southerly

Ah greg,you've done it again. Well done. David

They never left!

Dan, what were you doing at work? That is a monster surgeon fish, the biggest I have every heard of, pity the weekend weather is looking poor. David

Nice feed and ripper flounder, well done. David

Well done Dan, mine fed the family and in laws, after spending winter surfing it was nice to start the season off with a legal first up. david

great stuff enjoy the yak it is a whole new world, I like the rod holder but don't see a tether on the rod, worth tethering anything you don't want to loose now to avoid dissapointment. Though you would not be the first yakker to 'loose' kit overboard so that an equipment upgrade can be achieved. David

Well done Mark, you have pelagic fly fishing around Sydney well sussed. David

How do you cast a 9/0 senator from the beach???

Enjoy, they really are a fly fishers target when fussy and you uys are very good. David

Very nice harbour red Mike, late May always seems to throw up a few surprises in the harbour. Did the shark arc up to the surface? David

I think you will find it called Northerners, it is a small drop off running North South and hold kings sometimes. It is about 1.8km east of North Head proper. David

Yep its been a good season for bonnies.

Great stuff Greg, another meter king to your score this season, nice to see so many legal kings around. I yakked longy today for a 70cm king and quite a few just legal/under reds that I released so they can grow a bit bigger for winter. A few big kings caught this morning but not by me. David

awsome sydney kings Ceph well done David

Very nice samson there and congrats on the flattie on a squid jig, I have hooked about 15 on squid jigs but only ever landed one, it hooked in the side of the jaw that jig was never going to come out. David

What a difference a day makes, yesterday I got a few rats, a trevally and got mobbed by pickers, today no pickers. Picked up two small southerns early to go with the squid I caught on the way home yesterday. Pulled up near a Dan&greg, Hookem, Laurie and a couple other boats, water was blue and oceanic, wonderful for the harbour! Decided to strip up the live squid to make it go further, put the squid head down and got hit immediately, the fish took 20mtrs of 20lb braid first up, then gave me 5 before taking another 10, then another ten, I was dragged up the boats, around the boats and off into the wild blue yonder. After a solid fight 86cm of king comes into the yak, yippee first yak legal king for 2010. Reset the drift dropped the other fresh squid head down and up came a rat, stripped up the 2 fresh squid and caught a couple more rats, then a fish I called for a good king but turned out to be a big salmon, gee it went hard maybe 10mtrs down was a freightening place this morning. Certainly the yakkers dropped by the boaters went nuts and usally got smashed on the way down. On to the first of my fridge squid heads and I hook up again to a better fish, this one went 75cm. A couple more rats, then a very tentative bite followed by some docile headshakes after I set the hook that I call for another rat, then it takes off and fights doggedly for 10 odd minutes and into the boat comes a 80cm model. They didn't quite fit in the hatch. That was enough fish for me, so I packed up and headed home to be in my driveway by 9am. The boats also got a few legals at a ratio of 1:3 which is far better than my usualy 1:100 tally. Whole live arrows were mostly ignored, the boats used yakkas to good effect. No sign of yesterdays pickers. Picked up another southern on the way home for tomorrow. All my legal kings were caught on squid heads, none on squid strips. David

Nice fish Wigg, are you up the coast somewhere this week? David

Well done Dan, amazing sickles on the fin. Harbour kings just wont seem the same anymore. David

Well done Greg, The SMS's from Dan got better and better, and I was in the office Went out in MH today, managed only 2 small cuttles as the squid were scarce for bait and the pickers destroyed them before any kings showed up. Gave up before 7.30. Southerly

Did you strip up a bonnie for bait? The flatties love em. David

I believe Dan, caught a few in MH myself the other week. Pillies are quite common in th eharbour, they are an absolute cracker of a live bait, but pretty soft and hard to keep alive, pretty damn good stipped up as well. David

They got quite a beak on them dont they

Nice sambo wigg, hows the ski going? David

Launched at 5.30 with a couple other yaks (Josh and Johnny) into a lovely calm sea and 2-3kt of westerly to push us out to sea. The ramp was nice and quiet due to the maitenance works so no worry of a boat coming up behind unannounced on the way out. My sounder was complaining that the was battery low so I kept it off till I got near the front of longy which put me off a bit as I follow the contours to keep sense of where I am. Dropped a squid strip over the side a also a 5in gulp. A few minutes later and Josh misses a good hit, then I hook up and 40cm of dinner sized red comes into the yak. Re set the drift and got ready to do it again, when Johnny called kings on the surface about 100mtrs away, I stuck with the snapper fishing and left him to it and he a got a couple of rats. A few more good hits and it went quiet apart from pike, butchers and other rubbish, there were heaps of big yakkas under the yak but I had left the bait line at home. The sounder seemed to settle over time and kept working, Johnny saw a shark which I missed, he is now annointed chief shark spotter. I headed in with Johnny at 8am as it slowed right down, a whole host of yaks joined us about 7.30 but it was all over, water was very clear and a warmer 17.4C. Lovely day to be out. David

Nope, had live slimies, herring and yakkas in the boat. Trolled south head for zip, in desperation driffed for many undersized lizzards, water cold and green and yuk. Gave up, went home.