zephi

Whiting are a good live bait though. Wouldn't you expect that since their flesh somewhat is similar to that of garfishes. Both are great table fare. Just have to make sure if you ever plan to use them, use the correct whiting (forgot the name) and not sand whiting. Whiting are great for jewfish too.

If you're referring to the frigate mackerel... Those are the most pickiest fish I've ever targetted... They absolutely ignore all lures and all baits. They come up so close you could pretty much touch them with a landing net. They're like chasing the most minuscule things in the water. Probably plankton... Slimy macks are around somewhere... dunno whereabouts, all I know is they're low in numbers. Caught a few small ones at Yowie Bay.

those are really great videos, subscribed and hoping to see more videos.

mate yakkas are everywhere around structures, you will easily locate them in and around wharves, and along rocky shorelines with structure. Usually calm spots will hold plenty of yakkas... I've never fished Middle Harbour, but I read plenty of reports on people catching plenty of squid down at the Spit bridge. Squid will hang around anywhere which has weeds, rocky structure and sand. Also smaller squid tend to hang around the calmer waters, so look for somewhere close to the shoreline which has a break from the stronger ocean currents. Can't give you any specific spots cuz I don't know any, other raiders should be able to lend you a hand here.

Should be able to easily catch them on the white sabiki rigs, no need for bait at all. If you like to use 2 hooks, just cut the rig in to three separate rigs...They go crazy when that thing is jigged fast. (almost all my bait fishing rigs are 2 hook rigs) I find sometimes weightless sabiki works a treat too, especially if you have floating berley and they're surfacing and smashing the berley.

sounds like a really awesome session there. I miss getting into those big slimies. Have been looking forward to the colder season again for these big ones to appear close to the shore again... Hopefully soon I'll be as lucky as you and get in amongst the action somewhere down at Port Hacking... Mind if I ask you what "that" wharf you may be referring to... I fish at the Port Hacking quite frequently and went to all (I think) of the public wharves, and only catch slimies at 2 of them

It's almost that time of the year when pilchards are plenty close to the shorelines... When temp start to drop, around May... Berley with lots of fine bread on the surface and you will see them swimming in. Buy a bait jig/sabiki rig... I would advise you to use maximum 3 hooks on each rig... Tie a little sinker to the bottom and jig for them... Basically anything that is white is the best to use for pillies, they will smash anything white in the berley trail. Some people just use a single white hook and get them no probs. A little tip.. Once you hook up to one pillie on the bait jig, the action of the swimming will attract others to aim for the bait jig, and in no time you will have triple hook up. Normally you will also attract some garfish and yellowtail too, which are all fine bait.

They can be caught at any tide really, but most say during the runout tide is best for flatties.

thru the mouth?? I find putting the hooks thru the nose is a better spot, it's got a bone there which is much stronger. Not sure how you put it thru the mouth.

When they do that following thing I find the best way to actually tempt them to actually attack the jig is to do quick sudden jerky movements. When the squid look like they're going to open up their arms to grab it, pull it fast (imitates an escaping prawn). This will hopefully make them more aggressive and grab it. - Sometimes they do back off from this quick movement. Then you can try the slow retrieve, then stop and let it sink. Repeat. - Another method is like soft-plasticing, which is let is sink then do very quick short lifts, and let it sink again. (I use this mostly to locate squid, basically covers all depths) - When squid are on the surface and just floating around, I like to cast out far and do a quick surface retrieve (like poppering on the surface/walk the dog), and then stop it and let it sink when they turn to look at it. Use these techniques or combine them together and hopefully it will get you your finicky squid.

Nice to here you got a few kings. Yakkas are usually around any structure along the shoreline that has calm water. Most wharves, pontoons, rocky structure would have them. Just berley with bread, or minced up fish like pilchards. Then drop a line, and hope for the best. But sometimes they will surface and you will see them. You may also come across bait balls in around Botany Bay, just berley then drop a line and see what it is.... Yakkas can be caught without a boat anyway... Just fish for some when you're waiting to launch your boat. Sometimes they are hard to locate, and sometimes they are there but won't take any bait... Most of the time you will catch bucketloads of them without a problem. They don't like brackish water much, so you won't find many or any at all in the upper Georges River. From Tom Uglys bridge all the way to Botany Bay you should be able to locate them.

