FrigateMack

I lost a beautiful jewey a few weeks ago. Only because I was just randomly mucking around with a micro jig on a 15lb setup. Got a hookup, brought it up boatside and couldn't believe what I was seeing. But, being an idiot, I didn't have a landing net, gaff or anything with me, so I lost it as I was pulling it out by the leader. FML.

Large numbers rat kings started appearing on the rocks just this week. I fish there frequently. There haven't been any, for months, until now. Hopefully, they'll grow quickly now, with the huge amount of bait that's around. And the point about salinity sounds spot on as well..

Thinking of heading out in front of the head tomorrow, with some live bait / squid / jigs for kingies.

What does everyone do with tailor? My two favourites: smoked and rollmops. Smoked: Clean the tailor, but keep them whole. Cure them in salt brine for a day in the fridge. One can lookup the salt concentration elsewhere - it's key for it to be sufficiently salty, for food safety. After cure, take the fish out, pat them dry and let dry in cool environment for about half a day. Then smoke them at around 70 to 80 degrees for 4 - 6 hours. They get golden and amazing, as any other fatty fish. Works great for particularly smaller, barely legal, ones. Rollmops: This one is not that popular in Australia, although you can get herring rollmops at Woolies. Rollmops is pickled fish. It's amazing with some fresh sour dough bread and butter. Also - a good hangover cure. I discovered that the soft tailor meat is a perfect replacement for herring which doesn't seem to be commonly caught here. I have been experimenting with recreating this at home. I start with salt-curing tailor fillets cut into small pieces, maybe around 2 cm size. Same cure as for smoking. This makes the meat more solid so it doesn't become mushy in the next step. The next step: After curing for a day, pat the pieces dry and put them in a jar with: vinegar, pickling spice, julienned red onion and some amount of sugar, to taste. The vinegar should be fairly strong, for food safety reasons. I use undiluted white vinegar. Wait for a week or two before consumption. These are awesome, but only if you already like rollmops, which is an acquired taste. I grew up in Europe, and rollmops are everywhere there.

Good point - it's something to be cautious about. I should have pointed that out. From what I've read, they age the fish at very low temperature. They also keep the humidity constant. Also, the fish has to be cleaned in a specific way - basically what seasponge talks about. One example: https://dryager.com.au/dry-aged-fish/. Agreed, I smoke fish as well.

I've noticed that pretty much any fish seems to taste better when I fillet them and then keep the fillets in the fridge for a day or two. Not frozen. The meat gets more tender and any hint of unpleasantness seems to disappear. I'm starting to think that "fresh" fish is a bit of a myth, with regards to eating quality. Obviously, they need to be bled and kept on ice until processed, and then straight to the fridge. Google tells me that high end sashimi / sushi places dry-age them, as well. Sometimes quite a long time, under controlled conditions. What's everyone's take on this? I might experiment with this a bit more..

Nice one. For their size - Kings 10/10 Bonitos 8/10 Larger mack tunas 10/10 Bream 8/10 (light gear) Trevally 9/10 (light gear) That one spanish I got 11/10 (but I wonder if I got a small one..)

Surprised a few people rate mac tuna? I've found them too bloody and it's a lot of work to get something edible out. I might be doing something wrong. Otherwise, sashimi / ceviche: Kingfish - 9 / 10 Bonito - 8 / 10 Trevally - 8 / 10 Aussie Salmon - 7 / 10 Cooked / fried: Spanish - 10 / 10 Flathead - 9 / 10 Kingfish - 6 / 10 Aussie Salmon - 4 / 10 Smoked: Tailor 8 / 10 Bonito 8 / 10 Any mackerel 11 / 10 I've been experimenting with recreating rollmops (pickled fish) and Tailor is awesome for it because of it's soft meat.

Looking to take a few days off work. I fish the harbour and Pittwater/Broken Bay from a boat, and off the rocks in the Northern Beaches.

😁They steal the yakkas before the kings get to them, lol. I haven't caught a king for ages now..

Sick of salmon, lol. We catch dozens of them when we go to the rocks (up and down Sydney). Any good ideas to avoid them? I use live yakkas. One way I can think of is squid. Then again, I need to get a lot better at catching those..

I think something like a conditional ban would work if if well enforced: "WARNING! Dangerous swell in this location. Many people have died here. Fishing prohibited when swell above 1.5m. Fines exceed $10000 and loss of fishing license." Or something like that.

Just to answer my own question - I've worked out the limit for my inflatable cat is wind under 20km/h and swell under 1m. Those are pretty rare conditions around Sydney. Plus, the risk of conditions changing means I need to stay pretty close to the departure point, even on glassed out days like that. No worries. PS. All safety rules as per the boating handbook will be followed. And then some.

Long time rock fisho, first time boatie last Friday. I headed out to a wharf at 4am and got a bunch of livies pretty quickly. Next off to Palm Beach, Pittwater side. Launched my little inflatable cat and spent pretty much most of the day roaming around and dropping yakkas down to various depths. No luck this time. Taylor (sighted) always destroyed my bait very quickly. I was targetting kings with larger hooks so these little choppers never got hooked. So, no luck this time, but had heaps of fun and looking forward to learning all this. PS. What's a good sounder for a small boat like this?

Cheers, the braid cutting through the tube is something I would not think of. Appreciated.

What works for me to get yakkas: They bite best around 1 hour before sunrise, and then disappear around sunrise. At Apple Tree, among the parked boats is good; PM me for the exact spot. The rig is: straight through 0.25mm fluoro, 4.5mm glow stick about 30 or 40 cm, above the hook, then a small sinker above just the hook if its windy. Apple Tree Bay yakkas are tiny, so the best hooks are the tiniest you can get. Long shank hooks have lower catch rate but are easier to unhook. The tiny black hooks from a shop (not sure what they're called) have better catch rate but break or get swallowed more easily. Tiny pieces of raw chicken is the best bait. Btw, the glow sticks are important; they seem to attract the yakkas and increase the chance to get them hugely.

I sort of got tired waiting for the kings to come to me (northern beaches, off the rocks). I can get salmon (aka bait stealers) nearly every time, tailor pretty reliable when in season, and yakkas 100% reliably all the time. But kings and other really good fish are rare for me. Like once a month. So I pulled the trigger on a 3.3m True Kit. It's an inflatable cat and I've got a 5hp outboard coming in as well. The plan is to take it slow, get the licence, set up a sounder, putter around in the Pittwater / Hawkesburry, etc, at first. But, the end goal is to eventually venture out, maybe a few km, or whatever the safe limit is. Given that I see people on SUPs and kayaks paddling along often, I am hoping I won't die, lol. Just want to make sure the motor is reliable and I can read the conditions. Anyway, are there any tips / tricks / books to read / etc? The big goals to figure out decent snapper, kings and maybe tuna? What do you think are the limits of a little inflatable cat. Maybe I'm crazy..

I've got a 12' medium rod and a smaller Nasci, but not happy with how far I can cast. I can get maybe 80 meters with a good metal lure. I usually use 15 pound line. I have a feeling the long rod actually doesn't help as it's got a fair bit of inertia so I waste energy in getting to just move. What are some good tips to get me past 100m? The school is always out of reach, lol.