southerly

Headed out early and got one big squid quickly for fresh strips. Hooked a small pike on the troll out to the outer morings, so I did what any good fish raider would do and trolled the pike, sadly for nil interest. The pickers around the morings were chronic, foul hooked a big leather jacket (released). Trolled around Middle Head then sprinted across the channel to the Green marker off middle head, the pickers were even more rabid here, they were in mid water, did'nt land any but probably leatheries or toads for the speed with which they cleaned up a squid stip with almost zero 'bites'. Trolled back to Balmoral, the occasional frigate busting up but they were isolated and staying on the surface no more than 10 seconds so did'nt get a cast off to them. Water was crystal clear and a great temperature, saw a nice red swim under the yak near the baths. Will have to go to plan B tomorrow morning. Apparently the boys fishing off the baths go a few Salmon, Kings and Bream over the week. Cheers, Southerly

Hey Mystery, A very many moons ago when Manly Lagoon still had good stands of ribbon weed in it, I resolved to catch a mangrove jack. I went down to the same spot every evening just on dusk starting from 1st November, on the 30th while dragging the wonder wobbler (it was a long time ago) slowly back in it got slammed and the fish tore across the lagoon to the golf course, then nothing, that night I learned alesson about tying hooks on properly, but I also leared that persistance especially for special fish pays off. I got my jack about 3 months later at the same spot. There arn't many jewie experts around who have not put in the very long and hard yards to learn how to catch them. Keep at it.

Thanks Huntman, Appreciated. Southerly

Hey Clarkie, Thanks for the detail, greatly appreciated. Southerly

Hi Roberta, The squid around the pool have been a little quiet for me the last couple of weeks, I usually get a couple. I got a few kings a month ago in the morings but the last 2 trips have been very quiet at Balmoral, all that great bait seems to have moved on. Waiting for the next lot to arrive. There was mention above about garfish so if they school up big it could be very worthwhile to cast some stick baits about. Considering heading out to quarantine this weekend for a jig in amongst the car (boat) park and to see how the yak goes in more open water. Not sure if fish are still holding there? Southerly

If the "weird red thing... ( i think its a rass).." is the one in the photo it looks like a red mowong, not bad eating and very popular with the underwateros as they stay completely still when threatened. Good bag of fish. Southerly

Hi Steve, I have been wondering about a sounder, how have you mounted the transducer? And how useful do you find it? I always have this philasophical debate with myself between the whole idea of a yak as being a quick fish and travelling light versus having it all tricked up for fishing. Southerly

Hi Steve, Thanks for the tip on the light stick, I will check them out. How many hours do you get out of a set of batteries? As to the sik on the harbour, it depends where & when you go. I fish early morning when the traffic is less. Big bow waves give me the most grief as they are short and steep especially from the big motor yatchts, I have taken a bit of water over the back from them but nothing that would cause a capsize. Suspect a lot of chop would cause problems but sik's and wind don't mix so I fish from the shore if the wind is up too hard. I do have built in floatation but rolling over would present a major problem as the easiest recovery in anything but dead flat conditions is to swim it to shore. And while my rods are tied in to the yak the damage bill on tackle would be big so I try to avoid capsizes. When I first got my yak I took it surfing on a very small day (stripped of all kit of course), it was great to build confidence as to how it handles. Like all boats (including ocean liners) it is very hard to sink if you try to do it deliberately and frighteningly easy if you are not trying to. Southerly

Hi Crazy John, Nup, wasn't me, there are a few well rigged yaks and hobies getting about. Cheers, Southerly

Headed out early this morning to the outer moorings at Balmoral to drift squid stips with a big squid I caught last night and a small one caught this mroning. I also had a LB go for squid at the spit in the dark on the way out for zip. Heaps of pickers, not a good sign. Managed one Samson, it was very yellow in colour for a samson. It threw up a small striped trumpeter in the boat. There were a few big boils against one of the bouys but I could not raise anything. Maybe some more Samson's coming up? The big bait schools sadly seem long gone and there was no surface action. Here is a pic of my yak as requested a few posts ago. Finally had the camera down by the water. PS: There are a few yaks operating out of Balmoral at the moment please take care in the area especially in the dark, we all have lights but they are not very strong. Will add a Scotty stick light to the yak once I find a supplier. See you on the water. Southerly

Hi all, Spent easter at Smiths Lake and spent some time on the water avoiding and not avoiding the rain. Managed a bunch a flathead, a long tom (many lost) a few bream all on SP's, and a nice little Red on a trolled deep diver before bay break. It's my second red on a hard body lure in two months, anyone successfully target reds with them? Cheers, Southerly

