DerekD

When fishing the other week my fishing buddy hooked and landed the Snapper shown in the attached photos.... We realised there was something a little different about this one.... After some further inspection we worked out that we'd found a sub-species in the snapper family. Awesome!!! There are a couple of questions which have since come to mind which the Fishraider community may be able to help with.... What would be the latin name - Pagrus (or Chrysophyrus) auratus tailless (or darrenus after the angler)? Since it has a more aerodynamic (or should that be hydrodynamic) shape how much faster would it swim than a normal snapper? What would be the legal length and where do you measure it to.....? Help with this would be appreciated and please keep it un-serious.... For the record it was released.

Saw your request for squiding advice and I thought i'd throw my bit in. I prepared the following for another member and have copied and pasted two separate responses so it may not flow as well when you read it. I can’t be bothered retyping it but the individual advice still stands. First thing is don't despair. If it is winter from past experience I have to work hard for my squid at times but at the same time when I catch them they are often bigger. In Summer they feed more aggressively but I pick up more smaller ones. I do almost all of my squiding with braided lines and if I am in an area where I am likely to snag up on weed I go to 10 or 15lb braid so I can pull squid jig loose. The braid also gives me a feel for what is happening on the other end of the line. First check your sink rate on your jig. Mine are usually a foot a second. Three seconds is about one metre. Thus if I am fishing water I think is about 10m deep I count to 30 or a litle more. I use a medium paced lift (with about 1 - 2 m of rod movement) to get it off the bottom, wind the slack in and then count to 4 and repeat the lift. You can find demonstrations on the internet but the Japanese use a more vigorous movement - the theory being that it gets their attention and revs them up. Years ago I watched a squid trying to take one of my lures in the shallows and I had an epiphany. While it was a big squid it was hesitant in taking the jig and whenever it had it and I moved the jig it let go. I tried a short (say 20 - 30cm at rod tip) but fast stroke to set the squid jig and that squid was mine. Now if I feel the squid jig move off without the hard taps that a fish gives it I assume squid and use that short sharp stroke to set the jig. Had a friend who was struggling but once I explained the concept he got rather good at it. Squid jig choice. Heard once that the Japanese have been using squid jigs for over three hundred years. They have put a lot of effort into design. I used to love Yo-Zuri's but lost a few because of the built in swivel failing over time due to casting. These days I primarily use Yamashita (fixed steel ring on nose) but I also have cheaper ones which still catch me squid. My go to would be a pink or orange in the 2.5 size. But I have a 2.2 fast sinker in pink which I love and is very battered now. I also have them in 3 and 3.5 for improved casting distances. Over time get a few in different sizes and colours. I like the glow in the dark bodies because if I hit them with a torch it makes it so much easier for the squid to find them at night. When winding in keep steady pressure on them but allow a bit of flex in the rod and your hand movements. Do not jerk the rod as you can pull the jig. They tire easily so you will get them in sooner or later. I lose very few squid on braid and that is only if they are barely hooked. A few more things to think about. If you were the schoolyard bully would you want to pick on the captain of the football team or the timid first year. I often do really well on smaller jigs (1.8 and 2.2) as everything wants to pick on them. Even the cuttlefish and as they have smaller tenticles I find it takes a smaller jig to hook up on them. I do a lot of soft plastics fishing on 4lb fireline (actually breaks at 10lb) and whenever I head down to the water I throw a squid jig for a little time to see if I can pick up a squid or two with minimal effort. On the lighter line and gear they cast a little further. Just be careful trying to lift a bigger squid out of the water as you don't want to snap a line. I fan my casts out. Squid have good eyes and can swim surprisingly quickly. If I do about 6 to 10 casts in an area and don't get a hit I will change colour and size of a jig. If they don't hit that I assume they are not there or not playing (same result). I then go somewhere else or do something else for a while. Look for a combination of sand, weed and structure when selecting where to fish. I'll sometimes go to the local baths (we can fish at Clifton Gardens) and lower the squid jig straight down to the bottom. Lift it up, walk 1 meter then lower it again and continue till I cover the length of the baths. I might then try some casting. If when dropping it down you feel some resistance but then pull it up to find nothing it is often a cuttlefish. Check the tines and if you see the smallest drop of white goo on any of the tines then a cephlapod of some type has had a go at it. Cast back to the same area as they can hang around. When you feel resistance you WILL have to set the jig with that short punch discussed earlier. If it is a cuttlefish be prepared for a lot of ink. I swear they have three times as much ink as any squid I have caught. Apart from the hard shell inside their back you can strip them like squid. You have the head as one bait and can get at least 4 baits (probably 8 depending on size of strips) from the body. Your hands will be covered in ink but at the same time a cuttlefish head got me an 80cm king once. You can also put a 5/0 or similar hook at the tip of the hood and parallel to the shell. They stay alive longer than squid. If (and more likely when) you catch a squid then remember exactly where you cast. Southern Calamari often travel in twos or threes. Arrow squid in groups sometimes more than 10 (8 from 8 casts is my record). Keep an eye behind the squid as you wind in as it may be followed by other squid. To keep them I have a bag of ziplocks with me and put them straight into the bag and then into the freezer. These frozen squid have caught me quite a few kings and jewfish (biggest being 104cm). Yamashita do a fast sinking 2.2 jig with black eyes. The same model with blue eyes is a slow sinking variation. I like the fast sinker as they allow me to cover the water column a bit more quickly. I often catch squid when I have left the jig on the bottom a bit longer than planned (schoolyard bully sneaking up on unsuspecting victim). You could get a slow sinking jig in your outfit for running over the top of weedbeds and along the shoreline. In theory prawn scent is a good idea but I don't like the idea of it accidently spilling into my bag and they may stain jigs over time but if it gets you a few more squid then why not. I do quite well at it as it is so I don't bother. Your call. Also give the early mornings a shot just as it starts to get light. I have caught them most hours of the day but dawn and dusk seem particularly rewarding from shore. if you aer fishing from a boat then cast towards the shore and follow the drop off when you retrieve. Remember that most of the spots mentioned as being good for squid are hit by others getting the same advice.

