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wazatherfisherman

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Posts posted by wazatherfisherman

    How to access bluefish pt north head

    in Saltwater Fishing Chat

    Posted

    18 hours ago, faker said:

    I heard old man's hat is still fishable despite removal of ladder but I wouldn't know how to get down

    There was never a ladder at Old Man's Hat- it wasn't needed. You just followed the old wall all the way from the road to the end, stepped through the huge break in the wall, walked back to your right a short distance to where the gully is and follow the lowering ledges back towards the water. Other than a few 'larger' steps, there is no climbing involved to get to the spot.

    The ladders down north head proper were removed by council years ago.

    Bluefish was barely a climb either, the rope was there more as a 'steadier' than a climbing device. You carried all your gear and rods and only used one hand on the ropes to get down. Most 'climbing' spots you have to lower your gear down.

    From the guys who fished there regularly, it was the blocking of parking that was more of an issue. We used to access the spot just north of Bluefish called 'The Gutters' via the same closed carpark, which was on the eastern side of the treatment works. Walking north down the fence-line until reaching another spot with a large hole in the fence, hop through the hole and walk down the treatment works road to it's lowest point and then straight down a steep track to the bottom. There are 3 'gutters' (as they're called) and they are top Luderick spots, with Black Drummer, Groper (no take now!) Bream also available, plus gutter's 1 and 3 are good spots to spin for Tailor at dawn. No good for Kings due to the terrain.

    The gutters can still be accessed from the Fairy Bower end by going down the ravine at the end of Bower St (east side!) then walking back south. It's a much longer way in (about 25 mins) as opposed to going from the treatment works end (5 mins straight down), however you could still go that way.

    Last couple of times I fished the Gutters, the entire steep track up had tomatoes planted all over the hill, presumably to help bind the soil together, because in heavy rain, it became super muddy clay and a bugger to walk the steep track up. That was many years ago now though.

    • Like 3

    Georges head

    in Saltwater Fishing Chat

    Posted

    Middle Head is rock fishing same as the ocean- plates and safety gear needed. The climb in is pretty easy- there used to be chain concreted in at the top instead of a rope, not sure if it's still there. You access the different spots separately, decide on which looks best and safest by viewing from the top. 

    There are Luderick, Drummer, Bream, Trevally and Squid all along, plus the middle spot is ok for spinning for Tailor and pelagic fish, not a great spot to land Kingfish though. Enough cabbage to have a fish for Luderick and there used to be quite a few large Blue Groper (no take now) floating around towards high tide.

    The spots east of Cobblers Beach have similar species and if you walk as far east as you can go (just this side of Middle Head spots but no access this way) there's a rock in the water you can climb on (you get wet doing so!) that is a really good spot to spin for Tailor- cast parallel to the shoreline over the washy area on your right.

    Also in case you didn't know- beware of naked people- it's a legal nude bathing area

    Worth getting a national park pass? If you are going to visit any of the park's (bar the snowy) more than 6-8 times over the year it's worth it at $65 as all are $8-12 a time

    • Like 4

    First catch on the setup!

    in Saltwater Fishing Reports

    Posted

    50 minutes ago, Birdy said:

    This is like the golden recipe! Thankyou heaps for all of this information, honestly so damn good. Keen to report back to you on some of my sessions in the future! Are you still fishing luds these days? It would be cool to naturally bump into ya on a fishing session one day. 👊👌

    Still fish for them at times, but my rock hopping days are long over due to a chronic leg condition. Fished the Dover Heights area for about 22years, much of the time catching Luderick.

    There are some good posts and articles on the site in regards to Luderick and plenty of folk here to answer any questions you might have on the subject

    • Thanks 1

    First catch on the setup!

    in Saltwater Fishing Reports

    Posted

    In most areas there's little need to cast very far as the float carries the bait naturally via the wash and tide dependant, the fish will be wherever the food is at roughly the above mentioned depth. Towards the highest stages of the tide- particularly on reasonably calm days- the fish often move in quite close to access growth themselves. Provided there is some wash for 'cover', it isn't unusual to have them feeding almost on the edges at full tide, but as this is also the domain of other species like Drummer, Cale's, Sweep, Surgeons etc, fishing for them a little further out often sees primarily Luderick and fewer of the 'unwanted' fish.

