james7

They did a great service job on my Charter Special a while ago. Runs like a dream now. Actually you've reminded me to head down there soon because I have to see if I can get a gear for my old Aernos 6000 which is still lying in pieces. Thanks for jogging my memory. Cheers Peter

About 20 years ago I was fishing at Pearl Beach up the Central Coast and had run out of bait. I found an old brass fish shaped lure in the bottom of the tackle bag. I have no idea where it came from. It was about 4cm long and had a small treble on the back. Tied it on and slowly retrieved it in the surf. Fourth or fifth cast and on jumps a 33cm flattie! Cheers Peter

Geez bignev!!! If your grandson is catching fish like that at 2 1/2!!! What will he catch when he's 5!!! Congratulations for young bloke's new pb! What a champion! Cheers Peter

That's a top session! No wonder the young fella has a big smile! Cheers Peter

I slide a small bean sinker into the head of the skirt. It's held there by a snap swivel. The picture below shows a very old skirt which has been chewed to pieces by some tailor, but it gives you an idea of what I mean. I also use good quality swivels now. Leader is 30lb or 40lb mono about 1.5m long. I also have a few bigger skirts using 50lb mono. Trolling speed varies with the conditions, 10-14kph if it's choppy and maybe 14-18kph if it's smooth. (12-14kph is a good average for kings, bonito and tailor) I don't like seeing the skirt bouncing too much on the surface. Actually, I adjust how much line I have out until I can't see it skipping. Having said all that, we've caught kings trolling at about 4kph when we've slowed down for some reason and we've caught stripies while cruising at over 22kph. I hope that helps Dave. Cheers Peter

G'day Dave 90% of the time I use a pink skirt with a double hook. They seem to catch just about anything (kingfish, tailor, bonito, salmon). The one I used last Friday also has some blue plastic around the hook. I only noticed on the last trip how much the blue stands out. I also like the blue/grey pilchard hardbody, similar to the old one below. Tailor love 'em. Cheers Peter

Red Rock Cod are good eating, but they do have to be a decent size to get a good fillet. John's biggest cod was about 38cm and after I very carefully filleted them, trying to stay well clear of the spikes, I cut each of the two fillets into three "fish cocktail" size pieces. The two smaller cod fillets were cut in half. As for cooking, John said he deep fries them in a beer batter. He coats the fillets in seasoned flour, then dips them in an ice cold beer batter. The batter is just self raising flour and ice cold beer. The beer has to be very cold. Only deep fry a couple of fillets at a time. I'm not sure what beer he uses. Apparently it does make a difference. Drain the fillets on a paper towel and season. Cheers Peter

I reckon it wont be long until you get that 10kg+ jew Trung. You're running hot at the moment! As for that flattie, I hope you realise that because there's a photo of Tom holding it, he can now claim part of the capture rights! Awesome report and a great flathead. Cheers Peter

You're on a roll at the moment Pete! Great session for you and Rosetta! Hey Pete, you look like Brad Pitt compared to me! I've had people say that next to me even a rockcod looks good! Cheers Peter

