TK01

Port Macquarie. They are getting caught here but only sporadic. SWR definitely a better option to get into them.

No wonder with the amazing forecast today. Wasn’t that busy yesterday but still a good day for it

Fishing out of Port Macquarie We didn’t get any pics of the other boat, which is a bit of a shame. Just didn’t think of it until after. Hopefully I’ll see them at the ramp one day.

Yes he was definitely the one who made it all happen. He’s never gaffed a fish before so was a bit nervous but he did it perfectly

Here’s the fish

Hi all I just had to share this one. Fishing yesterday morning off mid north coast with my mate, Marcus. It was a pretty quiet morning for the most part. We'd been trolling livies around for a while in hope o a mackerel with no bites so decided to just drift and throw some plastics around for a change. There were 2 other boats near us trolling their livies and they both hooked up to some solid looking fish at the same time. I was watching them fight their fish and contemplating whether to go back to trolling when I get hit from a solid fish on my soft plastic! It was obviously a good fish and I was a bit undergunned with my snapper gear. It took off on a long run just below the surface and circled around one of the other boats and I thought that was going to be the end of my fish but the line never popped and it continued around the other side. Unfortunately though, I could feel the other boat's line against mine so we were both at risk of losing our fish. A couple of minutes later I could see a longtail getting closer to the boat and Marcus was able to gaff it. As soon as he gaffed it we realised it was the other boat's fish. Mine was still out there probably 30m from the boat and still connected. I let the other boat know we had their fish and the guy complained and said that he wanted to fight it himself 🤣. As we went to try and free my line, it snapped! So now I was standing there handlining a longtail on 20lb braid thinking first run it takes this will all be over. However that's not what happened - it kinda just hung around and pulled a few times but didn't try to take off on a run. Marcus grabbed one of my other rods cut the rig off it and tied my line onto the end, and I was back in the fight! I was on a heavier rod now but I still only had a 20lb leader on so was a bit wary of trying to go too hard on this fish. It took another few minutes of circling around the boat before we finally got our chance and Marcus expertly gaffed it and we had 2 longtails on the deck and high fives all round! How's that for teamwork! Not a massive fish at around 6-7kg but I'll remember this one for a long time!

I think it would depend on the day. The couple of times I’ve been there the sand was compact and hard so it was easy. A lot of locals have tractors for launching so I assume it must get very soft and difficult for any 4wd at times.

Cool report, well done. I was planning on heading there this Friday for an overnighter but with 4.5m swells I think I’ll wait. Did you head down to north solitary?

Thanks Gordo I’m fishing out from port Macquarie. Mostly been fishing in about 20m depths and drifting over reefs that are holding bait. There’s no doubt it’s a bit easier up here though

I’m at port Macquarie. I’ve caught jew and trag in that spot before and it’s pretty common here. It’s definitely a jew. When I landed it I was more focused on its stomach hanging out of its mouth and thinking about how it looked like a giant tongue, and didn’t really pay attention to what the rest of the fish looked like 🤣

Thanks, I lost a bit of gear to them but they weren’t too full on thankfully

I think that trag is actually a jew, isn't it. Oops! Oh well, still over the legal size so no harm done

I went out this morning for a sneaky mid week jig and got myself a 77cm kingy, 72cm trag and a leathery on the slow jigs. Slightly choppy conditions but not too bad. It’s been a while since I did any jigging as I’ve been more interested in chasing snapper on plastics, so it was good fun to do something different today. I’m no expert on this form of fishing but it always seems to produce fish for me. I think it’s a very effective way of catching all sorts of funny looking things off the bottom, but occasionally I get rewarded with something more appealing like today (not talking about the leatherjacket).

Not as many fish around today but I got another beauty! Had a couple of other guys with me today, they got a couple of good ones too but no pics on my phone.

Nice one! Glad I could provide some inspiration. I’m inspired to go again this weekend now🤣