jim77

G'day Cogo Nice work on the flatties. Are the stink pipe and Rosa Gully along the cliffs in front of Dover Heights? If so i think i saw you guys there on Sunday morning. If not where are they? I also managed 3 very healthy sized flat head (about 65-70cms each) and one huge jacket before the wind picked up a bit and i headed back inside for the shelter of calmer waters.

G'day Ceph I know exactly how you feel mate. I had a very slow day about two weeks ago when i spent about 6 hrs at various spots around the main harbour. At my last spot i got absoultely smashed on a large whole squid with similar set up to yourself. I was fishing 50Lb braid and 50Lb leader - i was in deep water and the fish still got to the bottom with ease against a heavy drag and i got done on the bottom. I feel your pain Better luck next time - hopefully this is a run of slightly bigger fish as the water starts to cool down?

G'day fellow raiders I'm just after some advice regarding night time or pre-dawn squidding. I am planning to go for a very early fish sometime over this long weekend and just wondering whether you need light in order to catch squid at night. I.e. do you need to be jigging near landbased structures with lighting and or is success likely to be improved by attaching a glow stick just above the jig. Can i go to my normal squidding spots and expect to catch in the dark or will i need to change tactics? Any advice will be gladly received. Cheers Jim

Thanks for the advice fellas - i have used a 2 hook rig in the past and will certainly go back to it after yesterdays frustrations - i reckon i would have had 5 or 6 fish if i had had a stinger hook on! Nevermind there is always next time... Huntman - in answer to your question above the common misconception is that teachers finish at 3:15 and go home - most afternoons i am there until at least 5-5:30, i have to work every saturday and would normally give up at least 2 or 3 weeks of holiday a year to do school related stuff... But as Humesy said, there are the holidays and even accounting for losing a week of holiday here or there i still get at least 10 weeks a year! Which is pure unadulterated fishing! and midweek is the best time as you nearly always beat the crowds. Anyone who is serious about their fishing could do worse than consider a career change to teaching

After several weekend outings with no decent fish(and 00s of other boats!!)yesterday i decided to treat myself to an after work fish. Following Humsey' lead of super quick marking of homework i managed to get out on the water by 3:45pm. Straight to my fail safe squidding spot and within 15 minutes had 2 squid and one cuttle fish in the tank - all a bit small but at least i had some bait. Tried for some yakkas at a couple of spots but no joy so at about 5:15 i thought i'd better see if i could get some Kingies before the sun went down. The wind was a bit of a pain but i managed to find a reasonable spot away from the wind. Down goes the 1st squid - within minutes a massive hit but with no hook up I reeled in to find the head had been ripped off - being low on bait i decided to strip up the remains. Strip straight back down and nailed almost instantly. After a good fight a 63cm model was boated and returned. Baits straight back in the water and for 20 minutes i had a very frustrating time - my baits would get smashed but no hook ups? Has anyone been having the same thing happen? With only the small cuttle left i gambeled and put him on whole. I had barely put the rod in the holder and it got smashed - this time with a really good hook-up. This fish was taking line and giving a really good account of itself and i was really surprised to see when i netted it how small it was. On measuring it it went 65.001cm - JUST a keeper - but it was a really really fat solid fish. Anyway - not a bad quick session. 2 Kingies boated - 1 legal for dinner - sure beats staying at work late. Tight lines to everyone over the weekend

Great work Yabbie Hunter - sounds like a pretty good day out? Can i ask how deep the water was that you were jigging them up in? I have done some deep offshore jigging (70-80ms water) but jigging the harbour sounds like good fun. I even have a few jigs ready to go in my tackle box?

Thanks for the information fellas... I might go and have a look next time i'm out if the weather is suitable. Cheers

Hi there. Having recently purchased a 2nd hand boat and fitted it with GPS and Fishfinder etc i am keen to try out as many spots as possible. One spot i have read a bit about is the Wreck of the Annie Millar. Just wondering if any Raiders have fished it before/recently and whether it is worth the effort of trying to locate it. Various reports i have read say that you can get BIG pelagics there. Lying in approx 45-50 metres of water might make it suitable for jigging? Can anyone confirm or deny its reliability as a good fishing spot? Also i have come across varying GPS locations for it - both in WGS84 format. Anyone who has been there do you have a reliable GPS mark for it? Any info anyone has would be much appreciated. Cheers Jim