Saw your request for squiding advice and I thought i'd throw my bit in. I prepared the following for another member and have copied and pasted two separate responses so it may not flow as well when you read it. I can’t be bothered retyping it but the individual advice still stands. First thing is don't despair. If it is winter from past experience I have to work hard for my squid at times but at the same time when I catch them they are often bigger. In Summer they feed more aggressively but I pick up more smaller ones. I do almost all of my squiding with braided lines and if I am in an area where I am likely to snag up on weed I go to 10 or 15lb braid so I can pull squid jig loose. The braid also gives me a feel for what is happening on the other end of the line. First check your sink rate on your jig. Mine are usually a foot a second. Three seconds is about one metre. Thus if I am fishing water I think is about 10m deep I count to 30 or a litle more. I use a medium paced lift (with about 1 - 2 m of rod movement) to get it off the bottom, wind the slack in and then count to 4 and repeat the lift. You can find demonstrations on the internet but the Japanese use a more vigorous movement - the theory being that it gets their attention and revs them up. Years ago I watched a squid trying to take one of my lures in the shallows and I had an epiphany. While it was a big squid it was hesitant in taking the jig and whenever it had it and I moved the jig it let go. I tried a short (say 20 - 30cm at rod tip) but fast stroke to set the squid jig and that squid was mine. Now if I feel the squid jig move off without the hard taps that a fish gives it I assume squid and use that short sharp stroke to set the jig. Had a friend who was struggling but once I explained the concept he got rather good at it. Squid jig choice. The Japanese have been using squid jigs for over three hundred years. They have put a lot of effort into design. I used to love Yo-Zuri's but lost a few because of the built in swivel failing over time due to casting. These days I primarily use Yamashita (fixed steel ring on nose) but I also have cheaper ones which still catch me squid. My go to would be a pink or orange in the 2.5 size. But I have a 2.2 fast sinker in pink which I love and is very battered now. I also have them in 3 and 3.5 for improved casting distances. Over time get a few in different sizes and colours. I like the glow in the dark bodies because if I hit them with a torch it makes it so much easier for the squid to find them at night. When winding in keep steady pressure on them but allow a bit of flex in the rod and your hand movements. Do not jerk the rod as you can pull the jig. They tire easily so you will get them in sooner or later. I lose very few squid on braid and that is only if they are barely hooked. A few more things to think about. If you were the schoolyard bully would you want to pick on the captain of the football team or the timid first year. I often do really well on smaller jigs (1.8 and 2.2) as everything wants to pick on them. Even the cuttlefish and as they have smaller tenticles I find it takes a smaller jig to hook up on them. I do a lot of soft plastics fishing on 4lb fireline (actually breaks at 10lb) and whenever I head down to the water I throw a squid jig for a little time to see if I can pick up a squid or two with minimal effort. On the lighter line and gear they cast a little further. Just be careful trying to lift a bigger squid out of the water as you don't want to snap a line. I fan my casts out. Squid have good eyes and can swim surprisingly quickly. If I do about 6 to 10 casts in an area and don't get a hit I will change colour and size of a jig. If they don't hit that I assume they are not there or not playing (same result). I then go somewhere else or do something else for a while. Look for a combination of sand, weed and structure when selecting where to fish. I'll sometimes go to the local baths (we can fish at Clifton Gardens) and lower the squid jig straight down to the bottom. Lift it up, walk 1 meter then lower it again and continue till I cover the length of the baths. I might then try some casting. If when dropping it down you feel some resistance but then pull it up to find nothing it is often a cuttlefish. Check the tines and if you see the smallest drop of white goo on any of the tines then a cephlapod of some type has had a go at it. Cast back to the same area as they can hang around. When you feel resistance you WILL have to set the jig with that short punch discussed earlier. If it is a cuttlefish be prepared for a lot of ink. I swear they have three times as much ink as any squid I have caught. Apart from the hard shell inside their back you can strip them like squid. You have the head as one bait and can get at least 4 baits (probably 8 depending on size of strips) from the body. Your hands will be covered in ink but at the same time a cuttlefish head got me an 80cm king once. You can also put a 5/0 or similar hook at the tip of the hood and parallel to the shell. They stay alive longer than squid. If (and more likely when) you catch a squid then remember exactly where you cast. Southern Calamari often travel in twos or threes. Arrow squid in groups sometimes more than 10 (8 from 8 casts is my record). Keep an eye behind the squid as you wind in as it may be followed by other squid. To keep them I have a bag of ziplocks with me and put them straight into the bag and then into the freezer. These frozen squid have caught me quite a few kings and jewfish (biggest being 104cm). Yamashita do a fast sinking 2.2 jig with black eyes. The same model with blue eyes is a slow sinking variation. I like the fast sinker as they allow me to cover the water column a bit more quickly. I often catch squid when I have left the jig on the bottom a bit longer than planned (schoolyard bully sneaking up on unsuspecting victim). You could get a slow sinking jig in your outfit for running over the top of weedbeds and along the shoreline. In theory prawn scent is a good idea but I don't like the idea of it accidently spilling into my bag and they may stain jigs over time but if it gets you a few more squid then why not. I do quite well at it as it is so I don't bother. Your call. Also give the early mornings a shot just as it starts to get light. I have caught them most hours of the day but dawn and dusk seem particularly rewarding from shore.

