Yowie

It was cold this morning. Needed the gloves on until I started fishing, as zipping along in an open tinny made the wind chill feel around zero.

Not a gummy. It had a similar build to a leopard shark, big shoulders and a relatively thick body, and I would guess a small mouth underneath. Leopard sharks have the leopard type spots, a grey middle in the spot and a dark or black surrounding. This one had jet black spots, perfectly round, many of them and all over the body that I could see.

Thanks Dave.

Thank you all. It is getting to the windy time of year, and cold mornings. No outside fishing for the next few days with the swell predicted. Was not a wobbegong, checked my fish and shark books, cannot find a photo match just yet.

Well Ash, the saying is that kids do not tell lies, so it must have been an 85cm 'shark'. He said it twice. Pulled out a flattie like that years ago, no fight until it landed on the bottom of the boat, then it went beserk thrashing it's head about, just had to wait until it tired itself out. The head spikes on one that size can cause some serious injuries. At least you gave the kids an entertaining time over the weekend.

Was planning on heading up river this morning, but just before heading to bed last night, had a change of plan due to the predicted light winds, so thought give it a go outside. Headed out at first light to a stronger than predicted westerly, not good for drifting. Trolled a couple of pillies around Jibbon Point - dropped one tailor after a short time and a salmon crashed a pillie on the surface but did not hook up - not good so far. Wind a bit strong for bottom bashing, so headed south of the bombie, reasonably close to the cliffs where the wind was not too strong. First drop onto a blue spot, looked good, then nothing but spikies, so kept a couple for bait strips. Kept drifting out and the wind picked up a bit, then no bites for a while. Thought about giving it away, ready to pull up then a double header of blue spots. Kept drifting and picked up a few more until I was out a bit, then headed back for another drift. The wind was puffy but the drift was not too fast. No other boats out with me, the few about were hugging the coast. Picked up my bag limit and headed back against the choppy water as the wind was picking up. Some of the spikies were a bit bigger than usual, the biggest at 32cm. A couple of humpbacks cruised north for a bit of entertainment. While I was pulling up a couple of spikies, a shark followed them up. A metre and a bit long, the colour of an overripe lemon with many round black spots. Looked similar to a leopard shark, but without the leopard type spots. It cruised about for a short time then swam off..

Good work Scratchie. A slab from a nice sized tailor is rather tasty.

Have seen, and caught, carp with a red tinge on the fins.

Another good feed there Finin.

Sounds like a fun day out, with something for the table.

I use mono, not braid, as a lot of my fishing up river is with handlines. I use 12 pound off the beach, 15 pound if you can find a mono with a thin diameter. For the rocks, 20 pound as you have to lift fish up a bit of height. The beaches are not too bad for grabbing a fish and lifting it out, such as salmon or smaller jews. A heavier trace of 30 pound mono will be easier to lift the fish out by the trace rather than grabbing it. I have lifted salmon on 12 pound mono off the rocks, but had a few heavier ones bust off so now use 15 pound. In difficult rock terrain with a bit of lifting, 30 pound might be needed. The heavier line you go, the less casting distance you may have. Some fishos use 40 or 50 pound off the rocks, good for kingies, but if you snag the rocks with 50 pound line, breaking the line is not easy.

Unweighted using a 12 foot beach rod and Alvey side cast reel. Gars used from the beaches and sometimes the rocks. With a bit of experience, you could cast an unweighted gar nearly as far as using a sinker, the gar would slowly sink and you would use a slow and jerky retrieve. When the tailor were on, they would grab the gar as soon as it hit the water. With no sinker, the gars would eventually be washed back into shore by the waves, or sideways in a strong current. Occasionally used a small sinker directly above the hook if a bit of current about, Casting a gar into strong winds meant using a sinker, but if a strong wind was blowing onto the shore, I would not bother fishing. A float is handy from the rocks as it means less casting out, and the float bouncing about from the waves gives the gar a bit of movement in the water.

Have caught a few over the years on handlines, as I fish mostly with handlines. Best one I can remember was a 61cm kingie on a 6 pound line with a size 10 hook while fishing for yakkas.

Reelcrazy, If you have a bag of gars like that, I would be eating them in preference using them for bait for kings, etc. Good eating. Savit, When I was a teenager (quite a few years ago) we used gars from the beach for tailor, and other fish would have a go at them - flatties, salmon, and some big bream up to the 1.5 kg mark. Used a 3 gang rig of 4/0 hooks, 4 ganged hooks if the gars were rather large. Pillies were not used in those days, only gars that were bought fresh. A bit of salt will keep them longer these days, so try that idea.

The Hacking starts to slow down around now, with the cooler and clearer water. No tailor jumping as they are swimming a bit deeper.

Thanks Scratchie. The only yakka and a salmon grabs it. Still, I have enough for a couple of feeds.

Headed out early this morning, up from Lilli Pilli. The water is a bit cooler, and becoming clearer. The tailor were biting early during low light, then disappeared after that. Pillies and salted bonnie strips were the baits. Apart from one nice fish, the others are a bit smaller than over the previous few weeks. The jackets took squid pieces, and I threw back more than I kept due to their small size. Not as many little reddies biting this morning. Only hooked one yakka amongst the sweep, It was a bit bigger than I wanted, but put it out as a livie. The yakka swam near the bottom for some time before the rod tip moved and the reel started spinning. Not a fast run but slow and steady. Gave it time then raised the rod tip and it was on. A few head shakes and it swam deep, backwards and forwards, not too fast, head shakes, thought maybe a jewie. Then it headed to the surface and jumped - bloody salmon. Eventually into the boat, about 55cm long then released. Headed for home soon after. As for the bream, threw out a line before launching the boat in Gunnamatta Bay.

A nice tub of fish there.

Good work there Scratchie, always good to have the flatties oblige and hook up. Looking out the mouth of Port Hacking this morning, it appeared a little lumpy, and the bay surf was working with a few paddle boarders catching a wave or 2.

TAKE YOUR TIME. There is no need to rush to get a fish in. A number of fishos on here lose a good fish right at the end by rushing to land the fish, tightening the drag, trying to go too hard at the end. At the end of the fight, with not much line out, there is less room for error, less room to manoeuvre the fish. Don't deliberately bust off, you leave the jig head in the fish's mouth.

I have eaten the larger spikies fillets when the blue spots were not biting, and they were rather tasty. Like you, I use the smaller spikie fillets as bait as they are a fairly tough bait for the bigger flatties, and whatever else might be swimming about. No size limit on the spiky flatties (Longspine Flathead)

A few marbled ones are about at a nice size.

Prefer them salted, though lately the salted ones are a little small and over salted, meaning less weight for throwing some distance. For casting and retrieving without a sinker, you need a bit of weight to cast a bit of distance. The small reddies do not discriminate, they will eat any type of pillie.

Thank you. Well, I had a trevally swimming about the boat feeding on the scraps, but as soon as I dropped over a bait with a hook, he would not touch it. Even tried a small suicide hook hidden in bait, but no go.

I try to charm them to swim to the boat.