Sydney Harbour Sunday 10th February

[kingiemaster]

Left Roseville ramp at 5am.

Had at least 15 (arrow) squid in the tank by 7am. Water was still a bit murky and green so fluro jigs (mainly pink) were the go. Other boats weren’t having any problems catching them either.

Hit the Harbour markers. First stop wedding cake. Lost two baits to the bottom somehow. Just couldn’t get the drift right.
So moved onto the yellow marker. My mates girlfriend’s turn on the rod. Drop the bait and rod buckles over within seconds…. 5-10 minutes later we boated a lovely fat King. It was her 2nd time out on the boat and never caught a fish let alone a Kingfish.
Went just under 90 cm but was very thick and fat weighing in at 7kg (according to my scales at least).
Not bad for a first fish. Last time I heard she still had a silly grin on her face.

Gear used 50lb braid, rod length of 50lb mono leader (bimini to slim beauty knot) with 80 FC trace and 7/0 circle hook.

Sorry no pics for privacy reasons. First, last and only time I edited a photo I was banned for a month. Not sure if that applies to identity blurring ACA/TT style.

Got a couple of rats and dropped a couple before it went quiet an hour before high. Used the rest of squid at few more spots but with no tidal movement all we could find were pickers. So we headed back and I was home by 10.

Other boats we spoke to didn’t have any luck using yakka’s or frozen baits or lures. Nor it would seem could many boats snare any calamari squid at the usual harbour haunts.

With the 9am high tide and southerly change due at midday I had a feeling it would be a good day if we could get out there by 7-7:30. I was right about the time and tide but not sure about the effect of the southerly change, at least not if you believe that a falling barometer (ahead of a change) triggers the fish. According to BOM, the Observatory Hill barometer readings started from a low of 1010 early in the morning and from then on just kept climbing steadily to as high as 1020 later that evening when the southerly was at full strength and we had storms all over the shop. I’m not suggesting the impending change doesn’t get them going but it’s obviously not detected by the barometer movements.

Dave

[davegroves68]

Sounds like a nice King, well done.I was out sunday off the heads in about 50-60m and got nothing.

Were you getting your squid in middle harbour west of the spit or out in the main harbour?

We noticed the water west of the spit was green and really dirty.

Dave

[Houdini]

Why do you use the rod length of 50lb mono and not some longer 80 FC and how do you attach the 50 mono to 80 FC?

[kingiemaster]

Sounds like a nice King, well done.I was out sunday off the heads in about 50-60m and got nothing.

Were you getting your squid in middle harbour west of the spit or out in the main harbour?

We noticed the water west of the spit was green and really dirty.

Dave

All squid caught around the Spit bridge, western side in 30 to 50 feet of water. And yes very green and murky.

[kingiemaster]

Why do you use the rod length of 50lb mono and not some longer 80 FC and how do you attach the 50 mono to 80 FC?

Leader has a crimped on HD snap swivel on the end of it so I can attach pre-rigged traces (with a sleaved crimped loop, no swivel) as required be it medium, heavy, twin hook rigs or lures. I’ve just started using a snap on ball sinker which works a treat. Before that I used snap on rig arrangement which tended to tangle.

I use a rod length of leader as a shock leader, for abrasion resistance and something to grab onto when the fish comes boat side.