kiwibrown

Hi Guys, I've decided to get a Kayak (i'm sure once i get it i'll regret not doing it ages ago). I'm going el cheapo with the soft roof racks and one of those small generic ones off e bay for storage and transport reasons. From all i've read they seem fine for stability in relatively benign conditions. I'll be entirely in Sydney harbour more specifically middle harbour. Just wanted to know how you guys go re set ups ie do you have a light rod for the usual bream, flathead, trevally etc and one heavier for kings or putting out a livie? Obviously i want to maximise my time and not worry about chopping and changing too much while in the kayak. Also do you need an anchor in the harbour? Any suggestions on the best way to use space on the kayak and the general set up would be appreciated. Cant wait after about 6 years land based here. thanks

thanks guys.....so are we saying just plain old Wirrah? just that one photo i'm afraid

Hi fish ID experts, this is probably straight forward. Caught at fishermans bay along with a lot of big rock cod but i've never seen one. thanks

yeah, i get suckered into going fishing in the harbour during winter every year. I think its the water clarity that does it.....makes it look really fishy

Hi Pete, do you tie directly to the front split ring or use a swivel? in NZ i remember buying lures and they all came with a front swivel...

Hi guys, Long time between posts. In fact long time between fishing sessions. Baby and all that. Managed a couple of hours at cremorne after work and got these two. Only the second whiting i have caught. I got it on chicken which i assume is slightly unusual?

good work Adam. I'm still trying for my first Kingy from land (or anywhere for that matter). Hooked two in the harbour but couldn't land them. This summer.......

yip scary critters. i have stood on 3 or 4 on the sand at cremorne point. not sure what sort but one gave me a jolt which i now know is a numb ray thanks to you guys on here.Its actually put me off wading slightly and if i do i,m really careful to look at the sand on each step.

Its hard to Judge Scratchie, i fed that one in Port Stephens with the old prawn on a stick up close and this one looked equally as massive. I was shaking just taking photos of it, the size blew me away. Not sure if you get a perception from those photos but you can see the size of its eye on the second.

Hi, Just over a week ago i had a quick try at one of my favourite spots in middle harbour. Managed two trevally and two flathead which was good fun. Constant bites. As i cast out a running rig with half a pilchard i was watching the line run off my reel as it sank....but it kept going. I flipped the bail over and felt some really good weight. Fought it for a while but bust off right at the hook so must have been toothy (big tailor?). Anyway, aside from the surprisingly good bite for this time of year from the shore the highlight was definitely a massive ray that came right up to the rocks. By far the biggest i have seen (i reckon bigger that the one at the marine place near Port Stephens for those who have seen it). This thing was huge, managed a few photos on my phone. These two are the best:

great for smoking (and great bait)

Hi Guys, Got it at Cremorne point, there have been some good fish there this season. Water clarity was almost back to normal.

Hi Guys, Went to my usual spot for a couple of hours after work yesterday. Got bitten off a few times by what i guess were reasonably good tailor or flathead. Eventually managed to land this one. Probably 50cm+

I was at Forster for Easter and encountered the red weed. It does make it really frustrating. I managed to get two really good flathead off the boardwalk and one good bream from the breakwall. I think i needed a bit of local knowledge when it came to the breakwall as i was unsure how to fish it with such a strong current

Hi Jon, Inside the bay just back from the point

Hi, Managed to get out after work for a couple of hours to my usual spot. Got plenty of little tailor on a metal then switched to bait and got a few little snapper. The photos are the largest of each.....sort of that inbetween size

Hi all, I decided to get out after work yesterday as myself and Oztyke havent been fishing for a while and summer is fast running out. I finish work early so didn't ask OZ as i knew he'd be "working" Got to the harbour at about 4:30pm and thought i'd give myself two hours worth. I caught a small ray (hooked in the wing) and not much else. It was really windy and choppy and pretty hard to fish. I was about to move spots when my rod almost got pulled out of my hand. Game on. I knew this was big. Didn't really have much clue as to what it was but new it was fishy as opposed to a ray. I thought big trevally after a couple of flashes.... After jumping around the rocks with a few onlookers, heart in the mouth i managed to use a surge between the rocks to land this guy. 50cm. released. Pretty happy with that off the shore in the harbour.

caught some really good fish off the rocks to the right. Surprisingly not at the end but about half way along. Big trevally and bream

cheers guys yeah there is still a fair bit of rubbish in amongst the rocks. Get the feeling that there is the chance of a really awesome fish at that spot. I assume kings would come reasonaby close in past the rocks...

there were some massive bust ups on Saturday in the harbour that i could just see from the shore. The giveaway was about 10 boats racing to the spot.

thanks guys just using a simple running sinker rig and small cubes of pilchard (got the bream and salmon on pilly and all the trevally on squid). There are heaps of trevally around at the moment. We got a few off Balmoral wharf the week before and i hooked a really big one that took me around 2 pylons and busted off. Felt really heavy.

thanks Fisherman. The salmon went mental. All released unharmed. I'm waiting for my mate OZtyke to mend his broken foor then we'll be back on the beach too

Hi Guys Managed to start fishing at 9:30am on Saturday morning in the harbour (amazing what limiting the Friday post work beers can do). I had a light surf rod out with a bigger bait on just in case and had the light spinning gear in a bit closer using squid and pilchards. No bites for a while but then landed a good bream (37cm - looked a lot bigger at the time). Pretty tough negotiating the rocks but managed to get him up with my leader frayed to pieces.Soon after got a good trevally which i guess was around 30cm. A school of small ones came through and i got another 4 or 5. Those small ones are quite tricky to hook. I got what i thought was another trevally bite but once hooked raced off with my line. After a good 10 minutes of me jumping and running along the rocks to try and keep the fish out of all the submerged rocks it jumped (in front of 3 boats full of guys fishing) and i could see it was a good salmon. Unbelievably it didn't bust off and a neighbouring fisher lady saw the action and netted it for me otherwise i would never have laned it. Just an incredible fight and i was pretty happy to land it. I have caught tonnnes of them in NZ but it feels more of a challenge to get one in the harbour. Measured 60cm Needless to say i got all the fish on the small rod which kept the heart in the mouth when you look at the rocky area i was fishing. Hopefully might be a good summer season cheers

Got two trevally (One legal) a decent flathead and an almost legal snapper over the last two attempts at my harbour spot. Hopefully this is a sign that things are picking up slightly after some really tough winter fishing. Anyone else landbased getting more fish recently?

thanks guys , i'm inclined to go with Scratchie. Has anyone else got one of these? Are they common in the harbour?