anthman

I reckon go past captain Cook Bridge and fish drift along the edge or anchor up along the Sandringham beach shoreline - starting from nswpwc, heading east along the drop off from the flats (goes from 1m to 4-5m) around the corner then up - you'll see heaps of fishing boats just anchored or drifting around there. If you are feeling more adventurous, then keep heading north to molineaux pt but its quite a bit north and you might have to contend with bigger boats and the wake.

Fishing from boat

hi all, thinking about going to long reef this weekend. Looking for any tips for fishing the area - targeting reef species and kingies. I've tried in the past near shore(20m drop point away from the beach, various spots long the ridge line) and also out wide at around 60m depth. No luck with pilchard on paternoster setups and also with sps and slow jigs. I'm always reading reports and mentions in the newspaper - snapper and kingies, but alas cannot get on them myself. Can anyone suggest tips that have worked for them and types of terrain sounded that have worked? Thanks all and appreciate any advice!

Gum boots that go up to the knees, launch per normal, feet stay dry.

Incredible! Hard to go back to bread and butter fish after that!

That's a good point, the extra person would impact the speed and maneuverability. With a 5hp it's basically a tender and those go real slow. Larger motor is a good idea and for that size boat wouldn't be too crazy given the optimal HP wouldn't be too high.

Hey blade, how much boating experience do you have? When going for my licence I had @DerekD to help teach me how to drive and handle the boat (which I chose as opposed to the one day lesson option, a requirement to get logged hours up). Very useful to have an experienced boater on boat whilst learning and also for advice on handling the boat in different conditions (we even ran into a situation where we ran one fuel tank dry whilst motoring around - a good lesson!). Is there an experienced boater you can take with you when venturing out to new waters? Pick a good day to go out (low winds), take things slowly and keep an eye out for any hazards.

Best place to find cover from the wind is...at home. Sorry I couldn't resist! I usually check the wind direction then go on Google maps to find land cover that protects from the wind (imagine being in a valley, so stay close the landside that the wind is coming "from".

Keep in mind a 4000 Daiwa BG is much bigger than a 4000 Shimano. In my post, I was suggesting Shimano sizes, so maybe a 3000 sized Daiwa BG. Just check out how the combo feels in store if you can. The raider rod is fairly light so can be off balanced quote easily with a heavy metal reel.

It also depends on where you are and how big you anticipate the snapper to be. E.g. a common setup for Sydney would be: 6'6-7'6 snapper rod 5-8kg/6-8kg - Shimano raider 5-8kg 7'6 is nice and doubles up as a general use rod as well 4000/5000 size reel with 20LB braid. From Siennas to Stella's, I think you would find most do the job, just a case of how nice, how tough, baitrunners/no baitrunner, how impervious to water intrusion it is... Then you might go to bigger classes of snapper - heavier rods, reels and braid (that's what I think of when I think of Penn spinfishers and slammers, and Saragosas). Lastly, how would you fish? Soaking baits? Micro jigging? You might find some versatility with the lighter setup mentioned above to double up to (comfortably) work jigs as well as soak baits. Or perhaps go down the path of a dedicated micro jigging rod (e.g. 6' jigging rod PE1-3, high speed reel + multi colour braid 20LB). Maybe bring a range of gear you already have/can borrow (assuming you have a light, medium and heavy setup) and see how you go on the day, the size of fish encountered and style you prefer - then you can focus on dealing with any limitations you experienced to inform your next purchase and you might be pleasantly surprised with the gear you already have! (Like I was when I was soaking a cube of pilchard on my 2-4kg rod with 4LB braid - hooked up and landed a 75cm mulloway! Such a joy and effortless to use the light rod - though there was no structure to bust me off on).

I guess it would make sense to have metal in the frame/structural parts where flex would occur. Would explain the lightness as well (compared to a full metal body - e.g. Daiwa BG). Can you link me the reviews around hagane body that you saw? All that's coming up for me is the official marketing...

That's fair enough - please PM me the link.

It is: https://www.shimanofish.com.au/content/fish/oceania/au/en/homepage/articles/stradic-fl.html Are you thinking about the stradic ci4+? Cause then you would be right.

