zen801 Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) Hi raiders, Headed out this morning to a few new spots as my usual haunts have been pretty dead lately. Weather conditions were excellent and pretty quickly found pillies on the surface busting up. They can be hard to catch and usually get then on a small piece of pillie being retrieved from the bottom. After about 20mins managed to bag one and put him in the tank ready for a predator. Not long after a few kings followed a hooked pinkie to the boat so i quickly put the live pillie on a 50lb rig and as soon as it hit the water the kingies smashed it and ZZZZZZZZ. Boated a 63cm kingie and released. Moved to another spot for the high tide. Got a down and massive heavy run on 60lb rig. After a descent fight broufght up a big stingray. Tried to get my two hook rig out of his mouth but he kept trying to barb me so i cut my line as close as possible. Started to get some random bust ups around the boat and the fish looked pretty big. This kept up over the next hour or so with the fish getting bigger. Meanwhile i was catching pinkies and yakkas off the bottom. Got a good down and short run on a live yakka but he was bit in half right next to the hook. Not long after on a fresh yellowtail fillet this big flattie smashed me. He put up a reasonable fight and i thought with the head shakes he could have been a schoolie. Then once he was in the boat the fish went balistic on the surface when i could see bonito. I thought at first they were smashing bait on the surface but then i realised that they were getting chased and smashed by what looked like very big kings. Awesome to watch. Threw a few lures at them but they moved on pretty quick. On the trek back to the ramp saw fish on the surface all over the place. Best thing also was there was practically nobody out there today. Cheers Edited February 24, 2009 by zenman
Spanker Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Great report mate. Often just being i amoungst it all is all its takes to put a smile on your dial. Spanker
StarCitySlic Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 (edited) Those must have been good Kings to chase Bonito. When they are focused on pelagics you can sometimes interest them in 'Gar' type lures,or even dead gars rigged to troll. Edited February 24, 2009 by StarCitySlic
jim77 Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Nice work mike. Due to work commitments i haven;t been out on the harbour for about 5 weeks. Sounds like i need to get out there! Very envious of your midweek session and a great flatty as well.
slinkymalinky Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Great Flattie zenman, Glad you didn't fall in the water in the middle of those kings... being hungry enough & big eough to chase bonnies, you would have just been another snack for them. Cheers, Slinky
hambly99 Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Hi raiders, Headed out this morning to a few new spots as my usual haunts have been pretty dead lately. Weather conditions were excellent and pretty quickly found pillies on the surface busting up. They can be hard to catch and usually get then on a small piece of pillie being retrieved from the bottom. After about 20mins managed to bag one and put him in the tank ready for a predator. Not long after a few kings followed a hooked pinkie to the boat so i quickly put the live pillie on a 50lb rig and as soon as it hit the water the kingies smashed it and ZZZZZZZZ. Boated a 63cm kingie and released. Moved to another spot for the high tide. Got a down and massive heavy run on 60lb rig. After a descent fight broufght up a big stingray. Tried to get my two hook rig out of his mouth but he kept trying to barb me so i cut my line as close as possible. Started to get some random bust ups around the boat and the fish looked pretty big. This kept up over the next hour or so with the fish getting bigger. Meanwhile i was catching pinkies and yakkas off the bottom. Got a good down and short run on a live yakka but he was bit in half right next to the hook. Not long after on a fresh yellowtail fillet this big flattie smashed me. He put up a reasonable fight and i thought with the head shakes he could have been a schoolie. Then once he was in the boat the fish went balistic on the surface when i could see bonito. I thought at first they were smashing bait on the surface but then i realised that they were getting chased and smashed by what looked like very big kings. Awesome to watch. Threw a few lures at them but they moved on pretty quick. On the trek back to the ramp saw fish on the surface all over the place. Best thing also was there was practically nobody out there today. Cheers nice fish mate top report!
marcel haber Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Top effort Mike, What a fine speciman......got to be happy with that mate. Well done once again on what sounds like a top day out. Cheers Twin 1 Marcel
zen801 Posted February 24, 2009 Author Posted February 24, 2009 Top effort Mike, What a fine speciman......got to be happy with that mate. Well done once again on what sounds like a top day out. Cheers Twin 1 Marcel Hi Marcel, Man it was such a beautiful day out there with no boat traffic and fish everywhere. I have had a bit of success on high tide lately which for me is unusual as most of the time i score on low tides. Cant seem to find the jewies lately, they must be feeding at night or schooled upstream. Mate when are you heading out next time? PM me. Mike Those must have been good Kings to chase Bonito. When they are focused on pelagics you can sometimes interest them in 'Gar' type lures,or even dead gars rigged to troll. Yeah they were very big kings. Even on 50 or 60lb braid it would be no certainty of boating if hooked. I was in amongst some moorings and my gear (reel) probably couldnt take it. I threw an xrap at em but they had eyes only for the bonnies. The variety and size of fish in the harbour ATM is awesome. No wonder the sharks are so happy. Mike
humesy Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Nice work Mike. Would love to be out there midweek, but totally snowed under for the time being. Well done for making the most of it.
Hodgey Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Great fish mate! Sounds like there was a lot of activity on the water Hopefully the jewies and kingies will put in an appearance next time Hodgey
tide'n'knots Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 nice flattie Mike! sounds like an exciting day on the water. Very frustrating when you can see fish and they arent interested though. Whats the water colour in the harbour like after all the rain? and do you reckon the jew would be worth a try somewhere near the heads maybe dobroyd point? Pete.
marcel haber Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Will do Mike , like Humesy im snowed under with work committments atm but I will give you the heads up a few days in advance on the next mid week session. Marcel. Twin 1
Basil D Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 great lizard mate, the last time i caught one like that was when i was spinning up at port stephen 5 year ago
zen801 Posted February 25, 2009 Author Posted February 25, 2009 (edited) nice flattie Mike! sounds like an exciting day on the water. Very frustrating when you can see fish and they arent interested though. Whats the water colour in the harbour like after all the rain? and do you reckon the jew would be worth a try somewhere near the heads maybe dobroyd point? Pete. Hi Pete, Water colour in MH is now OK. We caught two jew one day at Dobroyd at midday on rotten old pillie bait. Its a good spot. Fished last night from about 3am. No jewies last night and even slow this morning, nothing like yesterday. Saw rats feeding on yakkas last night under the spit bridge whilst squiding. I have never seen kings at night before let alone feeding openly in that manner. Cheers Edited February 25, 2009 by zenman
tide'n'knots Posted February 25, 2009 Posted February 25, 2009 Hi Pete, Water colour in MH is now OK. We caught two jew one day at Dobroyd at midday on rotten old pillie bait. Its a good spot. Fished last night from about 3am. No jewies last night and even slow this morning, nothing like yesterday. Saw rats feeding on yakkas last night under the spit bridge whilst squiding. I have never seen kings at night before let alone feeding openly in that manner. Cheers The harbour is certainly on fire at the moment thats for sure!
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