Further to my report about fishing Amsterdam I received an email from Han (the guide who took me out on his boat in Amsterdam). He gave me an update on the fishing over there. Apparently it is "Gold". The Zander has been schooling and on a good day they can catch between 40 and 50 a day. Considering the size that Zander can grow to I think that is a pretty good result. It seems that on days when the easterly winds hit that the number of fish caught drops off a bit. Seems that even at the other end of the world the wind puts the fish off. After reading the post I put together and the comments made by other Fishraiders he made the observation that it is fantastic that "so far from Holland the thoughts about fishing are the same". There was a question about what Zander taste like. I never actually got around to asking it but an American friend of mine says that they look very much like their Walleye which is a fantastic fish to eat. On that basis I assume it has similar eating qualities. I have attached some photos which Han sent me with his email. There are some of the Redfin (baars) which I didn't get around to photographing when I was there. If you look closely you can see that the Zander (Snoekbaars) was caught on one of the flat soft plastics which Han makes.

Fishing Amsterdam and trolling the red light district While I am eternally grateful that my parents moved to Sydney from the Netherlands before I was a twinkle in their eyes I still retain strong links to my Dutch heritage. As a keen Fisho, for as long as I can remember, any time I get near any fishy environment I start looking at the best spot to throw a line in but, to be honest, based on my past experience I have not thought much of the fishing in the Netherlands. I remember watching people fishing from the harbor break walls for hours on end with big beach rods and paternoster rigs with very little to show after a few hours but some small fish (if they were lucky) that I would think twice about before using as bait here in Oz. On my last trip to the Netherlands (to catch up with family and friends) my whole view on fishing there was turned around and if you are patient enough to continue reading then I would like to share my experiences from a few months ago with fellow Fishraiders. While staying in the lovely town of Haarlem (near Amsterdam but 15 minutes closer to the beaches and sea) I walked past a fishing shop with a pretty impressive pair of soft plastics in the window. I had a “what the” moment and then decided to walk into the store. As happens when most keen fisherman the world over meet, within a very short time I was swapping stories and photos with the guy in the store. After seeing some of his amazing shots from fishing South America we started discussing the local fishing. It turns out that I had missed out on some potentially fantastic fishing. I knew of the pike after seeing a photo of my great grandfather (must be from whom I inherited my passion from) with a good specimen but it turns out there were some other interesting species too. He kindly lent me some local fishing magazines. Browsing through the magazines I could see the Europeans were insanely keen on their carp. So much so that there was a lot written about it and there is an amazing range of exotic paraphernalia used to catch them (e.g. google “bait boat” if you get the chance). I know carp grow big but I don’t think I could ever get that passionate about it. Then I came across an article about fishing Amsterdam which blew me away. The author reckoned that Amsterdam was the predator fishing capital of the world which, as a Sydneysider, I felt was a big call but I was intrigued enough to read on. Of the species mentioned in the article, the pike (Snoek), the redfin (Baars) and flounder (Bot) I knew of but it turns out they have something called a Zander (Snoekbaars) which really caught my attention. In short I thought it was an amazingly beautiful fish which it turns out can grow to a reasonable size. Since I had some spare time during my holiday I called the author (Juul) to arrange half a day’s fishing. Unfortunately he was booked out but he put me on to a guide friend (Han) of his who was available. We tentatively booked a time on the last day of August. When I went back to the store to return the magazines the guy there said he knew both people I had talked to and said they were very knowledgeable and then said that at this time of the year you “can’t not catch fish”. I was really looking forward to my half day on the water (if it wasn’t for the exchange rates at the time I would have preferred a full day). The weather gods smiled on me on the day of the fishing trip and I was picked up on the river located behind Amsterdam central train station. Han’s boat was nicely laid out and would not have looked out of place on Sydney harbour. The first stop was not far from the station. Han set the gear up. What we were using were essentially locally made beefed up bream rods. They were slightly short and slightly stiffer than the graphite rods I use in Sydney. They had been topshot with 7lb braid and I was wondering how the soft plastics techniques I used in Sydney would do. What surprised me was how little braid was used on the rods. Han explained they only needed about 50 yards of braid as the fish generally fought straight down. I mentioned that I would prefer to start with the cast and retrieve method I use in Sydney so Han set up a long tailed soft plastic for me with a stinger hook in the back. Once he had seen that I looked like I knew what I was doing he took out a second rod and used a technique which I have never seen before but must have been effective as he hooked into a fish very quickly. A promising start for the day. The fish did use a straight down fight and took a few minutes to get to the boat at which point Han reached down and picked it up under the belly. This surprised me. Pretty well any