South head, late start monday

[Flickn Mad]

Sorry for the late post, its been a busy week.

Planned an early start on Monday chasing kings around south head but got called in to work on my RDO. Sorted work out and got the boat in at tunks at about 11.30am.

had to make the most of my time so decided to head straight out and pull some lures and hope for the best. I was surprised to see the water temp down to 19.5 with plenty of dead leather jackets bobbing about in the current lines.

Trolled an xrap and small white squid down to Bondi for one small rat.

Came across a school of fish I couldn't identify so decided to try out a new set up10 to 17 pound sol rod and Sol 2 3000 size reel loaded with 15 pound braid.

Tossed a mackerel coloured wax wing toward the rocks and started an erratic retrieve. About 5 cranks in and bang im on. plenty of weight and power im

thinking legal king. with the boat in gear and heading toward deeper water it was a stale mate for quite a while. after a great fight I must admit to be a little

disappointed to see a thumping 67cm sambo. with fish in the boat realised I had left my camera in the car, took a quick snap with the dodgy old nokia and

released the fish to fight another day.

Not a bad christening of the new out fit and I have to say I think it is gunna be a favourite, Waxwing included.

Did a few more laps of the rocks before domestic duties called.

Finished with the small rat, sambo and a couple of bonnies, bonnies came home for a feed.

Water temp back up to 23.3 on the way back up, must be some cold water deeper down being dragged up by the westerly. For a very late start a great arvo on the water.

[DaveTheBoy]

Solid sambo my man well done!

[seacow]

Just wait till they get those salmon get over 80cms then you know you have a fight on your hands. My new stradic with 50 pound braid sung when we got a few around 5 and 6kgs in new zealand. In the end, no competition but still plenty of fun. Huge aerials!

[mullowaytheday]

shouldve have kept the sambo mate, thai fish cakes with them are amazing!!

[Yowie]

Their fighting abilities can make up for the disappointment when you finally haul them into the boat, hoping that it might be something else !

[dean01]

Cracking Sambo Bud.

I'm with Mullowaytheday, They do make great Thai fish cakes.

[Flickn Mad]

Thanks guys, I do occasionally eat sambos but usually when their prospects for a healthy release are not so good. I still had high hopes of a legal king at the time. When I got the last two bonnies on my way back to the harbour there fate was sealed. I often take a bonnie or two and quite like their subtle flavour.

Do you guys recon fish cakes freeze better than whole fish, I am not big on freezing fish as fresh is so much better.

[filthmonger]

Good job on the sambo they go so hard once they hit that size.

Caught a Salmon that was around the 80cm mark off my kayak once. It was one of the best fights ive had and would rank up there with a kingy of the same size only with arial acrobatics chucked in. I Tried to put my foot in the shot as he was 3 foot lenghts, he also measured from the fully extended hobie pedal all the way to the seat. Wish i had an actual ruler on board at the time

Edited March 23, 2014 by filthmonger

[Flickn Mad]

Yeah this one went hard and deep, never jumped once hence my thinking I had a king on. I recon my tactic for kings works on the sambos as well, put some good pressure on but don't try and move the fish in the water column just idle toward deeper water and then start working them toward the surface.

At the end of the day it was a good fight and a good test of a brand new outfit.