We were anchored 1.5 miles out on the dhuies edge ,the burly pot over the side .Jody has just lost one dhuies and released a sambo around 10kg.We looked over the side and there he was a dhuies 4m of the bottom checking out the burly pot ,we were in 16m 0f water and could see the bottom. Jody wasted no time getting here line in the water ,the dhuies followed her line down to the bottom and she was on .A good fish in shallow go hard ,three big runs from the top to the bottom and she was knackered Jody that is .Haven’t seen her puffin that hard for a while. The dhuies went 15kg .We released a snapper and some BBs and dropped a couple off dhuies.A great day. Will head out for a double dive tomorrow as the water was nice and clear. Will have the camera with me for some vid and pics.

Decided to go down to south beach groin tonight for a bit of a fish at 8ish. Was looking very calm, so I didnt expect to catch much. there was another guy from ireland fishing there as well. I brought 2 rods with me just on the push bike (1big and 1little). I cast out with some prawn on my light outfit, a few bites here and there. Caught a small herring after about 10 minutes, and was perfect size for 2 snelled circles on some wire trace on my saragossa 18000. cast it out and let it go. In the mean time I continued to fish with the small rod, catching a nice sized flathead and some more herring. The irish guy caught a king george about 40cm which was great. about 9.30 i noticed my big rod fling forward, so i raced over to it. but nothing was there, so I reeled in and noticed a clean bite. I put the hook back in and cast back out. This time I was holding the rod. Within in a few minutes I could feel some serious bites. So i let it play with the bait, and run about 50m before setting the hook. From there on in, the fish almost spooled me (300m of 30lb braid and 50lb mono leader and backing). After about 40 minutes i was gaining some ground, when the irish guy who was helping me, caught a glimpse of it before going on another run. Being on the rock wall, I didnt fancy my chances of landing the fish without a gaff or net. So I slowly made my way to the beach and fished from there on in. about an hour later it was on the shore. and it was a giant eagle ray. (about 150lb). So I got the other guy to get some snaps, before releasing it.

Besides the fact it was an eagle ray, when I got home, I noticed I didnt have my phone on me. So now Im without a phone and importantly pictures!!

Luckily I managed to get the guys name, hopefully he has it, or someone finds it. I just fucking hope aha

Just my luck :/

Will post pictures when or if i get my phone back lol

G’day lads,

With constant strong winds and rough seas offshore, getting out wide has been a tough call recently. On Wednesday a weather window appeared so Darryl, Sean and myself launched the Carolyn Jane from Roseville ramp in Sydney Harbour around 8.00AM. After loading up on live bait we passed through the Heads in search of a fish or two.

First stop, the Colours. This shallow inshore reef is only 30 metres deep, but has been very productive since Christmas for smaller kingfish, with jigging being the best method:

As the water has cooled it has become somewhat unpredictable fishwise, but being so close to the Harbour it’s always worth a quick stop. The kings were there in plenty, but all sub legal. After releasing seven or eight we headed south to the Peak, looking for some bigger specimens. That reef was also quiet, although Sean scored a just legal king on a 250 gram knife jig.

With reports of tuna about we made the call to run for Browns Mountain, 21.5nm ESE off South Head. Out wide the current was perfect for a deep drop, just 0.5 knots from the south. We rigged up the big electric and sent two pilchard heads on circle hooks to the bottom, 480 metres below. After 90 minutes without a strike I was wondering where our luck had gone. Then the VHF crackled into life. Adam from Ambition Charters letting us know about a red hot albacore bite some four miles north of the Mountain. Pulling up just behind Ambition’s stern we only had 20 minutes available to produce the goods, due to various crew commitments made for the evening. Down went the jigs and bang, a triple hook up.

With three nice albacore in the chiller bags the day had been saved at the bell. Thanks, Adam!

Yesterday was the next opportunity to get wide. We headed straight for Browns, aware of Vic’s sensational capture of a 62.5 kilo big eye tuna the day before, fishing from Al McGlashan’s Strikezone. The fight was filmed for Al’s show on channel 44, keep an eye out for that one:

Once over the Mountain we got a burley trail going, and set live baits.  We jigged the thermocline 100 metres down, knowing that at this time of year the albies spend most of the day holding at that depth. Radio traffic from some frustrated anglers told of kegger yellowfin chasing sauris on the thousand fathom line, but no-one could get a hook up on either cubes or lures. After an hour or two it was beginning to feel like a rehash of last week. So we rigged the double handled manual in a high bracket for easy winding, fitted the electric reel and sent some bonito strips to the bottom using 4-pound sinkers with both outfits. That turned the trick. First aboard was a greeneye shark, then two nice gemfish, followed by a good blue-eye around 13 kilos and then the fish of the day, a bass groper which went 19 kilos on the digital scale.

We were able to wind up the manual deepwater reel (sinker and rig only) using a power drill on a custom fitting on the centre point of the handle, which saved a lot of time, although a flat drill battery meant muscles had to finish the job.

A battery eliminator arriving soon should fix that problem. With the albacore last week, Vic’s great big eye on Monday, yellowfin out on the temp break and reports of southern bluefin moving north, we are in for a blinder of a tuna season off Sydney this year – if the weather plays its part. Cheers,

Andrew Hestelow

 .

Today heralded the last day of mahi fishing for work as a result of dropping water temps and the likelihood of catching one becoming rather unviable.  So being Sally's third last day at work she was given a guernsey and Richo and I decided that she needed to catch something worthy of bragging, so begins the story.

Once out the back, about 9am, we found sloppy conditions with an uncomfortable 1.5m swell whipped up by a good 10 knot + south easterly, getting thrown around a bit we decided to head south (from back of NW reef) to try and get some protection.  About 2 hours in we got our first hit as I witnessed a foam ball on the back left, shortly after convincing the other 2 it was a fish the rod started to feel weight, but no real hookup.  By the time I had time to look twice the rod had fully loaded up and snap, the line busted off at the rod tip and the first fish was lost as a result of a 'sticky' drag.

