wazatherfisherman

Squid is fine from there

Great advice from Paddy and Rick above- to get your bait out you just simply pull gently against it, the bait almost always swims opposite to any resistance and you only want it as far as the back of the wash. Also NEVER wear a harness on the rocks- it will get you drowned if you get an oversize fish. Nobody I've ever met has been strong enough to fish more than 50lb off the rocks The circus is about the massive crowds and antics that go on at the tubes most of the time- there's limited space and mostly far too many fishers due to how great a spot it is

Really easy to clean- cut into 6 inch pieces, turn each piece 90 degrees (so it's up/down rather than long-ways) and fillet the piece, you get virtually all the meat and no bones. Excellent eating and suitable for all cooking methods from frying to steaming or BBQ

Another fantastic read Paddy! "Ramble on" as much as you want, this is gold and would be great left as an article for the future. I always tell new spin fisher's -"you just can't wind too fast" - they don't usually believe me. I still have my Speed Master and it's still in great nick, in my opinion is one of the best overhead casting reels ever made, great for "genuine" jigging also. Looking forward to the next instalment, thanks for a great and detailed post.

Paddy I hope you're working on chapter 2- really looking forward to reading it. Great stuff!

Paddy that was a FANTASTIC read!! So many parallels to my young fishing history (even the cricket!) The only thing like high speed spinning metals was jigging (not this "slow pitch" lazy man's jigging either!) Awesome Mac on 6lb, reckon they go as hard as anything. Looking forward to the next chapter very much. The Halco slice and legendary 1/2 x 1/4's bring back the memories big time. Awesome post! Thanks for putting it up, I bet it inspires a few to go and give it a try👍

Excellent fish Jamo well done!

Hi Pickles the Pigs was always really cold even on windless nights, the cool SW-W airflow kept you on your toes. I had a great old "Taft" jacket, it was rubberised and it kept you both dry and warm as it didn't breath. Great jacket for those huge Tailor sessions. I wrote a post about fishing for Trevally there a fair while ago called "Reminiscing, Silver Trevally" and would always catch them in comps when the Tailor weren't biting. You pretty much had to use a hand line to do it the way I did, but you could catch heaps whenever you needed to. Also had a lot of fun there out of competition using 4lb line, losing probably 2/3rds of them to the reef but the challenge was great! The Pigs has a special place in my memory because it was the place I caught my first big catch as a junior (73 Tailor) and hooked my first Kingie and Hairtail, such an under utilised spot these days.

I don't know the actual details behind allowing the importation of the infected prawns nor who the "brains" were behind the decision but they definitely knew about and were warned that the virus was a distinct danger if we started importing the prawns

Hi Zoran I actually could of kept this story going on by talking about the great disaster of the White Spot virus- the Pilchard kill was indeed accidental and unfortunate, but there were plenty of warnings in regard to the White Spot being found in the prawns overseas and to risk not only Australia's large prawn fishery but everything else associated was just greed/stupidity/ignorance, "balance of trade" etc Scientists need to be involved with such decisions not politicians. The poor old prawn fishers and worm diggers work by a fairly strict environmental ethic already, they more than anyone want their industries to remain viable and sustainable. Another potential disaster and a good reminder to NEVER buy frozen imported prawns for bait

Hi Frank that was my fear too! Sure was lucky the virus didn't pass on to other creatures/fish because it looked horrible around the gills of the dead. Glad you enjoyed the read Love to catch up soon Waza

Hi Yowie and thanks!

Hi Neil it is slowly- just age more than anything I guess, things take heaps longer to get better! It's a bugger when all of a sudden you're the same age as all the old feller's!

Once the float's right, when you finish fishing leave the lead tied to each float you use when you put it away- saves mucking around weighting each time. Most of my floats have the appropriate weight tied to the bottom float runner while in the float tube. Great to hear you got an Alvey for the beach! You'll love it- especially when you can just dip it in the ocean to clear any pesky sand out! What size Alvey and what rod/line did you get?

Hi Rebel thank you! Hope the Blackfishing is keeping you entertained!

