wazatherfisherman

Hi Ryder remember the KB "Kegs"- 750ml steel cans? Used to get them off a bloke from Tooth's "Kent" brewery at Broadway. Sold in 12 packs only from memory

Hi Scratchie my most memorable is definitely a Kingfish that I foul hooked at the Peak off Sydney. We hadn't planned on going there, but after catching a nice box of Flathead and because it was just a magic flat day we decided to troll out towards the Peak from where we'd been fishing off Dover Heights, with the plan to get some Striped Tuna for bait for the next trip. You could almost always pick up some Stripey's trolling either side of the Peak. We ended up trolling all the way out and when we got there, every boat there was hooked up to Kingfish. Only one jig in the tackle box and it was only 4oz- not heavy enough to get down out there. I did drop it over, but it wasn't heavy enough. We then watched a commercial guy with a tiller steer and heavy handlines, pull fish after fish, not one under 20lb and plenty over 30lb, he was absolutely awesome to watch. Desperate to try to get the jig down, I put a really big ball sinker straight on top of the jig and dropped again, down it went and about the tenth up-stroke I hooked up. After hanging onto it for about 15 minutes, I called it for an absolute monster, and after 30 minutes my wrist was getting really sore from holding the locked up rod- no bucket, harness or anything with us as we'd only planned to get some Flatties. After 50 minutes we'd drifted almost out of sight of all the boats at the Peak and I could hold the rod in my usual left hand, but wasn't able to pump the fish up unless I swapped to my right. Took about 10 minutes of these awkward pumps to get it up and it finally stopped fighting as it came to the boat. By this stage I was leaning back against the bait board and not looking over the side. As it got close, my mate Ross was ready to gaff it and he said "go easy go easy" and I eased off a bit, then the bend was gone in the rod and I thought the fish was lost, not so, Ross had gaffed it, but the jig had come off the fish. It had been hooked about 1 inch from it's anal vent and there was a strip of the underside skin pulled down but still connected, but it left a "hole" as big as a tennis ball where one point of the treble had been. I finally had it after an hour long, full on physical battle and it went 27lb and caught on 25lb mono. That was the end of my day as I was too exhausted to have another go and my left wrist was wrecked for a couple of weeks. Just as memorable as catching that fish was watching the commercial guy, who was really slightly built, catch really great sized Kings with relative ease and he pulled them in one after another with the boat moving quite quickly in a tight circle. After catching "rat" sized Kings the same way plenty of times, 40 years on I'm still in awe of how he could pull such large fish with such ease

Hi again Offtherockss 15kg line is more realistic for what you want to do and even a bit too thick for casting any distance anywhere, however, if Groper are your intended target then it would be adequate. Fishing from beaches, 9-10kg line is plenty strong enough for even the largest Mulloway, you just play them for a few more minutes! In the "old scale" 25lb line and over was considered pretty heavy unless you were land based game fishing or chasing giant Blue Groper/Black Drummer in rough terrain, besides, it's FAR more memorable to catch a fish you need to play out (if you intend to keep them) than to try and drag one in on heavy stuff. Also, once you use line over about 10kg, you'll find that most species become "line-shy" and you'll get considerably less bites, sure, large Groper, Mulloway and sometimes Kingfish don't care, but other species (that you're more likely to catch frequently) will leave a bait alone if your line is too heavy. Most fishers, unless they're extremely large and strong, can't utilise line over about 15kg from the shore at any rate and casting any distance is difficult if not impossible. Thick line also sinks quickly and creates a "belly" that needs to be taken into account when striking a bite, so consider what your "main purpose" for your outfit will be and get the appropriate line strength to match your target species.

Depending on the terrain, but the most uncomplicated is a simple ball sinker above a bead (to stop sinker getting jammed on swivel knot when casting) and then swivel, then shortish leader of about 50-60cm then 2 snooded suicides. If using Yellowtail as live bait and fishing around reef/kelp they will usually find something to swim around and create problems- OK if fishing on sand/mud though and best rig I've used and most simple for the target species to run off unimpeded by sinker weight. If you are fishing rough country/bottom then Mullet are a better choice as they don't swim around all the stuff on the bottom.

Hi Isaac that's a great fish! A lot of dedicated Luderick fishers don't catch one that big in a lifetime!

Hi Offtherocks NOBODY can utilise line that thick/strong on a spinning reel for casting. Keep it for trace if you ever go outside. If using mono for casting, about 30lb is the thickest you would ever need, and that is for throwing heavy metals and really large live bait. What are you targeting to use such heavy stuff for?

They are! Very collectable item- believe it or not!

