fragmeister

Yes, I have never caught them before in the harbour but they were all over the place today.

Hi Raiders, Hit the harbour this morning on sunrise. Got a few yakkas with a view to trying some live baits suspended under a balloon around Sow & Pigs This is a new strategy for the wayward kings that turn up there from time to time. At the moment any baits that end up near the bottom are getting taken by Port Jackson Sharks. Yakkas were a little scarce at Clifton Gardens but I got a few after much burlying. There was a 1.2M swell rolling in from the south so on top of a head cold I have at the moment I wasn't feeling all that flash so I headed for Sow & Pigs at about 9:00am. The high tide was 11:30 or so and the water temperature was 16.7 degrees. I positioned myself on the southern side of the reef but still west enough for my burley trail to drift over the reef and I set a Yakka out under a balloon. I tossed some unweighted half pillies down the trail and was soon into some Trevally but they were not keeper size and there were a load of chinaman Leatherjackets around. All of a sudden the livey went off but by the time I noticed it was screaming off close to the bow of the boat and almost immediately got caught up in the Minn Kota prop. By the time I realised and got to the remote control it was all too late and I ended up with meters of 50lb braid wrapped around the prop. I cut it off and lost the fish and then spent the next 10 minutes pulling line out of the prop. Was not happy as this looked like a good fish. I decided against using any more yakkas and went back to weighed strips of bait on two heavy rods and, predictably I caught three Port Jackson Sharks in the next few hours. In my last post I had a double hookup of PJ's but this time the same shark took both baits! I got the shark to the boat but it made an awful mess of the rigs. After a little while the wind died right down and every second pillie bait was being devoured by Baracouta like this one below. It was fun for a while but these are slimy smelly little fellas that are not good eating. At the change of tide I caught a couple of better sized Trevally but I've got a pretty full freezer so I let them go and called it quits at about 1:30PM Wasn't a bad day but not as productive as the last few outings. I have to say that high tides in the middle of the day are not my favourite fishing times... much prefer high tide around dawn. Cheers Jim

Have to agree... a litt;e hard to get at the moment. I got some at clifton gardens this morning after half an hour burleying.

That is a bit disappointing. I always give people a hand at the ramp if they are experiencing difficulty and most people really appreciate it but the occasional one forgets their manners. Hard to fathom really.

Great job, They are little scarce in winter so its great to hear about a catch... particularly a first legal fish.

Here is a recipe for Mowong - Not the best of table fish but this recipe masks the poor table qualities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7MrtjrCYCA

Good job! Looks like Trevs will be on the menu for a while.

Interesting article. Reconciling anglers understandable attachment to the trout and the importance of improving the lot of the native species seems very difficult. No one had any objections about the carp of course because they have poor table and average fighting quality. My starting point on this however is to support Big Neil's position... the carp are a much more significant problem than the trout. My experience in fishing the Murrumbidgee below Burrinjuck since the 70's is that trout were abundant but we still caught plenty of natives. However, when the carp came in we caught fewer and fewer trout and pretty much no natives at all. The trout are more limited in their penetration being a colder water species but the carp are everywhere. Surely we need to think about reintroducing the control programmes before trout get added to the list if they get added at all. Cheers Jim

There is no doubt that more expensive gear like a Shimano Stradic for example is a better reel. The design is more ergonomic the drag is more powerful and smoother, gears are stronger and the additional bearings make for longer life and smoother operation. When working within and even a little over the over the reels stated ratings it won't let you down and that can be all the difference when you are onto bigger more powerful fish. I use mostly Shimano gear but I save the Stradics for fish that really matter like Kings and Jewies. On bream, trevally, flathead, salmon, tailor, on the kids rods and anything I lend to anyone I give them low end Shimanos like the Sienna which you can pick up for less than $50. With any reel maintenance is important but the Stradics get my full attention and the Siennas I am less diligent. Very rarely has any reel ( even the cheaper ones) let me down unless it was spooled with line way over the maximum breaking strain or drag rating. I does happen of course but its rare... most fish are lost due to poor attention to terminal tackle or they were simply "too big for the rig" My advice is that for most applications the cheaper reels will do the job but, if you have the money and you are good at maintenance and you are in the hunt for kings or any other potential fighting fish then avoid the low end stuff. Hope this helps Jim

