PPSGT

Thanks - it was caught in the Murray River in SA. EP are listed as living there but not bass

Hi All, Friend showed this pic of his mates "Bass" caught in a most unsual place From this pic can anyone ID it? Thanks Jason

Ive used stripies for Tuna Tataki. Served up to a big group of foodie friends they loved it Tasted awesome

Thunnus 12000 on monster mesh rod and 50lb braid to 60lb leader and 4/0 circle hook.

Hi Raiders, Longtime between posts, still read them so thought i'd contribute a post Hit the harbour today at 5.30am Livies easy to come by and hit the sabikis in full strings. Downrigged markers around the harbour with big baits for trophy fish ? First strike its on.... reel screaming like its in free spool.... baitrunner was on - looked very impressive and a very hungry 50cm rat gets boated Next pass - drag engaged but this time its truly like its in freespool under heavy drag r od buckling over and the monster mesh tip is under water. Grab the rod, its around the DR no chance of untangling the freight train and my PB trophy fish is gone My mates rod is still in the action and 20 metres later he is on. Big fight with lots of runs a few minutes later gets colour and put back the net and grab the gaff and 110cm of kingfish hits the deck 2nd fish was nowhere near the strike or power of the first but theres always next time! Its my second smoking this year on the elephant gun tackle by unstoppable fish Continued out to South Head for 40cm king on jig

Leopard sharks are a type of cat shark. there are many types some with perfect small round spots all over top/side usually black and look the similar to leopard shark in shape there are a few different species

Hi Raiders, Went for a lazy start time 7am at the ramp, lazy fish today back home at 1pm Filled tanked with livies from micro yakkas to yakzillas and lost more sabikis to kings so headed off to drift around south head with no particular plan. Livies down deep and one on the surface - surface one on a thunnus 4000 baitrunner gets nailed. Goes down deep and puts up a great fight on 20lb leader/main line. Hoping for a good king, but it comes back up and makes a surface run. Circle hook nicely in the jaw and a little 1.2m hammerhead is boat size. I was keen to get better pics but it pulled the hook boatside and was on its way Also picked up trag/bonito/tailor/sergeant baker and plenty of 64.5cm kings to deplete the bait tank and call it an early day, whilst my two deckies got to test their new saragosa's one an 8000 and one a 6000 (purchased after bith getting owned by dollies a few weeks ago on their bream gear) Not that we got to turn them on anything really angry, but the rats gave the drag a tiny squeak to bed in those lovely new drags Nice day to be on the water and see all the ANZAC day fly overs Got txt from others witg better game plans that did well on bigger fish but for an unplanned session we packed a lot variety into 4 hours of fishing

do the same thing at 7am in MH and I think your results will be vastly different Otherwise, if you have to fish nights - anchor up on a drop off and fish the same baits 2 hours either side of the tide, unweighted and let them drift to the bottom

