adkel53

I was on board "Reelmagic" with Dale. An awsome boat that is just a joy to have the opportunity to fish from. My first time out after dark - what a fantastic trip home in glassy conditions under the moon. Just being there was worth the time and effort. Have been out several times now but so far no big fish hooked while I've been onboard. One day.....!! Have seen the photos from some of the successful trips with other crew members. Some vary large gamefish have come through the back door since "Reelmagic" was launched. Dale and Greg don't do anything by halves and reap the rewards when the fish are about. Also met fellow raider Jason - aka Double Pluggers (I think). We had a good chat about fishing from our smaller boats and he was kind enough to point out some of his favourite lizard spinning spots in Port Hacking as we motored out. I have done most of my lizard luring in Botany Bay and have sussed out some reasonably reliable locations and caught plenty of really good lizards in there (my pb being 82 cm). However, I have always harboured a desire to fish in Port Hacking so will branch out this spring/summer and try some of Jason's hotspots (before those harbour kings get into full swing!!!). Thanks for sharing your local knowledge Jason. Cheers Kel

I had a session earlier in the year where I could only rassle up one fairly small squid. After the pickers had demolished the strips all I had were the wings, guts and a tenticle by the time I found some kings at a different location in MH. I fished them unweighted on a 3/0 hook and landed one 70cm king after being bricked three times by others. The peeled prawns and pillie pieces I also tried that day remained untouched even though I am sure the kings were still around (the last one had a mate with him at the boat). The moral to the story - don't waste any peice of a hard won fresh cephalopod!!

G'day boaties, As I mentioned in an earlier post, the map in my Navman 5380i is very poor. My reseearch indicates that I can buy "local" maps for about $170. They cover a couple of hundred kms of coastline and I would need 4 of them to cover all of the places that I may visit along the NSW coast. Alternatively, I can spend about $350 on a C MAP Max NT that covers the entire Victorian, NSW and Qld coastlines. Can anyone tell me whether these more extensive (and expensive!) charts are as accurate and detailed as the smaller local charts or let me know of their experiences with these either of these types of charts. Cheers Kel

Ventured out again on Thursday despite the windy/showery forcast. Determined to catch a few squid. After about 2 hours and one very little squid to show for my efforts I decided to throw some "sluggos" around the harbour buoys in the wind. No success so headed in out of the wind and had a final try for a squid. Managed a 30 cm model (cheering!) so off to attempt to entice some kings. Fifteen minutes in and after some berlying with chopped up pilchards (coated in squid ink!) the heavier gear (30lb braid/50 lb trace with no sinker) went off. Up came a 72cm king so off to a good start. Before I could even get him out of the net the lighter rod (14lb braid, 20lb leader, 50lb trace unweighted) began acting strangely. No blistering run - more like a bream bite. Picked it up, felt some weight and struck. Then came the blistering run! Managed to land a twin for the first fish. While I'm mucking around taking photos and bleeeding the fish the anchor pulled and I lost my position. Anchored again but no action for the next hour. Moved about 20 metres into slightly deeper water and continued berlying and fishing floating baits. Several times I had kings in the berley at the back of the boat but they shied away from the fresh squid strips that I had worked so hard to catch for them. Ungrateful buggers!! It is exciting to see 70cm plus kings sniffing your bait!! No more hits and eventually used up all my squd so called it a day at 1.00pm. A top morning - didn't even get wet and caught two nice kings. Kel

If the water looks nice and clean I do. If it looks dirty (like yesterday at Tunks Park) I use minimal fresh water. I also try to srub along the backbone with a brush (a kitchen brush or stiff toothbrush works well). Kel

Thought I'd share my experienes with eating kingies. 1. Bleed immediately on capture (I take a tall bucket for this - cut through the throat and put head first in for 5 minutes or so). 2. Wash and place in cold salt water (2-3 frozen 2 litre containers work well in my esky). 3. Clean and scale (not really necessary as tou will see). Keep contact with fresh water minimal - none if possible. 4 Fillet as usual and remove the ribcage. 5. Cut each fillet down the centre through the line of red meat. 6. Using a sharp filleting knife and with the piece of red meat closest to you, skin each half fillet. You need to start at the head end on one piece. By angling the handle end of the knife upwards you can remove almost all of the red meat in one action while skinning the fish, leaving nice white peices to cut into siutable sized portions. Hence, no need to scale the fish in the first place. 7. Mix up some lemon/lime juice with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Could add chilli, garlic, ginger, 5 spice powder etc etc. Experiment. 8.Turn barbie on and open a beer. By time beer consumed barbie will me ready (not too hot). Dip pieces into the liquid and place on the plate. Don't overcook them. You will of course have another beer in hand by now! You can spoon/paint/splash on more liquid as they cook if you wish. 9. Serve with a nice green salad and some fresh crusy bread. 10 . A meal fit for a KING!! My family/friends drool over it. Tight lines and dont keep more than you can eat fresh. Kel PS: The top part of the fillet from the shoulder end makes great sashimi too. Anyone got any more favourite kingie recipes?

Iala, Darling Point as in the main harbour or is there one in MH too??

