Kracka

Waza that was a great read. Sounds like he was an absolute legend...handlining large snapper is no easy feat. First time ive heard of em being caught on blackie gut, too.

Wow what a weekend. Solid effort and looks like the 12 year jewie drought turned around in one big hit

Do you mean the toothbrush method?

Agree with the skin...especially once its cripy *salivates*. Ive found its definitely not unplesant if you leave it in for dishes with strong flavours such as a curry but anything with subtle flavours...particularly steamed or dishes with simple flavours...that flavour can become a bit distracting in the flesh. Next time i catch i few fresh ones ill try one with the black lining and without to compare.

Thanks for that Roger. Much appreciated. I usually slice and then run the top of my thumbnail along the backbone to remove the blood. I'll give the toothbrush a go as well... its a much cleaner method

Howdy all. Stumbled across this and figured ill join in and introduce myself. Name's Adam. Im from Sydney and quite new to FR but Ive fished my whole life - and like us all here I just cant get enough. My wife and I travel when and where we can and of course...fish any country we visit. Been to mauritius, Thailand, Fiji, various parts of Aus. Next is Japan. Of course, shes the one who usually outfishes me...but hey, thats married life aye... As much as I like asking people for tips and improving my fishing, i always try to help others out if i can. Glad to be part of FR. Tight lines.

Forgot to mention. Try the blackfish gut as bream bait too. KoalaBoi put me on the money with that and its been working a treat. Even caught a flattie on it too. Tight lines.

Gday Raiders. Was hoping to get some tips for removing the black gut lining found in fish such as luderick and black drummer as it taints the flesh. I usually fillet and skin them as ive struggled to remove it (have tried peeling it off much like deskinning a leatherjacket, and using a sharp knife to slive it off but to no avail). Reason why i ask is my preferred cooking method is cooking whole either crispy skin chinese style or En papillote (french steamed) and the black lining does make a big difference to the taste. Any removal tips im all ears. Thanks in advance ? In the meamtime...light tempura lol.

Haha totally. Definitely need a name change now lol. Mate, sounds like a top outing! Well done. And always great to find a new back up spot to fish when the wind is up. Ive always suspected Cunninghams Reach...just off Burns Bay Road to be a pretty likely spot for blackies along the drop offs just along the oyster covered rocks there. Theres definitely some huge bream around there and im sure a few blackies too.

Nice haul guys. Big mowie a few flatties too.

G'day Jim. I cant really help with the spot you mentioned specifically unfortunately...but the same principle will apply in general. I usually struggle to find weed in the harbour. I can find some but not usually enough for decent burley and bait as its never good to collect everything...best to allow it to regenerate for future and other fishos - generally around oyster encrusted rocks, jetties and pylons tend to grow some weed inside the harbour. So i usually head around the northern beaches to collect my weed. Any headland will hold at least one or two types of weed and enough of it for a solid session. Manly, avalon, bilgowlah are some to name a few. The rockpools, rocks off the beaches at low tide and the ocean swim pools are good places to look. Harbour blackies dont seem to mind cabbage at all...particularly around middle harbour. And theres usually string or bubble weed you can collect in the same area as the cabbage as a back up. Hope that helps. Good luck mate

Sounds like a good outing. Well done on the catches, fellas.

Oh i forgot to mention.... Most importantly...make sure u are fishing where theyre feeding. Usually close to the bottom. Keep varying your depth until you start getting downs. Start from the bottom (your float will lay on its side, move it a little so it is upright). Adjust a foot more shallow with each few casts until you find out. If that doesnt work it may be time to change bait type or location...or even it may just be the time/tide. Its all part of the trouble shooting that comes with blackfishing. Forgot to mention too...Ive caught them from the rocks on bread before while drummer fishing but never tried it in the harbour. Id assume theyll take a bread bait if you burley with it. Just keep in mind you will catch just about everything on bread. Yakkas, bream etc. Hope it helps.

Nice catch on the lure savit. Yet to catch one on a HB. I have caught them on SPs - red worm and grubs as well as brown twin tails while fishing for flatties up at The Entrance before. A bloke at Coffs Harbour once introduced me and swore by peas as a back up bait. Never believed him until now, OneMoreCast. Might give it a go. SickWolf, try a few of the ocean pools around the northern beaches such as Avalon, Bilgowlah, Manly and CurlCurl. Theyre my go to for a few types of weed and its a reliable enough source. They will take cabbage weed inside the harbour as well. Just have to tune them in via your sand-weed burley. In any scenario weed flys (as masterfisho has pointed out) can be a saving grace. Ebay has them for sale and they work well particularly if there have been big swells or a lot of rain thats knocked out weed everywhere or if the weed is too short to bait up properly. The key to them taking the fly with less hesitation is again, burley (in my experience anyway). So you will probably need some weed still. Theres 3 colours - light green, dark green and brown. Have caught them on all 3 colours.