Hi Raiders, I've been lucky to get out on the water 4 days in the past week and chase kings, after telling my wife as I don't play golf or drink beer I need to network through fishing. She kind of gives me that wife look followed by "fine"....... Thats approval isn't it? I don't question or look up on Google what it means when your wife says it fine, I just start making calls, ask boss for annual leave day and got to bed early that night Day 1 - Sat week ago Early start, 2 mates from work 2 hours for 3 yakkas and one squid. Had to be back by 10am so fished the main harbour. Drop downrigger down with the tiny squid at the first spot, a rat king takes it as I am lowering it down. Handed rod to my mate who winds in his first 50cm king - all over in 20secs The three yakkas end up with a similar fate within 1 minute of setting the downrigger So no bait, 1 hour left we switch to halco metal slices and go back over the spot and they are hot to trot and smashing anything that's in the water. rats are so dumb So after 20 kingfish for the morning we ended up with 2x 67cm kings between three, the mate that had to leave early and didn't help clean the boat left empty handed Day 2 - Wed I'd been talking up the Sydney king fishing to some Adelaide snapper crazy friends they were heading to Sydney so we locked in a day fishing After Sat bait catching issues I checked out a likely spot west of the bridge in the dark. Burley up - lots of activity and quickly fill the tank with "yakkas" pick up the guys in circular quay and head out to get slimies near the heads, Too rough and windy and end up with only one yakzilla after 30 minutes. Neither of them get sea sick so we head out the heads and to the inshore reefs Get out the first "yakka" which turns out to be a slimy! Check the tank and 10 of the yakkas are actually brownish slimies obviously from living in the Parramatta river -nice! See a Hire boat out there hooked up hard. Rod fully loaded what we expected was the bottom. We lapped him with the downrigger and watched for 5 minutes (yes that long) waiting for the rod to snap. As we got closer it was the owner of said boat hire business hooked up hard on top shelf gear. Next minute the fish runs to the back then the front of the boat with him hot pursuit but he got reefed on the last run and it was over We idle away to some marks one bait on top one on the downrigger - hungry rat takes the top bait, bait runner 8000d screams off and it's sounds awesome, until he turns the handle drag kicks in and fish of 50cm is skull dragged to the boat. They don't even want a photo We then sound up a big school and go through 15 baits and 15 fish for one keeper every time we stopped for a downrig strike the surface bait went off. In search of a reef donkey we put on yakzilla and downrig it over different marks until a 64cm king with eyes big then it's stomach manages to hook itself Go back to the original mark, still heaps of kings so switch to jigs. Triple hook up of rats and heaps follow them up we get a least another 10 with only one solid hook up which they got the fish to the boat with the assist hook hanging out its mouth. One shake and the fish of the day is gone. All that action for 3 keepers Took mate who left early sat some nice fresh skinless and boneless Kingy fillets into work the next day for his dinner. Gave a big tailor to my neighbour who seems to like them. Never eaten one myself Day 3 - Sat After talking it up at work, take my bosses boss out for the third time after a kingfish after two zero days. Wake up to a southerly... I am sure that's not a good sign. Undeterred I head to my new bait spot and fill tank with micro yakkas and slimies - it's looking good now! Cut a long story short - epic fail! and I tried everywhere in the harbour! When it's the third trip with the big boss and looking like failure I was trying every trick I knew. I am sure they were around but he is just an albatross and I didn't even see a single fish on the sounder. My team mates where SMS ing asking for updates and taking the piss which didn't help. Day 4 -Monday Monday this week with a customer from work. Chinese guy who a gun rock fisherman who's always showing me pics of surgeon fish, grouper and other rock beasts but never fished from a boat. After telling him to just brings snacks and his best rod, he rocks up with so much stuff! Red bulls, cakes, chips, water, 3 types of bait, 3 fishing rods and is keep as to get onto a king. Catching bait was lots of fun with a mix of slimies and yakkas. Head out and troll South head, downrig and surface bait out, top one gets nailed with a nice sound from the bait runner until he turns the handle on the 8000d and it sounds like a coffee grinder! Maybe shouldn't have let my mates jig with it on Wed..... He lands a 60cm king, but the reel is cactus. I left all the good gear at home except my jig rod so we chuck one of his rods on and continue. 2 rats further up the harbour by then it's 10am and I'm suppose to be at work (should have been home an hour earlier) but he's my top customer so we try another hour for zero and head home Race home at 35 knots unhook boat, shower and at work ready for lunch late that afternoon my customer rings me and asks me to come downstairs and see him. To thank me for the trip and to say happy Chinese New Year he had bought me a new Penn bait runner to replace the dead shimano I am really embarrassed Then I get home and my neighbours son is cleaning out crap he's got stored at his dad's place and says "do you want my old downrigger?" - old the Penn unit is current model and used a couple of times! Nice Never owned Penn gear now I got two pieces given to me in one day Lots of kingfish for dinner this week which was nice. So sweet when they are barely legal Mmmmmm. NamJim Kingfish for dinner Barely legal......... Jason ps I googled what it means when you wife says fine. I'm not going fishing this weekend. And am solo Mr Mum Sat and Sunday as punishment.... But the weekend after....... My brother is here, so I can go fishing both days right???

I bet the Kingy tasted better than the salmon Just wish we had landed that beast we hooked - made the fight from the 92cm on Wed look like a rat, best hook up i've seen on my boat, but you could tell from the start it was probably going to end in tears...... Your first king, my first amberjack - just about to eat mine now Can't wait to see you hook a real king on the bait rod you were using

Hi Raiders, Had a bet with my boss - he lost so got to go fishing on company time Took two guys from work who'd never caught a kingfish and headed out at a lazy 10am Set them to work catching yakkas - after 1 hour decided the 5 they caught was taking to long, so dropped the handline in, and 10 minutes later we had 20 Had some tips were the fish would be from another Raider, but the best spot was out to far for Newbies so stayed close to the heads Downrigged and surface trolled the Yakkas - 2 minutes in and the surface one gets slammed by a rat - 65cm back he goes Another rat - then downrigger goes off - first bloke grabs it and struggles to hold onto the rod (maybe 5kg drag tops on a Charter Special) so i lift while he winds until he's got it - A Short fight and a fat 85cm lands in the boat, besides the 1 yakka he caught its his first fish ever. Bloke number 2 on strike - a couple of rats on the surface, until whilst we are all watching the next surface yakka has a torpedo racing at it - it slams the bait and clears the water - so I call it for a salmon until it dives to the bottom, he fits it better than the first bloke and a 75cm one is boated. Was keen to anchor up and burley hard - but one of the guys got sick everytime we stopped. They caught three rats between 63-65cm each plus their keepers, butI still hadnt picked up a rod - so over goes a jig - second retrieve 92cm king hooks up and boated. it was 3pm or so by then, we each had a fish so headed home They were happy - great day on the water big rolliing swell but with a big period between each one boss was angry as we kept sending pics of the kingfish (he's never got one) Boat home and washed and packed up by 5pm - great day at work Fish were nice and fat - even the rats Mmmmm. Crispy coated kingfish with Red Curry Sauce Harbour was 14c at 10am low tide the bridge low tide and 16c at 3pm on the incoming tide Heads was 18-19c and down to 17c in spots Heaps of dolphins inside the heads , lots of whale watching boats (we didnt see any) zero surface action on the way out or in No leather jackets, but salmon were around Jason

