cheezndave

Morning, Does anyone know if the peak of 12 mile are holding kings as yet. I am planning to go out this weekend for a jig. I dont want to be wasting my time, especially if the fish arent around. Regards, Dave

All fish were caught on the troll. I was able to keep the baits down a couple of metres via the poor mans downrigger. The average water depth was about 10m. We did get 1 or 2 snags when coming a bit too close to the rocks and into 5m water depth but thats the risk you take when downrigging unless you know where the shallow sections are. Trolling speed - 2 knots (2.5 max), i know its slow but its the only way to keep the yakka alive and swimming naturally through the water. We didnt stop and anchor or drift as we were pretty close to the rocks. Regards, Dave

I guess you could say downrigging, but with the poor mans downrigger. Snapper sinker onto an elastic band, onto the main line. It did the job. I also want to add that none of the squid got touched whilst on the troll, the preferred bait was the yakka. Worked a treat. Cheers, Dave

Decided to go for an early session yesterday morning with my mate Ben. Launched at Rose Bay (2nd time i've launched there and i think it's the crappest boatramp, especially compared to the ones around botany bay). Loaded up with about 10 live squid straight up and then headed to middle head for some yakka's. Managed to get half dozen yakka's and thought that should be enough considering i have plently of live squid. Anyways trolled 1st location with 1 x live squid & 1 x live yakka - NOTHING Then decided to try Longreef, trolled some skirts and teasers up there - NOTHING Messed around at longreef for a bit whilst on the drift - NOTHING Jetted back to Syd harbour and tried 2nd spot. 1st troll and bang, the yakka gets nailed. After a solid 5min fight and the TLD30 getting a good workout, i land this monster - 98cm Kingy 2nd troll and bang, the yakka goes off again. Bens turn to bring him in - 60cm Bonito 3rd troll we decide to troll 2 yakkas in lieu of the 1. And again bang, this time double hook up, Fortunately Ben was successful in bringing to the boat a 70cm king, my fish spat the hook. (sorry no pics) 4th troll and final yakka in the tank deployed - Bang, TLD goes off yet again. Ben lands another good size king around the 1m mark (between 8-10 kgs). See you guys out there next weekend, hopefully our special little spot will give me something to write about again. Cheers, Dave

Hey mate, I trolled north head majority of the day with live yakkas. Hooked a king approx 1m in length but lost him at the surface when he went for one final run and braid was cut via the prop. Hooked another smaller king (55cm) right on north head and let him go. Tried out colours reef but couldnt find any activity on the sounder. Other boats around us were struggling as well. Finished of the day fishing the wedding cake marker and had a bit of fun with some undersize snapper. Average size approx 25cm. Struggled to make it back to the ramp with all those sail boats out and about tearing up the harbour. Regards, Dave

I'm spending the new years break at coffs harbour and am considering taking the cruisecraft down for the ride. Can anyone provide me with some GPS marks for catching livies and also some offshore/ inshore marks for catching pelagics such as kings, makerals, marlin, tuna, cobia, dollies etc etc. Alternatively can anyone reference a website which may have the above GPS coordinates. I'd greatly appreciate any positive feedback. cheers, Dave

Took the Cruisecraft for a spin on Monday with mates Ben & Pat. The plan was to get a couple of yakkas and hit the 12 mile for jig whilst at the same time have some livies down below. On the way out past Botany heads, noticed alot of bird activity. My mate Ben suggested we troll some lures and before you know it the TLD30 goes off. 5kg Striped Tuna. For the next hour we landed 4 and lost half a dozen. We then decided to move onto the jigging grounds. After about an hour with no hits and with other boats around us struggling as well, we decided to head back. As we were passing the peak on our journey back, we noticed some surface activity. So out went the lures again and supprisingly another 2 x stripies landed. We came back into the Bay for a fish and managed a 42cm flathead, plus 3 x port jackson sharks which were obviously released. Made it out of the water just before the storm hit.