Been a member for a while now so thought I'd post my first report. Ignored the weather forcsast and set off on the hour long drive to Tunks Park at 4.45 am. Have had limited opportunities to fish for kings this year and needed to have my arms stretched. Planned to fish Middle Harbour to stay out of the wind but have little knowledge of the kingie spots in there as have confined my kingie fishing to the main harbour, usually throwing soft plastics at structure but occasionally baitfishing with squid/livies. Pouring rain when I arrived at the ramp (no other boats already out) but it stopped and I set off to catch livies and squid. No success at The Spit (does one need bigger and heavier squid jigs there?), nor at Balmoral Island, which was copping the wind and difficult to fish. Nailed a good squid at the 'clothes frowned on' beach near there, but no luck along the shoreline out to Middle Head. Too windy and rough to go any further so set off upstream with my single squid. Tried the north side of Pickering Point for zero and then headed up to Roseville for a coffee and to spin for lizards. Coffee shop closed and the water coffee coloured due to runoff so that was a waste of time. By now the wind was against the runout tide so headed back to Quakers Hat Bay where I could fish in some comfort. The squid strips that I had an the heavier gear were destroyed by pickers so sent one out unweigted on a 3-6 kg rod with 6lb diameter fireline and a 20 lb leader. After about 5 minutes the reel is screaming and a severe curve in the rod. Fought him for several minutes before the leader parted just above the hook. Re-rigged and sent the guts out. Lasted about 2 minutes. This time I felt the leader rub on the bottom after a similar fight so two to the kingies, none to me. Last available fresh bait was the two small pieces of tenticle I had left. Out they went and again hammered. This time I managed to net a 70 cm model. He had at least one companion of similar size. Tried some peeled prawns which I had taken along and some shop bought squid-no more hits though. Obviously I will need to work on my squid catching as fresh bait seems to be imperative. Will also have to try and find some other locations that hold kings in Middle Harbour. The rain stayed away and I had a top morning and hopefully learned a thing or two for the future. Cheers Kel

All you guys with leaky coats could try reproofing them with Nikwax TX10 - about $15 from good camping shops and contains enough for two re proofings. Works for me. Kel

I have just installed a Navman 5380i in my boat and used it for the last week at Narooma. On a couple of occasions the track showed me passing over land. Is this simply due to the basic nature of the maps provided (basically a rough outline of the shape of Wagonga Inlet - no smaller bays showed up) or due to an error in calibration of the unit itself? I was using the WGS84 map datum and turned the DGPS option off after the first "land crossing". Any advice/tips much appreciated. How does one check the accuracy of a GPS plotter? Kel

Try Nikwax TX10 which you can get in good camping stores. Works well on my 30 year old "old faithful" rain coat that has prevented many a wet bum!! Kel

Thanks for the replies. Have ordered a Navman 5380i and lloking forward to installing it and learning how to use it to improvre my fishing. Kel

I am considering adding a chartplotter to my 4.2 m Quinny for use in harbours, bays and estuaries. Any one running a Navman 5505(i) or Navman5380(i) or comparable colour unit? Would appreciate your comments re user friendliness, performance, value for money etc. Cheers Kel

They can be frustrating little fishes, just like many bigger ones can be. My most successful trap involves a pale coloured washing up dish, some "plastic" fly mesh (as your put into a window frame) with a square hole of about 4 cm cut in the middle and a suitable sized occy strap to hold the mesh over the top. Weight the dish down with some sand or a rock. Tear a a hole in the middle of a slice of fresh bread and carefully push it through the hole. Place the trap in the water so that it is about 10cm below the surface and centre the piece of bread under the hole in the mesh. Stand back and throw a few pieces of bread upstream of the trap to get some feeding activity happening. Now sit down and read the paper or a good fishing magazine. The poddies will usually start to feed over the dish and push one another inside where they will swim in a circle around the perimeter of the dish. When the bread floats out, rebait and go back to your reading until you have enogh for your needs. I have had up to 50 enter the dish in one go at times. I have seen others use a large clear plastic food container with a tight fitting lid. They cut a hole in the middle of the lid. I have found the top half of a rising tide to be the best time to entice them to feed. Poddies will keep for a few days in a 10 litre bucket with a tight fitting lid (like a pool chlorine bucket) that has holes (about 5mm) drilled randomly around the top half of the bucket (and in the lid if you wish). Hang the bucket in the water so that it can float up and down with the tide (on a mooring buoy or similar is good) and put a rock in it to make sure it sinks. That way, any of your hard earned poddies that don't get used can be saved for another day. Cheers Kel

G'day raiders, Have read a few mentions of using prawns for kings recently. Anyone care to share details re size/source of prawns and whether they are best used with shells on or off? What about rigs? Floaters or sitting under the boat a la squid and livies? Seems they may be a worthwhile backup for when the squid are playing hide and seek! Cheers Kel

Thanks for taking the time to reply Jig. Another question. How does one tie a sliding snell rig? I can find some pictures of it but nothing that actually describes how it is tied. I assume the top hook is able to be moved along the trace to accomodate different sized squid (or baitfish if a stinger is being used). Any tips or references to diagrams showing how it is done would be much appreciated. Living an hour away from the closest harbour launching ramp means that one wants to make the most of every opportunity to wet a line!! Kel

I watched a number of boats dowrigging in the harbour this morning and having some success. I have recently acquired a downrigger and am ready to try my luck. Any tips from you guys who regularly use one (or two)? Depths to start at, baits and lures (I assume whole squid, strips, yakkas and maybe soft plastics could all be used ) and methods of rigging them to best effect would be much appreciated to help get started. I love chucking sluggo type lures around but some days the kings are totally unresponsive to them while others are obviously doing well with baits.

I have only encountered one real goose on the harbour (and a few others who just did'nt know any better). While they are a bloody pain and get under your skin it is best to ignore them and just enjoy the freedom to be able to fish in such a magnificent , fish rich, harbour. Move away if necessary - there is a lot of water in then harbour!!

Thanks for the reply. Have caught a few by accident around the moorings at Towra Pt while using my favourite sps (sqidgies rule!!) for lizards. Not sure if that is a regular haunt for them or if they were loners. Kel

Anyone able to give some advice on catching squid in Botany Bay? Locations to try, tides (if they make a difference) and favoured jig size and colours would be much appreciated. Thanks in anticipation. Kel