nal
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Posts posted by nal
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Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone knows if there are squid in the Hawkesbury ? Specifically past Mooney Mooney towards bar point? Thanks, Max
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Wow that’s epic, how long have you been targeting big Jewies?
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On 9/22/2021 at 9:31 AM, GordoRetired said:
That's a great fish, well done. I think I know that spot that you are fishing, I have tried it quite a few times with live yakkas and soft plastics and never caught anything there. 🙂
Thanks, try fresh squid or cuttlefish, preferably live but if not caught the night before often works well too.
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24 minutes ago, Pickles said:
Well done Max, 88 is a really nice Kingie, you did well to boat it (I usually fish 80lb fluro leader for kings as they are no respecter of light gear).
Wow that is heavy, I caught this one on 25lb Fluro, I should count myself lucky I got it cause I was fishing an area with a lot of anchor ropes and snags
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Just now, Isaac Ct said:
Great job on the first mate!! Must of pulled like a tank!
Sure did! I actually didn’t think it was anything bigger then a rat as I had never properly fought a kingfish before and had just heard that even the rats fight hard, so glad it was bigger though.
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Finally, after countless hours, unimaginable numbers of squid caught and almost a year of fishing I finally caught a kingfish, bonus it was a big Sydney king going 88cm. So stoked to get this guy, taken on a live cuttlefish. It was pulling drag on a almost locked drag 5500 reel so I knew it was a good fish from the moment I hooked onto it. The early mornings and late squidding sessions all finally paid off and I’m so happy that the first one I caught was a stonker of a fish. So happy to get my first one in middle harbour where I’ve been trying to get one since day dot.
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23 hours ago, DerekD said:
Are you fishing inside the basin at the camping ground or outside in the bay from a boat?
Do you have a yabby pump - if so then there are yabby beds on the flats inside the basin. A light rig with a running sinker is a nice way to fish it. I also bring soft plastics as there are plenty of flathead and an ecogear or two for better casting distance.
Last time I was there I saw a long tom. Some friends of mine got owned by something big in there years ago and they were not complete novices.
We've caught squid there on squid jigs and then dropped them as baits between the moorings. We've also found yellowtail in the area.
We will be on a boat but also inside the campground area. Thanks for the info! It’ll be a great help and yes I do have a pump so I’ll make sure to bring that. We’re the squids inside the flats inside the basin or outside of the shark net?
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Hi all,
I am heading up to the basin in Pittwater this weekend and I was wondering, if anyone has any advice for fishing the basin? I have been there Briefly when I was younger and caught a few small whiting. Does anyone have any advice?
Thanks, Max
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On 8/30/2021 at 1:42 PM, puddlejumper said:
Mate thats a monster river reddie well done. Does anyone know if they get to anywhere near that size in middle harbour because all I can pull is undersize pinkie after pinkie.
Yeah they do get that size, back in autumn a guy I was fishing with at a local pontoon caught a 30cm one land based one day and the next day he caught a 50cm one land based in middle harbour, both on squid.
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On Monday afternoon I decided to head down to a local wharf in middle harbour and try my luck with a couple live poddies and squid jigs. After only getting one take on the livie (80% sure it was a big squid) I was all packed up and about to leave at around 7:30. Just before I picked up my rods I heard a splash just behind the pontoon and went over to check it out, turns out a giant calamari was cruising along the surface so I quickly put down my squid jig and it goes for it. It makes one good run towards the pylons before I pull it away and manage to land it. It turned out to be my PB squid and first ever calamari going 32cm long in hood length, very happy with it.
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On 7/16/2021 at 9:21 AM, Cooper Stewart said:
I have been having a lot of trouble catching my first king in the harbour and was looking for some pointers. I have hooked a few but they have managed to get away as I am using a light setup. I have been using almost only lure and want to know if going live bait will work better I also have a big 50lb setup that I could use for that. Are there any spots or things to look for I have been in sugarloaf bay in the morning when they are everywhere but cant seem to get a bite, however I do have lots of followups. There is also the spot outside sea forth not sure of the name but fishabout charters and the flyfisher always seem to be their hooked up.
Yeah the spot your talking about is seaforth bluff, and I’ve seen that it pretty much consistently holds kings, but you really need fresh/live squid and on a rare occasion they might take a live yakka. For lures, a week or 2 ago a guy pulled up a nice kingie on a jig so as everyone else said it might be good to try out. Look on your sounder as you go around the bluff and you’ll see the massive amount of kingies and pinkies they hold.
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1 minute ago, Isaac Ct said:
Lovely fish mate. Good to see the yakkas are biting, they are slowing down around my way!
Thanks, yeah recently had a dry spot with yakkas too but they seemed to have fired back up, Hopefully they stay like this.
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21 minutes ago, Rebel said:
Thanks! Yep definitely will upgrade my swivel and hooks
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1 hour ago, Burger said:
Congrats on the PB!
Thanks!
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1 hour ago, Yowie said:
A nice fish.
Buy decent quality swivels, and hooks, especially using a heavier line. Use swivels rated a fair bit heavier than the line strength.
