Port Hacking

[Isaac Ct]

With complaints from the family of too much of one fish, I was told to go get something new. Haven't really had much luck with different species around the hacking but decided to give live baiting a go today. Early start and loaded up on yakkas at the boat ramp and headed out to Lilli Pilli, forgoing the top of the tide to fish the deep, to troll some yakkas around. Was using a double snell rig, one that I have previously used whilst anchored and caught fish on, first yakka dropped down and did not have time to even put the boat in gear when it buckled over. Short tussle and up came the flattie, biggest one in the hacking for me and was a pain to net solo, and even more of a pain to keep on the brag mat. Sent her back and trolled the drop-off and channels for a few hours and when the sun came fully up I made my way over to Buraneer Bay where a mate of mine has been landing some kings recently. Sent a livie down and trolled between the moored boats managing a tailor probably around the mid 40's which was released, then had a quick flick for squid before picking up a mate to no avail.

Live baiting gear away, picked up a mate, and headed to maianbar to collect some nippers, fished around their for a bit but no fish biting. Headed towards lilli pilli, fishing nippers on the flats with a live bait of the drop-off. Picked up the whiting which went just shy of 40, and plenty of stingrays around. Schools of bait being busted up came past every now and then, managed to get one taker on a sluggo, being a salmon and another one taking a yakka before jumping next to the boat and throwing the bait, hooks and all back at us. Persisted for a while and every so often the live bait rod would start moving around, I had set the drag loose as we were anchored, theory was to let the fish run and then slowly tighten the drag with the circle hooks hopefully finding their mark. Wondering if anyone does it differently? Missed 5 hook-ups doing this so maybe doing something wrong. 

Decided to go for one last drift in the rain before heading back, livie got smashed as soon as it hit the bottom, big headshakes and runs then gone. Tiny puncture marks all the way up the yakka and near the head was damaged, not sure what it could've been. Managed the crab then went home. Pretty slow day and just ceviche for dinner. 

[Little_Flatty]

Pretty nice additions to dinner there Isaac and a nice beyond slot flatty to boot. Well done!

[Yowie]

Still a good day out. A good flattie, nice whiting, crab, sambos, tailor.

Never liked circle hooks that much myself, one day a hookup, the next is no hookups, then most fish hooked in the throat, not the corner of the mouth.

[Isaac Ct]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Pretty nice additions to dinner there Isaac and a nice beyond slot flatty to boot. Well done!

Thanks Mike, little bit of dinner but for a full days work not much to show 

6 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Still a good day out. A good flattie, nice whiting, crab, sambos, tailor.

Never liked circle hooks that much myself, one day a hookup, the next is no hookups, then most fish hooked in the throat, not the corner of the mouth.

Cheers Yowie, lots of different stuff but still the kings alude me. I feel the circle hooks are good for fish like flathead and snapper as they go hard at the bait. Then normal hooks for fish like salmon and those who tend to play with it

[jenno64]

Great session Isaac! You brought some new species to the platter and scored a very nice flatty! Go the livies👌

[zmk1962]

Nicely done Isaac. You got out and caught a variety. If you looking to add variety to the plate maybe experiment with different cooking methods - a tailor around mid 40s would smoke up really well ... you'd be surprised ... and you'd be sent back to catch more 🤘

Cheers Zoran

[Isaac Ct]

1 hour ago, jenno64 said:

Great session Isaac! You brought some new species to the platter and scored a very nice flatty! Go the livies👌

Thanks mate, been trying to find some poddies, Used to find them in SWA now can't find them anymore.

8 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

Nicely done Isaac. You got out and caught a variety. If you looking to add variety to the plate maybe experiment with different cooking methods - a tailor around mid 40s would smoke up really well ... you'd be surprised ... and you'd be sent back to catch more 🤘

Cheers Zoran

Cheers mate, how would you smoke it. Was thinking bbq, low temp, one side on and fish on the other side. Also have a weber which might work.

[zmk1962]

8 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Cheers mate, how would you smoke it. Was thinking bbq, low temp, one side on and fish on the other side. Also have a weber which might work.

I guess you could work with a smoker box (to hold the wood chips) on one side. Have a read of this post and see if you glean a few ideas re brine and technique .... I recommend cherry wood chips.

Cheers Z

[LuckyFil]

15 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Tiny puncture marks all the way up the yakka and near the head was damaged, not sure what it could've been.

