kajiki008

Good on ya fellas ! Nice to see blue fin off Sydney. I knew that they were off the South Coast about a month ago with one guy jumping off the boat to spearfish one but thought with all the bad weather - they would have bypassed Sydney. Nice effort and congratulations to all the anglersin fighting them without a harness and gimbal. BFT fight real hard - harder than a YFT or even a bill fish for that matter. Well Done !

Great fun guys -Mike has one of the best boats and he skippers it well. Got my nice yellowfin with him on a little talica 8 but what really impressed me was the fact that he travelled a LONG LONG WAY to find the fish - something that most captains would not do as my past experiences have shown. Great to see some flags flying. Wished that i could come out again Mike - just a little bit caught up in a new work role so hard to find the time. Definitely will come out again with you....

CONGRATS ! SOO SOO Jealous cos all we have here in off Sydney and Botany Bay are undersized. Great effort in landing your PB Keep it up and may your New Year bring even bigger ones. You cant catch fish unless you have a line and hook in the water

That's about right. Went out yesterday - saw schools of bonitos swimming with kingfish . Birds working but fish was very finicky - they were only eating massive amounts of small white bait. Happy New Year to all and may we have more days to fish !

Great - heard reports from South Coast - Off Eden that there was lots of albacore mixed in with school fin as well. Not too far around the 40 fathom mark.

Thanks Slinky Actually that was exactly what i did. Took out the 5000SW and matched it to a XZOGA Sentinel PE1 Rod yesterday and caught 4 kingifsh of around 80cm. Rod handled the kingies beautifully and the reel sat just right.

I am sooooo jealous. Looks like the fish off Sydney has decided to take a long sabbatical ... and the leatherjackets are still out in mega proportions. Great catch !!

From experience, i have found that no one reel can do everything and I guess this is why manufacturers produce so many models. If you want to jig, a low ratio reel will do it for you better than a high ratio reel (which incidentally is necessary for popping and spinning ). At the same time, all those drags (30kg) etc that they are claiming is totally useless because at the end of the day, go and ask anyone who has one of those reels to actually set the drag up to that level and assuming that you are now fishing at least 100lb braid - to go and pull on the line. You then try to see how long you can take this without either yourself or the rod going over or alternatively the rod breaks (unless again it is rated as PE10). I fished 24kg stand up on a game rod and hooked up to a 100kg BFT - it took me about an hour and a half with the drag set at the breaking strain of 8kg (mono line) - i had upped the drag up to about 12 kg for the deep down fight that these dirty buggers do and trust me - despite the gimbal and harness - my legs and back were numb ! . That was on a Tiagra 50W which allows the angler to be strapped up to the rod. With a spin reel like the Stella 20 or the Saltiga 30 - you simply cannot take such drag. It is the same with videos on guys lifting dead weights with their rods - at the end of the day once you have a fish worthy on the end of the line - you cannot take so much drag without hurting your back or unless you are the incredible hulk. My response is to buy a reel that will stand the strain of constant usage with jigging, the occasional banging of it against the gunnel of the boat will not damage it and when you do have a big fish, it will not break on you. Hope this helps

Okay guys this will no doubt be a much debated topic. As a tacklet rat, I have my fair share of rods and reels and for your information have mostly Shimano in my reel line ups with only 1 Saltiga 4500 in my collection. My 20 year old ( yes 20 year old Stella decided to quit but i cannot blame her and shall cherish her despite the fact her shaft has given way and there is no way even Shimano can fix this). She was the original Grand dame and given me lots of fish from Barramundi to Sailfish. It was a sad day for me but she went out in style - giving her last breath on a tangle with a " popped " spaniard and despite the fact that it was also her last breath, she still managed to land the fish for me. Anyway, I am now looking at replacing her with either another Stella FD or alternatively have heard about the new Daiwa Certate 4000. Although technically not a Daiwa fan, i must admit that their new Saltigas and and certates do impress me so here goes.... lay it with your expertise over the forum. Another thing on your comments what would be comparable reel to the certate 4000 - 2010 ? Is it the Stella FD series or the smallest 5000SW

