DerekD

I've been hearing reports of the professional fisherman (guides, media, etc) seeing a lot more sharks in Sydney this season. While I'd seen a few here and there over the years it wasn't a huge amount considering the time I spend on or by the water (on a side note, I'm not the most observant of people at the best of times). A few weeks ago however I saw a whaler on the flats, saw two whalers the next day on the same flats and then had a small hammerhead follow my bait up while on the kayak at another Sydney location. I half wanted to catch it and half didn't want to catch it as then I would have to deal with an unhappy hammerhead close to the kayak.

Hi Mark, Actually I think it was more along the lines of "Wearing a lifejacket never ruined a day on the water". I would disagree with this (I'm being pedantic for the fun of it today - I really do believe in safety coming first). As per rules and safety I always had multiple life jackets on board the boat and was pulled up by Maritime shortly after the change to make wearing them compulsory when out on the water alone on a small boat. It was Middle harbour and my swimming abilities are such that the distance to any nearest shore was a comfortable swim. The Maritime were kind enough to advise me of the rule change and asked my to put on the life jackets. They were the rectangular type and while suitable for their purpose were not particular practical for fishing. In fact it annoyed me so much I got off the water and as such it did ruin a day on the water. I have a kayak life jacket which is far more erganomic but I only use that on the kayak. Since then I acquired an inflatible PFD which I use for solo sessions or rock fishing. Slightly more morbid - I believe a few years ago that a number of boat people died after wearing dodgy life jackets which were made with mattress foam which absorbed water rather than provided floatation. The people who ran this con must be seriously messed up. Regards, Derek

Hi Jani, Thank you for sharing those lovely pictures. After being so used to the variety of fishing rods we use in Oz I always do a double take at the little plastic looking gear that is used for ice fishing in the Northern hemisphere. One of my Finnish workmates is returning to his homeland and bringing some of his gear with him. I'll have to see if I can convince him to post a photo of him ice fishing with the black magic gimbal belt set and a stand up overhead rod. Regards, Derek

Hi BF, While a Shimano fan (really happy with the products and the after market service) I don't have an issue with the actual Daiwa products but have been left severely unimpressed with the Daiwa product service. This has stopped me from purchasing their gear in the past. Since I found a service person (ex Daiwa I believe) on the Northern beaches that has done an excellent job on servicing my Shimano reels with a pretty good turnaround time I was happy to take the plunge and buy a Daiwa reel (BG5000) for one of my all round medium heavy outfits. Having said that what sort of rod and braid are you looking at matching the reel up to? I use a 2-4kg rod with 4lb braid for the species you mention. Takes a little longer to land the rat kings but I am grinning all the way. I also have a Daiwa 2-6kg Wicked Weasel which I use as a kayak rod with 8lb braid as there is a chance of hooking into kings on the harbour. Unless the $400 is really burning a hole in your pocket you could drop down to between $100 and $200 and still pick up some pretty good reels. I picked up the Shimano Sedona 2500 for $80 not so long ago. It was that smooth for the price point I bought 2 more. This gives me 3 bodies (which I can store till I need them) and three spools (4lb braid, 6lb mono and 8lb braid). I just switch out the spool to suit my fishing for the day. I store the spools in baby socks (k-mart or target) to stop them bumping against each other. A mate of mine was looking at the smaller BG reels but considering it was twice the price of the Sedona he went the Sedona. If you want something a little more up market then the Stradic is a lovely reel. In answer to your question about the Daiwa Sol - I put together an outfit with this reel for a friend and as nice as it was I don't think it was $300-$400 nice (he liked the colour and had the money). Look around. Consider the weight and the balance on the rod you are looking at setting it up with. Check that the drag is smooth. Plenty of other options out there worth looking at. Regards. Derek

Hi SaltyAs, The best advice I can give to start with is get yourself a mentor or ideally more than one. Listen and ask questions and really think about the why someone does something. Filter through the information and work what suits you. Some of us are a little set in our ways as we have developed a method or a system which works but that doesn't mean it can't be improved on. For example, when I teach soft plastics the first thing I ask the student to do is to cast. These are often people that have been casting for years but I find in about 80% of the cases I have to refine their technique. I also explain to them the why for each of the minor changes. I usually spend about 8 hours with them in the first session teaching them the stuff I have worked out over a decade. As others have said above there are years of learning ahead of you. I like your structured approach but answering all the questions you asked would probably take weeks (or more likely months) of fishing with different people to cover. One of the bigger mistakes (in my opinion) that people make when they start out is find the biggest (within reason) rod they can get. 10kg plus usually. Doesn't cast well. You get less bites and when you hook up you can just winch the fish in which for the small stuff isn't overly fun. You have mentioned you don't mind driving for some fishing but Sydney is a pretty big place - if you specify a more detailed location some of the members might invite you along. If you are close enough to water some of the after work sessions can be fun. Regards, Derek

Yes but the devil is in the detail. On that particular day did you decide to go with: The suicide, Circle, Octopus - circle, Long shank Pan fish Mutu J-hook, Etc. These details are important to the rest of us in deciding which hook isn't working in a particular location.