Hi Pete bummer for your mate, it was the second similar kill, the previous one was in 1995. After talking to the biologist I wished we'd loaded up on the Pillies as they were both super fresh and the largest I've ever seen- could have made our own blocks and I had a big bait freezer that was virtually empty!

Hi Neil and thanks for the high praise, I haven't been that well for the last couple of months and have had a few other problems to boot, however thought writing might re-focus my thinking, which it has. Whenever something comes to mind fishing wise I'll post it up, glad you enjoyed it Regards Waza

The full moon was approaching and it was due on a mid-week night, the beginning of Tailor season in Sydney. We've always loved Tailor fishing and the number one spot in Sydney is the Sow and Pigs Reef. The reef is situated almost right in the centre of Sydney Harbour between Georges Head in the west and Camp Cove in the east, is visible on all bar the highest tides and has a small wave break on the north-eastern side. Being both the first and also largest reef system that migrating fish encounter after entering the harbour, it naturally is the first location that most species stop at. Typical of a large reef system, there are all manner of fish residing, add to this the migrating species stopping over and it is a really productive spot for fishers to try their luck. There are ever present schools of Yellowtail, seasonal Pilchards, Whitebait and Anchovy, abundant Octopus and usually plenty of Squid. Weed, cabbage and cunjevoi are also present on the exposed section, providing a virtual smorgasbord of different foods, which in turn attract all manner of species of fish. The reef is best known for both Tailor and Trevally, the former being constant visitors and the latter for taking up residence throughout the winter months and can be found all over the large area of the reef in schools of similar sized fish. Other notable species found there are Bream and Luderick, but you are likely to encounter almost anything from Kingfish to Hairtail to Whiting, but for our trip, the focus was on Tailor. In years past, any of the big moon nights from March until the end of June would see large schools of Tailor hunting the "Pigs" and catches of fish in excess of 100 were really common, in fact throughout the 60's, 70's and mid 80's some unbelievable catches were recorded. In organised competition, catches of 2-300 fish per angler were often taken and with no bag limits in those days it was wholesale slaughter for organised crews. This trip however, we needed some for a big BBQ and the target was about 3 dozen, not too hard a task normally on a big full moon at this spot. Being a week night, it was a pretty easy launch from Rose Bay ramp and about twenty minutes later we were anchored up on our preferred south-eastern side of the reef in about 8 metres of water. Although the general consensus about fishing the "Pigs" is to normally fish back towards the hard reef, we've found just as many fish are cruising the shallower eastern side and less unwanted vermin species- especially octopus, which are quick to pounce on any whole fish baits that make it down to the bottom. There are plenty of other quality fish over this side also, not just the Tailor. The general rules regarding the Tailor are that the rougher the sea outside the heads, the more fish come inside and if you combine a big run in tide starting just before dark with the rising bright moon and a decent and consistent burley trail, it never took long for a roving Tailor school to take up station about 15-20 metres behind the boat. All set up, a nice thin burley trail flowing and 3 Pilchards cast out behind the boat, swaying enticingly (we thought!) in the ever increasing flow of the big run in tide that was just starting to move strongly. Little chance of the bait making it to the bottom for an octopus tonight. The rig is really basic- a short leader of 40lb mono tied to a swivel and a set of 3 ganged 6/0 hooks- hook size is really determined by the size of the Pilchards, occasionally 5/0's were used and even 7/0's at times. Reason for the large hooks?- they are heaps stronger than most "recommended" 3/0-4/0's, you only need 3 hooks instead of 4 to have the last hook sitting just in front of the Pilchard's tail and it's far quicker to bait up and the larger hooks are easily removed from the fish. The general idea is that you want to hook the fish on the last hook, rather than have them take a second hook- which makes it a slower process to take out of the struggling fish- the bigger hooks make the process far easier and any legal sized Tailor can be caught just as easily on the big hooks. No lead is used and the baits are cast well back behind the boat, allowed to sink for a few seconds and then retrieved slowly. When the "rat-a-tat-tat" of a Tailor bite is felt, you don't strike hard with the rod, instead, just a short sharp lift of the rod tip combined with about a 3/4 turn of the sidecast reel is enough to set the hooks and the hooked Tailor is raced in and swung up under your arm for quick unhooking, then dropped into the waiting box. Most of the time the fish weren't bled due to them being caught really rapidly- if bled and thrown into the box together, the different blood types of the individual fish contribute to them going "soft" so natural rigor mortis along with the cool night air kept them fresh enough. Having said all this about how good the spot is and how many fish