Yowie

A big bonito, might be a lure caught record.

Sounds like a good feed there. Fished yesterday for not much at all, 2 jews just undersize and 1 flattie in the deep water. A lot of surface fish, only 1 hookup on a lure with a few fast runs, then the hooks pulled. Let the lure sink and a 39cm trevally hooked up. Soft plastics on the flats for nothing, then headed home and found more surface fish at Mainbar, hooked one 44cm bonito for a bit of fun on light line. Small fish will attack the poddies. Have seen the toads attack and eat the live poddies around the head regions before. Tailor usually bite pieces off the poddies. Yowie.

A long time since I have walked to the baths. I have fished near it in a boat, but not too often. Have caught a few tailor, reddies, bream, trevally at times.

Myself and someone else have had a small mako cruising about in Bate Bay over the last month, chewing on our flathead. Might have taken up residence for a while.

Sure, they are always there, but the last thing you want is to get nibbled by a shark, the teeth hurt. A few years ago, I saw a bull shark over the 2 metre mark on the Georges River near Como Park, leap completely out of the water as it was chasing a school of fish. Spectacular sight.

Fished early this morning off Lilli Pilli for a couple of tailor on pilchards and a couple of bream on bait. Little reddies stealing baits as usual. Was a bit quiet, then fish started splashing away from the boat. Thought they would stop but they didn't, so up anchor and motored over. There were tiny fish, 1 to 2 cms long, being attacked by anchovies, pilchards, and occasionally some bigger fish. Tried a couple of different lures among the fish for only 2 tailor. The other fish were not interested, appeared to be frigates, with an occasional small kingie and maybe salmon. Dropped the lure into the foaming water many times for not a bite. Let the lure sink deep, but that only produced a yellowtail. When I cut the yellowtail up later, it had a 5cm tailor in it's stomach, swallowed whole. The fish eventually moved off, so I headed to Mainbar, pumped some nippers and drifted around there for 5 whiting to 34cm. I was speaking to one of the boys at the bait shop at Sylvania Heights a couple of days ago. He told me that last week, one of his customers was fishing off Lilli Pilli baths with a burley bomb tied to some rope. When he finished fishing, he pulled the burley bomb in, but it was grabbed by a bull shark about 1.5 metres long, and that was the end of that. Back to the shop to buy another one. Also, a scuba diver was checking the net of the Gymea Bay baths a couple of weeks ago, on the outside of the net, when a shadow swam behind him. He turned around to see a bull shark about 3 metres long, just cruising along not far away. He did not stay long in the water after that. Appears the bull sharks may be around Audley again. Don't know why people swim around Swallow Rock, or let their kids and dogs splash about in the water there! Yowie.

Probably a waste of time with a sounder, as tailor schools sometimes move very quickly through the water, you could see that as you approached a school and they disappeared before you could cast to them. Trolling sometimes catches a few. When they are splashing on the surface, they have rounded up a school of baitfish, and if there are several areas of splashing, that means there will be several areas of baitfish. You can chase after them in the boat as they move from school to school, running the risk of scaring them off the bite altogether, or wait near a school of baitfish, as the tailor quite often swim around and return to attack the same school several times. If you chase after the tailor, keep back from the splashing fish, don't motor through them and stop when about casting distance away. Some fisherman will advise you not to do this as it will scare away the fish, but I have done it successfully for over 40 years. With other fish such as salmon or kingfish, they can be more inclined to disappear with the sound of a motor near them. Yowie.

Looks like a grinner, cannot tell from the photo but they have a large upwards pointing mouth with many small teeth. Also called lizardfish: from the family SYNODONITAE.

A nice feed of flatty fillets, also goes well with a good bottle of riesling.

Some days are rather quiet, so you have to put in a bit of time and effort.

Fished the deep off Lilli Pilli early this morning, for 2 tailor to 43cm, and a just legal flounder that was sent back. Rather quiet, not many bites on the bottom. While waiting for the bites that never happened, a few small splashes that looked like frigates and a couple of bigger splashes that looked like kings happened around the boat. No takers on a lure. Pumped some nippers and drifted the flats. Most nippers were taken by toads, though pulled out 2 whiting over 32cm and 2 bream to 30cm. Usually quiet at this time of year due to the large numbers of boat traffic. Finally had a decent hit on a nipper, felt like a good flathead with the head shakes, but when it swam around the boat a few times that idea stopped. Turned out to be a 51cm trevally, a lot of gold colour along the body. Was released. Returned to Gunnamatta Bay to put the boat into the shed, threw a line in while cleaning the fish and pulled out another 2 bream to 37cm. Yowie.

Hooked one in Port Hacking some years ago. Had just wound on 500 yards of line onto a handcaster the day before, the turtle took off the 500 yards without stopping, so I just hung on at the end and the line broke at the hook luckily.

That little mako is about the size of the one that grabbed one of my flathead, just before christmas while fishing in Bate Bay. The little bastard ended up biting off 2 small snapper sinkers instead of the baits. Yowie.

