King slayer

Good one plasticman! Now the rats are here we can be a little more assured of some action on the weekends! Were you running the lures deep? By the way, it's admirable to be using such light line, but I suggest you upgrade to 20LB plus as the big ones go like the clappers! Dave

Hi Quaddy, I'm going there my self in jan and decided to do some research. Try searching Port stephens on this site. Lots of chat to follow up and spots for all kinds of fish to check out. Good luck, and don't forget to post when you get back! Dave

Special fish there mate, well done. Do you go far off shore? I've heard they come in pretty close in the afternoons as the water warms up.

Monster! Plastics are just deadly on those guys. That'll take some beating, good fish.

Ah, love Jewies! Good work mate, just goes to show, you need to try different things. Even if it's an after thought.. Nice Jew!

Some folks try a home made version..See kingiemasters pics.. But most have told me that the home made ones just don't stand up to the bought ones of good quality. I got my brag mat from gofish at Dural. Top shop if you want to have some fun emptying the savings account Ah we love it!

Cheers Byron, I'll be trying that next time don't worry! Though when I'm fishing it's normally the beer that hits the deck when an un-expected strike comes

Gotta love snapper! Did you get them close the the ocean rocks?

Wow there's a few nice outfits there Bob! It makes me laugh when I look at all the gear i have, and even the gear I take on one outing. Five rods, five thousand hooks, lures leaders etc and only two hands! some how they mostly get used at some point.. Dave

Hi. The first one.

I wish I had that much faith in the gulp pumpkinseed Robeebee! No luck for me so far on those. But it's probably like all the other ones i swear don't work, it's got more to do with how often you use them than the colour. Do you have much luck in clear water in light conditions on those? And what do you get? For me the favourite changes weekly, but powerbait bass minnows in the clear/green are just sexy! Dave

I don't mind sharing the odd spot for roaming species, but I think Jewie spots are sacred, if only for the sake of the fish. But I'll tell you if you find deep holes up river in the skinnier sections and fish them at the tide change then an hour or more after, you'll be on the right track. Try to find an area where bait fish are common around the edges and the predators will be there sometime. I've had success at low tide, low light and in water that's a little (or even very) dirty after some rain. Plastics work well cause they cover the ground and I've even pulled up very nice flatties when targeting jew on big plastics. I had one taken half a meter from from shore at my feet. the jew in the pic was only 2-3 from shore in the hole where he took the lure. Dave

I've heard this might be the case, and I had a similar situation a few weeks back..sort of. My sounder is always on, but the bait tank pump had some sand in it one day while gathering yakkas at balmoral, on a day when they were little shy, and it was making a grinding noise. Each time I switched it on, the bite went right off, and when off, after 5 mins and some more burley, right back on again. This is in an area normally frequented by boats and people, so noise surely has some effect. Obviously this is different to the sounder noise, which as i said is always on, but that time it made a difference. As for sounder noise, I can't say i've experimented quite enough to give an informed opinion, but I imagine it would have have some effect. Dave

Thanks for all the kind words raiders, it was a proud moment. Cam I was using 30lb braid and 2m of 40lb jinkai leader to a loop knot, It casts quite well with a little weight. I've had a few go's with plastics for them now, and I'm definitely converted. Plastics are great and are so easy to just grab and run to the spot. Pete, I used to do just the same, but once I started using them seriously and sometimes for many hours on end, I have started learning a lot and each session gets better than the last. I now consider plastics to be one of, if not my favourite method of fishing. Still can't beat live baiting for kings.. I'll never give that up.. Dave

Nice bag of fish there Chopper, Have you ever tried flicking big plastics around the drop off? I would imagine the flatties at least would be on the cards, possibly that jew you've been waiting for!? Dave

I often have them chase my plastics in upper middle harbour, only when the water is clean. I'm sure it can be done to a point, but you might be more productive heading closer to consistent clear water areas.

Mate, Top catch. Looks like there are a few around like that if you know where to go. To get these 1m plus trucks in our harbours is really something special.

