mitchie18092

i know the feeling all too well of losing a fish at the final hurdle... hurts eh? in terms of recipe ideas / cook books - can't go past this one from Josh Niland (head chef at St Peter, if you know, you know...) https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-whole-fish-cookbook-josh-niland/book/9781743795538.html?source=pla&gclid=CjwKCAiA_Kz-BRAJEiwAhJNY7yBOuqbf1RypZPs1fEJ0f3vephi7Ly8AWl_Mbim0-JMbWKCS5RnA8hoCJLMQAvD_BwE

good to see the whiting on the chew. might be time to get the top water gear out i think! have seen a few bruisers around of late... nice feed, as per Yowie

Appreciate the kind words Zoran. Super fresh and simple. One fennel finely sliced (raw), one finely sliced granny Smith apple, one orange cut into segments, dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, finished with fennel fronds and lemon zest. Super quick and easy. Sweet potato fries; par boiled sweet potato, cut into fries, chilled down to nearly frozen then deep fried. Tartare was a lazy one - kewpie mayo, finely diced pickled cucumber, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Beer batter was literally just salt, cold beer (I used Sapporo), and flour until desired viscosity is achieved, then chilled down in the fridge until ready to use. Cheers.

Been a while since wetting a line, aside from a few rather unsuccessful Jewie attempts rendering just a few measly Port Jackson's, stingrays and countless salmon (which seem to be in plague proportions, unlike any other season i can remember in recent memory...) - and a few lazy squid sessions any chance i can get while near the water. Been even longer, years even, since reporting on here. Managed to fracture my foot the other week, and with only so many fishing videos watched, and painstakingly slow days working at home, i decided to pop a few painkillers, ditch the moonboot and go target some table fish. Fished for about 45 minutes on the last hour of the run out down at the usual Rose Bay haunt. First 30 minutes managed only a few inquisitive taps from some undersize bream right along the drop off, before finding a patch of duskies about 70m out from the tide line. Caught 3x fish in 5 casts before my foot said no more, and i was satisfied with a nice feed. All caught on a 3 inch Z-man grub in motor oil on a 1/8th jig head. Running 8lb braid to 15lb fluro. Should note - i saw a plethora of elbow slapper whiting patrolling the drop off - will be sure to bring the top water gear next outing. Fish ranged from 38cm to 41cm, all caught within about a 10m squared radius. Tight lines y'all. Mitchie.

The big boy was well and truly gut hooked - perhaps that had something to do with the manner in which it fought? Appreciate the kind words everyone.

Had a flick Sunday night. Land based, Sydney Harbour. Fished from 8:30pm through until midnight. I managed 2, and dropped one. Not the biggest, not the smallest. Bait used with live yakkas (which were ESPECIALLY finicky...). Smaller model fought very well - thought it was a much nicer fish than what eventuated - turns out it was foul hooked, hence me thinking it weighed a tonne. Bigger model fight was odd, to say the least. Thought i had a big squid / octopus / cuttle on the end of my line, so played him super super light (thinking it wasn't actually hooked!). Got him to the pylons, see colour before he realises he is hooked. Few darting runs, and a few nervous moments later we got him up. Happy days.

Used to fish RB a lot. Guy with the fly rod would have been Joe - there a few times a week at least - catches all sorts; flatties, whiting, tailor etc. The tailor normally show up around 7pm on the dot in the super shallow water south west of the bay and will hit anything (quicker the retrieve, the better). Extremely productive along that drop off - have caught salmon, big trevs, lots of flatties, bream, snapper, bonnies, mac tuna and seen a few much bigger pelagics breaching the surface just out of casts' reach. Always fish it on the low tide - last hour of the run out being the most productive. Just slowly start from close to shore and work your way out to as deep as you can handle. In regards to rays - i've stood on one there (many actually, but only been properly stung once) and it sent me to hospital - so be wary. Numb rays are also common and will give you a serious shock... As far as the whiting are concerned, as Neil mentioned, i like to use little stickbaits and poppers. Halco Rooster 45, Sammy 65 (my personal fave) and the Lucky Craft NW pencil a close second. Clear colours, or anything that imitates a shrimp. I find it more productive over towards the Dumaresque side of the beach - or just to the eastern side of the middle storm water drain. You will be able to pick out gutters/gullys across the beach - fish from the knolls, and throw your lure over the gully, preferably with the wind, and work it back to you. Can be an exciting form of fishing when they are on - 10-15 whiting chasing your surface lure before one finally comes and belts it. Should have a few reports on it if you go back through my post history. Sounds like a good day - keep at it! M.

gee that's some good going... glad to see the big girl release well! M.

