GregL

My last trip up to Gladstone barra fishing, it was a tuff one. Out of desperation I dropped leader down from 80 to 30lb and the first bit me off on the strike, second wore through the flurocarbon leader before I could land it. These fish were in the 90cm bracket, so they weren't big fish by any means..... 50lb I find as a good balance but usually only fish 80lb as I want to land a new PB. We only fish very short leaders around 40-50cm long. The knot never goes through the guides as casting bulky knots causes line fatigue and will break off sooner or later no matter what knot you use. (Im an FG knot fan) If I could only fish one lure all week for barra it would be the Transam. Use small slow hops off the bottom and make sure it hits the bottom and it will happen. Upgrade rings (size 4) and upgrade hooks to Gammies size 4 in the heavey guage hooks and take off the tow ring and tie on with a loop knot. Deadly!

3000 daiwa size or 4000 shimano sized reel, 30lb braid, 50-80lb leaders. FLT Transam 95mm 19gm brung in by Jackall bros. Squidge slick rigs in the big size. 4.8" Keitech's impact fat shad's. Rigged weedless for snags or weighted for deep current areas.

Nah no jews. Had a few squid each in the well from over the other side of the harbour. Ours were on pink or orange Yamishita's in 2.5's over shallow kelp beds. A few flatties each was about it fo us. G

NIce one Dan Good seeing you the other day, boats looking good dude!

Careel Bay flats in Pittwater. If you can't catch em there your doing it wrong! Fish just inside of the moored boats on the edge of the weed beds. You can see hundreds of the buggers every drift while squidding. Oh make sure you have a squid jig rigged. Best squidding bay in Pitty as well:thumbup:

Best thing to do is fridge it over night, dont freeze fish to be used as sashimi. The best bit is the bottom half of the fillet. From the king bones down usually has the highest fat content. The belly flaps are the best bit for sashimi! A good bit of bluefin belly flap sells for over $100/kg where the normal bluefin sashimi is $60/kg. Bonito are the most under rated sashimi and one of my favorites!

I use the plait for my doubles in mono. Way less prone to line burn in the knot process and personally think easier to tie. Braid, I never use doubles. I think they weaken the braid so I just use an FG straight to leader. Personally If I had that burn in my double I would retie it. It couldn't be anywhere near original breaking strain of the line.

No enough lube? Hate the burn, spit on it, it helps....

Lol I first started with a Tokara and the GT79R as well! Perfect 2 to take away! I only moved on my Smiths a couple of weeks ago, haven't found a perfect replacment yet.... At the moment I'm using a Fisherman GT Game rated for 130lb and casts upto 220gm. I'm off to WA at the end of the month, can't wait for some GT action!

Here is a sounder pic of Hairtails. The one under the 12.8 is eating my soft plastic that I had dangling over the side.

NIce! Man I have bought a Ripple for a gift for someone, oneday I hope I get one in return! So what did you get? I have a few ripple blanks on order at the moment. Getting my son one for a Nomad trip Im organising for later in the year. Love my Ultimo's and my GT79R Greg

My first Jewfish on plastics would have been my best. 6lb braid and alb leader fishing for bream in the lane cove river. NOt sure how big??

Yeah Adam structure is the problem. We even start the petrol motor to chase or pull fish away from the tight structure on big fish and still get done over. Im just over loosing these fish and always left wondering just how big they are! It's almost time when the Jews move into the area we target so fingers crossed this winter I get a horse out of there. So far my 18 keg fish is the best we have landed out of the Hawkesbury but a month or so ago we found another nice area that shows massive promise. We even got done over on 50lb to the bottom! Greg

Man I must be doing something wrong, I fish a heavy rod compared to all the other replys. I use a miller beast buster, 30lb braid, 50lb leader on a branzino 3000 reel and I still get smoked every now and then! I fish the hawkesbury and thats the mIn I will throw there. In the harbour I fish a Daiwa chilidog Stella 3000 with 11lb braid 20-30lb leader. Jews aren't leader shy! My 2 go to lures the tranny and the keitech paddle tails on either 5/8th 5/0 - 1oz 7/0s. The bites are a little tap, very bream like so strike as hard as you can on everything. I strike that hard I move the boat and most of the time my feet are off the ground as I twist my body for the strike. Ever seen bass masters? If you have you'll get the idea! Areas we fish are all very current rich areas with a mix of rock and mud bottoms. Target the edges of the river where there are big fast drop offs and it will eventually happen. It's amazing how many jews we catch off the sounder, we see them first before we hook em! On Richards boat he has side scan so you can say left side 20m, cast out let it drop tap bang ya on! Mine is just a normal sounded but we do still see a lot before we hook em. Time on the water is everything. We only fish one species per trip, back up plan is squid. This keeps us focused and not thinking other fish/ techniques. Our usual session is 5-15hrs and yes it does get boring looking at the same places casting such heavy lures on heavy gear but we do get the fish! Good luck with it. Greg