[Leaking Surebite Poppers]

I had a similar problem with a small rapala minnow, its got water inside it now, still works fine. I think it is from the 30 odd tailor i got with it in one session which probably busted a hole in it somewhere.

I have noticed rapalas quality dropping though, a new x-rap with good strong trebles had one treble completely mangled by an average salmon and i bought another one the other day only to find it was missing an eye???

Its not gonna stop me buying them though, still a great lure.

Cheers

Josh

[High Speed 'bream' Reel]

Hi Slinky,

I've got the Shimano Sustain 2500 which has a 6.1:1 ratio.

I love it, do get the odd loop on the spool when winding up slack but i think thats because i'm using a thin 6lb braid, 10lb should be sweet.

Have a look at it, i used to use a Daiwa Exceler Plus which had a 4.7 ratio and i hated it for pelagics but now with this its great, caught salmon kings and tailor easily on a variety of lures and it casts brilliantly too.

Cheers

Josh

[Banana's And Boats]

I've heard stories similar to Slinky's and Penguins before, i don't eat them so never a problem but have been on boats where they've been before and hasn't seem to make to much difference.

When you're catching tailor though, its much better to use hard bodied or metal lures rather than soft plastics, as it will save you money and your soft plastic collection.

Josh

["turn Of The Tide" What Does This Mean?]

The turn of the tide refers to when the tidal flow has reached the full extent of its flow in that direction and then changes to the oppposite way i.e. from out to in.

In your example the turn of the low tide occurs at 6pm and the turn of the high occurs at midnight with the water being at its highest at that point.

The closer to the turn of the tide the weaker the flow so the strongest tidal surge occurs around 2.5-3.5 hours through a tidal turn.

Josh

[Hard Bodied Kingfish Lures]

As has been said most rapala lures from sizes 7 up to 14 will do the trick on kings, i like sizes 9-11 personally with the x-raps being my favourite in pilchard/mackeral type pattern.

The CD series are also very good but work better on the troll whereas the x-raps are better for casting in the shallower model.

Consider poppers as well, something that makes a big blooping splash that will catch a curious kings attention like a Halco Roosta in size (i think) 85 or 105.

Don't forget about soft plastics as well though they work particularly well on kings, sluggos, any kind of stickbait/minnow profile will often do the trick.

Cheers

Josh

[Night Fishing For Squid - Tips?]

Mike best place for squid at night is somewhere thats lit up. They are attracted to the light and often this occurs around bridges which are good holding grounds but often in deeper water. Whats is best to do here is have a couple of squid jigs on a paternoster rig with glow sticks just in front of them to help attract the squid to your jigs, then just jig them up and down and you should get a few. Read Slinky's article on squidding at the spit, this is how most people there squid there.

I don't know much about Jervis Bay but same principles should apply.

Josh

[Salmon?]

Was out on the harbour today, heaps of bait on the surface where the salmon have been but the bait was feeding on something really small rather than being eaten by pelagics which was pretty weird.

There were a few bust ups from kings around the harbour but i didn't see any salmon. I'd say that was more to do with the amount of traffic on the harbour yesterday and the poor conditions today.

I reckon they'll be back up in the next couple of days.

Cheers

Josh

[Harbour 27/1/09]

I was out there with you, if only for a little while.

Waking up early to see the drizzle wasnt fun and the fishing never really picked up.

I tried a few spots around goat island, bradleys head, chowder bay, mosman bay and shark island and got nothing significant to show for it.

I was on the lookout for surface action but saw nothing, visibility was fairly low.

I was back in bed before 11

Maybe ill try again tomorrow!

I think after all the traffic on the harbour yesterday and then bad conditions with rain and the southeasterly today that kept the fish down. Over the next few days though when the weather clears up i'd expect them to be going a bit crazy to make up for the last couple of days. Too bad i'll be at school, although school does look onto the harbour which probably makes it worse

[$250 Budget For Kingy Outfit, Help Needed!]

Hey mate,

I would seriously consider a Penn Spinfisher rod/reel combo, as a combo you can get these for about $200-$250 depending on where you get it from and they are tough rods/reels with good drags and solid design. These reels are used by most charter guides on Sydney harbour so they obviously do the job very well, and they last for a long time, spool it up with some 50 or 60lb braid and you'll be able to stop a lot of things but as with kings not all of them.

Have a look at the 850ss size that is about right, 750ss is a tad small and 950ss is really more for bigger fish 80cm+.

Cheers

Josh

[Harbour 27/1/09]

Well this being my last day of school holidays i thought nothing is going to stop me going out for one last fish. Got to Roseville around 530 to see only 1 other boat was out in the darkness and rain.

Had arranged to meet my step grandad and my uncles dad who's over from england at the spit. Picked them up and went for a squid, first spot the usual nothing so moved on and couldn't believe it when we pulled in 3 in short time, went over to one more spot and got another 2, thought well that should do us for now so we headed up towards the bridge looking for any signs of fish on the surface, didnt see much so puts some baits down at the western wed. cake, put down a live squid and a strip, live squid has been ripped off without me realising i think it was a big tailor as some of it was left on the hook, but serves me right for not using a 2 hook rig. Lost the strip as well with the reel on free spool ratchet on and i didn't hear it once, this happened a lot.