fish I catch in Sydney goes wild as soon as you get them to the boat or shore. This fish sat quietly in his hand as if to say “alright, you have caught me. Now what? Can we get the photos out of the way? By the way my best side is my left”. It was my first sight of a Zander. I thought it was a beautiful fish so I grabbed the camera and snapped away. The teeth on this fish were kind of scary. It went about 60cm and it turns out they grow to about 1.2m long with the longest recorded catch for the previous year being 117cm. As it was released to swim away I thought Holland 1 – Australia 0. Time to try the technique as used by the locals. The set up he used had a mono leader with a length of about 1m. A pencil lead sinker was tied to the end of the line. A hook designed specifically for drop shotting was tied about 40cm above the sinker. As you may be able to see in the attached photo the hook has an extra bend and eye on it so it hangs at right angles to the line. A 3” Berkley gulp in white and bright green was then pinned through the nose to the hook. The rod was held like a pistol as per the photo below with the index finger held alongside the shaft. The idea is to just keep the tip of the rod bouncing up and down so the lure jumps but the sinker does not lift off the bottom. I found that the pistol grip technique was the most comfortable way of holding the rod when fishing this way for any length of time. The Zander feeds into the flow and has a surprisingly soft take when compared with a similar sized Australian flathead. You feel a slight load on the end of the line and then you have to lift the rod to set the hook. The Zander will generally feed about a foot off the bottom and as they don’t seem to like too much light they head for deeper water if the water is clear or it is a bright day. They are generally a solitary fish but sometime during September they become a schooling fish and it becomes relatively easy to catch them as there is a lot more competition for any available food. We both had a few more taps but couldn’t set the hook. Han took us to a new location near and underneath a bridge where he had been particularly successful. Once again he hooked into a Zander but it only went about 30cm. Holland 2 – Australia 0. I had a hit and this time set the hook. I was onto my first ever fish in Holland and as I didn’t want to lose it I took my time bringing it in. Unfortunately it was a flounder rather than a Zander but at least I was on the board. As Hans was not too familiar with my camera and the problem of back lighting I took the photo. No more hits so we shifted location. This time I started to get hit after hit and it was a case of setting the hook. Pulled my first fish up and it was a small Redfin which was quickly released. Holland 2 – Australia 2. Another hit and I set the hook again. Pulled it up and it was a decent sized Redfin but nothing to write home about. Han then hooked up and it was, believe it or not, another Redfin. Holland 3 – Australia 3. A few more hits and then I hooked up. The fight felt a little different to the other two fish and it felt bigger. As it came to the surface I realized it was a Zander of about 40cm. YES!! I admit the hook pulled when it came close to the boat but I was still counting it. Holland 3 – Australia 4. At this stage I raised the topic about fishing in the Red light district of Amsterdam and it turns out that it is pretty good. Apart from the obvious it turns out the predominant species are the Redfin. Han offered to take us there but as I was really after Zander and Pike I figured fishing the main river gave us the best opportunity to catch them. It did make me wonder if any keen fisherman had gotten into trouble with the other half back at the hotel with the words, “Hi Honey. Just spent the afternoon in the red light district and you’ll never guess what I caught”. During the fishing I found out a bit more about my guide. Turns out that he had been keen on fishing for as long as he could remember. He was fortunate enough to live on an island and every afternoon he raced home after school to go fishing. He has gotten in to plastics in a rather big way. So much so that he actually makes his own. I had another “what the” moment when I saw the flounder type plastics he makes. It seems that a lot of people laughed at his idea. He was laughing too but because of how effective they turned out to be. They have an impressive swimming motion and I suspect that in the smaller sizes they would be the equivalent to our baitfish. We then shifted back to the original location and after a few minutes Han hooked into a good fish. It was a Zander of about 55cm. Once again after a few photos it was then released. Scores all tied and getting interesting. Han then had a take which, based on my limited experience, looked like a very solid fish. He was on it for a while but as he maneuvered us away from a marker buoy the hook pulled. You all know the feeling. You have either had it or experienced it as a friend has lost a fish. We looked at each other and with a vocabulary from two languages to choose from uttered some words I will not repeat here. We both called it as a Zander of at least 70cm based on his broad and my limited Zander experience. After a few more drifts we had to call it a day due to commitments but both of us would have loved to spend the rest of the afternoon fishing. I’d picked up 3 of the 4 species I wanted to catch and Han had promised to send me a photo he had taken of a pike a few years before when it had tail danced after being hooked. It was a fantastic day and I made a new friend and had experiences which will have me going back the next time I am in Holland. I would love to have the opportunity to try a few things like vibes over there but unfortunately my next planned visit is in about 4 years time. I have promised to take Han and Juul fishing in Sydney if they ever make it down here.

