slinkymalinky

G'day Justinjon, Favourite squid grounds are guarded a little more closely than bank account pin numbers. I've only managed to crack the code consistently this year and it's knowing what sort of water to fish that will get you more squid than 1 gun spot. I haven't missed out on catching squid once this summer, and have caught quite a few with BrettP in spots neither of us had ever tried or heard of others trying for squid... but they all fitted the characteristics of good squid spots. Look for really clean water and bottom with mixed sand, weed and rock (or structure like a jetty) patches. If you don't get any squid in the first 5 minutes... move and keep moving until you find squid. Squid are very aggressive so if there are any around you'll know it within a few casts. Cheers, Slinky

I don't go out there in my Quinnie but I used to go out to the shelf in my old (much bigger) boat. "The Shelf" is about where the bottom hits 100 fathoms from which point is starts to drop away really fast into seriously deep water. If you have a chart plotter, you can find it by navigating to a way point at the 100 fathom line. That's what I used to do in my last boat since the sounder wasn't up to the task out there. Don't know from Sydney, but from Barrenjoey from memory it was about 26nm. The distance to the shelf varies heaps depending on which bit of coast you start from. Cheers, Sinky

G'day Dave, Saw that Blue boat of yours go past us at North Head... would have said Hi if I new you were a raider.... and then I would have followed you like a bloodhound since you obviously found the fish that I couldn't!! Still trying to get my little girl her first King. Sound's like you had a great day on them though. By the way... its a nice looking rig! Cheers, Slinky

Thanks Stumpy, sorry I missed your call. I've got a 2nd one too who mostly thinks fishing is all too smelly and dirty... and to make matters worse she's highly allergic to shellfish (including squid) so we can't even use them for bait when she's on the boat..... occasionally get her out there though. She's also a 'Jessica' (note the colour coordination and careful hiding of the 'windy hair' as opposed to Gemma with the full on "I'm a mini-Raider" look) Cheers, Slinky

I've posted this before on another site a year or so ago but now that I'm a Raider, thought I'd share it... One of my favourite fishing photos and it still gives me a laugh. Hope you can read the sign. Cheers, Slinky

G'day Lasty, I prefer a 2500 size reel for most of my fishing on my 2-4kg spin sticks.... the 1000 is really tiny and I seem to get better casting distance with the 2500.. I think it may be something to do with the larger spool diameter but I'm no engineer. I's strongly advise braid if you're planning to use it mostly for soft plastic spinning... much better casting distance, infinitely better feel. I use Platypus Super Braid, but any of the better quality braids are great (don't get el-cheapo braid... it's rough as guts and not fun to use). If cost is an issue either just top-shot your reel with braid or get a thermally fused braid (like Fireline). These are not quite as fine in diameter and are a little stiffer but still good quality and the handling characteristics of them are preferred by a lot of people on spin reels. Cheers, Slinky

There was one other bright spot in yesterday's outing on the harbour.... my 6yo daughter's first squid (a target she's been after for a while!) Cheer's Slinky

Still looking for that first king for my 6yo fisho daughter. After 2 weeks of incredible reports from North Head, looks like most of the Kingies were caught inside on Australia Day.... a fact we finally clued onto thanks mostly to Kiwi Dan. BrettP nailed a 63cm model and dropped another one next to the boat within 10 minutes of arriving at our (Kiwi's) spot, then things went quiet. Managed to lose an anchor for the first time in Sydney harbour.... that's what you get for being lazy and leaving the sand anchor on instead of swapping over to the reef pick, even though the sounder says you should!! The brightest note is that since hooking up with BrettP from FishRaider we've together managed to get squidding worked out.... not just catching them consistently in the same old spots but now were trying new spots that fit 'our pattern' every time we go out and getting good hauls... Sydney Harbour, Pittwater... doesn't seem to matter where we go, the pattern remains pretty much the same and the squid follow. Can't be long till it pays off big time with better kingy and jewfish captures. Just wish my eldest daughter wasn't highly allergic to them so I could take some home for the plate!! (oh, by the way.... 'the pattern' will henceforth be known as 'Pattern X' in honour of the spot/s where we're finding all the squid). Cheers, Slinky

Can someone please let me know how to add multiple pics to a post... I can attach one pic no problems but when I've tried selecting multiple attachments using the browse feature below... only the first image ends up attached. Thanks, Slinky

Chasing Kings in the Harbour on Saturday (my 6yo is desperate for her first) with BrettP on board. Going to try to hook up with Kiwi Dan, Flightmanager and any other Kingy flogging Raiders out on the water. Hope I can put a couple of photos up of some nice fish!! Cheers, Slinky

