Robbielites Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) 4.30am the boat is pre-prepped all I have to do is grab the Esky and the dog, I have a good feeling about the day, We usually have good days when Andrew and I fish together.. I arrived at the ramp a little late (Some peanut parked half way across my driveway) to see Andrew (Huntman) and an old mate Jizzmaster Jimmy standing there with rods in hand so to speak... I offered Jizz the spot when TobyW pulled the pin due to family commitments, we kept him well informed with plenty of texts though. First words out of Jimmy’s mouth ”Where’s the ‘kin Esky, I got beer” Well at least I remembered the dog…… With every thing safely on board we decided to head straight out to the Yakka spot. Straight past the Spit! Not even one drift… It was kind of weird, I have seen other boats do it in the past but never thought it would be me… The pre arranged plan was stuff the squid especially The Spit…. It is so fished out it isn’t worth stopping there any more We arrived at Balmoral dropped the pick in 18ft of water and chucked in some bread. A dozen or so Yakkas and Slimeys later we had all the livies my tank can cope with, off to give North Head a bash with the D.Rs. We pulled up short of Quarantine and dropped the riggers ready for the troll north along the cliff faces in search of our first bait ball. No more than five minutes later there is a bait ball on the sounder with arches on the out side around 40ft. I got Jimmy to drive as we adjust the riggers accordingly. A couple of laps later the Starboard rigger gets hit, a short tussle and 63cm model is boated and released. Time to find that bait ball again! A few laps of the area we find it a little south of where it was originally and the Starboard Rigger gets hit again, this time Jimmy is up and I pull him out of the driver’s seat and put a rod in his hand. He was a bit confused about the process but managed to land the fish. This one was around the same size and didn’t even get a measure before being sent home with a sore lip. A couple of more laps and we locate the bait again, Andrew is on strike and gets smacked. He was on my rod and not being used to the set up called it large…. I think it went 64.9999 before being sent back to his mates. By now we were getting sick of chasing the damn bait ball and decided to anchor up in an area with all of the other boats that seemed to be doing well. This is where Jimmy breaks out his ”Kingie slayer” a real flash lookin rod and reel loaded with 14lb braid, oh and the added protection of 15lb leader Jimmy….. Mate… You don’t bring a knife to a gun fight bud! I offered him my back up outfit but he was keen to use his rig... Andrew and I re-rig and we all put yakkas down and sat and waited in anticipation. My phone rings and it’s the Mrs asking have I got dinner yet? Jayzus! It’s only 8am woman! Sorry love no keepers so far but things are looking good! At that very moment my rod buckles over and starts singing. What’s that noise she asks? See ya got to go! Then the”Kingie Slayer” starts singin a song. Double hook up SWEET! Andrew is patiently standing by net in hand waiting to assist who ever gets colour first. This time it was me a nice 68cm model jumps into the boat still a bit green as I didn’t want it going near the other lines. This of course sends the dog berko; he thinks he has a new mate to play with every single time. Meanwhile the Kingie Slayer is still in play up the front. Lots of encouragement and tips from us see Jimmy manage to get the fish out from around the anchor and keep fighting for another five minutes. Then the dreaded PING as a knot lets loose… Buggar! I put out another Yakka as Jimmy re-rigged with some 30lb leader he had. We get some of our baits pinched and Jimmy loses another fish after a blistering run that had us all in stitches, except for Basil of course he wanted another play mate Next it’s Andrew turn, with the fish pulling 6kg of drag on his TLD I stand by nervously with the net, only to have my rod bend over again. You’re on your own mate! Another double hook up Sweet! It’s about then that Jimmy tells me we are drifting Oh OK! Can you take a look at it…? Umm I am a bit busy doing the two step........ Jimmy jumps up the front to take a look at the anchor when the “Kingie Slayer” starts singing again!! Triple hook up!!! Can it get any better? Yeah it can, the boat could stop drifting towards that other boat. That would be better Time to up the drag and skull drag the fish in so I can attend to the impending collision, this leaves another green fish on the deck for Baz to play with while Andrew and Jimmy fight their fish. I get up the front and notice that Jim had untied the anchor line, obviously to take up the slack, then promptly forgot about it when his rod got hit I started pulling in line as Andrew landed his fish and chucked him back in. Jimmy was dancing around me as I pull anchor line in, to the point that I realise that motoring away was the only option. I sent Andrew up front to pull in the rest of the anchor line. Luckily the two lads in the other boat were watching every thing unfold and were happy to hold on to us as Jimmy played and yes landed a 65 model.... Who ever you were thanks for having a sense of humor I motored off a safe distance and pulled up so we could assess the situation, re anchor or move on. As it turned out we were out of livies so we decided to head back in and get some more then head back out to the same spot. Full throttle back to Balmoral….. I hate leaving fish on the bite! Half way there Jim yells out STOP! Too late! I had left one of the DR bombs swinging over the side. The brake couldn’t take the pressure and peeled all the line out. This in turn snapped the rigger from the base. Do you think Poseidon needs