SquidMarks

doh! already beaten to it! thats what i get for not scrolling to the bottom!

i would hazzard a guess either blackfish or juvenile trevally (if they have that silvery sheen).

without sounding too morbid, i know abloke who used to tie on hooks upside down straight onto the crab pot rope. That way anyone who 'accidentally' picked up their crab pot more often than not ended up with hooks in their little grubby fingers.

all of them need the 12 volts mate (how else would they power?) get yourself a small motorcycle battery and hook it up. that will be your best bet

i found that fresh salmon is great bait for jews, cut a large slab and lob it out! I wouldnt be buying it from the shops though, catch it yourself and use it then and there.

Exactly reddy, I was burlying for reds and guess what, the bites shut down didnt they. This was not at a significant spot, its not a known gps mark or anything like that. The spot was not special in any way just the correct depth and structure for reds (which can be found on numerous places around merries/osborne/shark reef/jibbon bommy etc). Same with the drift, nowhere special. As for a conversation, a simple wave or a nod would do, i mean, he didnt want to make eye contact this guy so obviously he knew that he wasn't exactly being respectful of the other fisherman (myself) I was out at bate bay on sunrise on sunday as well but the wind frustrated the hell out of me (it certainly was NOT 10-15 knot winds in the morning).

There is another boat around that likes to follow your every move because he sees you catching fish?! It happened last weekend on out of the hacking. The whole of the bay is open, no one in sight and what do you know, a boat comes out and motors straight for where i have been burlying for the last hour and has a go 15 meters from my boat. He is hanging around with the whole of bate bay available... Anyways, im thinking "maybe this is this guys spot, ill move on and try elsewhere.. " What do you know, i start a drift and hook a couple of fish (mind you about a kilometer away) and this bloke seems to turn up again, 15-20 m away from me and starts a drift of his own... I mean, if he turned up with the boat and had a couple of words, asked hows the fish etc i wouldn't mind him hanging around, but he just turns up and pretends your not even there. Im not going to describe the boat (it was quite individual/identifiable) but if you are out there (that is anyone fishing anywhere) and you need a few tips or want to know if there's any action, please be respectful and friendly and at least strike up a conversation, ask if its ok if you join in etc because i really would not have minded it that much if only the bloke didn't pretend like i wasn't even there.

Without sounds too rude, these guys dont deserve to own a cruiser let alone go out that far. Surely you always keep an eye out on your fuel supply when your going ANYWHERE, let alone to the edge of the shelf! On another note, why didnt the rescue boat bring along some diesel and top them up (can cruisers prime the pumps/engines manually like cars?) would have been home by now, rather than towing it back at 5 knots... Still, Gotta thank the VOLUNTEERS for putting in the great effort and helping another boatie out.

get your jew fishing gear and fish alongside the lagoon near the end of the runout! your in with a good chance if it coincides with dusk. good luck!

wirrah is a different fish altogether.

rock cale.. it tastes BEAUTIFUL! (or so thats what you say to the mother in law when you serve it to her)

....wow......... thats all i got!

Squid wise, get out there now! they are schooling and getting ready to spawn. me and the father bagged 11kg last night in 2 hours (thats 15 squid so you know how much the average sized squid was!)

puffers all year round mate, they always on hot

shell harbour can be good for squid. Either get a float and stick a yakka on a squid spike of the headland (southerly part) or get the squid jig out and try from either or the break walls (in that pic, you want to casting your jigs from the break wall southwesterly and cover the area from straight out to about the entrance of the harbour).

opps, forgot to mention, obviously its not a very delicate art catching drummer (if you want to ensure a decent one gets brought in). Just skull drag them in if you can. Doesn't mean it isn't a whole lot of fun! they fight very hard!

i got 30 pound minimum and lock up the drag, then its just me vs the fish. Dont give them an inch or they will reef you!

thanks sydney fisher for the tips, you just cant get any more descriptive than that!

oh, a quick mention, this doe not affect my catch rate at all, maybe the squid thinks that the extra bit of line at the back might be the prawn feelers/antennae?

Im not sure if this has been discussed already or not but i have been using this technique for extracting snagged squid jigs for quite a while and has not affected my catch rate. if i remember right, i picked it up in a fishing mag. It requires a bit more work but basically eliminates any possibility of loosing jigs to snags. Have a look at the photos to see to understand whats going on. The red filled black rectangle in front of the jig represents a small swivel. The black line is a LOW breaking strain line (the lowest of all your gear, so if your mainline is 12 pound, this should be 8). This line is attached from the swivel to the jig and should be approximately 5-6cm long. The purple curved line represents line with the same breaking strain as your mainline. Its also attached to the same swivel end as the black line and the other end is attached around the back spike. This line should not be too lose as to its self snag on weed but not too tight so you are not actually using this line to work the jig, ie: there should be no pressure on this line when the jig hangs from the mainline, all the pressure/ weight of the jig is carried by the black low diameter line or you will ruin your jigs action. The third line (green) is simply your main line which goes to your rod and subsequently, your spool. the idea is: 1. your jig gets snagged 2. You pull back, slowly increasing pressure until the black line snaps (it has the lowest breaking strain) 3. The jig is now being pulled from the back purple line in the OPPOSITE direction (spikes facing backwards and at the front of the setup with the head of the jig trialling at the back). 4. This allows the jig to free its self! 5. You cut back the popped black line, re-tie it and your good to go again! Let me know guys if some of this is not clear enough (though i reckon a rhesus monkey could set this up)

hehehe, well it is in their general direction isnt it?

i know the one your looking for, i have 2 of them in different sizes. let me know how many you would be interested in mate because i can talk to my taclke store bloke and see what he can do. Keep in mind that not all of the jigs would be in that price range but i will get you a total so everything will be transparent. We probably should continue this via pm as we kinda hijacked this thread...

Hey trout stalker, that is a bit pricey for the jigs mate, im guesing its a small tackle store so they need to make a markup being remote and all. Im still interested in grabbing 3 probably, let me know what you would need on top to cover you going out of your way and postage. pm me if you would like. whitewash, if you have a pic of the jig, let me know. i can get yamashitas for between $10-13 normally, maybe i can replace it for you.

Opps, forgot to mention, bait wise, nothing too serious, half a pillie does the trick hope i haven't given too much away!

I too can confirm the flatties are out just before marley, Basically head out to marley beach, pull up just before you get to the northern point of marley beach and then head out towards the Sheep shaggers. A good starting point is between 35-40m. Prospect and then go from there. Best starting earlier in the day (on dawn) as later on the leatheries are on the chew and the flatties die off. Average fish on a good day is 50-60cm. Good Luck