leatherjacket

It's something you have to accept when you go Kayak fishing. Most sharks are not interested in mammals. I've caught a 2 meter Hammerhead from my yak and had a 3 meter Dusky Waler breach the surface ten meters away. It's a two edge sword - you get close to nature without a engine and can experience catching big fish from a small vessel. But sometimes too close to nature.

Great work Meg! Good to see you out at the Fad and we enjoyed watching you catch that giant cow! The only one of the day I think... Cheers, Andrew

A mate and had both been looking forward to going fishing today since the forecast on Monday. We headed out from the boat at about 5:30am and went around the back of Scotland Island after yakkas to no avail.... Then we went to West Head and buried with bread and tuna oil - same result ;-( We only caught sweep and pinkies. Can you use sweep as live bait? Does anyone know where at West Head is the best spot to anchor? We were just in front of the WW2 bunkers. At 7:30 we reluctantly headed out to the North Syd FAD without livies to troll the warm waters that were still flowing south.... It took us an hour to get out there. When we arrived at the FAD there was 70+cm Mahi Mahi jumping out of the water everywhere. There was only one boat out there and they were hooked up when we arrived! :-) We threw a few unweighted pillies out but had no interest and the fish had gone down. After half an hour another four boats arrived, so we put a spread out and headed north towards the Terrigal FAD and into the cobalt blue 24degeee water! That was when we had a double hook up on Stripies! They were a bit of fun but they managed to tangle all the lines while doing circles of the boat but we managed to gaff the both of them and undo the tangle... After that mayhem I had one more bite, but it dropped my Rapalla 20. Even though I had changed the trebles to some wickedly sharp owner ones.... My other lures include a cupped skirt and a long nose bullet style. Does anyone know what type is best for tuna? I had some fresh sushi tonight and looking forward to trying some cutlets on the bbq tomorrow lunch. Cheers, Andrew

Sure James, It's a #10 sinker onto a swivel with a meter leader with a 6/0 hook at the end. The #10 sinker will get your bait down deep and keep it there if you're trolling very slowly. Cheers,

On Thursday I went off shore with my fishing buddy in his 4.4 Haines Hunter and 60hp Honda Four Stroke (50hrs). The conditions were excellent with 1 meter waves, 0.5 swell, sunshine and a warm breeze of 10 -15 knots. We loaded up with 20 yakkas and headed out to the Syd FAD then set a spread and kept going past the wave rider and towards the North Sydney FAD in 100 meter water. Lots of small Mahi Mahi everywhere, so we put out the bigger skirts and deep divers. The temperature changed from 22.8 to 23.2 as we headed north and my fishing mate landed a 75cm Mahi while I lost a 80cm one at the boat. In the end we decided to keep a couple of 60cm fish to eat whole after throwing most of them back.... We had never done it before and soon realised how long it takes to travel 20 nautical miles.... With a faulty fuel gauge (loose connection) and after three hours trowelling we decided it was best to go inshore after traveling 3/4 of the distance. Even though we had a 15ltr reserve in a jerry can. We went past Longie on the way back and set up a couple of poor man down riggers and drove into the north west wind then drifted back over the wall to land a 75cm kingie before heading home. When we got back we still had a quarter tank of fuel left. All in all a great day but next time the weather allows we will go to the North Sydney FAD via Broken Water. Cheers, Andrew

Fished Sydney harbour today due to the large swells. Picked up this nice squid (about 50cm) and went hunting for a Kingie on the downrigger to no avail. But not a bad bobby prize . Salt and Pepper on the BBQ!

Well done mate, nice fish!

Thanks guys. I ended up chucking the frame in Narrabeen Lake without checking if it had pink teeth. It had dark large spots when I caught it but looked very kelpy all over by the time I got to land. I caught it in 20ft of water while trawling squid for Kingies so I think it could be a Samson and thank you all for your comments! Cheers, Andrew

!They taste good! They are like Cobia with white flakey and sweet flesh when barbequed.

