Mr Squidy

A couple of years back i picked up a Molix stick bait for about $8 as a cheap casting hard body. I was initially extremely un-impressed as casting and retrieving it seems to have zero action. I've since however used it a few time trolling in close to the cliffs running it quite quick at 10 knotts. Because it has so little action it seems to hold in the water quite well for a shallow diving hard body and I've now caught a few kings along with tailor, salmon and bonnies on this lure. So far its out performed the skirts that I usually run on the other rod. Not a bad option for a very cheap lure. Cheers, Rich

Yep that's a Kraken, top stuff. Rich

Best advice mate is give it another month or so until the water really starts warming up. The kings tend to be very few and far between while the water is cold. Once they are in they tend to move around all of the deeper bays at times, best just to fish where the bait is holding. We are already seeing some good pillie schools in the river now so shouldn't be long until the pelagic's come in chasing them. Learn how to catch the pillies with a sabiki jig and send them out still twitching and you have the best bait you'll ever get for a King. Should also get lots of other surface fish such as tailor, salmon, bonnies, frigates, etc just depending on what has come in for any given season. As a side note, the size in the Hacking is typically rats with the odd fish up to 75cm or so. If you're intent on chasing big kings specifically then the Harbour or Botany Bay tend to present better opportunities. Cheers, Rich

Beats the view from my local!! Rich

They are supposed to keep 60m clear of anyone in the water for that very reason, shame it never gets enforced...

Going through high school and uni I used to paddle surf ski's on the hacking river at least three or four times a week. I had three separate occasions over the years where jet skiers thought it was hilarious to head straight for me then kick out at the last minute spraying me with water before heroically fleeing up the river. Also used to surf the break over the bundeena/mainbar sand banks when the surf was really up and with the waves breaking across the entire bay they would come and ride around where we were surfing with no regards for required keep clear distances from paddle craft and swimmers. Didn't help the fact that when we stacked it off the ski's we were practically impossible to see as a head bobing around on the other side of a wave when they would come flying over the top. Seems they were far more interested in having an audience than just enjoying the surf. In all the years paddling I never had an issue with any other users of the waterway. For me the sooner they ban them the better. Rich

Good tip there, I've never yet taken a bad photo while a meerkat was standing on my head so the technique clearly works

Probably better heading to one of the stops on the train line that heads down Bowral way rather than the blue mountains. One awesome resource for planning these sorts of trips is the DPI fish stocking map. Find somewhere with trout stocked near a station and give it a crack. Cheers, Rich

That's one truly phenomenal fish right there. Top stuff!!! Cheers Rich

Looks like a great trip Yowie with some cracking fish, particularly that Jewie. Always find it especially rewarding putting your fishing skills to use in places you are totally unfamiliar with and getting a result. Cheers, Rich

End of the day the survival rate for the by-catch mulloway that do get released having been netted is so low that its a pretty meaningless change in terms of its affect. Rich

That's a nugget of a fish. good stuff.

Some good advice above. One other point to add is to try to fish the top of the tide when there is plenty of depth of water over the gutters. Cheers Rich

Thanks for the head's up Baz!!! Not sure the change on the commercial front will make much difference as it wont stop these fish ending up in the nets, it'll just mean they get thrown back dead rather than kept. Cheers, Rich

Good stuff, you did well getting some fish on the bottom of the tide off the beach. Swell condition from Willy Weather was probably in feet not meters. No 4m swell out there recently. Cheers. Rich

Yep, numbray. You're lucky you didn't touch him as you certainly know when they zap you. Surprisingly given their appearance but they will happily hit soft plastics worked across the bottom so likely he hit your lure on purpose. Rich

Yeah salting is a great option. I usually salt down the fillets of any left over livies at the end of a trip or pilies if we have a bag in the esky that didn't get used and have substantially de-thawed. Easy to do with a 20kg bag of pool salt, just load into a container with plenty of salt and if you drain any liquid off they will last for a good month or two in the fridge, no need to freeze. Never as good as fresh caught baits but just as good as store bought pilies in terms of bites and much tougher. Rich

Great pics mate, especially of the kingfishers, they don't tend to hang about to long posing for shots!!

They are some stunning shots Jon, well done and thanks for sharing. Rich

Horse

Top stuff mate, very nice beach jew. Hope you weren't expecting those gloves to give you any protection against that bull sharks teeth Rich

That's a very nice red for inside the estuary Yowie, top stuff. R

Not a Mako, you can tell by the tail... Mako tails have both the upper and lower lobes of the fins almost the same length, this sharks top section is substantially longer. That and the rest of the shark is the wrong shape and colour... This shark A Mako Hard to tell from the footage but probably a big whaler or bull. Whatever it is its bloody great footage that I'm sending straight to my boss who loves a kite surf through that area Cheers, Rich

Plenty of solid logic behind what you are doing so you are well on your way. Keep questioning and learning and you'll get there. I'm doubtful however that the fish that took your bait was a Jew. Jew have grasping pointy teeth that are good for holding a bait but dont tend to slice it up or bite off chunks. Usually if a Jew grabs your bait and drops it you'll bring back in a bait with very little damage to it other than a bit of crushing and some pin %%%%% teeth marks. If a jew is taking the bait off your hook you should have a really solid run as it rips it off your hook. Every jew fisho seems to have a different theory on when to strike, free spool etc haha. For me I fish circle hooks, rod set to fighting drag in a holder and pointing straight at the water with a small amount of slack line so they feel nothing when they first grab it and then as they start to move off they dont feel the slow bend in the rod, just the jolt of the drag kicking in. With the circle hook it normally does its magic and all you do is grab the rod once drag is peeling off and start fighting the fish. I fish pretty much exclusively dead baits from a boat. Again, each to their own though. One last question, what weight leader are you using, personally I find heavier weights deter the fish in still water. 30Lb is usually plenty (again they dont have cutting teeth) unless there is structure they can get to. Cheers, Rich

Yeah maybe, this time last year we were killing it on the surface fish at sunset in the deep off lilli pilli of an afternoon, heaps of salmon/kings/tailor and huge schools of pillies, just not seeing the same numbers this year yet. Flip side there has been a really good size to the school Jewies in the river this year with most going legal and we've seen some great lizards as well, similar to your catches, so can't exactly complain when those fish are abouts. Rich