Hi Berrero, One of the first joiner knots I learned was the double uni or uni to uni knot (8 turns braid 4 or 5 turns mono) as it was recommended on the packet of berkley braid I bought. I've been using it for over a decade and can tie it quickly but sometimes as I was testing the knot it would break. I think the braid would sometimes slip under the mono knot and then bite in. The knots that passed the load test were surprisingly strong. Over the last year I have been hearing about the double-double uni in which you double the braid over before tying it the same way but in this case you can drop the braid turns to say 6 turns. A mate uses the slim beauty and I decided to test my knot against his using the same leader and mono and head to head load. The double uni lost to the slim beauty. The slim beauty then lost to the double-double uni knot. I was happy as I didn't have to learn a new knot. For people that struggle with a joiner knot I teach them the 4 turn surgeons joiner knot as it is really easy to tie but I generally don't like the amount of line wastage it entails. Regards, Derek

Hi SSiB, Believe we were discussing a squidding session one day. Offer is still open. Most of my squid fishing is done with braid on a 2-4kg rod so if I strike the shock is taken up by the rod tip. As one or two people have mentioned above when the squid grabs the jig because they don't really have any hard body parts you generally won't feel the strike. My usual retrieval technique is short sharp flicks to get their attention followed by a pause to allow them to grab it the next set of flicks will hook them up. If they are really skittish then for anything less than a short sharp jab they can let go before you hook up. The time between the flicks is dictated by the area I am fishing (snags) and the sink rate of the jig I am using. Within reason the longer you can leave it the better chance you have of getting them. Just remember to watch behind the jig as it comes in close to see if they are hesitent but still following and interested. You have to then use small movements to keep them interested and time your flick when they have grabbed the jig. Once in a while I notice the line straightening as the squid moves off with the jig and then the short sharp jab sets the jig. Currently with the exception of a few tubs of ice cream my freezer is packed with bags of squid from multiple sessions so to date it has worked for me. If you think you have been getting touches then check the tines for a very small ball of white from the cephlapod. Note that in some areas it may actually be cuttlefish grabbing the jig but with their smaller tentacles they are a little harder to hook up. Regards, Derek

You want it set up so that the braid finishes a little below (say 1mm to 2mm) the angular lip of the spool. Any fuller than that you will often get birds nests till you lose enough line to stop the problem. Some of the people in the tackle shops are really good at judging it. In my case I put the braid on first and then the mono to check the height and then end for end it. A bit of a painful process but once the backing is right then next time you have to top up you just rip the braid off and buy a spool of the same braid and it is then easy to top it up. If you end up getting the two spools as per my suggestion above then it is easy to end for end it by running it on to the second spool. Actual line diameters compared to the line length figures on the spools are a little bit rubbery so hard to trust them.

Hi Tim, Very nice combo. Just check that the rod is the one rated for 3-12gm lure weights (which the 762 model should be). I have had a series one of these for over a decade and it gets fished weekly or more. I have a series 2 (Mexican fire) of the same which I use when teaching people how to use soft plastics and in the 2-4kg weight class it is the rod I suggest as a benchmark before you buy a rod. There are lighter rods out there but I find they often have a longer butt which impacts on my forearm when fishing my usual rod tip down style. Just watch you don't split the cork of the reel seat by overtightening when attaching a reel. The Nasci is a really nice reel too. If you can, get a second spool which you can then use for a different line class. In my case I bought 3 Symetres 2500 years ago which gave me some extra spools. The 2 spare bodies sat in the cupboard till I retired the first Symetre and that way I could switch spools easily. I've just bought three 2500 Sedonas so I could have spools with 4lb braid, 8lb braid and 6lb mono (for blackfish). The line is a little trickier. Most braids overtest and some substantially so. I've used PowerPro in the 4lb in white for years. I recently picked up some Berkley X5 in white and have been pretty impressed so far and have found on the box that while it is stated to be 4lb it has been tested to breaking at about 11lb. Look at diameter - while setting up a friend's outfit we picked up some green Shimano Kairiki which felt impressively thin so in that case we went to 6lb rather than my default 4lb. Try breaking some of these lines in your hands and you will find you cut yourself before the line breaks. Main line to leader knot will have an effect on the breaking strength. Increases in line class and probably diameter will have an impact on casting distance so go as light as you feel comfortable. You should also increase hook up rate. In my opinion people make a mistake in that they go heavier than they need because of "what if" concerns - e.g. if I hook a king while chasing bream or a shark chasing flathead. Sooner or later it may happen but if you know your gear you have a reasonable chance of landing that king, even on the 4lb lines. My best was a 70cm king and I had 6lb leader on the bream gear at the time. It took time but I was grinning the whole way. Think about the line colour. I started off with white/crystal in the light line classes as it is easy for me to watch when doing small twitches and subtle fishing. Other people like yellows or greens but I find them hard to watch at times depending on the ambient light. Regards, Derek