a down rigger? I don’t Back at Balmoral we loaded up on livies again and headed straight back out. I hadn’t marked the spot when I left thinking all the boats would still be there. Not to be, the wind had picked up and every one buggered off! I had a visual mark and knew the depth so pulled up pretty close to the original spot. The bottom looked “reefy” so we dropped anchor. Which incedentely held nicely for the rest of the day. Baits down 2-3m from the bottom, its instant action for me then Andrew, this time his rod snaps the plastic rod holder. I don’t know how many times I have said I will replace them with stainless “next weekend” Apparently that fish has really good hearing and could hear Andrew telling me earlier in the day that he has never lost a fish on that rod, PING! Ya jinxed your self there son Next to get hit was Jim then me then Andrew another triple hook up!!! Triples are fun, lots of fun! Andrew and I try our best to keep out from under each other and Jims line is heading East at a rate of knots, lucky for him as if it had of decided to go deep it would have been over pretty quickly. At the back of the boat Andrew and I have both got our fish to the surface, they are swimming in circles with Baz watching on waiting for the new arrivals to come on board. Well I thought he was waiting patiently, what he was actually doing was planning his attack! Next thing I know we have two fish and one dog in the water doing circles at the back of the boat... Time to get mine in and hope the dog follows it, which he does, live baiting for Labs…. Who would have thought! A quick measure and he or she goes 68 and into the bucket/Esky. I lean over the side grab Baz by the collar and very unceremoniously drag him into the boat. Andrews’s fish has had a couple more attempts at freedom, all his knots hold and he lands a 72 Nice... Jimmy is till up the front working ‘Kingie Slayer” hard, he fights this fish for a good ten minutes, with us two armchair experts throwing pearls of wisdom at him “Don’t touch the line”….”Watch the line on the aerial” … “Back off the drag when you see colour” Exhausted he lands the fish of the day! A healthy 69 on 14lb About now I get a text from Toby reminding me of the hand line we rigged up for a day just like today and the gloves he got me… Sensational idea! Out goes a Yakka on the hand line. We are all re-rigged and ready to go; the gloves are sitting on the transom ready to go…. Jim gets hit, the hand line starts rolling across the deck, Andrew applies some drag with his left foot “Come get your hand line!” Sweet!!! No time to put the gloves on, straight into it, a few good runs later a 63 is returned to the water. My hands were fine, I think the flouro material is stretchy enough not to do you serious damage. Unfortunately jimmy got done again but was having a ball on the light gear. Out with the baits again and we all get hit in the correct order Jim me then Andrew. There seems to be a pattern forming, but unfortunately that was our last triple for the day. I managed four more on the hand line, three of them on the one recycled bit of squid, the largest going 67. As we got it on board and were about the throw it back in I noticed this little yellow boat that had been drifting around us all day and getting nothing, a guy with his wife and two kids on board, we called them over and gave them that one for dinner, they were stoked! I hope they enjoyed it By now we had run out of Yakkas and were using Andrews frozen squid from a trip down the hacking a while back, it was working fine, they wouldn’t touch the heads but strips were working well, until Aqua dog decided to eat what was left while we weren’t looking. Oh well, let’s try plastics, nah … lets try plastics on eight pound!! First drop and I get hit... PING! Bugger this! I have never landed a fish on plastics and was determined to. Out with the Spheros and over the side with the plastic flicking away for ages and nothing, perhaps the bigger line was spooking them? Trying to work out what I was doing wrong I remembered the video that Oz put up of Anth jigging. I started jigging furiously trying to copy the action…. BANG! I get hit, Fantastic! Andrew seeing me get hit copies the technique and is on as well. Awesome.. I land a fish in the high 60s but Andrews hooks straighten and he looses the fish. People say jigging can put huge pressure on all of your gear. The initial hit is a cracker that I was not ready for at all if it had of been a “real fish” Who knows what would give in! We got a couple more jigging and decided to pull the pin and head in; we had four fish for dinner two for Jizzy and one each for Andrew and me. We could have kept plenty more but enough for a feed was a bonus on top of a cracker of a day Earlier in the day I decided to mark the spot on the sounder “20 Kings Reef” in the hope we would reach the magic 20 fish mark. Well that was blown away, back at the ramp I edited it to “20+ Kings Reef” As none of us could remember exactly how many were caught Thanks for the best days fishing ever lads, Toby sorry you missed it mate but we got a long weekend coming up and your spot is reserved. Robbie P.s Andrew will add pics later EDIT Edited January 22, 2008 by Robbielites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmoshe Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 What a cracker of a report Robbie You had me in the boat with you reading that..Wow!! You fellas sure had a blinder of a day, despite the gear losses and dawg overboard Handlines eh!!! Lucky a hoody didn't take a fancy to that without wearing gloves or there may have been some burley fingers floating about. Can't wait to see the pics now. Good on ya for giving the fishless family a feed too...In true Raider