Stu-SP

Yeah I saw this photo! Surely this can't be true?

It's a start, well done for giving it a go. I've wanted to try trout fishing also!

I've heard stories of makos doing damage to boats once onboard! I'd assume best bet would be to tail rope it and drown it? But I don't know. I've eaten shark before but not mako and I know they have ammonia in their flesh. It was fun to catch but without know how to dispatch of it, best to let it live. Not sure if they are normally found in close? We were shocked that it was a mako!! The setup did the job nicely, now for that elusive big king!! Cheers for the comments, luck played a big part. Right place, right time.

Thanks guys. Yes it was my first mako, I was a little worried when it lept from the water! We weren't far out and only in about 20metres of water. Definitely a PB for me and the boat, we were calling it about 6ft? It was caught on a Daiwa Saltist Nero 6500 with 50lb braid and a Fin-nor 0ffshore 601TL jig 50lb spin rod. Only 40lb leader so I was surprised to stay attached!

Hi all, Went out from the hacking this morning to chase some kings as it was national gone fishing day. Tried for some squid with no luck, so headed out to the bait grounds. Got a mixture of slimey mackerel and yakkas, about 10 in total. I landed a barracouta on a micro jig (sorry no photo) and it was quickly released. We headed south in search of some kings, dropped over two livies and started flicking plastics. The drag goes off on my mates setup, hooks up then nothing after 5 seconds. Reels in and his leader had been cut, we assumed reefed. But then my rod loads up! I first thought I had caught Australia as it was a solid weight without any kicks or taps. But then I feel this thing go. I'm thinking great a really solid king (I'm yet to catch anything substantial to test out my heavy set up) after fighting it for a few minutes we see it is a shark! We then start filming on the go pro and what happened next was mental!! It jumped only about 10m from the boat and we are only in a 4.6m coast runner. We could have kept it, but with little knowledge and a full day fishing planned we cut the leader to let it live. Tried a few other spots for no luck but we were content with what we witnessed and we were buzzing all day. I'll add the link as I don't have the footage, it was a mates GoPro. Sorry about some of the colourful language. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=owSRL4zE7Lc Cheers

Well done! It becomes very addictive. I rarely use bait now (unless it's a livey) and wait until you get your first King on a plastic, then the fun begins!! Great session mate!

Changed over the old battery to my new one (bigger crank) and it didn't turn off once! Thanks for everyone's help, looks like problem solved! Cheers, Stu

Looks like picture perfect conditions and a vey impressive red!!

Thanks guys that is all great advice! I'll check water levels and if no good I'll grab another new battery. I don't want to get stranded as I run a few solo sessions. I did purchase a new battery a few weeks ago but that is my spare just siting onboard. So I will change it over and see how it goes. It all makes sense that it is definitely not hold charge as it should be. I will go ahead and get the dual batter set up sorted very soon. Would you install a VSR with a isolation switch or just a 4 position switch (1,2,both or off) and manually switch between batteries as needed? I pretty much want a starter battery and the second to run all my electrics.

Hi Raiders, I installed a raymarine dragonfly in my coast runner about 9 months ago. But lately when I start the engine after drifting or being at anchor the fishfinder turns off. I was curious if anyone else has experienced this issue before? Could it be because my electrics and motor all run off the one battery at the moment, and start up draws too much current? I have a spare on board and I'm in the process of setting up a dual battery system, as I had an incident at the boat ramp of two flat batteries on launching. Lesson learnt so I now fully charge it before every trip. Cheers and I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Stu

Solid whiting session!! Well done

What a big girl, well done!!

Great report! Love the sound of the drag screaming!

Nice little session on your target species. It's always good when a plan comes together!!

Great session and a great read!! Well done!

Great haul, especially all on SP's!! If you don't mind me asking, what weight jig heads were you using? Good luck for the tournament!

Solid feed of snapper and a good days fishing!

Solid effort Yowie in what sounds like trying conditions. You always manage a feed and a great report! Might see you on the water one day.

Great session!!

Thanks guys, I've heard some reports of some good size kings taken on the weekend not far from where I was. Hopefully persistence pays off. Thanks for the tip scratchie!! I'll try it next time. I'll really focus on live baiting next time, squid and bonnies! I'll keep you in mind stunami. It was great on the table!

Hi raiders, long report but a top day out! I went out sat morning with the aim of getting some squid and targeting some bigger kings! Picked my mate up from sylvania just before 6am and we launched at Dolans bay and were flicking for squid by 6:15am. I managed one medium size, my mate had no touches so I gave him my rod and said use this while I enter some co-ordinates in the gps. Bang he gets one straight away, then ten minutes later the drag is screaming, we both thought it was weed/reefed but then is starts pulsating! Up came an absolute horse! It's outstretched tentacles went 80cms, the hood was just over 30cms. With 3 on board we headed out to get some kings. Decided to have a troll on the way out, rounded jibbon bombie and headed south and bang we are on, a little bonito. 5 mins later another bonito, turned around and we are on again! Found a good bit of ground about 500m -1km south of the bombie and decided to give it a drift when we pulled up we noticed the squid had turned white and died( I don't have a live bait tank, just a few buckets but we changed the water a few times so not sure...) rigged up some SP's and second cast with the soft plastic and I'm on to a little rat, went just under 60cm. Back in the drink it went. My mate had never caught a king on an SP, 5 mins later he is on!! Went 55cm and he is absolutely stoked! Quick photo and went back. The next 3 hrs was one of those days when the stars align. We had a hot session going, multiple double hookups and we boated 15-20 kings. But all rats and no legals!! Tried trolling a squid but we couldn't keep it near the bottom, don't own a downrigger yet. Still had it sitting out the back hoping for a bigger specimen cruising past and the rod buckles yes we are onto one, then nothing. Pull it up and just the head was missing. Decided to cut the hood into strips, sent it back out and 10mins later we boat another rat king and it spat the squid head out on the floor! Found the culprit. My mate took his plastic off the jig head and put a strip of squid on it and what napped next was a first I've seen. He hooked up to a nice little 42cm snapper, kept it for dinner. He fished this way and it seemed to be working, I was surprised. Hey if he's catching fish why not! I also had a first and caught an amber jack on a SP, went 40cms and back in the drink. We picked up a live yakka and sent that out, had a couple of moments when we thought we were on, but the yakka was just panicking a lot!! It didn't get hit for the 30-40mins it was down. We decided to head wide to try some other spots for no luck. On the way back in we saw flying fish and dolphins. We decided to head over to kurnell to try our luck and only got another 4 bonito on the troll. Nothing on the SP's but we did see a 5 ft hammerhead just cruising along the surface, my mate got a little video. We pulled stumps about 2pm, it was an absolute cracking day on the water and one I'll remember for a while. No monster kings, but hopefully soon. That's the beauty of fishing, the unknown!! Sorry for the long post! Cheers Stu

Nice report and great session!! Sounds like there are plenty of dollies out the fad, hopefully they are there tomorrow!

Nice little red for the table. I thought the king would have been stripping line through your fingers at that size! Must not have woken up yet. Hopefully there are some bigger specimens around for the weekend! Still better than a day at work! Cheers Stu

Thanks guys, bigger baits bigger fish, got it! The next one will be sent down live, just need a downrigger. I got all the bonito on the troll. A few around the bombie then I headed south staying close to the rocks. I got nothing on the drift for an hour or so, had a hit on my plastic but popped the leader. Didn't venture any further than Marley beach. There was plenty of weed about and the lures kept fouling.

Cubed pillies and plenty of burley to get them around!! Small jigs have done the damage for me lately!