My old mate Syd had a friend who was itching to get out and do some fishing. Late last night I get a call from Syd saying, "what are you doing tomorrow?" Syd's good mate John was keen to do three things this trip: 1. catch a kingfish, 2. get a few good flathead, and 3. get some rock cod - one of his favourite fish to eat. As it turned out, ... two out of three aint bad! It was dark and overcast as we headed out. There was a pretty decent swell, so we kept our distance from the cliffs as we trolled south. My reel was the first to go and after a very short fight, a rat king was caught and released. John's anticipation heightened. He didn't have long to wait until his rod started bending. Just another rat king, but John was happy. It's a great thrill seeing someone who doesn't get to fish often get so excited. We trolled back over the same area hoping to find some more kings. We'd only gone a short distance when John's reel screams. He tightens the drag , but it's still taking line. Now this might be a decent fish I thought. Syd and I tell John to try and stay calm as we take the boat out to deeper water. The fish goes for a few more runs and John is yelling at us to get the net. He's in full excited panic mode now, scared that he's going to lose his "biggest fish ever!" But it was all good. Syd gets the kingy in the net and John's 'panic' is now 'relief' and a lot of 'Yahoos!' It's a great feeling seeing someone so happy and excited. It was not a big king by a lot of people's standards (just over 70cm), but it was legal and John's first decent fish. Anyway, the look on his face was priceless. A closer inspection showed that this kingy had had a 'close encounter' with a toothy critter in the recent past. What do you reckon? Big squid maybe? We continued trolling, but could only manage three or four more rat kings and a salmon. Time for a flattie drift, a cup of coffee and something to eat. We moved around, tried different depths, but couldn't find a decent patch anywhere. After a few hours I'd caught five flatties, Syd four, and poor John ... 0! So much for his intention of getting a decent flathead. We decided to address his request for some rockcod and headed off to some reefy spots. It only took John a few minutes get his first rockcod. However, it was his third, and biggest rockcod, that had a 'surprise' for him when he was trying to get the hook out. And no, it wasn't Nemo. I have no idea what sort of fish it was. That was the last fish of the day and we headed back to the ramp. Unfortunately John had to get home quickly on 'pain of death' from his missus, so he missed out on all the fun stuff ... cleaning the boat ... scaling and filleting the fish etc. Anyway, it was a top day out. Here's the "table shot" of the final catch. Not a bad feed there to be shared between the three of us. Gotta be worse ways to spend a day! After Syd and I had finished all the "fun stuff", and we were relaxing with a few drinks, I announced the day's "awards". Biggest fish (kingy) - John 100 points Fish with the biggest scar - John 100 points Ugliest fish caught with another fish in its mouth - John 100 points Biggest flathead - ME 100 points Most flathead - ME 100 points Smallest ugliest flathead - Syd 3 points Cheers Peter PS Here's another picture of the kingy's 'scar'. (click on the image to see it full size) As I look at it now, I reckon if it was a squid or cuttlefish, it must have been a big one. What else could make a bite as big as that on a king? Any ideas?

Cracker flathead to get on a popper! How do you give up when it doesn't happen!!! I'm still waiting to get a 75cm+ flattie! Cheers Peter

Some nice bream for you and Hutcho on the light gear. Great photos too. You've certainly caught a variety of fish lately Ray. By the way, what fought harder, that big bream or the Bathurst Island Black Jew? Cheers Peter

Four flatties, a nice bream, as well as some whiting is a top effort Kurt! By the way, none of my "fishing friends" wear pearl earings! Cheers Peter

Your weekend had just about everything, plenty of good fish caught, and even the "one that got away"! Whales, dolphins, seals and even turtles! Great time alright! Cheers Peter

WOW! What a top trip Ray! Best wishes to Karen too. Some great fish and brilliant photos! Fantastic! Cheers Peter

G'day Ben Mmmm ... blades vs plastics? Interesting question. (One I'm not qualified to answer) However, one thing I do know, you were a winner. Out on the water in a beautiful area (Shoalhaven), a couple of great sessions, some good fish caught, and a freezer full of fillets! Cheers Peter

Been trolling down there a few times lately. There are plenty of big salmon around and the odd bonito. Unfortunately, all the kings we've caught have all been undersize (usually 55-65cm) and have been mixed in with the salmon. I took a few kids out for a troll recently and they had a ball. You can see the report "here". Most fish were near the headlands of Wattamolla and Curracurrang. Cheers and good luck Peter

You're not wrong Formosan and GOOS. The gummy shark was very nice indeed. I just put a bit of lemon pepper on the fillets, dipped in flour and shallow fried. Anyone got a good gummy recipe I can try next time? A mate of mine told me that I should have done them in a light beer batter. It's the best way to eat them he reckons. Cheers Peter

Great feed of flatties. Good consolation prize. Looks like you got the trifecta of flatties: bluespotted, dusky and tiger. Cheers Peter