Morning raiders, I was looking at the tide charts last night and I just couldn't resist with a low tide just before day break..So when the alarm went off at 3am I was up, grabbed my gear and headed down to a favourite (secret) LB spot in middle harbour armed with two rods and plastics. I set one rod out in the current on a paternoster with a squidgy fish and played around with a 7 inch gulp jerk shad, white with a 1/8th head in 5/0 size. The set rod didn't get a look at, which didn't really surprise me, but I like to be in with a chance either way. Not too long after some exploratory casts in a likely hole I get a tap-tap, then I slowed the retrieve down, and just twitched a bit...Then smack! I'm on and he feels pretty weighty. After a few short runs I had my eyes on the beast and I could hear him grunting as he came closer. Now this is snaggy, oyster territory so bringing in a big fish is always a bit of a worry, but i lifted him over the stones and up the bank, no probs. Very happy with this capture as he was 90cm, a shade over 6kgs. To top it off, my biggest fish EVER and my first jew on plastics!! So I arrived back home just after six, when no more came on the bite and lovely wife is still sleeping. She prefers it when I fish while she sleeps! That way we both get to do our favourite things in the world Here are the pics Good luck to all those on the water today, I wish I could get out. Dave

You can spot gutters and holes in the surf by where the waves go flat, then pick up again on the other side. This happens because of the deep water in the middle. Especially try to find a channel that leads out to the ocean. and yeah, this is the rip, or at least the main brunt of the rip as far as I know. Any corrections on this are welcome!! Hope it helps a bit. Dave

Went for a few hours on the beach last night just after dusk with my best mate and frequent partner in piscatorial pursuits. This was the first try I've had on the beach in years and my first ever shot at a beach jew, despite several promises I made to my self and ended up in the boat out of habit. So we lobbed out some big squid baits into a likely looking gutter, tied on the glowsticks and grabbed a coldie. Just on high, or there abouts my mates rod gets a few good hits, then mine goes off straight after Down go the beers and we're running to the rods... I picked up the rod, had him ( for arguments sake, lets call him a 20kg jewie!) on for a good half a minute, then slackline.. Damn. The baits went straight back out and I got another hit not long after with a 2 second hook up that didn't work out! We conceded defeat an hour and a half after the high with no more hits. Still, first go and to have at least put the baits in the right spot for a hook up of some sort on a weighty creature that felt for all the world like a jewie to me, but we'll never know. Can't wait to try it again soon, the beach at night is an awsome place to spend you time I reckon. Cheers all, Dave

Well done to your girlfriend! My wife won't go any where near a fishing line! That can be a good thing at times though...

I got my best flattie ever (56cms) on a nuclear chicken grub, super large size. I don't think much of the gulp minnows though. I've caught fish on them, but the action is crap. Give the much underrated powerbait minnows a go, we do quite well on them. I'm also quite addicted to the plastics Dave

Yeah they were feeding on whitebait, but they took blue, white and pink lures, and squid, so they weren't fussy like in past weeks at times. We hooked I'd say 20 fish or more!

Us too mate. Tried all our favourite markers and no hits. Funnily enough the Salmon were on fire. See report

Went out on the harbour in search of kings on Sunday. We tried a new squid spot for one of our best sessions ever, got some massive Calamari and lost too many as well. Things were looking up with good weather, plenty of squid and a boat load of promise. First stop our favourite marker, two kingie rods deployed and two light baits for fun while we wait. Burley goes out...First drop on the light rod my mate pulls up a healthy 36cm snapper, which by harbour standards is ok; we were looking forward to a bag load of those guys!! Second drop, same bait gets it again with as much force, but it's a trevor. few more trevors came in but then all was quiet. long story short we spent the next four hours moving to different markers and structure for nothing at all, except one leathery which regurgitated more than one or two of or fresh squid baits!! Tried our normally productive flattie spots for nothing and decided to head back about 1pm. This is where the fun starts!! We noticed birds all over the place between Quarantine, middle head and dobroyd and a few boats following...Then big splashes scattered around, but not like the salmon we were chasing th last few weeks, there was less or no nervous water, just a few boils. I thought..Oh man, it could be kings.. So rigged up an un weighted squid head, threw it into a boil up and WHAMMO! I'm on to a sizable opponent. Got her to the boat and it was a good size Salmon! Spat the hook right there... We couldn't pin point where they were holding so we tossed out two Rapala minnows and towed them around. From then on for the next hour or more we could barely get the rods in the holders before they were smashed and we were on again. Plenty on double hook ups. We thought it would be fun to try the light gear, so first I threw out a pink squidgy which was inhaled and the hook straightened! I decided at that point to loosen the drag as I was running 10lb braid and leader on a 2-4kg rod normally for squid, bream and flatties etc. Rigged him up with the rapala and smashed over and over again, it was so much fun! I was very impressed with my little out fit as these fish were 3-4 kgs easy! We even got a little chopper amongst them. Left them on the bite after 3pm and we had some tired arms too! Kept a couple for the families as they always complain when we tell them we throw these guys back. I won't eat em though. Good fun,but no kingies. Looking back we should have down rigged with some squid to see if kingies were there too, but hind sight is 20/20 and wewere having too much fun anyway. Bring on the next session! Dave Haven't had that much fun in ages, I