Larkin Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Gday Raiders - hit up Bate Bay yesterday morning for a mid week fish. Picked up some livies & a couple of squid before heading out. Hooked a cuttlefish - was a chunky little fellow! Which was released. Cut up one of the squid into strips and it accounted for nice little kingy. It went 64 - with a bit of tail pointing it would probably have been a cm or so over legal - but I released it to fight another day! Plenty of Bonito about - hooked a good sized one on a livie - went 57cm. Took out the soft plastics rod with a 5 inch streakz curly tail in pearl. Tail got bitten off, but that was a bonus. Now with only a sliver of a tail I cast it, let it hit the bottom and wound it in really fast jigging it. It accounted for all the other bonito - was good fun! Making a heap of salted strip baits for flatties and the upcoming snapper season as the waters start to cool. Hit up the flatty drift and picked up 5 in around an hour or so - ranging from 35-45cm 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Some great food and bait there Chris. Here’s to the bonnies converting into snapper in the months to come! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabstar Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Plenty of squid about. We took home a few last Saturday… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Great report Chris, some great fighting fish there. That’s a nice cuttlefish too (awesome Kingie baits) I can’t bring myself to eat cuttlefish fish or squid when they make such awesome Kingie baits. But if I get a big cuttlefish I’ll keep the head and use the candles and cape for a feed and they are sweeter than calamari. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Great stuff mate, nice feed. Have you seen the bonnies inside the hacking at the moment? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Nice bag of fish again. A few flatties, and a big bonnie in amongst the others. As in my report, the wind and wave action picked up in the arvo, not too pleasant - my mate's boat is bigger and sits higher on the deck, so the pitching is more pronounced. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted April 20, 2023 Author Share Posted April 20, 2023 1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said: Some great food and bait there Chris. Here’s to the bonnies converting into snapper in the months to come! That’s the plan! A mate that also jetski fishes has given me a new spot to try out ~60m depth - can’t wait to lob out a bonito strip there. He picked up a 50cm+ red and 3 trags around 60-65 last week. 46 minutes ago, Crabstar said: Plenty of squid about. We took home a few last Saturday… nice! They’re starting to come around in numbers - inside and some big units outside along the cliffs. My mate caught some 40cm hoods yesterday off his kayak. 34 minutes ago, Pickles said: Great report Chris, some great fighting fish there. That’s a nice cuttlefish too (awesome Kingie baits) I can’t bring myself to eat cuttlefish fish or squid when they make such awesome Kingie baits. But if I get a big cuttlefish I’ll keep the head and use the candles and cape for a feed and they are sweeter than calamari. Thanks Bob! I’ve never eaten one, this was over a kilo so would have been a huge bait! 30 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said: Great stuff mate, nice feed. Have you seen the bonnies inside the hacking at the moment? Thanks Isaac, I saw a guy catch one two weeks ago off gunnamatta wharf as I was getting livies. So they are around. Was probably a watsons though. When I’m getting bait there I’m seeing quite a few large marks underneath - at sunrise. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted April 20, 2023 Author Share Posted April 20, 2023 31 minutes ago, Yowie said: Nice bag of fish again. A few flatties, and a big bonnie in amongst the others. As in my report, the wind and wave action picked up in the arvo, not too pleasant - my mate's boat is bigger and sits higher on the deck, so the pitching is more pronounced. Thanks Yowie! a few for the plate and some for bait. The larger Bonnie’s are taking livies - smaller ones anything retrieved at high speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 a great bag of fish there, good stuff. Thanks for sharing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Top haul. Great photos. Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 Well, caught! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 4 hours ago, kantong said: a great bag of fish there, good stuff. Thanks for sharing Thanks kantong - a few fish about atm 2 hours ago, Rebel said: Top haul. Great photos. Well done. Thanks Rebel - another day spent on the water 2 hours ago, bessell1955 said: Well, caught! thanks Bessel - was good fun 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 Great day out Chris! Nice mixed bag and plenty of baits for later on! enjoy the squid rings!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 46 minutes ago, jenno64 said: Great day out Chris! Nice mixed bag and plenty of baits for later on! enjoy the squid rings!!! Thanks Rob - conditions were good out there - plenty of squid around at the moment. I had the largest squid I’ve ever seen follow up a live bait - I thought it was a kingy at first but it was brown and then I realised what it was. Looked like a 50cm hood - took a chomp out of my live bait - back of the spine. Threw out a 4.0 squid jig that I had rigged up, but didn’t touch it. Here’s how I do my strip baits - for anyone interested. Course pool salt - skin side down strips - totally covered. I did two layers on this batch. Plenty of salt in between. Leave it for 12-24 hours, then vac seal in packs & freeze. Layer 1 - chunky strips Layer 2 - smaller strips cover with plenty salt 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 A very informative report Larkin, especially for me as I don't get to fish the Sydney region very often. I learn so much from you guys in the shire who are on the forum. You all know where and how to catch the different species throughout the year. In particular, I like the detailed description of how you make up and store your strip baits for future use. I imagine it would provide you with deadly baits for any number of species. Do you keep squid, for future use, in the same way? Cheers, bn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 8 hours ago, big Neil said: A very informative report Larkin, especially for me as I don't get to fish the Sydney region very often. I learn so much from you guys in the shire who are on the forum. You all know where and how to catch the different species throughout the year. In particular, I like the detailed description of how you make up and store your strip baits for future use. I imagine it would provide you with deadly baits for any number of species. Do you keep squid, for future use, in the same way? Cheers, bn Hi Neil, I find the salted bonito & mackerel work much better than any fresh baits for almost any fish. As soon as it hits the water it rehydrates and releases a concentrated scent. I’ve tried doing yellowtail’s this way, but have found that the mackerel and bonito are unmatched. Squid I’ll vac seal straight away and freeze. It comes out as fresh as when caught if you vac seal first. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now