dobson_c

Awesalmon!

I fished (with the GF at the time) from Phi Phi in '98 off a local longtail boat (basically a canoe with a small portable motor & long shaft to prop). We hired a guide/charter from the main part of phi phi 'town'. Off to the livebait grounds with a sabiki. We got a few in the bucket and cruised to the main fishing area. I recall that we used overhead reels and drifted two livebaits under floats out back. The first one goes off and we haul a barracuda aboard. Nothing much happens for a while, but then we start seeing a couple of sailfish leaping out of the water. To add to the anxiety, a huge grey afternoon storm front is fast approaching. We get a hit, the guide grabs the rod to set the hooks and passes the rod to me. The GF also liked to fish and given I'd hogged the first fish, I passed the rod to her. Sure enough, we were onto one of the sailfish! It was a great fight and made all the more difficult by being in a 'canoe' and getting absolutely drenched by the storm! It was so dark, we couldn't see the fish jumping in the distance. But like most tropical storms, it left as quickly as it came and the final part of the fight was in clearish weather. We got the fish to the side of the longtail and it was the first time I'd ever seen a live beakie. I still remember how beautiful it was with its electric blues and vibrant purples. All 35kgs of it were amazing, I'd fished all my life and never seen anything like it. But we were in Thailand. Phi Phi doesn't have a Coles or Woolies, people don't enjoy the wealth and comforts of us in Aus. So the fish was gaffed, clubbed and dragged into the boat. I can still remember seeing it lying there dead between the GF and me along the length of the boat. It still had the new fish glow and was even more amazing now that we could see the whole thing. In a moment were we should of had complete joy, we were feeling a little sad! But we also knew that the captain had to feed his family and that along with our charter fees, the sale of this fish in the local market would make it a good day for him. All that said, the fishing experience was so great that I'd probably do it again! However, next time I'd ask about catch and release for beakies and perhaps come to some deal with the captain that would allow us to let her go. So back in '98 the fishing was great! I'm not sure what it's like now, but the experience of heading out with a local in their grounds in a traditional boat was fantastic. I hope that helps! SG

Hi all, Thanks for the positive responses and practical, logical advice. Can't wait to get back out there and give it another go soon! Cheers, SG

Haha - funny story, love the irony in it. I was fishing with a mate in the Harbour and he had a live mullet out on a Stradic 4000 / Snapper Raider combo. He'd rested his rod up against the wall to fish his other rod. We see it take off and fly through the air about 5metres into the water and like a submarine for the next 40m or so. Was one of the funniest things I've seen. He wasn't too happy though We guessed it for a kingy He didn't get his back

G'day all, Just thought I'd post a message from a newbie YFT devotee. We headed out of Sydney on Saturday around 7am with beautiful conditions, 10 or so yakkas, 14kg of pillies and 400lt of fuel in our Grady-White 228. Along with the rest of Sydney, we pointed the bow at Browns Mountain and got out there in about an hour and 15 minutes. At one point I counted 25 boats on the mountain - it was busy! All the talk during the week was of fin SE of Browns so we trolled in that direction for about 5 miles for not much and then looped back to Browns in an easterly direction. We trolled hydro magnums and bibless lures and didn't turn a reel. Back to Browns we started cubing and drifted a live yakka under a party balloon out back. After about 40 mins we had a hit and reeled in a nice stripey. Continued cubing and live baiting and drifted south until about 2:30pm where we pulled up stumps. We were now 7 miles from Browns and 26.5nm from the Heads we had nothing to show for it! It was a beautiful cruise back to the Heads at between 22 & 24kts and stopping occassionaly to take in the whale migration and to play with the dolphins. A couple of observations / questions: - What's the general VHF chit-chat channel most people use while out-wide? - We subscribe to the SST charts and haven't really found much value in them to date. Main reason is that if it's cloudy, they don't work and Sydney is cloudy very frequently. Not sure we'll be re-newing the membership. If the charts had worked on the Friday, we would have seen that the temp break was north rather than south of Browns! As it was, we headed out 'blind' and travelled SE as was suggested throughout the week - I asked the guy at the fishing shop how many kg's of cubes we'd need. He said he sometimes goes through 30kg!. We didn't get close to using our 14kg, I would suggest 8 or 10kg is about right for a session like ours (reasonably early start (at the ramp at 6am), pillies cut into 3rds, a bit of a troll and back through the heads around 4:30pm). - We used 100lt of fuel for the day. What do other people use? Our boat is 23+ ft with 200Hp - (which we are looking to sell by the way if anyone is interested!) - Did anyone have any luck on Saturday? I saw Reef Magic tangled with a blue shark and an awesome 60Kg fin - nice work! - For cubing we used a 24kg rig with a plaited double, Sampo style snap swivel, 1.5m 80lb leader and 8/0 J hook. The rig seemed to sink a lot faster than the cubes - anyone have any thoughts on the keeping a rig like this in the cube trail? - Water was about 21.9 degrees. Not sure if this is good or bad? - We had a new moon on Sat. Ross Hunter reckons the week before the full is the best (http://www.fishraider.com.au/fishing-articles/how-to-catch-tuna.php). Next new is on the 15th of this month - let's hope there's some good weather around from the 8th/9th of July! That's about it, even though we didn't catch much, I thought I'd share our experiences. Hope some others had more luck than us - it was a beautiful day out there and loved getting out wide to the infamous Browns for the first time! Cheers SG

