Chhayzor

Absolute tank of a Jewie! And from a yak, no less. Well done.

Mate, if I had known you were going to be there, I'd have come by to say hi. I wasn't too far away this evening, just around Bayview Park. No luck for me though. Awesome to hear you had success. Now I'll definitely have to give the crabs a go there 😁

Thanks @Bennyg78. Only 3! 😂 Cheers @Little_Flatty. I'm sure they'll come along soon enough. Just need to make the time to get that line wet.

Thanks Mike. I'll grab one of each and see how I go.

Potentially silly question on the Cranka crabs.. Light or heavy? I've noticed just about all the recommendations I've seen or recieved have been for the heavy. I would have assumed it be dependent on conditions? I.e. depth, tidal flow, wind, etc? But the almost 100% swing toward heavy has me questioning myself.

Thanks Neil. I've every intention on continuing on this path. Hopefully I'll be able to one day pay this gesture forward. Hopefully more successful trips abound. Thanks again 👍

Thanks @Isaac Ct And yes, another student on their way. Great teacher, but more importantly, a great bloke all round 👍 Thanks @Rebel

Hello Raiders, I just wanted to share a session that I had yesterday with the legend himself, @DerekD. I had reached out to Derek asking him for some advice and possible tuition session as I am a self (and YouTube) taught newbie. After a lengthy conversation covering the fundamentals, Derek offered to take me out for a session in Five Dock Bay. Without hesitation, I took him up on the offer. Meeting, with roughly 3 hours of light left, we made our way to the Northen end of the bay. The lesson began with me casting a 10g Halco Twisty. Derek was pleased with my casting and range, but also offered some great insights into my method. After some advice and a few tweaks, within minutes, my casting improved and I was able to add to the distance and accuracy. Onto the next lure, which was a 70mm Sugapen. Using what was learned with the Twisty, I managed to get the nod of approval from Derek and we moved onto the retrieve, where things got interesting. I had always been semi confident, having used Sugapens before, but wasn't able to impart the correct action as concisely or consistently as I would have liked. This, I learned, was primarily due to 2 things: 1- My grip. I had never given anything more than an afterthought to how I held the rod in my hand when retrieving. 2- The angle in which I was twitching the line/lure. I had always just twitched side to side as opposed to pulling directly against the lure. Once these two concepts sank in, lo and behold, my Sugapen began dancing all the way back. For those who haven't had a chance to learn from Derek, he has a great ability to really break down what he teaches and also puts great thought into they 'why' behind the 'how. This makes learning more engaging and the results speak for themselves. From then on, we made our way slowly along the bank. When we reached the boat ramp, Derek pulled out a jerk shad profile soft plastic (I can't for the life of me remember the name) and began to display the most wickedly insane dying bait fish action I have ever seen. I believe he calls it the 'bad acting so bad you'd fail NAIDA' retrieve. I'll leave it for Derek to explain that one 😂 Having had my mind blown, I tied on a bent minnow (a lure I had never used prior) and we moved further along, with me learning more and more as we went. I managed to entice a few boils and some missed takes which kept the confidence high. A few casts later, BAM!, I felt the hit, watched my bent minnow disappear and I was on. My first Bream on top water! I was so swept up in disbelief that I completely forgot how to fight a fish haha. High sticking, cranking the bloody thing in. It was a mess. But I landed it and my rod was in one piece, so no complaints from me 😁No measure with me, but it looked to be about 20cm, probably just under. It didn't matter though. I finally got one! A massive thanks to @DerekD for his time and tuition. Also a shout out to @big Neil for suggesting I reach out. Gear used was a Lox Yoshi Gen III 1-3kg rod / Okuma Epixor 20 spooled with 6lb Sufix 832. Bream was caught on the OSP Bent Minnow in G1 (Ghost Minnow).

Thanks for the suggestion, Neil 👍 Will do.

Evening Raiders, Apologies if this is the wrong place for this post. I've been a member here for a couple of years now. Been more of a lurker than a poster (this is my first, in fact), just absorbing the wisdom as I don't have too much of my own to offer lol Anyway, I've just bought a new Hobie Outback and am absolutely itching to take her out for her maiden voyage. I've been landbased since I started fishing about 2/3 years ago, and have been dying to get a kayak for about a year now. This week, I finally pulled the trigger! However, I'm hesitant to go alone, especially on my first few outings, mainly from a safety perspective. But I suppose also from a social one as none of my mates own kayaks and most don't even fish. I guess I need some new friends 😒 Soooo... basically, this is a round-about way of asking... if anybody is interested in teaching a newbie kayak fisho the ropes or maybe you're looking for a fishing buddy yourself, I'd love to hear from you. I'm based in South Western Sydney but am willing to travel. I have all my own gear and at the moment, I'm limited to Saturdays or late weekday arvos. Thanks for reading. Hope everybody has a cracking weekend 🤙