whiskey299

April 15

Nice work, shame about loosing so much fish.

I've fished North Head a few times and can without doubt tell you alot of sharks roam that patch, this includes hammer heads and whalers.

I can pretty much guarantee a shark hookup every time I fish there.

March 28

Nice catch Zoran.

I believe that’s a reef ocean perch you’ve caught there. Is that right @Blackfish

March 16

Nice work. The chain spot is where I caught an old PB kingfish on live bait many years ago. I’ve also see Alex B there a few times with his clients flicking gars for kings. Blackfish can also be caught there but you’ll need to bring your own cabbage.

March 10

Thanks for sharing Derek, that's very helpful.

I've been using snap swivels everywhere which is suitable for some applications but not everything. So this tip is very handy!

March 7

Great banana peeling moment Bob!

February 27

Great report XD. Congrats on catching the new setup!

I caught 2 southern herrings once using a sabiki not far from the beach and managed to convert them into a legal jewfish and a hairtail.

So they do work, but that's just my limited experience fish this area.

February 24

On 2/23/2024 at 8:41 PM, Larkin said:

Here’s the hook up vid

Awesome stuff Chris! Thanks

February 23

Wow congrats Chis on this great catch!

Your persistence definitely paid off and glad you friend was around to get some photos.

Hope to see the video soon if you plan to publish it.

Congrats again! 👏

February 19

13 hours ago, Yowie said:

Nice bag of crabs. Also a nice bag of river gars.

How do you prepare the gars? I fillet them, use a long bladed knife to remove the rib bones, and usually bread crumb and pan fry (only for a short time)

Just added some more photos how we ate them last night. It's my first time eating them so I did what seems to be the most common way to eat them, butterfly, remove bones and then panko bread crumbs. It's a fantastic eating fish, flesh is not dry, a subtle sweetness. The family loved it, now the dilemma will be, do I keep more for kingfish bait or feed the family!

16 hours ago, Toadmaster said:

Thats a great haul of crabs, and gars! Both great eating - what a top notch feed! Especially impressed with catching them all in a yak. Speaking from my own limited yakking experience, it can be a bit hair raising having a cranky crab scuttling around between your legs and trying to avoid being nipped in sensitive areas!

I used to dumped them into the kayak and them tie them up which can be eventful, I now carry a 5kg bag of ice and they go straight from the net into the esky, but before I do that I do a quick squeeze test while it's in the net. I'm checking if the crab has malted recently. If you've ever had one that has recently, it's tasteless, has no meat and absolutely not worth keeping, doesn't matter how big it is. So any "soft" crabs or even slightly soft get returned. BTW I've had to deal with a big mud crab last year in the yak, and that was definitely scary. I had to give it some of my pliers and scissors to latch onto so I could safely grab it.

16 hours ago, blaxland said:

I dream of a catch like that what an inspiration , will try and give it a go soon hopefully the J curve will kick in and I get afew

Good luck!

1 hour ago, Larkin said:

Well done Brad - nice haul of crabs and gars. My mate also goes in his kayak for gars, said it’s easy cause it doesn’t scare them. Gets em in one of the bays near maroubra.

Thanks Chris. Now that I've had a taste of gars I'll be targeting them more often.

February 19

2 hours ago, LuckyFil said:

Wow that’s quite a haul of blue swimmers!

I get the occasional one down near Hardys Bay and Pretty Beach but nothing like that number!

Whole family likes to eat them especially the wife.

2 hours ago, XD351 said:

Great report and Epic haul of crabs and garies mate !

Thanks will be using some gars to batter and we're looking forward to it.

1 hour ago, kantong said:

great haul! how do you get those crabs to stay still for the photos? Dough is such a great idea, I must try that!

I carry a 5kg bag of ice in the esky so they go straight in and get put to sleep.

February 19

I have started exploring Brisbane Water recently and I'm pretty impressed with the fishing so far. Catching blue swimmer crabs on handline has been a great learning experience for me. Getting them to the surface is only half the issue, the toughest part is netting the buggers before they let go.

