kiwineil

HI all Belated report from a father (moderate fisherman) and son (mad keen fishing nut type kid) fishing charter near Darwin in late September. This was a bucket list trip for me and my boy, and it delivered so far over and above.... and while I wont say who the charter operator was (forum rules I think) I highly highly recommend, and I'm happy to PM details if anyone is interested We fished four days, from 8am to 5.30pm every day, with a variety of techniques (some of which were new to us) depending on target species. Aside from one trickier day, we caught a lot of fish, most of which went back if not taken for dinner, or for bait. As usual, the kid outfished me. This was one trip where his hard and fast rule that no one touches his gear if he's on a fish (he'd rather lose it than have someone land it for him) worked in my favour as more often than not I was often too busy with my own fish to give him a hand, not that he ever wanted it. Pix below are mostly from the last day, where we set out just went out to have as much fun as possible. From memory we cast surface metals for mack tuna/trevally/queenies etc, bottom baited for black jewfish and other bottom dwellers, jigged plastics for gt's/cobia, live baited for Spanish mack's, trolled for the same plus sailfish (no joy there) among other things. . Too many trip highlights to mention, but a couple that stick out First off the Day 4 double hookup when a cobia hit my plastic while jigging and headed due north at rapid speed at exactly the same time as a Spanish mackerel hit my boys live bait and headed due south at a similar speed. Amazingly, we got them both in .... (attached as the first pic - note its my first go at uploading pix so I hope this works). For reference, the Spanish mack went about 140 cm, and the cobia about 110cm. Second pic is the same Spanish mack Second highlight is one that got away.. in 10 feet of water the boy hooked a giant lead weight which after an hour of wrestling turned into a 8-9ft shark (lemon shark I think) at the side of the boat. That may have been on Day 2, but I dont think that matters! While he did get it to the side of the boat, we couldn't land it (IM not sure we tried all that hard, to be fair), and when it got bored with us away it went. But a lot of fun watching him fight it so hard, and for so long... In general we were having too much fun to measure, or take too many pix, but Ive attached a couple more give a flavor These including my sons best jewie .... .. although I think mine (obviously a PB) from earlier in the trip (Day 2?) might have just shaded him ..... a and a couple of assorted others. Needless to say the fishing nut son is even more of one now... and im saving my pennies for a repeat visit .... If you made it this far, thanks for reading Cheers

Hi all Same question actually I will be in Cairns looking for reef and or estuary charter recommendations pls PM of course - cheers

thanks all for your helpful advice ... and while this may constitute a report, thought I'd just ping this on the bottom of th thread ... We ended up on the Clontarf drop off ( couple of legal snapper and lots of throwbacks) then Quarantine - lots of small bream/snapper (which went back) a couple of legal flatties (and about 6 1-2 cm under legal which all went back), a rat king (back as well but a good fight), couple of flounder, and a couple of really big bust-offs which we think may also have been mid-size kings. ... So a great day, 6 keepers for a post fishing feed, and all the kids got multiple fish in the boat, most of which went back ... Thanks again everyone ..

thanks Jeff .. good advice

Hi all Hoping for a bit of advice ... Normally land based but have an invite for me and the kids on a friends boat this Sunday As I fish quite alot, landbased, my mate is under the impression Im a Sydney Harbour expert, which Im not .. far from it .. certainly not on a boat So the pressures on, hoping for some help (PM fine) for any ideas as to where we could head Sunday morning, probably Middle Harbour or towards Manly, not too rough, where we can get the kids onto a few fish ... I wont steal yr best spot I promise - it will prob be another year before Im back out on a boat again .. Any help most appreciated ... Cheers

Scratchie Many thanks for that Was also thinkijng the weather looked a wee bit average .... Perhaps I wil ltime my adventures land based ...

Soulman, Many thanks, will give it a whirl Was also thinking about leaping on a charter. Conscious of forum rules, so if anyone has any local knowledge/recommnedations, pls PM me Cheers

Hi there, Heading up that way this weekend, can I ask were you using bait/metals/plastic? Thanks

thanks - seems like its old gear, in the original box, never used ...

hi all hoping for a bit of advice. lovely old bloke up the road cleaning out his shed gave my 10 yr old fishing mad boy a in the box daiwa as7050 rear drag spinning reel i know nothing about them and a web search hasnt been much help. any of you able to help with how this shouldvbe set up rod and line wise? thanks

Nice fish mate.. so quickly .. what time of day .... and as a local (i think) id love to know where u were if u dont mind sharing (PM me if you like)

hi guys, curious re same. will be in bay of islands region end next week and keen for ideas re winter fishing...

outstanding . .theres nothing better than when the little ones get the bug ... be warned .. my 8 yr old has been at me for 4 yrs to buy a boat ...

keep the newsflow coming for us poor sods stuck at work on a beautiful morning

"bugga"