and species are there of a night time, this night there were no takers at all and even the usual hordes of Yellowtail that sit just under the surface in the eddy formed at the back of the boat were nowhere to be seen. Highly unusual to say the least. At times, for reasons only known to them, the Tailor come through along the bottom, but this was usually more commonly encountered on the deeper south-western side of the Pigs, rarely on the shallower east side. A few pieces of sheet-lead are added on the leader under the swivel and this generally gets the bait down low enough to reach the take zone, so after no initial success, this was tried also. Same result- no bites on dusk, which is prime time. Disappointing. The moon started to appear as it rose over the headland and Camp Cove to the east and expectation was high, the burley trail well established and the boat sitting perfectly where we wanted it, but no fish showed up at all. Then, as the moon rose higher, illuminating the water and almost turning night into day with it's brightness, we started to spot fish floating past us. First just a few, then within about 15 minutes, a constant stream of them. They were Pilchards and they were as large a Pilchard as we'd ever seen. They were floating pretty much on the surface and we started scooping them with the landing net. In only about 15 minutes we had about 1/4 of a box and we noticed that most of them had redness around the gill openings, they were so fresh looking, you could tell they were only recently dead. They were also almost "warm" to touch. We put the rods in the boat's rod holders and concentrated on getting the floating dead with the net, but after discussing the sinister looking red marks around the gill openings decided that half a box would be plenty to keep for burley, because we didn't know where they'd come from or what had killed them. With this huge natural burley trail we wondered why there were no fish around and then tried using the dead ones instead of our frozen block Pilchards. This resulted in constant takes from Arrow Squid that suddenly seemed to be there in mass, pouncing on the new baits soon after they were cast out. We managed to get a decent catch of them, not hooked, they were simply hanging onto the bait and lifted aboard. Probably half the time they just didn't let go of the Pilchard, even when lifted from the water. As it was a week night, with work beckoning the next morning and only the squid interested in our Pilchards, we decided to leave the Pigs and head to the ever reliable Fort Denison, where there were usually Tailor of varying sizes patrolling right in close to the north-western side, where they would attack any bait thrown into the lights that used to shine down from the Fort's round section. There were plenty there albeit only just above "chopper" size and we got what we needed and were careful to keep the Squid and Tailor away from our netted Pilchards- just in case the "redness" was poisonous. I slept in the next morning and ended up having a day off work, so I rang State Fisheries to tell them about the Pilchards. They put me through to a biologist and the first thing he said to me was "haven't you seen today's paper?- the story is on the front cover" - it was and the headline said "Beaches of Death" - the Pilchards had washed up by the thousands and were piled high on the small north facing beach at Bradleys Head as well as Clifton Gardens and Nielsen Park beaches. He went on to say that there was a giant mass of floating Pilchards about half a km offshore and all manner of marine life were there gorging on them. He was involved with a research program monitoring Sea Gulls and explained that it was really eerie from a researcher's perspective, because although there are 2 major Gull flocks in each of both Sydney Harbour and Botany Bay, for two days the birds had failed to return inside and were just sitting adjacent to the floating Pilchard mass and gorging like all the other marine life. No birds in either Botany nor the Harbour. Within a few days, there was news coming from all the way around the coast, South Australia all the way up to the mouth of the Hawkesbury, where the Pilchards were all dying of an unknown disease. It turned out to be a Herpes type virus, which fortunately only affected the Pilchard stocks and wasn't passed on through the food chain, or it would have been a complete ecological disaster. The year was 1998 and the "reasons" authorities declared blame on were the Tuna in pens on the Tuna "farms" were being fed cheaper frozen imported Pilchards and the Herpes type virus survived being frozen and was passed on to local stocks that are also found in the vicinity of the Tuna farms. After managing by sheer luck to avoid a disaster from using imported seafood (albeit just as fish food) it's a shame some bureaucratic decision maker allowed the White Spot virus(which affects both prawns and marine worms) to be imported via frozen prawns into Australia, the virus is the reason that Bloodworms have been declared "Hazardous" and haven't been allowed to be sold for several years now. The worms so far haven't contracted the virus, but sadly the Southeast Queensland prawn fishery has been greatly affected and the potential for the worms to spread the virus is too great to risk. After witnessing first hand the Pilchard kill I can attest to what a waste of fish it was, if it had transmitted to other fish species and birds, who knows what could have happened.