I'm with Kelvin great bait but they can wrap themselves round and bite as you are holding the body (unlike squid). On the weekend I caught a couple. When baiting the first one it wrapped around and bit me, as I pulled away the Mustard Big Gun hook lodged in my hand, I had to reluctantly cut the leader and drop the culttle back into the tank so I could deal with the hook. So much for the first bait of the day. The small ones in the harbour stay alive much more easily than squid, they also stay alive on the hook well. The really big ones are also good bait. The best bait of all are the candles (the long tentatcles with suckers on the end, on big cuttles these can be over 60cm long). The candles are awsome jew and snapper bait, too good to waste on kings. In the next couple of months big breeding cuttles will die and float to the surface inshore, unfortunately the albatroses and snapper usually get to the candles first. PS: Cast a bait/plastic at the cuttle before you pick it up, big snapper are known to hang beneath them even in 50mtrs of water. Enjoy, Southerly

Plenty in Manly Dam, saw one 2 weeks ago around 5-7kg while picnicing with the kids.

Hi Reeso, My next shot is Saturday morning provided the weather is kind, it would be fun to fish together. I have a new reel I would like to christen. I pad my bottom and back with 3cm thick rubber sheeting from Clarkes, it works for about 3 hours before I am over it. My PDF also provides some protection. I know the BASS boats they are cute and so lite and easy to handle, makes my Dagger look like a log. Southerly

Hi Dazza, It is a Dagger, Drift II plastic kayak. It is a sit in kayak as opposed to a sit on as I like the enclosed elkele;';'pit for the gear (sit ons are usually very wet). It is a 2 man boat at 36kg so not light (just managable singlehanded). It has an open elkele;';'pit (one big hole for both people rather than 2 holes which makes it almost a hybrid between a yak and a cannoe). Similar boats are made by Q-craft and Perception. I got mine from Power Kayaks (?) at Narrabeen lakes but look up any Dagger dealer on the net. The Drift II has a flatter bottom than the Q-craft (Swift II) or Perception (Arcadia II) boats which makes it more stable (I can stand up in it) but also makes its bottom shape deform more rapidly over time (and therefore degrade performance) it is also more susciptible to wind. A double is a 'big' boat for single handed use and not as efficient and fast to handle as a single, I just like the space and stability (I can put toothy or spikey things forward of the front thwart to keep them away from legs etc). A lot of fishermen use the sit-on's and some use Hobbies (check out the Hobbie if you mainly want to troll).The sit-on's have the advantage of being un-swampable where-as my boat could swamp especially in a very short chop (wakes from the big power 'yatchs' can come over the back if I take em wrong, or over the front if two adults are in the yak - not a problem if 10-20 litres come in just bail). Like all boats when the kids deliberately try to sink it, it is remarkably hard to do but in the wrong situation it could go over in 2 seconds (ps: this applies to 6mtr off-shore craft too, except they take 30 senconds to sink). Most kayak places on the shoreline (eg: the Spit Bridge, Balmoral, Narrabeen etc) allow you to test drive yak's, do that to find the one that suits you. Expect to pay $1,000 to $1,500 plus a bit to fit it out for fishing (some have 'fishing packages' available that may suit your needs). PS: Always tie any gear you do not want to loose (eg rods and other expensive equipment, and don't forget the paddle) into the boat so they can be recoverd if pulled over or swamped. PPS: The yak is remarkebly stable and rate the biggest risk in the harbor is getting run over. Southerly

Hi Guys, Personally I like the Daiwa reels, they are insanely smooth and were the first to use the big drag washers on the small reels. You can also load the braid up to the edge of the spool with no problems if you wish. I have a TD-S CU 2500 and Kix 4000, nicest reels I have ever used. Tried a few Shimano's in the shop but went for the Daiwa. Have a few lower end Shimano's and they work fine within their limitations, but to be fair I don't have any higher end ones. I also have some old Penn Spinfishers as well priced workhorses they are unbeatable, they will also probably outlive my fancier gear.. Southerly

Hey Reeson, come out early one morning perhaps we could have a yak convention. Southerly

Launched the yak at Balmoral early, squiding slow, got one, then a guy hailed me down and asked for lift out to his boat, after dropping him off I moved to try a different area for nil squid. Landed a 31cm chopper on a metal slice and kept it to supliment the 1 squid. Headed out to some likely morings just before 7am, dropped a squid strip down on the 7kg gear and flick a metal out to the bouy to jig. The strip goes off, pick up rod, use one hand to fight the king and the other hand to try and wind in flick stick, lure hangs up on bouy, try to bust ofk 6lb braid with one hand, give up and free spool it. Up comes the yaks first king, grab tail and pull it into the kayak. At 61cm it is just in. A few more passes of the bouy then try some others for nothing, come back and the strip goes off again, second king is 56cm and goes back, stip goes off again on a bigger fish, by now I am really enjoying myself, get a nice bow wave going as the king drags me around Balmoral. Grab him by the tail and pop him in the boat (btw kingy tails are not as secure to hold when alive as they look!). Back on the beach by 8am and head home, what fun. Funniest thing was seeing all the boats squidding in Balmoral racing off one by one to other places, I had the morings to myself. If only they knew the kings were under their boats. PS: Left the camera at home today will post a piccy of yak rigged on the water next time. Cheers, Southerly