A quick retie of the double/leader and back on we went, not more than 5 minutes later line was peeling off and Sally was on to her first wahoo.  A few laps around the boat and I leadered him in (considered putting him in the livie tank but it seemed a little inhumane so dispatched him for our dinners)  Noticing some damage to the leader we replaced the pinky with another pinky and set the spread, this time the action took another 45 minutes to occur when a little black came up and smashed the lure with some serious anger.  I managed to get a few jump shots as the action took place with Sally fighting her first marlin, once boatside Richo went for the leader and with the fish still being a little green he took off like a rocket giving Sal a fair wake up call.  Being a little pissed off with how long it was taking Sal went to work and well, 10 meters from the boat the hooks pulled - on closer inspection the hook was completely bent and she was donned the nickname 'Heavy Handed Sally'.  (we are using 10/0 s/w fly hooks though so we can bend them out of bigger marlin rather than having them come in close to the inflatable)

Seeing as both pinkies were out of action I went to the bag and got out my trusty black grassy - the lure had hardly even hit the water before we were on again, this time to a serious fish that wasn't playing nice.  The fish initially took a good run, ran back to the boat and then took a 400m greyhounding run sideways we he spent most of the time out of the water - (like big blacks do - none of this head shaking jumping up and about - just one direction without hesitation) in one of the best displays I have seen in quite some time.  (I managed one photo but just couldn't keep up)  We estimated him at about 70kg but didn't even get close to him before the hooks pulled on Sal's 2nd for the day.

We then had a run of stripey tuna (4 at about 3-4kg) and one more bite that we think was a bill before we started heading back.  Not far off the lighthouse we had a little rat black come up and stay connected, passing the rod over to Richo I was hopeful that I might get a few more jump shots, but alas it wasn't to be.  Anyway we had finally stayed connected after one hell of a hotbite and unfortunately heavy handed Sally didn't get her first, but I think she got the marlin bug and I'm sure it will be hard for her leaving Exxy.  Will catchya round my little Sunday/Monday buddy!

Cheers,

Adam

Headed out from Woodman Point at 6am and started the days fishing at Stragglers. The weather wasn't as good as www.seabreeze has predicted but not to bad. Berlied hard for 2.5 hours with no takers other than a stingray that busted us off.

At 8:30am decided to up anchor and head out to 5 fathom bank to see if the rumours were true about Snapper hanging around bait schools. Headed to a spot that I had never fished before (about half way south of Garden Island) and started our drift. Hooked into some undersized Snapper (the size you'd pay for at the fish monger) and a couple of wrasse. Did a zig-zap pattern for two more drifts heading South with not much action and then decided to head back over the first drift point where we had caught the small snapper. Did two more drifts and then landed a nice size Bronze Whaler.

The wind then changed so we couldn't drift along the back end of 5 fathom (North to South) so decided to drift over the spot we were getting hits on a NW to SE drift up to the edge of the bank. This is when we landed a nice size Sambo (thought they had left for the year) which weighed in at 20lb on the Boga Grips (fish was released). Another boat saw us land the fish and came over into our drift taking our spot (no probs). This is when the wind changed again and the chop started to settle. We decided to do another drift over the spot we had been having luck with but this time it was W to E. Started drifting and we caught a few good size fish that looked like Nannagai to me but I thought they were a deep sea fish??? (Have taken a photo for confirmation; will post shortly). Released these as we weren't sure if they were or not (heard they are good eating?).

We were drifting from 18m up to 14m and was starting to think we were getting a bit shallow and should head back out deep when I looked at the map on the GPS and saw we were going to come up to 12m and decided to see if anything was up close to this edge when the bait I had out with no weight went screaming off. Pull the rod out of its holder and gimbled in for a fight. Figured as he bait was unweighted and was probably about mid water it was going to be a shark. I was stoked when I saw colour and realised it was a Snapper. My first Metro Snapper since getting a boat and making that arduous changed from being a land based fisher to a boating one. As we landed the beauty the sounder lit up, there was a massive school of fish under us, I jumped up and marked the spot on the GPS. At first I thought it was a school of Snapper and we were going to be in for some serious fun. Once the Snapper was measured (74cm, 10lb) we heading back for a drift over the spot but the wind direction was causing us some issues  so after passing, almost, over the location, the deckhand (Peter) said, "why don't we anchor up", so we did.

The wind dropped and the ocean became a "milk pond", we could see to the bottom with ease and there were bait fish everywhere. We threw out a few baits without a bite when all of a sudden my mate screamed, "look at the size of the Sambos", I looked over and there were 4 coming up and engulfing the cubes we were throwing out. These babys were freaking huge, the sort I watch other guys catch on www.youtube.com whilst jigging out deep. I grabbed my unweighted bait and threw it out. Two large Sambos (they looked as big as me) came right up to the surface at the side of the boat and had a good look, they were easily double the size of the one I caught earlier. After my bait had sank 1m, it was nailed and my Stella screamed into action and it was on, I figured I was going to get one of those pics with me holding a Sambo of 20kg+ but I was wrong. My drag was tight and I decided to loosen it when I was nearly pulled off balance and over the side of the boat. Unfortunately this was my downfall as seconds later and half a spool of 50lb braid gone, I felt the tell tale signs of line going around reed. I called to my mate, "I feel reef" and it was over.

Baitfish were bubbling all around us so I jumped up on the front of the boat to get a better look and cast into them. There were huge Sambo's swiming around the boat (I wish I took photos but as you guys probably know, you are to busy fishing to take pics), and then Peter called out that he was on to another Sambo (not that he needed to, I could hear his line peeling off his reel). Unfortunately his adventure was short lived as it spat the hook after running about 100m.

Before we headed back in at 7pm (a long days fishing), I landed a 51cm Dhu fish which I decided to release.

