All Activity

Well deserved Derek! You have given way more back to the overall fishing community with not only your articles and your time, but also inspiration and encouragement for others to teach the next person over a thing or two even if not an expert. The latter being the unseen bit but a big benefit that has definitely made me feel more comfortable with starting that initial conversation with others.

Cheers, she certainly loves to work and works to please and has a looong pedigree of champion retrievers in her background, so the bloodline is there.

Haha - Kingies have been a little sparse since February, even off-shore the catch has been small in number and very few around the meter. training (anything) does take time and effort, but she is such a willing little dog an just wants to please, so progress is fast and she has an out a standing memory. Truth be told, most dogs train their owners.

I’ve had deposits on 5, but expecting any where from 8-11 pups. The litter will be all black, they’ll be performance dogs (high drive and so very active), not your typical, sit around and eat all day Labs. Having said that Rosie is a very calm and tractable girl, but loooves to run and retrieve. Send me a pm if you’re interested or give me a ring -0405502952.

Market place is great, your going to get a lot of low ball offers, no shows and time wasters. And may or may not get the price you want. Just be careful of payid On eBay, you might be waiting a while but your either found to get the price you want or not sell it.

I tried hard with smelly fish/old bait which I kept in a milk bottle with holes in the bottom, and a rope tied around the handle so I didn’t have to bend down too much. I just used it to drag across the sand, then when finished re-froze it which stopped the smell and was always available when I wanted it. Sadly I didn’t get any worms… it attracted dingoes during the day, and sharks at dusk when I was up on Sandy Cape 😩 at least wasn’t far enough for crocs… However the ones you buy at the servo/bait shop are generally caught by locals who have a commercial license to catch them. I have generally found the people that sell em also know the people that catch them. So if you’re keen could maybe ask the bait shop people to meet the commercial guys who could teach you…

Earlier this year I sold 6 rods, 2 reels and 2 backpacks on facebook marketplace. Most were ñew with tags clearing prizes won from fishing comps as I just had too much gear. Take photos of ŕods showing lure and line rateings. Most I priced a bit over half retail price as I wanted to clear them. Another hint is don't visit your tackle shop with the proceeds in your pocket. Bad move. Ron

Flakes of gunk float around in fuel bowl of carby then suck in an block jet at high revs when you drop back to idle or turn off it falls away till your on high revs again

These were caught off a rock wall in swansea channel but it is very tide dependant most days i have off work the tides are wrong so i cant fish there

Rosie must love all the time and attention she gets, very lucky dog.

I think you're 100% right. Double checked my photo and cross checked on search engines - it's a frigate mackerel for sure. Thank you!

No not at all any infomation is appreciated PM sent

Nice going though a shame losing the king. Could be just the photo, but are you sure your fish isn’t a big frigate mackerel? They look similar but mac tuna have a few dark spots around the pectoral fin.

Thanks @Little_Flatty. If you ignore all the mkt bs and give shore jigging a go, bream/flathead gear with micro jigs work well in the parra for flathead/tailor/trev - it covers a lot more ground than SP/hardbodies. I even had bream biting my small-profile jigs so it definitely works. There are some retailers really pushing hard to finesse this kind of fishing style but it's actually pretty easy to start and very effective at the same time. Good gears feel better for sure but it's not a must.

Nice one there @lhan. I’ve never shore jigged in my life. Shame about the kings. I’m 0-2 so far with kings on lures. Very hard one to win!

Nice recognition for your efforts @DerekD and a lovely @Robbo from Sydney and @linewetter. I didn’t realise you had a thing for those twitch tail minnows Derek. I always only bought them because I couldn’t get power minnows at my local. But come to think of it, they have got me more than a few quality fish.

Hi raiders, Didn't fish much for the past month or so. Yesterday I was lucky enough to get the chance and give it a real go down to the harbour for a proper shore jigging session - it's raining I know but they say "grab the chance and seize the moment". Grabbed my Shimano Hardrocker BB S83ML+ paired with Daiwa Fuego LT 4000 with 15lb braid, I was planning to get some... whatever I can get. Arrived at North Sydney at noon, it's been quiet for an hour or so, tried quick normal jigging, one pitch jerk, and various speed retrieve with normal jigs and blade jigs. With the recent burst of reports catching tailor, I got a bit frustrated I didn't even hook one. I decided to switch to one pitch slow jerk jumping around the bottom - maybe it's daytime so fish are not that active. Surprise surprise my third cast with a 20g slow jig, rod bent nicely. It didn't run at first so I was thinking it's just my good old friend flatty. I set the hook again to reduce the chance of losing it from flatty's iconic headshake while it wake up somehow. OMG it's the familiar feeling of that unstoppable strength and endurance, it is a king for sure. And judging from my reels' screaming, it's a decent one. It was a good fight for a minute or so until the line gave up - leader is gone so it definitely rubbed my braid to some structure. Really disappointed since it feels much more achievable this time with my heavier setup. The last two encounters are all with my bream gear, I did feel I had a chance for a while. Carefully re-tied 20lb leader with my shaking hands, I went back to the game and snagged 2 jigs due to careless bottom jigging. Tied a cheap one thinking give it a final go since the rain is getting bigger. Still stick to the bottom most of the time but with a steady retrieve when it's close to the bank to avoid snag. After a few times, I hooked on sth - it wasn't a smash or whatever but it moved quite a lot. It just feels like a undersized bream using bream gear. Reeling it in for a closer look, I saw some silver flashes - trev or tailor I was thinking. Suddenly it gave a few really good rush, not on par with what I had with the king but still it's an athletic fish. The reel gave some line out but it's far from dangerous. It turns out it's a frigate (NOT a ~~mac tuna~~, thanks for pointing out @Green Hornet), my first and naturally a PB 😆. The ease of getting fish really puzzled me how big the king I hooked earlier is. But on the other hand, I do have a good feeling that even medium gear nowadays is quite capable for the harbour for landbased fishos, and it's great fun! Bleed it on site and gave it to one of my fishing buddy who I donuted a lot together with, hopefully it's a good encouragement (sarcasm that's actually what I mean hahaha) to him. I knew it was late to the party but glad I can still catch at least during my first pelagic season here in Sydney. Thanks for reading and tight lines, Henry Special thanks to @Little_Flatty and @DerekD always open to my spam and giving good advice. It's impossible for me to achieve what I did today without your great knowledge and mentoring.

