Tickstar

Think it's a Silver Toadfish ( Lagocephalus sceleratus)

I was out there with a mate yesterday morning just after dawn. As we came towards flint and steel we saw a load of birds working and a massive boil on the southern side of Broken bay in the stretch up to west head. There were a few boats already there casting into it (including two guys fly fishing i think). We stopped for a bit and tried our luck with a spanyid raider and a metal slug but didn't hook-up. The school of baitfish was massive and at one point moved right under our boat, the water was thick with them. We didn't see any of the other boats manage to hook-up either so we continued to west head for some livies. On the way back to the ramp around 10:45 we came around west head and the school was still there but moving further upstream, and this time with a load more boats fishing it, but couldn;t see anyone hooking up. We saw a guy fishing shore based at flint and steel who looked to have caught a nice salmon. We stopped and fished it again but this time my mate had a crack with an old cheap-o chrome slug he had found in his tackle box. It was bigger than the previous lures and rusty, but had some follows from some decent sized tailor and he managed to hook up to a tailor (just legal or just under) for about 5 casts in a row. All fish released as we were both busy in the arvo/evening and wouldn't have been able to cook the tailor fresh. We also saw 4 nice Bonito zip past us while anchored at the pill boxed at west head (which happened to be about 60 seconds after I had reeled in a live yakka as we were going to move on). Not sure if they would have taken a bait that size but I'm dead keen to catch my first bonnie! Trolled a pink squid skirt for a bit also for no takers So still seems to be a fair bit of activity from that large school

Was out with my Son this morning, launched from Appletree also, and pulled up to a mooring in Waratah bay while you were anchored near the mouth of the bay. I know what you mean about the pinkies, we boated a fair few also, all undersize unfortunately so back they went. They seem to pull hard for their size, a few times I though we'd managed to snag a legal one, but not to be. I remember passing you also while you were at those strange looking rocks near Cottage point. We fished a bay opposite Jerusalem bay for some undersize whiting, tailor and bream. Great to be spending some quality time with the little Man, but some keepers would have been even better. By 10 am we'd had enough of the wind so headed home. Next time I see you out and about I'll be sure to come say g'day

Thanks for the info Whipa. I'll give it a go tomorrow and report back

G'day Witha, Great report and great flatties you got there. just wondering where you were in relation to the marina when you saw the squid. Going to take the kids to Roseville for a fish on weekend, weather permitting, and would love to throw out a jig and see if i can get a squid for them (never caught one before but have 2 new squid jigs to try out). Not sure if i'd be better off on the Boatramp/Davidson park side or the Marina/Echo point side?