All up it was a great day for the 5 Fathom Bank which always seems to promise so much but deliver so little. Apart from the fish mentioned above, we also caught 5 beloved (NOT) stingrays. Thinking of heading to 3 mile on my next adventure...

I took my brother out fishing on friday off two rocks and we where drifting over some nice lumps in about 40 metres when i spotted something brown and tan/olive moving through the water , I thought straight away turtle as many trips to exxy you no what they look like but couldnt believe my eyes , so I climbed on the side off the boat to have a better look and sure enough it stuck its head out took a big breathe saw me and swam off to the bottom it was about 60cm shell so not a big turtle . I cant believe they would be this far south has anyone ever seen them or heard off this , apart from that ! we had a quiet day 1 x dhue 2 blackarse 4 pinkies and a 5ft bronsie , kept the ba wifes favourite rest went back for next time , loads of activity early mourning with bait schools big schools of something and birds just outside 3mile tried to troll but the birds and seaweed drove me mad mainly the birds nothing like untangling a unhappy bird with fishing line and a lure wrapped around its neck , didnt matter what we tried they managed to stuff it . the weather was windy and rough early but perfect midmourning onwards , not a bad day beats workin.

Last trip to Spain I visited the local fish market. Could only imagine how big this tuna might have been..

Headed out on friday arvo chasing a few squid and ended up with 23 nice sized ones, probably dropped that again but had an awesome time getting inked in glassy gulf conditions.

Today was looking decent, it was blowing its guts out in the gulf but as you can see from the first photo, Tantas was magic.  The water clarity was the most crystal clear I have seen it, just sensational, would have been awesome for the whale sharkers until the tide started moving.  We trolled around for a while looking for a bill with no love and almost bumped into a flighty whale shark.  Seeing as there was little action on the surface we moved into the deep water and found a nice school of goldies, mixed with trevs and amberjacks that really got the back hurting (along with the customary haul of sharks).  After getting a nice bag we moved into the shallows but the current was howling through, the upside was we found many pods of whales on their annual migration north.  Just before these photos were taken one did the customary full barrel roll about 30m from the boat, announcing their presence for the season.  (Unfortunately the camera wasn't ready otherwise it would have been one sick photo)

The other good thing was back at the ramp when one of the whale shark 'deckies' was helping to retrieve the boat, UNBELIEVABLE!!!  I would loved to have got a photo but it may/may not have done justice - one way or another, it topped off my day just nicely!

Cheers,

Adam

Headed out this arvo to the 3 mile for a quick anchor and burley session. It was a good litle session with action the whole time. Managed to boat a dhuie first drop and a nice size breaksea the next. Over the next hour i caugh another 2 smaller breaksea and 7 undersize pink snapper, then the sun began to set so i headed in. Everything was caught on a calcata 200b and a berkly dropshot 4-6kg rod so was a bit sporting and plenty of fun. sorry about the photos, i was by myself and only had my phone camera. cheers

Hi Crew

Finally got the time to sit down and throw a report together on my recent foray north. Destination Cape Peron Shark Bay. Was going to be a diving trip but my dive buddy rob and i both took a rod each just in case. As the date drew closer the weather forecasts improved and the excitement grew.

Knocked off work at 430am friday after a 12hr shift , gave rob a quick buzz and the wheels where set in motion. One final check thru the gear , a fuel stop and we left gero at about 530 for the 450 odd k trip... I was totaaaallly shattered since not sleeping from 10am the previous morning so rob took the wheel. Sleep was very hard to come by tho with the excitement of what lay ahead and me not being a car sleeper at the best of times... think i managed 30mins in total...

Arrived in Denham for a quick top up and the water was miiiiiiiinyong! Hustle time - A quick stop to pay at the gate $53 bucks for 3nights not bad and we hit the dirt. Arrived at our chosen camp site at Bottle Bay about 11am. Sheet of glass was an understatement. Camp set in record time , suits on , boat launched PARTY TIME!!!!!

Headed up to SkipJack Point for a looksee first and the tide was hummmmming... Vis attrocious - no diving here... Checked some marks we had been giving for the same results so resorted back to a hunt out from camp... Found a Beaut lookin reef in 8-9m and finally we hit the water.. I wont bore too much into it but as the tide increased the vis decreased to about 3m max but not before Rob shot the first fish of the trip. Stoned a beaut Blackspot Tuskie of 74cms (later weighed as 20lb) toppppp fish... His pb blown out and cloud nine was reached for him! Oh and the water got flatter and flatter if that was at all possible.

Seen the odd cray and looped a absolute horse green cray but revealed itself as furry so therefore she was sparred the pot and released back under her ledge.. The odd cod , parrotfish , small tusker and sorts made apperances but the guns stayed loaded... Finally after alot of searching i spotted a big trout head sticking out from a ledge. Unfortunently it spooked tho leaving me to admire a small bar cheek that was probably only just legal and again left for next time.. Time ticked on slowly..

Making a pass of the boat i spotted a small school of baitfish right down on top of a ledge and adjacent bombie... Looked fishy... Closer inspection and a that unmistakable head of a nice trout appeared from behind the bait... I dropped down - the fish gave that "I'm boss" stare than made the mistake id hoped for - a beaut slow turn - 7mm of rob allens finest was sent smashing straight thru the temple... STONED!!!

I knew it was a nice fish but the best was waiting back at boat.. It just got bigger and bigger til finally on the esky it measured in at 84cms! STOKED... smoked my previous best trout of 70 on spear and was bigger than any ive caught... a unreal fish.. one that will take some time to beat for rob and i thats for sure...

Anyways we finished the day after rob shot another monster blackspot 72cms - the dumbest ive ever seen... it literally dawdled past his gun ontop of the reef without him even having to dive... Found some lumps that held red crays and looped 2 for dinner entree then headed home - New GPS mark - PB REEF lol....

