Nathan L

bring on the boat show!!! didn't go last year and i'm pretty excited this time round

hey morgo it can seem like a daunting task to pick some plastics with the proliferation of brands, types, scents, and all associated paraphernalia my tip its to stick with some of the major brands in the popular shapes and colours and you'll be sweet. squidgy, berkley, atomic are three i use often and seem to catch a few shapes include shads (fish shaped), wriggler tails and stick baits most work well. some need more action imparted on them to work though. stick baits have no in built action so you've gotta do all the work. on the other hand wrigglers and to a lesser extent shads have inbuilt action so need less persuasion to swim properly one more thing. it is fundamentally important to make sure that you position the plastic on the hook dead straight. if it is out of alignment then the little bugger will twist and turn in the water generally making and unwanted nuisance. you'll also catch a lot fewer fish if the plastic isn't rigged up straight. spend the extra second before wetting your line and make sure that the plastic is straight on the hook if you get stuck at the shop just ask the assistants. that's what they're there for good luck and have fun! btw . . . all the little bits and pieces of sp fishing would fill a book. the best one is 'on soft plastics' by starlo and bushy. if you're really keen on getting into sp's then you could do a lot worse than starting out by reading that. it is an excellent introduction to sp's and how to fish them

mammoth effort there that's one fish that'll stay with u forever

ok . . . mine isn't as hairy as some of the other experiences nonetheless it gave me a much greater appreciation of the power of the sea it occurred crossing SWR bar a whole lot of white water came over the top and onto the deck pretty nuts but everything was in control and we still got out btw what do you guys think is the best thing to do when affronted with such a situation? i've always though you've just gotta bite the bullet and take the wave head on anyhoo it'd be interesting to hear what some of you guys reckon

good pictures there thanks a lot for the help bob

hi everyone i'm not sure whether i should post this here or in the new gps forums. anywho, here goes. im after some sort of indication of where the 'southern canyon' grounds are. marks would be great but any help would be greatly appreciated. i've gotten these marks of another site. are they the same thing? 34,13.33 S 151,19.24 E i know they're somewhat south of browns but in which direction and how far i am unsure. i've searched the old posts but no one has physically posted the marks up, so that's why im sorta re-posting the thread. once again, any help would be greatly appreciated

words fall short in acknowledgeing such an awesome fish well done guys how were the conditions out there? - we're planning on hitting the water on friday

ouch . . . . that stinks however, i would much prefer to have hooked fish than gone home without turning a reel and now you know that winter kingies dont give second chances!

dan, both those reels are excellent choices. when you get to such high quality stuff choosing really comes down to personal preference. i was however in the same situation as you and actually chose to go for the stradic 8000. i've got the 1000, 4000, and the old man's got the 2500. they're fantastic reels, are less costly than the sustain or twin power and perform similarly well. nonetheless, if you've got the cash then your initial options are really awesome reels. have fun with you difficult decision and make sure you tell us what you end up getting

i have no qualms drinking recycled water also, im not advocating this ridiculous scheme, but i was wondering if anyone knew the actual repercussions of increased salinity on an inshore ecosystem like botany bay? just saying that because nonsensical drivel is what others have used against us in the past, and i don't want to stoop to that level.

awesome cant wait till the swell abates so the tralier brigade can get into em!

hey dude, i'd put my money on that fish being a yft. big eyes off NSW are rare as hens teeth (although they are caught occasionally). this is from a book i've got (TUNA by Cpt Bill Smith) physical characteristics of big eye tuna - unusually large eyes (although not enough to distinguish from yft) - pec fins >80% head length, may reach second dorsal fin - second dorsal and anal fin (sickles) moderate in size but never reach as far as yft - bottom of liver is striated (striped) - tail fin large, crescent shaped with strong lateral keels - small scales except for stomach area - indistinct lateral line - semifusiform (roundish but slightly compressed) body form btw there's also stuff on number of gill rakers and finlets etc. also the yft liver isnt striated (but once again useless) ok, now that is completely factual but almost entirely useless unless you've got a tuna in from of you. however, in general the big eye is much more stocky that a yft. its like comparing a leage player to an afl player. the pic of your tuna also has longer sickles (indicative of yft). i dont wanna but unscientific, but from looking at stacks of pics of both big eyes and yf, my 'intuition' is telling me yft - i cant exactly specify why, but its just general characteristics together that push me more towards the yf rather than the big eye. one more thing - some of the tuna we got were also similarly stocky for yf. maybe they hybridise? i really wouldn't have a clue hope that helps

you're got a serious weapon there. fish that can't be landed on that sorta gear deserve not to be landed. there's a vid on youtube of a old game fisho gettin pulled in by an angry blue marlin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg9BzI9eAtU...ted&search= thats the one so that shit actually happens, but you've gotta be unlucky or stupid one more thing - with that combo make sure you've got some sorta safety strap to that rod so if it does get pulled in by an angry fish you have a better chance of recovering your precious combo.