Unless you are fishing for garfish or mullet, I would increase the size of the hook a bit, try size 8 or 6. A slightly stronger hook at that size should you get hit by a bigger bream or a flathead. Yowie.

Enough for a feed, that's what counts. There were a few larger boils on the surface in the early morning, probably small kings.

Fished the deep water up from Lilli Pilli this morning for 2 flatties of 51 and 68cm, and a jew of 69cm. Caught on different baits, and only managed 1 yellowtail which was filleted for strip bait. The larger flattie was released. Pumped some nippers and drifted the flats for 2 legal whiting and 1 bream. Plenty of just undersize whiting and toads pinching the nippers, so headed for home. Also plenty of boats about, not the best time of year for fishing, but needed to get out for a fish. Yowie.

The biggest flattie I managed was 44cm, not big fish, but I have enough fillets for a couple of feeds. As you and Groper stated, no surface activity and no birds working the surface anywhere. The only birds I saw were a couple of penguins. I did spook a flying fish early as I was heading out, but only the one. I would have liked to have hooked up to the little mako, but he was only biting at the sinkers!

Headed out early this morning to a bit south of Jibbon Bombie. No wind and no drift. Only managed 1 blue spot flattie and a few small spikies. Moved a couple of times but no good, so I headed to Bate Bay. First drop was a spiky, and as I wound him up, something grabbed hold then let go under the boat. The 'something' was a mako shark about a metre long. It swam back, chewed off the sinker and swam away, so I tied on another sinker and dropped down again. As soon as the line hit the bottom, it took off towards the surface, it was the mako again, and he again chewed off the sinker. The baits were not touched. 2 small snapper sinkers chewed off. Shortly after that, a light southerly started blowing so the drift picked up. Every drop was a spiky flathead as soon as the line hit the bottom, must have been hundreds of them about. I was thinking of heading home, but had one last drift in deeper water. Still plenty of spikies, but I hooked another 3 blue spots and 5 tiger flatties. The tigers were not big, only around the 36 to 38 mark, but chunky little fish that are good eating. A current suddenly moved in, opposite to the drift, so I needed a lot of line to hold bottom. The fish stopped biting as soon as the current appeared, so headed for home. Yowie.

A good feed there Groper.

Have not been there for 15 or more years, not really changed that much since I first visited over 40 years ago. Usually a couple of fish about, and on the first visit managed a feed of abalone as well, now only limited to 2 per person. Have not eaten at that truck stop, however, friends always stop there and say the food is good. Yowie.

Headed to Merry Beach last week with the caravan and stayed for 6 days. Early in the week the southerly was blowing hard and the swell was over 2 metres. During the middle of the week the wind eased a bit but the swell was still lumpy. The rocks on the southern side of the beach is the place to fish, however, along the front the waves were sending water and spray to about 10 metres above the rock shelf so no fishing there. Tried along the rock shelf where I could see the beach. Some of the waves surged through fairly hard so that the line was heading in the direction of the beach in no time. Bought a packet of blue bait, slightly smaller than pilchards and salted so they hold on the hook better. Threw out a few on ganged hooks one evening after sun set, only one bite and it was a 32cm bream. A large wave caught it as I was winding it in and it bounced across the surface like a flying fish. I was using a 12 foot beach rod with 12 pound line on an Alvey side cast reel. Fished the next morning after sun rise, the wind had dropped but the swell was still lumpy. Cut the blue bait in half and fed it along a 2/0 longshank hook with a small ball sinker sitting on top of the hook. Threw it into the foaming water and pulled out a bream on the second cast. The waves were keeping the bait floating near the surface and some salmon moved in. Hooked 6 from 40 to 59cm, all released. Quite a bit of fun in the large waves, had to wait for a bigger wave to roll in so that I could wash the larger ones onto a ledge before lifting them up. Did not fish after that. Other groups of people fished the rocks at different times, some happy to catch salmon and others were not. Some were using pilchards under floats. One bloke I spoke to said he only caught a tailor of 1.5 kg, later in the conversation he said, maybe it was 1.2 kg, so I don't really know how big it was. On the Saturday, the swell had dropped a bit, so one fisherman tried along the front ledge for several hours. He pulled out 3 salmon and a kingie that looked undersize. He said he also caught a tailor that he put out as a livie, and after a while something big grabbed it and busted him off. No-one fished the beach as it was churned up with sand and a lot of weed, however, the waves were a good size for body surfing and the water not too cold (except for the first dive in). Yowie.

Size 2 longshank hook with the smallest ball sinker running directly to the hook.

Run-up tide.

Pumped some nippers and fished the Lilli Pilli flats early this morning. Landed 6 whiting to 34cm and 5 bream to 29cm. Not big fish but a coupled of feeds from that lot. Plenty of whiting just under the limit as well. Returned to mum's place on Gunnamatta Bay to put the boat away and clean the fish. While I was filleting the fish, I cut a piece off a whiting fillet and threw it out on a small hook among the fish scraps hoping the catch a bream, but instead a 67cm flattie grabbed it. Put up a good fight on the hand line, was measured and released. Yowie.