Nothing wrong with your posts Dave- I enjoy reading them

Hi Neil this is a very worthy post in my opinion. Sadly, the continuous water flow issues are ongoing. I know whenever I post something I probably go the other route and a "short" post ends up being pretty long, but I try to give information of exactly what I/we were doing without dragging it on for too long (hopefully!) When I was posting plenty of stories during the height of the pandemic, I felt I was at times making them a bit long, but as people were giving good feedback, I didn't change format. ALL your posts are very informative and well described, even as someone who doesn't fish freshwater much any more (or anywhere much) I enjoy reading and learning from what you've posted. Keep it up! Regards Waza

Plenty of sand flats to try on the south western side of the bridge. The south eastern side has flats as well but more tidal influence. Try off Riverside Drive

Pike Eel as said above- did you notice the extra row of teeth down the middle of its mouth? We made a rule about them for houseboat trips-NEVER to be brought on board- too vicious! Have seen some shocking injuries inflicted by them. No mistaking a Hairtail- they look like they've been chromed

Well done! This is what it's all about

Just wanted to add to Franks great thread- Fishing home base for my school mates and I became Taronga Zoo Wharf. Every Saturday morning we'd all meet on the last carriage of the train that arrived at Wynyard about 5.40 am. Fraser, Rob and Ross came from furthest- Chester Hill, I got on at Croydon, Ben, Roy and the 2 Franks got on at Summer Hill and a few of the other guys got on as we got closer to the city, we were all around the same age and on the same train each week, pretty much the same crew of regulars and Saturdays because the first ferry of a Sunday was too late- 9am We had to get out at Wynyard and walk to Circular Quay because the first train from our direction got to the Quay at 6.10 am- exactly the same time as the first Taronga ferry left and you had to get there on that ferry to get a prime possie on the old Wharf which was locked until just after 6am every morning. The great thing about fishing "the wharf" was you only needed 45 cents to be able to go fishing- 25c for a "child excursion" ticket that covered all train, ferry and bus travel for the day, plus 20c worth of hamburger mince for bait. The mince was converted to Yellowtail and they were used live or filleted, very occasionally someone would have something else like pillies or prawns, but all you really needed was a small ball of mince and you were set. Nobody bothered with burley, you just tried different depths for Yakka's until you found their level and then put your handline cork in your pocket to save the depth. It was best to just drop your Yakka line rather than throw it out, then you'd avoid the masses of 6 inch chopper Tailor that were always in the vicinity- if you threw out, 9 times out of 10 a chopper would grab your bait as it sank on an angle and a lot of the time bite the number 14 longshank hook off. 14's still the killer sized hook for the tiniest Yakkas. As time went by, we started fishing all around Bradleys Head and had a few "private" spots that rarely saw any other fishermen, but "the wharf" was where we went if we were going John Dory fishing or Luderick fishing. Freezing cold spot to fish for Luderick in winter as you never saw the sun while drifting a float out the back of the wharf, but very productive. The best Luderick fisherman in the harbour- Abbey (known as "the king of Sydney Harbour') was often there and he never missed getting a good bag of fish, he even had a "net man"- Irish George who did the burley and netted Abbey's fish. Learned a great deal about Luderick from Abbey. It's such a shame they first moved the old Wharf, then closed it down to fishing completely. Rubbish, mess and incidents with people tripping on fishing gear were to blame- it's one of the only wharves to remain closed to fishers. It was a great social spot for younger fishers, relatively safe and in the many years I fished there I only ever saw one disagreement. You could even turn up without any bait and someone would give you some, a line and hooks too if you needed and some genuinely amazing fish were caught there every year.

OK thanks for that- I hope you have a speedy recovery