Two mates and I have recently bought a kayak each and taking it out on the harbour last weekend I found out some of the advantages. We found a number of schools of Aussie Salmon working a particular area of the harbour and the kayaks did not spook them at all. In fact they kept on busting up and feeding around the kayak and even bumped into them at times. Sweeeeeet!!!! The sour part was that we couldn't work out what they were feeding on. I was on soft plastics and one of my friends was on the fly rod with some flies in the size and shape of eyes. At the end of a number of hours following the schools I'd hooked up and landed one on a clear soft 3" minnow type plastic and had some follows on a clear 2" grub. My mate on the fly rod had not had a single hook up. I was expecting him to kill it. The other boat out there could not get a single take and gave up. My one other hit was on a deep diving YoZuri but I lost that fish. Talked to someone else recently who suggested using small twisty type lures. Does anyone else have a suggestion as to what they might be feeding for at the moment and what lure I could use to replicate it?

I don't know if others have experienced the same thing but I have kept cabbage weed in a ziplock bag in the fridge and found it to be fine a week later (at which point it gets used up - never lasts long enough to see how long it actually survives). The only moisture that was in the bag was what was on the weed as I collected it in the first place.

Hi Spoz, Can I get a little bit of clarification, when you say what sets a cheap rod apart from an expensive rod are you talking about the rod or are you really asking about a "rod and reel combination"? When you say you want to take the wife fishing I assume you don't actually have a few spare reels sitting around to match up with a rod you want to buy for her. I'd like to make a few points which I think you should think about before you purchase anything. While others may argue with me I feel the biggest noticable difference between a cheap outfit and a better one will actually be the reel. The cheapest outfits generally have a really rough drag. From past experience you can land some surprisingly large fish if you have a smooth drag, have it set so it allows line to be taken off before the line breaking point is reached and use a "lift the rod then wind down" technique when fighting the fish. I have had beginners hooking and landing kingfish before on one of my cheap ($69) rod and reel outfits with 6lb line. The reel had and still has a smooth drag. Fibreglass rods are generally considered to be more forgiving to taking knocks than a graphite rod and will have more bend in them (I believe one of the demonstrations with the Ugly stick is to bend the tip back on itself). Graphite rods are generally more sensitive and responsive. To spread the line load across the rod I look for a reasonable amount of guides per length on the rod. A general rule I use for guides is 1 guide for every foot of rod length + one extra. On a seven foot rod I'll look for a minimum of 8 guides. Make sure that the rod and reel combo feels balanced. No use in putting a huge reel on a light rod. It won't look or feel right. Some people like a floppy tip as it is more forgiving when fighting soft mouthed fish like whiting. These days I prefer a stiffer tip as I do a lot of light soft plastic fishing but I use the same rod for bait fishing too. I get more fun out of my 2 - 4 kg outfits then probably most of my other rods combined. I can use them for fresh water or salt water. I get more hits on the light gear and while pretty well anyone can muscle a fish on overly heavy line I think it is more challenging and as a result more enjoyable managing the same on lighter gear. Another thing to consider is how many regular fisherman are likely to hook the fish of a lifetime every time they go out - the heavy gear generally does not help. Most people I see out by the water have overly heavy outfits and can't work out why they are not catching a thing while I am pulling in fish right alongside them. Hope the above helps, Regards, Derek