Hi MMM, On one hand I get your frustration but on the other hand if you are only 22 you have a lifetime of fishing ahead of you and have gear available to you that wasn't really around when many of us started. First thing is get a mentor or preferably more than one. Don't take everything they say as set in stone but look at the logic behind what they show you and see if the why makes sense. You will have a bit of work (play) ahead of you to kick it up to the next level. I am working with a few people at the moment and when I take someone on it is usually a 6 to 8 hour session to start with to teach soft plastic basics on light gear (7 foot graphite rod 2500 reel and 4lb or really fine 6lb braid). We then branch out into slices, blades, squid jigs, spinners, retrieval techniques, fighting techniques, locations, etc. Once they have the hang of that then a lot of what we work through scales up (graphite snapper rod, 4000 reel and 15lb braid). One of the guys I worked with (and still fish with) since mid last year smugly sent me a text today to tell me he is on his 20th king for 2019. None legal but he his having fun and catching an increasing amount of species. The best part he and his mate (who I have also been working with) have been doing it on bream gear which is a real buzz. I was introduced to soft plastics over a decade ago and it opened up my fishing world again. I had what I would now consider the wrong gear and an extremely basic introduction to them but was stoked to hook and land a silver trevally on a white 2" grub. Since then I have put a lot of thought into what works and why and teaching others has helped refine what I do further. As a starting point do you have a suitable light graphite rod (2-4kg) and braid outfit? Do you know how to catch squid? In your case start concentrating on flathead. Plenty of Youtube clips out there. I am not into ultra-light jigheads when chasing flathead. I won't use anything less than 1/8oz and will go up to 1/4oz or even 9gm as it allows me to cover distance. I'm a big fan of the Berkley minnows as it is a similar profile to many baitfish out there. On a side note spend some time learning to catch squid. I put these out on a twin hook rig on 20lb gear to chase jewfish. I strip them and send them unweighted through the water column from various ferry wharves when chasing kings. There are some really good pinned articles on catching squid and look through my past posts for the advice I have given on squidding. I have also done a write up for a Michael on catching kings in the moorings. Read that if you can find it. If you are still having problems then I can probably work with you once my current pupils get along a bit further. Regards, Derek PS. What @anthman said is another good approach to improving your catch rate.

A mate left his plastic boat on the water for a bit longer than usual and it ended up being encrusted. I think the problem is that the surface of the plastic is porous to a degree which gives the barnacles or similar purchase. While it may not rot I'd suggest you design the system so the rails can be slipped and locked into place when required. Look for FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) rails. I used to deal with a company called Treadwell and I believe they do a number of profiles. Some of the anti-slip grating they make gets used for commercial wharves. Still needs water blasting but looks good.

Hi @big Neil I really enjoyed your company and the enthusiasm which you put into chasing the kings and I am looking forward to another fish with you the next time you get back up to Sydney. Be nice to get you a keeper next time. I was really glad that you got the king and Anthony not being able to carry out his threat to have to swim home if we didn't catch any. The half day time frame put a bit more pressure on. Of course the one Anthony dropped would have been legal - can I help it if he can't follow through on his part. Regards, Derek

Was going out with Neil on the Saturday and the Sunday and then received a text from him in the wee hours about a health scare with the Missus. We cancelled the Saturday but then as she was feeling better we pushed through with the Sunday plans. I was fortunate in that a mate with a boat was keen to head out on Sunday morning and Neil was able to come out with us. On the downside the kings were not playing at my usual spots but Neil picked up an Aussie Salmon on the baitcaster. Had plenty of squid and some livies and with a long running swell we made the decision to head out to long reef. Took about 30 minutes to get there and there were only a few other boats out there. Neil hooked up on a fish which put a lovely bend in the rod. Damn I was happy to see the flash of silver and a yellow tail when it came up out of the depths. A rat king but still a king. We picked up a few other species and it was beautiful out there. Next goal is to see him on a legal king.

