Towlersbay boy

Try using Windy & dial in the area you want to fish. Seabreeze & willy weather are myths they have the swell coming from the west when the wind is blowing from that direct sometimes, enough said.

I will lay down a challenge for you. SERGEANT BAKER ! They sit top of the pile for rubbish fish when targeting snapper.

I always wear a hip life jacket when fishing solo. I also throw out my bow line when fishing wider in the EAC so if I go in I can grab the rope before the boat gets away from me. A few years ago I was jigging a bait school for Albacore in winter when a humpback gave my 5m tinnie a good nudge. I was at least 10NM offshore would have been in real trouble if my boat flipped & no life jacket on wearing winter gear

I Second Green Hornet on Windy.com it has it all sea temp/currents, wind,HPA & seems to be the most accurate of the forecasters that I have found. Bom is good but very broad in its forecasting.

Good work on the jigs! Most fun way to fun way to chase kings.

Hi Mate I fish pretty hard for snapper over the winter months out of Broken bay. If you are going to fish bait its best to anchor up on the edge of structure & burley. Lightly or unweight larger baits drifted down the trail should connect you to some reds. The bay in front of Newport beach is a good place to start. I will try put a report up when I next try for Snapper. Cheers

Had one take a live bait while fishing for kings off Manly. Thing would have gone at least 70cm. Big red majestic beast must have taken over 12cm of drag !

With Snapper season just around the corner I bet a few Raiders are going to run into the hard fighting Sergeant Baker haha. I think the record of 1.59KG is far to low & one of us should do better. I put the challenge to you. Check out the IGFA world record below. http://wrec.igfa.org/WRecordsList.aspx?lc=Species&cn=Sergeant Baker

Hey Mate Sorry forgot to write back from my last trip up there. Back Creek is good on low swell & high tide. You only have to punch through 1 set of breakers & can track channel out to the left & hit the full (fat waves) that are in deeper water of channel. 2 things though, you want to launch with someone as to beach or jetty to tie up to only ouster rock wall & 2nd you will need to clear a low bridge that could be an issue with out riggers or high T top on high tide. The Goal Again possible obstructions from low trees but should be ok. Ramp drops off to shallow sand but last time I was there was fine & you can swing trailer to the left to get some slightly deeper water. Good at high tide but can be sergy with big north east swell. If you can lock diffs & have reasonable all terrain tires you should be sweet. The Bar As others have said its not that bad if swell is low & you cross it at tide changes or low movement times but it can turn nasty fast. Hat head Its a bit like back creek but holds swell better only no good in north swell. Again shallow with a narrow creek to get out. I will be up there over Easter I think. Swell not great at this stage on Friday & warm currents too far out so Spanish will be thin. If the current is up there are some spots I get them on jigs. Might see you up there.

Hey Mate don't get the 2 in 1 the jigging section is a broom stick & the popping section is too long heavy for Sydney surface lure, good for popping only & even then is not a good rod. I got the PE2-4 to go with a 5000 saltiga & snapped the jigging section first trip on a sub meter king. What type of fishing you looking at doing ? Live bait , Jigging, surface. The Game type J rods from Shimano worth a look for jigging & live bait.

Hey Mate Used a few different ones up there but I would say it was most likely a Maria shore tricker 45g in pink brought up with an erratic twitch & stall retrieve. Cheers

Hi Raiders Headed up to South West Rocks over the new year break & managed a few trips out when the weather permitted. The FAD had only just been put back in after breaking loose so it had very little growth & the water was cold & green which resulted in bugger all Dollies of any decent size to be had. We decided not to flog a dead horse & spent the few days we got out jigging for kings around Fish Rock & Green island. Well there were plenty of kings & sharks resulting in me snapping my PE5 rod on the first day. I had to then fish my lighter 30lb setup the rest of the time which resulted in some solid brickings with the largest fish I was able to land being only 96cm & My mate with his heavy gear in 1 piece managed a 110cm. We got done massively wrong by who ever manages the boom gate for the ramp at the jail as when we returned it was closed. The signs clearly say open from 7am to 9pm ,well we got back at 8.12pm & had to put my 4.3m tinny through Back Creek bar in the dark with a 1.7m east swell then get the wives to pick one of us up to drive to get the car & trailer. I would say that they just haven't reset the day light savings time but seriously they could kill someone ! Thought I would chuck in a quick report as well on the Dollie front. Went out last weekend Sat 13th from Sydney Harbor & managed some good table fish on small 15-30g jigs. There was the standard captain Killjoys doing hot laps around the fad putting all the fish down. So jigs fished deep came up with the goods. Water was a nice 23 degrees with not much current from the NE with the fishing getting a lot better the further east we went. Cheers

Hey Mate sorry been smashed at work. The jail has a gate that opens at 7am I think to stop people making noise as it is next to a camping area. Last time I was up there in October the ramp was quite deep with little sand but super slippery & had to lock diffs to get boat out. On a low swell day the bar is fine & you can blast out no worries. The channels change with back creek as its a surf break & gets super shallow at low tide but its a tiny creek so the current pushing out is not as bad & you only have to clear 1 maybe 2 waves. I will update you when I get up there.

I will be up at SWR next week. There are a few launch options other than the bar that being back creek or the jail. Both are subject to swell & sand build up. The bar is ok but you need to time the tides & can get real dodgy real quick with a change in swell. March is best but we got our best Spanish In Easter a few years back, its all dependent on current & water temp. If you want Spanish go as far north as you can they just get more plentiful. Hopefully I will have something to report next week. Cheers

If you want some casting strength out of the knot you can do a tight half hitch with the leader before you cut it so the knot bashes the guides as you cast. This will give it the same durability as the uni with only slightly more bulk. You will need to sinch everything right down hard before you cut it & as scratchie said the 3 loops with the braid to lock the knot makes all the difference. The Yucatan knot is super strong but is still bulky & hard to tie with heavy stiff leader as it has to grip doubled braid to start twisting. Pus if you don't tie a Bimini for the Double its not as strong especially if using 4X braid as the surgeons loop just cuts through itself. I stuffed around for ages with knots trying to find the silver bullet for a strong low profile casting knot but there are only 2 choices. PR or FG. If you do your FG at home before you hit the water it should last for ages & if you get snagged the leader knot normally gives anyway. Most trips I will get busted off or snagged but still have the same shorter leader at the end of the day. If you practice you can smash out an FG in a couple of minutes on land.