xiphias_gladius

Unreal... what an awsome beast, it's all been said above... Congratulations!! The rebuilt Berty looks as good or better than the fish!! What engine did you opt for (if repowered)?

Thanks Guys, was thinking along the same lines re: Toads or Jackets. In this case we did have the baits in the boat and only put them over when the shark came up. Noted a lot of green/brown slime on the line when we wound it back on - if not burley it could have even been this the toads/jackets had a go at. Thanks XG.

Fished Kiama Canyons on Sunday - nice weather and a few fish around. Plan was to chase a few tuna, but also see if we could raise a noah or two.... Found bait on the 30's on the way out and trolled up a few stripey's as well before blasting east. Threw the lures back in on the shelf and scored a double almost straight away - one small 'fin (only a couple of kilo's) and a half decent Albacore (around 7kgs). Trolled for around another hour for no result, but there were plenty of reports of Albacore being caught anywhere between the shelf and 300 fathoms. Some boats also reporting the odd better sized 'fin (up to 25kgs). Water was much warmer than of late - we had 21.3°C. Set up a cube trail on the Canyon's, stripped a few baits back and set a livie out as well. Things were pretty quiet for the first couple of hours, we started to burley pretty heavily and we eventually raised our Mr Mako. Sent out a Striped Tuna slab on 6kg which was promptly inhaled and the fish was hooked solidly. What happed next was a little unusual the fish tracked off east pretty slowly (no screaming runs) before sounding deep, (and I mean deep) we were in around 200 fathoms and had at least 300-400m of line out. Things were pretty steady for around the next 15 minutes before the line went slack. Dissapointed (thinking the hook had pulled) we wound up only to find the line had parted (above the double) very cleanly with no signs of fraying or abrasion. Perplexed we headed back to the trail and started again. Within the hour the same fish turned up (pretty amazing) and this time we repeated the process on 8kg line.... with exactly the same result. The fish tracked off slowly before sounding (deep) we were gaining line after around 10 minutes and for no particular reason the line parted... and appeared to do so exactly the same way. I'm interested to here from any Raiders who may have a solution on the lost Mako here?????? Before additional questions come rushing in... the fish was around 80kgs, the line in both cases was brand new Maxima, the drags had been tested and set (2kgs for the 6kgs and 3kgs for the 8kg outfit), where the line had broken there was no sign of damage (it appeared as though the line had been cut cleanly with a knife), it's not my knots, the fish did not perform any jumps or screaming runs, the fish in both cases sounded very deeply, when the line parted we were actually gaining line and little pressure was being applied at the time. Any feedback or help greatly appreaciated. XG.

Yeah mate there are a few slimies mixed in with our cubes. We tend to mix up our cubes a lot - pillies, stripey tuna, slimies, yakkas etc, etc. Works for us and slimey cubes stay on the hook well also.

Totally agree with everything that has been said! We mix our cubes up a lot. Along with good quality pillies, we add in slimy cubes (fresh is best and we try and catch a couple of extras at the bait grounds and if not jig them up out wider if you can find them), also striped tuna cubes (again fresh is best). As Warnie pointed out, too much oil and berley will attract the sharks - we never hit the pot when fishing for 'fin, however, Blue and Mako sharks will still come up a cube trail. In terms of timing, we always wait untill a cube has just gone out of sight before adding another, the exact timing varies with drift and current. Always set a live bait on your trail while cubing and stripping back baits and often a deep set livie is a good way to nail a bigger fish. We rarely move from our chosen spot once a trail is established. XG.

Fished outside the Kiama Canyons on Sunday for 6 'fin. Size ranged between 16kgs and 32 kgs. Chilly day on the water... with moderate S/E winds, but the fishing was HOT!! Trolled 'til we started seeing the temp guage on the sounder jump around a bit and had a quadrulpe hook-up on striped tuna... good as spot as any for a cube. 1st fish was taken on a live slimy after around 45 minutes of cubing, next five were taken around 2 hours later (3 of which were from a successful triple hook-up!!). With 6 fish boated and 3 anglers on board we had reached our quota. So we left them biting and called it a day. Boys were all smiles and plenty of tuna steaks and sashimi for all. Variety of methods caught fish - cubes, surface livie and even deep set livies (around 30 fathoms down). All in all an awesome day!! XG.

Unreal read is all I can say!! The stuff urban legends are made of!! Hard luck on the gear, but I'm sure the kingy tasted even better for it... "revenge is a dish best served"... hot in this case?? XG.

Heard Wet Dream captured a 355kg Mako on 15kg yesterday and Resurection boated a 406kg Tiger on 15kg.... Some Awesome fish!!!

Unreal report mate!! I've got a 5 month old duaghter and I can hardly wait untill she's big enough to take out onto the briny stuff!!