I enjoy reading the posts from the Raiders who chase Tuna off shore but I am quite content to stay in close. However, I am not up to speed with the Tuna Fishing in Sydney but many years ago I fished the tubes in Jervis Bay with some very experienced LBG fisherman. This was a real eye opener and it was frequented by some of the toughest fisho's I have ever met. Yellow fin, black marlin, stripies, mac tuna etc were all on the cards at this location and I always figured it was something to do with the currents and deep water in JB. I have seen pictures of those species caught off the rocks in Sydney but realistically, which of the tuna species are real possibilities in close and how close off Sydney Heads and at what times of the year, water temperatures etc. Looking forward to some responses from the experienced tuna chasers. Cheers Jim

My apologies in advance for the length of the post I am about to make! I think a list of "My preferred fish on a scale of 1 to whatever" is too subjective but a guide to preparing various fish to get the best out of them is a different thing and very worthwhile particularly for fisho's who are not so good in the kitchen. When someone comes to me and says Tailor is a great fish to eat when you add these 11 herbs and spices and top it with Venezuelan beaver cheese, I just think about a piece of seared Kingfish or Tuna with a little salt & pepper and I think that's the difference between an excellent table fish and and average one. In my view its all about how little you need to add to serve it up. You can always find some people who don't like a certain kind of fish. If I was putting together a list of eating quality I would ask as many people as possible just three questions about the fish they eat. (If I want to know how to do something I always the people who get a good result rather than a bad result). How you looked after the fish from catch to kitchen? - Very critical advice as we have discussed in this thread. How you prepared and cook it? - Fried, baked, grilled herbs spices etc How often you ate it ?- Was it good enough to do it again... that's the test! Pull it all together as an ultimate list of who people who do eat each variety of fish and know how to prepare it well enough to want to eat it again. There will be some common methods and those are the ones to try before writing off a fish based on one or two experiences. Here is a possible answer for Blackfish. I am not saying it is perfect but it will give an excellent result. Ignore some of these fish handling processes and you will see why some people think this wonderful fish is rubbish. Keep the blackfish in a keeper net in cool water not in a luke warm shallow pool on the rocks in the sun. When you have finished fishing take the fish out and bleed, gill and gut them. Remove the black gut lining and the blood vein along the backbone. Wash them out with salt water ... never use fresh water. Put them on ice and take them home Have them for dinner that night. Fillet and skin them Put the fillets on a paper towel and pat them dry. Take them off the paper Leave them for half an hour to come up to room temperature Heat up a fry pan with a little extra virgin olive oil... enough to shallow fry if you like but I use very little oil. The oil needs to very hot but not smoking Make up a mixture of flour, salt, pepper and lemon zest. Dip each fillet in milk, dust in the flour mixture Place them in the hot oil and fry on each side for about 2 minutes only. Take them out, drain on paper towel. Eat them hot perhaps with more lemon juice if you like that. Cheers, Jim

Its certainly clear that tastes vary and its not likely some people would ever agree on the table quality of all fish. My observations are... 1) All fish respond well to being bled immediately and put on ice. 2) All fish respond well to being gutted and gilled and having the blood line under the rib cage removed as soon as possible. 3) All fish are better to eat the day they are caught. ( some smoking and pickling methods excluded) 4) Some fish are good enough to eat with little of no seasoning or as sashimi. 5) Some fish are better heavily seasoned or smoked or grilled because their flavour or oil content respond to this well 6) Some fish are best in fishcakes 7) Very few fish cannot be eaten and be very satisfying if all the above is applied. Cheers Jim

Water temperature was 16.5 on the incoming time at noon today.