Average Depth - 120m, and approx 20kms offshore

Hey mate, i was out there between 9am & 2pm approximately. Decided to go to 12mile because i knew if the jigging wasnt working, than at least we could bottom bounce. Did a couple of drifts over the peak on my run back in but unfortunately no hits. Regards, Dave

Additional Pic Addition Pic 2

Jigged the 12 mile yesterday and managed 5 x kings, 1 x bonito, and 1 x morwong. Also caught 2 x undersize kings which were thrown back and another 3 larger kings were lost during battle. Size ranged between 65cm & 80cm. Supprisingly the jig of the day was 400g pink/lumo knife jig. The 2nd largest king was caught via a squid twin hooked and sitting near the bottom via a patternoster type rig. Overall not a bad days fishing especially considering its only the 2nd time we've been out jigging. This is my mates fish and was the biggest of the day. Approx 80cm.

Jeff, Refer to the following link: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recrea...al-reefs/botany GPS coordinates are available if you click on the icons. If you dont have a GPS on the boat then you can try and get yellowtail at any wharf or jetti or any reef or structure that you may be aware of. Use your sounder/ fishfinder whilst tracking over reefs etc... and in most circumstances school of yellowtail should come up on the sounder. Hope this helps. Regards, Dave I forgot to mention that the important thing to do is remain patient. Burley up with heaps of bread and it helps to throw some pilchards into the burley mix aswell. Regards, Dave

Hey mate, Thanks for the compliment. To be honest, i fished all through summer in the same vicinity and struggled to match the catch which was achieved on the weekend. All the snapper were caught using pilchards, and the trevally prefered the prawns. Yellowtail are reserved for the kingy's. Dave

EASTER SATURDAY 11/04/09 Got a late phonecall from the father-in-law 9.30am Saturday morning asking me to go out for a fish. Hour and a half later we were on the water (Botany Bay). Headed straight for the live bait spot, and within 1/2 hour, we had a dozen or so yakkas. Target species for the day were kingy's and snapper. 1st hit was the father-in-laws baitrunner 6500. After locking it into gear the hook pulled and the fish was gone. Unfortunately the drag was set to tight. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes. 2nd hit was the father-in-laws baitrunner 6500 AGAIN. After a minor fight, a rat king was pulled onboard. The ruler read 60cm so back she went. 3rd hit and finally my shimano charter special starts screaming the famous zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Initially the kingy must have stripped 100-150m of line before he tired. After a short fight a fat healthy king surfaces. Got him onboard and the ruler read 66cm. Finally one for the dinner table. Overall it wasnt a bad day. Finished up with 1 kingy, 1 flatty, 4 snapper, and 3 trevally. EASTER MONDAY 13/04/09 Organised to go out early with my mate James who was in search of the holy grail, his first kingfish. Hit the live bait grounds 1st in search of some yakkas. Whilst i was doing all the prep work. James was busy with his new estuary combo trying to land a snapper or two. I managed to pull in 1/2 dozen yakkas and James was lucky enough to land a 36cm snapper and a good size trevally. Finally James let me relocate the boat to deeper water (kingy territory) and we sent the yakkas down and kept fishing for spapper. After about an hour, James' kingy combo buckles and the rod starts screaming. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. The guy was that excited that he starts high fiveing me before he's even pulled the fish in. I said "relax, just back the drag off and take it easy". Thankfully he listened to me and after a lengthy fight, he lands his first kingfish. Straight onto the ruler and smack bang on 65cm. He was over the moon. Unfortunately there were no more kingy hits but we still still managed to land a good mixed bag of snapper & trevally. Overall i was happy with the fishing over the weekend. Good to see some legal snapper in the bay. Regards, Dave

Unfortunately only had the work mobile, crappy camera on it. By the time i got home i was going to take a photo but the fish had lost all their colour and appeal. They almost turned grey in colour. Next time i'll ensure i take my digital camera.