spongy

Great pics. That last one of the king, Is that a tag in its back?

Welcome to FR. Ummm, got any pics????????

Congrats on your PB king. Very well done. You put in the hard yards and got rewarded with a Sydney Hoodie.

Thanks all for the replies. Yes it was definitely tasty and fed my family of 4. I spoke to a charter operator on the water who said he caught 2 Dorys of similar size 2 weekends ago as well. I also saw on the same morning another guy boating a smaller dory right next to me. So the Dorys apparently are out at the moment. Cheers, Jeff

Quick belated report from last Friday. Launched from Balmoral in my kayak into great conditions just before sun up. Couldn't find any squid or yakkas at the island, so headed out towards North Head hoping to pick some up along the way. Found a heap of yakkas on the sounder but could not entice them to bite. Managed 3 yakkas but was tough going. I had some left over squid heads from a previous trip and deployed them. They didn't last long at all. picked up a number of rat kings around 55-60cm. deployed the yakkas - same story, but on the second yakka I picked up a solid dory which went 49cm. Nice surprise and a nice PB. The yakka was stuck in the Dory's gigantic mouth, so I reached in and gently removed him. The yakka was still alive although slightly shocked and shaken. I put him back on the hook and redeployed for the second time and picked up another rat king. All in all, a great day to be on the water paddling and fishing. Cheers,

If it has to be someone else other than myself catching good fish, then I'm glad it was a kid. Congrats to your son. Cheers,

Congrats on some healthy hoodies. Thanks for the report. Always good to know whats going on and where.

Hi Taleb87, I was out too, I think I saw you, but wasnt sure. Should have come and said hi - next time. I picked some good sized squid, too good to use as bait. Still DR the smaller ones all along the coast for zero, so your not alone.

I might be able to head out early on Thursday as well. Let me know if any of you guys want to catch up. Cheers, Jeff

Try searching for 12V Lithium Ion security camera batteries on epray. I got a 6800mah battery. Easily gets 8hrs runtime and only costs around $20-30. They are also very compact (size of a cigarette pack) so perfect for kayaks. Only issue is they can be fragile and some people say they can possibly explode. I have mine in a sealed waterproof case so it should be fine, only time will tell, but after 6months, so far so good.

We were talking about a sounder, not GPS. I rarely use my GPS fishing the harbour, but use my sounder all the time.

Thats a great session. Imagine what you could do with a sounder once you're all set up..

Hey Paul, get a decent kayak. You will be dissappointed if you get a crappy one. Budget around $1500 for a half decent one. Hobie mirage drive yaks will be around $2000+. Secondhand will be around $200-500 cheaper, and is a very good option. Once you have confidence with your kayak, you can pretty much go where ever you want so long as the conditions are suitable and safe and within your abilities. Your typical range depends on your fitness but a comfortable morning paddle/peddle would be around 5-10Km. Therefore Sydney Harbour Lower/Upper and Middle harbour are all ideal places to kayak fish. Long Reef and Clovelly is also popular amongst the kayak fishers. I get more satisfaction catching fish from my yak than I do from the boat. Hope that helps, J

Just simply WOW! How many raiders are going to be out this weekend now ????????????????? Congrats Jack! That's just ridiculous .....

Thats a surprise. What time were you out there? What technique were you using? Did you try livies, squid, etc? J

Thanks for the heads up!

Thanks Krist. I do burley, but limited in how much I can take since being on a kayak. Maybe next time I'll try even more.

Gday Raiders, Getting livies in Sydney Harbour first thing in the morning isn't a problem (most of the time). However, more often than not, trying to get livies when the sun is high in the sky is a problem for me. Im assuming the livies go into deeper water during this time. Anyone like to help me out and suggest any good reliable spots to pick up livies? I would like to do some arvo sessions targeting kingies, and prefer not to collect livies the night before. Cheers, J

Why shouldn't you leave the batteries on concrete floor for any amount of time ????

Yeah nice work getting out twice midweek. I havent been out for ages. Im interested in getting into some slimies. Whereabouts did you get them and were they schooling together or mixed in with the yakkas? Cheers, J

Long toms any good on the plate? Gars are just awesome.

Gday Raiders, Anyone have any good recommendations for a tuna charter out of Batemans Bay or around that area? Looking at getting a group of 6-10 buddies out into some tuna action in the next 2-3 weeks. Jeff

I've used the tournament grade (Gray in color). Compared to their standard braid (green in color), it is smaller in diameter and definitely lasts longer. If you can get it on sale (30-50% off) its definitely good value. Almost as good as PowerPro.

My Stradic from memory was not as smooth as I expected out of the box. Give it some time and it should loosen up a little and feel much better.

Don't we have enough rules and regulations as it is? I disagree on banning. We are over policed in everything we do as it is. We all have a brain - use it. Education and information is the way to go. Don't compare fire bans with a big swell fishing ban - bush fires risk the lives of many as the result of 1 idiot. if you fish and drown because you are ill prepared you really dont affect anyone but yourself (and your family).