You're right George, I reckon they're hooked. However, as for looking comfortable, the young one did turn "green" for a while. He had his head down and I thought we'd be heading back in early, but after about half an hour he jumped up and was right as rain and back into it. By the way CG, you might recognise the lures we used for trolling. Thanks also CG for your recent advice about snapper. Can't wait to get out and have a go for a decent red. As Jewgaffer told me a while ago, you have a great wealth of knowledge and are very generous in sharing it. Cheers Peter

That is a great fish pacemode. Definitely worth screaming about! (My pb snapper is only about 45cm) Congratulations on a top snapper. Cheers Peter

I really thought the bonito was a kingy at first. It hit like a freight train. Unlike smaller bonito, that go hard for just a couple of minutes, this one kept going for long runs. The luckiest part was, unlike a kingy, the bonito headed out for deeper water so there wasn't much chance of getting reefed. Cooked a bit of the gummy up tonight with some chips and salad. Cheers Peter

A good mate asked if I could take his kids fishing during the school holidays as he was busy working. We finally made onto the water despite the threat of showers. We trolled for a bit and it wasn't long before Jimmy had the first fish, a little bonito. The smile on his face said it all. Even his big brother Jay was impressed. Ten minutes later and Jimmy's into it again. This time it's a chunky little salmon. The next fish was his brother Jay's first salmon. But "Mr Salmon" (young Jimmy) just kept reeling them in. The boys caught and released a few more salmon before we decided to drift for a few flatties. I don't know whether the trawlers have been around that area lately, but everywhere we tried was devoid of fish. In an hour and a half we only found a couple of flatties. Nothing was touching the bait. It was the skipper, Syd who finally provided some excitement, bringing in a small gummy shark. It was a surprise because we haven't caught a gummy for a couple of years. Still no flatties around, but the gummies kept on coming. There must have been a few of them down there. Jay was excited to get one and even I joined in. But once again it was Syd who caught the "gummy of the day". Back to trolling and Jimmy was soon into the salmon. And Jay didn't stay out of the action for long. He was very excited to get his first king. Unfortunately it was just under 65cm. It gave him an idea of the power of them even though it was just a rat. However, my luck was about to change. My reel started screaming. It had to be a kingy the way it was running. It certainly had some power. We were surprised when it came close to the boat. There wasn't any "yellow tail". What was it? Mac tuna, stripey? Into the net goes the biggest bonito I'd ever seen. Easily a pb for me. Here's Jay holding the big bonito. The boys were reluctant to leave without getting some flathead, so we persisted for quite a few hours to get a few for them to take home. It was a much later finish than intended but we headed back to the ramp with two "new" fishermen very happy with their first day fishing outside. We only kept Syd's biggest gummy to see what they taste like. The salmon and bonnies were filleted and salted for bait. Stupidly, I didn't measure the bonito! We weighed it (3.4kg), but I never put it on the brag mat. We measured the gummy, but not the bonito. DOH! I reckon it had to be at least 80cm which would be close to the FR record. Oh well, c'est la vie. Finally, here are two very happy boys with the "table shot". It was good to take two great kids out fishing. Judging by the smiles on their faces, I'm sure it wont be their last time. Cheers Peter

No wonder your visitors were rapt. Some quality fish there Skip! Top weekend for sure! The smiles say it all! Great to see a report from you again. Cheers Peter

Enjoyed reading the report Slinky. Good to see you back on the water. Sounds like a great family trip. I would like the chance one day to catch a Saratoga. Weird, but beautiful looking fish. Congratulations to young Miss Slinky on her fine catch. However, I was a bit worried when I read this ... (and I quote) "Plenty for the kids to do with swimming holes, playground, roasting marshmallows over the campfire (and the deer of course). Roasting marshallows ... and THE DEER of course! Surely you're not allowed to roast a deer!! I'm shocked Slinky that you'd let your kids do that! . . . . So, just out of interest, what did "Bambi and marshmallow" taste like? Cheers Peter