PaddyT

Fillet-hate bones-but the collars of bigger fish are an exception

Personally i always do really well on pelagics the week before the full moon and really poorly from the full moon to about 3 days after-except in the afternoons. Personally i reckon they feed at night, quite a few commercial fisheries get similar results. I book my fishing holidays based on the moon phases-always the week leading up to the full.

I used to spend a huge effort trapping poddies for both livies and dead bait. The video above is pretty spot on but a few little tricks that will help are1. dont trap where there are no poddies- i used to walk up and down sand flats chucking very small pieces of bread until i found some 2. sunny days are heaps better than overcast or rainy days-im guessing the poddies could see predators better 3. gentle sloped sand flats or even the top of the flat work best 4.. 30-40 cm of water is TOO deep , i liked to use a dish bowl trap with about 5 cm of water over the top 5. plain white bread -the crap from the supermarket is the way to go, brown bread, wholemeal etc doesnt work very well at all 6. i used a small clear fishbowl witha bit of flyscreen on top for years, have fun

Park in the Lodge and straight up and then once past the peak you track down to the south and down the rocks-mind you its 20 years since ive fished it

Ive caught dollies on everything from livebait to strips of plastic bag on a hook-but livies usually sorts them out-although the deadliest lures ive used over the last few years have been floating stick baits with a "walk the dog" retrieve, Noel is dead right the earlier the better-the close FADS off Sydney are a bit of a waste of time most days except before sun up, the best fishing ive had has always been at wider FADS or fish trap markers-hard part is finding them

yep, thats the one

I think you are being over cautious on this-BUT if you brought your gear in from the UK then yeah-give them a huge clean before using in our waters here. Guys i know who travel to NZ to trout fish buy waders over there and give them away at the end of the trip-there is some kind of weed/algae they have there that is not in Oz and not wanted either. As for washing hiking boots in hot water-probably ok but yeah excessive heat on boots will cause issues

I lived on the northside of Brissie for a few years and fished the Sunshine Coast a lot, your first step should be improving the quality of the bait you are using. As Noel said a bait pump would be an excellent start and in Qld you can legally use a cast netwhich means you can catch baitfish and for the rivers-live prawns. The Marrochy and Mooloolaba rivers also hold some excellent whiting-buy some worms. Anyway good luck.

Great vid, push a bit further upstream next time and fish the outgoing tide-you will be suprised at what can turn up there.(without giving too much away)

Pretty sure thats flyfishing-ha ha. Seroiusly though the old feather jig has been around for a million years-caught heaps trolling them over the years-as for kings an ocie tentacle is always a great bait for them-just skin it first and rig it like a soft plastic, then cable tie the tentacle so it stays lined up in the hook.

Im quite sure i didnt even know they were called Frigate Mackeral until i was about 18 and had caught hundreds of them, the Central coast locals (where i learnt to fish) called them leadies and bonito were called horsies (as in horse mackeral). Frigates were, and remain one of my favourite fish-nice to see them come in early this year. I used to time the runs after Australia Day , a nice arvo at the Haven at Terrigal with the north east sea breeze pushing bait and frigates into the rock wall , a light spin stick and a few small metals was a great way to spend a few hours and collect some excellent bait.

Yeah-you are right-they dont disappear , they just change habits-the rocks is hard work in winter , boat is a bit easier because you are more mobile. Also seen some massive kingfish boil ups in winter in certain estuary systems-big kings slurping down microscopic bait like vacuum cleaners-damn hard to get a bite though a lot of the time!. My general go to in winter has been the deeper reefs but as you say they still need to eat .

Yep-seen a few stonkers caught over winter off the rocks-and been smoked a few times as well-live pike and live squid.

Fish dont care, BUT rain can provide fish with opportunities, look for runoff water , drains, etc , can move fish that dont tolerate fresh water eg pelagics further downstream or out to sea-but we havent had that much rain over the last week to kick anything like that off yet.

Murrays Beach i reckon-can be a tricky ramp with the wrong wind

Joys of summer Bob , i rarely intervene these days as even offers of help end up in a gobfull a lot of the time. I generally find early morning is fine as its usually folks who know what they are doing-but arvo's at this time of the year can be a challenge!

I think their habits change when they are under a bit of pressure , in my lifetime the harbour has gone from a polluted dump to a very good fishery-especially when the pros got removed-kingie bust ups are pretty subtle thing most of the time and they can move long distances in short periods of time, the last couple of years has seen a pretty big increase in boat traffic (especially summer) and lots of folk who drive their boats straight through surface action without a second thought. I still have plenty of 30-50+ sessions on kings at this time of the year -year in year out-BUT offshore-because i like being offshore away from the crowds(well most of them anyway)-but summer in the harbour is always a bit tricky. Pickles still brains them in the harbour -but as weve all said we dont know all the answers, im guessing its just a slow season. Ive had two cracks at them since lockdown ended (last year i was working in Qld)-had a 20plus session (all rats) with my son and Pickles and a 2 fish session the other day (it was slow). Still reckon the best months for better fish are usually Oct/Nov then again Mar-May inshore and August on the deep reefs. One bad season does not make a bad fishery.

Good stuff Bob-glad my tip on the livies paid off!! , it is a bit slim pickings on the kings at the moment though!

One of those years i reckon- water temps are already really high for this time of the year-24.8 in the harbour the other day, same in Pittwater. I guess thats what keeps us interested-we dont know it all. BTW water temps arent the be all and end all for kings, current and bait are the best indicators IMHO .

Nice work Bob-the atomics are a great stickbait.

Bud -you are getting all sorts of wires crossed here-12 kg line isnt fished with 12kg of drag , set the drag at 3-4 kg and there aint a fish in the harbour you cant land. Kings are a problem at times not becuase they fight super hard or are super fast its because their instinct when hooked is to crash dive into structure. A marlin or tuna is much bigger , faster and meaner and ive landed plenty on 8,10, 15 and 24 kg line and we religiously set the drag-with scales through the rod at ONE THIRD of the line breaking strain-fighting fish is about soft hands, side strain, knowing when to apply pressure and when not to. LEARN to ANGLE the fish, the reel is not a winch and heavier gear isnt always the solution. From a ýak a bigger fish will tow you even with light gear,you cant STOP the fish. If Frank has offered to build you a rod take the reel round to him -there are heaps of seat options that will fit any reel.

yep, kings the fight is short and sharp , tuna , marlin, decent sharks it just goes on and on !!! Some fish are disadvantaged by the gear used to catch them as well. Small tailor on beach gear are no challange but 2-3 kg plus fish are a different beast , you can wind a small marlin in very quickly on 15kgs (which has its own depths of amusement) but a 30kg black on 8 kg will take 15-20 minutes to get boatside and calm it down. Tuna go into the circle of pain in deep water and can take forever. Anyway i dont really care on big stuff these days-i drive the boat and some other sucker can be on the rod!!!!

To me it sounds like a signal/connection issue, cable could be damaged , pins corroded, all of which will lead to this sort of thing, might be worth getting the floor up to have a look.

Jewfish are a pretty poor C&R species in deeper water , they blow their air bladder really easily. They are one of those species that tastes better the bigger they are -just legals are pretty ordinary .

yakkas all the way up to Bobbin Head as long as their hasnt been a lot of rain