Mike89

Haha bet they weren't as big as the one your fella caught!

Awesome tips here on dealing with finicky bream. Cheers guys, most valuable. I normally fish with a short length of 6lb leader and am now thinking of getting something even lighter for them.

Quality time with the family on the water. Great to put the little fella onto a good fish. Caught a big one - my first fish - myself at a similar age fishing with my old man and got me hooked for life!

Awesome post mate, I've heard the salmon are being quite finicky at the moment. Cheers for the great read and for posting up the video. I'll have a watch a bit later so I can catch the whole thing. Nice work!

Solid effort on the light braid there. Amazing how it all comes together sometimes just as you're about to turn it in for the day. Well done to your boy and best of luck for his future fishing adventures!

Great report and an awesome photo of a beaut fish for the memory book. In my mind it is always worthwhile to take the extra couple of minutes to grab a happy snap or two. Well done! Can't wait to hit the beach this summer. What length rod were you using?

Derek has offered up some great advice there from his wealth of experience picking up kingies on the light gear. For me I think it was a combination of luck and staying level-headed and not trying to bring it under complete control in the first few runs. I think Jon D mentioned once that he tells his kids that the harder you fight a king the harder the fish will fight you. It suddenly came to me while I had the fish on the line and so tried not to be too aggressive with the strike and with steering. Been back a couple of times with the same jerk shad on the same jighead chasing another one.

Cheers Luke, thanks for the encouragement! There are some good fish around at the moment. Salmon jumping around this evening although we weren't able to get any hook-ups. I know Derek has had some success with the salmon in this area recently. Yep, for sure. Let's go out again soon! Thanks! Setup is a 4-7kg Lox Iridium and a 3000 Caldia. 15lb braid, 16lb leader. Jigheads with 2/0 hooks between 1/6 oz and 3/8 oz. What's next? Jew on plastics! Mate they had better! Season is gearing up and the harbour is starting to fire. Let's get out again soon, I'm having too much fun with the soft plastics these days. Thanks to all for reading and for the responses. Can't wait to get the next one!

Nice to see you're getting some trevs around BW. Great fighting fish, always good fun. Good work and nice report!

Trout form the Hawkesbury hey, interesting catch! What did you nab this one on?

Seems there the breambos were out today in numbers. Another mate out with the family in Darling Harbour today sent through a video showing a massive school of bream around this size feeding at the surface. Good stuff PF, plastics or bait? Nice effort.

Hit up the harbour around Balmain and Blackwattle this weekend and had some roaring success on some new gear. On Friday night with the old man in town I asked him to join me for a quick flick down at Blackwattle Bay. Walking up and down the drop-off to a couple of holes I'd had some success on I was casting out small lures on 1/12 and 1/20 jig heads hoping for a big bream or EP. As we were about to turn it in for the evening I had a final cast out with a tiny 2 inch squidgee and a 1/20 jig head. Hitting the bottom I felt a soft pull and then a bit of a thump. Coming up tight on my ultra light gear it started to feel like a serious fish. After a long wrestle on 6lb line with some solid runs, with no net handy I sent my dad down onto the oysters to grab the fish by hand. On 6lb line, a 3kg rod and a little Stradic 1000 I nabbed my PB flathead, coming in at 75cm: Saturday I dropped into the tackle shop to spool up a heavier outfit with 15lb line. The rod is a 4-7kg Lox with a 3000 Caldia, intended for bigger plastics fishing. Derek has shown me the ropes on tossing out bigger plastics - 5", 6" and even 9" shads and slapsticks - for larger pelagic species and after getting the basics down over the course of a few masterclass sessions with the pro I picked up the outfit for summer. While waiting for a mate who was tied up with a sick kid at home, I went down to a little bay in Balmain where I have had some success with flatties and blackfish previously. Launching out some of the bigger shads I had some hook-ups with some decent fish, however both times I managed to lose the fish before I even got to catch a glimpse of what I'd hooked onto. Switching to something lighter I put on a 5" shad in nuclear chicken and pitched it out on a 1/6 jighead. A couple of flicks, a pause and then wham! I was on as the pressure came down like a tonne of bricks. My reel started to burn off line. After the first intense few runs I was fairly sure what I was onto and looked to play it cool as I was only on a 16lb leader, letting the fish take line at will and keeping the pressure on as best I could. I tried to keep the fish off the rocks and oysters to the left, trying to pull him in close enough to where I could potentially grab the leader. The fish had other ideas, dragging me around the corner to where I had to fight it from high up on a ledge. Pump and wind, pump and wind, and there it was: glimmering a few feet under the surface, the unmistakable yellow lateral line, shiny green back and forked yellow tail. It was a king for sure, and I saw it with my own eyes! It floated around, exhausted for 30 seconds before beating its tail and taking another powerful run off into the deep. I need a net, I thought. I flagged down a passing car, yelling over to them that I needed some help. Without much exchange, I tossed them my car keys and told them my net was in the boot. Unfortunately they weren't much good with the net so I decided to pull the fish onto the rocks and grab it myself. I walked it over, easing the spent fish onto the rocks, jumped down the ledge and grabbed the fish by the tail. There you go! First king on plastics, first king in 18 months and my second PB in 24 hours. Came in at 78cm and 6kg. What a weekend! A big thank you to Derek who has introduced me to this kind of fishing and who taught me the retrieve and gave me the confidence that you can actually catch big fish on light line with this technique and a bit of patience and persistence. Cheers mate!

Nice score of flatties there mate, keep up the good work.

Nice catch, your post has definitely piqued my interest in getting one myself. Always great to nab a nice fish on new gear.

Good work mate, that's a nice fish. I missed out on kings last season. I'm hoping to get onto a good fish soon! What gear were you using and what sort of lure?

That's a mighty fine specimen you've wrangled there. Great photo.

Ripper squid there, you taking it home for a feed? Rough conditions out over the weekend.

Balmoral wharf is a pretty regular spot for yakkas if the other places aren't working out for you.

These guys seem to be turning up all over the harbour at the moment. A mate caught a few up in Port Nelson as well. I pulled out four on Friday night from the beach. As others have said there is a parasite in the flesh that can be harmful and that you shouldn't eat them. I cut mine up into strip baits and salted them for jewies. Looks like a good bait.

Nice report Ash, it's great to spend some quality time away from other commitments and out on the water. Some ripper squid you guys have pulled up there. And to take your wife's side on the bakery detour, a bakery stop is a must for an early morning session. Always worth the extra few mins for a hot piece of pastry to set you right for a sunrise session!

Beautiful photos as usual Jon D and a nice photo of your son with his snappy snap. Great to hear you guys are learning to speak penguin! I never even realised these little guys were around Sydney Harbour until a pair popped up one morning fishing plastics with Derek around Mosman. Awesome info on the boat. A mate was considering getting himself one of these so I'll have to link him in to his thread.

Looks like a good day out. I recognise the spot - was fishing there with a mate back before winter and we turned up zilch! Will have to get out there one morning when the weather starts to warm up again!

Good stuff fellas, I'll have to get out with you guys again sometime soon. Tough luck on the net! A couple of months back I took a mate out to catch his first blackfish. He hooked up to a nice sized fish and I missed it with the net. He took it well but I did feel terrible for letting his first blackie get away. In the end he eventually did get one in the bag. Nice report!

Always nice to have a sneaky quick session turn out some good fish. Good fun on the light gear also. Nice report!

Forget the rod mate that's a morning you'll remember forever! Great to see the big fellas start to show up in decent numbers.