours besides a single Diamond Fish. I was going for Yakkas to send out as live-bait, and I think my mates were going for anything that took their bait. We sort of took a break for a little while until we saw a lady pulling up Yakka after Yakka, which was when we decided to get up and join her. My mate landed one pretty soon after and I was really excited to send it out. At about 6:30 PM, something jumped on. This was the first time I've ever been hooked onto a big fish. I'll try and upload the video later (my mate hasn't sent it over yet), but for now I'll just have to explain what happened as best as I can. The fish (I assume was a King) was taking a bunch of line, and fast, and this is where my inexperience shined through. Someone on this board recently told me that the more gentle you are with Kings, the more gentle they'll be with you, and I'd also read many others saying that same thing, so I've always kept that in mind ever since. The fish was running out to open water, but was also sort of heading in the direction of the pylons (plus it went over a bunch of people's lines), and so I was unsure of what to do. I did want to be gentle with the fish, but it felt like my winding was redundant, as so much line was being taken, and so I tightened the drag a bit. The whole time I was worried that if I tightened the drag, the fish would head toward the pylons, but it seemed like it was almost going there anyway, so I made the decision. Eventually, it got to the pylons and broke my leader. Although I'd just lost a fish, I was beyond stoked. It was such a surreal experience. However, now that I've been thinking about it, I'm quite gutted about what happened. I keep thinking that it was a lack of technique/experience that lost the fish. I'd feel a lot better if I found out that I probably would've lost the fish regardless of how I handled it, but I'll probably never know. It's important to note that most people at Pier 2 completely overkill their set-up and so they just lock their drags and pull the fish in with sheer force. I don't have that option, nor would I want to do what they do anyway. My mainline is 30 pounds and the leader is 50, so I'm not sure how to steer the fish away from the structure, but maybe that's just about getting lucky. At this point, I still don't know if I should've left the drag as it was, or tightened it even more. I don't remember the rod loading up a lot, so I think that I could've gone with a tighter drag (but then again, I was probably too excited to notice). I'm sure the video will make it a lot clearer, and I'll try to upload it as soon as get it. Can I get any advice on what to do in the future? My winding was probably of poor technique too. At one point I was trying to do what I see done quite a lot, where the rod is pulled up, then it moves back down while winding quite fast, but I don't know if I was doing it correctly, or if it is what I should've done in that situation. I know different techniques and drag settings are adjusted toward a specific situation, and there's not one all-purpose drag setting or technique for every scenario, but maybe I can get some help with knowing when to do what. Or maybe it's just a matter of learning through experience.

That isn't the case at all. I just have a few constraints either due to a lack of money, lack of space (room for a bucket in my bag, for example) or just liking things done in a certain way. In no way am I rejecting any advice in this thread, and I appreciate all the replies. I'm just looking for what's the most applicable and practical in my situation, and also hoping to confirm my idea that Yakkas being around is more important than bait type. In terms of fishing, I seem to like things done simply (for example, I really love my King rig with just an unweighted line-to-line connection straight to the hook). It's not that other methods don't work, or I'm not willing to change things up, it's just that I like to go with what I'm comfortable with. And for Yakkas, I'd really rather sticking to a single hook. Also, I have to walk quite a distance with my gear, and that contributes to me wanting things as simple and minimal as possible. I hope you can see that people have clearly listed different baits in this thread, and they all seem to work well. All I was getting at, was that if that is the case, bread might work just as well too, and success is likely more dependent on Yakka presence rather than bait type (like I said above). Yes, there's no doubt Pilchards are a great option, but they also leave your hands stinking like fish, whereas bread does not. I'm not declining these suggestions at all, and I hope it doesn't look like that. You're correct - when things aren't working, it'd be wise to try something new, and that's what I'll surely be doing. However, the last time I went fishing, there were a whole bunch of people going for Yakkas with a range of different baits (from Pilchards to minced beef to chicken breast to bread) and nobody got a thing. What does that suggest?

Thanks a lot for the advice mate. Coat hangers are definitely not as issue. However, I don't really understand the way you're clamping them to the pier. Can you try to explain it again? Sorry, I'm not the best at visualising things, I usually have to see to understand.