Anyway it was raining the whole time, we saw some birds a few hundred metres away going nuts so up anchor and headed over that way, tons of birds, tons of bait, no fish chasing the bait. It was one of the strangest things i've ever seen, these tiny fish that looked to be yakkas were feeding on something even smaller much the same way they get fed upon by pelagics. I just couldn't believe this didn't attract any bigger fish

Went for a look further up the harbour but nothing doing so back to the cake and we kept on losing baits to pickers but i'm sure i felt some kingfish bites although they would of only been small fish.

Made a move to clifton and stayed there for 20min but the older guys were getting a bit cold and wanted to head back in but i guess as a consolation prize for our efforts in an open boat in the rain kings popped up on the surface just next to us right as we were leaving so threw a cast in with a new hollowbelly, saw the king race up behind it and take it, hooked up and gave it to Jack to fight, only a rat but his first and probably pulls harder than anything in england.

Would of liked the weather to be clearer and more fish about but thats just fishing i guess.

Cheers

Josh

[Fishing Video File Size]

Just wack em on you tube as our site doesnt allow such big files.

Cheers Swordfisherman

Swordy i've tried Youtube and it still takes an age for it to download.

You want to save them as mpeg4.

should reduce the size, without reducing the quality (much)

Mike

Mike, sorry but i don't know too much when it gets down to the technical aspects of computers. Could you quickly run through how to save it as mpeg4?

Cheers

Josh

[Salmon?]

Theres been a heap on the surface in the main harbour the last few weeks.

I'm going out tomorrow Ben so if i find any i'll let you know, they've been mixing mainly with tailor but kings as well.

I don't know there will be too much on the surface tomorrow though as all the action from boats on the harbour today may of sent the fish down deeper, hopefully not though!

Cheers

Josh

[Fishing Video File Size]

Hi Guys,

I've got a couple of videos of me catching fish that i've tried posting up on sites like FBook and YTube and it just takes forever to get them downloaded and i think its because the file is too big not necessarily for the sites requirement but just in general.

I have 2 videos and they are 86.9MB lasting 1m18sec and the other is 108MB going for 1m37sec.

I don't know really but for the length of the files that size seems to be way to big so i was wondering everybody elses opinions and whether or not it is possible to downsize the files in any way so i can post these videos.

Cheers

Josh

[New Bream Setup]

I meant you're total budget including reel Steve as i'd consider reels other than the SOL, i've used both and i'd stick with the Sustain.

Would bream be its sole purpose or would you chase other stuff with it as well?

[New Bream Setup]

Whats your budget Steve?

I've got a Sustain 2500 with 6lb sensor braid on a TD Saltwater series rod and its an awesome set up. The saltwater series rods lightest is 6-10lb which is a bit heavier than ideal if you're just using it for bream spinning but i use it for chasing pelagics as well and it does both jobs brilliantly.

Maybe the T-Curve Tournament 2009?

Josh

[Best Way To Put Cabbage Weed On The Hook?]

Hi Steve,

I haven't done much blackie fishing but manage to get a few whenever i try. I find its important in picking your weed for how you put it on your hook. I always try to pick it right from the base so you sort of have the roots and that bottom section of the weed intact which is quite solid and gives you something to put the hook in which will hold it on there nicely keeping it presented well looking like a clump has just been washed off the rocks rather than an unreaslistic bunched up ball.

Have a read of the best blackie tips ever post and you should find some useful info there.

Cheers

Josh

[Kingy Combo]

arman and josh and steve thanks for the advice so far

i thought by saying i would spool the reel with 20lb it would indicate i was going after small to

mid sized kings (say 65-80cms) but sorry for not clearing that up.

Josh i own a 3000 stradic and love it so am keen on your idea of a slightly cheaper rod to

be able to get a bigger stradic. Would most people agree it is better to place more importance

on the reel as opposed to the rod?

The rod is what you're essentially fighting the fish with and i can guarantee the rod i recommend will do that very well. It is however still important to have good quality reels that are strong and durable when going after tough rugged fish like kings. A smooth drag with a max of atleast 7kg of pressure is needed for kings as they will be the ones that find any weakness in your outfit. You'll notice a pretty serious difference between a 65cm king and an 80cm king, an 80cm fish whilst only 15cm longer will more than likely weigh twice as much as a 65cm fish if not more which means it has a lot more pulling power.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Josh

[Kingy Combo]

Good Advice from Arman, you need to know what size kings you're after and how you're going to go about getting them. If you're catching kings off the surface then you can use real light gear down to about 4lb and get away with it. But if you're baiting then kings already have the element of surprise on their side as well as knowing the terrain around them hence why the first thing they head for is reef/mooring/structure. I do fish with a range of rods from 20lb-50lb when baiting for kings, so far the 20lb outfit gets most of the fish and very rarely loses any, i think it is a good line class as it has a fair bit of grunt but at the same time is still relatively light and thin which often means kings will hit that over the heavier thicker braids.