Once again, superb fish. I've been looking at the posts on my iPhone so it's hard to make out the detail. Bummer they weren't off Sydney as I've been looking for some end of Harbour season inspiration! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome kings, great work. Off which area are you fishing? I guess I'm just wondering if this was off Sydney or not. Cheers

Great report. Entertaining with some tips thrown in for good measure!

Hi aqua monster. No, it was my first time down there actually! I fish out of Sydney. I bought an ocean going Grady White 228 to take me to Browns about 2 years ago, but the Tuna run off Sydney in that time has been rubbish! Now I have to sell the beautiful boat, so probably no offshore tuna runs for me at all Doh. Hope you get some down there. I've read the Stripies are thick down there at moment which is meant to be a good sign for the season - apparently the stripies make a good meal for the YFT!! Cheers Sand Grouper

No news of tuna from me, but i was down that way over Easter & there were some monster kings around. I saw one from Merimbula wharf that was about 1.2m and there were many reports from different sources of 1.3m kings everywhere. Poppers where the go!

Nice work mate. Perhaps that's the one in your profile pic a little more grown up?

Top fish. You'll remember her for a while and well done on letting her go. A croc that size must release 100's of 1000's of eggs a year. Great stuff.

Great catch and even better post. Thanks for sharing!

Ladies & Gents, I've heard that the council has erected parking restriction signs on Old South Head Rd near the lighthouse. Supposedly the restrictions are on wednesday and saturday. If you have a boat there, best to check it out before the revenue raises raid your wallet! Cheers

Ask the guys at Global Tackle for one of these (http://www.jarviswalker.com.au/tangle-free-salmon-rig.html), they should be able to help.

Wow, fantastic. Equal 2nd place on the FR Flathead Lure records. Congrats on letting her go.

A great report - well done. Just on the GPS issue, if you have an iPhone with a GPS, download the navionics maps from the app store for $15. Best $15 I ever spent and a great backup incase the boat's GPS dies. The app has full high-quality maps of all Australian Coastal waterways.

Yes, she's a reef. Sometimes looks like a carpark too. Its reasonably sized, so there are probably tonnes of marks for it. The God Google should help - sorry my boat (& GPS) is a at the marina. From memory it comes up to about 430ft deep.

I've fished there too - highly recommended. Its a stunning location and the fishing is just a few kms from the boat ramp. Almost all the fishing is on the troll. There's limited cubing as the seals like to eat the cubes! Tassie is great too if you've never been. The action can be hectic with the seals so be prepared to get smashed. They aren't afraid to gobble down any hooked tuna and smash it to pieces on the surface for dinner. I wish the Spirit of Tasmania still left from Sydney! Here's pic of one eating my 35 / 40 kg tuna

Stunning fish. Well done for venturing out.

Simply awesome. Would have love to have heard the drag peeling off the reels and the shouts of amazement as the beasts surfaced from the deep. Well done!

What a beast. Its time you bought on these for the boat! Click Here

Welcome back!! Glad to see you're on FR. It must mean you are progressing well. Look after yourself, I bet you can't wait to wet a line with your lifesaving man

Well done. Its shows that effort and thinking outside the square is required to catch fish!

Is that possibly the largest King reported this season on FR in the NSW region? It would be very very close - a monster