Yowie

Looks like a snook, not a pike. Yowie.

It's a Zebra fish. They look like luderick that have spent to much time in Queensland waters, and taken on that BLOODY MAROON colour. yowie.

Fished off Lilli Pilli this morning. 2 jews at 50 and 63cm, 2 reddies around 35, a bream and 2 salmon about 45 and 55, both released and good fun on a handline. The tide turned and started to run up, and shortly after the wind picked up from the west and buggered up the drift. Tried soft plastics at several spots, the only hits were from long toms at every spot. A few birds were diving up south west arm, so I moved there for a look. Probably salmon and tailor breaking the surface, so I threw in a small wobbler, hooked up first cast and the hook come out after several seconds. Threw back in and let the lure sink for a couple of seconds, and a 41cm trevally grabbed the lure as it was sinking and hooked himself. By the time I landed and released it, the other fish were gone, and the wind was picking up, so I headed for home. Yowie.

Boxfish are normally poisonous to eat, then again, the Japanese eat small toads. A few die now and then if the toad flesh is not properly prepared. Regardless, experts highly recommend that you do not eat boxfish. Yowie.

Look for an old Quintrex.

Fished the deep again off Lilli Pilli. 2 small jewies 50 and 52, and 2 legal reddies of 35 and 37 amongst the dozens of small bait stealing reddies. Also pulled out a flounder and a Watsons leaping bonito. Plenty of slimies about, used them as fillets but they were attacked by the little reddies. The bigger fish took the pillies. Even the squid didn't attract anything. Read your report Tumra, some slimy mackerel about for a change. The water is still murky and colder than last week. All the rain has dropped the temperature, but there could be pockets of warmer water in the deeper holes for a short time. Yowie.

Mick, Trout have a fairly large mouth for their size, and a small treble does not always hook up. On some of my lures I use a single hook. Use only a hook with no sideways bend, known as a Kirby bend, or the other way which is a reverse Kirby bend. A sideways bend will twist the line and the lure won't work properly. You will also need to find the correct type with a large eye, otherwise the hook will not fit onto the split ring on the lure. Don't use too big a hook or the weight of the hook will take away some of the action of the lure. Go to a specialist tackle shop, rather than something like Woollies. Yowie.

Don't know what the temperature is, but it is starting to drop. Had a swim at Wanda Beach 2 weeks ago, and the temperature is slowly dropping. After today's rain, there should be a bit of colour in the water. The large bream that I caught in Gunnamatta Bay a couple of weeks ago appear to have disappeared. Plenty of small to baby sized whiting about whilst I was pumping the nippers at Mainbar, but not many over the size limit.

Fished the deep off Lilli Pilli this morning, with a light westerly breeze. Pulled out 2 legal jews at 50 and 62cm, plus 3 just under the size. Also a bream at 35cm, and a flounder about 30cm. Plenty of reddies, but none over the size limit, and no tailor this morning, even with half a moon up. Tried along the sandbanks with a soft plastic minnow for 2 flatties both at 44cm. Was getting a lot of hits on the plastic from longtoms, but no hookups, so I tried a strip of bait, which attracted them straight away. Pulled out a couple of them but they were not too big, so back they went. Pumped a few nippers at Mainbar, and pulled out a slightly smaller flattie and 2 whiting. One whiting was just over 40cm, and took the bait in less than 1 foot of water. Has anyone eaten longtoms, if so, what so they taste like? Yowie.

Did you eat any of them? Trigger fish are poisonous, so if you ate any and you are still reading this, they must be some type of jacket. Have caught many types of jackets over the years, but have not seen this one before. What is the biggest you landed? Yowie.

Caught my first one for the season last week, can be around until September/October, usually catch mine from the deep water from Lilli Pilli upwards and also up South West Arm. Good fun on 6 pound line, some times they will take baits from the bottom when fishing for reddies, bream, jewies, etc. Yowie.

Fished off Lilli Pilli in the deep again. 1 jewie about 50cm, released, 2 tailor, 38 and 50cm, 2 good fillets off the bigger one, and a just legal trevally. Little reddies about but none over legal size. The water has a bit of colour after the rain, should have been a couple of bigger reddies about, but not today. Had one good hit but the line parted soon after, could not pick what it was. Also had something else on a little while later, then the weight dropped off and I landed a reddie about 25cm. No marks on the reddie, but something grabbed him for a short time. Yowie.

That's a good catch for a weekend, usually too many boats for my liking. I used pilchards, squid, salted trevally strips for not many bites. Found a couple of small garfish in the freezer, nothing looked at them at all. One of those days when nothing is interested. When I drifted about with the plastic minnow, I spooked a couple of flathead as I drifted over them. I have eaten the smaller salmon around 2 to 3 pound. Cook up some rice, add bacon, chopped fried egg, peas, corn, etc, clean and gut the salmon, then stuff the rice mixture into the cavity and bake in the oven. For times when you don't catch anything else and feel like some fish.

