fragmeister Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 (edited) Hi Raiders, I knew I wouldn't get away early this morning so rather than do any early squidding I bought a couple of fresh Calamari from my local fish shop. I know these to be fresh and never frozen so they are my next best option to live squid. I then stopped at my favourite bait spot picking up a dozen or so yakkas of mixed size. I couldn't believe how quickly I got the dozen yakkas... burley once and then the bites were immediate and I pretty much caught 12 in as many minutes. Armed with these and my fresh dead squid I headed out the harbour and down South and drifted around just after dawn. There were a couple of other boats there at the time although an hour later and there were 10 boats including a couple of commercial fishermen. The water temperature was 20.9 degrees and I was getting marks like below which looked encouraging. I dropped a live yakka over the side at set it at around 10 meters ( in the middle of the marks on the sounder) and then picked up my new Gomoko/Stella outfit ( broke the last one by being carless) which I had rigged with a white 7inch jerkshad. Well no sooner had I cast it out and the live yakka went off. I put the Gomoku down and picked up the other rod and sure enough just as I did a King took the jerkshad on the drop as they so often do. So then I had a double hookup and I had to make a decision which one was first to deal with. The yakka was on the heavier rig so I played that fish to the boat quickly so he was still pretty feisty so , at the last minute it went balistic and wrapped itself around the Gomoku line about 140 times! I got both fish in but the tangle of braid was a mess. I am sure all fishermen know the panic when you are on a good bite and you need to rerig... it seems to take an eternity and you have expect they will go off the bite by the time you are ready again. Anyway This is what the two kings looked like. The one on the SP was pretty small, say 55 cm OK... I thought... this looks like it might be a one rod at a time kind of sesson! I cut and re rigged the livie first but for the next hour I didnt get back to rigging the Gomoku because very time I dropped in a new bait it was smashed by another almost but not quite legal Kingie, I was running out of Yakkas so I used squid strips which were hit even faster and harder. I stopped counting at 20 fish. This was terrific fun even if they were undersized but after a while I stopped re-rigging the yakka rod and switched to the Gomoku for a little better sport. I reckon I caught another 20 or so on various SP's and again that was great fun on the lighter tackle. That was the first time that rod has been used it performed well although after an hour of this my dickie shoulder was beginning to protest! Some of the SP' were taken at the surface and some were taken at depth and some were taken very close to the boat. I could see each hooked fish being closely followed by half a dozen other fish... they really were in plague proportions. The action slowed a little around 10:00 so I did start fishing with a weighted squid strip again while flicking out a few SP's. No more double hookups but lots of fun watching the follows and takes on the SP's. I downrigged a yakka and motored around for a while hoping for a larger specimin but no luck there... not that I minded it was great entertainment. I have attached a video form the start of the session. It shows perhaps 5 fish in 15 minutes. https://vimeo.com/user23027640/review/148586837/4ebb1fe648 I can't say how many fish I caught today ... it would have to be near 50 and none of them were legal but it was a whote lot of fun espcially the soft plastics. Good luck with the larger specimins on the weekends boys and girls! Cheers Jim Edited December 14, 2015 by fragmeister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevefish Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 How many times did you think "this one will be legal" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roughstyler Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 (edited) That is absolutely insane! What was the line weighting on both rods? Edited December 11, 2015 by roughstyler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share Posted December 11, 2015 How many times did you think "this one will be legal" Everytime Steve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share Posted December 11, 2015 WOW that's awesome, BTW don't want to be too inquisitive but what colour was your j/shad cheers + thanks Ozcar I had white and green but the white ones probably worked better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royboy Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Mate, what an awesome session! Never had a hot bite like that ever. Do you reckon if you got a heavy metal jig below the school that there may have been a few legals around? Hopefuly the fish hang around until I can find some time to get out. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papafish Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 where about in the harbor was this? and are they are groper around the rocky area^^?