ebenos

That is great to hear mate... think we have a good season coming.

Awesome advice mate. thanks

Fish have been busting up everywhere in the harbour lately. Rose Bay area has had a patch of warmer water and they seem to be swarming closer to the flats. lots of fun on small SP's and stickbaits

Great to hear! Water is warmin up as you go past 9mile with clearer water and im hoping the Fads start firing soon

I was at south head and colours on Sunday. Downrigged yakkas throigh numerous bait balls with decent markings around for zilch. Also tried jigs for nothing...Could be one of those days

thats a serious effort ! good work mate

@REELCRAZY my bad mate the post should say slow jigging.. definitely no micro jigs here awesome day and looking forward to getting out again. I

After scouring the internet for hours on tips for slow jigging, I finally hit the tackle store and picked myself up a jigging outfit. Daiwa Saltiga Lever Drag on a Shimano 180g weighted rod. Headed out with fellow raider @mshuangchao 6am through a very calm harbour and out to 9 mile reef. Sounded round for a while and marked some fish around 95m so engaged the spotlock and down went our jigs. First drop and Chao is on to what looked like a barracouta which was confirmed when the line was snipped and goodbyes were said to his shiny jig. After a few quick lessons on the technicque Chao's rod buckles as the jig is fluttering back down and after a solid fight he lands his first King of the day! After about 15 minutes went quiet so we sounded around until we found another patch. Shortly after I was finally onto my first fish on micro jigs. A bit disappointed with the lack of fight, I was suprised when I pulled up my first ever John Dory An hour later and we had another King and 2 more JD's. Wind picked up so we called it a day...Not bad for a first timer in this field and in under two hours. @mshuangchao is one highly skilled micro jigger and a great teacher! benos

why does this not happen to me! Nice work bro

Nice to see some surface action around the heads. I plan to head out saturday morning for an SP session around some of the washed and maybe out wide for some snapper in deeper water.. hopefully i have your luck.

Does it get any better than that.... awesome post

Dam!!!! Sucks about the egi rod they usually don't come cheap.

Caught one crack of dawn on a SP around Middle Head.. First for me and was not expecting to hook one!

Interestingly enough we were out yesterday morning crack of dawn flicking SP's while gathering live bait around Middle Head and my mate caught a decent sized hairtail. We threw it back and I wish I hadn't because like you said the rest of the day was extremely quiet.

Awesome catch! Would of been super fun on light tackle benos

Yehhhhhhhhhh! We had similar results on Mondayin the harbour. What's the water temp?

ha i wouldnt call that an unlucky session. Thats a great mix on SP's. Keep it up mate

@ginko thanks for the heads up. I generally stick to the east side for my squid but its good to know where the limits are.

@fragmeister Thanks champ. I've spent the whole summer learning to use my downrigger with yakkas and been disappointed over and over again. I guess its all part of the learning experience. My trolling motor is being fitted this week which should help with the squidding. I've found i'm most successful in shallow areas and when i come up quiet. My attention has been fully switched to squidding and i am really hoping the kings stay around the harbour through winter :/

@REELCRAZY was absolutely spewing! especially when its due to poor handlin. Least I had something to show at the end of the day

awesome report, I missed out on the dollies this year but looking forward to next season..

Fellow Raiders, Headed out with a good mate on Sydney harbour early Monday morning in search of some Metre+ Kingies.. Feeling a bit ambitious we tackled a few squid spots in the east however found it quite tough. We moved around from Rose Bay to Manly and after 3 hours we had 2 cuttlefish and 3 decent sized Squid. Armed with limited supply, we kicked off our session with a live cuttlefish at the buoy just off Clifton Gardens. After 3 minutes all was left to show was the cuttlebone once the pickers got to it. Plopped a second one in, this time a bit higher in the water column but yet again smashed by pickers. Next stop was Milk Beach where we picked up another squid and off to the wreck just off Clark Island. Fed down a squid head on 100lb leader and a strip on an 80lb. Lots of markings and after about 10 minutes the rod with the squid head buckles over. I could barely get the rod out of the holder and when I finally did I felt like I had no control but to hold on. What must of been a 1.2 mtre Kingy, took a turn and cut my line on the engine prop. Fuming at myself for not having better control, the rod with the strip buckles over and just as my mate got to it, line whizzes and silence. Kingy found refuge under the reef! Feeling determined, rigged up another squid head and on the second rod hung out the gut with ink sac still in tact. Within 5 minutes rod bends and I'm on again, this time well away from the engine! After about a 6 minute wrestle I bring up this beauty just hitting the 1 metre mark. Most of my previous trips lately in the harbour have been unsuccessful.. why? Because i was using yakkas and not Squid. It didn't even matter than the Squid wasn't live, as long as it's fresh those kings are hungry for it. Hope they stick around a bit longer! benos.

@The Rev Cant wait. I hope it's all worth the money! I'm just starting to venture offshore so the idea of spot locking on good ground or next to structure is going to be awesome. @flatheadluke Yep 21 ft with lots of accessories Running 36v over 3 100ah batteries. I have dual alternators in my Suzuki outboard so keeping them charged shouldnt be in issue. I should hopefully get to test it out later this week benos

Great report! Good to see those dollies still around. My Xi5 trolling motor is being fitted into my 21' this weekend, had to make do with the 105lb thrust and looking forward to testing the spot lock feature.

Wow, great catch!! So the kings were caught in middle harbour as well?