Fished early near Lilli Pilli. One salmon at first, about 50cm, thought it was a nice tailor at first, but no, a bloody salmon so back it went. No tailor, only little reddies, no other decent hits. Some baits were disappearing quickly, maybe some small jackets. Drifted the flats with a 3" minnow soft plastic for a 49cm flathead only. Pumped some nippers at Mainbar and drifted around there for 3 small whiting to 31cm, a 41cm flattie, and a long tom less than 50cm, which was returned. A few other long tom about, but no hookups, taking the nippers off the bottom over the flats. Yowie.

Catch the odd one from time to time around Lilli Pilli in Port Hacking, no more than about 45cm long. Never eaten one. Have seen them swimming in small schools at times. Yowie.

I wrote to the Fisheries Dept a few years ago about increasing the bag limit on that species of jacket, no reply received. You actually have to see them in action when they go into a feeding frenzy. I killed a few jackets and threw them overboard when the big schools gathered under the boat. You would not want to fall overboard because they are so vicious!

The biggest reddie I picked up in the last month was 47cm, not big for reddies, but a good size for the Port. Some years back, 2 reddies of 5.5 and 6.5 kgs were reported to have been caught in South West Arm at night. No names, no photos sighted, only a fishing report. An old bloke who died some years ago, who lived next to my fishing mate, stated he caught 20 pound snapper from Gymea Bay in the 1920's, 1930's. Did not land all as the sharks chewed off quite a few. 20 to 30 years ago, the same old bloke pulled out a 55 pound jew on an 8 pound handline, in Gymea Bay.

Can be a bit hard to catch during the day, better on an overcast day on a rising tide. Night is usually better, as the bream will venture into shallow water. When I lived near Yowie Bay wharf, I found the bream on the rising tide would be feeding against the rock walls in a couple of feet of water at night. If you live in an area with boat moorings, rocks, oysters, etc, I use 15lb line at night and a no.2 double strength hook, similar to a 9555B pattern with 2 slices in the shank. Seems a bit heavy, but some of the bigger ones will snag you fairly quickly in that sort of territory. Use lighter line if you fish in a snag free area. During the day, 6lb line is better when you can see what is happening. Sometimes a bigger bait works as the smaller bream can't swallow it straight away, and a bigger one may grab it from the little ones. Other days, nothing works. I generally use a fish bait at night, salted pieces such as yellowtail, tailor, small tuna, something with a bit of oil and odour. Berley will get them feeding. An old fisherman's trick was to buy a skinned rabbit, wrap it in wire mesh and tie it close to the wharf with good rope. The bigger bream and other bities will drag it away if not secured. The bream will hang around the smelly bunny, as will many other pests. Yowie.

Nothing wrong with a feed of garfish. The tailor were only around while still fairly dark. The reddies are dropping off in numbers, the bigger ones were caught one after the other, same piece of squid, then quiet again, must have been swimming together. It's that time of year when the fish start to thin out.

Squid and pilchards.

Had a fish in Port Hacking this morning. As I was getting the boat ready at my mother's place on Gunnamatta Bay, top of the tide, threw in a line just in case. Pulled out a 39 cm bream, back in for another just over 40cm. Released the second one, big and fat with the blue nose. Fished the deep off Lilli Pilli, 4 tailor to 43cm, 2 reddies 39 and 41cm, 2 trevally about 33 and 38cm (both released) and a metre plus shovelnose (released). A kingie followed up a hooked trevally, looked a bit under size, but did not stay long under the boat. Yowie.

Eastern Kelpfish looks good from the side view. Excuse the language, but a sh*t sandwich would probably taste better than easting one of these. Yowie.

Looks similar to a sea carp. A bit hard to tell Adam. Need a side on view next time for a better view of the body. Yowie.

yes.

Fished the deep out from Lilli Pilli. Pulled out 4 reddies (32,33,40,47cm), 2 tailor over 40cm and a 43cm blue spotted flathead (normally catch them outside, however, have caught the odd one in the port) Released the 2 smaller reddies. Used squid and salted tailor. The largest reddie was nearly 1.5 kg. No yellowtail about, but something grabbed the size 10 hook and tiny bait and put up a good fight until right near the boat when the line broke. A silver flash under the boat looked like a small jew. Returned to Gunnamatta Bay to put the boat away, and thought I would try for a squid. Picked up a medium size calamari then nothing. Pulled up the jig to go home and a small school of similar sized squid chased in the jig and sat beside the boat. Schools of these don't hang around long, so I threw the jig back and pulled out 4 more in about 1 minute, until the water turned black and the rest swam off. Inside of the boat was black, and I copped a black hit to the stomach area. Reminds me of an Italian fishing mate many years ago, who had never caught a squid. A big one followed his bait in and stayed under the boat, so I gave him a jig line and told him the jerk the line. The squid grabbed the jig straight away, and before I could say "Don't pull it into the boat just yet", my mate looked over the side of the boat to see what was happening, and copped a direct hit in the face and into his mouth. His face and clothes were jet black. Yowie.