Fergofisher

Gday mate, End of the breakwall as you drive out from the ramp - bit of bread/pillie mix as burley and you will fill your tank. Much more around if you get there when it's dark/sunrise - the light off the wall attracts them - most of the time you don't need burley or even bait just throw a jig down and that's enough.

Gday mate, Same as above.. Fish normal drag and pin the hook through the nose of the mullet, slimy, yakka you're using for a better hook up rate. Usually take it head first so as long as the bait stays on, it'll end up enticing a jew.

G'day mate, FG is the go. But saying that, all my knots i use from whiting to kings and all the way up to marlin i have used double uni - i use 7 loops for braid and 6 for the mono.. Everyone has there own theory but seems to work for me, haven't had one ever pull through or break.

Gday mate, Sit off Bundeena wharf 5-10 metres and burley up with a Bread Pilchard mix, you should be into them within 5-10 mins. If not, Opposite Lilly Pilly baths there is an inlet with a couple yellow mooring buoys - same thing works there. Just get them up quick as of late there are quite a few kings around taking your yaks on the way up and usually the entire jig..

Nice mate, well done. How far off do you reckon you were from the fad to find the patch of marlin? If you get the chance to push out wide again try and land a couple slimy's before heading out if in case you raise a marlin up - bridle them up and drop back to 1-2 knots, you should be able to get one to eat. Well done.

Cheers mate thanks for the information. I was referring to Trap reef which is off Port Kembla, not to far out -

Is the Traps the place to go in hopes for a Black Marlin off Port Kembla?

Thanks for the heads up and nice one! Could the local guys be referring to "The traps" from Port Kembla??

That's the thing, i have heard "The banks" been thrown around from a number of spots from off Austimer down to off Jervis.. Confusing! A couple of the local lads i have chatted with at the ramp said they have been fishing the banks from Port Kembla ramp

Gday Raiders! This may have been covered on another forum but i cannot find this anywhere! Been launching from the main Port Kembla boat ramp and i am keen on a trip to "the banks" (Or it could be "the Traps") from that ramp. I have heard and read of mixed stories, co ordinates & distances it is from that ramp and i am unsure where it's at! - Can anyone please provide the co ordinates and roughly how many km's it is from the ramp? - Is it just a random peak in the middle of no where or a big block of reef? On the hunt for a Black Marlin and want to try my luck while the water is looking good with the old faithful bridled slimy! Thanks all - any help is appreciated!

Thanks for all the info lads - appreciate it. I'm heading off Port Kembla over the next weekend i hope, any insight on where i can get some slimy's at all around the area? Would love to bag a few in the hopes for a Marlin! Cheers boys.

Mate just troll a yakka along the wall or jsut off the bait grounds, you will end up with a rat king.. Hit any marker in the river with lures or live yakkas/suqid until you find a pack of them. Went out couple weeks ago and ended up with 14 in a couple hours. Couple solid 90+ but the rest were in the 60's.. Good luck, party on

If you can't get them to bite with the above methods & if there is a bit of wind around, just chuck on a small sugapen and retrieve this with a light flicking so the lures shakes left to right on the surface. I have caught plenty with or against the wind and have good success on the C264FG color in 70mm. If lures aren't you're cup of tea, keep you're bait (Worm or nipper) slowly moving after you have had a cast this Sometimes this helps stir them into a frenzy Good luck, party on

El Nino mate, it's crappier conditions all over! Has been a terrible season for offshore fishing.. Need something a bit bigger boat wise to combat the swell/rain etc.. Agree with StuWard i wouldn't be going out much bigger then 1.5 especially if the wind kicks up - becomes quite sketchy. I have a 4.75 topender and have been out in 2-2.5m swell but with zero wind and it's completely fine. The hop makes it sketchy!

Happy to do the miles for the smiles! Thanks again mate - looking forward to have a go at another! I'm hoping to get some fishing done on the South Coast when the weather passes - will keep you in the loop if i get the chance.