GREAT JOB ! Am going on Monday. Hope the weather holds

Hey Slink, The jigs for the tuna need not be overly heavy as you will find the heavier jigs do not impart the kind of action that the tuna likes. Lost on ( you can ask Mike ) on a 200gm jig dropped about only 100 metres down ( where the tuna was sitting not for anyting but because of my own stupidity of using light line and not understanding how it works. If the tuna does take your jig, let it run and dont panic. I did and tried to stop the reel from being spooled after losing about 200 metres of line so i thumbed it too hard and it snapped ! It will be dependent on the size of the fish of course but generally from what i heard of reports in the states where they predominantly do this for BFT, better to let it run and do its tuna circles before you apply pressure. It is good if the boat is not drifting too fast and you divide the work around with one cubing and two people on cubes and another jigging by dropping the jigs to around 200 metres and bringing it up quickly. You would have buckleys chance to get it to the bottom only because the depth could be over 1000 metres. Mike from Reef Magic Charters got it pretty down pat and if you get a chance, go out with him with a crew. At least if there is no fish, its a hell of a boat (so comfortable you can be lazy !! LOL) Also the jigs as mentioned are normnally short butterfly types and this was what i used and got the fish. I will be trying again this season and also next season for BFT if i have a chance. LUCANUS JIGS Used them but only on inner reefs where they work very well on all sorts of fish (mostly bottom dwellers). problem is that the hooks on these are not for tuna (trust me) and i have lost kingies as well but caught lots of rock cods, sargent bakers even small snappers on them. You dont do much with them - just drop let it sink enough not to hook at the bottom and let the drift do your jigging for you. Once in a while lift your rod SLOWLY and not too fast and the take is sometimes hard but usually a gentle bite until the fish feels the hook and starts to fight. Very very different than jigging high speed jigs. I tried this at the peak and also 12 mile - Bloody hopeless except that the leatherjackets will eat up all your plastic and you have buy new ones. VIBES Get yourself some vibes - there are some 20+gm ones availabl. Change the hooks into the twin hook ones and if there are bonnies around, you will have hell of time with them cos they also catch you plenty. I have bought some 40+ and 50+ ones to try for kingies so will update with a report if it works.

LOL i live in Sydney too and last season went jigging for them nearly most weekends i could get out. This year a bit more sporadic due to work and also being away chasing other fish in other states. Nice catch that kingie - my PB was caught in South Coast waters over 1.1 m long so hopefully this year I will get my hands on a nice one here in Sydney waters. The biggest i got was only around 10/11kg not bad but i am still searching for the elusive BIG MOTHER !

Yeah the boys were great - lots of laugh and definitely an Aussie sense of humor (dry jokes !!) and like every fisher loves to see another angler hooked up and in pain -HEHE Nice sail - the only one i got off Nth Queensland was around 30kg only but gave me a fight on 6kg line. You will love the rods - My biggest fish on the PE6 Taka Si was a 46.1kg YFT just a few months back. Took me some time but the rods will do the trick and yup for kingies - just purrfect especially in our Sydney waters - you jig more than you hook up LOL BTW do you have big kingies up your way ??

The beauty of the place is such that it is still remarkably " village " unlike Kuala Lumpur and other big cities. There are no size limits but the amount of fish available (especially bait) is indicative it must be very productive. As mentioned before in other replies, the fish do get finicky but from my past experience in chasing billfish - man the water was definitely as green as you can get (see the youtube) and yet they are there in numbers !! Never in my life that i could believe catching sailfish in 30metres of water LOL

Yup and for your information, the weather is only great for a certain number of months i.e. from August onwards. However the boys have also informed me that the fishing is best over the start then peters out. Apparently sailfish is there all year round in these waters - perhaps because they are not commercially targeted and it is amusing to know that the as the season progresses, they become more wary - Too many caught and released so it becomes more difficult to catch them. I was very lucky for a first timer !

