MidNrthFisho

Not sure if you are still looking but I picked up a second hand bandit 484 just before christmas. As a first time boat owner I don't have much in the way of comparison but I am extremely pleased with it so far. It only has the standard 3mm bottom sheet and still rode better than I was expected - it also had the optional spray chines and was a lot dryer than expected!

Hi all, I am finally looking to get my first boat, and think I have settled on a likely 2nd hand option. Only problem is that it has a mercury 2 stroke on the back when I was hoping to get a 4 stroke. My question is whether I should be wary of the 2 stroke, or if I am being precious? it’s a 2011 60hp mercury elpto (‘black box’) with low hours (around 50-100) and looks to be well kept. should I be worried about the older technology? Also - what would the price difference roughly be between that and a similar 4 stroke? looking forward to your thoughts. Thanks Mike

Hey mate, I managed a longtail two weeks ago from Boomerang beach with masses of mac tuna around as well, and heard second hand reports of spanish macks at Forster last week so unless the water has cooled significantly I assume you should be in with a shot being further North!

Hey mate - you can get them off the headlands/rocks on the eastern side of both Elizabeth and Shelly beaches.

Hi all, Thanks for the support, I am already trying to make plans to get back up there and tango with some more fish off the kayak! I launched from Elizabeth beach (almost north facing) and there was only .8m swell coming from the South (with only light winds) so it was a very easy launch and return. There was a lot of fish activity there! (multiple bustups seen over the weekend) so I am sure you are in with a shot! I think you guys are right - I must have been a bit fatigued after the paddle and too prone to over exaggeration from excitement (as a lot of fisherman are) to think it was 20kg+! Stunami - I always wear appropriate lifejackets etc when going out and only paddle where I am comfortable, but definitely think I will take a paddle buddy out with me when targeting these fish in the future!

Hi all, Been a long time reader – finally caught something of note to put a report up! I managed to get up to Boomerang beach on the weekend with the gf with the view of getting in a quick kayak fish to try and catch one of the large kingies/cobia/longtail I hear are about this time of year. With still seas/wind I managed to launch the kayak at around 4pm Saturday and paddled to a reef off one of the headlands where I could catch a few livebait. I started burleying and as soon as the bread touched the water there was a whole school of fish below my kayak. I managed 3 yakkas in quick succession then got a nice slimy which was pinned straight through the nose and thrown behind the kayak. Not wanting too many livebait (only a bucket with no aerator) I started my paddle around the headland. There were many LBG fisherman on the rocks and I made sure I gave them and their balloons/floats a wide berth. After passing the LBG guys I was able to come in closer to the rocks where after a short while I sounded a big ball of bait which looked to be harassed by something. I looked with anticipation as the slimy started darting around then nothing, I reeled the line in and he had managed to get off. I quickly pinned a yakka through the nose and paddled back to where the bait ball was. On dropping the yakka down he quickly started to bounce around evading something. I thought to myself that I had to be in with a chance here when I feel weight on the rod and that great sound zzzzz. This thing took off quickly and was towing me straight to the rocks making me nervous I was getting too close to the wash. At this point I thought it was a kingy trying to take me straight into structure so I started palming the spool lightly, when it did a 180 turn and headed out to sea at speed staying up high. After two or three long runs it must have taken over 100 metres of line out and was dragging my kayak further and further out (later looking at my sounder it was only 400 metres or so – felt a lot further at the time!). I was slowly getting line back and after another 20-25 minutes minutes and a lot of circling (doing its best to try tip me out) I had it next to the kayak. Without a net or gaff I had no idea how to get it in, I couldn’t reach down and grab its tail so I started trying to lip grip it, grab its fins etc which was to no avail. I started leaning over further careful to not flip the kayak and after what would have been 10 attempts I finally managed to grab its tail and swung it into the kayak. I was absolutely over the moon in shock that I had actually caught a longtail (I didn’t really believe I had a chance!). Now began the nervous long paddle back with the kayak a lot closer to the waterline than before. After getting home exhausted and excited I measured it and it went 111cm to the tip – does anyone have an idea how heavy that would be? I was thinking 20kg+ as it was pretty hard to hold up for the photo! Sorry for no pictures out on the water – I didn’t have a camera until I got home. Could I please enter this into the April catch of the month? Thanks for reading! Mike edit: Mods/admin could you please resize the pictures appropriately? They seem to be coming out tiny on my computer.