Hi Ben, How do you cook em? I like em for shashimi and also bait but I have cooked them a couple of times and spat it out! Cheers, Southerly

Hi Trentski, Kings do pass by and it is possible to live bait of the ledge around from the pool, it has been used as a 'desperates' LBG spot for years, for some reason Harbord seems more productive, though it is also shallow. Yakkas can be caught on site. If you put in the time you would get a king from there. The drummer fishing in the washes can be very good at times. Be careful it wipes out in any sort of swell and a NE swell is nasty at any size. Southerly

Launched the yak at 5.30am by the Balmoral Baths and had 2 small cuttles and 1 small squid in the bucket by day break. Headed out among the morings with a slow troll of a squid while casting for bream under the boats with the flick stik. Donated 1 cuttle and the squid to the leather jackets. Held the other for later and towed a squid strip. A few boils on the surface but no concentrated fish, headed out to the sailing bouy and then to the naval can, had a follow up at the can, no idea what it was but the boil was impressive. Met two other yaks, including a Hobbie, those things fly, look great for trolling. Had to be back on the beach by 8am, so turned around and headed back through the morings towing the last cuttle. A shool of bonnies busted up in front of me about halfway through the boats, 2 or three casts and I locked onto a bonnie, I had forgotten how much fun they are on light gear, they may not have the grunt of a stripey or mack tuna but they can pull 10 mtrs of 3kg quick puting a nice little scream in the drag. As soon as I had landed the bonnie and sorted out the yak, the bonnies busted up agin right next to the yak (very well behaved I must say), another bonnie bites the dust and its time to go home. Christenting the yak with a king will have to wait till next time. Absouluetly georgeous morning to be on the water. PS: The bonnies were full of frog mouth pilchards and whitebait. Southerly

Hi Costa, If you are fishing off the shore you could try 40 baskets pool for bream and leather jackets, however the water is quite shallow there so berly and stealth is the answer on a high tide at dawn or dusk. Quite a few people fish the rocky edges by throwing baits out wide with big sinkers and a few rods, never seen anything caught though a few bream are likely. The spit pole on the northern side as well as the reef in front of the pool on the northern side can fish well for blackfish in a very big swell where there is a good wash. From the shore I would go the the old gas works at little manly before I fished north harbour, conversly out of the boat nth harbour could be more productive. Cheers, Southerly

Hi Costa, Nth Harbour is basically mud and sand on the bottom with small kelpbeds against the rocks (think squid). Davis Marina is good for yakkas and dory in winter. Out in the 'bay' flathead and bream are possible along with rays and other junk. Of course anything that swims in the harbour can get in there. In years past it has hosted big schools of hairtail, baby trag and various other oddities. It is not as proflific as other areas in the harbour but worth a go if your normal spots are not firing. Kings ofcourse cruise the area but there is little structure to keep them there. You could do worse than tie up near one of the 2 sailing markers and berly hard, remember to fish light, this 80lb stuff for kings will preclude you from catching anything else. Once upon a time 12lb was considered heavy live bait gear. Southerly

Hi All, Trying to lock up on a big king off the rocks is a garanteed skunking just like in a boat around structure, unless you can get a gaff in before they wake up (say 10-20 seconds from hook up). LBG tactics for big kings is to go very light on them and coax them to go wide over the sand then slowly wear them down and bring them back, 30-45 mins on a 10-15kg king is common and more for bigger fish.Many more big kings are lost off the rocks than landed. I have caught a few around 10-15kg on 8kg line using this method from Kiola on the south coast, the ovens and even flat rock at harbord. Big live pike are a gun big king bait off the rocks, though I rarley caught much on them offshore. On reading some of the bust offs from the posts I could not help thinking that the same could be tried. Got a 10kg king from the southern dobroyd danger marked many years ago on 8kg by going softly and I hooked to right against the bouy. In my commercial days I used to bust up on 100lb handlines any king over 15kg just by locking off, they have enourmous strength when green and pull way ablove their weight. If you want a really big king give the Harbour a miss and try live baiting (with big baits as previously suggested) the Peak or other deep water reef systems such as Reef Wide or Esmerelda etc. See you on the water, Southerly

Took my new yak out from Clontaf Sunday morning in the hope of christening it with its first king. Caught 3 small cuttle fish and one large (for Sydney Harbour) squid. Tied up to the bouy on the eastern side of the spit bridge and live baited a cuttly for an hour for zip. Drifted thorugh the morings back to Clontaf for zip. Only a couple of surface boils and a loan tern diving. Will have to wait another day to tackle that king. Absolutely beautiful morning to be on the water. Home by 8am. Cheers, Southerly