Pickles

Newbie Ty, wanted to catch a Bass on a lure. Because the seas and swell have been so crook lately, it was “freshwater or no water”. I promised him 12 fish before 11am. As it was, we boated 22 Bass, by 9 am and finished up with 34 Bass and 2 flathead by 10am and dropped at least a dozen more, many were double hookups. Once the sun came up the fishing slowed up and I didn’t want the young bloke to think fishing is always a “success” (last trip we boated 30 Jewies and 7 flathead). God was good, the moon was right, there was no wind and the tide was perfect.

Another great report @Hill373737, very healthy looking cod and great pics (as always 👍). Those spinnerbaits work so well on so many different species. I I often wonder what will be the next big thing in artificial baits.

A great fish, wonderful when you can beat your pb (by such a great margin). Well done @Aussiefisherman

Great account of your day. Some great pics - Bass are sooo much fun on light gear and that carp must have given a good account of itself. Thanks for sharing.

A very comprehensive report @linewetter, please keep posting, it’s great to hear young blokes getting into fishing and thumbs up to @DerekD for his selfless and generous investment enriching the lives of others.

Great report (Mike. A Bassday sugarpen?). I could be wrong but middle pic looks like a Tarwhine not a bream, not that it matters, they both fight hard.

What a top effort for the boys - a solid Kingie - such fun to hear “ The scream of the reel”. That Lud, was an absolute cracker Rob, well done.👏👏

Robbo - all caught on Yakkas, even though we had fresh caught squid.

Let’s make a date Bill - are you interested in a Bass session, if you haven’t fished freshwater it’s a real buzz?

Great you blokes could share some ‘Raider camaraderie. The fishing in Sydney has been very similar due to strong winds and big seas - very hard to find a window to get out. That little articulated lure seems to work Neil - I’ve used in freshwater since we last spoke and the Bass and EP’s love it.

Hit the harbour rather late (6am) and caught up with @blaxland. We discussed the conditions and the fact that I had a cold and a less than favourable forecast, but my buddy was keen (super keen) to get out on kingies after a long break due to work commitments. So I relented against my better judgement and we headed through the heads with the knowledge that the swell and wind would build from the SW about 10-11 am. at 8.30 when we reached the Sydney FAD, the current was raging, the wind picking up and the swell was a solid 11/2 -2m, so I turned around and we headed back inside to seek shelter. We trolled inside the heads to Manly (sheltered from southerlies) and picked up a few Bonito and also saw @blaxland again, who also caught some Bonnie’s. We landed 4 Kingies and a solid salmon as well as a few solid bream, before deciding to head further into Middle harbour, where we caught a few more Kings and several pan sized snapper. Whilst Nick took a picture of one of the Kings, the rod in the background went off and we landed a 45cm Salmon. Although a bit of a washout weather wise, we got a good feed and some legal kings.

A cracker trip with “da boyz”. Great to see you landed some cracker fish - well done.

Yep, but Jewies fight clean and if you don’t over play them and have plenty of line, there is no problem landing (with a net) on light line.

Headed out with Buddies Steve and Kyle - showing them some new grounds around Wisemans Ferry / Webb’s creek area. Bagged 5 legal Flatties to 55cm and two Jewies (and 19 soapies). Got them all just before the turn of tide on fresh prawns on light gear and 12lb mono.

Looks like a great day @AlbertW. We’ve all been seasick - you eventually get over it.

Brilliant effort @xerotao - a really good feed of crabs there. Love the family pics.

Hi @Aussie_fisher, I think what you are seeing / catching are “Jelly prawns” or immature prawns (juveniles of the ones we eat). I remember clearly this time 16months ago, after the last “big wet”, launching at my local ramp and seeing many thousands in huge schools in the shallows. I put my squid lights on at the back of the boat and it was a massive cloud of “jelly prawns” and excellent bait for small Yakkas.

A detailed and helpful account of “thinking through the issues” - thanks for sharing Hilly. It’s always helpful to be be able to put a few sessions together over a few days and try different stuff in order to “crack the code”. I always struggle with - is it the lure/bait? Conditions on the day? Time of year? Etc, or “All the above” in which case “Will it work next time?”, but that’s the challenge of our sport.

Great work @TheFishyFisherman, not easy to manage a land based kingie over 65cm and a 73 is a good fish. I haven’t heard of “Shuman raider” (not a Shimano?) , but there are a lot of Bonito in the harbour at present and they’ll smash livies or Yakkas (one out under a float or balloon works well too). Great to see young Raiders posting their catches (please look after the wharf and remove all your rubbish when you leave - I’m sure you do 😊) Keep those posts coming.

Sooooo jealous of those squid Basil - what a top effort, makes me want to move to Tassie.

Bream (2) were on tiny bait fish set up, but burleying heavily.

Loved reading your report Albert - you’re right about Neil - the FishRaider community is made up of top blokes like Neil and Steve. It’s so hard to find fish prospecting and local knowledge makes such a difference.

Went out with my nephew, his son and one of his mates. Other than Sam’s mate, they had never caught a Kingie before. We loaded up with Yakkas and after boating 5 Kingies we left the harbour and headed off shore where we boated a good feed of Trag and some for the freezer, we decided to head in before the wind picked up and left them on the them on the bite.

Great result for your young bloke Rob. Cobia fight every bit as hard as Kingies and taste just as good.

Nice mixed bag again Dave, at least you got to keep the big end of the Bonnie.