Conditions were a bit windy first day but seriously not like the conditions in Sydney. Not much swell at all just wind. But second day - glassed out !!

It was a family holiday for me with a little sojourn courtesy from David (Season's Rods) who put in touch with the Xzoga boys in Malaysia so that I can get into a couple of days of chasing a dream of mine. SAILFISH. So whilst the family went to Singapore - I jumped on the plane to Johor Bahru where Dennis and Wilson from Xzoga picked me up from the airport on a journey to catch the famous Kuala Rompin Sailfish. I spent the day in Johor Bahru talking to the boys about rods and reels and as everyone knows, Xzoga is basically a Malaysian company that actually does it own design and tests in rod making. I had bought a couple of Xzoga rods before - mainly jigging ones and liked the movement and the way the rod handles not only the jigs but a nice fish when you are hooked on. As a routine jigger of Sydney waters, i have had my days of really fast drifts, currents and a lot of jigging with nothing to show. That is where i have found Xzoga to come out on top as they are not only light but handle 300gm to 400 gm jigs with ease. The boys at Xzoga were amazed at the weight we jig but then after remembering their own adventure in Perth for Samsons - they laugh at us Aussies for being so crazy ! Back to Kuala Rompin - Dennis (who is the salesman) told me that I will have a great time and when I met the CEO - Mr. Lim - he asked who the skipper was and when told it was Sky Chong - laughed and said - this is a 300% guarantee !! You will fish hard - but he is one of the best skippers in Kuala Rompin ! So right on 5pm - it was a quick dinner and then off on a 2.5 hour journey up the road to Kuala Rompin and we ended up in Sky's designated " Angler's Rest Place " a 2 bedroom comfortable unit - our quarters for the next two nights. The boys were quick to unload and no doubt like all fisho's tons of equipment - especially with the Xzoga rods as the boys were very eager for me to try them out. I could not bring my popping and jigging rods but that was not needed as the arsenal was large enough for me to make a choice. Sky was waiting for us - despite the fact that we arrived nearly at around 11ish at night and gave us an update of the fishing. The sails are there Sky said, but not easy to catch and also the birds have been sporadic (meaning sails not feeding) but we shall try Sky said ....there is NO WAY you will go home without catching a sailfish ! 1st Fishing Day Breakfast at the markets followed by a trip down to the ramp. Many boats were there ready to go out for sailfish and bottom fishing and i was amazed that the boats although not big are powered by extremely large four strokes. It was only a 15 minute run - and we were on the bait grounds. Sky yelled - Drop and the bait jigs went down only to pull up (FULL) little queenies - Damn - yelled the skipper - we gotta move - these baits are too spiny for the sails. We quickly moved to the next spot and again - the jigs went down and up came lots of bait fish ! - NOPE wrong baits. I could not identify the bait fish but the names they gave them were a mixture of Malay and Chinese of which one was called Miss Yellow or Wong Siew Chay - pretty looking but definitely a NO NO. Each stop at the bait grounds yielded more Ms Wong - and as the sun was right up the sky, the day got hotter and hotter and sweat was pouring down - no need for showers. We finally got some " yellow tail " or scads and proceeded to use a 5/0 Owner hook attached to a 2-3 meter trace of around 80lbs. Dennis said that the more finicky the sails the lighter we have to go.... The bait were then ballooned out from the back of the boat whilst those who want to " POP " can do so at the front. So we let out the baits and waited as we drifted. The seas were getting stronger and despite changing locations a few times - no takers. Did we see sails - YES we did - swimming but they simply would not take a livey ! Sky was adamant the the reason for this bad show is that there was a boat trolling for a fly fisher - and the motors were spooking the fish. ( Now haven't we been through that before in game comps with people trolling over our burley trail ??) For me, it didn't really matter as i wanted to learn more about popping since this is something new to me. It is not easy - and personally in 98% humidity - I prefer to jig 400gm anytime !! But the technique was what matters and to see Sky and Dennis work the poppers - it was worth it just to observe and learn.. Suddenly, the popper was smashed and Sky pulled in a nice spanish mackerel - Yippee - dinner for tonight. Fishing Day 2 The night before the skipper was still upset about the trolling boat and said - Tomorrow we head out to another location. We will find the fish and this is why it will be an early start. Needless to say after a fantastic meal of Spanish mackerel in Curry, Deep Fried and Stir Fried - I was just happy but praying that since this will be my last day of fishing - I hope I will get something otherwise my brother in laws who could not come with me on this trip would be laughing their heads off in Singapore ! The day dawned bright and the seas did not look like yesterday. in fact certain parts look like glass and Sky decided to head off to his " secret location " when he suddenly stopped the boat and said - Drop the jigs - there's bait. Down went the jigs and up came nice scads and finally - the sought after " Kembong " which is the indian mackerel similar to our slimy mackerel. Once we got off