Paddy - am relatively comfortable, and in the very least knowledgeable enough to know when and when not to go out. Will read the conditions for a little while and obviously see what the tides doing before i make any rash decisions. Probably a dumb question - are squid easy to come across up that way? Under the assumption a big ol' juicy squid head cast out would be an attractive proposition to most fish cruising past the rocks... M.

Appreciate all the responses guys! Really means a lot. Paddy - were you generally fishing bait, or spinning surface lures off the rocks? Are the platforms safe (generally speaking, of course)? Most definitely planning on doing first light sessions for the most part - and maybe target some flathead / whiting if i get a chance during the day at all. Best, M.

G'day Raiders. After a bit of advice... Heading up to Noosa first weekend of March for a few days and while most of the time will be spent with family and friends, was hoping to get out for at least a couple of sessions... Probably only going to take two rods up with me - one light set up for plastics and unweighted baits; the other for throwing poppers/stick baits and maybe some live bait. Was hoping to get pointed in the right direction as to where to fish, and what go expect. Target species will be soapies/flatties/trevs/bream in the river, and hopefully some big pelagics off the rocks. Any tips/tricks/advice of any sort would be much appreciated! Too many times I've gone on holiday expecting the world fishing wise, only to be severely let down due to lack of local knowledge and assuming a little too much. Cheers! M.

productive morning as per, Yowie. great size trev for some sashimi... M.

bloody hell. some fish that is!! well done mate.

Appreciate the kind words all! Hindsight is a funny thing isn't it... I must have replayed that fight (albeit a short one) over and over in my head 100's of times now. Think next time i probably will slacken off on the drag a little, and just hope i don't get run around the moorings... Really is hard to say. Must say though, after a fairly demoralising start to the season, it's nice to feel some weight for once, and know i'm doing something right to connect with a few. Looking forward to getting back out there, that's for sure...

stonker trev! certainly pull hard once they get around that 45-50cm+ range. sounds like a top day.

First time posting in a little while... Have had a decent break over the cooler months, and with no access to a car over the past year have struggled to wet a line. Had a crack both Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday: Got to my spot with a around 5am. Not a breath of wind, plenty of bait in the water; looked fishy. Managed to pull up a bunch of squid with relative ease, as too some yakkas. None of real quality, bar one around the 20cm mark (hood). Had a yellowtail and a squid out all morning for nada. On one of my small spinning setups i did manage one nice little flatty which went back into the drink for another day. Packed up around 8am - tried a few different ledges for squid and managed a couple which we saved for bait. Sunday: Conditions perfect again. Got to our spot around 4:45am - saw some flash lights down on our jetty and decided to try elsewhere. Next spot, same thing - starting to grow frustrated at this point and ready to throw in the towel. Thankfully our next spot was there for the taking, and out we went. First bait in the water was the head from the largest of the squid caught on Saturday. Pulled up a few yakkas and sent one out also. Finally - sitting there with my small spin stick gathering bait. Notice out of my peripheries my line with the squid out hastily growing taut. Am running 30lb braid to 40lb fluro - so felt confident in running tight drag (9-10kgs on a Sustain 4000FG). Quite a few moorings about so important i can turn it's head early. Anyway. Before i can put down my smaller bait rod, this thing start stripping braid like nobodies business... Go to grab the rod out of the holder/hole in the jetty - bloody thing is so heavy and running so quick i can barely get it out.... It starts to turn, consequently rubbing my line up against the major pylon my rod was secured next to. By the time i get it out and start to feel the weight of the fish, my braid pops about half a metre from the tip of my rod. Sent me hurdling backwards the force was so great. Understandably, fisherman do tend to exercise some form of hyperbole in recanting their stories - but i can confidently call this one at a 20kg + fish (probably closer to 25/30). The largest i've pulled off that jetty was ~13kg and 103cm, and this thing would have pulled it backwards. Certainly a humbling experience... About 10 minutes later, while i was still tying a new leader knot (shaking/trembling from what had just happened), my mate spotted a big king lurking under the jetty. Wandered over to have a look, he hooks a yellowtail on the small bait rod, and here this bloody thing comes and snatches him off the surface - around 90-95cm with big broad shoulders. Dusted within a few seconds, as i'm sure you can imagine. Next time i guess... Tight lines!

