Southside Friday Fishing Mkii.

[barker]

hello raiders,

went for a run this morning out of the hacking, planing on getting out to the peak to see what the kingies are up to. went the minimalist approach with my jigging outfit, my dads old fifteen pound setup and some fresh squid. a straight northerly and a mixed up sea made the decision to head direct to long bay an easy one. by six a squid had been deployed deep on the slow troll and the usual - one eye on the sea and the other between the rod and sounder - was on. it took a couple of sweeps of the headland washes to see some bait balls just out from the rocks and on it came. all hits were taken dead slow against the wind/sea/current and i was all out of squid by seven thirty and on the way home. all up i got smoked and lost one full rig, two hits with no hookup, three last year legals - returned to grow that extra five centimetres, and one that really gave me some stick coming home at 68cm. i was really happy to get this hit and run session on the outfit my recently deceased father gave me a few years back from his stock. in my last report the kings were all caught on my thirty pound gear, so it was great to get back into this season with the fifteen pound and do well. i tell ya - they keep you on edge all the way to the boat floor with the lighter gear, especially after the earlier reefing. it is great fun this fishing game. anticipation, action and some nervous moments. barker.

[sanger]

NICE ONE!!!!!!

[TheDiko]

Great work mate, shame about the lost Kingie but it's all apart of being a Kingfisherman.

Keep the reports coming

IFS

[Penguin]

Well done,good to see someone do well,top report

penguin

[james7]

What a great day barker!

I'm sure your father would be happy that his gear is being put to good use.

Those kingies would have been excellent fun on 15lb gear.

Did you catch the squid or buy it?

a squid had been deployed deep on the slow troll and the usual - one eye on the sea and the other between the rod and sounder - was on.

Excuse my ignorance, but were you using a downrigger to get down to the right depth.

How do you get the squid (bait) to that particular depth?

Cheers and thanks for the great report

Peter

[barker]

hey peterS,

i have been catching my squid baits pretty easily this year over the last few weeks. i just squid in the evenings then vacuum bag and freeze them for early outings. i do also buy some fresh 'local' frozen squid if stocks are low. as long as they are not pink in colour and the eyes look okay, they do the job just as well.

as for my setup, i've got the poormans downrigger peter. i have a few pre-made barrel sinker rigs of varying sizes - up to 200 grams. i just snap this onto my tied on leader (able to be wound on) and have a six foot long - fifty pound trace behind that with a twin snelled hook rig to pin the squid.

thanks to everyone for the encouraging replies also.

barker.

Edited October 19, 2007 by barker

[robeebee]

nice report mate

good to see you get amongst them

[barker]

thanks robeebee and shadda,

shadda - i tell ya mate when i was headed up from the hacking there was only a bit of swell, but the mixed up chop and the northerly wind was a bit much at that time of day. when i got home and after cleaning up, i had a quick surf and for a while there it looked better after the morning chop died off. i always find the entrance to botany to be the worst conditions of anywhere, once you are out and away from the backwashes and the chop of the narrow entrance of that big bay, things get better.

there is no doubt the bay will start firing soon, it is only a matter of time before the clean/warm water is in there consistently. the water outside was only 17.5 degrees today, i think the amounts of bait have been the driving force to the good start to the kingies.

barker.