spirit. Cheers, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mik Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Excellent Robbie, great read mate. Live baiting for labs...hilarious. Well done on the sharing fish too, I bet it made their day after drifting for nuttin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TobyW Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Mate the extended remix report is even better than the live SMS service you run... What a day. Congrats.. and Go the handline!! (BTW was thingking a couple of wraps in Nashua 457 (gaff) would be a good alternative to gloves- just on your index fingr'//) Yeh def up for long weekend sesh, thats if youve left any for the rest of us..... well done mate, cracker effort and top report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntman Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) don't worry toby, threw plenty back in for you to catch next time here's the video of robbie and basil handlining/barking at fish. edit: gah! robbie beat me to it! here's the fish we kept. Edited January 22, 2008 by huntman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miller Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 well done guys great report cheers miller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gretsch Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 A fine report that!!! Maybe one day you will find "40 Kings" reef.... he he he Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cflife Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Great effort on the kings Rob , Top report also , got to love a day like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjneville Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Top report Robby. The dog's antics had me in stitches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Dan Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 cracker day robbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew399 Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Top report mate! fantastic read! and well done on the fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Hook Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Luv the dog...what a funny character... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) Excellent result and a very enjoyable report Robbelites Shame about the downrigger but I suppose that's just another one of the things that can happen when you take your mind off any of the must do's out there on the water. Cheers jewgaffer By the way Andrew (Huntsman) thanks for your kind offer of making room for me due to my having to sell my two boats because of my back probs. The good news is I couldn'y resist grabbing hold of another boat before Christmas while I was up on the Sunshine Coast . It's a very roomy Savage alloy boat, a side console much lighter and easier to handle than the Mustang I had and there's heaps of room for you and your dad to come along too and Robbie if your reading this your expertise on this gps system is required so it would be a pleasure if you could come along too. The other good thing is that my wife Shirl has forgiven me for buying another boat after both of us agreeing my back was not up to it. Thanks for the pm and invite Huntsman We should arrange to have a jewfish session on the Hawkesbury in this here Savage sometime. I only need a little help in launch and retrieve and that will be much appreciated. Regards mate JG Edited January 22, 2008 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abiasin Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 well done guys, that has got to be the most action packed days fishing ive heard of in quite a while. you definately brained them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roosterman Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 (edited) hi guys, great report... it sure was hectic out there at times...... i was wondering why it took soooooo long for you guys to separate from the other boat as i thought you only had one good one on at the time and others guys either bludging or just too worn out to care . multiple hookups def answered my Q there.... ... it was amazing how the yakkas/slimeys were getting hammered straight away but hard earnt squid just sat there for way tooo long... i can see why you guys just passed us at the spit and went straight for the tucker of choice for the day.... sorry to here of the dr..... i always pull mine in for that reason as they cost way too bloody much for posieden to score some more trincats... he loves stellas too aparantly .... we didnt manage multiple hookups but some were very close together.... stumpy 80lb gear and my 25kg tcurv got absolutely hammered when dr... but at anchor they were alot smaller models..... maybe something in that...... best day out in along time..... ... your dog robbie sure would keep you busey by the sounds of it... its hard enough when the buggers are green flapping all over trying to get hooks out without him wanting to play with his new friend .. anyway great post guys.... cheers.... steve..... Edited January 22, 2008 by roosterman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VA911 Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Well done there guys. Sorry to hear about the rigger but its all in fun. See you all out there this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelxr6 Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 awsome report mate..great read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 great read mate.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g.t. Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Very entertaining read- just like being there. Congrats on a great day!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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