Captain Spanner

Great fish mate. You have figured out all of the hardest bit. And often times that happens at the DNS it can be unforeseen or unavoidable anyway. What luderick is saying above is a great trick. When the fish is close to shore in the closing stages of the fight, don't stand directly in front of it. Stand off to the side a bit so when the shore break washes him up and back a few times (or more) before he is ready he is still under pressure but when the waves (and fish) rush back out the fish is swinging on a bit of an arc (side to side in relation to you and not in and out) so you don't have to react as quickly to run towards it or bleed line quick enough to release the pressure. Eventually you can creep closer for the side and wash him up to beach him. Especially safer when fishing at night and you can't see where the waves and fish are as easily. I always back the drag down at the end when there is less line out and less stretch in the system (and line could break or loss of tension and the hook fall out). If you have a fishing mate with you to gill or gaff the fish he can do that while you still stand a short distance away to the side (and even up the sand a bit) in case the fish does make a last dash out with a wave. I'm looking forward to the picture of your next big bopper.

I use the neoprene boots with the spikes. I think they are more comfortable and more versatile. I think cleats can be a trip hazard on some rock surfaces. I use Dunlop volleys with no cleats on the northern breakwalls because they provide good grip when wet as the rocks are to hard for cleats or spikes and the metal slides on the rocks.

Maybe add your budget. For casting and graphite $200-$400 Have a look at the new or old shimano revolution coastal range or aero wave graphite <$200. Try the daiwa sensor surfs the izm range with the k guides has an extra heavy in 15foot but you'll need to cut the but down as it's super long to allow for personalisation. It is also hard going on the angler as it is long and stuff but can cast big baits. The heavy penn prevail might be a goer straight off the rack about $200. For less casting and more weight in your hand but a beautiful action look at the Snyder glass range in different tapers and wraps affordable. There will be a rod out there. More money, $400+ look into South African surf rods in general. I can't help with brands off the top of my head. They cast big baits and do a lot of slide baiting.

Thanks mate. I might base it on two hours late then for the first trip to allow some spare time. Is it a similar 2.5 hours for the low?

Hi everyone, I'm most likely heading up to Forster towards the end of January for a long weekend and after some clarification on the tides. I will probably fish at least one day outside in a mates haines (conditions permitting) but will be intending having a crack at some Jewies off the wall hope fully a couple of tide changes. I have fished the breakwall at Port Mac quite a few times but only fished Forster (tuncurry side) once. I tried to fish the turn of the high but it seemed to start running out about two hours after high tide on the chart (fort Denison) and a local fella showed up to specifically fish the run out to coincide pretty perfectly for this delayed time. I understand that the direction of the visible surface water is not always an indication of whether the tide is going in/out up/down as it can fill up underneath and appear to be flowing out on the surface but this did not seem to be the case at Tuncurry. Can someone please give me an idea if there is actually almost a two hour delay on the turn of the high tide there, also if the same delay or a different delay applies to to the turn of the low. I would like to be able to plan my trips from a timeline point of view as the tides on the chart are set to be 21:14, 21:56, 22:35 and are around the 1.4m with the daytime tides being 1.8m. It is either side of the full moon. I haven't checked the moonrise/set times. I would be really appreciative if anyone is able to give me an idea of when the actual turn will be on these days because as you can appreciate going away with people with a young family there is a massive difference between a session running 9pm to midnight vs midnight or later through til 3am. I will be trying to fish livies or squid strips most likely with some lure work as well depending on bait availability. Thanks in advance.

Thumb knot or uni knot. Sometime the uni knot can make the line curly above the knot.

