stormy

Sounds like a title for a song. Went out yesterday for a couple of hours and was confronted by wind and some big surges. Water was green and lots of kelp and weed floating around. Didn't get a single down in an hour, so decided to try again today. Got an early start (for me) at 6am and the water was glassy and clear. Took my mate Bob, who has just started to fish for blackfish, and it was ideal for him to watch and practice. I checked that his float was weighted correctly and then turned around to get my rod. He was on to a good fish before I had baited up. It was just glorious on the rocks and with an hour to go until low, we were off to a good start. I hooked a couple of 34cm fish, which promptly went back, and then started getting some nice fish around 40cm. We fished for 3 hours with the tally being 9 fish for me and 2 for Bob. He is keen and I gave him a few more tips on how to read the water and what is happening to the bait and float. Also to be selective with the cabbage he baits up with. Tomorrow is a no go, as it will be a full house in National Park, but he is talking about Thursday, just before he flies out to Townsville.

Good one guys. I went out this morning and never got a down in 2 hours. Trying again in the morning, but don't expect much. May have to try 'up north' at Maroubra or Little Bay if I don't do any good tomorrow.

I have been fishing on the other side of the Port, Royce. Yesterday was to be a session near the balconies, south of Jibbon, but the swell was really pumping in making a great spectacle across the bay at Shark Island and Cronulla. It bypassed my spot just inside the heads.

Blackfish normally slow dow around this time of year, or the smaller fish turn up and make a nuisance of themselves. Mind you, they race around and fight above their weight at 25-30cm and you feel like you have hooked a bigger fish than the one which finally comes in. The water today was quite dirty (for Port Hacking) but there was a bit of wash working. First cast with a new float saw it hit the water and keep going straight down. Too much lead, I thought, and when I lifted the rod to reel the line back, I was connected to a fish. What the!!! The bait must have landed right in front of it and it took off. A nice sized fish too. I battled it for a minute or two and a swell carried it onto the rock platform. Bent down to pick it up and the backwash beat me to it. Busted off at the hook. Re-rigged and tossed the bait back in. The float was weighted perfectly and within seconds went down, down, down. Another fish on. In a repeat performance, this one also busted off on the rock shelf behind me and took off in the backwash. I was left shaking my head. Lucky there was no-one around to see, but it was just one of those things. Next cast and on again. This fish gave me a good run but didn't feel like a typical blackfish fight. Reason was that it was a trevally, taken on cabbage. I have caught them before, as well as tailer and bream on cabbage. It went a little quiet after that initial burst of activity, but I ended up catching 10 fish in the next 2 hours. I released 6 of them and kept four for myself and a neighbour who wanted to try blackfish. Biggest one today went 41cm. Measured him on the rule and when I took the photo with my phone, it slipped off. It was actually 41.5cm but I always round down

Around this time of the year, the blackfish in my area slow down or are replaced by smaller fish. I have been getting loads of big fish on every outing and without exception they are males. Now, for the past 2 weeks, every fish has been a female full of roe. Thought they had a spawning run a couple of months back. Anyway, I have been fishing for blackfish for over 40 yrs and have always used my Sportex 662 rod and Avon Royale reel. Today, I decided to put the reel on a Pacific Composites Ocean Blackfish rod, which I bought last year. With a decent fish on, the Sportex is like a limp piece of spagetti in comparison to the graphite rod. I like the new rod, but will still fish with the old one on a regular basis. On arriving at the spot, I saw that the water was crystal clear and no wash on the rocks at all. Wasn't too confident, but nothing ventured nothing gained. Baited up with cabbage and was on within 60 seconds. A nice, small fish of 32cm. Into the keeper net and on again immediately. Got another two around the same size and then a few undersize ones, before it shut down. Persevered for another hour for some very timid downs. On one drift, I let the float go way out over the sand until it was getting hard to see. Thought it went down, so lifted the rod tip and was on. This felt like a better fish and it was good to be able to wash it up on what little swell there was. This one measured 38cm, so I decided to take a pic for the January comp. Got one more keeper of 37cm, again way out over the sand, and called it a day. Five keepers for me, one for my mate Rick and none for my mate Geoff. I gave him three of mine, as I still had fish in the freezer. All in all, a nice few hours spent in a beautiful place with a couple of good mates.

At least your King was legal. So many around that go just under. It surely is frustrating when boats see you hooked up and come racing over to get into the action, driving through the school or worse if you are anchored and they drop theirs so close that they could step across into your boat. I have taken to fishing mid week to lessen the stress

Good time had by the sound of things. Wish I could get my wife to come fishing. It is either too hot, too cold, too windy, too sunny, too ...... well, you get the picture.

Went out for a couple of hours today and met up with a mate to catch a blackfish. Started to rain as I got to the location, but stopped as I pulled up at the beach. Water was crystal clear, tide was almost dead low and swell was non existant, but decided to have a go anyway. Got a down within minutes and landed a reasonable fish. Rick got a good fish on (for all of about 5 seconds) and it was dropped in no time. Minus one hook. I had seen a few schools of big surgeon fish swim past and suspect that the fish he lost, and the ones I have lost lately due to hooks being bitten off, were the culprits. Stayed for 2 hours and ended up with 2 for Rick, 4 for me and a couple each dropped as they washed across the rocks and kelp. Sky got darker and it pelted down for about 15 minutes. Stood under a tree and still got wet. The sun came out again and within 20mins we were dry again, so decided to call it quits and clean the fish. As I was filleting a fish, a kid came up and bombarded me with questions. I looked down and saw that I had taken the fillet, so tossed the frame into the water. Trouble was, I had only taken one fillet. Oh well, maybe males can only do one thing at a time and not multi task. My biggest one today was 38cm. They were all male fish and chock full of stringy brown weed. They will go down nicely tomorrow, in tempura batter with big wedges of chips and salad.