Went out this morning with good mate Marc armed with our wetsuits, flippers, snorkels and masks with the plan of getting a few Pigs and/or Crays. Stopped at the ramp and turned over a few rocks and gathered a hanful of crabs "just in case". Perfect weather, perfect water, everything was working in our favour, plenty of fish hangin' around the reef... all set-up for a top outing untill my weight belts breaks... Intended to stick it out, but the going was pretty hard (anyone who has done a bit of diving will know that getting down to 20ft+ without wieght is pretty tiring). Headed back to the boat and had the foresight to grab a heap of urchins on the way, found a handline in the boat, pinned one of the aformentioned crabs and dangled him over the side.. ..with a bit of crushed urchin for berley..... Marc was still in the water giving directions and ranting about the number of groper hanging under the boat, when the handline goes off in a hurry (nice team work!). After a brutal tussle on 50lb handline (I've got the cut fingers to show for it!) a nice Blue Groper comes up which went a touch over 7kgs and tasted great in beer batter tonight. XG.

Thanks Rabs, I was going to ask you the same thing!!! We (Wollongong folk) refer to the Stanwell Park Canyons (east of Stanwell Park) - my outer mark is: S 34°14.993 E 151°32.074 I'm assuming the Sydney (Port Hacking etc.) folk refer to these as the "Southern Canyons". I agree the Kiama Canyons are a long haul from a Sydney base. I read plenty of reports of boats heading to Browns then onto the "Southern Canyons" often catching fish, I'm assuming this would be what I'd call the Stanwell Park Canyons. Can you confirm this?? Happy for anyone to clarify............ My mark for the Kiama Canyons is - S 34°48.338 E 151°10.339, got this off a website years ago and ususally head for this mark, then use the sounder as Kiama Canyons are not that deep (~130ftm-200+ ftm) Cheers XG.

Congrats!!! An awesome Dollie Rabs when you refer to the "Southern Canyons" or the "Wollongong Canyons" are you actually refering to the canyons east of Stanwell Park, or further south?? XG.

Well done and hard luck... There has been a few bigger Dollies around, a mate of mine has been getting 'em up to 15kgs on livies. XG.

Great effort guys and awesome report!!! Very nice Dollies - headin out in the mornin' and hoping there are a few the same out there!!! XG.

Great report, brought a tear to my eye as well. I'd be proud of the little tacker and even prouder for the fact he didn't hesitate to release the fish. My daughter turned 7 (weeks) on Tuesday and has trouble holding her head up let alone a rod. Can't wait 'till she's old enough though. Nice work XG.

Well spotted on the pic..hehehehe .., but I've still got four fingers and a thumb on my right hand... Well at the moment anyway. Mako's certainly are a handful at times and the cheeky little bugger even had a quick chew on the boat before he swam off after we released him!!!

Went for a sesh with a mate after work Tuesday. Left Bellambi and headed to a few local FAD's hoping to catch a few Dollies. Hadn't been on the water for a while and with the sea's subsiding and the water temps. rising we were psyched! Headed north to our bait spot and didn't take long to load up with heaps of perfect sized slimies... weather was OK about 10 knots out of the south and bugger all swell so after we had at least a dozen baits we headed out hoping to catch a few colouful friends. Only Had 22°C at the FADS, but not detered we put a couple of baits out. Couldn't see any Dollies around but after only about 60 seconds one of the ratchets screams off. Struck the fish and came tight.... Woohoo we thought.. . takes a few short runs under some decent drag pressure and we are convinced we are into a solid Dolphin Fish. After a short tussle (and no jumps) the fish was boat side... A nice blue colour we could see, but it wasn't the spots on a Dolphin Fish but rather the cutest little Mako I have ever seen. Grabbed him by the tail and brought him on board for a few quick snaps before giving him a kiss and letting the little pup go... wish I had a fish tank big enough to keep him in... Suffice to say we didn't catch any Dolphin's on that FAD... but nor on the next. A little disapointing but I think we still need a couple more degrees in water temp. We fished Bandit reef 'till dark for zero's (but there was a heap of bait on it). Back at the ramp we saw a few guys in a massive trailerable alloy cat who had trolled the Stanwell Park Canyons all day for a small 'fin (~12kgs) and a stripey. Cheers XG.

Nice pics mate and a thumping Dolphin!!

GREAT King mate... I'll bet it pulled like a freight train.. and lit the afterburners on hook-up Top effort and congrats, pays to be a bit persistent sometimes!!! XG.

6.0m Edencraft, with a 225 Optimax or Yamaha HPDI, setup for everything.... Evergreen legendary hull which is built like a brick out house.... Name: White Knuckle Tight!!!

Awesome fish mate!!! That's worth waitin' a year for a post... Quality not quantity I'd reckon about 11-12kgs..maybe a tad more.. Cheers XG.

Wollongong Council is saying the work will be completed by 21/12...well expected to anyway. It's a good move as the old jetty was getting a bit worse for wear especially the out most end. Hopefully it's completed on time. Cheers XG.

Great effort and nice fish!!! I'd be cheerin' too...

Well done, nice haul and a tasty feed. That's some pretty hot beach action....

Nice effort mate, good on ya's for sticking it out in the rough weather and being rewarded..... the old sayings - "ya never know untill ya go", and "fortune favours the brave" spring to mind!! There's a few kings popping up down out way, hopefully we get onto a few quality fish like those. BTW, I mostly use livies (slow trolling and down rigging) but wouldn't have a clue how to rig a squid properly... Any pointers?? Cheers XG.