Yes, there have been plenty of snapper around this year but they are all so close to legal size but frustratingly just under. Maybe this means next year we'll get some bumper catches! Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, I missed last Friday's session so I headed out today into the Harbour. The day started with my outboard being a little reluctant to idle. It's just had its 100 hour service so I was a little concerned. It was fine after that and ran like a dream all day. I went out a little later than normal so I headed straight accross to north head to look for some salmon. There was no action there so at about 8am I headed to sow and pigs for the last of the runout tide. No action for about 20 minutes until the burley did its job and the first fish came on board. I was burleying with chopped up pilchards and fishing half salted pilchards unweighted down the burley trail. It was a pan sized snapper ... the first legal snapper I have caught in the harbour this year. A little after this the trevally came on. First this size for about 30 minutes... And then this size for the next 30 minutes On the turn of the tide it got quiet so I headed over to Clifton Gardens out of the wind and have some breakfast. I noticed the harbour looked smoky and there appeared to be fires in the northern suburbs. I motored out to the heads again but there was no action so I went back to sow and pigs and fished the incoming tide. Same deal, nothing for about 20 minutes until the byrley started working and then a tailor I had a couple of rods out with squid on them off in deeper water as I have caught Jewies off this reef before. The squid was doing no good so I reeled them both in and baited them up with fillets from the tailor. Out they went again towards the edge of the eastern channel. After endless numbers of trevally ( most keepers but I had enough for a family feed) one of the tailor baits went off with a slow hard pull which immediatley made me think it was a ray or shark. Almost right after that the second rod went off and I had a double hookup of Port Jackson Sharks. That was pretty interesting at the time but I managed to get them both to the boat. It was about midday and I had caught enough for the day so I called it quits. I ended up with a good feed but returned dozens of fish to the water. The trevally are out there in plague proportions at the moment and they respond well to burley and unweighted baits. Cheers Jim

Good luck to him I say... and to you. Is your profile a picture of you in the morning after a catchup and a few ales? lol Cheers

Era, There is a lot of history in those shacks. Was one of them passed down through your family? Cheers Jim

Great report, great photos and a great effort on the lizards this time of the year.

I think I posted something about this before at some stage and its a little embarrassing to relate in again in previously undisclosed detail but here goes... I remember during the very early hours of the morning on day last year I had just launched the boat and it was tied up at the wharf. Because it was at night and I was by myself I did put the life jacket on as a precaution. It's a little spooky at this time of the morning and the area is a little seedy so I am always aware of any cars or shadowy figures in the background. I went back to the car to grab something and well... sometimes your mind plays tricks on you and I was sure I could see someone hanging around in the shadows so I felt a little nervous... you know the feeling you get when you a walking alone at night and you imagine someone is behind you? Well I well and truly had that feeling. Anyway, I thought it best to jump on the refuge of the boat so I quickly untied her and got on board. As I got on I'm still thinking there might be someone following me. I was not aware at the time but as I stepped over the side of the boat the activation chord for my self inflating life jacket got caught up where the Bimini poles meet and activated it. Well as it quickly inflated and I felt a restriction around my body and neck and bugger me if it didn't feel like some homicidal maniac had grabbed me from behind! Well , I think I let out a muffled yell (I hope not a girlie squeal) but very quickly realised what it was and sat there embarrassed thanking Christ there was nobody there to witness my ridiculous antics. OMG! I am reliving the embarrassment just telling the story again! Cheers Jim

Well done yet again... I have to hand it to you for getting out there consistently and letting us know what's happening in your neck of the woods. I feel like I have been letting the team down with my weekly harbour reports... one thing or another getting in the way this will be the second week in a row I have missed out. Anyway, keep the reports coming, I always look forward to them. Cheers Jim

Hi Raiders, Here's my boat - a 5.7m Quintrex Lazeabout. Yamaha 150 4 Stroke Pretty much has all the optional extras available from Quintrex and a few that have been added by me including an electric downrigger. My favourite feature is the Minnkota I-Pilot ... I almost never have to anchor - I just use the spot lock.

Nice salmon... I knew the wind and cold weather wouldn't keep you away. Cheers

Bad luck buddy, Remember its the fish you lose that give you the best lessons and improve you as a fisherman. Better luck next time. Good read too by the way... I was there with you, saw the line snap and and everything! Cheers Jim

Great read... I can feel the excitement and ultimate disappointment. You are spot on with the "Cruel Kingfish" comment. They are never beaten until they are in the boat or on dry land. I lost a hoodlum in the harbour last season to a broken hook! Not impressed! Better luck next time. Cheers Jim

Another great post. Smoothhounds and dogfish! Whats next? Rough-Puppies and Fido-Fish? Cheers and thanks again for the insight into fishing in the UK Jim