duckegg

SBF1, No expert but these are my tips Tips Hit em before sunrise - they are way more active in the dark Slow - if you think you are retrieving at the right speed - cut it in half. If you arent getting caught up every so often you aint in the zone Find kelp and you will find squid. Keep moving till you find them - where you find one you will most times find a few. Johno

Hey Boys Probably due for a post. Decided to go wide on Sunday and try for some marlin, dollies etc. Got on the boat about 7.30am and quickly got a dozen yakkas out the front. A couple of yakkas got stolen by rats under the boat. Also wanted a few slimies and we found them reasonably quickly around middle ground. Proceeded to head east with a view to zigzagging up the coast for a few hours from 40 to 65 fathoms. Didnt turn a reel unfortunately and it appears everyone else was clued up with me being the exception as there were no boats out. Water was only 20.3c. Trolled in close around Kurnell with an Xrap for doughnuts although all the prime territory was invaded by spearos (i think there was a comp on). Tried livies on the Jibbon hump and back where we caught the yakkas for Duckegg. Note to self...never leave fish to search for fish. Even rats are good fun on light gear!!!! All in all a pretty frustrating day. Anyone got any gems? Johno

Hookedonit, Awesome fish. If you dont mind me asking what was the temp like and the depth? I went out yesterday from Cronulla and it was only 20.5c. Was very quiet out there and didnt turn a reel Johno.

Mate, Well done. I have been smashing rats for the last 2 weeks with nothing over 60cm. We had a school under the boat and had a ball on knife jigs for an hour but they were all under size. Havent got any good ones yet though this season. We havent had too many dramas getting squid though out of Cronulla. Havent sighted a bonnie yet either!! Johno

thanks boys

Thanks Gazza

Boys, I have a downrigger on my boat that is located in the back corner via a hull mounted bracket ie. not via a rod holder. I dont trust the rod holder that is part of the downrigger setup so the rod goes in the rod holder. I have a boston whaler so the outboards protrude a fair way out from the back of the boat. Question - should i avoid turning too hard angling the downrigger line near the motors as im paranoid getting the cable wrapped around the prop. At times if i turn one way the cable seems to get mighty close to the outboard. Thoughts? Question 2 - I tend to avoid the 'rigger' if i am in less than 15 metres. I tend to run a big barrel sinker and troll at 2kts. Seems to get down to the required depth and has worked to date and involves heaps less mucking around. Thoughts? Duckegg

Mate have been boat based around the Hump but can confirm that the temp has risen to approx. 18c over the last couple of weeks so it should be on the improve. Duckegg

Pete just sent you an email Johno

Blood Knot, Excuse my impertinence, however how is the text below not a "fishing report"? There are 5 sentences within the 'report' and 63 words, one of which asks a question. The fishing chat as you call it comprises 9 words or about 14% of the totaL rest of the post cosntitiutes a report from last weekend. Johno Boys anyone been down there the last couple of days? Was down there last week and it was dead. Spoke to a pro and he said it was the worst season hes seen for quite a few years. Water is still quite cold at around 16c but I note the warmer currents are pushing down and the harbour and Botany are around 18C. Thoughts?

DTrojan sure was. Struggling for crew as well, you wanna come. As you may have seen I have been spending a lot of time down there for only patchy results. I have one mark in about out 56 metres where i have been picking up the odd fish. Can you give me any tips? Are you anchjoring or drifting? Plastics, floaters etc Johno

Boys anyone been down there the last couple of days? Was down there last week and it was dead. Spoke to a pro and he said it was the worst season hes seen for quite a few years. Water is still quite cold at around 16c but I note the warmer currents are pushing down and the harbour and Botany are around 18C. Thoughts?

Blairy Thanks for the advice. Was down there again on Thursday and very slow. No current at all so pretty tough. Water is still pretty chilly at 16c. Got 2 fish all day one smaller fish on a floater and a nice fish of 3.5kg on a plastic. Had a look inside as suggested and scouted around but very quiet. Drifted thru the closer in reef south of the hump and then zigzagged my way north. Was tempted to anchor and burley but with little to no current thought it would be a waste of time. Frank P thanks for the advice on the plastics. If not for your advice and the SP would have been a very quiet day. Cracker of a day though. Bring on summer. Johno

Yowie Not making me feel any better. Wouldnt be so gutted if it had have been only a smaller model. Johno

Blairy Have you been getting any in the last week or so? Am i looking for bait again and concentrating on the edges? What rigs you mainly get them on. What i will probably do is fish 007 (which is the number allocated on my GPS and yes it does give me a license to kill) until the tide changes then go looking as you suggest. Just conscious of going looking and potentially wasting my time. As always any advice is greatly appreciated. Johno