Thanks, yep swivel was definitely too small and weak and I knew that it would eventually let me down so that one is definitely on me, but my hook was brand knew and I thought was of decent strength and size, so yeah might have to upgrade. Any suggestions on good quality hooks for livebaiting?
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Headed down to reef bay for a afternoon fish and turned out pretty well, as soon as we got there at 3:40 the yakkas were on the bite immediately which was an odd but welcome occasion. And once I got one I immediately casted it out as a livie and about half an hour later my rod started to go off, so I picked it up and started to fight whatever had taken my livie, but it snapped my weak swivel 30seconds into the fight (never going to use those again). I was dissapointed but still very determined and immediately re rigged and casted out another livie in the same spot, and before the livie had even hit the ground something took it, and I could immediately tell it was a nice fish. After a short fight on heavy gear, it turned out to be a pretty big flattie which Someone soon netted and got up onto the jetty. After the initial excitement and a quick measure It turned out to be a solid 70cm very fat and healthy fish. The line was wrapped around its neck and had cut deep into it, funnily enough that was the only reason i had landed it as I sound found out the eyelet of my hook had snapped in its mouth but the line stayed tied to its neck, so I was unable to release it. But a very good day overall and smashed my previous PB by 13cm.
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On 7/19/2021 at 8:42 AM, motiondave said:
@Max_fish, I can seem to catch yellowtail anytime during the day regardless of tides. My favourite spot for them is near cobblers beach , around the rock areas inside middle head.
Burley up and wait for a bit, if they dont turn up , which is rare, I move maybe 5m to another spot within that area.
Awesome, thanks!
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4 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:
Max-fish put "John Dory Fishing" in the search engine up top for some info
Will do, thanks!
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6 hours ago, noelm said:
It's pretty common to see "balls" of Catfish when diving, most are about 100-150mm long, you see them in the ocean, in rivers and so on, they have a distinctive stripe, and seems to be almost like a moving, tight bunched ball.
Yeah except these were fairly large and lacked the stripes you described, they also seemed to more be in a school rather than a tight ball.
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1 hour ago, Blackfish said:
Were they definitely Catfish MF.
I assumed so, they had the distinctive cat-like whiskers of a catfish
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Hey everyone,
I mainly fish off a local pontoon and I would like to grab a few tips on how to live bait yakkas and squid to target jewfish and kingfish. What rig would you guys use and how heavy would you recommend, also should I hook the live yakka in the nose or back? Anymore tips and tricks would be a great help.
Thanks
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5 minutes ago, Scratchie said:
G’day raiders,
I know a lot of you are in lockdown and are busting to get out there fishing. Whilst for most that’s not feasible at the moment, it can’t stop us talking about fishing.
So in the meantime, I’d love you to show me and hear about your most memorable catch!
Doesn’t have to be a giant fish but something that you’ll never ever forget and explain why!
It’ll start.........
For me, you’ll all be thinking snapper. Yes there has been some very special catches that I will never forget. Although, the fish that remains my most memorable was the first fish I caught in Narrabeen lakes when I was 11 yo. I was casting a handline with prawn as bait and after about 5 minutes of fishing I got a bite that changed my world. This fish hit it hard and took me up and down the lake at will. After a good 10 minute battle on the handline, I managed to land this fish. A bream of 46cm which is still a personal best to this date! The hook was not only set in this fish but also in a little boy called scratchie that changed his life forever!
That’s my story, what’s yours????
cheers scratchie!!!
Awesome story, what an experience that would have been.
For me my most memorable moment fishing was when me and my mate were fishing at our go to local spot, which sometimes provides and sometimes not, after a rather uneventful day with only a bream in the low 30s to show for it a small school of bonitos came up to us right at the bottom of our pontoon. In the matter of 10mins I had caught three bonitos, each with an extremely good fight on light gear and I was over the moon, only a few mins after that I hooked onto a monster fish that wouldn’t stop running for about 3mins until it snapped me off on the light gear, I was both disappointed and excited at the opportunity to fight such a fish.
A close second would have to be when me and my dad were spinning 7g metals into small bust ups down near the upper reaches of middle harbour in our tinny and we managed to pull in a 46cm and 57cm salmon which were both firsts for me.
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22 minutes ago, Blackfish said:
Cant really see the fish in the photo but.. my guess would be Juvenile Striped Catfish which do ball up.
Yeah the photo is pretty crappy, I had a few videos which would have been slightly better but I can’t upload due to duke size. I thought it could be those but I remember them being mainly brown and quite large.
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4 hours ago, blaxland said:
Ive seen the charters at Middle head and have had success from there to Gorges head. For me squidding is always a bit hit and miss. On a side note I hear john dory are in town around structure. They will take your livies.
John Dory, are they hanging around any structure in middle harbour? And I’m guessing your talking about yakkas as livies, I’ll have to give that a go. What time of day and tide do you recommend. I would like to catch a John Dory is that would be a first for me.
Berowra 11 - 12/10/2021
in Fishing Reports
Posted
Sounds like a great day, I was wondering if you have any tips for targeting jewfish in the Hawkesbury as I’m heading up there this weekend and hoping on having the chance to land my first jewie.
Thanks