These are only mid-line rods but i highly recommened them, Silstar Crystal Blue range, they are tough fibreglass rods that always seem to do the job. My favourite is the 6-8kg spin rod and that is matched up with a Rovex Big Boss 5500 loaded with 20lb braid, this outfit has caught the most kings out of all that we own, it is good because it can be used for baiting but also casts well so can be used for targeting kings on the surface. This rod would set you back somewhere between $140-$180 i'd say which leaves you enough money to get a good quality reel.

Something like a Stradic 5000 or a Sustain loaded up with 20lb braid would make a really nice outfit.

Cheers

Josh

[Breeder King Fish On Et Fishing]

That is very fast, going by that i'd say that by late autumn a lot of the rats will be legal sized fish and then come next spring/summer there should be some pretty could fish in the harbour given the number of rats that have been present throughout the summer.

Its a fast growth rate but i think that dollies grow even faster as they only live for around about 12 months and you think that you see fish upwards of 20kg, that is pretty remarkable i think.

[How Big Do The Kings Get In Sydney Harbour?]

There definitely are big kings in the harbour, sometimes people will see fish up to 1.5m cruising up near Roseville. My biggest is only 77cm and that was lure caught, you have to remember that big fish get that way by being smart and that is why so few of them are caught. As kingfish grow the size of schools decrease from the hundreds of rats down to pods of 4-5 fish when they are around 80cm+ and then 1-2fish when they are even bigger. I'd say that a lot of us have hooked some pretty serious fish but getting them in is another thing.

Josh

[Honeymoon Spot With Good Fishing?]

Have a look at Port Douglas, or maybe just off the coast in the whitsundays or the family group of islands like Dunk Island, Bedarra or Hinchinbrook.

We've been to port douglas, dunk, and whitsunday islands and all places are really nice with good fishing.

Dunk was probably my favourite.

Josh

[Insulated Fish Kill Bags]

We used them when we were fishing on charters in Hawaii last year, we used a long one about 2.5-3m and was used for the dollies and wahoo that are commonly caught, they were just pulled in by the leader, thrown in the bag and then the leader unclipped from mainline, if it was me doing it i would probably brain spike or hit the fish on the head and bleed it but these guys like to just keep it going fast as the fish usually come on in 2s and 3s. When we've finished on the fish they would put ice in the bag and then unhook the fish. It seems like a good way to keep the fish although i would say you need more than one person onboard when using them as somebody needs to hold the bag open for you to put the fish in and keep an eye on it if you are into multiple hook ups.

A good investment if you have the space on your boat i'd say.

Cheers

Josh

[Undersized Kingies-a Different Viewpoint?]

I have seen similar things like this, they often sell small kingfish at the sydney fish market but these are farmed fish so there is obviously not a size limit on these particular fish. But this guy sounds a bit dodgy, i agree with penguin why wouldn't he say they were farmed if they were. I'd just like to see stricter laws being imposed and more patrolling done on both commercial and rec fishos that think they can get away with breaking the law while the rest of us put in heaps of effort to try and get quality fish the legal way.

More research needs to be done on fish breeding patterns and effective size and bag limits need to be put in place. We all fish as a sport its not like we are dependent on eating fish we catch to survive, sure its nice from time to time but i know i am in it for the fun of planning out and catching fish whatever size or species, who is going to stand up and do anything about it though??

[Fishraider Footy Tipping Competition 2009]

I'm signed up and ready to go

I'd say this is the year of the Rooster!!

[Harbour Observations]

I'd probably agree with you Dave.

The 'best' can be different to everyone i guess, whether it be the amount of fish, the type of fish or a combination of both. At the moment there seems to be a lot of fish with kingfish, salmon and tailor all present in numbers, only thing missing are the bonnies which add in that different element. I'm hoping that this keeps going right through march/april once the sub-tropics are in like the frigates, samsons and amberjacks. The frigates normally make an appearance on the surface but are fast and fussy whereas the samsons and amberjacks tend to only be caught as kingfish bicatch.

Are there restrictions for fishing around manly wharf? and What time do you usually get the ferry Dave?

The last few times i've been out there the fish haven't seemed to pop up before 630-7 and usually stay up until 9-11. When i was out yesterday i managed about 25 fish before 9am off the surface, i have found which lures seem to do the damage and then i have successful ways for when they are fussy as well.

I'd agree with werris' claims though as well in that it could be better and we only have fellow man to blame as to why it isn't better. I reckon we are heading in the right direction though in the harbour and it will continue to get better. If we really wanted it better for the long term then increased size limits and decreased bag limits may anger some but would see more quality fish in the harbour like the kings that were through the harbour in spring before the rats.

Just my thoughts

Josh