Hi mate. I've only fished foster once, on the tuncurry side for jewies. I didn't get any but the guys next to me got a couple around 5kg on live yakkas, but he was a local and knew what he was doing. You will see guys like that up there and they spend a lot of time doing it. I think you would probably be better off fishing for bream as they are a bit easier to find, target, catch and land. First thing about any type of fishing like this is safety. Know your ability, balance and experience in regards to reading water and waves as a lot of water moves through there. Pick a safe part of the wall. I recommend Dunlop volleys or ribbed rubber soled wetsuit booties. Do NOT wear cleats or rock spikes on breakwall as the rocks are too hard and they will be super slippery. Fish an hour either side of the tide when the water moves slower. It might take you a day or so to figure out how the tides relate to the tide chart up there. Pick a spot where the water eddies or swirls as this will concentrate food and make it easier for fish to save energy. The bream will most likely be close to the bottom of the wall. Berley with something like soaked bread, prawn heads, bait scraps etc. just a bit at a time but not until the water really slows. Fish with a small ball sinker about the size of a pea right down on the hook. Start with something Between a size 4 and a 1/0. Fish with peeled prawns, cubes of pilchard, fresh worms, fresh squid, bread, pieces of crabs you catch from the wall. Experiment with baits until one works. If you get no bites or just rubbish fish and no good bites after 15-20 min maybe move to your next spot. First thing in the morning and last light in the evening are better if you can get a tide change close to then. If you have a blackfishing skill set that would be a good option too. You will lose a lot of gear to snags figuring out each spot. Float fishing is also an option. Good luck.

No matter what length rod I'm using (including the beach) I run a touch over a rod length. I have the leader knot just above my finger when casting so I never have the leader knot on the spool. Except my kingfish jigging and downrigging setups that I don't cast. They have anywhere from 3-6 metres on them.

You can also loop one a few times into the but of your rod and drop the little dropper sinker of your bait jig through to hold your bait jig straight out along the length of your rod to minimise tangles throughout the day when the rod is not in use. Also to hold sinkers against your rods in running sinker rigs when travelling, driving, walking and also as a cheap alternative for temporary rod wraps provided you have strong enough band for the job you are doing. Be aware they do break down and go manky over time.

I think that the kill switch lanyards definitely have their applications and are great for the purposes they were designed for. Especially solo in tiller steers in certain but not all situations and I'm sure any people will already make their own judgements on that. Also side and centre consoles that have no seat or stool to catch the driver if they lose their footing. A blanket rule for all moving vessels is not one of these applications. I fish out of a very capable 4.7 m Haines half cab and am very safety conscious. I used to have people in the boat wear jackets in circumstances I deemed necessary long before it was mandated to be done in many unnecessary and inconvenient circumstances. I also have always had a kill switch with lanyard installed and have used it in situations I thought were necessary. It has never been required for it's designed purpose thankfully. It has however been bumped off a couple of times accidentally by crew and has slipped off when a new floaty key ring that was a tad too heavy bounced it off so I changed key ring. As anyone who has had one of these kill switches go off especially when you are travelling in control and have no reason to think otherwise, knows, it creates a situation that is ripe to cause a serious incident that most likely would not have otherwise occurred. The boat stops suddenly, may jolt, depending on the style of kill switch motor and boat, crew and drivers slam into windscreens, lose balance or could go over the side, it can make your boat obviously unpredictable to other boats if it stops for no apparent reason as it was just unpredictable to you, who were driving it. Not to mention the massive inconvenience factor for your simple slower moving activities as fishing, trolling, docking if you want to get technical. I'm pretty sure drifting is underway as well as you have control of the vessel. Real handy for jigging kings or fly fishing to be attached to a side console with a lanyard. My main beef with all of the blanket rules is the people they are designed to save won't obey the rules and the people who will follow the rules because they like to do the right thing probably already take the right steps and do these things "in the necessary circumstances" anyway. Sorry for the rant. I like you guys are sick of being plastered by rules to save people who won't follow them anyway.

6-12kg is the recommended line weight (breaking strain) to suit the action of the rod. The other important factor is recommended casting weight if you are intending using livebaits as they can get heavy and you may need a different rod. A 6-12kg rod is fine on 30-40lb braid. Just be conscious or strain on your rod when busting off snags etc. or locking up your drag. A glass rod means a fibreglass rod. A bait runner reel has a function where you effectively have two drag settings. You can have the reel set with a very light (free spool) like setting to allow your live bait to swim out or to allow the fish to swim off with the bait with minimal pressure to give him time to swallow it before sensing something is suss. You can engage full fighting drag almost instantly to set the hook and fight the fish by either flicking the lever or winding the handle rather than grabbing the spool and manually increasing the drag with the drag knob.

