PaddyT

yep real ones, like Burke , more and more the whole service once a year thing is a PITA, AND im not so sure i trust an inflatable 100% if something did go wrong- the whole inflatable thing has been driven by the idea of wearing a LJ the whole time you are on a boat and i dont, so if i feel that i need to put on a jacket then things are going to be bad, real bad!

throw the inflatables in the bin and get real ones!

Had a late start yesterday due to first mate back at work (he is a swimming coach so had finished by 830am), on the water at 930am and straight out towards the 12 mile, water Ok at 22c so lures in , water got better and better- hitting 24 just outside the 12, a few micro dollies and frigate macks popped up here and there. Headed back inside to see probabaly the biggest pod of Common Dolphins ive seen off Sydney- at least 3-400 absolutly smashing masses of pilchards on the tide change at 130pm, we drove round the carnage for over 2hrs and didnt turn a reel. Masses of bait in the 50-60 fathom area so it will go off at some point, water starting to look really good. Nice day anyway!

Around there-ray or shovelnose

I normally use a loop to loop- in braid a bimini is much easier to tie than a plait, 50 turn bimini's in both lines and use a 5-6 twist catspaw to join up, lots of spit to pull it SLOWLY tight and i doubt you will have a problem

Very nice trevor for Sydney, well done

Hi zoran, ive been looking for the old Burke zip up types but havent had any luck, still got some small adult,kids sized ones but not adult- have you seen them anywhere?

Ok the fine is one thing-BUT - if you had an accident were someone was hurt or lost their life- you as the skipper would be fully liable and not having suitable LJ's on board would be the first thing that would cause you to be fully liable, personally im going to get rid of the inflatables soon and go back to the zip up type, id rather rely on one of them in an emergency

Seriously? When everything the antis put out is simply based on perception and not fact? Bluewater Mag published some Indo Pacific billfish catch rate data a few years back- commercial fisheries kill huge tonnages of marlin every year(nothing is C&R'd) but one amateur fisho catches a big marlin and everyone from the RSPCA (now theres a mob whos agenda has been stolen by the far left) to other holier than thou "catch and release only" fishos is up in arms about it. Gamefisherman drove the first moves towards conserving marlin stocks and are still the main driver (the general public has no skin in the game). Fact is this , when the animal "rights" have taken away hunting,marlin fishing , catch and release (like has happened overseas) do you honestly think that they will stop there?Articles like Bens ARE full of facts, there is no bias it exposes the nonsense that is animal "rights" for what it is, every animal dies , its just how, preserving a biomass or stock of a species is much more important than the fate of an individual animal-and thats the point that Ben is making.

no probs , mullet run to the sea anyway, its not a bad jewie bait but dont overlook squid,herring, pike

1. Squid are everywhere in Pittwater, just find weed and you will find squid- if you dont get a squid in 10 casts move- kelp or ribbon weed are all good. 2. Wind faster- speed kills pelagics.

Why is it onesided, it does an excellent job of shooting down some of the nonsense that Animal Rights activists etc have against fishing of any sort, the fish will provide scientists with a vast amount on knowledge etc that will lead to better preservation of the species and all marlin, if it had been killed on a longliner (and thats the main sort of fishing that kills marlin) not a peep would of been heard from the greenies and the left wing media.

yeah look not wanting to burst your bubble but on those older boats manufacturers plates can be moved around, lots of older boats dont even have one- hence why RMS brought in the standardised compliance plate system, im with Baz it doesnt look like a Quinnie but they did make a few strange models in the 70's like their 16 footer . Ron Calcutt (who loved quintrex )wrote a pretty scathing review on that one-not suprisingly Quintrex stopped that particular modelquick smart. So lets call it a Quintrex for now if thats what the plate says- enjoy your boat , catch lots of fish from it and use it as a stepping stone to the next one.

If its a quinnie i doubt very much that it was manufactured by Telwater- they are the holding company that own Quintrex, Stacer etc and only came into existance in the 1990's (i think)- that boat is 1970's vintage- it might be a Quinnie but i seem to remember that they never had that wide strake on the upper hull- happy to be proven wrong though

chug along at idle in general which depending on current is anywhere between 1-3.5 knots in my boat

no idea how strong those are , more referring to the one on the downrigger boom

look above- 8/0 live bait style hooks eg Mustad Hoodlums or Gamakatsu Livebait hooks, -hook through the nose, cant be bother bridle rigging 99% of the time - i actually set my drag using a set of scales- usually 7-8kg of drag on my lighter outfits (40lb braid and 60-80lb leader), 10kgs on heavier out fit 65lb braid and 80-100lb leader. Some days lighter leader gets all the bites, but i leave the rod in the holder on full drag, if i get a knockout then i drop into freespool or open bail arm to get the king to come back - whatevers in the tank, pike, yakkas, slimies, big baits get played with a bit more than little ones-little ones are straight down the hatch

Oh yeah forgot to talk about the rod holder- DONT use the holder on the downrigger except for trout fishing- Scotty rod holders are great for light tackle but downrigging for kings on full drag will not end well!I dont let my down rigger bomb down at full speed- i wind it backwards- i have much better control, i hate fiddling with drags on the boat and baitrunner reels wont hack it, if you wind the downrigger bomb down with the bail arm open and the boat moving forward you will never have a problem.

