Im sure theres many of you that fish the harbour and get constantly hassled by black and eagle rays. 

Well heres a tip to keep your baits away from them, and hook some good fish while your doing so.

Step 1: Rig your line so you have your main line going to a good strong swivel , then to that , tie your trace line (15 kg plus ...theres big fish out there!) . This trace line should be no longer than a metre to avoid getting too close to the bottom in shallow water. 

Step 2: Add a small ( half oz) sinker to bottom of trace and tie two droppers in it . 

Step 3: add a good sized flasher to top dropper , and a robust but not too big hook to bottom dropper.

Step 4: attach a clip to a float, preferably a small plastic bottle or cork or polystyrene float as balloons are not the best for casting . Clip this float to your swivel between main and trace line . 

Step 5: add a small strip of bait on  to flasher, and put a WHOLE sprat, piper or similar on bottom  hook. make sure that piper is hooked through tail first so hook ends up in the head ( fish tend to hit head first) , and half hitch the line around the tail if possible. 

Find a nice current that has a back eddy , or a current that flows over rocks and slows on the other side....thats where you wanna drop the line!. 

So far this method has caught me over 25 kahawai , and hooked two big kings , as well as taking a couple of pannie snaps and only ONE eagle ray out of over twenty trips. 

I know a lot of guys on the forums know this method but perhaps theres a few that dont..so I hope this helps with your winter harbour trips in shallower water. 

Tight lines!!!