Thats the best part down and the next 2 days diving where not easy as visibility decreased markedly - PB reef was only just divable on day 2 - 2m of vis - altho rob spotted a nice mulloway and left another horse trout thinking it was a cod! Still fuming about that one he is! One tuskie of 60cms and a nice parrotfish joined 3 more crays in the esky tho and some fantastic footage taken.

Did find some ground out off the point that came from 14 upto 8m and back down - we managed 3 quick drift dives here before the tide again smashed us.. Seen rankin cod albeit only babies, chinamen, big spangos, cod, trout, pinkies, one tusker that would have been 85cms and 10kg (smart fish he was too lol) and swam with a school of goldens that where hugge! The weather again fantastic..

Day 3 dawned with drizzle set in but another glasy ocean... Today rob and i drove quite some miles searchin for ground... proved unsuccesful - the tides just too big and vis crap... PB reef totally undivable unfortunently.

Finally found another finger of low limestoney reef that we managed to shoot some lovely tuskies and a nice cod aswell before calling it quits late arvo... 4 blackspot all between 60&65 not a bad effort....

After drizzle all day it looked ominous for the night - 2am in the morning down she came.... heard we copped bout 30mm that night and it sure felt like it. Packed camp the next morning between showers with the surf pumping into the beach... The end of a great 3days diving the bay.. Grand total of 7 tuskers 1 trout 1 cod and a parrotfish - Not huge numbers but quality thats for sure!

Negotiated the flats covered in water and with 15ks of dirt before the bitumen we done the U-bolts on one side of the trailer - dang... Wasted an hour trying bush mechanic style but that lasted 500m and then it was really stuffed lol... CALM called past to inform the park had been closed but they helped us out with access ect while we dropped the boat , raced into denham and grabbed the necessary parts and borrowed a angle grinder ( HUGE THANKS TO PAUL from sharkbay mechanical!)

ended up back on the road few hrs later after a quick dip in the homestead hot-tub (BEAUTIFUL) and heading home... did blow the tread off a tyre 70clicks outta northampton but thats minor stuff...

Hope you enjoy the read guys!

ill be back there for more - Dirk Hartog is in the planner already!

Cheers Poddy =)

gday guys,

I thought I would share a great session that we had about a month ago. We have been going to Monkey Mia for about 15 years now and we were up there in May-June this year. We had 2 boats there this year, and this is the story.

We had been fishing all day, been out to a spot about 30km away and we had a lousy day. It was flat calm, and for about 6 hours of fishing flat out all we had was a couple of Blacks and a Estuary Cod. We also dropped a heap of good fish right near the boat. To make things worse, my Father in Law and bro in Law in the other boat had cleaned up, pulling in Baldies, Blacks, Pink Snapper and an oversize Cod for a bit of fun. They pulled stumps about half an hour earlier than us and headed back in.

We decided to head back after little to show for a lot of effort. I decided to have one last crack before pulling the boat up. For those that know Monkey Mia would know of the pearl farm not far away. We pulled up about 50m from the nets and I grabbed my soft plastic combo. Its a Sol 3000 on a Lemax Slim Max rod, it already had a 5 inch Berkley Gulp Shad rigged. Now I had heard reports of Trevally hanging around the pearl farm but never caught one this far south.

What happened next was frantic. First cast, the lure had just hit the water when BANG I was on, on in a big way and loosing line fast. I am running 8 kg braid on the Sol and it was peeling off in a hurry. To make things worse the pearling nets were so close and the fish was heading that way.

I ending up basically locking up the spool with my hand and then slowly slowly making ground. After numerous huge runs, after moving the boat around to avoid the nets and about 30min later, it was netted!! I was so wrapped the way the Daiwa Sol handled things, I love that reel

Now some may say its only a Golden Trevally, which is true, but what a rush. It isn't the biggest Trev I've caught, or the best ever catch but a combination of things made it special. Light gear, nets all around, people in the boat who didn't believe in soft plastics and a days fishing that was pretty lousy but sudddenly was special.

After a few pictures I got her back in the water and swam her for a few minutes and off she went. I couldn't keep and eat a fish that had made me that happy.

So, after a few more casts we called it a night and went back to tell the story to the other crew. I was so stoked. Its funny how one fish that I didn't even keep can make over 6 hours of eventless fishing seen somehow worth while. We got stacks of fish over the 3 and a bit weeks we were there, but none quite as memorable.

thanks for listening

Jared

.

Mate picked up a nice mulloway this morning at high tide. went 13.5kg

just came back from a week in exmouth and struggled to get into any decent fish. Everyday the north easterly was blowing 20knots which ruled out the gulf side (and was so dirty vis was less than 1m) so launched at tanta's hoping to muck around inside the reef until the wind dropped. Basically the wind never dropped so most fishing was done on the inside. The plan of atack was to drift the shallows flicking skindeeps/poppers and plastics for spanglies. Only landed 2 sized for the trip and a nice 10kg + 3kg golden. Was reefed plenty of times as it was a struggle to fight the fish and to contend with the fast drift of the boat.



On the rare ocassion we could pop outside the reef we trolled but to no avail. Seemed like a lack of bait activity around. We did however come across some very small schools of stripeys and mac tuna which suprisingly took a liking to 30-40g twistys.(Thinking there was so little bait around that they were hungry and would try hit anything) Managed to land 4 of them.

Did jump in for a snorkel on a bombie in 5-6m and got some footage of a big estuary cod and a 2m sandbar shark.

Will be back up there again by the end of the year and hopefully we can get a few good days weather wise.

Its been a year since our last trip to Wagoe, the last time we went the swells and wind direction wasnt doing us any favours. We were keen to give it another go as the weather report was looking good with nice eastly winds blowing. This was also going to be our first time ballooning so anticipation was high.

Day 1: When we arrived we headed straight down to the reef, the fishing was slow.. we caught a couple of bream and a couple of skippy to 1kg, then we headed down to the beach area to settle for the night and to try and catch the elusive mulloway. We had a couple of false alarms during the night with a couple of small sting rays and a four foot reef shark.