Use a bit of sodium bisulphite to stop the oxidising

OK- this will answer some of your questions but is also a train of thought on downrigging for kings; Braid doesnt rust, doesnt need crimps and crimping tools (even though I do have them on board), if a get a really bad snag or a really bad tangle I can fix it with a knife, wire tends to develop weak spots through corrosion and rust and kinks really easily. I removed the hooks off a large raider jig, attached it to the rear of the bomb with a heavy duty split ring and then attached the release clip to the front split ring with about a meter of line between the split ring and release clip. I dont really worry too much about the distance between the bait and the release clip except when im running two downriggers- then one bait goes about 15 m back and the other anywhere between 5 and 10m back. I dont think the flash from the jig does any harm as kings are very curious (as Jon said), im not sure on the difference in catch rates between the wire line and braid- ive run them side by side and havent noticed a difference but the "hum" from the wire i find a bit annoying . I would suggest you find a nice snag free area on a calm morning and do a series of practice runs until you get the hang of it all . I generally dont get too fussy on how deep i run the bomb- i generally know the areas I fish pretty well so for example- if im on Long Reef- which has a couple of pinnacles that pop up to about 25ft I but most of the area Im fishing is around 60-70ft deep (and I use feet because the Scotty depth counter is in feet and also one crank of the handle on a Scotty 1085 is 2feet of line so I dont have to think much ). I will drop the bomb to about 30 feet and start chugging around , if i am running towards one of the pinnacles than I can simply increase my speed and the bomb will rise above and snags - using your sounder and GPS plot makes life much easier this way! Also I generally start my trolling runs in the deeper section of reef and work my way around. My first point of call on any kingfish mission is the "upcurrent" edge of the reef. On deeper reefs - say "Mugs" of North head the depth is around 100-120 feet deep- I will drop the bomb to about 80 feet and work the entire area-it doesnt really have any sharp pinnacles -until i hit fish. Just have a routine and you will be fine

Sunshine is deepwater with all shore break in general- further south towards Castaways it starts to become a bit more of a "traditional beach"- there are worms and pipis , dart , whiting and bream are what ive caught there in summer- tailor in winter- last fished it back about 2010

100% on the braid- i just use 200lb braid, 6lb bomb with a large raider jig splitringed to the back of the bomb and a meter of heavy nylon to a release clip. Usually flick the livie out the back of the boat 5-6 M ,leave the reel in freespool or bail arm open, clip the line into the clip, drop the bomb (under control, I usually wind it down ) , set it and then wind the line on my rod and reel tight so the rod tip is slightly bent. I use either an eggbeater or an overhead and I dont play with the drag while dropping- cause its too hard to reset correctly. I then watch the rod like a hawk, very often kings will knock the line out of the release clip without hooking up- if that happens immediately freespool or open the bail arm and 9/10 the king will come back and eat properly. As soon as you are hooked up wind the bomb up- cause hooked fish love swimming around the downrigger line if its left out. For livies i use heavy duty 8/0's (eg Mustad Hoodlums or Gamakatsu Live bait hooks) pinned through the nose sideways- for squid i use one of those and a 2/0 4x strong treble at the back.

Ultimately if he whacked anyone he would liable-however small kids need to watched very carefully around water or fishing activities, I never let my kids when they were small stand behind me in a crowded situation- i always had "eyes front" on them. Having said that when i was a teenager i saw the aftermath of when a guy throwing lures off the front ledge at Avoca leant into a big cast with a heavy metal lure and drove the 4/0 treble into the guy walking behind right under his nose, the force tore his face open, broke teeth and cheekbone. I met up with the victim a year or two later and he fully blamed the caster but Avoca was full of guys throwing heavy metal back then and you needed to be "situationally aware" when walking around the waters edge (as in any rockfishing situation really) so yes- the caster was at fault but as in any accident - id rather be unhurt than right. Derek you are best off walking away from someone like that and simply keeping your self and your kids safe!You spoke to him and in this day and age that is as far as you can go without involving the law.

nope i like raw and rare meat, and ive tried tailor in 5000 different ways and ive bleed them ikid them smoked is passable but i reckon they are a very average fish

Ahh no- i reckon tailor taste like c!@# no matter how ive tried to cook it!