Take some squid with you and fish for jewies off the beach if you can't get a boat ride. Most of the beaches hold them up there. You'll just need to pick your spot based on gutters and conditions on the day.

Hi mate, the length of rod will be more dictated on where you will mainly be fishing with it. I would recommend going 12ft for the beach to keep your line up out of the shore break and it can help with casting too. A bit of extra length also helps around rocks and breakwalls to help steer fish away from objects you don't want your line near. It also helps with casting longer rigs. For fish in the range you are talking about I could recommend the shimano aero wave composite in heavy. It's a 6-12kg rod and is easily suited to that range. It's a very user friendly rod and light in the hand. It will cast live baits like yakkas happily and can pelt squid strips and strip baits well if you shape them aerodynamically. It also will handle big fish if you keep it loaded up well through the fight not being brutal on the angler as heavier rods might be. Reel wise I'm not sure if the 3000 spools fit the 2500 reels or the 4000 reels but I would be looking at at least a 4000 size as a minimum. No need to go over an 8000. Depending on the fish you are chasing and you preferences you would probably get away with 30-50lb braid or 20-30 mono on an 8000. One if my favourite beach setups is the aero wave rod spoken about above with an old shimano 6500B bait runner reel. I run 65lb whiplash braid which is overkill for the fish and the rod but the reason I do it is because I like to use a 50lb trace and when I get spooled by a ray or shark on the beach or off a breakwall and have all 300m of line out I like to know when I lock it up that the line will break at the other end so I don't lose all of my braid. This means I don't have to buy 300m more braid and it also means my night is not over from losing all of my line. Most importantly for me it also means whatever spooled me has 30-40cm of fluorocarbon in its lip and not 300m of braid which I'm sure would be in incident to tow around. If you want to cast bigger baits than live yakkas you may want to look at the aero wave graphite in heavy. It is 13ft and has a lot of grunt both casting and fighting fish. The penn prevails are also a great range of rods. Also the daiwa sensor surfs. The penns are a little pricier and the sensor surfs more so again. Glass rods are also an option and have some great advantages, including durability and nice soft action but are heavier to hold and don't cast quite as well. If you are interested in glass rods then look at something with a MT7144 or FSU5144 blank. MT is multi taper, FSU is fast surf, 7 or 5 are the number of wraps (rod building terminology) and 144 is 144 inches (12ft long) Any questions post them up. An 8000 size bait runner might be a good start if you are starting live baiting land based. 30lb braid will cast further but obviously 50lb is stronger. I fish a rod length of leader then trace.

You are killing it. Great work mate.

Is the pickup permanently under the water surface? If I drive and forget mine is on is sucks air bubble and it continues to suck air until I turn it off and on again and sometimes have to reprise it by splashing water down the line for the outlet into the tank end. You might be sucking air somewhere in your intake line, you may have a small leak or may be sucking air at the start of the intake if the boat rocks and the intake comes out of the water for a second this could possibly be burning the pumps out or maybe they are ok but when An air leak gets I to the line it won't suck water. I also once sucked up a tiny bit of braid that wrapped up and killed a new pump and another time a piece of balloon did the same thing. Especially on elbow intakes facing down for some reason. Probably just coincidence.

Myself and a mate are just about to invest in one of these or similar subscriptions and currently have no account with any of them. Can you guys offer an opinion as to which way you would go if you were starting fresh and didn't yet have any commitments or grudges (as justified as they are for current subscribers who have effectively been jipped) Thanks

I haven't done much fishing for kings from wharfs but I'm sure some guys on here can help a bit more. I would be trying to fish an unweighted live yakka or yakka about 3m under a float if possible to keep your bait out of the kelp and swimming around naturally. The kelp may hold squid for you to catch for bait. They might also try to steal your livies so have a jig spare to switch them onto if you feel your livie being pulled away in a pulse motion, wind it in slow and drop the jig next to it and then pull the livie away rom the squid so his only option is the jig. Rig wise for the squid bait, you still want your bait up out of the kelp so maybe 3-5m under a float or on a running sinker rig with about 6ft from the swivel to the bait. You could use a ball sinker if casting onto the sand or a snapper lead on about a metre of lighter line to a sliding swivel if fishing on the rougher bottom in case it snags up. Alternatively fish a small ball sinker right down on the hook with your squid or yakka fillet. This should be pretty snag proof too and a lot less tangles.