Day 2: We woke up to find that we had nice eastly winds blowing, the winds were due to change directions by noon so we got straight into ballooning. A couple of hours went by with still no hits... As the ballooning rig was about 400m off shore I decided to wind the bait back in. After a couple of winds... my reel came to life with a quick screeming run. After a quick 10-15 min fight the mackie was gaffed.

Pretty stoked with the catch as its my first mackie.

Here are a couple of pictures we took... Mackie was aprox 19-21kg quite a fat fish...

Cheers Justin

The weather reports looked good so mate Simon and I took a run up the coast to Beejaling shoals.

First spot we tried didn't even produce a bite so we upped anchor and worked our way between 2 pro boats chasing spaniards to the next closest spot on the Gps.Again same result, no bites at all, got a call from a mate in another boat a couple of Ks away saying they were on fish and to come over.I sounded around their boat and decided the patch was too small for two boats and anchored on one some fifty metres away.Up came a stream of undersized bluebone and spanish flag but not a sign of the pinkies or spanglies we were hoping for.

Another move of 3 Ks and straight away good bites and up came good sized spanish flag and sea bass plus a couple of savage bites resulting in instant break offs from suspected sharks or mackies. Hoping to catch whatever it was I stuck a big bait on a wire trace under a balloon 50 metres away. It wasn't there 5 minutes and a 8-10ft shark was going mental trying to attack the balloon, this went on for all of 2 minutes untill it finally popped and the line started to take off, I pushed the drag lever down and struck hard and it took off at a rate of knots taking all of 150-200 metres of line. I called to Simon to tie the floats on and drop the anchor rope, no sooner has I said it and bang all over, time to wind the chaffed off line back in.

Gave it a half hour after things went quiet then moved again to a little spot in 12 fathoms, anchored up and even though we could see good fish straight under the boat they were not tempted to bite so yet another move. This time it was back near to where we had trouble with the shark in 6 fathoms and first drop and Simon said he had a fish on but it felt funny and jokingly I said occy for sure, sure enough he had his first one of that species. This spot proved to be much the same again, no pinkies or spanglies and small reef fish.

Not a lot to show for the effort but you cannot win them all so better luck next time I hope.

We headed out this arvo for a troll as a friend has been getting some tuna .There were plenty of bait balls busting up and birds diving ,only took 5 minutes and Jesse was on. The only light gear in the water ,and it grabed that one .7-12lb rod and 9kg braid on his calcutter 400 near spooled him .Spun the boat around and chased it for a while then drifted and let Jesse do some of the work. sure gave him stick .good fish on light gear .Fish was released .Would have gone 5-6kg .Has been a lot of tuna around and so Yellowfin Also so macs yes macs

Scano, and his wife and i decided to book one of the new chalets down at hamelin bay for last weekends long weekend.

The target fishing wise was King George whiting. We have always done well for KG's down that way from the tinny's so decided to take Scanos down and have a crack in some areas we have caught some before.

The drive down isnt as long as it used to be with the new Freeway, so heqded down Friday after work.
Got down quite late at 10pm or so, but being a fully setup chalets didnt need to setup anything.

Winds were down a little on Saturday, but there was a 3 metre swell pushing through, and for those who know the Hamelin bay ramp isnt the friendliest.

So we launched about 1 hour before high tide (High tide is the best time to launch and retrieve on this ramp, especially when its a little rough.

Out we headed in search of KG's, and maybe some good sized skippy.

We tried to find the best location given there was a little wind about making it sloppy in a tinny.

Didnt take long to find the KG's with one coming from the first cast.. at 37cm. Not a bad start!!

2nd cast was a Monster skippy, for the location anyway and gave me some curry on a 3kg setup. After some running around the boat, it was up, probably close to 2 kilos!

The rass moved into our spot so decided to move over to another location.

We only have mulies and whitebait for bait, so we wanted to try catch some fresh squid for bait. But before we started to setup for this we decided to drift out a couple live herring on a float to try for a shark or Salmon. We've done this previously and have realised we needed the biggest gearwe could use, as whatever we were hooking (Sharks, YTK's or sambo's, all i know live in this area we just couldnt stop.

So sent a herring out the lack on a float, and it didnt take long for the floan to start going under..(3 metres off the back of the boat!!!)

Didnt look like a fish, and it was called for a squid. So rigged one of the small rods up with a Squid Jig, and tried to lure the squid in on the herring, then replace it with a Jig... Well, this worked like a treat. We had the hottest 1 and a half hour sessions Ive ever had fishing, with KG's on the light gear along with herring, skippy, flathead, and the biggest squid Ive ever seen come up for the herring we were floating out. We managed 6 nice KG's between 35 and 50cm a flattie at 45cm a few bull herring and 14 massive squid!

USed some of the fresh squid for bait which worked well, getting the flattie, more KG's herring, Skippy. So much fun on 6lb gear.

Scano with a 54cm KG

Scano and his nice flattie

Scano with another nice KG and a big squid

Couple more big squid.

Good catch of squid. the biggest ones had tubes 44cm long, and were 90cm from tenticle to end of tube.

Few more

Now that day when we came back in the tide had dropped, and the ramp was a mess to say the least. It took us 45 minutes to get the boat onto the trailer with it being very hard work with 2 of us. Many people were watching not 1 person offered any help, which is somewhat a nnoying as we always offer help to those who are sturggling. Problem we had is the wash was washing the trailer off the ramp all the time. However we did it safely and didnt rush, which Ive seen too many times down there where people rush and end up hurt of damaging their boat.

Talking about damaging your boat. While we were cleaning our fish on the beach, another boat came in, which was a pollycraft thing, about 4.7m long. Well there was only 2 of them trying to get their boat on, and they managed to get there boat washed up backwards onto the concrete ramp, causing thousands in damage to it. We did run over and help them, and with 4 people it's made much easier. Bit long winded this, but think it needs to be known for anyone heading down that way, dont take the ramp for granted.

