leatherjacket

Hey Fishraiders, Had a great day on Sydney Harbour today and thought I should share it with you all... I tried to get out of bed this morning but I had misjudged the number of glasses of wine that I could enjoy myself and still able to spring out of bed early in the morning. So it was an afternoon season from 3pm onward. I left from Clifton Gardens and managed two good large squid. I tried for more but they weren’t biting, probably because of the rain on Friday night making the water slightly cloudy. I trolled with the squid for almost three hours until the sun was low in the sky and my rod went off at about 6:30pm. After many screaming runs I managed to keep my cool and landed a nice 96cm hood. I still had one squid left and was loosing light. So I chucked the second squid on a hook and paddled back to the spot I hooked up to my first kingie. After a couple of passes I connected to his mate who first I took as shark due to the endless screaming runs! After 5 minutes I saw colour and netted a 99cm beast! With the banning of fish traps and commercial fishing in the harbour the fish stocks are looking great and if the fishing is this good in October I can’t wait for summer!!! Cheers, Andrew

great size to leave in the bath with the lights off

OMG that is cringe worthy! Poor bastard, I hope he has insurance!

Personally, I'd buy the rod first and then match it with the best reel. As they say... the rod fights the fish and the reel is only a line storage device (provided the drag is smooth enough). I recently bought an 8-15kg Wilson live-fibre rod for $200 and my kingfish fishing has dramatically improved! Cheers, Andrew

Can't wait to see the posts when you get back!

That's what happens when you let the breeders go - Good Karma! Nice feed their

Great pics mate and I wish more fishermen/women were like you and release the breeders... There is nothing like yak fishing in a creek - Ah… the serenity! Cheers, AC

Cliffton Garden

I've always found the Hawkesbury a hard spot to fish unless you take the time to work out the spots that are missed by commercial fishermen...

Nice feed Ray and it looked like a beut dahy on the water! Cheers, AC

Thanks for the positive feedback mate, Actually I've been very surprised at the big kingies I've been getting in Sydney over winter. Much better than throwing 90% of my kingies back for being rats over the summer months. Cheers, Andrew

Hi Fishraider, I caught two squid and put the larger of the two on the downrigger and trolled in the harbour. It was a beautiful sunny day and the water was crystal clear, but no fish on the sounder. After three hours I heard/ felt the thud of the release clip on the downrigger and reel howled and my rod looked like it was going to break. Got the rod out of the holder, downrigger up and started paddling away from the buoy while pumping and winding each time the fish stopped peeling drag of my reel! I gave the fish no time to breath and then crack! The bloody braid broke!!! Then I realised that there was still some of my green braid wrapped around the tip of my rod and when I lifted the tip I could feel weight at the other end. I quickly unwrapped the rod tip and started to hand line the fish to the surface being careful not to wrap my hands in the braid. Then I got a wrap on the mono shock leader, swivel, leader and then an exhausted kingie came out of the deep blue. With one sweep it was in the net! This is a new PB for me, from 94 to 96cm and a 100cm kingie seems just as elusive as it was when I first started fishing. Cheers, Andrew

Awesome!

Looks great! Is it possable you could PM me where Texis Reef is? Cheers, AC

I've found more Kingies at the "Apartments" vs the "White Rock" end of "The Wall" Cheers, AC

Nice setup, except the kill tank of course! Is it a 5mtr Quinnie? and if so very game of you to go to Browns! Cheers, AC

I thought it tasted fine - mild and flaky flesh like a shark. But now I'm a bit shocked after reading a article that says you can get ciguatera fish poisoning from Barracuta... http://animals.howstuffworks.com/fish/eat-barracuda1.htm Won't be eating Cuta again soon! Cheers, Andrew

Hi Fishraiders, The Wife and I got away from the winter blues for a week in Thailand staying on Koh Yao Noi Island in Phang Nga Bay near Phuket... On the last day it was my day to choose the activity as we had already done all the other excersions like James Bond Island and Ko Pee Pee Lee (AKA "The Beach"). So I booked in to go fishing on a traditional Thia long boat for about $4,500 Baht or $A150 for the two of us. We meet the skipper and guide (deak hand) at 6am and set out for the day. It quickly dawned on me that this was not a professional operation as some of the rods were broken at the tip, damaged guides and all had rusty reels with not enough line if you conected to a big fish! But what peaked my interest was the land-line set up they had with 100lb line, wire trace and a Rapala all attached to a 10ltr plastic bottle in case it was lost overboard or spooled. Anyway, I caught the Barracuta trowling with the hand line which was awesome fun!!! Nothing like the feels of wet mono running through your hands and being in direct contact with the fish as it was jumping out of the water trying to throw the hooks and then hoisting it over the side We had the restaurant at the resort grill the fish for dinner that night and they did it Thia style with lemongrass, coriander and lime - It was great! I hope you enjoy the pics and the other thing I wanted to mention is that their is too many fish traps, taking of undersized fish and drift fishing in Thialand. They use three types of nets - Prawn, Fish and Blue Crab. Their would be about 50 long boats on the bay each day fishing and anything over 15cm is a keeper! Out to sea the powerful lights from commercial squid boats can be seen each night. It left me with the impression that we are very lucky in Australia in how the fisheries are managed in a sustainable fashion. Cheers, Andrew

Well mate it's a very fat fish And when you measure it from bottom lip to the top of the tail we read 94cm But, since you've put doubt into my mind I might have to measure my 12' pantanal caiman again! Cheers, Andrew

Sounds like a top day and it looked like glass out their! Gotta luv days like that on the Yak! Cheers, AC

Gotta luv fishing off the beach... very relaxing and if you can land a quality Jew at the same time then that's a great night out. Nice one Deano! Cheers, AC

Congrats mate! Nice haul! Interesting contraption used to catch those deep sea fish - It looks half way between a fixed hand line and conventional rod & reel. I supose it would be a lot easier on the back pulling up those monsters from the deep Well done, AC

Well done on the haul! How do you cook Mako Shark? Fish & Chips or pan fry in butter with salt and pepper? Cheers, Andrew

Nice Reds! Butter,salt & pepper - Yum! Are you guys south or north of Sydney? Cheers, AC

Yeh mate, Fits like a joey...