PaddyT

As someone who downrigs a lot you are better off with the heavier bomb -especially with livies-also personally i dont faf around with rubber bands (neither does a certain sydney guide who catches more kings than anyone i know) -8/0 livebait hook straight in front of the eyes. Dont even bother trying circles for downrigging. Another tip is dont take your eye off the rod, if you get a knockdown bite that doesnt hookup drop the bait back with the bail arm open or in freespool, the king will be there waiting.

Got 3 on Easter sunday in pretty quick time-hardest part of the day was getting livies-went out with 6 in the tank and first 3 got me 2x75 and 1x85 -FADS were very busy-i went elsewhere but there were still 3 boats other than mine-they got nothing-no livies-no bites.

Start by trolling , do your first run in any new spot reasonably wide of the rocks so you can watch for bommies/shallow patches etc , sometimes your best way of understanding a spot is to go with a reasonable sea is running-this tends to expose all the bommies and shallow bits.work your way up to casting. NEVER turn the motor off, when you hook a fish just point the boat away from the rocks and drive out , learn the handling characteristics of your boat, you will find that most outboard powered boats have better control with a few revs on the motor. In certain gnarly spots when im trolling baits for kings i will keep the revs on my boat at about 1000rpm just so i have a better handling on my steering, when im trolling lures its not usually an issue because im at 4-5 knots if im trolling bibbed lures and 6-7 with skirts-so plenty of control. , watch your sounder, GPS (preferably with a decent chart)and whats in front of you. When you hook a fish think about your safety before you think about winding the fish in. Its a very productive way to start offshore fishing .

100% , real mix of temperate and tropical fisheries , easy run to the shelf if marlin are your thing, rivers have good crabbing etc, drive up the hill for trout. Its a great spot.

Best system i used when i was a serious metal chucker off the rocks was to tie a solid brass ring to the end of my leader and then use splitring pliers to change lures. Those little clips are weak as p!@$.

Bail arm open and drop-in current i will stick crew down the back of the boat and slowly drive backwards into the current to keep the line vertical -in my experience jiggling the rod tip up and down doesnt work all that well.

Derek touched on the key thing-you will get a lot more bites on the drop that any other way. In my boat we will mark the bait schools and drop the jigs through the school-if no touches then wind them above the school and drop again-downward movement gets the bite. I rarely -if ever-bait my jigs. Slimies will hit a sabiki being retrieved . When they first came out back in the 80's as i was only a rock fisho back then i got good results suspending them under a float. Also inshore or inside the harbour i get much better results using very small sabikis-match the hatch.

Hi Guys and Gals, just after some ideas for large group (this is for my son who works at a school and is taking a group of approx 40 kids and adults to Cairns in July) charter options in Cairns. PM's only please cheers

Well said Derek-the really sad thing is that most fishos will not bother to respond "i dont fish for groper so it doesnt affect me"-the danger is that later down the track another species will meet the emotive criteria that is now in place and something else will be taken from us.

Many years ago arrived at North Whale after a bloke got washed in and died-so sure every spot can be dangerous.

Harbord-good spinning ledge on the very tip on a low swell on low tide (on the right side of the bloke)-also a very good blackfish spot, North Curly pretty safe but dont fish in a big swell as you can get ttrapped. North Whale-OK the spot where the guy is the safest spot-the eastern side can actually be pretty dangerous-the low ledge to the north is also good but again on low swell-also a good blackfish spot.

As i said before -tthe world has reached a stupid level when fish are given names-usual politicians response-punish the law abiding majority and let the actual crim(in this case the guy who speared the fish)off with a slap on the wrist. But again and again I will emphasise-the greens will NOT STOP until every interaction with wildlife is illegal-there is no science in this decision , just emotional nonsense

Have a look in article section-did 4 separate articles on Spinning the Rocks . Ive fished Bluefish, Nth Head, Harbord, Nth Curl Curl, South Whale, The Ovens and Nth Whale over many years.

So-Avoca is a deepwater ledge with a straight drop to sand and some hard reef . Back in the day most guys fishing the ledge were pretty cooperative if you hooked a decent fish, best trick was to let the fish do as much fighting away from the edge as possible-and follow the fish up and down the ledge., When it got in close keeping the rod tip as far out (horizontally) as possible to keep the line away from the rocks helped as well. Winding a fish on a locked drag straight back towards trouble(the rocks) was usually a really good way to lose it . Standing still and not following the fish was another way to lose them. You will still get dusted by good kings but by using smooth pressure and being aware of your line and rod angles you will improve your chances.

Landed plenty of kings on 20lb off that ledge -even got them on 12lb and 6lb-trick at avoca is to get your rod tip out when they run close along the ledge-its probably one of the best ledges in Oz for landing fish on light tackle -caught plenty of bonnies, rats etc on 6lb -back in the ANSA days. If you try to fish back from the edge and force the fish in -thats how you lose them. Get the rod tip out and the line away from the stones.

Plenty of trout around Lithgow -lakes include Lake Lyell, Wallarawang and Thompsons Creek , Oberon Dams. Rivers include Coxes,Fish, Turon, Kowmung and whole bunch of little feeder streams, wait till Warragamba spills again (might be soon) and their will be trout in the Nepean

here we go again-NIMBY's , greenies , they all hate us-starts with one person doing the wrong thing and we are tarred with the same brush. Society really has reached maximum stupidity when we start naming fish-but no one bats an eyelid over the massacre of skipjack and yellowfin for catfood and tinned tuna . Good news is that Fisheries will most likely say no to this but writing a few letter and maybe having a meeting with however the local member is usually a good idea.

old photo thats been rehashed in the press for the last few years-look up Trapman Bermagui -pro fisho out of Bermi-it was his boat and his fish.

Amazing footage-when i was about 18 (many moons ago) was spinning Nth Whale with the maltese crowd that used to dominate the place and had my lure eaten at my feet by a rather large yellowfin-I was spinning with a Mitchell 499 and the vibration on that first run was something rather special-fish popped me off about 300 meters out , shame about the inshore yellowfin these days!!

Hi Albert , other way round, the dominant (ie largest) brown groper will become the local male when the previous male (blue) groper dies or leaves the area. Either way well done , great eating fish. For seasickness the best cure is more time at sea-also DONT look down , find which medication works best for you .

Personally i would find that boat would feel very unsafe to me-I drive standing up-except when at trolling speed -i look at the driving position of lots of these boats and cant imagine the visibility is good at all-plus landing a tinny on a decent wave while sitting near the front-my back winces at the thought!!

wait till end of Feb-thats when the longtails start around a certain famous ledge beginning with T------slimies are only ever a problem there when the tuna are smashing them

They are all rockfishing spots

Barranjoey, Nth Whale, Sth Whale , Nth Curlie , North Head

Seen the dead mutton bird thing at least 6 or 7 times in my fishing life-they have an incredibly tough life and migration pattern-if nature doesnt line up for them -they die .