The next day we decided ot take a walk down the beach to one of our 'Beach KG locations' which usually produces some nice KG's

However it was pretty slow with only a heap of herring, and skippy about. We were noticing something was pulling bits of mulie and whitebait off the hooks, similar to squid. So rigged the big rod up witha float, an a squid spike with a Gardie on it. Never really used squid spikes with success before, but hey worth a crack

And 2 minutes later, here was the result!

Managed a couple of squid then decided to head back and wait for an arvo fishing session.

About 5 pm the 3 of us headed down to another beach location which we have cought a couple KG's before and tried again.

Well, i thought Saturday's tinny bash was hot, we had the hottest KG and herring session in 30 minutes!! Managing 11 KG's between 35-40cm and plenty of herring and sand whiting which a few were kept for snapper baits!

Scano with the light gear from the beach

sunset

KG's :D

All in all a great weekend, especially only fishing light Managed a good feed of KG's all be it, not as many cracking 50cm ones we usually manage, but nont the less, we managed some of the biggest squid Ive seen.

Long write up hopefully not too boring.

Bodie

Was planning a trip out for the weekend, and yesterdays weather looked the best out of the two days.Plan was to leave super early around 5.30am from woodies.

With Scano and another mate keen for a trip, we headed out to what is known as 'Mr Reliable'. Which is some ground we recently found, which seems to be just a flat plate of coral, but always produces.

Lets just say the weather conditions were not the greatest, in the sound they were great... out past rotto not so good, pushing 15-16 knot North easters... Made for some sloppy ocean, and being about 5 degrees and in a centre console, tried to stay as dry as possible.

This time we thought we'd take a look around a bit in the same area to try locate some more ground as to not over fish the couple of lumps of coral we already have.

About a alf mile short of our destination i noticed on the sounder a little rise and a little bit of colour, which i see as coral. So dida quick turn around and sounded over the same spot. A few fish showed and when i went over it nice and slow, the coral lit up as well as a 3-4 metre lump. Didnt take us long to find some new ground!.

Quick rig up and we dropped....

1 second... 2 seconds... bang! i am on.. fish felt ok and a slow wind up in case it was a small dhu... but it was not, it was a nice 48cm Black ass... not a bad fish for first drop of the day, and its always good to get runs on the board early. Quick snap and in the eski he went.

Up'ed lines andback we went for another drift...

Lines down... 1 second....2 seconds... bang, my mate mickis on, then im on, then Scano is on...

Micks fish looked the goods, mine felt good but dropped a few seconds later, and Scanos we were unsure.

After a few minutes micks fish came up, the fight looked like a pinky, but to our delight it was a nice Baldy!! up at 60cm long!! Hard to tell the weight but quessed 4-5kgs. Great fish and a first for mick!. Seem to get Baldies every time out on the coral.

Scanos came up and was a swallowtail which was released.

Swung round for a 3rd drift, wind was started to kick a bit now, which made our drift quick. NE winds, with the current pushing NW made it hard work.

None the less down we went again, this time i think it was 5 seconds before Scano was on. Looked like a half decent fish, and what a surprise it was when it hit the surface.. unusual to find these of this size in shallow water in the 40-50m range but a nice red snapper came up! well over size, and in my eyes bloody great on the tooth!

a few more drifts voer the same ground produced another Black bum, small dhu at 48cm which was sent back on the release weight.

Moved on a little over to another small bit of coral, by this time the wind was kicking hard and getting annoying, so we thought a couple drifts then would look atheading in.

1st drift was down for all over 3 seconds and was on.. the sounder was glowing, but this time it was a another small dhu of 48cm which went back on the release weight.

Following drift and mick was on again... first of all he thought he had the bottom, but soon found out he wasnt...
After a few minutes he had his fish boat side, and was another first for him, a nice 60-65cm queen snapper.

we did a few more drifts for a few odd fish and decided it was time to head in.

Now im sure your wondering what the 'Fishwrecked First'... is....

Well, we started on our way in and only moved about a half mile and we came across something i cant say Ive come across before.. It was massive and fully grown, very unusual in 40 odd metres 18 odd miles out. We contemplated casting a lure at it, but decided there was another way we could catch it....

A wheelie bin!!! and a cracker too!!!
Hooked it with the boat hook and in the boat she came.... a few jokes about how we would fillet it, and how we would explain it to the fisheries if we were pulled up, but bought it back and put it in the bin at the ramp.

Definately a first for me.

Bodie

Hi Guys

After the long wait May rolled around after waiting so long to go to the Three Kings, after reading reports and so on about the fishing there it seemed like it was never going to happen. I was trying to organize a trip there but finding it hard to get a crew together I soon found YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in New Zealand on the fishing.net.nz website looking for a couple of guys to join them so it worked out perfect for me.
We got very lucky with the weather for the trip as the trip before and after us got canceled due to big seas, this is not a trip you would want to do in big seas believe me.
We meet Lance the skipper of Enchanter and boarded the boat on the Friday night were we would stay in port at Monganui Harbour for the night, after a quick trip down to the local pub for a couple of beers and tea we were soon back on the boat where live bait was caught to take with us, apart from Colston who thought it would be a good idea to have a few more at the pub the night before and rock back up to the boat at 2.30am in the morning, well he paided the price for that.

The team for the trip from left to right, Colston, Brian, JP co owner of YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in Auckland, Lance the skipper of Enchanter Charters, Simon and myself with Steve the decky behind the camera.

This was home for our seven day fishing adventure at the Three Kings, Enchanter Charters would have to be one the the best live aboard charters in New Zealand with a skipper that puts you on the fish every time and the best deckhand you will every find where nothing is a problem, Enchanter Charters can be contact at the following website to arrange the trip of a life time http://www.fishntrips.co.nz/index.html

We had far to much gear between us as you can see, for some reason we thought we better take 3-6 combos each just in case, believe me after this trip the Three Kings is no place for tackle under PE6 so leave it at home unless you are prepared to leave heaps of jigs there.