what do the wrasse (bottom pic last on the right) taste like?

Merry Christmas Raiders, Last weekend I was fishing off my mates boat at the Spit, trying to catch some of the big bream lurking around. Now I have been catching some big yakkas lately, but we hooked Yakzilla! It went over 45cm very thick and would have probably held its own against anything that tried to eat it. Before anyone says - it was definitely not a cowanyoung , and was bigger than some kings I have caught this year Wikipedia say they grow to 50cm, and this one would have been close. A 30cm Yakka is huge but this one and its mates were in another league. What is the biggest someone has caught in the harbour? I didnt take a photo, might have won COTM? What is the FR record for Yakkas? Might have a shot at it... Jason

they make great snapper bait

I just finished mine a couple of weeks ago. Same idea - almost same esky (cheapest square one I could find) I just boxed it up with MDF soaked in resin then flowcoated and turned it into a bait board on top. Skin fittings & $19.95 bilge pump. last one lasted 4 seasons and takes 5 minutes to change so haven't bothered with an expensive one. Its the second remodeling of my baittank set up. Moved the inlet/outlets to the front so it doesnt drain when you get up on the plane. It use to sit in the transom well and removeable, but now its at the perfect work height and is bolted to the transom with brackets. Solid as rock and can grab it or lean on it in the rough weather Sad thing after all the work, I am selling the boat....

Hi Raiders, Fished Sat, headed out the front of South Head with the boat loaded up with my boss and 3 work mates. At 10am there was tonnes of birds working, we headed over thinking they would be salmon or bonnies - instead they were thousands of little tuna (mac's I assume) little bullets shooting everwhere and charging out of the water like torpedos with a bow wave. Of course not a single strike, there was a few salmon in there but with a big swell and strong wind we couldn't stay in front of the school and with the boss turning green (from a big night before) we headed to clifton and dropped some cuttlefish down - didnt even get a nibble or lose a pilchard off a hook. We then fished at the fish markets for fish/chips & beers Lucky for me Fathers day was the next day. Can it get better than this? Apparentley it can Yeah its only a baby one, but the water was only 16 degrees in MH and nice to catch something with my daughter on Fathers Day. Didnt get a nibble the rest of the day. For a little guy he was fiesty - hence the not so C&R friendly gill grip for the photo, but better than my 2yr old getting whacked by a king and second later he flipped over the side Jason

Hi Raiders, Hit the harbour today at first light to get a work mate his first king. My other mate's deckie cancelled so we crammed onto my boat and trolled around the harbour. One was after his first king, the other to break his kingy drought Got 4 kings 67cm, 69cm, 80cm plus a rat within 20 minutes My workmate popped his cherry on the 80cm which was nice After getting them their fish, it was my turn on strike for SFA... We then sat at clifton for 2 hours for one small salmon Beautiful day on the water and a lot less boats than i expected. Got checked 3 times by Maritime. One of the blokes was a keen fisherman, who watched a guy on Thursday pull in a metre plus king from a very unlikely spot so will have to give that spot X a shot No metrey's (still waiting - PB is 96cm), but we ended up with a fish each for the BBQ, a great time on the water and back home by 11.30am Jason

Hi Raiders, Had my Dad fly over from Adelaide this week to hit the harbour Thursday and Friday and get his first legal king, but of course Sydney threw on its finest weather, so we hit the fish markets instead on Thursday. Thinking the weather might break I bought some sashimi grade green eye to try as bait it looked the goods - unfrozen the chromatophores were still black and changing when you touched them as there was no chance we would have time to get livies or squid. At 5pm the weather broke just enough to convince ourselves we wouldnt get wet so we headed out. We downrigged the very expensive squid for a hour and didn't get a touch. Changed to some frozen heads another raider gave me and two minutes later "bang" the paravane rod goes off - and a 50cm Salmom comes flying out the water. Shortly after the down rigger goes off and my Dad's hooked up to his first King - now he's not a well man, but after a short struggle a 67cm king hits the deck. He's more puffed than the fish - but very happy. We did one last run and picked up a rat before heading home for kingy and chips in the pouring rain. I've tried market bought squid a few times in the past,and never had sucess, used home frozen fresh caught squid that has been refrozen but never touched fresh water and had great sucess. i guess the chlorine and other chemcials really kill off the nice smelling microbes. The same kings will smash a frezzer burnt servo pille yet will turn there nose up at squid I'd happily slice up and dip in wasabi and soy.... Fished Sat night with some servo pillies for an hour and a half before dark in MH and burleyed up some bonito which were fun on the 3kg gear Jason