Sounds like a jewie to me. Their pin-like teeth will do that to a livie just to let you know what you missed😢. Would have been a lot more damage to the livie if it was a tailor and kings don't have teeth to speak of, flattie's are rasping teeth , so yeah pretty sure it was a jew.

A good session nevertheless and an interesting report to read, thanks for posting.

[Isaac Ct]

50 minutes ago, LuckyFil said:

Sounds like a jewie to me. Their pin-like teeth will do that to a livie just to let you know what you missed😢. Would have been a lot more damage to the livie if it was a tailor and kings don't have teeth to speak of, flattie's are rasping teeth , so yeah pretty sure it was a jew.

A good session nevertheless and an interesting report to read, thanks for posting.

Yeah I had a suspicion as I have seen videos of what Jews do to lives. A big jew has been on the bucket list so disappointing. Was rather a funny spot for it though, middle of the day and not in very deep water,

[Larkin]

Nice report Isaac! No kings, but a bit of action 👍

When live baiting for kings with circles you only want to use 1 hook. 
The hook should be either placed through the inside of the mouth and up through the nose of the live bait. Or sideways through the nostrils. (In through one nostril and out the other)

You can also bridle rig if you want to.

If you hook it any other way you will impede the circle hooks ability to catch the corner of the kings mouth.

With your rig, make sure your snell line is exiting from the inside eye of the hook. You definitely want to snell your circle as it will guide your hook to the corner of the mouth. 
 

 

To test, drop your snelled hook into a glass and pull the line horizontally, you will see the hook catch the edge of the glass every time. You know you have rigged it correctly. 

Don’t have loose drag - you will loose fish. You need enough drag to provide resistance to set the hook as the fish runs with it. I usually tighten my drag until I can just pull line by hand off the reel. You shouldn’t be able to pull the line off easily.
Don’t lift the rod, the fish will hook itself.

When trolling live bait, you want to do it at a snails pace. Just in gear. 2-4klm/h. Much much slower than trolling lures. Use a sinker - enough weight to keep the livie down while moving forward.

hope this helps 

cheers

chris

[bessell1955]

Three of the best!

 

[Isaac Ct]

16 hours ago, Larkin said:

Nice report Isaac! No kings, but a bit of action 👍

When live baiting for kings with circles you only want to use 1 hook. 
The hook should be either placed through the inside of the mouth and up through the nose of the live bait. Or sideways through the nostrils. (In through one nostril and out the other)

You can also bridle rig if you want to.

If you hook it any other way you will impede the circle hooks ability to catch the corner of the kings mouth.

With your rig, make sure your snell line is exiting from the inside eye of the hook. You definitely want to snell your circle as it will guide your hook to the corner of the mouth. 
 

 

To test, drop your snelled hook into a glass and pull the line horizontally, you will see the hook catch the edge of the glass every time. You know you have rigged it correctly. 

Don’t have loose drag - you will loose fish. You need enough drag to provide resistance to set the hook as the fish runs with it. I usually tighten my drag until I can just pull line by hand off the reel. You shouldn’t be able to pull the line off easily.
Don’t lift the rod, the fish will hook itself.

When trolling live bait, you want to do it at a snails pace. Just in gear. 2-4klm/h. Much much slower than trolling lures. Use a sinker - enough weight to keep the livie down while moving forward.

hope this helps 

cheers

chris

Cheers mate, I had a double snell with the front hook through the lip and the back one through the back of the yakka. Only reason being, I have hooked a lot more 'bycatch' by having this. Thanks for the tip on the drag, that seems to be the reason I lost a lot of fish. As for the sinker and speed, I had a star sinker and would keep the yakka near the bottom, I would knock the boat in gear and out of gear when the yakka had come of the bottom a bit (every 20-30 seconds), then kick it out of gear to let it sink back down slowly.

Appreciate the help.

[Pickles]

Great report @Isaac Ct, I love circle hooks (the go to for my fav’s the Kingies), but I know lots of fisho’s not so keen on them, (but the key is to let the fish take the bait and run before you put pressure on the fish, and most fishos like to “strike” the fish.

thats a really nice Flatties, well done.

[Isaac Ct]

12 hours ago, Pickles said:

Great report @Isaac Ct, I love circle hooks (the go to for my fav’s the Kingies), but I know lots of fisho’s not so keen on them, (but the key is to let the fish take the bait and run before you put pressure on the fish, and most fishos like to “strike” the fish.

thats a really nice Flatties, well done.

Thanks Bob, appreciate the help. Hopefully a few will swim my way