    Wherever you fish, maintain a careful watch on where you think your burley is going and try to imagine how far out it would get before it's sunk down to the 9-12ft range, this is where you want your bait. Once you're in that sort of depth range, from the ocean rocks, the fish won't mind a couple of feet of difference in depth, so there really isn't much need to change depth too often. It's all about a naturally presented bait floating amongst other baits (your burley) Luderick eat plenty of cabbage in a feeding session.

    Any other questions you have, feel free to ask- there's almost always great advice on the forum from someone with experience.

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1

    First catch on the setup!

    in Saltwater Fishing Reports

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Birdy said:

    This info is great, I feel like the depth is super close to the length of the rod, I'll give fixed float a go and report back. Do I have my running float in-between 2 swivels super tightly (acts as a fixed float) or just use a dedicated fixed float? 

    Hi mate, the swivel above is purely for line twist- no other reason. If you need to cast any distance with it then maybe a running float will assist, however, as most deeper water locations throughout the eastern suburbs don't really require distance casts as the fish are in greatest numbers (usually) towards the back of the wash. Reason being it's where naturally broken off cabbage has sunk down to the 9-12ft depths where the fish seem 'happiest'. This of course is also both location and sea condition dependant, but generally speaking, wherever the green growth has naturally sunk around that depth, the fish will be in bigger numbers and feeding.

    Although the Steelite's are a great old reel and function as required, they are more difficult to cast because they're heavier spooled. There are plenty of cheap alloy 'pins' available these days, that are miles easier to cast. One thing you could do with the Steelite is wipe all the grease of the spindle and replace it with thinner oil like sewing machine or gun oil, which will get it turning more freely, aiding in easier casting.

    • Like 4

    First catch on the setup!

    in Saltwater Fishing Reports

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Birdy said:

    I thought maybe I was just really bad at centrepin style casting or something 🤣 the rod is a little over 11 feet. I've been fishing with a running float, adjusting it often, should I find the depth that the float goes sideways (the bottom) and bring the float stopped down about half a metre? 

    Hi Birdy yes- if you're after Luderick and the water is deep, they are usually found about 9-12ft under the surface. If fishing shallower locations obviously less. Fixed float is usually a better option when fishing the ocean as you have direct contact. Reason I asked was more about repeated casting with the sidecast reel- if you're fishing a depth that's less than the length of your rod it pays to have a swivel above the float where possible. Liken it to pulling the garden hose off from the side of it's retainer- it twists, same for your line. So when fishing shallower than a rod length you can use the swivel above

    • Like 5

    Rock fishing

    in The Digital Cinema

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

    Great vid, I can watch this sort thing all day long.

    @wazatherfisherman why do they use that 2 handed rope system at The Mattens for the climb in and out? I assume there must be decent footing holes for that to be efficient. In all the cliff fishing I’ve done over the years I’ve only ever used a single rope.

    Hi Pete firstly let me apologise for lack of communication over the last few months- much going on at present.

    The first rope climb at the Mattens (shown at 3.31 in the movie) only needed 1 rope (we had to climb it without a rope 3 times after the rope was stolen on each occasion) as there are wide chiselled foot-holes that were 3-4 inches deep, which were in two 'lines' directly under each other. As you know, 90% of climbing is done with your legs rather than arms, however on the big climb -the next stage (shown between 4.30 and 8 minutes), there were several spots where you needed to turn at 90' to the wall and use protrusions that were only about 1-2 inches wide. If you tried only using one rope at these spots, it's likely you would become 'unbalanced' or in fact (as happened to a few including me) spin outwards rather than inwards. Having two ropes as a steadier is similar to how you climb a ladder and also having two ropes in each hand a good safety measure. Weight-shift also aided both descent and leg-pushes on the way back up, again facilitated by the steadier of a rope (or two) in each hand.

    I know the guys in the movie fished the spot at times and were experienced at climbing the cliff, however, there's no way that most of us would approach climbing in the manner shown. Adding to this, probably 75% of the time we were climbing down while it was pitch dark- between midnight and about 4am. Their safety harness was a wise investment

    • Like 2

    Rock fishing

    in The Digital Cinema

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

    Gives us a good insight into what you were doing in all of your yarns, Waza!

