The Rev

Totally agree - it was a reassuring sound hearing the drag working perfectly!

Hi again fellow Raiders On the last day of my holidays and having just returned from Jervis Bay I decided a quick fish on Sydney Harbour was in order. I had a few squid baits left over from the trip down south and thought I might find a good king on one of the markers. Unfortunately the squid got picked to pieces by small fish so Plan B was to hit sow and pigs and try for some bream and trevalley. On my 10lb Bream Rod baited up with an unweighted cube of bonito caught the other day - all of a sudden it took off like a rocket. At first I thought monster bream. It kept taking line. Rat King? Half my line on the spool of my 2500 Shimano Symetre was now gone and the characteristic tail thumbs on the kingfish was well in evidence and I knew I was onto a good fish. After a 10-15 minute slog I finally had him to the boat and into the net. He measured 77 cm and ended up weighing 4kg and fed 8 of us tonight for dinner. It was a PB on my light rod. cheers the Rev

Hi Dan i just sent you info in a PM the rev

Haha - that was my worry that he would hook up

Thanks - unfortunately I think the weather will beat me. I’m in a 4.2m quintrex renegade. Good for when it is calm but the seas have been too rough this week with constant onshore south to south east winds ?. i will have to wait till next time!

Finally though I got s king to keep on day 2!

The marine life is quite amazing down here. Having court enough smaller kings I thought go big or go home and I had just rigged this squid whole and had it in the water at the back of the motor as I was attaching it to the Downrigger when a huge seal came and ate the whole thing while managing to avoid a 6/0 live bait hook and large stinger treble!

Here is the quality of the squid on offer at JB

The Rev

Like Tdogz, ive been out in JB fishing for Kings the past week. Caught a heap of rats between 50-64cm (25 sent back to grow bigger) and just one keeper at 68cm. Most fish were caught on fresh squid I caught each morning. Even though they weren’t big - they can still pull hard! Here is what happens when you put a green king in the boat when you have forgotten to put the lid back on the chicken pellets used to burley up yakkas!

Hi Ron i tried again yesterday and same story – no flathead! I spoke with one of the guys Who fishes in the comps at the Complete Angler fishing store in Nowra today and he said something very similar to your comments. He reckons it’s been one of the toughest years fishing in the basin that people can remember. He thought the lack of rain has had a big impact . Many thanks for getting in touch with me. Bruce

Hi Jeff I tried the places you mentioned yesterday and had no luck. Not to worry – I was in at a fishing store in Nowra today and spoke with one of the guys who fishes all the professional comps down here. He said it has been one of the toughest years fishing in the Basin that they have known so it’s not just me! Many thanks for your information. Bruce

Ps - is Bream point near the caravan park at Bream beach ?

Thanks Jeff - I will give a try cheers Bruce

Hi Ron - that is very interesting i will keep trying and I’ll let you know how I go thanks for the reply Bruce

Hi fellow Raiders I am down staying at Vincentia in Jervis Bay for my annual holidays and will be doing some boat fishing in the bay as well as St George’s basin. I went out today in the basin from Erowal bay boat ramp but had no luck and was after some tips on where to fish. In particular, what is the best way to fish the artificial reefs in the basin along with tips for snapper, tailor, bream and flathead. Any help would be great. I fish out of a 4.2m Quintrex renegade i have tried to read what has already been posted on Fishraider. cheers in advance the rev (Bruce)

Hi Pete i just sent you a PM re spots to try. I am down here for 9 nights and went today but caught only 3 small throw backs. Any tips would be greatly appreciated cheers bruce

Love it - you just never know! the rev

I think you are going to love spot lock. We sat 20-30M off the buoy we were fishing on for 2-3 hours! They are fantastic! The Rev

I threw some soft plastics at them - when the bite was hot they were hooking up but after about 15 minutes they resorted back to just taking live baits. It was calm enough yesterday to fy fish for them and I think would have been successful as they were hitting the lives right off the surface. cheers the rev

Thanks tyrone07 for the tips - as you saw on the Fish Reports page the dollies were there and very cooperative! Cheers The Rev

With a perfect weather forecast it was decided we would venture out in my tinny to see if there any dollies still around. Packed the boat late Thursday checking all safety gear and off to bed got on the water at Manly at 6:15am and spent an hour getting 25 small yakkas. Motored out through the heads and the conditions were pretty good with water at 21.3C. We went to a spot I had heard was holding fish from a fellow fisherman I chatted to at the ramp two weeks back. Having located our spot we pulled up and you could see the Dollies schooling and looking hungry. Water temp had jumped to 22.2C. For the next 3 hours we had the place to ourselves - with the wind dropping to 2-4knots on a very small 12sec swell. We put the minn Kota in on spot lock and caught fish after fish in a crazy hot bite. What was incredible was with the electric motor spot lock on, we stopped for morning tea and the Dollys just kept circling under the boat the whole time waiting for the next fishing session to start. At times the live bait would not last longer than five seconds in the water. 90% of fish were caught on live bait, we managed a few on soft plastics when the bite was very hot – pilchards were tried but looked at and ignored. we kept 10 between 65-78cm and threw quite a few back. We motored back for a long session of cleaning and filleting. get out there if you have the chance cheers The Rev