Hi all, A friend and I were looking to take advantage of the wind and swell forecast tomorrow morning by launching off long reef in his 4m tinny. My friend has experience launching off there and going after snapper, but this time we thought we would target a few kingies in close. I was wondering if anyone knew of any reliable yakka/slimy mackerel grounds around there? I heard of a place called black road but could not find any marks for it. Otherwise I think we will just sound around for bait schools and drop sabiki rigs into them. Any help will be greatly appreciated - will post a report if I have any success! Michael

Hey mate, Not sure about the three kings, I have heard it is amazing fishing but more gamefishing for tuna/marlin (although there are kingies around). When I lived in NZ as a kid we went on a trip to the Ranfurley Banks and caught XOS hapuka, seabass, trevalla, and trumpeter down deep, as well as monster kingies and solid snapper. And when I say monster kingies, I mean monster. The school we found was averaging 20kg a fish with a few bigger models around such as this 32kg+ model caught by my friend (the scales only went to 32kg so never knew the correct weight!). Cheers Mike

Hey guys, I've been getting into a bit of beach fishing lately and have started to get some consistent results on the whiting and bream as well as catching the occasional tailor and salmon. My question is what is the ideal swell height for fishing off the beach? I know it will depend on the beach etc, but it seems when there is no swell its hard to pick gutters/there isn't much water movement to stimulate any activity, whereas when the swell is large there is too much water movement and white water to be able to find the gutters and keep your bait in the right place. Seeming as the beaches I fish are a bit of a trek away, I am trying to figure out when it is best to call it sometimes and go with a plan B. As always, thanks for the help guys! Mike

Thanks for the advice guys, useful as always! I am either going for the wicked weasel or the trauma centre (kind of like the red colour). Think I am going to just flick a coin between the two haha.

Thanks for the response mate. Think I will go with the freams, really love that reel. On the rod front, I have narrowed it down to three options: 1) Shimano tcurve inshore 6102 bream (2-5kg) 2) Daiwa generation black wicked weasel (2-6kg) 3) Pfleuger patriarch xtr (2-5kg) What is everyones preference? All the options can get fairly confusing!

Hi all, We headed out to the FADs on Sunday, and after finally getting there I realised that my favourite light outfit was absent from one of the rod holders. At first I thought my friends had played a joke on me, but after seeing the blank look on their faces I realised that it must have bounced out during the choppy ride out there. I was gutted as I really loved the combo, has caught me everything from decent squid, bream and flathead in the harbour, to just legal kingfish and 60cm trevally over in NZ. I am not sure whether I should just replace the combo, or go try something new (it was only the second light outfit I have owned) so was wondering what you guys think, in your opinion are there any comparable/better outfits out there for a similar price which I should consider? The rod/reel I had was as follows: Rod: T-curve revolution inshore 6102 spin bream Reel: Freams 2500 spooled with 8lb braid I mainly use it for squidding/soft plastics/tossing unweighted baits for bream/trevally. Thanks in advance! Mike

My friends and I have been talking about hiring a boat and going after dollies/jigging for kingfish for the last 6 months, and after finally settling on a date (this saturday) and hiring the boat, we see the weather forecast turn into rain, 3+ metre swells and 20 knot winds. Either will have to cancel or stay within the harbour. From experience how reliable are the weather/swell/wind forecasts 4 days out? haha fingers crossed they are wrong!

I went out with Edi end of September so he is definitely still around - caught a fair few fish. Ruby snapper, normal snapper, few I dont know the name of and a big grouper around 30kg!

I have fished off the rocks a few times. Off the end I have caught salmon and trevally, and half way along I have caught big bream, squid, and a solid flattie. Can be a big of a trek getting down there with a bit of gear, but quite nice if you have the place to yourself!