I have been trialling the use of handline vs fishing rod and I've found the fishing rod is much more manageable as you can gently steer the crab upstream and position the net downstream before scooping them up. Using the handline it's much more difficult to do this and even more challenging when the current pushes the crab under the kayak and you just don't have arm length which the rod provides. Using the rod does have draw backs as I've lost a few rigs when the braid has wrapped around the tip and I forget to check and casted the bait away. The rig I've been using a non running sinker rig with a 6/0 hook and a whole yakka wrapped in netting. If you don't wrap yakka in a net it gets smashed by pickers before the crabs get to it.

I was told that garfish could be caught throughout the system. So one day I decided to target them and I must say they are fun to catch. I used plain flour mixed with water for bait and a floating rig, 4lb Sunline FC rock leader and the smallest hook in my tackle box. You don't need much flour approx 2-3 table spoons, I prefer this over bread as you can make this as needed and it's just more practical than bringing a loaf of bread when space is limited on the kayak.

The only downside of fishing Brisbane Water for me is the drive. It takes me an hour one way and I cover over 140km for the return trip. Might have to start planning retirement up the Central Coast way! Anyway if you've read this far kudos to you. If any of you readers have any tips on targeting other species I am all ears.

February 18

They are also known as spotted bigeye. I catch them quiet often in the harbour on bait, jigs and sabiki.

They smell a bit and if you can get over that, they have a fantastic moist flesh and a fatty layer near the skin.

Not bad as sashimi, battered, fried or steamed.

February 15

Well done Chris, that snell ain't going nowhere!

February 13

Well done Bob. I've never caught a bass or ep something that's on my to do list.

What sort of lures work well on these guys?

Any chance you can PM me the location assuming it's accessible from the kayak? TIA

February 13

Great haul!

January 29

I like that they have caps for protection when not in use.

January 23

Being a shared zone for ppl in the park and ppl using boats I think they really need to change the rules. Disconnecting the trailer is such a theft and safety risk.

While they are in the habit of issuing fines how about they do something about all the cars parked in the trailer spots.

January 22

I ran into a hammer head shark this weekend while the kayaking around the Sydney heads, it was easily over +2m.

It was doing circles around the yak and must have smelt the fish I just had bled.

I eventually chased it away and noticed it had a buddy nearby who was around the same size.

Late in the arvo I also spotted a smaller hammer head in north harbour chasing some top water fish, it was going crazy. To think people tow tubes around this area is pretty scary.

January 16

On 1/13/2024 at 9:45 AM, mrsswordfisherman said:

These are the reports I love!

Bless your 83 year old Dad. I bet he is a little tired today but he will be feeling very pleased with himself.

Great captures there for everyone and feeds for your family @whiskey299

Thanks Donna

On 1/13/2024 at 2:37 PM, Yowie said:

A good mixed bag of reef fish, the reddies being the best.

Yes reddies are great, morwongs are not the best, my dad actually doesn't mind them eaten sashimi, the larger models are not great eaten this way as there are too many muscle fibres. Next time I get some I will try them in fish cakes lol.

On 1/13/2024 at 5:34 PM, big Neil said:

Excellent report whiskey299. How good would you feel seeing your 83 y/o Dad having the best days fishing. Good on him, good on you too. Well done, bn

He had a fantastic time. He's the one who got me started when I was a teenager, We would fish and scuba dive every weekend when we lived in Papua New Guinea.

On 1/13/2024 at 8:41 PM, Larkin said:

Good on him for getting out there! 👍
Must of taken at least a few hours cleaning all those!

It certainly did, thank goodness I didn't take much fish home.

On 1/14/2024 at 6:19 AM, Pickles said:

What a brilliant feed (a lot of cleaning there). Thanks so much for sharing @whiskey299, the fact that you are still fishing with your dad (who probably got you started on the adventure we love so much) is testament to his skill and the quality of your relationship - I trust there are more trips in the future - the time that you invest in family, is repaid many times over.

