Mr Squidy

How good is that, top fish on light spin gear. Heading out this weekend for my first ever shot at these fish so hope there are a few still abouts. R

Its called a Red Bigeye, have pulled a few out of the Hacking over the years but pretty sure its supposed to be a deep water fish. R

Very sad to hear but great that you at least made it out without serious injury or worse. Well done on posting your experience for the benifit and warning of others. Hope it all works out ok in terms of the clean up and getting over it yourself. R

I've seen them from the boat many times at night off Jibbon and Bundeena, reckon the Bundeena ferry warf would be a good spot to target them land based in the Hacking.

Nice catch of gars there Mate, what rig/system did you use to catch them. I have targeted them in the past by sitting on the front of a mates tiny at night and picking them up with a spot light and prawn net. If they realise something is wrong before getting them in a net they take off like a bullet so i imagine they'd be good fun on ultra-light gear. R

True that its possible Penguin, but i have never seen it done by someone accidently catching their "First ever Kingy" whilst chasing Tailor. Reads as a tall story to me.

Hey Mate, We usually keep ours overnight in the fridge. It slows their metabolism right down which keeps them alot fresher and usually means we dont even need to aeroate them or change the water. If keeping them for five days i think you'd be fine if you can keep the water clean, oxygenated and fairly cool.

Nice fish Mate, they certainly do look amazing when you pull them out all lit up in the day time. Congrats on a great catch.

How good is that, especially from a Yak. I just wish i hadn't kept reading on to the comments section... The biggest problem with the internet is that it gives such a large voice to the ingnorant and uniformed.

Great to see he swam away healthy. I was fishing out at the mouth of the hacking last year with a whole squid and hooked up on something, fought really strange and i couldn't think what on earth it could be until i got it in and up popped a turtle head. Thankfully was able to realeas him safely as well. R

Yeah, the barometric maps have been very different to a "normal" summer. I have been watching them regularly for the last four years trying to monitor their effects on Jew and usually this time of year we have Highs passing over of around 1030 with breif low pressure troughs comming over in between every 3-5 days. This year seems to be far few high pressure systems passing over us and most are struggling to make it even to 1015. Anyone know if this is "normal" during La Nina? The only good news is that the Jew seem to have adjusted and are feeding at times of lower pressures than i would usually catch them, anyone else found this also?

Tops fish there Lowrid3r, you've certainly nailed a few to remember this year.

Thats a serrious collection of fish there, well done.

How goods that!! Great fish and great to see raiders helping each other out. Fish like that are a result of countless hours spent watching the rods and years of learning techniques and locations. Enjoy guys!!!

Well done on saving the day, i just hope "full baywatch style" dosent mean you guys were in the old tight red budggy smugglers, the guy had been though enough without that. Serriously though, that is one very lucky fisho, all to often it seems to turn out the other way. Just hope a few more people take heed. R

Can also be worth dropping a small bait infront of them sometimes. Had some great fun with a few rats in the Hacking by dropping a live nipper on a handline in front of them after they followed the lures into the boat.

Thats the third Cobia i have heard of being caught around Sydney recently and all have come from well inside the systems. Also, whilst over at Jibbon last week collecting squid we saw a Manta ray cruising the surface as well, definitiley some strange fish showing up at the moment. R

Hows that for a blue spot? Absolute cracker of a fish that one mate, well done.

Two best options for the batteries that i have seen are either back packs or mount a box inside of a car tyre inner tube or on top of a bodyboard and then just tow it around behind you. The problem with the backpack is that it limits how deep you can go. Try and get a decent battery and maybe even leave a spare in the car as they will drain quickly and it sucks to have to leave when the prawns are on just beacuse your battery has died. I've only ever bought the cheaper lights as i dont do it often enough to warrant spending any more on it. They have always been fine for me but if you plan to do it on a regular basis i would look at one of the better ones as they will last alot longer and they do put out more light than the cheapies. If you are on a budget you can even just use the old dolphin torch, not as good but it will still get you buy. One thing to note too is that the torches heat up quickly if you have them on while out of the water and if you then put them in the water they will crack the glass so try to only turn them on when they are under the water. R

Nice haul there. There are certainly some cracking bream around at the moment. R

Another stunner of a post Wacko, well done on some fantastic fish. R

Hi Azzo, I've prawned at the Entrance a few times with some good success.The basic process is to wade out to about waist deep water with a hand net and prawnlight and stand still in the outflowing tide and scoop up the prawns as they try to swim past you out to sea. You need to head to the Southern bank at the carpark there just east of the main town. When the prawns are on you'll see quite a few other people down there so just follow them out and see what they do, they were all pretty friendly the times i was there In terms of when to go, from what i've seen you want to head out any nights from just before the new moon and through up to about a week after as this is when the prawns make their run out to see. Lastly, you'll see lots of blue swimmers heading out to sea as well, avoid taking these as they are females heading out to sea to spawn. R

Unfortunately i think you'll find that Sydney fish stocks just arent of the same level as over in Perth following the long years of overfishing out here. I used to regularly fish the beaches up North of Hawksnest on family holidays and no beach in Sydney even comes close to the amount of life you see on the beaches up there. R

Yeah, there have been heaps of squid around most spots if you can find some clear water. Are you sure the Bass wasnt an EP? Probably more likely in the salt at Grays Point. R

Nice work getting into some fish. I Fished the Hacking last weekend and the watertemp was around 23 up at Gymea bay but only around 18 at the mouth. Pleanty of squid around and some stonker Bream but very quite on the Jew's which is what i was chasing. R