    Hi Mike if you want to see what sort of stuff we got up to, have a look in 'Waza's Yarns' at Surviving- then scroll down after the post and Jamo Damo has put the Mattens movie on there. Although we did things differently to the guys in the movie, the climb, cave and quite a few of the spots fished are where we fished about 50% of the time down there. We were just about finishing up fishing down there when they were making the movie

    • Like 2

    First Aussie salmon

    in Saltwater Fishing Reports

    Posted

    G'day mate nice Salmon- I reckon they fight as hard as anything. One tip for you and I mean this in the nicest possible way- DON'T wear long pants when you go rock fishing! Any water coming over your ledge can 'grab' them and aid in knocking you over. If for some reason you end up in the water (and I genuinely hope you never do!) they are really hard to swim in also. Would like to hear you out catching more Salmon and other lure grabbing species for years to come. Stay safe and happy fishing

    • Like 7

    Rockledge information. Nth/Sth Curl Curl, Dee why, Whale beach

    in Safe Rock Fishing Initiative by Location

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Fried Rice said:

    I found that time (early morning or late arvo) seemed more important than tide. Obviously be wary of a rising tide/swell. Dee Why actually seemed safer as a lot of the ledges are higher above sea level. I must admit that I didn't enjoy the scramble, always suss of sandstone giving way and would hate to fall metres onto dry rock. In saying that it is a pretty well established path, just look for the handholds.

    Dunno how Wazza used to do what he did, would scare the beejesus out of me.

    Hi Fried Rice- We first did the cliffs when we were about 15 or 16yrs old and used safety gear the first 3 times down. The 4th time down without safety rope attached it WAS really nerve racking, however, by about the 6th or 7th trip we were doing it in the dark. The places your feet go never change (bar erosion) and I can close my eyes now- near 48yrs later- and still 'see' every step of the big climb and remember the nervous anticipation that came about 10 seconds before taking hold of the ropes

    • Like 1

    Dobroyd Head accessible by foot?

    in Saltwater Fishing Chat

    Posted

    The better spots along there are on the extreme right hand side of your picture, the locations in your circled area aren't as productive as the ledges back towards Reef Beach. Access is easiest the first few times by walking around from Reef Beach along the rocks.

    You need safety gear- like rock plates, lifejacket etc as it's just like open water rock fishing. Completely exposed to any swell from the south.

    Fishes best for all species from last half of the in tide until half out- too shallow after that. Great area for Luderick, Drummer, Bream and throwing speed lures for pelagic's early morning

    • Like 4

    Tuna 200+ kg, from the shore - listen to the drag sing

    in The Digital Cinema

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, Green Hornet said:

    Sadly I don't have too many photos from my LBG days because when carrying a backpack down vertical cliffs with a 80 and 50 International inside, There wasn't much room for a camera or anything else that weighed a bit.

    This 87.5kg model was by PB yellowfin from the rocks caught back in 1985 on 15kg line and taking 2hrs and 45minutes to land. Sorry the photo is crap as its degraded over the years and was taken in low light without a flash. 

    Landing that fish was one thing, getting it up the cliff was a story in itself.

    6-04-85 87.5kg.jpg

    Pete that is mind blowing! Great capture from the rocks (or anywhere!)

    • Like 1

    Tuna 200+ kg, from the shore - listen to the drag sing

    in The Digital Cinema

    Posted

    2 hours ago, frankS said:

    My best yellowfin weighed in at 213.85 lbs which converts to just over 97kg's and that was from a dead boat at the Peak
    Sydney back in the Autumn 0f 84. I was using a custom Sabre rod and 8 1/2 Everol reel with 120lb jinkai straight to the 16/0 
    kirby something xxxx hook. took me 1 1/2 hours to land it and it sat on the deck of my boat for 3 hours before being weighed.
    I recon it probably would have gone the magic 100 kg's IF weighed straight away.
    That memory stays with me for life.
    I can only imagine what it must feel like to land that supburb speciman from the rocks using spin gear.
    My hat comes off to the angler and those who helped him land that trophy fish. And thanks Derek for showing the footage here.
    Frank

    Awesome fish Frank!

    • Like 1

    Tuna 200+ kg, from the shore - listen to the drag sing

    in The Digital Cinema

    Posted

    2 hours ago, frankS said:

    Lee Marvin ( the actor ) was a mad keen game fisho and visited Sydney once on his way to the barrier reef and displayed some of his gear at a tackle shop which was at Harboard back in the day. Some magic gear that we common folk just dream about.

    He used to charter a game boat up at Cairns and further north Thursday island and abouts .

    He bought one of the deekies a fully set up game boat as appreciation of his great service to him during one of his stays.

    Frank

    Hi Frank- We used to have some of Lee Marvin's tackle at the fishing museum

    • Like 1
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