SimJ

Pretty sure me and a mate are coming if thats ok. And although its not on the list, will bring several bags of potato chips. Cheers, Simmo

Interesting you should mention that mate, I was recently reading an article in AAA magazine about different species interbreeding. Some fish expert had caught 2 trevally in the same trip and both of them were completely new species. One was a cross between a GT and a big eye, the other I cant remember. The expert believed that it is fairly common for fish of similar species to breed with each other, for example if a silver trevally loses its school and then later joined a school of another type of trev, it would certainly try to breed after spending enough time with the new school. Whether this can be said for flattys is hard to say, but the main point of the article was the fact that ONLY an expert could ever tell the difference of these fish by eye sight. The differences are so minute that its very likely many hybrids are caught and eaten/released without anyone being any wiser. I definitely wouldnt go past the fact it could be a hybrid but if it is good luck finding out without a dna test.

Just bought a new Okuma Trinus 7ft6 graphite 6-10kilo rod. It looks great and feels nice and light but I dont know much about Okuma especially their rods. Any info on this would be great thanks. Simmo

Neil I think that we may have caught your mystery eel mate. Last night in the Harbour on half a Slimey, swallowed my mates 2 10/0 hooks. It actually fought really hard and took a fair bit of drag. Was very close to 6ft long and pretty heavy. Not sure what type it was, thought Moray at first but its hard to tell(for me). heres the link to a dodgy phone video I took, of some guy helping to untangle its tail. Cheers, Simmo

beautiful cobia. Very nice mate.

Thanks guys ill hopefully be fishing for a few more years to come too. Appreciate it, Simmo

He means anchor as in sits still on the bottom. Use a float or light ball sinker to let the bait move. Nice to meet u the other day btw. Cheers, Simmo

Nice as usual jim.

Went for a squid the other night with some mates. Didnt get any big inkers unfortunately but using my mates yozuri 1.8 I jigged 2 of these weird looking cephs. Looked like a cuttlefish but didnt have the hard part and was stripey? Another first that night using the same yozuri, I was jigging and felt a pretty big hit, it felt like an awesome squid! to my surprise it was a flatty?? He spat the jig as soon as he was on land. Cheers, Simmo

awesome fish there mate. Good to see you again. Cheers, Simmo

little late but happy bday mate, loved ur post on the darkside, very funny! Cheers and have a gr8 one! Simmo

Thanks guys. Starcityslic, I havent tried the spot yet cheers. Stewy, your recent posts on blackies inspired me to go try. littledinghy, pm sent.

After getting a bit sick of squidding and normal fishing I decided to try something Ive wanted to for a while... blackie fishing! Had free 2 hours so got a mate and went to a spot in the harbour id seen people catch a few from before. To be totally honest our expectations were pretty low, neither of us had ever tried properly before and we had no idea how to rig up, we only had one quill float and only one blackie hook... not good odds. I collected some weed a while back from the beaches, it was very fresh a mix of cabbage and the grassy weed (not the stringy type). It was stupidly hard to keep it on the hook . We both agreed that if we even saw a down we were happy . I took about 20 minutes setting up my improvised version of a rig (id seen a pro do it once before a few months ago, mine was vaguely similar... i think). I sat there for another 20 minutes watching my float bounce around without a single down . Eventually my mate gave up and went back to bait fishing. I was just about to join him when I finally see my float bob under the water , strike and he's on. only 30cm but im happy! as soon as the first fish was caught my mate came back and copied my rig and was right back into it . A few minutes later I get another down and wack im on again this one went 33cm. unfortunately the second broke my only blackie hook and I had to switch to a yakka one. I had 2 more great hook ups both fish were much bigger and looked more of a bronze colour? It was my own stupid fault I lost the bigger fish using a 6ft boat rod, I now realise why blackie fishermen use such long rods, its really necessary. Pretty stoked today, I know 2 fish in 2 hours isnt much but I was getting a down every time I cast towards the end and I didnt think id catch even one. Im already hooked and ill bring better gear and a longer rod next time! Thanks a lot to Roberta and other blackie pros on the site who wrote articles on them. Cheers, Simmo

YUM

as always very good report Pete. I caught one of those Wrasse the other day, they told me its a Maori Wrasse. ur good at getting those flounders, id love one that size! Cheers, Simmo