the drift , we went back again until the action died when suddenly Dennis yelled out - Something is on my bait jigs and it aint bait !. As he pulled up his bait jigs - he found nice 30+cm calamari attached and well hooked to the bait hook ! Lunch !! everyone roared - Sashimi and I felt something heavy on mine as well and pulled up another squid ! On that drift - we pulled up a total of at least 3 calamari which the boys kept in the live bait well as well as one arrow squid. Oh yes - Ms. Yellow was still around but this time - we had yellowtail (scads) as well as kembong aside from other species that again I have no idea what they were.. Once we had enough bait in the live well - Sky powered the motor out only to sight birds flying in the air, diving in the waters and quickly stopped the boat and said - Liveys liveys out out out .... It was quick - a hook into the livey. Tie a balloon once about 20 metres of line out - tie the balloon then pull out about 20cm of line and tie it onto your rod. Once the balloon pops, the slack line is gone, lift your rod gently so that the circle hook will slide it nicely into the jaw..... I cannot recall exactly HOW many minutes before the first livey hit the water before we were hooked up... as I fought the sailfish on a PE 3 rod, I asked if I could increase the drag a little. The reply - " Depends what you want to do. If you want a photo with the fish - I suggest not but if you don't then do what you want !!...." Needless to say - I did not touch the drag... The day grew calmer and calmer and we would have hooked at least more than 10 sailfish between us. I know as i personally hooked up to 7, caught 4, tagged only 3 because the last one came up belly up and we spent a lot of time swimming it and a big queenie on livey. We popped in between and there is nothing more exciting than to see sails chasing your popper right up to the boat but equally frustrating as well. The heat was worse - NO WIND and somehow - it didnt matter because the FISH WAS ON... There were some quiet moments so we slow trolled with the bail arm open - and that was a different technique as the when the strike came - you need to free spool and work out the right timing otherwise you get thrown hooks ... It was late in the day when we slow trolled as it was obvious that the fish had decided to go down deep. When I say deep - i meant about 30 to 40 m as this was the depth of the area. This is something of an enigma for as the ground was a mixture of gravel and some coral but at the same time if you look at the you tube video - the water was definitely not the " blue water " that we associate any pelagic species with. At the same time, Sky also said that yesterday, the water quality was also not good yesterday. I know from reports that the boys from Xzoga had caught and released a juvenile sailfish but apart from catch and release of these fish - there was not other ways that this could be documented. Prior to my coming to Kuala Rompin, I had wanted to tag the sailfish and wrote to Bluewater magazine editor Tim Simpson for some advice. I hope that our efforts now and sending the information through to our fisheries department and also copies to the Billfish foundation will allow all of us to find out why the fish is there from August in such great numbers and more importantly how can we protect this fishery. I know that the Malaysian charter boats in the area practice a catch and release but upon hearing reports from them - the sailfish get more finicky as the season progresses due to the large number of hook ups. I have put some pictures but none other than the you tube segment which is via this link I guess there is nothing more to say except express my thanks to the kind generosity of the Xzoga boys. The best part was to also clarify about their rods since many people were confused about the " origins " of Xzoga. The blanks are definitely Japanese and manufactured in Japan under licence and strict control of the Xzoga Design team. Then the rods are put together in Taiwan and imported into Malaysia from which they are then exported again. Apparently it is far cheaper to import a finished product than to import the raw materials to manufacture. NOTE For your information, i used the Shimano Stella's 5000SW, 8000SW and also christened my new Talica 16 - II speed just for the hell of it. And YES - I finally scored a fish with a HALCO rooster popper - but it was not a sailfish but another nice mackerel as well as species that I was not familiar with. Unfortunately due to the action of the sailfish - you can imagine me running up and down the boat as the livey goes off and I am still popping that it was very hectic for me. Needless to say - the experience is something that i can truly recommend for all of us anglers out there who want to catch a fish that will thrill up and delight you. The Malaysians are a real fun people to be with and very charming but just as equally good like us Aussies in dry jokes or making you work for your fish. The Xzoga Boys were fantastic hosts and I must say - Wilson - the quiet achiever - and part of the design team took all the video shots and assisted in the underwater shots as well so for a cameraman - he deserves the OSCAR FOR FISHING !! Xzoga Rods - Just because I have a few in my collection proves what i believe in and whilst my Ripple Fishers and Blue roses lie on the rack - I don't know why but the Xzogas go fishing with me most times. My PE6 jigging rod has brought me a 46.1 kg Yellowfin and now the PE 3 , 4 to 6 has given me sailfish. What more can I ask ?? .

