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SydneyIsSkyBlue

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Everything posted by SydneyIsSkyBlue

  1. Love it mate! Might see you around fishing on the bay or at the stadium PS: Thanks for the advice!
  2. First of all @Keflapod - that is a brilliant analogy, I love it! suspect you may be a fan yourself? I actually caught one of them the other day and threw it back for obvious reasons... If only I'd known. I've actually never used live fish as bait (only nippers), but have obviously seen people using yakkas through the nose for kingies. Is it a similar concept with any baitfish? Pardon the ignorance but when fishing like that from the beach, is it simply a case of opening the bail and letting the fish swim out into the deeper water? (I assume you're not casting haha)
  3. Hi mate, It was a very basic sliding sinker rig. 8lb Diawa J-braid with a small ball sinker sliding above a swivel. 20lb flurocarbon leader down to a size 2 long shank hook.
  4. Thanks fellas! I hope to bring you a story with a different ending one day :) I was in even more shock when I saw it knowing that is was hanging of a relatively small size 2 long shank hook!
  5. Hi Raiders, It's been a while since I've been on here but it's good to see the community is as strong and vibrant as ever! Having been a busy few months with work, it's been a while between fishing sessions but I finally got the chance last week to head out to the beaches around Botany Bay to pump some nippers and chase a few whiting/flathead. In the midst of not being able to get out and go fishing, I've spent countless hours after work watching fishing videos on Youtube and trying to hone my skills and knowledge for when I could get back out there as well as trying to work my way through the recipes in the "Australian Fish & Seafood Cookbook" that I received last Christmas. My aim is to try and make as many of the dishes as I can from that book with the fish that I catch. Anyway, during this time, I have been hanging to make the Kingfish recipe in the book as well as finally landing one of those guys land-based (I've never hooked up to one). Having spoken to a mate, he told me to head out with a fishing guide later this year which will hopefully give us a fair chance. But alas, I digress. Here I am casually fishing off the beaches at Dolls Point: small pinkies, some whiting, a sting ray and flathead make up a mixed bag in the first hour. As it started slowing down, I moved down the beach to some of the deeper water on the incoming tide. On goes the next nipper and off I cast... I wait... and then the rod buckles and I strike. Immediately, I knew this was something different and the line starts peeling off my reel. It sounds awfully familiar to those numerous videos I've watched over the last few months about targeting kingfish. As the fight goes on, I start thinking to myself I must have hooked up on another big sting ray as there wasn't much fight, it was just dragging me around the place. The line is going left, I pause and reel and then it goes right and takes more line. This is a serious fish, but on a size 2 long shank hook? It can't be. A couple of minutes later in the haste of my excitement and curiosity, I get the fish to about 2-3m to the edge of the beach and low and behold, its a kingfish (I estimate it would have been around 70-75cm). My anxiety levels go up, I can't lose this, I've tried and toiled for some time and here is my moment. As I'm about to land the fish... a sudden twang and then laxity in the line. The leader snaps and there goes my hook and the fish. It's been almost a week now, and I keep replaying the moment and what I could have done differently in that situation. Anyway, here's hoping I quash this burning desire to tick kingfish off my list and recipe book in the next few weeks! SSIB
  6. Hi raiders, Have been looking into getting myself a fishing kayak over the last few months but the major deterrent is the fact that I've never used one nor had any experience boating, use boat ramps to launch etc. All my fishing experience has predominantly been land based so I'd like to get myself out a little bit further on the kayak. I've scoured the search bar for information before posting but can't seem to find a thread on essentially 'getting started' and what is required to have a bit of fun, but most importantly to be safe. Last thing I want to do is shell out for a kayak and then not have an idea what the hell I'm doing. Don't necessarily have a budget (happy to spend whatever, but my main priority is safety and ease of use). Has anyone got any recommendations for getting started and what the essentials are when new to kayaking? Any info would be greatly appreciated on this Happy fishing!
  7. Ended up doing it lightly pan fried (flour, green Schezuan pepper corns - ground and salt) with some ginger, garlic, chilli and shallots and then drizzled with a squeeze of lime. HAHAHA love it mate! See you in the away end, it's going to be crazy!
  8. The Indian recipe I have is for snapper, so this would make a lot of sense. Suggest not doing it then? Ironically don't tend to cook a lot of fish but this recipe is essentially a masala paste (Kashmiri chilli, onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, peppercorn, cassia bark, cumin seeds, ground tumeric and malt vinegar and salt) and then you score the fish and rub the paste on, quickly pan fry it to seal it and then into the oven with foil on top for 5-10 min. A bit overkill for the humble whiting?
