HenryR

Hey FM, I never launched there but used to live over that way years ago, long before I had a kayak. From memory it's a really, really, really well protected spot. Super kid-friendly beach at the back, etc... I also recall being talking to a guy who'd grown up there - back in the day, his dad worked as a pro out of the bay. He told me they'd row a boat out into the bay every day, load it up with fish in the morning, drive the fish to market and that was it, their work day done by lunchtime. I think the fishing there is nothing like that now! One you got around the corner, of course, it'd be exactly the same as open water accessed from anywhere else - take care.

opp. Sugarloaf Pt. I've fished there a few times - nice, lazy fishing, in the Middle of the day, which, alas, always produced lazy results. If you can be bothered exploring, Middle Harbour has lots of great walkable to shoreline

Deimonic, kayaks are great ! More effort ()sometimes a lot more effort) and a little more $ than a lot of shore based fishing but, specially when you're starting out, the big advantage is, if you start at a dud spot, moving to a new location is easier. You tend to see a bit more of what's going on too.

Nope, I ain't very clubby!!! Exactly why I'm here. Free did help though and I'm all for allowing others (if possible - I don't doubt you understand that better than I do) to enter (or not) via the same route.

Dave, how much have you learned webpages you have never contributed to ? Seriously, even if you restrict the bounds of that question to only what you've learned about fishing, you'd be one in a gazillion if the answer is nothing .... ever! if a fee is what it takes then so be it ... I'm here now but, I understand some of the reasons people don't like the suggestion. I really like the fact that Fishraider is free. I'm more than happy to share info, not all of it, but I think sharing is a good thing and even if sharing wasn't a good thing, there's plenty of ways in which we're all better off because other people know things. If there'd been a fee when I first looked at Fishraider (found it through online search) I doubt I'd have joined. I would have joined a fishing club instead. I think it's really good that this site is open to engagement at any level. For me openness is one of this site's big pluses.

no alternative to the yak but, I'm still keen

i keep my kayak on top of the fridge - for real, I simply have nowhere else to put it. But, I have a friend who had a sling and pulley set up over a car space. It was great. Pop the yak in the slings, pull it up to the ceiling, tie it off and it's out of the way - super easy. dynabolt, how can you be called dynabolt and have wall mounts that pull out !!

if it had to be one word, I'd go with Neil, I think he nailed it - GENEROSITY. For me the next it would be DIVERSITY. Both the depth and range of experience and experiences here. I've learned so much incidentally. Aspects of fishing that I might never have thought to start a conversation on have had time to wash over me and slowly, some of them, sink in. My big two there have been luderick fishing - awesome, awesome reports and more recently, murray cod and the the waters they're found in. Neil and others, thanks so much for those posts! What great looking fish and the rivers, I can hear my kayak calling me to them . Lots of technical stuff too: without even trying I now know a hundred times more about looking after my reels than if I had never joined. Of course the list could go on.. As a thing Fishraider strikes me as an amazing crossover between club and magazine. It's a club some of whose members do meet but it's not essential. One can be a very casual observer and still reap benefits, that's generosity. It sets it apart from regular fishing clubs. It's allowed it to be a club ...or some sort of thing.... with members (participants?) spread wide across geography, fishing styles, and levels of engagement, one doesn't even have to go fishing - cool! The diversity and inclusiveness shows in Fishraiders almost magazineness. Conventionally journalistic, the Fishraider articles are some of the best most concise documents you'll find online for getting started on a whole range of species. Less conventional: multiple voices of experience. Tons of insider discussion available to anyone who uses the internet - that's generosity. As well as watching the ebb and flow of daily positing, I've read many of the pinned posts multiple times - the jewfish one, what a ripper! No summarised single celebrity view on how to catch jewies, instead a great mass of collective experience and thinking - that's the reality of fishing. And keeping the whole thing afloat, there's 'the rest of us'. What magazine would ever bother to give you a regular column featuring: I went to the local beach and caught (choose any random bag) 1 tarwhine, 2 taiilor and a small flathead? Or, I've been trying for years and finally caught a marlin which popped the leader while we held it at the boat (congrats dogbox). Etc, etc..... Has anyone ever considered formalising the Fishraider group in any way? It'd take some work and thought but might well have the makings of a very unique and very excellent club? Last thing I'd like go on record as being a massive fan of are the Raider record books and the miscellaneous fish included in it. Fishing is about fun, yeah? And being there. To me, those records say it all (elferoz777, hold your head high, you are part of something truly glorious). Fishraider: valued and never too precious

in kayak years, yes, but otherwise, one you young, one old - my youth disappeared over the horizon some time ago ....