Thanks Dirvin, might give that a go if i can't get the FG not down... As i mentioned, i have a feeling it might have been me just rushing the knot, or not paying enough attention when tying it as i had others out that i was trying to entertain. The albright actually very rarely fails on me, and have aught plenty of solid fish on it - just unfortunate to have it pop twice on two good fish in a row. Certainly an error on my part. Cheers Neil - i know what i'll be doing when i get home! Exciting it was, just a shame i couldn't back up my recent catches for my guests. To say the least Green Hornet. I have practiced it a few times, and when i finally tied one that i felt confident in, i flung a $30 lure off into the horizon, which shot my confidence a little. Will give it another crack for sure. Great link craig, thanks for that.

Kicking myself... Had another crack for some Jewies tonight, and while not exactly 'firing' - still saw enough action to keep us entertained. I took a mate and his cousin who was out from Japan to hopefully snag some nice fish, or at least get to hear that sweet reel music. While we didn't land any of our target species, they were happy catching livies below the wharf, with the odd bream/tarwhine/snapper etc. thrown in. Me... not so happy. First decent hook up i had was on a butterflied yakka, with my 50lb outfit keeling over, signifying something fairly decent. It popped just below the leader knot, which i later learnt was due to another friend having accidentally nicked the fluorocarbon while trimming back tag ends. Oh well. Next fish was a monster. On my 20lb gear, drag started screaming at a rate of knots. Before it got to the moorings i tried to tighten up on it a little, and my albright knot fails. Not exactly sure why, whether it be the knots inherent vulnerability or me just rushing it a little in the dark while trying to look after others, but regardless - the fish would have been comfortably over 10kg, and i let out a few expletives - to say the least. No less than 5 minutes later, the 50lb outfit goes again. Not quite as big, but still a solid fish, we managed to gain a bit of ground on it when... yep. Albright fails again. My fault entirely, and am still filthy. Rain started to set in, so off we went, heads in hands and feeling very sorry for ourselves. Time to master the FG knot me thinks... PS: Caught this guy under the wharf while grabbing yakkas - hadn't seen one before, and apologies if it has already been posted in the Aquarium section, but was curious as to what it may be. Emperor of some kind? M.

A slightly disconcerting, yet highly entertaining report. Nice one mate, and i too am interested in how it tastes? M.

Cheers Mike! Been a bit of an anomaly season, i must admit! Thanks Matt.

Yum. Nice catch there Krispy! Consistent as ever... M.

Sounds like an eventful day nonetheless mate! Always a bit of fun on the light gear at least. Had a go out long reef way on a mates boat last week which was quiet too. Did have a black marlin strike an xrap right in close, which was a first sighting for me. Sure you'll get onto 'em soon. M.

Apparently not!... thanks mate. Also caught this guy around midday on a samaki soft vibe. Plus a few other undersized and some squire. Went down a treat in a tempura batter and some hand cut fries. 54cm. M.

Had another crack tonight, though conditions were far from ideal with a howling sou-westerly... Managed a few squid straight away and sent out a fresh head still squirming on the hook. 2 minutes in the water and this fella decided to have a go. Went 94cm, and gave a good tussle on the 20lb gear. Yakkas were being a little finicky, though the ones we did catch resulted in a fat salmon which went back, and another couple of runs which were undoubtedly jews, but didn't manage a hook up. All in all a nice quick sesh, and a weeks worth of dinner! They're certainly on the chew so get out there if you can. 4 in 4 sessions this week. A mate also caught a 90cm king on Friday night while i was with him in the dark - first i'd seen. M.