I'm definitely going to tough it out on the Harbour but stay out near the Heads hopefully away from the crowds.... going out early and if it gets too crazy I can always go back in but I'm getting tired of hearing about all the Kingies out there with me stuck on land.... Cheers, Slinky

G'day Windy, If you want to have a day like that, count me in. Can't think of any better way to work out some of the trout options than hooking up with some other fisho's on the water. What I find most daunting in NSW is: a) Access (in Tassie you can get to basically any part of almost any lake, while here a lot is inaccessible or on private property) Knowing the good water (again, I'm used to fishing shallow lakes with really obvious fish holding areas and really obvious tactics to fish them, and a lot more sight fishing.... this still feels very foreign to me) Cheers, Slinky G'day Windy, If you want to have a day like that, count me in. Can't think of any better way to work out some of the trout options than hooking up with some other fisho's on the water. What I find most daunting in NSW is: a) Access (in Tassie you can get to basically any part of almost any lake, while here a lot is inaccessible or on private property) Knowing the good water (again, I'm used to fishing shallow lakes with really obvious fish holding areas and really obvious tactics to fish them, and a lot more sight fishing.... this still feels very foreign to me) Cheers, Slinky What are the best tactics/locations for TCD... I've only ever seen photos and it looks fairly featureless. I'd like to give it a go but not sure where to start? Cheers, Slinky

Don't believe BrettP... he took me to Spot X and helped me get my first Jewie (see.... I'm still talking about it!!). Funny thing though... Spot X seems to move around. I think it must fish so well because it's obviously affected by some kind of temporal distortion of time and space that makes it really hard to get to. Slinky

G'day Kiwi, I'll be out there hopefully to get my 6yo Daughter her first King. I'll have BrettP on board and also planning to leave from Tunks Park at 4.00am. I've got a 480 Freedom Sport with 75 Evinrude on the back, towed by a white Prado. If you see me at the ramp come and say hi. Otherwise my callsign on VHF is Slinky.... It would be good to hook up.... the more eyes, the better as far as finding bait and fish is concerned. Hope to see you out there. Cheers, Slinky

Thanks all.... as expected the number of opinions is only limited by the number of people. Some interesting food for thought though.... more positive feedback on natural colours than I expected. Next couple of times I go out I think I'll just adopt the old "you use pink, I'll use natural" kind of approach and do my own research (if only the results weren't bound to vary day to day!!) Cheers, Slinky

Hi all, I'm hanging out for Mr Speckles. It's been a few years since I've chased him (I used to fish around Goulburn before the drought)... I'm an ex Tasmanian (and yes... I have the scar!!) so don't really know any other areas to try (and I'm guessing there's still no good fishing around Goulburn) Anywhere near Sydney you can suggest? If anyone wants to act as amateur guide I've got a 4WD and would happily do the driving and save you a petrol bill for a day on the water. Cheers, Slinky

G'day Kruzen, I'm new to downrigging this season and one tip I'd already give you is not to use an overly long rod. I've run a 5'6" T-Curve jig rod and it was great to use. The last couple of trips I tried a 7' Saltist rod (with the idea it would be easier to lead fish around the boat) and found the extra length a real pain when rigging the downrigger bomb. Grabbing the line is harder, its wrapped around the tip easily, etc. while I've been rigging baits. I'm not experienced enough to give much advice but I'm going to stick to 6' rods or less with the downrigger. Not sure what the more experienced downriggers reckon but I noticed a lot of your replies already talk about jig rods which tend to be on the shorter side. Slinky

Anyone got opinions (or should that be is there anyone who DOESN'T have an opinion) on the best colours for squid jigs. Most squid in Sydney undoubtedly get caught on pink or orange jigs... my own opinion is that this is because nearly everyone is fishing with pink or orange jigs... and surprise surprise, they catch all the fish. I've noticed a distinct slowdown of squid action once the sun gets up a bit and as squid are primarily (I believe) a visual predator, I've bought a few natural coloured jigs to try when this happens. I'm working on the same theory as with lures for fish.... low light=bright lures, more light=more natural colours. I seem to get nearly all my squid in clear water so that's not a factor. Anyone out there find the same thing and how have you gone with natural coloured jigs compared to the loud colours?? I've got one of BrettP's 2.0 pink Yo Zuri's in my car so your answers may decide whether he ever gets it back or not....