Now I have far to many photos so I will just list a few on here, for a start I will get our best fish for the trip out the way as we all got our PBs on this trip.
I got very lucky, all the boys had a kingie of 30kg or bigger apart from me I was stuck back on about 25kg or so, when fishing out on the Middlesex Bank I hooked a freight train, at first I thought it was a bass as a couple had just been pulled over but when the colour of a kingie was seen after a long battle I new this was my big boy, I was unsure of the size but I new it was well over the magic 30kg mark, the boys were talking 40kg so after a quick photo shoot, we didn't end up getting the best shots as I was a very tired after the fight and so was the fish so it was important to get him back asap, a couple of quick photos then onto the scales, they started bouncing between 38-45kg and ended up between 41-42kg, he was quickly returned to fight another day, I was a very happy fisherman so I went straight to the chiller and grabbed a beer.
Tackle used was a Jigging Master PE8 reel, Jigging Master 450B rod and a Jigging Master 500gram rocket jig.

JP from YeeHaa Fishing Tackle in New Zealand with one of his big kingie's at just over the 30kg mark, there were around a dozen caught on this trip that were 30kg or above it was unbelievable.

Brian with his huge 45kg bass caught out on the Middlesex Bank, the bass dont look like the sort of fish that would pull string but believe me these things pull like a kingie of the same size.

Colston is behind there somewhere, also with another huge 45kg bass from the Middlesex bank. Colston was a very lucky angler who won this trip at YeeHaa Fishing Tackle since he brought so much gear from them, this was a trip of a lifetime for him as he also landed 3-4 kingies between 30-34kg as well.

Simon pictured here with his big 30kg kingie for the trip, this was Simon's first serious time out jigging but he had the right equipment for the job using a Jigging Master PE6 reel, Jigstar rod and a broken arrow jig.

With our PBs out the way I will add a few more photos of some more great fish we got over the week, we landed so many kingie's it wasn't funny, if you are looking to catch kingie's by the dozens over 20kg this is the place to be the fishing is the best in the world.

We had a few bass and one kingie to take home so we had a fair bit of work ahead of us filleting those, a bit of team work and we had it done in no time.

Thanks for reading if anyone wants any info about a trip like this please just PM me im more than happy to help. A couple of things to keep in mind is that it took us 14 hours to get to the Three Kings Islands and 16 hours to get home so if you are no good at sea this is not a trip for you.

Cheers Coxy

So...... I finally got my winter Tailor on light gear.
Arrived at Two Rocks at about 6.15am, still well and truly dark and cold as a witches tit.
Big swell when I got out onto the beach, plenty of white wash so I figured I was in with a chance of a Tailor or 3. Shortly after I arrived I had 50-60 pink grey galah’s land on the beach right next to me, not something you see on the beach everyday!
Was armed with the latest rod and reel that has been added to the war chest, a Shimano Jewel Series 702 saltwater spin rod and a Shimano Stradic 2500 loaded with 250 metres of 10lb Fireline. Sensational combo and not a bad 1st wedding anniversary present (Thanks Boss Lady, can’t wait for next year’s pressie).
Anyway, rigged up with 12lb fluorocarbon leader to a Halco 20 gram metal slice, played around in a few areas for 10-15 minutes before the lure got walloped at 7.00am on the dot. On light gear as you can imagine I had a pretty decent fight with what ended up being a nice size +40cm Tailor.
Done a stupid dance around then beach and had a grin from ear to ear. This thing was actually bigger in length than my white BCF fishing bucket, you beauty....... it’s been a while since my last decent fish.
Got the lure back out ASAP hoping the fish were still around when tragedy struck a few casts later........... Snagged.
Lost the metal slice, and didn’t have any more in that size as backup. With the 20 gram I was casting probably 70-80 metres offshore. It’s amazing how far you can cast when you actually abide by the rod casting weight recommendations (mine recommends 21 grams), anyway chucked on my next best which happened to be a 50 gram.
Still good casting distance but the lure was diving more than I needed it to which meant I was fighting against the little bit of seaweed that was around. Anyway short time later I lost that Lure too....... Not happy Jan.
Lost a few more 50 and 60 gram slices and then it was time for the Squidgies and Gulps, not ideal, but had a few which resembled Mulies so I figured I was in with a fighting chance on a slow retrieve. Flicked around for an hour or two and didn’t get anymore bites on the various Plastics. Anyway, one good fish is better than none so called it a day about 10ish.
Time to stock up on the 20 gram slices I think because nothing felt anywhere near as good in the surf as that did. With big swell and a bit of a breeze it was perfect, long casting, picked up very little weed and was an easy retrieve.
Anyway, try again next time (hopefully tomorrow Ha Ha)
Simmo

Arrived at Dawesville Cut and fished off a platform near the carpark, facing south.

Fished the surface on an outgoing tide with no luck. Changed over to paternoster rig and fished the bottom as the tide started ripping in. Ended up with 4 sized KG whiting ranging from 28 to 32cm, throwing just as many back.

Woke up to just before sunrise and got some peaceful fishing for about 30mins. Then in the blink of an eye, had about 6 senior citizens fishing over the top of us, with PLENTY of others arriving and fishing in each other's pockets. Wasn't the most pleasant experience so we packed up and left. Left as the herring and gardies started firing, but couldn't handle having other fishos quite literally casting over the top of us.

Don't want to turn this report into a rant, but if the tables were turned, and it was us who arrived after the Senior's, I wonder how they would of react!

Apart from the early morn rush, it was nice to bag my first ever KGs. Was very keen to cook them up and see for myself how tasty they are!!