i think the yankee and jap bass fisho's use this technique they call drop shotting. i've never been all that succesful with this method (i don't fish plastics in deep water) but this is just from what i've read it involves using a sinker separate to the s.p. to get your lure down. there are special sinkers for that job, but snapper leads will probly be just as effective its a little bit tricky to explain the rig, but there are two ways of rigging. traditionally a palomar knot (i think, not 100% sure) is used to secure the soft plastic above your sinker. however the aussie modification involves a double uni knot and a couple of beads to secure the lure - essentially the rig is a paternoster rig without the dropper loop, so the plastic is directly in contact with the mainline. this was all covered in modern fishing a while back. the thing with working a drop shotted plastic is similar to working one normally. to get the best out of a flick bait, you've gotta give him a little slack to sorta glide in the water. when you've got a sinker on the bottom of your rig, get it to the bottom, then get a little bit of slack and wiggle the plastic around so, yeah, that's just my suggestion sorry if its a little bit convoluted

wow. if boultons is in sydney, then for sydney waters that is an awesome effort i dunno but there's something special about snapper that makes them different from any other fish especially when they start getting bumpy heads

probly not a good idea to chuck out a livey unrestrained while anchored they have an amazing tendency of tangling every other line you have out i always chuck on a big-ish sinker before the swivel so that the yakka has a bit of swimming room with the trace but doesn't go nuts tangling up everything if you wanna fish a livey on the surface you could use a running float with a stopper. i just use a rubber band tied around the line a couple of times to stop the float from travelling up the mainline. alternatively you could use a baloon the method you use largely depends on where you want your livey. eg if you want him swimming around on the surface for a tuna then use a balloon. similarly, if you want him to hug the bottom for a flatty then bung on a sinker. basically you wanna know where you livey is and what he's doin - to stop the little bugger from tangling up your lines - any means to achieve this is fine.

i think a few people have tried it successfully. not sure though you'll never know for yourself if ya dont just have a crack at it and see what happens though! have fun, oh and make sure you've got a good headlamp, they're an invaluable tool for night fishing.

what are you talking about reeso? i've done some diving and anywhere around sydney there are heaps of these ugly looking things that swim like a sorta demented croc. is that what you're talking bout? oh and if we do have the same fish in mind, then i dont know if you can catch the buggers cos i've never caught em, only seen em diving. just got a pic from google images is this it? 'aplodactylus lophodon'?

hey dave, i think berkley actually markets two 'brands' of fluorocarbon one is the leader material and comes in a 50 m spool. the other is a mainline material and comes in the 250 m spool i really dont know the difference but i know that you're right about the pricing. both products cost about the same. i use the 250 m 'mainline' spools for my leaders (and it seems to work ok) but have never done any comparison with the actual leader material. i'd like to think this isn't true, but it really wouldn't surprise me if they were exactly the same line just maketed differently. anyway, i hope that clears a few things up. maybe someone who knows the truth can clarify all this?

nice work there i always like passing that river on the way to JB cos it looks so good one of the hundred little creeks that i've passed where i wish i could've stopped and wet a line oh well - if i did that i'd still be on holidays how does the perch go on the plate?

nice sinkers there bob. do you reckon you could share with us how you go about making those suckers? it would benefit a lot of people and i for one would be very grateful for your help

wow . . . thats unreal as always, dedication pays off doesn't it feel so much sweeter when you know you really, really earnt your fish?

hey rocky, that combo will slay most school yft, but when a bit bugger comes along dont get your hopes up i havent caught that many tuna but from the ones i have caught (25-30kg) even on 50lb tackle they pull bloody hard but yeah . . . tld's are awesome reels for starting out go get em'

i can't remember the last time i used a loop knot it just seems so awkward to me - but then again i'm a bit fastidious when it comes to knots the only knot i have used for leader - terminal connections is the uni knot you can make the uni knot into a loop by tying it normally, and when you have a loop the desired size, lock the knot by pulling on the tag end. its a bit tricky to ger right but if you practice a bit you'll get the hang of it when you lock it properly, the loop should stay there without slipping thats what works for me, but i spose like it is with anything else, you should use what you feel most comfortable with.

a lot of times when you're fishing anchored up a few fish will bust up close to the boat. if you've got the gear, make sure you have a rod rigged up with the lure on it so when this happens you can get into the action straight away. also, sometimes you might not see any fish schools busting up in this case you can troll around likely areas with the twisty. to maximise your chances trolling pull a minnow too - rapala CD7s are dynamite if you head out and just troll along the ocean rocks you should pick up something one more thing - keep your distance from the bommies, they're very dangerous