fragmeister

What a great read and an even greater effort by Jamie for helping a fellow Raider land a few big reds. Sound like you had the time of your life! Cheers Jim

I agree .. I have always know the South Head location to be the colours. I heard the North Head colours location referred to in a fishing video. In my GPS fishing Book I actually have 3 locations for The Colours but two may be the north and south end of the Northern Colours reef. Not sure but here they are. 33 49 600 151 19 450 33 50 300 151 17 238 33 50 930 151 17 650 Interestingly Navionics show both the North and South Head locations called the Colours. The fish Icon in the bottom right corner The fish icon out from Dunbar Head The South Head Colours I have always associated with Kings and the North Head Colours I have associated with reef species including Snapper, Mowies , and the occasional Jewfish with flatties either side of the rise from 50 to 40 meters. Cheers Jim

Good effort HBT, Having the lure down deep can sometimes work well. Sometimes the tailor pr salmons schools are on the surface monstering the baits and the Kings are underneath. ...and thumbs up for the photo too! Cheers Jim

The Colours off North Head is a pretty good producer of reef species and flathead either side of the reef. I just ate some flathead fillets in Tempura batter... they are so good. I think it's my new favourite dish. Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, Felt like fish for dinner so I took a day of work and headed out early to Long Reef after collecting some lives at the Quarantine Station. In other posts, I saw that another Raider ( Blaxland) in his Bar Crusher was heading out to Manly Reef and Long Reef so I kept an eye open for him. I arrived at Long Reef and anchored up on the wall just on first lght and set a burley trail going. I dropped an unweighted pilchard in the burley trail and another on a small sinker out a bit wider. After half an hour or so I got a solid strike on the floater and pulled in a nice pan sized snapper. After I didn't get another bite for 15 minutes and then I noticed I had been drifting and was 100 meter s away from my anchor point. Well, the anchor was probably still in the right place but it wasn't' connected to my anchor chain! The coupling must have come unscrewed. Bugger! I motored back to the mark and lowered the Minkota and set the spot lock. When it was light enough to see I thought I could make out a Bar Crusher in the distance but I was not sure. Anyway, after lots more burleying I had a couple of solid strikes on the weighted pilchard rig but I got reefed on a couple of good fish.. not sure what they were as there were rat kings in the burley trail but I think they may have been some better quality reds. After the bite died down I headed off to the grounds around Manly reef to drift for some flathead only to find Blaxland there in his Bar Crusher - We had a chat and drifted for a while a few boat lengths from each other. I caught a ling on the drift but I only stayed about half an hour before heading off to the Colours off North Head. I have a few marks in my sounder for the colours - one off North Head and one off South Head - They are both definite reef areas but I don't know why they are called the same. At the Colours I rigged up a paternoster with one baited hook and one soft plastic. Over a 1 hour session, I caught a couple of blue spot flathead on the baited hooks, a couple of trevally on the soft plastic and few Sargent baker and foul-hooked jackets. No fish pictures at the moment but I went out to get a feed of fresh fish so am about to indulge in. Trevally Sushimi Flathead in Tempura Batter Baked Snapper A side of chips and A Fennel and Apple Salad. ..and oh Yes ..another beer! Cheers Jim

One of these days we might hold you to that!

Bullocks Liver dipped in kero! LOL ... maybe it had to be something stronger than the smell of the sewage. You are a wealth of Fishing history Waza . Thanks for your ongoing contributions Cheers Jim

Thanks!

Isn't it interesting how many of these scantily clad young women there are on Youtube. There are dozens and dozens of them from all parts of the world.... errrr so I am told. ? Obviously, it's a marketing thing. Bikini girl gets a big following and then the ad revenue comes in. What I do notice though is how kick ass the fishing is in Florida! That's the place to live I reckon!

Were they fishing? I didn't notice!

Great read Wazza, I fished The Murk as a young fella and it certainly was productive. Cheers Jim

Just keep it in the fridge loosely wrapped in newspaper and it will be fine for days. Cheers Jim

Thanks for sharing the colour maps. It is pretty clear that sand is yellow and reef or rocks is dark brown - what are the other colours? Mud, broken reef? Cheers Jim

Hey Michael, Welcome to Fishraider. A bream on pillies out of the surf ... hard to beat really! Cheers Jim

Great post, Derek... I love a detailed fishing report. Swimmers at the boat ramp ... because outboards and bodies in close proximity are a good match! Cheers Jim

Interesting post-Neil and thanks for the pics... ( my favourite as you know!) Cheers Jim

Hey Fabian, You are not wrong there.. its a lot quieter during the week. Still, sometimes I think when there are fewer boats around there can be a less action. Its a bit like a beach full of tailor fisherman is a good thing because it keeps the fish around longer. I suspect that more bait and movement in the water when there are a few boats around can get the fish on the bite. Anyway ... enjoy the solitude and the free run on the ramp! Cheers Jim

I have only fished there from the boat but I suspect that you scramble around the rocks from Clifton Gardens or through the bush from the street above the reserve. All through here is pretty deep water and there are plenty of bait schools so it would make sense that larger fish would hold up here to ambush them. Cheers Jim

Hi Paddy... you and I must have read the same books. Some of the earliest accounts tell of salmon so thick in the southern estuaries that they would turn the rivers black for kilometres upstream. Certainly, I recall catching a lot more Tailor than Salmon off Sydney beaches going back 3o years and again, I have to agree with both you and Wazza that this seems to have reversed in recent years. As an aside... has anyone tasted canned Australian Salmon? It really just tastes like very dry Tuna with a somewhat more stringy texture. It seems the canning process must impart that tinned fish taste we associate with Tuna on other fish that are canned. Anyway, Great posting boys... I for one like to see some in-depth posting and accounts of fishing in "the old days". Apart from the reminiscing, I think that it gives the younger members a perspective of what has been lost and what has changed. Cheers Jim

That's cheeky alright but I like it!

Thanks for the tip!

Thanks buddy Will do and thanks for the info! Yes, I have noticed weed around some of the markers. I have thought of that but what if you need to burley them up? Cheers and thanks Jim

Hi Kracka, Welcome to Fishraider. That's one big lump of a carp! I look forward to reading your reports. Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, All this talk of blackfish has motivated me to go find my blackfishing gear buried at the back of the shed somewhere. It's been a while but I remember the spots well and I may give it a go if I find myself near one of those locations when I am out and about. I fished the rocks off Maroubra and the famous Bondi Murk with cabbage week many years ago and in relatively recent history I would fish the Woronora River using green weed. But what I have noticed in recent years is that there doesn't appear to be much if any green weed in Canada Bay anymore which is where I would collect from in the past. Nor do I see any for sale in the bait and tackle stores...at least around my neck of the woods. I don't like asking for specific locations particularly if it rare at the moment... but like I said I have not fished for blackfish really since we called them something you cant call them anymore! So if anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very thankful. Cheers Jim

I will be putting them to good use as soon as I get the chance. Speaking of the homemade lures Wazza was handing out ( and the bomb Frank generously gave me ) when I got home my two daughters (15 and 30) were surprised to find out that I had gone "socializing" ... They know that Dad doesn't have much time for that with a business to run so they were joking that I must have really been out with a "Lady Friend" I pulled out Wazza Lures and Franks bomb and said "Yeah right! - a lady friend, that's why I am coming home with soft plastics and a downrigger bomb to which they replied Oh !..a Lady Friend that's into fishing eh? Nice One!" Cheers Jim