Awesome catch!! Living life on the edge with that 6lb ? nicely done

Hey Brazo. Welcome. I do most of my fishing around the Manly/Northern Sydney area. Mainly Long Reef and Avalon (rocks), Balgowlah (jetty fishing), The Spit and Drummoyne area to name a few. Havent fished the beaches except for Noahs lately. Im a shift worker so availablility is all over the joint. I get out for a fish whenever i can...early am or late arvo. If you have spearo gear as well let me know, been keen for a spear throughout the day (newbie at it FYI lol).

G'day Vanders. I used to fish The Entrance pretty frequently last year. Havent been up in a while though so not too sure what its like now. The flats around the Entrance does well in summer BUT the channel and flats formation shifts often enough over time (and hence where the fish are) so keep in mind posts over the past few years may not be advisable to take as gospel. Anywhere theres rock or structure there should be blackfish about. That includes around the bridge pylons, jetties and wharves, over weed beds and ledges covered with weed. The south bank closest to the Entrance mouth is one spot that comes to mind on a rising tide. There is a rock ledge down from the car park there. Also on the southern side but about 100m west of the bridge theres also blackfish...just past the old tackle shop. The northern side, just west of the bridge is a narrow channel that also holds some blackfish. If you want to brave the cold, you can wade around the middle at low or high tide and flick some soft platics or lightly weighted or unweighted bait around the channels in hope to wake some flathead up or snag some passing bream. Again...not too sure what its like again atm due to rain and the sands shifting around so much. As with all heavily fished spots...you may have to grab some live bait to tempt anything decent nowadays. Plenty of tackle shops around there to grab some. My advice if fishing the Entrance is get there just before sunrise or an hour before sunset for best results and fish the tides (even better if they overlap). Fish live nippers or prawns if u can. Otherwise freshest u can get. SPs are good also. KBs on the money. Good idea to tackle the stones, and the locations hes pointed out - swell and wind permitting. Can get pretty hairy quickly even on the best of days. Drummer, blackfish and bream are all top targets off the stones atm. Hope it helps u a little

yeah true true. Might go back with some live prawns and see if there are some bif bream still lurking about ? might up the tackle a little ?

Hey Brett, i always get mine from the ocean rocks or the ocean swimmig pools. Mona vale, curly, bilgowla, avalon, manly. They all have a relatively reliable supply of cabbage or string weed available. A good idea is to dedicate a day to drive around to likely places and search for bait collection spots during the day. I always allocate an hour to two hours for weed collection prior to sunrise as when it rains for ages or the swell has been pounding for a week a lot of the weed gets knocked out for a while so you may have to search a few spots sometimes. Stormwater drains or tidal creeks are a pretty good source of that slimy green weed too. E.g manly. Parra river and georges river can be good at times just throw out a handline with a heavy sinker and drag it along the bottom...if youre not keen on the rocks. I always carry some weed imitation flies that u can buy off ebay. Buy all 3 colours - dark green, bright green and brown. Its a good backup when the weed is scarce or very short. They work well. Just burley with sand and some weed and the blackies will take a fly if theyre on the chew. Key is burley either way. Hope that helps. Thanks mate. I thought that initially as i felt a powerful dive at the start but then it took out to open water. Never had a pig do that. They usually dive for the nearest cover and then wont budge. Plus it was woolwich. Havent heard of them that far up the system. Thats fishing i guess....its a lucky dip each outing. You never know what will happen.

Hey at least you got some action, right? Beats zip all. If youre after flatties try around forty baskets beach on the start of the run out tide. Around 50m off the swimming nets there is a drop off amonst the moored boats. Ive scored a few 70cm+ flatties off there early or late in the day. Live poddies/yakkas/nippers will tempt the big ones as well as a soft plastic hopped along the bottom. If the water is murky id go a darker colour SP. Caught them in the past on pumpkinseed gulps. The trevs will get in amonst the action too. They can get quite big. You can try around roseville bridge as well. Usually under the big overhead pipes or the drainage areas from the mangroves are a good place to start. A bit further down to Bantry Bay as well can be a good spot too. Fishing in winter i used to troll hard bodies with pretty good results. Big bream are a very welcome by catch too. Nowadays i use livies for flatties. Drifting tiny poddy mullet will wake up the big girls. You may get lucky with a nice jewie as well.