The metal body is very light for what is on the stradic, it's a nice reel, but you do get what you pay for on that one!

That would be an ok price - where from? From AE (good indicator of China price) it's listed as $49USD -> applying 5% shopback and adding GST and using the current exchange rate (USD$0.642 to AUD$1) that would make the Megatron 6000 around AUD$79 delivered. Would be interested in finding cheaper sources if they exist. Not that ive had first hand experience with Daiwa service (all my Daiwa reels never had a need to be returned for service), but I have read that Daiwa service may have been bad but recently (2years?) people's experience has changed for the positive. I can't confirm but just going off what's posted on the forums (I say this upfront because otherwise I'm just propogating something read rather than experienced). When was your service experience with Daiwa? I'd also argue that even if the Daiwa service is as bad as you say, it would still be better than returning a reel back to kastking (overseas!) compared a Daiwa reel that is much more refined and costs around the same price (if not a little bit more, which you get in a more finesse experience).

@Rebel I've got a fair few of the kastking and piscifun reels (i.e. china reels) and they good for the dollars but that was a while back - mainly before Daiwa came out with the LT range and the Okuma epixor xt exploded after receiving tonnes of praise from a popular YouTube fishing channel. The reason why I say this is that the decent reels from kastking and piscifun (incl. Megatron and Kodiak) are about the $50usd mark , add GST on arrival and given poor exchange rate (before covid, it's worse now) you'd be looking at almost $80. On special you can get a Daiwa Exceler LT for about that price (from the same places you would get the kastking) and man...it's so much smoother and polished. All my Kodiaks (I one in each size) have some sort of grind or raspiness - the feel of a tiny bit of metal scraping or imperfection in the gear. The other reel, the Okuma epixor xt, got lots of attention as an incredible $45USD reel - it has one of the best line lays and it's even smoother than most Daiwa and Shimano low/mid range reels. It is a bit heavier for its size though, so there is a downside.

Hey, hope it's not too late, here are my thoughts having bought too many reels (jokes, you can never have too many reels!): * Shimano Nasci 1000 is a very nice option - it's basically a Sahara with seal under the drag knob. Given your intended use, it makes sense to get the nasci over the Sahara, even if you are careful to not dunk, you will like cop some spray/splashes. Plus it helps when rinsing down gear after a session. Weight is 210g. * Alternative is a Daiwa exceler LT 2000. Excellent reel, similar seal and price to nasci, bit bigger capacity (I think) and comes in at 185g! Both are excellent reels, very smooth, some sealing and high oerformance., And very light (exceler moreso).

Looks like bream to me

Bit late of a reply (you get better visibility in General Chat). Jigging in botany bay can work but i reckon you need some depth so around molineaux pt is probably your best bet. The main bay towards the captain Cook bridge is just too shallow to give the jig enough distance to flutter. Most fish will go for a jig. What I like to do is have a bait soaking and whilst waiting, will jig. Best of both worlds.

Thanks all. I think I'll focus in on north of the headlands, close on sounder for when terrain changes and then bottom bash drift , hopeful something comes by. Goal will be to stay above soft ground. Any other tips?

Is there anyway to tell on the sounder when it changes from hard reef into gravel? Like colour/density change?

That's good info, yes further information would be really appreciated! I have explored north of the headlands - bit before Manly and about 2km out (was about 40-60m depth) couldn't sound any thing and sargaent baker nonstop.

@Jacob Harper launching closer to spit would be a good idea, just watch out for the boats - it's a high boat traffic area and gets narrower, though it is a 4knot restricted zone, don't trust anyone! I've had very recent luck between the spit bridge and chinaman's beach with freshly caught Yakka strips , just above the bottom (as Derek said, about 1m). A nice 75cm Jewfish !

Embarrassingly, I measured the distance incorrectly. From botany heads it's about 11km. From South head, it's 17.5km. from South head to 12mile it's 19km. Which places them both quite far. 10km is my limit, so far...

I launch and go via nth/south heads. That would place me about the same distance south as it would be to long reef, which would you go?