It has only been sporadic. @HenryR's shoulder was still giving him trouble and now that he has been preparing for a new course heavy in mathematics he has had to get out for a study break here and there.

That may be the case but I have had a few comments about the glitter scales of the Berkley plastics left on my fingers (and face when I rub an itch). At times I look like I have been sprinkled with fairy dust.

Hi Krause, Been a while mate. I'm still getting out on the kayak in the main harbour about once per week and went out on Middle Harbour with HenryR a few weeks back which he enjoyed. Hope to head out with you one of these years. Regards, Derek

Hi Volitan, To what strength are you thinking of testing? You said you wanted a simple but repeatable means of testing them. Are you talking joiner knot or terminal knot. Are you talking gradual load or impact load. Can you get your hands on some say 40 or 50mm dowel and fix it in the air somewhere? First issue is that the terminal knot at the non-testing end should not be a failure point. By tying off the non testing end of the line and wrapping it over the dowel a minimum of 4 times (3.5 times according to one of professor Julius Sumner Miller's books) the friction lock on the dowel and lack of knot there ensures it should give you 100% line strength. The 40 or 50mm diameter of the dowel avoids a point load. Bunnings sells some pine dowel but you would probably need to sand it smooth. https://www.bunnings.com.au/porta-43mm-x-1-2m-clear-pine-dowel_p0082335 On the other end of the line get a bucket with sufficient capacity to test the line - say 30 litres. 1 litre is 1kg so you can measure in say 1 to 2kg at a time depending on the container(s) you use. Bunnings has for less than $15 All Set storage buckets going to up to 85 (or 65 or 38) litres complete with rope handles. https://www.bunnings.com.au/all-set-85l-storage-bucket-with-pope-handles_p2583759 At the bucket end you will need some more dowel which you need to connect to the bucket with some heavier cord. Add an eye of some sorts to this dowel which will simulate the eye of hook for terminal testing. If doing joiner knot testing pass the line through the eye and then wrap it the minimum 4 times around the dowel before tying off to ensure the terminal knot isn't the likely failure point. The other variation is to have a loop point in the cord tied to the bucket and put your choice of hook through this loop. This would test your terminal knot genuinely to the hook. I'd rather knot (pun intended) sketch it out but hopefully this gets you in a workable direction. It should be a pretty cheap and repeatable system. Regards, Derek PS. Make an allowance for weight of bucket and dowel at terminal end. Don't forget the soft landing for when the line breaks and you will probably want a second container to recycle the water in to. The system can be scaled up or down just by varying the materials of construction. When you do it the first time you can carefully mark the levels in the bucket in say 5 litre increments at 3 equally spaced points (120°) around the circumference to verify it is repeatable and thus shortcut the filling process.

Drove past there this week and there is a no fishing sign on the gates into the area. Also the rocks when we see them up close from the boat look a little dangerous to fish comfortably. Just pick one of the Sydney harbour wharves. Plenty of rats around. I'm up to 11 so far in 2019, all shore based and a few of them have been on the bream gear with soft plastics for the fun of it.

Hi @big Neil, An interesting topic you have raised and I have enjoyed reading the follow up conversations. When it comes to fishing I talk to a lot of people from beginners to experts in their field. I have had a few fishing friendships start with my opening line of "Can I make a suggestion...". Some of these people have spent a fair time on the internet learning new techniques and I am impressed at what they have learned and I suspect the person that put together the original how to video did an excellent job. What I have also found is that the WWW is the communication is often too one way (even if you contact the poster for additional information). You have seen my teaching style in action. While I could put a lot of it on video and help people get 80 to 90% of the way it would miss the little corrections I would make to compensate for people's learning style or background experience. The huge thing that is missing from WWW is the positive feedback loop. It is a great feeling to achieve what your mentor has been trying to help you learn and know that you have reached a standard they are happy with. The other thing to think about is that the beginner often doesn't know enough about the topic in question to start asking the right questions. Hope you have a great time with the grandkids and a lovely Christmas break. Regards, Derek