After my succes of yesterday i was keen to get out again i can catch some more fish. I was also taking out two virgin fishos at various times in the day. On the water at 6:40 and go and pick up mate number 1 from Watsons Bay. Quickly managed two squid and then out to the markers. Down went the squid - 2 minutes later the Baitrunner screams off. I offered the rod to my mate but he was too nervous so i grabbed it. Short fight later boatad another nice low 60s fish. My mate couldn;t believe that i had to put back such a nice fish and he wanted to keep it... but obviously it went back in the drink! So that was the 1st intro to fishing for him and he was stoked when i dropped him off to go to work. I then managed to grab a selection of slimeys and yakkas from Watsons Bay and back out to the markers again. Livey #1 down and almost instantly it got smashed - a much better fish and finally a keeper whcih went 84cm - a really solid and thick thick fish. Straight in the Esky for dinner Then it was time to pick up mate #2 - another virgin fisho - from Clifton Gardens. He was gutted when he saw the Kingy i'd just caught and the fact that he'd missed it. We tried a few spots around the harbour and eventually anchored up near another marker. I had two liveys down and my mate had a piece of fresh squid on his &&*&*& "Rex Hunt" special. I was just getting a drink and some food when my mate calls out "I've got one" I turn round to see his rod bent double and him lookijng a bit worried. I managed to talk him through the fight - a good job given that he had 10lb line on!! and he landed his 1st Kingy. Not a big fish at 60cm but he was stoked! Straight back in to fight another day. We had one more Rat after that and my mate caught a HUGE eel and then we decided to call it a day. Another great day out on the harbour. Only one more day of holiday left for me so there's a good chance i'll be out there tomorrow as well... Tight lines to everyone Jim

Despite the windy conditions and big swell (which is due to get bigger!) i had a great day out on the harbour today. AFter a bit of a delay at the boat ramp i waa finally underway and on the water by about 7:45am. Despite their effectiveness i have always been a little sceptical of soft plastics - probably because i never seem to catch much with them! That all changed today. Armed with a pack of Gulp 7" shad i pulled up at one of the popular harbour markers. My first cast saw about 5 or 6 keen Kingy folllowers, and one of them was HUGE!! Next cast the Hood that i had seen absolutely smashed my lure. As soon as it hit i was thinking this isn't going to last long... Sure enough as it peeled line off and went for the marker and i tried to git it a bit extra - ping went my 20lb braid I kid you not - this fish would have easily gone over 1 metre - oh well at least i'd hooked one! Not to be out done i re rigged and circled round again. 1st Cast - striaght on again - a respectable fight and a couple of minutes later and a 64cm model is boated. Round again for another pass - it took two casts this time and i was on again. Exactly the same result 64cms. Round once more - same thing but 63cms this time. All up 4 hookups in 5 casts - great fishing! I hung around for a few more casts but the fish seemed to have moved on. After that excitement i had a bit of a frustrating day. I tried all of my usual spots but couldn;t get any livies anywhere - i'm guessing that it had something to do with the fact that the tide was running really fast (due to big springs/full moon etc). I didn't fancy getting bounced around on the swell to head over to Balmoral or Quarantine. Anyone got any good Livebait spots that are fairly reliable on the East/South side? After trying unsuccessly for bait for hours i thought i'd try for some quid just to get out the wind! Wouldn;t you know it - 3 squid in 20 minutes including one massive one. Armed with fresh bait i set off home via a couple of marker buoys. 1st squid down - 30 secounds later and i'm on. This was another good fish and after a pretty decent tussle i lost out again. Why is it that when there are 2 identical baits out the bigger fish always seem to take the one with the lighter line!!?? 5 minutes later and the other squid goes off - another 64 cm fish!! I sent down the BIG squid whole but that didn;t get any interest so it came home with me to be stripped up for baits next time All in all a great days fishing. I was pretty disappointed not to boat any legals but it was great to get some action and i can still see the image of the massive hood that inhaled my bait and then smashed me! Cheers Jim

Hello everyone. After having had a very frustrating time last week down in Jervis Bay, where i ran out of "live" liveys in the middle of a hot Kingie bite the time has come for me to rig up a more effective live bait system. (I have been using a large bucket with the small battery operated aerators) Does anyone have any designs they can send me of DIY systems they have installed in their boats. I have a few ideas but some guidance would be mucbh appreciated. Cheers Jim