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately, no. I really don't have the money for that and my tackle box only has the bare basics. I'm confident in saying that my sinker is probably too big for the task, but that's all I have, and it'll have to do for now. Does my hook size look okay? Pier 2 (Sydney Harbour). There are definitely better spots for both catching Yakkas and Kingfish, but having neither a car, nor a boat minimises my options. Thanks a lot mate! I'd never heard of that before, and from what I've just read, Butterflied Yakka seems to be a great bait. Now I at least have something to do if the live-bait doesn't seem to be getting any attention from the Kings. However, I do always worry that if I'm on my other rod going for Yakkas, the other rod will get pulled in if something jumps on. Someone told me that I'd be fine if I rested my rod with just the tip hanging over the pier, but when doing that with the smaller rod, even some of the Diamond Fish were almost pulling it in (they would've if I hadn't quickly grabbed the rod).

Yeah, re-baiting with bread can be quite a pain when you know the fish are there. Thankfully, chicken breast seems to be a bit more tough (not as tough as Pilchards, but it still lasts quite a while). I'm fishing off a pier. When the fish are on, they seem to stick just a little under the structure (which is a bit hard to get to), and the Yakkas seem to be around 2-3 metres down (they're usually at the point where they're just visible, but wouldn't be seen if they were a little deeper). Maybe what's happening is that what I think I'm seeing are Yakkas, but they're actually the Diamond Fish. They really look like Yakkas, but my results suggest otherwise. I'll try casting out a bit further (I usually just drop the bait straight down as it's easy to get burley straight down). Cheers mate! Thanks mate, but I'd rather not use a Sabiki rig. I've read a lot of people saying that with all the tangles and specific ways you have to get the bait off (holding the sinker), it's more efficient to simply use a single hook. It's also more manageable that way. Well, I was only trying to get one. It was my second time fishing with my new rod that I bought mainly for Kings, and I was hoping to get a Yakka for live-bait, so I spent the entire day doing so. On that day I got one really early in the morning, used it on the new rod, and it ended up catching itself on one of the pylons after about 20 minutes. The rest of the day was just spent trying to get another. A Sabiki rig would be impractical for me in these circumstances, mainly because I can only catch one Yakka at a time anyway (I don't have a bucket or space for one, and so I have to catch a single Yakka, try it out as live-bait, and then fish for another Yakka only once the first gets taken or dies). Plus, I'd rather use a single hook for the reasons mentioned above.

I believe a size 12, here: Though, the ones that caught the two Yakkas were slightly larger than that (size 10), but I decided to switch to the smaller ones just to see if that'd help. Not sure if they'll work better yet. It's just a mainline>sinker>swivel >mainline lead>hook. Lead is about 40cm long. Unweighted wasn't possible as the wind would've prevented it from sinking.

Nah, I'm talking about these: http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/581 And yeah, a lot of people like to use Pilchards because of how tough they are. I prefer anything that doesn't leave your hands stinking of fish. I think they just weren't there in big numbers. Reading through the 'Yakka Tactics!' topic, it seems most things will do. One guy said this: Every suggestion seems to confirm the fact that whether you catch Yakkas or not is so much more dependent on their presence rather than bait-type. Of course, they may prefer one bait over another on some days, but that's still not as important as them being around. Cheers for the reply mate.

I've found it quite tough to catch some Yakkas for live-bait in the two times I've been fishing recently and am wondering if it's just a matter of being unlucky, or if there's something I'm doing wrong. I'll go from first light to late afternoon and only get one or two in that entire time. When I went Yesterday, I got one pretty quickly at around 6:00 am, but then could not get another for the entire time I was there (I stayed to about 4:00 pm). That said, no one else was getting any bites from anything for about 4 hours straight, which leads me to believe that I've just been having an unlucky couple of days. Once the long dry-spell was over, I could actually see fish under the burley stream, and they looked like Yakkas (at least, it looked like some of the fish were). However, every time I sent bait down, a Diamond Fish would jump on, and I'd end up getting a bunch of those, and not a single Yakka. The same thing happened the first time - after no action, the fish finally appeared around the burley stream, but I only landed one Yakka and a whole bunch of Diamond Fish. The burley I've been using is bread that I scrape on the edge of the pier to make it into small crumbs. When the fish are about, that's seemed to work fine, and I'd really rather avoid changing what I use for burley. The bait is either bread or chicken (people gave me some of their left over chicken breast so I figured I may as well use it) and I've caught a Yakka on both. This leads me to believe that it's not so much the bait I'm using as much as it having to do with the fish being around. It's known that Yakkas will jump on quite a range of baits, which only confirms that it has to do with their presence more than anything else. However, is there any bait the Diamond Fish are not usually interested in? Any advice would be really appreciated.