Gday Raiders, Recently caught the first black marlin up north but keen to chase them on the south Coast of NSW.. I have read and heard black marlin can be caught off the "Traps" or wollongong reef with the similar technique of live slimys.. Has anyone had any luck in the past on inshore reefs on the south coast? or any this season? Is there a rough time annually they start showing up? I have been again staring at ripcharts watching the EAC being pushed in hard recently and the temps are up in the honey spot of around 23 degrees in close.. I know there is a big bite at the moment off Bermagui but that is a bit to far down for me.. Anywhere from Port Hacking down to Wollongong would be ideal. Thanks lads!

UPDATE LADS: Day1: Found the slimy's off lighthouse on the surface in a big school.. didn't take to long to fill the tank. Slow trolled 1 about 50m, 1 about 40m and the other on an outrigger in close off the back of the teasers. Water was a little cold and green but there was plenty of life around. Trolled cross current around 2 knots with no hits. About to pack up after about 4 hours and the reel screamed off.. We at that point had to almost change our undies. After about a 20 min fight with nothing but huge long winded runs and no jumps we knew it was a shark.. got it to the boat after about 30 mins and it was a roughly 6ft hammerhead. No marlin. Day2: Found the slimy's again quite easily off lighthouse right on the surface. similar spread to Day1 but ended up getting a solid hit but no hook up. Brought the slimy in and it had a bill mark right down the side of the fish which was dead.. Not knowing if we were doing anything wrong or not we kept on punching the hours out. Nothing again after a few hours and whack.. Huge screaming run with again no jump.. 20 mins later a little 4ft hammerhead popped it's head up. No marlin still.. Day3: Bait was harder to find as it wasn't on the surface and the wind was making it difficult to spot them from a distance. Putted around for about 20 mins and we were on top of a school. Took 2 drops and the tank was full. Put the first of 3 lines and and within 2 minutes WHACK.. Rod started squeeling then stopped.. Nothing after this. Brought it in and noticed another bill mark and the slimy dead. This happened literally 3 more times within the next hour with no hookup. Being frustrated as you can imagine.. thought to try something different and free spool it next time and let the fish come back to eat. The baits were on the lightest drag possible but i hadn't free spooled it for the others. Sure enough not long after another whack then nothing.. quickly jumped onto the rod and free spooled it.. This time the fish came back and inhaled the bait. Patiently waited for it to take off and slowly increased the drag. FISH ON! it was taking line but no where near as much as the previous sharks and this was taking off across sideways. Minute or two later we saw what we have only dreamed about from a young age - a little black skim across the water. We completely s*** ourselves as there was a shark on it and was trying to get an easy meal.. started bringing in the other rods only to notice the second rod had started to scream off as well. Instantly thought double hook up but soon realized the greedy bugger picked up the other bait as well. With both circle hooks perfectly in the corner of the mouth - me and a good mate brought the fish up to the boat and i grabbed it by the bill followed by a heap of screaming/swearing. Revived it and the little beauty swam to fight another day. Completely stoked we set the rods for another run only to hook up again to a monster hammerhead. This one being much bigger then the first and burnt my drag out on the TG.. So ill be looking to upgrade to Tiagra 50w soon with the ambition on catching my first Yellowfin this season off Jervis Bay! This is only the start of my adventures chasing these things and have learnt so much already.. Thank you to all who gave the time to send some feedback and tips - you have literally helped made my dream come true.

Trolling a livie mate behind the boat, is there a rule of thumb around distance back? Do you think also i should chuck out the witchdoctor as well for extra flare? Thanks mate!

Yeah man very helpful!

Mate hopefully we can get on them while they are on! Good luck - hope you land one. To easy mate, thanks for the info. Hoping to burley them up if i can't sound the school out, usually works back down the coast.

Cheers mate, will keep you all updated with how i get on

Yep to easy, thanks for the heads up mate makes sense!

To easy mate - thanks for the heads up.

Another one on my mind, i know where to get Yakkas off Port usually just go to Bird Island or around that general area but not slimy's.. any reef hold heaps of slimy's if i can't find them out wide?

Hoods, another dumb question - what radio channel are you using in the area for the general chat? thanks mate