Thanks for making me laugh. Yep... Seen that too. There is a sail boat out there called "Occasional bad language" that owes me a trolling lure. Years ago was trolling a line behind the boat I was on and still a fair way outside the Sydney heads coming back in and with plenty of room and bugger all boats around us. The skipper of the above mentioned sailing boat for some reason felt the need to come within about 30m of our stern. Wonder if they found my lure when they did their annual slipping. Was fishing the breakwall at Port Stephens and a kayaker felt the need to follow the shoreline at a distance of about 15 - 20 odd meters off the wall. There were about 30 people fishing that morning and many of us had to pull in our line till he was clear. I genuinely wanted to have a chat with that kayaker to find out if he was clueless, inconsiderate or had a fear of straying too far from the shore. If he hadn't felt the need to follow the shoreline and kept his kayak another 30m or so further out everyone would have had a more pleasant morning. Come to think of it there are many times I have really wanted to understand people's way of thinking without getting into a fight. I know people don't always get my way of thinking till I explain it. I'm an engineer, odd goes with the job description. 😊

Hi Poly, Search my past posts for a topic called kings in the moorings. It should give you a few things to think about when chasing kings. Short answer is short sharp eratic darting motion followed by brief pauses to give them a chance to hit the lure (about 80% hits on the pause). If you feel the bump and it doesn't hook up then rip it back as fast as you can to set off their chase impulse. I rarely see them eat a plastic or lure that is left in front of them. On the squidding topic read some of the pinned squidding posts or look for some of my posts on squidding. Short answer is that squid move around. Try a couple of different jigs, fan your casts out then try a new location. Look for a combination of sand and weed beds. Regards, Derek

Congratulations Donna, Be warned that they can be very addictive. Looking back at the time I have spent chasing them I love and hate them at the same time. I love catching them but I'd prefer if there was less time between catches. Thank you to you and Stewie for a fantastic 2018 on Fishraider. Hope you have a fun time heading into the Christmas festivities. Warm regards, Derek

Hi Oscar, Welcome to Fishraider. Some nice goals there and I am looking forward to hearing your progress reports. Seeing how you have been fishing for the last few weeks I think we need to up that kingfish goal to 19 kings in 2019 and that can be followed by 20 kings in 2020. BTW Vlad hit 22 kings yesterday so I have some chasing to do before the end of the year. Considering as of 2 weeks ago he had never caught one he has done amazingly well. Mike, who you have met recently is on here under @Mike89 and Anthony from Saturday is listed under @anthman. Worth reading some of their pasts posts. Regards, Derek

Hi all, Just wanted other people's thoughts on how to deal with dangerous casting practices... Last few days I have been fishing a shared use area with broad age range (12-60+) of people. As there were a few bust ups in the area (no, I won't be saying where) it got a little exciting at times. As a group we tried to keep our gear as closely packed as possible and be as considerate as we could of the pedestrians passing by. When I teach people I keep hammering home to watch and be careful with the back cast. I have only ever hooked one person and that was myself with a fly rod - I never ever want to see a bystander hooked (or myself again). Someone not part of the group moved into the area with big wide brimmed hat and sunglasses on (limited peripheral vision) and started casting plastics. His casting technique was to face straight forward and square to the water and without looking behind him put the rod straight back over his right shoulder to the horizontal and then punch overhead and forwards. Essentially it meant that anyone passing two metres behind him was at risk of being hooked and pretty viciously. When seeing him doing this multiple times and being concerned about other people passing by I had a polite word with him about what I consider to be a dangerous practice. He noted the comment and then went straight back to doing it. Moving along the walkway he continued to do so regardless of when people were walking by. I'd put him in the 50 to 60 age bracket and the probably too old to listen or care category (fortunately don't come across those too often). He came back to our area and started doing it again so I had some more words with him about it and his response was that he did look back. Not that any of us could see him turning his head or he had better peripheral vision and hearing than a kindergarten teacher. Turns out one of my friends had come across him before when he almost hit my mate's young son with the back cast and when confronted about it he argued that the son should not have been passing behind him. As someone that is fishing I believe I need to take responsibility for the sharp hooks and knives that are the tools of my pastime. I suspect I'll run across this rather nasty piece of work again and would like a viable suggestion of how to effectively deal with this which doesn't involve an AVO or damage of property fine. Yes I can turn a blind eye to it and walk away but I would never forgive myself if a young kid walking past lost an eye or ended up with a serious enough injury to end up in hospital because of my inaction. I really hope he wasn't a Fishraider and if he is and sees this that he modifies his technique. Please note that I work in an industry in which a lack of attention could end up killing someone. The duty of care I feel in the workplace carries over into personal time and it is one of the reasons this has fired me up so much. Your thoughts, Derek PS. The thought had crossed my mind that he is someone that is not playing with a full deck.