in the face of the last hurrah, I'm going to come out of the woodwork and say a really big thanks to you luderick-angler and to all of Fishraider's other blackfish posters. I haven't been much of a commenter and from the limited posts I have made, you'd probably wouldn't guess it but, I love the luderick reporting. It's one of only a very few things on my fishing bucket list and the regular reports have been both a handy constant reminder, 'to do', and an excellent vicarious journey. I really don't know how i'm going to get by with them That's a nice bag of fish up there and, Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you

Savit, I reckon my gear knowledge is so thin that specifics here are little more than a stab in the dark but: the reel is a 3000 eggbeater capable of racking up sufficient drag. I run the drag at about 3 - 3 1/2 kg which is well within the reels specified 'max' drag. The rod is 7' spin stick (7' is conveniently a very good length for my kayak - I can get the rod easily over the nose of the kayak when fish circle). It's rated 4-8kg with a reasonably (but not super) fast action.

totally Neil ! and of course, we've still got so much more to learn. I would say the veil has on just begun to part. At the very least learning is half the fun, yeah?

hear hear ! is it worth having a meeting to throw ideas around and see what resources this emergency brings out of the woodwork?

ta to all, for the comments. flatheaduke, absolutely one fillet each !! and if we hadn't been gone so long that Razz had to leave not knowing what had happened (he's since be apologised to and is good with the excuse) fillets would have gone thirds. that much fish, that is the etiquette, no ?? That and .... I'll be explicit .... chuffed as I am that that fish happened to end up on my line, there's no way it was anything but a joint effort. There's too many things that could go wrong to properly speculate but, me on my own, inexperienced and unequipped. I'd bet that, pressed between the dual anxieties of being that far offshore alone (I love a good adventure and have done plenty of kayaking in the last 15 months, but I am new to open water) and threat of losing such a cracking fish, So pressured, I'd have succumbed to the temptation to try grabbing the cobia's mouth, the gills being too far to reach. People take note, both krause and i have abrasions on our hands from handling the fish dead - don't put your hand in live cobia's mouth!. I'd have lost an awful lot of skin and flesh and the fish and in all likelihood a rod and a reel in the thrashing that would have followed. Teamwork, all the way

the write up's over in Fishing Reports:

Thursday just gone, Razz, Krause and myself set out just before sun-up for North Head. We're all pretty new to fishing there so were looking forward to the combo of expectation and the unknown that is so much a part of fishing mixing it with waves crashing on rocks and North Head's grand cliffs and - please, please, please this time, please - some kingfish. It's a short paddle from the ramp to the bait grounds where pretty quickly things seemed encouraging. A few bust ups in the half light and fish thick on Razz's sounder made up for the breeze that pushed us around while we tried to gather bait. A few yakkas were collected before, one by one, the breeze and impatience got the better of us and we set off around the corner toward more prospective 'real' fish grounds. We tried the first big drop off but there was nothin' doin' there and, in kayaks the swell and the breeze made staying appropriately in place quite difficult. Pretty quickly Krause was towing his live baits parallel to the cliff line and straight out to sea - as he is very inclined to do. Razz and myself hung in the first little bay near Old Man's Hat, one bait down, drifting around, and hurling plastic in all directions. I could see someone spinning from the ledge at Old Mans Hat, catching an occasional fish. It seemed a reasonable place to give a go. As time wore I grew impatient. Krause had vanished over the rolling hills of water that made up the horizon. I decided it was time to give way to the current sweeping gently oceanwards, and worked the water just out from the shore line, occasionally correcting my position to keep a safe distance from the rocks. The swell wasn't massive but it was both big enough to deserve taking account of and running straight up against the cliffs and the reverb made bobbing around in that faint bay constant work. Razz decided the move out toward the sea would likely make things even more uncomfortable and stayed put in the Old Mans Hat area. As I drifted past the landslide, another kayaker - who hadn't come with us paddled by, trolling lures. He'd caught a few bonnies and mack tuna he said. Only people out were kayaks A few drifts later Krause reappeared. He'd been smoked by something that took a livey. As we chatted I picked up a little mack tuna. Krause jumped at the chance to pop it on as a bait. More used to yellowtail as live bait, we both chuckled a bit at its size. But not even a few minutes after it was dropped down Krause had a take. Sadly the line parted and an unknown fish swam off with bait and hook. It was a barely formed thought to pull my rod from its holder and throw a lure in the general vicinity of the missing mack tuna but one cast was all it took. I let the lure sink for a few seconds and then almost in the instant I began retrieving I was on. Quickly I was confidently declared to Krause, 'this one feels like a king.' The fish went straight down in a series of runs punctuated by short breathers. As the runs continued, the initial excitement morphed in to worry. The longer the fish went without stopping, the bigger it became in my mind and the more I wanted it. And, the closer it got to the bottom the slimmer the odds became. "How deep do you think it is here", I nervously asked Krause. Neither of us had a sounder, this was the first time we'd been at North Head in conditions suitable for this bit of the headland - we were right at the heads, where the cliff turns the corner from the harbor to run up the coast. Very luckily, as the fish worked its way down, the current was steadily pushing us away from the shore, into deeper water. Luckily too the fish didn't head back toward the rocks, there's no way I could have stopped it if it had done that. As happens, when the runs finally slowed, I started trying to work the fish back. It didn't go well, I just made it angry and it took off again. On the second big pause I tried again with the same result: angry fish going deeper. I changed tactics and settled for steady pressure and only taking line that was given. It became clear this wasn't going to end quickly. Occasionally the line would angle out a bit and I thought the fish might be going to surface. They were moments of anticipation that faded to nothing, Pretty near the whole fight was straight up and down. I worked the fish up to within about 10m of the surface and there it stayed. 5m of line would come in, then 5m would go out, back and forth, as we drifted. Things passed through stages. From the initial, woohoo! to worry about how close the fish was to the bottom, to being really grateful that the fish had swum down not back to shore, to thinking this is a pretty good fish and joking, repeatedly to Krause; 'this one's legal - ha-ha', to worrying about sharks, not so much in the moment but knowing that we'd be spending some time drifting the ocean at the whim of wind current with the steady beating of a stressed fish below us. To monotony, both Krause and myself commenting on how fights that last longer than usual are great and all but it does start to drag after a while. When, eventually the fish came in to view, I was first floored, it was much bigger than I had imagined. Then, as more colour showed, I was a crestfallen. Seeing the big fork in its tail and the browny grey, I thought shark. Krause was the one who first picked it for what is was - more detached? and probably a bit cluier It was more than a moment, both of us marveled for a while at the fact of a cobia and its size as it inched toward the surface. The next big problem, one that hadn't been on the radar until we knew the reality of the fish's size was how, if at all, to get the fish aboard. We had no gaff and no gloves, only two laughingly insufficient landing nets. Krause wisely suggested recording its existence before trying anything else. I held it near the surface while he filmed for a bit. Then we consulted. We decided to try grabbing it by the tail. It would have been impossible for me to pull it within range so Krause paddled to the other side of the fish and I did what I could to swim it in his direction. As soon as he grabbed it the fish bolted back down to the 10m mark and as it did so we had line and rod running between two kayaks, with line and rod dominated by the fish, with my kayak also being pulled toward krause's by the fish's little run. It was a narrow escape for us and another is a series of unlucky breaks for the fish. It took quite a while to get the fish back up. In the meantime we went back to worrying about sharks. The second time the fish surfaced, it was properly tired and we had come up with plan B. Krause remembered he had an old pair of lip grips on board. He tossed them over with the caveat that they were not to be lost in the struggle, they were his dad's. Merely getting the fish's head close enough to reach with the grips was a major worry. Rod in one hand, my arm extend out as far from myself as I could push it, I twisted the other way to reach back over the kayak and put the grips in the fishes mouth. It took a few shots and when I finally managed it the fish just rolled and the grips popped loose - they weren't made for metre long cobia. In desperation, let me call it creative thinking out loud, I even unhooked my landing net at one point and waved it at the fishes tail. Krause laughed! I contemplated putting my hand in its mouth and hoping its teeth weren't too sharp. Likewise trying to grab it by the gills. It had to be the lip grips. They did work, sort of, eventually (and had to be repaired later). After about half a dozen tries the fish was too exhausted to roll out of them and I managed to gently pull it close enough to grab its head. I put the rod down and grabbed the leader. Krause paddled over to lift the rod to the safety of his kayak. Somewhere in the lip-gripping my line had both gone slack and got caught on something. As Krause took the rod I looked up from the fish to the rod where I saw a broken end of braid wrapped several times round the top guides. I thought of the size of the fish and the leader running from the fish to tip of my brand new rod and my stomach jumped to my throat. Lucky again: the fish was too exhausted to move. We cut the leader and I wrestled 20kg of unsecured slimy cobia over the side and into my lap. At this point the fish had one last freak out. It thrashed as I pushed it down between my legs and into the front of the kayak. It kind of swam its way to the nose where it got stuck. We'd drifted about 2kms out by this time. The paddle back to Little Manly was long and slow but happy. Stats on the whole thing are: the line was 8kg braid with a 30lb leader. I have no idea how long the fight lasted but at least half of that time was getting the fish aboard. Both Krause and I are buying gaffs! The fish measured 121cm to the fork and 135 to tip. I guess it weighed about 20kg - a cement bag being the reference point and looking at others on Fishraider, that seems about right. Below there's a pic of the bit of plastic the both the cobia and the mack tuna fell for. It was a no kingies result but, at 20kg the fish was few kilos heavier than the 'boat' it was landed from. On those grounds I think we can call the yak sesh a success. We are all looking forward to the next one