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUSTER 1 Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Great report,got me keen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 (edited) That is absolutely insane! What was the line weighting on both rods? The live bait rod is a Diawa Saltist with a Shimano Saragosa Its spooled with 24kg braid and a 100lb flouro leader This is my heavyweight rig - I am hoping its going to stop that meter plus king (if one ever comes along that is!) The Gomuku is coupled with a Stella which is spooled with 12kg braid and on this occasion a 4kg leader. Cheers Jim Edited December 12, 2015 by fragmeister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 (edited) Mate, what an awesome session! Never had a hot bite like that ever. Do you reckon if you got a heavy metal jig below the school that there may have been a few legals around? Hopefuly the fish hang around until I can find some time to get out. Cheers. In retrospect I should have tried a few more options because some larger fish did show up from time to time to time on the sounder. I did occur to me that a large live squid or two would have given me a better chance of a keeper but with so many rats around I am not so sure of that either. Cheers Edited December 12, 2015 by fragmeister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 where about in the harbor was this? and are they are groper around the rocky area^^?? This was outside the harbour. .. I certainly think there would be grouper but I don't taget them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roughstyler Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 (edited) The live bait rod is a Saltiga with a Shimano Saragosa Its spooled with 24kg braid and a 100lb flouro leader This is my heavyweight rig - I am hoping its going to stop that meter plus king (if one ever comes along that is!) The Gomuku is coupled with a Stella which is spooled with 12kg braid and on this occasion a 4kg leader. Cheers Jim Cheers mate. Do you think you would've been able to handle the rats on something lighter? I've got a heavier set-up (30 lb braid main and 50 lb fluoro lead) for Kings, but I'm wondering if my lighter rod (just 8 lb mono main) could ever take the smaller rats. Edited December 12, 2015 by roughstyler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KayakPat Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 we had the same experience off the stones yesterday it was madness!!! Got a legal by upgrading to a big popper that the rats couldn't quite take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Cheers mate. Do you think you would've been able to handle the rats on something lighter? I've got a heavier set-up (30 lb braid main and 50 lb fluoro lead) for Kings, but I'm wondering if my lighter rod (just 8 lb mono main) could ever take the smaller rats. On the heavy rig I wouldn't change it because I don't want to lose the metre plus kings that comes along. On the Gomoku, I was fishing a 4kg leader which is close the the breaking strain of your mono. So the answer is, yes but I wouldnt fancy your chances off the rocks. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 we had the same experience off the stones yesterday it was madness!!! Got a legal by upgrading to a big popper that the rats couldn't quite take. What time of the day did one hit the popper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizza Posted December 12, 2015 Share Posted December 12, 2015 Sure was a hot ratty bite.Was that big black/white boat working ?it was around that floating yellow buoy/whatever.I reckon the barometer triggered the bite.Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Sure was a hot ratty bite.Was that big black/white boat working ?it was around that floating yellow buoy/whatever.I reckon the barometer triggered the bite.Cheers Yes, it was there for a few hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stimo1076 Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Great report mate and well done, loved the video. ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krispy ! Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 (edited) Goodstuff fragmeister, usually when theyre on like that theyre all rats, I find the bigger fish are in smaller groups Edited December 13, 2015 by Krispy ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Great report mate and well done, loved the video. Thanks, I have another video where they went just as crazy on the SP's Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 Goodstuff fragmeister, usually when theyre on like that theyre all rats, I find the bigger fish are in smaller groups Yes, have to agree. i am tempted to think there were some bigger specimens there looking at the sounder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlvbw Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Brilliant mate. I have had a few rat sessions like that in enzed, typically jigging. So much fun even when catching the smaller models. Damn i love jigging for kings! Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted December 14, 2015 Author Share Posted December 14, 2015 Brilliant mate. I have had a few rat sessions like that in enzed, typically jigging. So much fun even when catching the smaller models. Damn i love jigging for kings! Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk Yes ... a lot of fun but I was shattered the next day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p-ziller Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Unreal!!! So good viewing the footage too! Looks like it was a corker day out. Cheers, Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojay Samson Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Awesome post as usual frag, Good video to. Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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