Hi Tristan have you any links to your study so far? I'd be really interested to see what you've found out, including things like where do they go after spawning etc. Thanks Waza

Cool old reel Pete- I thought of you when I saw it!

Another fantastic write-up! Thanks Paddy great info and great memories

Nice video and well done on the safe release. Tasty Whiting too!

Welcome ROCKRODMAN a good way to look for things such as places, species etc is to use the search function (top right) and place your key words in inverted comma's eg "Coffs Harbour" Mutton Bird Island, South (and north) walls, Sawtell all good spots

Hi Richard they are good bait for Mulloway when used live or a fillet.

Great resto- looks like the original rod but underbound now as well- probably last another 40yrs

Known locally as Rock Cale they are commonly referred to as "Cockies" or "Birds" no good on the plate but very good bait. Luderick fishers commonly catch them when the float is really close in to the rocks. They commonly surf a swell up onto the edges of rock platforms, grab some weed or cabbage and "drop" back over the edge. Some locations have masses of them

Hi tryhard they have been around for a while and there's been fish caught in quite a few of the different spots in Cowan. You need to find some bait fish and sound around. Often the most miserable conditions for fishers are just great for them. Tides and moon are good this weekend also- I'd go and try a few of the regular spots. Jerusalem Bay seems to be the most consistent bay these days but typically of Hairtail they move around a fair bit, so any of the spots can have fish turn up

As GH says above and heaps lighter and more "one-hand" operational. With the bearing reel the outgoing line will flow off almost by itself, the 500 you'll need to get the spool moving as start-up inertia needs more pull with both the heavier spool and no bearing. I have an old model 475 and it still works fine after 30 odd years

Baz- the simple answer to reply is that you actually prefer to collect fishing gear and occasionally like to use it to see how it goes. Some people collect stamps

They sure aren't worried about the cold but it can be hard going if it's really windy and you can't get out of the wind. Have caught plenty when it's genuinely freezing cold, even the masses of bait fish are near the bottom instead of the surface layers

Try using live Pike for Kings instead of Yakka's -only the better class of fish go for them and they are too big for greedy guts Salmon. To catch the Pike there are two methods we used to use 1) put a Whitebait on 3 x size 1 gangs and pinch a small piece of sheet lead or a couple of split shot about a foot in front of the gangs, let it sink about 8-10 ft near the edge and move slowly along the ledge- you can also use a whole Pilchard on bigger hooks but the Whitebait is heaps better- usually they'll dart up from the edge, sometimes when you're almost lifting your bait back out. 2) use the same hooks/bait and put it under a small bobby cork with a little more lead and set it about 8-10 ft deep, again fish it really close to deep edges. The beauty of the Whitebait also is that it isn't anywhere near as attractive to all the Mado's, Sweep and Yakka's as a Pilchard and lasts far longer on your hooks. Bi-catch Pike fishing are Bream. You can get Pike on other bait and lures but the Whitebait is their favourite. When you get one put it straight out (or in a large pool if you have something to get it out with) as they don't survive well in captivity. Often when you put one out (just use 1 hook about an inch behind the gill opening) they will float upside-down on the surface, don't let that worry you as long as they're breathing the kings will take them, often on the surface in front of you. They are also great for Mulloway fished deep

I worked at Prospect Reservoir for over a year and got to see some great fish. The main inlet to the water filtering station was a concrete canal that had a debris filter similar to a giant paddle-wheel (there were two of them adjacent)with a screen mesh which took anything solid out of the flow going into the plant, including fish and eels and deposited them in holding bins. About every hour or so the environmental ranger would come and take all the live contents from two large holding tanks (like giant Otto bins) and return them to the reservoir. Whenever we were working anywhere near the water he would sneak around to see if we had a set line in anywhere (we didn't!) and also to make sure we had drop sheets under any work we did near the water. During minor blasting, more than once a large trout floated up including one I saw that went 5 kg which was disposed of on site. Due to the sensitive nature of the whole plant and the need for water purity security, I doubt that it would ever be open to the public for fishing

Thanks for posting! Did you manage to accurately identify your shark?

Good quality weed in conjunction with burley of chopped weed and sand usually gets them interested. Other baits they take inside are shrimps, peeled green prawns, live nippers, live worms, bread to name a few. After dark they often bite on the non-vegetative baits, but during the day weed followed by cabbage is the most reliable thing to use. Keep your leader no heavier than .20mm diameter regardless of strength- the finer the better and weight your float to sit no more than about 1cm above the surface when fishing wharves in the harbour for best results

Fantastic Jamo! We'll be asking you for advice soon!

Another great instalment thanks Paddy!