I have caught kingies on yellowtail fillets and slimy fillets. The sinker or rig you use will depend a lot on the situation you are fishing. My first choice fishing for kings would be live or fresh squid on one rod and a live slimy or live yakka (preferably smaller than a Mars bar) on another rod. Rigs will vary depending on situation. If you give me some example locations/ situations you are fishing for the kingies I can let you know how I would approach it and adapt it to what suits you because everyone will have different techniques and opinions and the trick is to experiment with whatever ideas you can pick up from anywhere and see what works for you. The fun part is trying to guess why it worked and attempt to repeat it in the same and then different scenarios.

If you are having trouble with the tail scutes on the yakka fillets, trim them with your braid scissors and reshape the bait quickly if required. They do hold onto the hook well however. Re: gang hooks - what you might gain in apparent hookup rate you may lose in hook dislodgement or hook bending/breaking on decent kings. You could probably get away with a single hook through the tip of the fillet for a king snd probably salmon as they (especially the king) hit the bait head on and swallow it anyway. If you would like more hooks spread down your bait (I do ) just run a two hook rig with a fixed snell. It's a stronger rig and the hooks should stay in better. Gang hooks are an advantage on tailor that chop or snap at the bait instead of swallowing it but you will still catch them on the snell. The gangs do have an advantage with bite offs but any leader over 40lb should be safe for most sydney tailor.

I'd say yes to both questions. That's where we launch both a 4.7 and 6.5 glass boat and it's all good. It's not super low tomorrow anyway. Just be careful of the ramp being slick for the car when dropping it in.

An ideal area for crays will have kelp, irregular bottom , preferably slab rocks with crevices or boulder fields with lots of kelp. They like high energy and washy areas. Pots best left out overnight and check in the morning. If you leave your crays in the pots too long the occys steel them. Beware of wobbies, morays and catfish. They all live in the same places and all can damage pots and hands. It might sound like I have described the entire sydney coast but that's pretty accurate. Make sure you don't get your boat in any hairy spots dropping or picking up pots keep in mind the swell and tide may be different when you are returning to collect your pot.

They do have soft mouths and while you might not tear their lips off you can wear/tear a hole the their mouth or lip that the hook can fall out of if you lose pressure for a second. This can be cut by the profile of the hook or the barb or just the pressure. It just happens but if you fish a bit lighter drag and make sure you always have a bend in your rod to not lose tension you should hold onto a few. Circle hooks should not fall out as easily and should set in a stronger spot. We always caught them on gamakatsu worm hooks in a 1 or 1/0 fishing nippers and peeled prawns for bream. We usually fished 6-10lb mono but also fish all manners of braid and plastics and still get them. Just don't go too hard and always keep pressure.

If the spare tank is fixed or under floor it is probably worth plumbing both. If the main tank is fixed and spares are mobile or jerry cans like my setup you can either use a jiggle siphon or a screw on flexible nozzle on the jerry can which I use and doesn't spill. We use a 20l jerry can, put the end of the nozzle in the tank then invert the jerry can so there is no opportunity for spillage. If you do use a jiggle siphon I recommend a reinforced hose with the nylon thread through it to make it stiffer because it is really frustrating with the standard clear hose that can get kinked and obstruct flow when it goes around bends which is it's job.

Nice work. You must have some fit arms. Thanks for the tips. I will keep that rod/winch combo idea in mind as it looks like a good one with the benefits of both rod shock absorption and winch power.

Nice fish mate. Did you get that on an electric or on that overhead sitting in the side of the photo? I'm looking at a rod and reel setup for bottom bashing at browns while the others run the electric. I've used a tekota 700 out there a few times before and the level wind is convenient but harness lugs would definitely help on a decent fish.