The boats a little cracker and perfect for one or two people. I did not want to get something bigger as my entry into fishing as I knew it would be a pain to get in and out single handed.
speaking of chasing , I got done by something big on the north side of lion island the other week, fought it for 25 minutes on a 2-5kg rod with a 2500 reel and 10lb braid (20lb leader). I nearly had the mongrel up to the surface but the trebles gave way on the cheap vibe i was running. I honestly expected the rod to snap, the poor little certate was crying in pain and so were my arms and hands after 10 minutes of trying to land it.
There is zero chance the Daiwa 10lb grand braid rated 10lb actually breaks at 10lb, it has to be closer to 20lb or more!
All that said, my knots have come a long way in 5 months, was running a slim beauty to attach the leader and a loop knot to the vibe. Such a fabulous knot that SB.
The bloody lure is on the kitchen window now to remind me to never run cheap hooks with anything ever again!
A few of us did a day charter with Craig McGill 20 odd years back to learn the secrets of the Hawkesbury jewfish. Terrific day learning about current lines, deep holes, moon, tide etc. the one thing that amazed me was the size of the baits. He used whole or butterflied mullet which would have been 30cm - 40cm long. My first lesson of big bait - big fish.
Just a personal thought to help you on your fishing journey - Pick a target species & learn how to catch it . The Hawesbury System has several target species on offer Bream , Flathead , Hairtail & the mighty Jewie
Jewies can be a very consistent target species once you learn the ropes ....... If you like using soft vibes it's just a matter of using the charts & finding those holes or back eddies.
It just might be worth grabbing a charter for a day & learning about them that way .......
The best things about fishing for Jewies is that they can be caught day & night (all through the year) - bait & lures .
As you are fishing around Lion Island .... you have two hotspots nearby . Flint & Steel / Juno Point ........ Juno is the easier one to fish - simplly fish the back eddy around the turn of the tide . A fresh squid bait or cast / hop soft swim baits . ... hop a big soft vibe .
Just my opinion though
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
Thanks for sharing Chris, up until now I have been targeting bream and flatheads using zmans. Pretty hard to go wrong with motor oil grubs or slim swimz around here. Need to do some serious testing with my crank baits next up.
For the planned trip with the boys in June on Brisbane Waters, it sounds like Salmon and Taylor will be the order of the day, so got me some reading to do in the next few weeks so I am prepared.
Just look for the birds feeding.