One of my good mates fishes with red leader material using the argument that it is the first colour that disappears underwater. Myself, I prefer to use fluorocarbon with my argument being that if it is clear and difficult to see in the air then it must be harder to see in the reduced visibility of water. Now I am well aware that due to wave length red is the first colour that gets knocked out of the visible spectrum as you get deeper. What had always puzzled me is at what point it does so and what it actually looks like at that depth. With a bit of further research it turns out that the depth at which it does so is between 15 and 30 feet (say 5 and 10m). I do some of my light soft plastics fishing in the 1 - 3 metre range so there is no benefit for using red leader material there. Out of scientific curiosity I was wondering if anyone had ever dived under water to see how red compares to clear leader material at a variety of depths. What were the results. Is the red material really not visible or does it go dark? While I would like to test this myself, due to pressure equalisation problems, I can generally only go down to 5 or 6 metres free diving. Are there any divers out there who would be able to test this? PS. I usually catch more fish but I spend more time at it and I would like to think my technique is slightly better so I can't use that as a selection criteria.

Been wanting to get out to Long reef for a long time after hearing about the big kings out there. While my boat would theoretically get out there with the low freeboard and the safety requirements it is not something I would really consider. With three mates we rented a boat a little more suited to that sort of trip last Monday (had to take it off to make it a 4 day long Australia day weekend). After collecting the boat we did a little bit of unsuccesful fishing inside the harbour before collecting our fourth fishing buddy. Made our way past North head and did a little bit of trolling with the X-rap magnums but didn't hook up. Once we had cleared North head we made more or less straight for long reef trolling a couple of skirts. First hook up was a nice bonito. Second hook up was also a bonito. Starting to look promising. Just to the south of the long reef we slowed down and put down a variety of lures. Things started to get a little interesting on the North side of Long reef when we started to hook up on "would you believe it" more bonito. We then started flicking about metals and x-rap slash baits to pick up even more. We had found the mother load. That was the story for the rest of the morning. Every time it was quiet we would troll the slash baits till they got hit and we would then flick the lures around. It was interesting watching the sounder and then estimating when we would hook up. We had a few quadruple hook ups and we had a ball. We picked up one small king. At one stage as it was getting a bit warm we thought about a quick swim over the side. About two minutes later I looked into the distance and realised there was something strange on the surface about 50m away from us. I then realised it was a small shark. Cool... but it put an end to the idea of a swim. About midday we made our way back to North head where we managed a frigate mackeral and a fair few more bonito. By the end of the day I think we hand landed about 60 bonito between us. Great fun on the lighter 10lb gear. Just wish i had had my bream rod with me. Love to try them on the 4lb gear. Great day had by all. Sorry no photos available at the moment. Derek

Was up there a few weeks ago. On the day I didn't do too well on the fishing (got my first carp on corn and my first on fly in the nearby rivers) but as the intent was to also do a bit of water skiing i had a great time. As for the fishing there was a tournament a week or so before I got up there and they landed in the region of 300 odd bass. Mostly on live yabbies. Another thing I have heard of people doing is finding the schools and dropping vibes or similar down on top of them. Saw a few people catching yellowbelly too. Talked to a friend today who lives up there and he saw a fair amount of people cleaning bass at the end of the day last weekend. So in short they are biting, especially as the weather warms up.

I suspect cuttlefish are easier to keep alive than squid. I chase both when looking for bait and put them both in the same esky and change out the water reasonably often. Even if I catch the cuttlefish before the squid I always find that the squid die on me at some point and the cuttlefish are still alive at the end of the day. Not really a problem in my case as I use the squid as strip bait and put down whole cuttlefish. I don't aerate the water so that could be a contributing factor in killing off the squid.