Hi Bob Well done to you and Rosie. There is so much involved in training a good gundog and the time and energy yopu put in have well and truly paid off. Maybe with all the time off the water there might be a kingfish or two around the harbour for me to e able to catch one!! Cheers Robbo

@DerekD you are a very special type of person - one who willing gives of themselves and their time to help others. Your love of lure fishing is so contagious it is impossible not to get hooked! I have just returned from a big driving holiday in Western Qld and most of the time I was thinking of when I could get back on the topwater again and maybe a bit of vibing for flathead and bream around the Sydney lower north shore. I am looking forward to being able to catch up with you in the near future for some more sessions. Looks like @linewetter has also really appreciated your mentoring and I hope to meet up with him on the water soon too

Hi Pickles, Just out of curiosity, are all the up coming pups spoken for ???

Well said Derek. You are a true mentor - it’s warming to see your students show of appreciation. Albert Einstein cheers Zoran

While I’ve only been active here for a short amount of time, seems that stuff like this is what makes Fishraider an awesome long standing community. Thanks again @DerekD for your generosity and knowledge, and love the thoughtfulness @linewetter and @Robbo from Sydney!

Too easy thanks for the replies everyone

Hi all, Each year I mentor several people and we spend a lot of time on soft plastics on light gear. In particular I teach them a retrieve with minnow type lures (usually 3 inch) which is probably the most effective technique I have in my arsenal on the pelagics in Sydney harbour when they are feeding on the small silverish baitfish. Essentially I match a 3 inch type minnow with a TT jighead in 1/4 or 1/6 oz for casting distance and a 1H (heavy gauge wire) hook. See photo below. I don't like the darter jigheads for this as the resulting motion is not a smooth as I like. Using a pulsing motion of the rod tip away from the lure and a wind for each pulse of the rod tip and you can get that lure darting left to right and back again with at least 30cm movement. It is an eye opener for every person I have taught. One day I might make a video on it but for now see if you can work it out. The movement is as per the video below. I worked this out with the Berkley powerbait minnows and it is important that you rig them as straight as possible so they don't end up with a bias to one side. Why do I think it is so effective? The defence mechanism for most baitfish is to ball up which makes it difficult to focus on an individual fish. When one is broken away from the school it is an easier target for the predators to focus on so it starts to use a darting motion as a defence. The problem is this movement is also a red flag saying I've broken away from the school and am thus an easier target. All I am doing is replicating this movement but throwing in a pause now and then to allow the predators time to hit the lure. Most of the hits will be on the pause. The slightly heavier jighead ensures the lure is always moving. Two of the people I have mentored in the past year are @Robbo from Sydney and @linewetter and in the course of the lessons I have shown them another 3" minnow type lure made by Berkley which I found one year as a boatshow special. These were even better in that they had the same movement as the original power minnow but were a lot more forgiving when being rigged. They also came in white which really stands out and gets hit by the pelagics. I don't think the white puts them off because if it looks like a baitfish and moves like a baitfish then it probably is. In fact I seemed to do better on these. I have also done really well on the smelt, pearl blue, and pearl watermelon colours in the Berkley range. I've been using the boatshow Berkley minnows sparingly as I can no longer get them at a decent price and the white is a real struggle. Seems both my students were paying attention to the lessons as when I caught up with Rob he said he had a little present for me - a packet of white 3" minnows which he'd tracked down from the States. Put a really big smile on my face. A couple of days ago I had a call from Alex asking to catch up as he had a little something for me. 10 packets in white which he'd tracked down through his States connections and a beautiful thank you note. These are absolute gold for me, and even better for me is the effort that these two gentlemen made to track these down. The time they have given me is the real gift and even more importantly are the friendships I've made with two awesome people. If you ever get the chance take the time to mentor other people. You don't need to be an expert because even if you are only a few steps ahead of the person you are teaching it will help them grow. There will also be other returns for your time which will be even more value to you over the long run.

I have not seen you on @Bloggsy I hope my answer did not upset you. Most of the Arvors I have seen are kept moored - probably due to the towing issues I've highlighted. Anyway it would be great to know what you decided to do. All the best with your decision. Cheers Z