DTROJAN

sounds like a plan, count me in

Good effort mate, let me know when you are heading down south for a run and if i can i will get my boat out too, as backup. Hope she runs like a dream now. ftu ftu ftu pete.

Gday, I usually do go as far as the bridge( sometimes further) but there are plenty of good grounds south of the bridge. I only visit the humps area occasionally as i prefer targeting fish in shallower water because i cant be bothered winding. (lazy)

The biggest we are getting at the moment is only around the 50cm mark, but usually it isnt till around August that we start getting 60cm+ fish in good numbers and even later the trophy fish.

Gday, A mate and i had a quick sesh down bellambi this morning for a good bag of fish. We kicked off at about 7am and headed north and found the fish almost immediately, bagging 7 snapper in the first hour. Then things slowed a little but we didnt mind. Landed my first red on s.p's today which was a good monkey to remove from my back. This is the second saturday on the trot that we ended up wth a solid bag of quality fish and i hope its a sign of what the rest of the season will be like. Still didnt come accros any of the oversized reds we were looking for but they will turn up. Back at the ramp by 12pm. Final tally was 15 snapper, 2 mowies and 1 pigfish.

Actually scored fish doing both. Was a very slow drift on sat and could floatline either way.

The jackets were a bit of a problem, costing us a bit of gear, but i have seen it alot worse out there.

Gday Raiders, We finally got out there after at least 10 weeks. Started at about 7am and headed over toward coalcliff, the conditions were perfect. Fished in depths ranging from 45-60m and ended up with a good feed for the boys. The final tally was 13 snapper from 30-50cm, 4 mowies 35-55cm, 4 pigfish and 6 leather jackets. We didnt find any of the larger snapper we were looking for but still had a great day.

I caught one on a hand line on steak while fishing for yakkas, that was fun!

Well Done boys, sounds like you had a good day and definately a long one. There were a fair few snapper on the cleaning tables saturday aswell(port kembla)We went wide saturday looking for decent dollies but only found smallies. How did your best snapper measure up if you dont mind me asking? Looking forward to a good snapper sesh myelf.

Gday, congrats on the new boat, haines patriot= awesome! My rule of thumb is, if the weather is good enough to go offshore then go offshore. Im sure you will come across something of interest out there. You can always fish the bays on the not so good days when heading wide is not an option. From what i can tell so far, Sunday might be a little sloppy early due to saturdays weather but should settle a fair bit by mid morning(if the forecast is correct that is).

I reckon 6m of chain should be ample amount for your boat. Not sure that having 10m would be causing the boat to swing but definately would take longer to grab. In reguards to the depth, I think that having three times the depth is only required when anchoring in poorer conditions and may be overkill on a calm day. Before shortening the chain try and reduce the amount of rope out on a calm day and see if that helps.

I was led to believe that the length of the chain must be at least equal to the length of the boat. Sure 2m will hold in calm conditions but will usually let go when you really need it to hold.

Gday Basil, I agree, you usually do need to move around to find them or alternatively anchor and try and bring them to you but as you know the wind and current conditions have to be on your side. I prefer to choose an area and anchor. I find this produces smaller numbers than drifting but bigger fish. I always try and get fresh flesh baits like yakkas and slimeys but believe it or not the humble pillie has scored some bruisers on many occasions. If i can get small yakkas they also work a treat live. Am looking forward to the winter snapper season this year as it is going to be the first one in 10 yrs that i will be here and not on holiday in Greece.

Good effort mate. 20 reds is a healthy haul. I will keep an eye out for you now that you are fishing around the general area that we frequent chasing humpies. Our record fish so far is 5.7kg and 77cm caught near the bridge in about 30m ( on bait) Hoping to beat that soon. once again good effort. pete.

Gday Huey, thanks for the reply. I Have a haines signature 1550r with a yamaha 115hp saltwater. Am looking for a new prop because with the current prop which is 13x17" it is revving at 6000rpm at top speed which is 45 miles. It gets there quite easily. A friend has a viper prop 13 7/8x19" and he told me it fits etech motors 75-115hp. Wanted to swap to reduce revs at top speed and get better fuel economy at higher speeds. I guess if it doesnt fit then he can keep it. thanks for the info. pete.

HI, Was hoping someone could tell me if an omc VIPER prop from an etech 75-115hp would fit on my 115hp yamaha saltwater series. cant seem to get a straight answer from anyone at the moment. Any info would be greatly appreciated. cheers pete.

yes there are, depending on what you regard as decent. You just need to fish the right spots at the right tide and moon phase. we regularly come across fish from 70-110cm. Not monsters but decent. Usually around the Deer Park area on an outgoing tide. cheers pete.

Gday, we only fished baits. Hawkesbury prawns mainly and live poddy mullet also worked well. Had to burley and be patient for about an hour on both outings. Would prefer to send the gps mark as a private message(took me 2 days of sounding around to pick this spot).

Well done, you have got to be happy with that!! I ended up doing what i do best while down there and fishing with bait. Was pretty impressed with the results too. Landed some nice little snapper between 33-39cm and bream also 30-38cm, in good numbers too.

Gday Longy, we did really well, landed roughly 20 good fish in 2 outings, 9 snapper between 33-39cm and 11 bream between 30-38cm. If you want the mark for the spot i found, let me know. cheers pete.

Well done mate, sounds like a great trip. Love the red groper.

Haha, love the pandofelas comment.

We use chicken livers for bait frequently, but mainly off shore bottom bouncing. Have caught some nice snapper on liver and even a few kings. I will be in the basin from wed to sun this week, maybe i should bring some livers lol.

Sounds like fun, we will be there for 5 days and i reckon thats just about enough time to get a good feel of the place. thanks for the reply. pete.