I think Achilles2 raises a good point about barometric pressure. I hear a lot of stories about it and have never worried about it as I figured if I wait for perfect conditions then I would rarely get out. Here is the question. Why would it put fish off the bite? I have heard of expected tide levels being different from expected due to low or high barometric pressure but in the scheme of things it would be only a few inches here and there. Air pressure is at sea level is 101.3kPa or 1 Bar which is more or less equivalent to 10m of water column. The air pressure changes of a few inches would have negligible changes on the pressure within the water column and that could be easily compensated for by the fish moving up or down very slightly in the water column to match. The sum result of air pressure changes should be negligable for the fish. Remember that most fish will move up and down through the water column throughout the day. On top of that for saltwater fishes the water pressure due to daily tidal movement would be more noticeable than the air pressure changes. I can understand temperature having a far greater effect on the feeding patterns of fish. Thinking about it now it may be that the pressure changes and the related movement of the water body may affects the thermocline in the water and it is the related temperature fluctuations that put the fish off their food. The other possible reason for putting fish off their food is the wind resulting from air moving from a high pressure zone to a low pressure zone havng a turn over effect on the water bodies. Does anyone have a theory on why the pressure changes put the fish off?

Hi again Boofhead, There is another reason for the odometer distance to be out from the GPS information. The odometer measures the distance your wheels travel whereas the GPS may take a best fit approach. To explain further, when Payatz did the test distance if he swerved from side to side his car may have travelled more distance than the point to point distance of the test trip. When you did your test I suspect it was not a dead straight road. The GPS may take a location say every 2 seconds and it may join the dots in a straight line and work out the distance. The small diferences may add up over time. When commercial GPS units came out I understand there was a deliberate error included in them so that they could not be used for military purposes. Depending on how big these tolerances are these days the total of the deliberate errors could add up. Having said that I would still trust a GPS over the instumentation in the car. Regards, Derek

Hi Boofhead, I took the theoretical route and made the assumption that the timer in the spedometer was working correctly which was the best that I could do at the time. You wondered why your test results were out. The velocity (speed) is a function of distance divided by time. I explained why the distance could be out which explains the problem with the odometer. The other variable time is probably a result of the timer in the instrumentation being not quite as precise as you would like. I suspect they don't have quartz movement or an atomic clock in the spedometer. I must say that I am impressed that you took the time to test out a theory and then reported your findings. You have the makings of a scientist. Whereas I am only an engineer (would you have guessed?). For Payatz to test it properly he would need to also time the trip with a reliable stopwatch and then have the velocity consistent through the trip. 60km per hour would be a good speed (1 km each minute, thus 5km = five minutes). Alternatively he could do as you did and use a GPS and skip the whole calculations business. Derek

I just want to make sure that I understand the facts first. If I read your statement correctly then: You travelled a set distance of 5000m. When you completed it your odometer stated you had covered 4700m (i.e. 300m short). If this is the case then: When your odometer reads 5000m you have covered an actual distance of 5319m. (5000m / 4700m x 5000m = 5319m) Or to put it non mathamatical terms. The odometer is linked to the revolutions and diameter of the wheel but in this case each revolution of the wheel takes you a little bit further than it should have been calibrated for. This will affect the speed of the car in a similar way. The speedometer is using the same distance data and (assuming the timing function is working properly) while you may read 100km per hour because each revolution of the wheel is taking you a little further than it was calibrated for you are actually going further and thus faster than you think. How much? The correction factor is: 5319m (actual distance) / 5000m (distance on odometer) = 1.0638 Thus 100km per hour on spedometer = 100km per hour x 1.0638 = 106.38 km per hour actual. So at 100km per hour on the dial you are speeding. One possible cause of this problem is that at some stage someone put some larger diameter wheels on the car than it came with originally.

I've found the problem with getting more expensive jigs like the Yo-Zuri's is that I get kind of attached to them. It is that bad that I have gone free diving for at least three of them when I lost them. Got two of them back though. Was far quicker and cheaper than a trip back to the shop. I find in Sydney harbour a size 2.5 in pink or orange is a good all round lure. I have also done very well with a green yo-zuri in 3.0. Gets some really good casting distance. With the 1.8gm Yamashita's try tying one on to a 60cm 10lb leader and then have a small ball sinker on the other end of the leader and a small swivel. The ball sinker helps it get down to the bottom quicker and then the 60cm line allows the slow sink rate of the squid jig to take over for the last 30cm or so.

I believe that it was on the Tropfest DVD with the theme 8 from a few years back.