Mate will try and catch some more and put em up. I have tried to post photos before and no good. Please note that I am slightly retarded... Johno

Piratin Floaters were fished on the drift. We werent drifting too fast around a knot. Thinking about anchoring tomorrow if the wind/current permit it and burleying the crap out of it. What do you reckon? I know i can cover more ground drifting but I only have the one mark and I keep getting fish from it albeit no cricket scores yet. Johno

Luke I have been drifting only as i want to cover ground and the wind/current havent been conducive. In relation to burley no i havent at all. Jury is out for me burleying and drifting...thoughts comments? Do you guys do it? Johno

Gidday Boys time for an update. Been down to the Hump 3 times since my previous post and my findings have been as follows. After the jackets taking the place over a couple of weeks ago I have not lost a rig in the last 3 outings. Water quality seems to have improved and is now a deep dark blue. Water temp has increased and is now sitting 16.5c+ Yet to get a nice northerly so fingers crossed over the next couple of days. Tuesday (25 September) Left Burraneer at 1pm trolled for stripes on the way down no good. Pulled up at one of my marks within 10 mins boated a solid fish of 2.5kg on a bottom rig. Wind from the south and drifting east/west so not perfect. Got 2 more fish leading up to the tide change then all quiet. Nothing fantastic but I was happy and learning every trip. Sunday (30 September) Left at 6.30am pushed into a bit of wind and was late getting down there so missed the best part of the tide. Should have got out of bed earlier. Got a couple of nice mowies on flasher rigs. Trolled on the way back at midday stripies all over the place. Kept 2 for bait. Biggest went bang on 5kg. Caught another couple but let them go. Tuesday (2 October) Left at 12pm birds thick on the way down. Trolled for about 20 mins nothing doing. Got down to the spot and set up. 2 bottom flasher rigs, 1 lucanus and one floater out the back. As we got closer to the tide change the flaoter went off and we boated a nice little pinkie of about 1.5kg. 15 mins later the floater went off again. It was going that hard that I struggled to pull it out of the rod holder. Big fish of probably 5kg+. Was getting the old head shakes so pretty sure it WAS a snapper. For some reason pulled the hooks after about 2 mins into the fight. What is it with me and losing big reds at the moment??? After the initial run it took, would not have thought it would pull out. I think from now on I will use only circles on the floaters. Any of you guys got a view on this. Got 2 more mowies and then it shut down. My last mowie came in minus its tail as I hud a tug of war with a seal. Observations so far Fish either side of the tide change. Leading up to the change has provided the greatest LIMITED succes so far. Dont waste your time more than 2 hours after the change unless you are setting up camp. Fish everything. If I didnt fish floaters yesterday I would have been an unhappy camper. Piratin/Frank P you got any pearls to add?? Johno

Dangas, Definitely putting in the time if my wife's low opinion of the boat is anything to go by. I reckon i am getting very close to 'killin the pig'! Stay tuned for Hump MKIII

Boys, Got down to the Hump by around 7.30am amd started prospecting. Water was still cold at around 15.1c. I am still very much just trying to cover ground so main rig has been lucanis jig off a patternoster and a pillie on the dropper. Sorry Piratin and Frank as i suspect i am talking sacrilege. Anyway water was fairly green with a lot of 'gunk'. Kept looking wide but no good. Was struggling to hit bottom so came into around 55m. Immediately picked up a nice pannie then repeated the drift. Tap tap, gave him some line and bang nice fish. Called it for a red 3-4kg mark, 3/4 of the way up everything goes to poop. Up comes the rig, loop intact and no hooks. Needless to say i was gutted. If i fish this rig again it is with a cats paw or 3 way swivel. Got an orange thing, think it was a tuskfish, plus a stripe which has been salted down for bait. Wind was from the north but unfortuantely the current was going that way as well. Jackets were a nightmare lost heaps of gear. Does cold water mean more jackets? Until next week, duckegg out...

Yellow one by any chance? Im in a white 25ft Boston

Piratin Thank you very much mate, appreciate the advice. I will just keep putting in the time and persisting. I am going to try and get down there again on Sunday as the wind appears to be dropping. That is assuming i can early exit a brunch with some friends. If i can reciprocate in any way let me know. Johno

Frank was that you in in the blue boat fishing approx. 300m south of me? I was fishing the main hump from about 2.30pm onwards? Johno

Thanks Bud Will definitely take this advice on board. Current was pretty slow. Never been able to get a 1/4 ounce snapper lead to the bottom before. By down hill i presume you mean south yeah? When you fish down there do you focus on the main hump or do you have your own 'honey holes'? ie am i better off finding my own haunts? Does the moon phase seem to have an impact down there? ps will search your previous posts. Johno