I needed some squid for a seafood bonanza I've got planned for when my Dad visits in a few weeks and with the forecast today was going to be the day. Seeing it was a public holiday and the ramp would be packed, I decided to beat the crowd and launch super early to have a crack at a snapper before first light. I'd anchored up by 5.30am, floated out my first bait and had just chucked in the first few cubes of mulie when the rod came to life. A lot of head shakes and a few good runs and pulled the hooks! Bummer. Another bait in and I'll save you the reading but the next hour produced 3 dhuies to 13kg, 2 snapper, a dozen sambos and a few nice skippy, all released except the biggest dhufish.

Excuse the self portrait, and no, this isn't the spot, it was taken while I was squidding.

I felt like celebrating but seeing as there were no beers in the boat I decided to have my brekky instead and thought I'd bust a myth while I was at it:

I then left the spot, grabbed some squid and beat the retrieve rush, home in time for lunch with a fair lump of seafood and all using 8 litres of fuel. My kind of day.
Tim

Chris (Chrisp) had made plans to take out a few clients for a fish & also invited me out in hope that we would get some quality fish on jigs & soft plastics.

Excuse my ignorance; however, the name of the Two Rocks based charter company escapes me.

Fortunately, the weather gods softened the conditions slightly & out trip wasn’t cancelled. The forecast indicated moderate easterlies with a considerable swell which would taper off throughout the day. The early morning conditions were comfortable, however, the conditions deteriorated later in the day & staying inside the boat almost became a challenge.

Our aim was to use a variety of jigs & soft plastics in search of some demersal fish. In particular, I was keen to catch my first Dhu given that Pearl Perch was a regular catch for me over east.

Chris & I also had relatively new outfits that needed to be run in.

First up, we decided to use soft plastics just as the sun was making an appearance through the clouds. Within 30 seconds, I was on. It was a solid fish & the 10lb line I was using had me worried. A few minutes later, Mr. Knobby hit the deck.

We persisted to use soft plastics for the first half hour & Chris landed a small pinky & Dhu bait.

The wind picked up significantly & holding ground with light artificials became a challenge. Next up, jigs hit the bottom.  Moments later, I landed my first Dhu. He wasn’t big, but Pearl Perch size in comparison. I was quite satisfied nonetheless to have landed my first on a jig. Chris also scored a baldy on jig.

Chris’ clients persevered with bait & landed some nice fish between them with the standout being a good size snapper.

Later in the morning, Chris decided to revert back to a large soft plastic & hooked up to something solid. Unfortunately, the fish threw the jig head. Chris inspected the artificial offering to find the plastic had been completely molested. Inherent signs of a Dhu grab.

At one stage, I caught Chris master baiting, however, it was a short lived exercise after landing a black ass.

Chris was having a spate of bad luck, however, this was about to change once the skipper yelled out to prepare for our last drift.

Another large plastic was rigged up & dropped to the bottom. A few minutes later, Chris had a hit & lowered the plastic down in hope for a good strike. Right on cue, Chris set the hook into something very solid. A good fight later, he landed an 11.5kg Dhu (a PB on soft plastic).

It was quite an enjoyable trip despite the conditions with Chris’ Dhu being the standout. Great company, good fish & a few beers.

Thankfully, we arrived at my joint & Sam had just finished baking a banana cake. Mmmm... good way to finish a cold day.

Daz

Anyone able to give a progress report? Looks a bit blowy down that way.

Have just got the latest weights for this years Carnarfin fishing comp.

Spanish mack 36.6 new record

Tuna 20.85

Pink snapper 6.01

Spangled emperor 5.66

Black snapper 3.48

Coral trout 7.00

Mulloway 11.45

Red emperor 10.65

Cobia 11.2

Bream 1.25

Flathead 1.05

Trevally 10.71

Tailor 1.58

Whiting .458

Baldchin 5.5

Mangrove jack 1.58

Sorry for no pics to put up, have only spent 15 mins at weigh ins before phone calls me back to sea rescue duties with over due vessels.

Well, today was almost the perfect day at work.  Headed out this morning chasing dollies and had to work hard in average northerly conditions, we ended up finding a small striped tuna and then a decent black marlin that spent more time out of the water than in.  Continuing the search we only had one other hit for the day and didn't hook up, which was rather disappointing seeing as the water was quite blue and the temperature still within an acceptable pelagic range.  After having enough of the shitty conditions we headed back to the farm to clean the boat and get ready for the usual Thursday afternoon meeting.  Once the boat was clean we decided that we had to go and try and finish one of the jobs the boss had asked us to do, get rid of the barra from the settlement ponds. 

Last Thursday we had been down and got a few out and had some awesome jump shots, this time I decided to take the DLSR to get some of the action on film.  Of course, soon as a camera appears the fish go shy and we can't get any.  Seeing as we wanted to get a few mullet out of there as well for livies down the track, we took the throw net....  A few beers later and well, what do you know, Richo doing what Richo does best and well... Here are the results. :)

Cheers,

Adam

Headed out wide today 85m, payed of for Jesse with a nice 15kg fish.Came in a little closer after lunch and picked up a nice 10kg fish and a baldie.nice day on the water.

Well we hit the spot we got the dhuies on last Saturday. The swell was up a bit and via was not good but we were keen to have a go. After a long drop down the anchor line we set the anchor and moved away, not looking to good flat rock and sand patches.After swimming 20m in could see a dark rise in front of me and headed over to a nice edge and a lump about a meter high with some nice coral. Thing were hard to make out. Then as we came up on the lump there they were fish and plenty of them ,dhuies all around us could have been up to 15 dhuies, from 2-7kg ,baldies and sand snapper ,snapper,harliquin,bb,red snapper,skippy the water was full of fish .As the viz was poor no good taking pics as they would not have shown much .When the water clears up I will get some video and pics of this spot ,we got one dhuies and a nice baldie for dinner got a big female cray for the pic and released her. I think we only seen a small area as we were not too keen to swim far from the anchor,Ther is another lump 50m inside this one all so has good fish .I reacon any little ledge or crack will have good fish .We did a couple of drifts over nwith a line down and no takers ,just shows .. next time will do two up two down and have a good swim around.