Good one and thanks for the report. hope to get out over the weekend.

Let me know if there is an extra spot. Have done my fair share on tuna both bluefin and yellowfin both trolling and cubing. Best to be prepared and I believe that the fins also will take jigs. BTW you will find that tuna makes the angler work a hell of a lot harder as they fight dirty and deep whereas billfish tends to waste their energy jumping around. I have lots of lures and all the outfits - Learnt a few tricks and tips from the pros as well so pm me if you want or call 0414768688. If you really want to experiment - the big eye tuna is also in these waters - only how we plan to catch them !

Try using an unweighted prawn. We did that and it worked a treat as the kings would come up on the burley trail and scoff all the burley but refused the offering on a hook.

I fished Port Stephens with a Sydney boat - Ambition but we went game fishing. We had one guy in our team who found out just around 5pm the day before that he had busted 3 of his washers off his Daiwa 6500 and the saviour of the trip was a very nice guy called Chris who worked in Got One Tackle. He is another fishing fanatic and obviously knows many people including the locals. Not only did he give my mate his own washers out of a new reel, he made a twisted leader and tied it for him. Many you should call him and check it out. I am a tackle rat and of course made purchases but he was one of the few sales assistants that did not push but told it straight. We really appreciated the fact that he would willingly give something that he didnt have to and the shop is one of the best ones in Port Stephens. At least if they could not get out, he can advise where are the spots for land based for the guys as well otherwise the trip would be wasted if there is contingent weather !

Went out on as well. Fished middle harbour - raised 2 very small kings but whilst they followed the plastics did not have a take. Ignored the bait offering and only small sweep everywhere. Sydney harbour was no better - not sure if anyone had luck catching yakkas but it was DEAD DEAD DEAD. I think the leatherjackets have moved into the harbour as all plastic offerings were chewed but no hookups. We tried getting outside but the slop was too much for us and I have to tip my hat to all those who persevered outside the heads. Saw many charter operators shifting positions all the time as they went about hunting for fish. Anyone else had any luck at all ??

Do you mind telling me what size thunnus you have on the godzilla

I agree with some of the posts especially " Catch this ". Fishing is a privilege not a right. I can also see both sides of the argument and there have been times when I have observed the behavior of some recreational fisherman that makes me think that imposing such control may be good for us in the future but at the same time, why punish recreational fisherman because of a few bad ones. Why punish those of us who have tagged and released fish, use barbless or circle hooks and cleaned up rubbish be punished for this ? What about the developers of land , the commercial fishery who have decimated the environment and taken as much as they could. There must be solution to this.