Thanks for the replies and the advice gents. The drag wasn't "locked up" as such but it was on pretty heavy resistance... Next time i will back it off as suggested and just let the fish run for a bit. I will take my chances with the bottom. The guys i was with caught a 14kg kingy in the same spot about 4 weeks ago - so i don;t think they were small fish that we were messing with. Geoff in regard to the lures - all the fish were hooked on Surecatch Knife Jigs, either 250 or 300 grm models. Green had 3 hookups and Blue one. Sorry i don;t have any pics. Once again thanks for the advice and hopefully next time i will get one in the boat. Cheers Jim

A belated report from Saturday morning. Yesterday i was lucky enough to get invited along on a mate of a mates boat. We got on the water at about 5:30 am and armed with assorted colours of knife jigs we went straight out to the peak. It was a bit bumpy on the way out there as there was a bit of a NE swell running but soon enough we pulled up. Jigs straight over the side. We had several drops for not a lot of action before we came across some huge schools of bait on the sounder sitting in about 75 metres of water. After dropping through one of the schools - a few winds and i was on. This fish was like nothing i have ever fought before. I have caught a couple of reasonable sized (80 cm) kingies in the harbour and they go hard but this was something else. I had 50Lb braid on and 100lb leader and i simply couldn't shift it. Drag locked up hard and it was still managing to pull line... After battling for a couple of minutes the hooks pulled I was pretty pissed off but not long later i hooked up again. This one was pulling even harder and it was all i could do to hold onto the rod, keep my balance in the lumpy seas and keep myself from being pulled over the side. After a couple more minutes of stale mate... you guessed it same result, hooks pulled again By this stage i was feeling pretty low with myself but luckily i got another chance. 3rd time lucky i was thinking and this time i managed to get a few turns on the reel and get back a few metres of line - but no hooks pulled yet again!!! To ease my embarrasment one of the other lads hooked up and had a similar experience. He had a bit more success and managed to get the fish quite a long way off the bottom - but same result, after about 5 minutes of battling - ping, hooks pulled!! After 4 lost fish we pulled up stumps and headed for home. On the way in we stopped off at the "Trag" grounds off Coogee. As we pulled up there were fish everywhere on the sounder. Jig straight over the side, a few turns and wham! I got smashed and i was on again big style! This fish was pulling hard and taking line and there was little i could do to stop it. Again i just hung on - again same result... Pulled the hooks!! Not happy JAn!! Brought the jig up to find some serious teeth marks on it where it had been hammered. After that no more action and i had to get in to go to work. All in all a fantastic heart pumping morning with some serious action. No fish on board but not for want of trying. Just wondering if anyone has had similar experience with pulling hooks. Any reason for it? Is it becuase there is no "give" in the braid and if you go too hard it just rips the hook out of the fishes mouth? I was very conscious of not giving any line as i didn't want to get rubbed off on the bottom. Is it better to back the drag off a bit and give the fish a bit of line? Maybe the hooks were too small but i don't think so (we were using Surecatch 250 and 300grm jigs with hooks already on them. Green was the colour doing the damage) Any advice anyone has would be appreciated as next time i hook up to something substantial i want to make sure that i get it on the deck! Sorry about the length of report - just got carried away. (i'm still reliving all of the fights in my head - and i can still feel the ache in my arms today!)

I have recently moved house and now live in Eastern Avenue in Dover Heights. Being an avid fisherman i couldn't believe my luck when whilst taking the dog for a walk in the reserve at the end of the road i was greeted by the sight of several people fishing off the cliff! The most common set up seems to be gang hooked pillies under a big float. I have only had the chance to try it once myself and i sat there for an hour or so but didn't get a bite. The people i have spoken to say that they regularly catch big fish from there including Kingfish. I am sceptical - if only becuase its about 25metres down to the water! The other day when i was walking i saw one guy with a squid jig attached below his float set up??!! Can anyone confirm the rumours that it is a good spot to fish... and if it is what is the best set up/state of tide/bait etc. Can you really catch squid with a jig suspended under a float. Any advice would be much appreciated as i am currently on holidays. As soon as the weather clears a little i'm keen to get out there. Thanks Jim