G'day Raiders. Crack of dawn i rocked up at Woolwich to strengthen my blackfishing some more - And oh boy were they hungry today. First cast in and the float shoots down. After a bit of a lengthy fight, a whopping 43cm lud. - my best yet...couldnt be happier. Two more followed after this. I was on a roll. Then something strange happened...my float stopped mid drift...4 or 5 seconds of just sitting motionless the float bolts down to the deep faster than a jet. Couldnt believe it. Stirked as usual but this where my heart really started to pound...whatever was on the end of the line was definitely NOT a blackie. This thing was a jet on steriods...my reel pumping out the drag as this fish screamed out to open water. With my spool running low (only had about 150 yards of 12lb braid on) i apply a little more drag and POP...the 8lb leader breaks at the knot. At least i got my float back. Other than a surgeonfish i cant think of anything that would take a weed bait. Maybe a foul hooked kingie. Ended up hooking onto 6 other blackies after thaf but all managed to spit the hook prior to the net ?. Spewing over it! Had lost count of the missed downs too. They became a bit finiky after the sun was well up. All in all...a magnificent day. Very happy with a few fish for a feed and a lot more confidence in my blackfishing. Keen to try some new spots now. Tight lines guys.

Thanks mate. Ill keep the bread burley for the drummer from the rocks. Thanks for the tip. Thanks mate, Ill give the shorter trace a crack. Will be heading out for a fish tomorrow. Keen to test out the results.

Thanks Oldfella. Ill definitely give it a go using the nippers. Its reassuring to know they bite throughout the night. Thank you. And a very clever aneaky tactic fishing where people have been pumping nippers. Its genius! Would they take a weed bait at night, out of curiosity?

Yeah completely agree. Probably have fished the same areas. Used to fish Avalon years ago in my teens. Spent many of my winter days catching well over a bags worth at times (only ever kept a few for home though. Theyre addictive to catch eh?). Id usually start at the far end of the headland at south avalon and work my way back towards the ocean pool there...casting at all the washy ledges along the way. In big swells i would have my wetsuit on and fish behind the rail/chains that line the pool at Avalon. You would get soaked by some big waves BUT in between sets you would get a 8 to 10 second window to cast your line into that small hole there. Usually you would get a hookup pretty quickly. Mate, give Long Reef a go if you havent already. Ive been lucky enough to have Koalaboi guide me around the area. I fish it even in big swells. Theres always a spot to fish no matter the condition or tide. Really high tides are great for pussyfooting...still getting the hang of it but its produced some decent bream and the odd drummer. Plenty of drummer (silvers and blacks) and groper lurking along those ledges. Well done on the groper btw. Its always a welcome by catch when drummer fishing. Im always worried that ill hook a big blue on a lighter rod though...thatd be an expensive trip! Let me know how the copolymer goes. Ive seen it at the stores. Never tried it though. Tight lines

G'day Raiders. Now that the Luderick are in the spot light over the next few months we will see a tonne more reports and tips about these bronzed brawlers - probably some bigger biceps too from hauling these fellas in. However, a question that isn't ever really covered in fishing magazines and rarely on forums is targeting these beauties at night time. In the past, I have caught a couple of Luderick while fishing for bream at night over the flats up at The Entrance on live Nippers and prawn baits. From what I have read on a few past forums is that it is definitely not unheard of being able to catch luderick at night on pipis, worm, prawn and nipper baits while targeting other species such as bream and whiting. Due to the fact that blackie angling is a float-dependant style of fishing (with the exception of pussyfooting from the rocks) it makes them a target primarily throughout the day. Naturally, we don't use weed baits at night as we target other species such as Mulloway and bream. I haven't been able to test this yet but I will look into it the next night outing I get and let you all know how it goes - this weekend...HOPEFULLY. Figured I'd ask first to either maximise the chance or find out if I would be wasting my time. I would assume heavy burlying is required as weed, unlike prawn and nipper baits, don't carry much of a scent (I assume). If luderick fish by sight, fishing around a well lit wharf such as Balmain would be a better option, too. Has anyone had any experience successfully targeting blackfish (EDIT: Or even surgeonfish) at night using weed baits?