Just uploaded some pics into an album of my little fishing buddy (my eldest daughter doesn't mind fishing but realy thinks the whole thing is a bit smelly and dirty... my youngest has inherited my obsession). She wasn't happy about me canceling! Hope my album works.. I'm still learning the ropes in Raider world.... anyone who has spent time on one of the other fishing sites may have seen a couple of these before... and if you have the latest Quintrex catalogue, you'll recognize the Bonito shot. Here's what I think is a link to my album... http://fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.ph...m&album=265

Just got an updated weather forecast (and looked out my window).... too crappy for a 6yo (and for a 42yo!!). Looks like I'll be spending Saturday helping her sort out her new tackle box. Get this... (remember, this is a 6yo girl!). She took my wife into Go Fish and told her that because we were chasing kingfish, she should get me a packet of the nifty looking 80mm River To Sea squid soft plastics and told her that she thought that I'd really like them to use with the downrigger. This morning, in anticipation of fishing tomorrow, she emptied and reorganised her little tackle boxes.... twice. She also announced that she thought she should get an Ugly Stick because she's worried the Shimano Bullwhip she's using at the moment won't be tough enough (I told her it would be fine!!). She's also worried because she doesn't have any stick-bits in her tackle box. Finally, she has made me promise to let her bait her own hooks when we go out and is insisting on a 3.00am start so we can be squidding in the dark (I'm pretty sure that has something to do with her liking glow sticks though!!) I'm just wrapping up at work but when I get on my computer at home I'll post some pics of 'dad's little fishing buddy' (her self given title) Have I bred a good'un or what?? Only sad I now have to go home and tell her (and BrettP) that the fishing is off due to the weather...$&&*%(#) Cheers, Slinky

I'll be launching from Tunks Park sometime around 4.00 or 5.00am from Tunks Park with my 6yo daughter and another Raider on board. My little girl is absolutely manic about getting her first king. Anyone else going to be on the water chasing squid then kings on Saturday morning. If so, lets hook up or keep in touch (and if you find any kings in open water where a 6yo is likely to be able to keep one connected on 4kg, let me know... don't fancy her chances if we hook her up near a marker buoy but we'll give it a shot) Cheers, Slinky Callsign... Slinky Always listening on VHF 16

In all my years fishing I must have caught at least.... ohhh, I don't know.... 1 Jewie (last weekend... can you tell I'm chuffed.... I'm still finding excuses to talk about it!!) I caught it on a circle hook fished with the reel in gear so I can honestly state that I have a 100% hook up rate & 100% capture to hook up rate with circles vs a 0% capture rate with j hooks or fishing with the reel not in gear. The statistics don't lie (although sometimes I do)!! Tight lines, Slinky

Hey Yakfishing... if you like Weedy Sea Dragons, I used to live in and dive a lot in Tassie and they're relatively common. On the south east coast there's a spot called "Tesselated Pavements" (spelling's probably off). That spot is the best cold water dive I ever did... 20m tall kelp beds to fly thru and as well as the WSD's there's every kind of fish, ray, crab, etc you could hope for. I did one of my original qualification dives there and the instructor had us all bring catch bags! lol. Most divers I know tent to head North for dive holidays but going south is a great option too. Cheers, Slinky

What do the gun Kingfish experts think about using (or not) a second stinger hook when down-rigging livebaits (squid particularly). I've been using a 2 hook rig this season (didn't have a downrigger last year and used mostly single hook rigs) and while I haven't been out enough this year to really judge, my squid don't seem to be living as long. Had a squid mauled in Pittwater last weekend without hooking up, even with the stinger hook so I'm also not convinced on hook-up rates. What's the latest wisdom? 1 or 2 hook rigs? What type of hook do you recommend for the stinger (treble, single, small, big, etc) and where do you pin it to kepp the bait as healthy as possible?? Any advice appreciated. Thanks, Slinky

Not sure about the rules for the divers themselves but for fisho's when divers are about.... - Upgrade to at least 24kg tackle.... they're easy to bust off on the hook-up and it's hard to move them with anything lighter. - Don't try to play them under the boat. They just hang side on to the boat and it's hard to lift them. It's much better to drive away from them and their flippers normally make them plane up higher in the water column where you can get a better angle on them. - Using a downrigger can pay off... you'll find that sometimes they're higher in the water than you think but with a sturdy downrigger, they often slide down the wire and hook up by themselves. - Bait freshness or lure colour is less important than hook size. A forged 10/0 is a good start but I've had my best success with 14/0 Gamakatsu circles. They seem less able to unkook themselves from circle patterns than J hooks. - Don't strike at the first sign of a take... wait until the rod loads up then give 3 or 4 short sharp jabs with the rod tip just to really bury the hook and wake them up. - They're often found in pairs so try to get the hooked one away from its partner as fast as possible as they will often try to cut the hooked diver free. - Don't gaff them through the tank.... BAD idea. Lip grippers are a better option and it tends to keep them quieter at the side of the boat. - Try to release any you catch unharmed.... they don't taste too good and the neoprene tends to get stuck in your teeth. - Before release it's worth checking their catch bag to see if there is anything inside worth keeping (crays, abalone, etc) Cheers, Slinky