very sad This is great inclusive site - an awesome mix of experience and unformed enthusiasms and everything in between. I'm relatively new here but have already met a few great people and learned tons. Here and now, gratitude and thanks to everybody who worked, to advertisers who supported it and to all who posted. I am very sorry to hear its going.

settled i'll start with 750mm. can always cut it down if it's too unwieldy or seems unnecessarily spacious. the vid is cool. definitely looks worth a shot. I checked some of his others too. there sure is some nice fishing up north !

heya Razz, yep, really good to hear how you went with one. What size did you go for? Looking online I found a length recommendation of 750mm. I've already bought pipe, caps, glue, and some sleeves that seemed like they'd make a good sliding hatch (grad total of $25 for anyone wondering about the same: it is cheap). 750mm seems long ... Pool noodle I already have. I thought I'd try making tapered floats to fit either end of the tube with that. Boat shape, easier towing .. who knows??? I'm like you, not a big bait user. More and more tho, I feel like having a livey floating around while tossing plastic is productive enough to make some allowances for. I know what I'd really like is a collapsible, towable container. I have pondered hard end caps and a flexible sheet fitted into them might work there. I've seen soft ones around online but I bet they're not great to tow. Have my eyes open for some sort of flexible but rigid enough sheet. I like almost everything about kayaks except the space constraints !!!

what a great sight !

sure, totally agree .. if you can tell them apart. Does run the risk of hair splitting to suit one's own interests tho. Specially in a case where poddys of unknown species were being kept on the chance that they weren't baby bullys. I know I'd be inclined to lean in the direction of the law here - even though it's hard not to fall in to a mind set that separates bait from fish. That is, happy to follow the law for 'fish' and wants to do as needed for 'bait'. I'd bet most people here have at least been inclined to go the wrong way a few times, at least. Undersized bream: baaad, that's easy to think. Undersize tailor for live bait: ... it's not quite 30cm buuuuut ... can be hard not to think that too They're all part of the same ecosystem and the laws are there - perfect or not - to keep that system around for in the face of people pressure - that's us. Startsumthin, if you do decide you're cool with taking undersized fish home for later use as bait, keep in mind that mass bait collection, without which using frozen poddys in place of pilchards is going to be pretty inconvenient, is well out of line. Why not buy pilchards in bulk? They're pretty cheap once you start buying a few kg at a time. And, most places, they're better general bait than old dead poddys.

Not legal ... once dead they are undersized fish. DPI: " anglers may take any species of mullet, for use as live bait only, provided they are less than 15cm and the total number does not exceed 20. "

hi brickman, And, many thanks for the reply. There's some overlap but them's not the kinda live bait tubes I'm thinking of. A length of PVC pipe, with more room for the fish to wiggle than pictured above. A few breathing holes drilled here and there. Towed behind a kayak. That's the basics. I get around in a little sit-in kayak, have only a little deck space. Towing a tube is an alternative to lugging a bucket and pump around .. I've looked at a few online D.I.Y. instructionals, many of which don't strike me as great ... thought I'd see if there are any experts here before I lash out on $20 of PVC - cautious !

Anyone here tried or use a live bait tube / torpedo? particularly: how big do they need to be? for yakkas? do they keep squid alive? even when towed? and, any suggestions on easy way to streamline them?

frustrating - at least Sat weather looking very agreeable - better than nothing !