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Thanks mate. If it makes you feel better I was at the home office by 1145.....👍

Couple of photos. Was a spectacular morning.

Headed out with @The Revand @ReelEm to chase dollies out of Sydney. Day started well with livies plentiful in the harbour and a truly glorious sunrise. Once we had a tank full we took off straight to the FAD. Based on the people arriving at the livey spot we thought we were likely ahead of the masses as we headed out. And it was true, we arrived at the FAD just as another boat arrived from the south but otherwise empty! The current was ridiculous......ripping at over 2 knots. However, on the first drift we had a triple hook on the unweighted livies. All were between 40-59.99 cm so nothing for the bin. We proceeded to catch a fish or two every drift and also deployed a nice white diving lure on the way back up current. It caught a fish every pass. Overall we caught around 12+ fish but unfortunately no dinner. Great fun though. We did spot a couple of bigger models but no dice getting them to take our offerings. Once the action died down we trolled around a bit for a stripey and a bonnie (dinner). Heading back the wind had picked up considerably offshore (we were 11nm out) hence it made for a bumpy and wet ride home. Arrived back in the harbour around 11am to beautiful conditions and a very easy demobe. Great way to start a Friday. No photos as nothing particularly special to show! Cheers D

Jaysus! Well done.

What a trip mate. Epic.

Crushing it Bob!

Gurnard are delicious! You get beautiful fillets off them.

Great report mate. Perfect mixed bag!

Hey Raiders, Headed out this morning with a good mate who is out from the UK. Plan was drag a few lures around the FADs and catch lunch for Australia Day. Got to the ramp at 515 and headed out in absolute glass. Sooooo good. Put a spread of 3 lures in around Old Mans Hat and trolled around to Bluefish looking for bonnies....no dice. Headed out to the FAD and Wave Rider and picked up a few micro dollies. Fun but nothing keepable. Headed south to some new flatty grounds. In 2 hours picked up 9 flatty keepers and a beast carrot. Stoked! Only downside was getting stung by blue bottle tentacles that one of the rigs picked up.....be careful as it looked just like blue braid..... All in all just a cracking day on the water. Happy days. Cheers D.

Nice!

WOW. What a morning! Congrats mate. How did you process the marlin?

Brilliant report mate. I have only done it a couple of times but I love fishing in the Basin. You always feel like you are in with a chance of a nice lizard. Looks like you got some absolute crackers! Well done.

Great work. I really need to get off my butt and do some land-based fishing on the beaches...................

Thanks Bob - thankfully my lovely wife and my youngest absolutely love them. We are pretty lucky to be able to go and catch such a delicious species. I try and tell the family the fillets pay for the boat......but we all know that is not true!

Nice work Rob. Sweet sweet whiting!

Yep - one was a marbled flattie. Different flesh which was interesting!

Hey Raiders, Headed out from Roseville on Sunday morning with @REELCRAZY. Thought I was in the twilight zone as the ramp was empty at 7am....very strange. Anyhow, plan was for a harbour kings session but thought we would poke the nose out and see what conditions were like offshore first. Livies were hard to tempt. Millions of them but they were well fed and timid. Took more time than it should have to get 10 or so.......not a great start. Took a peak out of of south head. It was blowing and rubbish but we wanted to test out a new spot and decided to head out anyhow. No safety concerns just a bit wet heading south into the chop. Got to the area we wanted to test and deployed the drogue. Before Ev could even get in the water I pulled up a 54cm flattie. It was the start of a good session with the drogue critical to getting to the bottom. Did 3 drifts for 9 fish in the eski with 4 over 55cm and one right at 60cm. Threw back a handful of fish that were legal but not worth keeping. Pumped with the larger specimens. As is often the case the good flathead fishing meant we only had an hour left to chase kings. Hit up one of the shallow harbour reefs (10m) where fish had been caught recently. Within 5 minutes got absolutely smoked and busted off before we really knew was was going on. 15 minutes later pulled the hook on another..... that was it though the sounder was showing bait and kings marauding. Cruised back to Roseville pretty content with the day's activities. Cheers D. NB the fish being held has been ickied and cooled before the photo was taken

"Northern Console" - Black 5m CC with a T Top. 70hp Suzuki.

Sounds like the plan is set for the next adventure mate. We got dusted in shallow water on the weekend so feel your pain! Nice report. What rig are you in? I will say hello if I see you in Middle Harbour. Cheers D

Cheer Neil - it has been a good period that is for sure. Just got to find something to prevent my eldest getting horrifically seasick!

It is a recipe we use for salmon. Mustard, honey, salt, paprika. Works really well. Then smoked on the bbq using coals and mixed smoking chips.

Hey Raiders, been on a few trips lately with mixed, but overall good success. Trips as follows: 22nd December Headed out late arvo off Barrenjoey to seek out a few flatties. Conditions were not great. Decent wind and plenty of chop made for an uncomfortable trip and some apprehension from the crew (my two sons and my 15 year old nephew. Nothing dangerous by any means, just not great. Stopped off at the 40m (which I generally find disappointing, though @Picklesalways seems to clean up at this depth) and was rewarded with a couple of throwbacks. I decided to push on to the 50 and first drop my littlest (7) pulls in a double (one at 40cm and one at 47cm). Decision vindicated. Conditions were still tough even with the drogue. We fished for about an hour until two of the crew were green and we pulled up stumps. Boated 6 nice keepers all in the 40s. Cruised back through an empty Pittwater which is always great. One of the pics below shows the cleaning setup. Burely, cat nibbles, baits for next time and fillets. No waste. Xmas Eve Headed into the harbour to chase kings, with intel from a few Raiders that there were a few about. Picked up livies easy and then started cruising around the various markers and reefs. It wasn't hot fishing by any means but we caught two legal fish (and interestingly no undersized rats), one on a fresh squid strip and one on a yakka. One fish was demolished as fish and chips on Xmas Eve and the other smoked for Xmas lunch. 29th December Standard afternoon trip to the 50m off Barrenjoey. Again pretty sloppy on the way out and again ended up with a sick crew (sorry Md). The fishing however was unbelievable with fish after fish coming aboard. In about 2.5 hours we boated over 25 fish with the majority in the 40s and 3 approaching 55cm. We ended up throwing decent keepers back as there was no need to keep any more. Provided excellent fish and chips and then tempters for NY. We initially used the flathead rib cages from the fish caught above and then whole or half pillies. I finally took pity on the crew and called it just when the wind dropped and the conditions became dreamy. The fishing was still hot too but hey, the fish will be there next time so all good! New Years' Eve Essentially tried to implement the same plan as Xmas Eve but we headed up to Longie first as the conditions were pretty good. Livies were easy again, other fish were not. After fishing Longie and then the harbour we ended up with one tiny tiny rat (literally the smallest I have ever seen) and one story about the one that got away having lost a good one at The Colours. Very disappointing, but thankfully we had plenty of flatties for NY tempters from the trip on the 29th. Not sure if others are seeing consistent kingie catches in the harbour yet? I hope everyone has had a safe Xmas period and caught a few along the way. Was hoping to get out today/tomorrow but the wind is not friendly! Cheers D

What a stunning fish. Amazing colouration. Great work.

Great report mate.