Thanks Bob! He lives in Brisbane so when visiting I'll always try to schedule a fishing trip. His mobility and balance isn't great these days so we can only fish on his friends boat on a calm day. He used to be a hardcore fisherman in his younger days, every weekend was all about trolling, reef fishing and scuba diving the wrecks in Papua New Guinea.

January 12

Today’s conditions was as forecasted to be overcast and a slight breeze in the morning, with the wind picking up after midday to about 10knots.

We filled up on live yakkas on an improvised livewell and headed out to hunt some reef species.

The fishing in the morning was slow, the current reasonably strong and we needed to use a 4 ounce sinker or heavier.

The captain and I struggled, but my Dad who just seemed to have all the skill and luck today consistently pulled snapper after snapper.

I ended up being a fishing deckhand for him for most of the morning. Netting, unhooking, ikejime, bleeding and bait prep!

By midday the fishing started to pick up for the rest of us as we hopped around the reef ranging in 35-60m.

We even had a triple hookup of 3 different species, trag, snapper and marble flathead all at the same time.

We had one of our favourite but unhealthy goto lunches, canned corn beef and rice.

Overall a great seafood basket to feed many families which I call the #fishdistributionsystem

Gear used:

Rod: Daiwa TD Black V2 Mangrove Masher 642MFS
Reel: Daiwa 21 Caldia MQ LT3000
Line: #tasline Elite PE1 (15lb)
Leader: Sunline FC Rock 20lb
Hook: 1/0 #gamakasu octopus circle hook
Bait: yakka strip

Rod: Kyorim Seafighter 2 702 SPML
Reel: #daiwa BG 2500
Line: #tasline elite PE0.6 (12lb)
Leader: #sunline FC Rock 12lb
Hook: 2/0 #gamakasu octopus hook
Bait: yakka strip

January 12

Great report Bob.

Shame about the Monster Kingie!

Shame about the Dollies!

I've seen a recent report of small but legal dollies being caught off Sydney on a private FAD.

January 12

FPV power pigtails

January 10

4 hours ago, lepoopoo said:

Hey mate, stevie.fishes on IG here.

If you look on Amazon you can buy metal sprockets there. I've got the link bookmarked at home and can shoot you a PM later today.

Hi Steve I know about them but they have been sold out for months and months but thanks anyway.
Wanted to reach out here just incase any kayakers had any spare parts around.

January 8

That's some fantastic crabs there!

When using handlines is there any special technique in rigging the bait?

January 8

On 1/5/2024 at 8:29 AM, jenno64 said:

Those hairtail are corkers and that crab recipe looks delish!

Putting crab on toast is a great way to add texture and crunch. Simple but nice

On 1/5/2024 at 3:08 PM, bessell1955 said:

They are great looking Hairtail.

Thanks

On 1/5/2024 at 8:15 PM, Yowie said:

Good looking hairtail, good effort for this time of year.

Thanks

On 1/5/2024 at 3:59 PM, Larkin said:

Nice catch Brad!

how do prepare/cook the hairtail?

You can either shallow/deep fry or you can steam/bake/airfry in foil. The flesh is soft and not dry, texture wise probably softer than bream.

One great thing about this species is there are no lateral pin bones, so it's great for children, so we cook the fish whole that is not filleted.

Just steer away from the bones around the stomach/ribs as they're long and tiny so we don't give that section to the kids.

In the first dish we have fried the whole section of hairtail and served this with green mango in a fish sauce mixture. The green mango helps refreshen the taste buds and cuts through the fried fish. The second dish is hairtail baked in the air fryer to be eaten with Vietnamese rice paper rolls.

On 1/5/2024 at 8:45 PM, Pickles said:

Awesome job Whisky - they are massive Hairtail - well done my friend.

Thanks Bob

On 1/6/2024 at 3:34 AM, big Neil said:

What an awesome result. I have never seen Hairtail and always thought them to be caught only in the colder months. Obviously, that's not correct judging by your excellent results. Great photos.

Cheers, bn

I used to think that as well until I stumbled on them in summer while chasing jewfish in the Hawkesbury. After multiple times being cut which I thought was tailor, I managed to get one to the surface, sight it and then get cut lol. After that I came prepared with wire trebles.

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