Two Short, But Great Trips Out Of Cronulla

[james7]

We managed two short trips this week. Our first time out for over a month!

Trip 1.

We trolled close in along the cliffs for some bonito and tailor. It was a beautiful day and any fish were just a bonus.

One of the bonito had some strange circle marks on it. Click here to see to see the photos.

We saw a small school of baitfish breaking the surface very close to cliffs, so we trolled near them. Syd was first to score with a baby king.

I hook up on a bigger one, but still undersize. (64cm) Back he goes.

Suddenly, my little Charter Special starts screaming! Zzzzzz This was much bigger. After several long runs, I bring him to the boat and ... he throws the hook! Bugger! At least I got a good look at him. My guess was about 75-80cm.

Just a few minutes later my reel screams again and this time I manage to land a nice keeper.

(Syd holding my kingy)

Fish start jumping out of the water near the baitfish. We weren't sure what they were until I picked up this fat nice salmon.

Great fun! It jumped like a marlin.

(Syd holding my salmon)

We tried drifting for some flatties, but the jackets killed us.

On the way back to Port Hacking, a couple of whales kept us company as they headed north. Absolutely magnificant!

A brilliant day.

Cheers

Peter

PS We cleaned and filleted the tailor and bonito that afternoon, but unfortunately "someone", (I'm not mentioning Syd's name) had left the fillets outside and didn't put them in the fridge! When I arrived the next day to smoke them, there they were, still hanging in a bag on the wall of the shed. ... "It happens!"

We now have a container of salted fillets ready to be used for bait.

Edited June 19, 2010 by peterS

[james7]

Trip 2

The next day was sunny and calm and after the tailor fillet incident the day before, we had no fish to smoke, so we decided to head out for a quick couple of hours that afternoon. Of course, nothing else could go wrong.

We had the bait, the gear, plenty of petrol in the boat … but, unfortunately NOT the car! On the way to the ramp, Syd says, as the car slows and stops, I knew I should have filled up yesterday! Bugger!

Anyway, we eventually made it on the water. We casually drifted for a zillion undersize flatties. I picked up a banjo (fiddler) ray and as usual, Syd has to play it.

It was fairly quiet, when Syds reel really started screaming! It eventually comes close enough for us to see it was a shark. I reckon it was a bronzie judging by the colour. Anyway, the light leader broke and away he swam. It was a great bit of excitement in a lazy afternoon.

Both of us managed a few keepers.

However, Syd scored the two best flatties.

Here are a couple of photos to show the differences between the Eastern blue spotted flathead and the dusky flathead. (Syd always gets them mixed up)

Dusky Flathead - caudal fin

Blue Spotted Flathead - caudal fin

Dusky Flathead - pectoral fin

Blue Spotted Flathead - pectoral fin

Cheers

Peter

Edited June 18, 2010 by peterS

[Basil D]

great report Peter, nice day to be out and Kings still around.

[Ray R]

Good onya Pete and Syd, mate always entertaining and informative posts and where is Syd's striped shirt?.

Congrats on a couple of top sessions with some great pics.

P.S hey Syd was that banjo in tune..LOL..

[keithd6041]

hey good catch nice flatties. kings are good fun

[jewgaffer]

Well done Peter, that's a pretty good haul of fish you and Syd got hold of ....You and Syd certainly know where to fish outside the Hacking as there's acres and acres of desert out there where could you drift up and down all day and you'd be lucky to catch any fish at all..

Cheers

jewgaffer

[james7]

You guys never cease to amaze me great shots and good fish to boot.

Thank god you didnt mention Syd as the culprit

Cheers Stewy

You're right Stewy, I'd never tell anyone that Syd not only left the tailor fillets out over night and then ran out of petrol the next day. It must have been those "elves" again!

Good onya Pete and Syd, mate always entertaining and informative posts and where is Syd's striped shirt?.

Congrats on a couple of top sessions with some great pics.

P.S hey Syd was that banjo in tune..LOL..Ray R

I was a bit surprised that it was me that caught the banjo. Syd is usually the "Ray man". Anyway, he always still has to "play it" before releasing it.

I'll also ask Syd where his "normal striped shirt was too.

Well done Peter, that's a pretty good haul of fish you and Syd got hold of ....You and Syd certainly know where to fish outside the Hacking as there's acres and acres of desert out there where could you drift up and down all day and you'd be lucky to catch any fish at all..

Jewgaffer

I think there's a bit of luck involved sometimes when fishing outside the Hacking Byron. Still, we did okay on the second trip as we only fished for about 2-3 hours. It's a good sign that there were plenty of small ones. I reckon we threw back about thirty under 36cm.

Cheers

Peter

[Danielsan]

You're right Stewy, I'd never tell anyone that Syd not only left the tailor fillets out over night and then ran out of petrol the next day. It must have been those "elves" again!

I was a bit surprised that it was me that caught the banjo. Syd is usually the "Ray man". Anyway, he always still has to "play it" before releasing it.

I'll also ask Syd where his "normal striped shirt was too.

I think there's a bit of luck involved sometimes when fishing outside the Hacking Byron. Still, we did okay on the second trip as we only fished for about 2-3 hours. It's a good sign that there were plenty of small ones. I reckon we threw back about thirty under 36cm.

Cheers

Peter

the circles on the fish look to me like tenticle marks... cuttles or squid the culprits!

[Hodgey]

So now there is a good supply of salted fillets for the next trip, hey? Salvaging success from distress Well done on both trips fellas.

Some terrific photos as always Peter, particularly the flathead 'identikits'

Cheers

Skip

[FISHARK]

well done guys