Aren't you meant to be measuring to the end of the tail? http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/regulations/sw/sw-bag-and-size/measure You will be pushing past 80cm.

Incredible! Man, this is so reassuring. I'm glad you shared this story. Sounds like an amazing day out. I cannot imagine the excitement you got when a fish hooked on to the live-bait and the rod bounced like crazy. I am so looking forward to that! How was the fight of the Salmon compared to the King?

Yeah, he tied the braid to the swivel. I wasn't really happy with him doing it at the time, especially since the live-bait had to be taken out of the water for it to be done, but his intentions were nice. The reason for the long leader was because I don't have a net or gaff, and I'm fishing off a pier.

Awesome, that would've been so much fun. The only Tailors I've caught have been in like the 20cm range or under.

Great catch. Although bread is typically used for burley, it can work so well as a main bait. It's cheap, you get burley and bait in one, and like you said, there's the benefit of not stinking like fish.

Do they attack from behind? If so, that would explain what happened. And yeah, I really prefer line-to-line.

Haha, yeah, I was really worried I was going to hook on to the bird. I see. I guess it's something I'll pick up with time. Thanks mate!

Awesome guys! I'd been doubting the set-up for a while now, so hearing that it's fine is a big relief, and it's so reassuring to hear stories of legal Kings being caught with a lighter line-strength than mine. I figured that guy had no idea what he was talking about, but he was genuinely trying to help, so I wasn't sure what to do. Should've just left the set-up as it was, but I hesitantly let him adjust it. Regarding being calm with Kings, I've been given a bunch of different advice. Some say to up the drag all the way and reel as fast/hard as you can. Others say to leave the drag quite low and reel very fast, and I've also been told to leave the drag low, and take your time with the fish. What would be the best option in this scenario (that being a pier with a bunch of pylons around that the fish can easily run to)? I also remember hearing that if you let the King run for a little before trying to fight it, it will usually head out away from the pylons. Also, a balloon/float probably would be a good idea, but I explained why I'd rather not use one above. Cheers everyone for all the comments and advice, I really appreciate it.

Hey mate, cheers for the advice. I actually memorised quite a few knots that could run cleanly through the guides before setting up the new rig, but having never used heavy line like that, I didn't realise how much more difficult knot tying becomes. So, I knew how to do them in theory, but just kept screwing them in practice, and it was getting pretty frustrating. I couldn't even get the Bimini Twist right, which meant that I couldn't even try out the knots I was planning on using. That's why I settled for the Double-Uni, and even that was a little bit challenging because the thickness of the fluorocarbon meant that the line would spin like a slinky. I guess I'll get better with experience, but at this point I'll likely just end up getting frustrated with anything that isn't very simple. Thanks mate, that's really reassuring. I don't think the bigger fish were mullet. From underwater, they sort of looked like this (though, they didn't appear to be blue): http://rudy.hemnet.com.au/images/Eastern%20Blue%20Groper.jpg But I'm sure many fish look like that. Cheers mate, making me less worried about getting busted off. Yeah, it's funny how they attack from the front 9 times out of 10, and this one goes from behind twice haha. I think these were the fish: http://www.fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/581 I wasn't sure about their legal size so I just chucked them all back. Cheers mate. I actually originally got a float for this exact purpose, but after trying unweighted, I really loved how simple it is and the fact that I can control the fish if it starts to swim toward the pylons. Also, because I don't have a car, I have to walk quite a bit holding both the rods, and I get a bit frustrated when there's a bunch of line everywhere, and a float would make this worse. When the rig is unweighted, I can reel it in all the way and simply have a hook at the end, which is easy to manage.