Seems like the old guys are no longer making them for tackle shops. Why would they, when the stores can buy them from H.K. for a few cents each. They are nowhere near as good as the old ones, but you can buy a pack of 6 Jarvis Walker floats for around $15 delivered. The large ones are o.k. off the ocean rocks if it isn't too turbulent, but I have had to make my own large floats of late. The store ones do not have any weight on the stems and they also have cheap line guides, but they can be made serviceable with very little effort. If you make your own, I have found 4mm Tassie Oak dowel and champagne corks to be the best bet. A high speed lathe or drill is best for shaping the corks.

Went for another little hop along the rocks today. Water was very clear and there was no swell to talk of, so I thought it may be a waste of time. Water looked 'fishy' to me though. You know how it is when you see water conditions and think that if you were a fish, that's where you would hang out and have lunch. The rocks had loads of cabbage weed, so I picked a nice curly piece and baited the little #8 hook. Tossed it out and after 5 minutes the float smashed downwards. I lifted the rod and was connected to a nice luderick (luderick). They fight really hard, but generally cleanly. Washed him up the rocks in a little surge and he was mine. Re=baited and cast out to the same area for an immediate take. Beaudy, I thought. This one was feisty and I had him on the surface after a minute or two only to have him dive hard and deep, snapping the 6lb leader at the knot where it attached to the braid. After re-rigging it went quiet for a while and the N.E, kicked in. The surface chopped up and the water colour changed. Dinner bell rang and the fish came on. I landed 5 blackfish and then the bites became tentative. I dropped a few, after feeling the weight, and guess they were lightly lip hooked. Next cast saw the float drift out in the wash for nearly 30 or so metres and well over the sand. I was just about to reel in back to the reef, when the float slowly went down. Another tentative take, I figured, so I counted 5 seconds before lifting the rod tip. A bigger fish bent the rod and took off. A short run and the line went slack. I wound in and it took off agian. The fish was running towards me, which accounted for the slack line. I fish with a centre pin Avon reel, which has no drag apart from what you impart with your hand or finger. I got knuckle dusted by the rapidly spinning reel handles before the fish was held. I really doubted I would land this one as the sudden changes or direction and powerful runs really test the light line. Luckily the rod is a nice soft one designed for just this type of fight. Must have been around 5 minutes before I managed to wash him up, and he was mine. A nice fat Black Drummer of 42cm. These guys are not clean fighters like the luderick, and he had me in the weeds a few times before he was landed. Good fun. Seven fish in 2 hours - not bad. I kept 5 and let two go. Going to make tempura fish pieces tonight with a nice salad. I normally only keep two or three, but the pieces will not go to waste tonight.

Good work. Have never fished the harbour. Never fished for blackies north of Maroubra. They will start to come on from now. Spawning is well underway, at least south of Sydney.

The rain stopped today, so the tides looked good for another rock session. Started fishing around 10am and although the water looked good, it was really slow going. About 11.30am, at the bottom of the tide, I finally hooked into a nice fat blackfish. The bites were pretty timid, and I left the float under for around 10 seconds before lifting the rod. Dropped 8 fish right at my feet, due to only being lightly lip hooked. Ended up landing 6 fish in four hours of fishing. A beautiful day out. The swell was up a bit outside, and looked lumpy around the heads. Frying up some fillets for dinner tonight. Fresh blackfish fillets lightly floured and fried in butter. Yum. The run is a bit late for this part of Sydney but fishing should pick up in the next few weeks. All fish landed were males, with plenty of milt spilling out. Very energetic fish and very powerful runs. Had to leave them biting, as the N.E. came in and brought heaps of weed and storm water flotsam in close, fouling the float and line.

I have towed scores of boats back to ramps and moorings, when working in the Water Police. Most were towed through the owners stupidity - eg, not carrying sufficient fuel, not checking the condition of the fuel or lines prior to going out etc. How often do you see someone spending ages trying to get their motor started at the ramp and then when it finally does kick over and splutters and chugs, they head off. Obviously there is something not right with the motor. Most times we would get a thank you sometimes nothing except a glare. The boat owners more or less putting the blame for their breakdown on us!!!??? Volunteer Coastguard do a great job and yes they operate by donation. Seatow perform a service for which you pay and you also pay for other expenses on top of your annual fee. If you need a tow, then show your appreciation in a way which you deem fit. A thank you is often well accepted.

LOL - looks like you need all the schooling you can get. Save the fishing until the week ends. Just kidding around...... no really.....no.

Oh gosh. That's just wrong, Moonset. I went out yesterday for an hour and a half and got three nice blackfish and a black drummer. No worms in them - I'm sure I would have noticed. Maybe you are catching them too close to the Cooks River?? That really does look gross and would make me think twice about eating the fillets.