I couldn't wait to get out in my Hobie Kayak this morning! Two weeks ago I caught a dozen calamari off Barrenjoey headland and they had been sitting in the freezer waiting for a calm day that I could go off shore. The squid were vacuumed sealed but were still going a bit brown with freezer burn.... The last time I came to Longie it was winter and I bought my snapper gear - that was like going to a gun fight with a knife! This time I set up two heavy rods - one with 50lb line and 100lb leader for the downrigger (targeting kingfish this time) and the other with 30lb braid and 60lb leader with a 5oz sinker to target the top of the water column and shallow reef on the way out. Normally I just take the one rod with 50lb line if I have fresh or live bait and rig up when I get to the drop off / ridge. But today I took a second rod so I didn't have to re-rig and to fish the shallow reef on the way out.... At the boat ramp - 9am three guys were coming back in with a snapper - WTF! When I launched at fisherman's beach it looked like it was still two meter swells. Which is quite a task if you are a kayak fisherman and it has everything to do with timing the waves.... Past the breakers and inshore reef I finally rigged up started trawling with my 30lb line and immediately (I mean two minutes) hooked into a solid fish. The line way screaming off so I tightened the drag as much as I dared. My first thoughts was a good kingie, then a giant Snapper. I mean these things go hard!! I could feel the head knocks and powerful runs! I had to use every bit of my patience to get the stubborn thing to the surface. It kept going under my yak and from left to right. I finally got it, but I'm still not sure if it is a Samson fish or a Amberjack? Ether way it is a first for me;-) It was a beautiful fish and it gave a good fight! We'll cook it on the bbq/ sushi tonight, nothing will be wasted and even the frame & head will go in my crab pot. Cheers, Andrew

That's a quality fish to get in close! Nice job and congrats!!!!

Well done buddy! Interesting to hear it took on a whole pike. Cheers, Andrew

Never seen those in the hbr before... What line and hooks were you using? Nice catch! Do they taste good?

good feed boys!

Noice fish on lightgear! well done mate!!!

looks like dart fish!

That will feed thefamily.

Nice Cobia mate... Very nice eating on the BBQ! I caught one last month, I don't know why but they seem to appear in the cooler months... Yum, Yum!

Nice fish mate - a very solid hodlem! WEll done!

Nice feed their bud, good to see the kings are back as I found it hard to get them over summer due to all the rain and fresh in the system... Well done!

Enjoy your new yak, they are great fun and keep you fit!

They are a great feed mate!!! Very tasty and the 12.5kg of meat lasted us a week, but I'm not sick of eating it and I'd still order Cobia if I saw it on a menu;) I wonder why they are not sold in the fish markets? Cheers, AC

Hi Fishraiders, I was launching my Yak at Ackoona Bay, South West Rocks and helped a local guy get his boat off the beach, who had beached his center consol to park his car. He thanked me and went out around the break wall and I followed him slowly in my yak... The forcast was for a cloudy day, 5 knot winds and 2 meter swell. There was not a cloud in the sky and when I rounded the break wall there was a stiff 15knot breaze and 4 meter swells!! The bait spot in front of the Gaol was looking dodgy with breaking waves but I decided to give it a go and rigged my bait jig so I had it at the ready. I cruised in with one eye on the GPS and the other on the swells. I got to the spot and dropped the bait jig, no sooner I saw two swells coming my direction and locked off the bail arm and started peddling towards them. Got over the first and heard the wave breaking behind me, over the second and I was in the clear... Then I realized my bait jig was full I pulled it up only to realise it was fulled with dart fish I resigned myself to the fact that that I would be fishing with lures, not live bait. I put a shallow diving Halco on the surface and my favourate deep dive Slimmy Mac Rapala on my downrigger (which I had upgraded the trebles with 3/0 Owner hooks). Then I started to work up and down a bank that rises from 80ft to 50ft... Then I saw the guy I meet at the boat ramp and decided to get some local knowledge about any other bait grounds, he said he was on top of a school of Yakkas so I went to investigate and my rod buckled and screamed ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz The fish went straight to the bottom and sat directly below the yak making it very hard to get its head up. At this stage I thought it was a ray or shark but I was going to play the fish to be sure and I paddled forward to plain it up and this worked well - I got it all the way up to the wind on leader until it went straight back to the bottom. I resisted tightning the drag at it took me 8 minites and 5 gaff shots until I landed my first Cobia - 115cm!!! Cheers, Andrew

Nice mate, Well Done!

Enjoying the fruits of my success and the wife is getting good at making sushi