One more thing. When I have my working length of line worked out I pull the full length of line through my fingers. The friction and heat straightens the line and it minimises tangles when you dump the line at your feet as you pull your fish up and it makes casting a bit easier.

If I want the bait to look like it is drifting down the column I shift the sinker away from the hook so the weight gets the bait down quickly but then the longer line lets it drift once it is at the right depth. If I want a better feel for when they hit the bait then I move the sinker closer to the bait. Sometimes we do better on smaller pieces of mince as they can take it in one bite. You can also seed the area with a few peices of mince before you put your bait down. They will hit it harder. Sometimes I will put the mince ball in a ziplock bag with some flour. It coats the mince so it stays a bit better on the hook and acts as a secondary burley. Try different hook sizes till you find one that works for you. Once you get the hang of it it becomes rather easy and it becomes fun chasing the bait. We actually had a kingfish hit one of our handlines while we were going for yellowtail. Obviously didn't land that one. Just watch out for "happy moments" (also referred to as the black trevally and I think rabbitfish) which we sometimes catch when chasing yellowtail.

I have found that I struggled with bait jigs in your more heavily fished bait locations such as jetties. In areas such as those I switch back to the tried and tested bait of mince. I use a 4 to 6lb mono or fluorcarbon. A small hook (about 14 or 12 or a bit larger) and a split shot sinker which I can run up and down the line to suit the conditions. The good thing about the mince is that you can bury the hook in it but as it is soft when they bite down on it the hook is easily exposed. You can also use the same mince to burley the fish up. It is cheap too. The problem with mince is that in this health concious climate we live in I have trouble finding the coarse grade (covers the hooks better) slightly fatty mince I prefer. I buy a few dollars worth of the hamburger mince and roll it up into golfball sized clumps and freeze them individually. One clump is usually more than sufficent for most expeditions. I have the line on a small cork holder which I can then fit in my pocket once I have sufficient line out and this stops me getting tangled up all the time. You fish it by sight and feel. Once hooked you pull them in as fast as reasonably possible. It might not seem as effective as having 6 hooks out but consider that you spend 6 times as long baiting up for that one fish that might shake all the other 5 baits off the jig (unless you use squid or fish skin).

Thanks for that HottyScotty. Coincidently I went to my local tackleshop that afternoon and mentioned it to them and believe it or not just that afternoon someone had come in and demonstrated the knot in your link to the guys in the shop. I looked at it and recognized it straight away. It seems it has turned up in one of the recent fishing magazines.

I have a chance to go out to 12 mile reef and Browns this weekend and I want to set the gear up so I give myself and the people I am with the best chance to land some of the big fish I hear that are being caught out there. Most of the gear is 15kg mono but I will be bringing my 50lb braid outfit too. For my light fishing I use the uni to uni knot which is easy to do and has served me well over the years but since the fish out there are going to really be pushing the gear I am changing my method for this trip. I have Geoff Wilson's book on knots and rigs and I plan to plait a double in the mono outfits and use the Tony Jones knot recommended in the book to join the fluorocarbon leader to the double. From what I have read this is the best way to retain full strength in the mono and as the Fluorcarbon is 80lb I can afford the loss in knot strength there. I was thinking of tieing the leader to the hook using the uni knot unless there is a knot which retains better strength. My usual preferred method for joining the braid to the leader is to tie the braid to a heavy duty swivel with a triple palomar and then running the leader from the swivel. The triple palomar should retain close to 100% of the braid line strength. This time however I want to be able to wind the leader up through the runners and I won't be doing that with a swivel and at this stage I don't feel like getting into wind on leaders. The book mentions (and I can do) the bimini twist but I have heard there is still some loss in knot strength in the braid. The book does not mention plaiting a double from braid (superlines). I want to know if anyone has bothered plaiting a double with braid and what their experience with it is? Alternatively which joining knots would they recommend which can be wound through the runners and which will still retain most of the line strengths.

Just above the eyes and just behind where the tentacles meet the head.

I would agree on the above choice of line strengths but would suggest a different viewpoint on the leader length. Personally I'd suggest a leader of 60 to 80cm for two reasons. Firstly with a shorter leader you don't have the joining knot passing through the runners (yet you still have enough length to change out lures a fair few times). The second and more important problem with the longer leader is that when you snag up in a snaggy area most times the line will break at the joining knot when you try and get it back. You essentially loose 2m of leader material everytime you snag up. While I have no problems paying for another roll of Fluorocarbon leader I don't want to get a replacement roll twice as often. You can try both leader lengths and see what works best for you. Also depends on how often you are likely to get snagged up. I use Crystal Fireline in 4lb so I don't worry so much about the fish seeing my mainline with the shorter leader.