I would have to say you are doing it the correct way already.

Firstly snip the bottom of the gill line and remove the gills, which in turn detaches the lower half of the head from the body. Then using scissor angled slightly, insert it where the head was cut straight down following the body cavity. I only cut down the under side of the fish (white)... Break the joint which attaches the pectoral fins with the spine by opening flaps larger. Then insert finger and scrape out guts... use knife run down the bloodline and wash.

Catching frigate on light tackle sure is fun, enjoyed my last catch quite a lot, but couldn't get another one even though they were still around the area.. That's unfortunate to hear about the loss of your lure. whereabouts did you fish this time round? I'm guessing somewhere down at Port Hacking? Gunamatta?

I'll just add that, soft plastics don't last long, especially those Berkley gulp ones, the small fishes just love biting at it. Occasionally after you hook up on a large fish the plastic would either be shredded, have pieces bitten out of it, or completely gone. Sometimes you can get it back completely unscathed, but scrunched up. I highly doubt that your plastic would last that long until the hole which you insert the hook would get noticeably larger. Unless you buy really cheap plastic which have poor swimming action, and don't even have fish hitting it. Most plastics won't last very long at all, so you will need to continually restock. Which is why they sell so many. For starters I recommend you to watch some soft plastic fishing videos on youtube.. Or even better go get your hands on a soft plastic guide DVD. Research on the net before you go out and buy any.

I've noticed that too, they chase but don't eat it... Only eat like very fine mists of berley

expensive?? wouldn't live bait be the better option? In a couple of months there would be plenty of gars around.

I've always wanted to try my luck on these fish.. I've seen the sheer power they can exert... But can never tempt them to take my baits... Does anyone know a way to specifically target them? I've never actually had a hookup... in fact they are so wary they don't take the baited hook.... Everyone is suggesting really heavy leader line... don't these fish see them and back off from your baited hook?? Well the thing with me is, whenever I burley up with bread, I end up bringing a couple around, bait out bread, without much luck.. although I've seen it done before... I've also heard of people getting them on cooked prawns, is that true too? Also on squid chunks. People are suggesting weed, but I never had a hit from any fish using weed before. Probably using the wrong type...

lack of posts... cuz of this poor weather, doubt anyone really wants to head out to fish.... Probably will see a lot more reports come in by the middle of the week.

you see my problem isn't the braid itself, it's the mono knot which actually undoes it self when pulled hard enough... tag slips out, and the mono just slides out of the entire knot. There are times when it's tied well, and doesn't slip.

On the mono end I tie a two wrap uni knot. Thread the braid through the 2 loops formed. Then for the braid end, I use a 8 twist down, then 4 twist up, and 2 twists in the loop originally formed, wrapping the expose mono.

you could probably nab some from a scrap metal dealer, some junkyard, rubbish tip even.

After using yamashita and yo-zuri squid jigs, I swear by these now.. Basically when looking for another brand of squid jig, I look for similar designs. Hinomiya don't look all that great if you ask me.. Those barbs aren't very good, of course they'll still do the job... I found that there's another inferior brand called yoshikawa that has similar design to the yamashita.. They do catch squid, but sink WAY faster. Well you could give Hinomiya a go anyway... Basically the price you're paying for several hinomiya = to like 1 yamashita/yo-zuri squid jig... If they sink right... then you got a good chance of getting some squid. Maybe buy like 1 or 2 yamashita/yo-zuri and compare them.

Slim Beauty is the way to go.... but it's quite a difficult knot to tie in comparison to the double uni and the albright... The mono tends to slip on lighter lines, so make sure you tighten the knot with a lot of tension before giving it a go... I've lost so many fish because the knot slips and fails. I love casting with the slim beauty, retrieving does foul a bit, but hey at least it doesn't foul both ways like the double uni does.

The very small sinkers like split shots, size 0 and 1, it's best to buy those, but larger sizes is much more worth it if you make them yourself. Snapper lead, most expensive ones out there... If you can get your hands on some lead and purchase a mold, you will find it's much cheaper, all you need is a bit of your free time... You can mass produce them for a fraction of the price you pay from tackle stores.