As long as the shell isnt soft they usually have a lot of meat in them. If you turn the over and you see orangish bands running through the whites of their legs this means the crab is just about moult and will be crammed full of meat

Hi Jorg, Nice to meet you on the flight over to LAX. I think we drove my wife mad talking fishing for most of the flight (well when we were awake anyway) Glad to see you got onto some Bass - Nashville was all tornadoes and floods so no fresh water fishing, trip got cancelled, and couldnt find anyone crazy enough to take me Noodling for Catfish Fished in South Carolina for many different sharks (bulls, black tip, sand and some whalers) and lost a 25lb Cobia Look forward to catching up for a fish and learning some of your SP tricks send me a PM when your free Jason

cool pics of the squid in the tank Good to see the PPP technique still works and the kings havent cottoned on...

I had a lot of gear stolen from my garage, inluding a tackle box my now wife bought me when we first started going out and it was full of years of bits and pieces that are irreplaceable. I tallied up what I could remember and it came to $1800 (just terminal tackle - $200 worth of squid jigs alone), my insurance company who we have everythingwith and have been with for 15 years without a claim wouldnt pay as they said nobody has that much tackle for private use and they dont cover tools of trade My wife sent them our credit card statements, and they paid straight away ( i think they felt sorry for her)

Now you can just head down there with a deck chair and some drinks And watch him fill your squid bucket for your next kingy trip, why you relax

Hi 2kgline, Just a question and dont take offence, as this is a genuine question, and you seem to like your light tackle fishing - did it really take 30 minutes to land your salmon? I often read posts on fishraider about epic battles with harbour kings and salmon, but I am yet to encounter one I use a Tierra 2500 on a Excelor rod and 6lb Platypus line straight to the lure or hook (squidding outfit) and set my drags on a spring balance to get the maximium drag, a little over 1/3 so maybe 1kg In Clear water I have landed plenty of big Salmon, rat kings on 5gm Halco Twistys when chasing the surface action and have caught legals on Pillies/squid strips at anchor with the outfit all fun but nothing epic I have set the stopwatch on hookup,and not once has the fight gone for over three minutes, most are well over by 2 minutes and if it is a bigger fish they have already found structure long before that. I used the same outfit with 10lb braid, and even near structure can stop rats and just legals easily, I have also stopped a 86cm king on a $20 rod, cheap 8lbs line no leader and a reel that came with my magazine subscription. I posted on fish raider and put the stopwatch time and it was well under 3 minutes Is 4lb that much difference? Have you tried 2lbs line on salmon/kings? I bought some for my yakkas rod I find the fish run out of puff very quickly even on 6lbs and once they have had to pull against the drag dont have the stamina for any length of time they cant do it. People have told me that this doesnt happen with metre plus fish (i have hooked but yet to land anything over 90cm) On the other hand I have nearly been pulled out the boat by a king on 80lbs and max drag while livebaiting Look forward to your (or anybody elses) thoughts as i really like muckind around with the light stuff Jason

The school wasnt down that deep, thats how big it was. By the sounder there was no fish on the bottom at all they were all free swimming I was in 55 feet of water and the sounder was showing solid fish from 5 feet down to 5 feet off the bottom (45feet) throwing into/through the school and could see kings swimming in the water several hookups where right at the end of the retrieve next to the boat. On my Lowrance HDS it just showed a big yellow blob when i drifted over then then completly barren all around except from a smaller pod of fish that woudl strike Thats why I said livies would have been better, i didnt bring the downrigger so coudlnt sample the deeper water At the same spot two weeks ago I hook two thumper salmon one over 60cm and the other nearly 70cm, later that night i tried to use the heads for Bullshark bait, but it seems even they dont like to eat them... I use a brand called "allrounder" its says kingfish & salmon on the packet and it seems to catch them, they and halco twistys are the only metals i buy, as they are cheap and the one pattern goes from 5g upto 120g in both brand and i have caught rats and salmon on the 5g ones no problem. The guy with the fly switched to a SP and hooked up first cast he had some new fast sink line he was trying and he was getting it down 20-30feet but kept tangling up - he wasnt very happy as it was an expensive line