  9. Hi raiders, Had the afternoon off work today so thought I'd sneak out for a quick afternoon fish in the Hacking with the main goal of targeting some whiting. Got there at low tide to start pumping some nippers and with a few in the bucket, I was ready to go. The afternoon started quite slow with only a few sporadic nibbles on the incoming tide. Down to my last two nippers so decided to move around the point and saw a little drop off near the edge of the sandbank that I thought may have been worth a try and boy was it. Within a few seconds - WHACK! I was on. At first I thought I'd caught a smaller model as there wasn't much fight but as soon as it got onto the sandbank, it took right off which lead me to loosen the drag out a little. After a few good little runs, in came a 41cm whiting. Dispatched quickly, bled and straight onto ice. The only decision now is, salt and pepper whiting or if I get it on to the BBQ over coals with some Indian spices (a new recipe I've been wanting to try for some time now).
  10. Really looking forward to having a read, thanks mate!
  11. Hi everyone, I've been experimenting with some fish recipes over the last few months and was told about dry curing fish (essentially to draw some surface moisture out and concentrate the flavours) - has anyone had any experience with this? Thoughts? Looking forward to hearing your feedback.
  12. Great stuff mate! Have been out about 5 times this month chasing squid and it seems as though they've all gone into hiding (I was catching regularly earlier in the year)... or maybe it's just me! 😅
  13. Really interesting you say that. I noticed the same thing when I caught my finger on one of the spikes and I didn't jump through the roof like the Yamashita ones tended to do to me.
  14. Are you talking to the left of the bridge in the Google satellite image above mate or to the left of the bridge when standing on it facing Bare Island?
  15. These are the jigs for anyone interested 👍
  16. I find it REALLY snaggy there. I've lost a number of jigs around the point.
  17. Hey guys, I've just purchased a few Rui squid jigs online after a mate recommended them to me (he swore by them). Always happy to try new things but to be honest, a bit sceptical at the price point they came in at ($10.99 each) compared to the standard brands I'm normally using (Yamashita, Shimano etc.) - especially in regards to water dynamics. Willing to give them a try though as they have a nice range of colours and look pretty decent. Has anyone had any experience using these and if so, how do they perform? Thanks, SSIB!
  18. Love it mate! what a legend. My strong guess is that they were tourists and there were definitely signs around warning of the danger (including death).
  19. Definitely Sydney FC mate Glad to see someone picked that up! Are Gould's squid the same as "arrow squid"? It's bizarre, there was one elderly couple who walked onto the rocks and literally crouched down and dipped their hands in the water as the swell was coming through and crashed onto the rock. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and yet, no requirement for a life jacket.
  20. Lovely - thanks for that Phil. Doing a bit of research today and it appears as though blended pineapple, papaya or kiwi fruit are the way to go. At the end of the day, I guess it's all about trial and error. Will give the kiwi and milk for a shorter time frame a go next time. The tried and tested low and slow method was awesome though for the braised squid. Great texture and extremely tender.
  21. Thanks mate. I know it's bizarre! Have a feeling that knick in the side of the calamari's wing came from a follower as I was reeling it in too. They're aggressive buggers when they want to be. Interesting you say that, I've tried the milk overnight too and didn't think it did much. Still a snap when you bit into it.
  22. Good afternoon raiders, Headed out last Friday morning to Botany to chase a few calamari as it's been a while since I've been out. Came across a new land-based area which I thought I'd test out and turned out to be a really fun couple of hours. A word of warning to anyone fishing in Randwick council however, you MUST be wearing life jackets at all times when fishing. In the 3 hours I was there, there were police doing random sweeps and at one point I had one come up to me and thank me for wearing a life jacket (followed by a good chat about his squidding experiences haha), however I saw them dishing out fines to 3 people in my immediate vicinity. What I don't understand though is that there were people (I presume tourists) down by the water with with no life jackets. Apparently they don't need them if not in possession of fishing gear - bizarre! All in all though, nice to get out again and get onto some calamari. The biggest measured 30cm hood length, then 24cm and 17cm. Called it a day and came home with a feed of - half braised in a Greek tomato sauce to be served over some rice or dipped with bread and the other half crumbed and made into rings. Unfortunately leaving the rings in kiwi fruit over night turned them to mush when cooked - duly noted for next time. On that, has anyone had any experience with tenderising calamari specifically? I don't mind the "un-tenderized" snap that they naturally have but my partner loved the calamari rings she had the other day from the local seafood place down the road the other day which was super tender but still held structure. I suspect I should be doing it for more like 2 hours as opposed to overnight. Guess I know for next time! 😀
  23. I could have spent hours in there mate! It was a really cool experience. My Japanese is non-existent but walked in and pretty much said two words... "Sumimasen, egi?" (Excuse me, egi?) and the gentleman lead me to a room where he rolled open a whole wall of squid jigs about 5-6m wide and 2m tall (they even provided a ladder to reach the top). On there, every brand, colour and size you could ever wish for. I would say price wise it's 1:1, it's pretty close! I paid around 1160 yen for a 3.0 yamashita jig which is around $14-15. Maybe a couple of bucks cheaper than here. However it's the variety that gets you. I walked out of one shop in Osaka with about 15 jigs and a new Shimano case to hold them all in (spent an hour in there) and had to force myself to leave at that point as we had a booking to get to. If you're ever in Japan, it's well worth getting to one of their fishing tackle shops. This particular shop was 3 stories!
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