LandBasedKeith

High wind forecast for the next few days but there are some small windows in between allow some decent fishing time. Planned to fish early this morning before the wind pickup at around 3pm. Late night as usual. Didn't leave the house until 10:30am and almost didn't make it out of the house with the 42 degree heat outside. Pickup some weed and got to Ramsgate Beach at around 11:30pm. I bought an umbrella with me this time just to protect me from the hot sun. It didn't really help much as the haze still covered the whole sky...what sun? There are No breeze and simply HOT. Anyway, i grabbed a small yellowtail scad from the freeze this morning. I sometime do that, so if there are some big fishes about, i can cut up the yellowtail scad to catch some live bait to catch those big one. I don't know what come over me this morning. Maybe seeing something big chasing after my blackfish or heard some story of Kingie being caught with lure nearby from my last session over a week ago. I am determine to catch some live bait. So for the next hour and a half, it is man against this(see what is in my hand). It takes me a whole hour to find out what has been taking my bait and take them the next half hour to finish off the rest of my yellowtail flesh. No decent live bait, just 3 tinny snappers. No grudges against them so all release back into the water as best as i can. Anyway, enough distraction so back to blackfish fishing. There are bites but not so frequent and hard to hookup. Maybe it is because it is the peak of the high tide?! I burley like mad to improve the situation. Well... i didn't over burley but it did help i think. By 3pm, the wind had pickup as forecast and making fishing very difficult unless you don't mind getting wet. At the end, i take home 7 keepers. 2 just over 27cm , the rest average about 29cm and the biggest 34cm. At least not going home empty handed.

No. I went on Saturday. Only so so... Too windy coming Monday and Tuesday night but Wednesday night may be worth a try.

You are correct it is the wrong moon phase but with the smoke haze, there are no moon at all. Maybe the prawns are all knowing without seeing, there are hardly any prawn run. What make it worse is the wind. Too windy, difficult to prawn with the LED Headlamp. People with underwater lamp may do better?! I caught just over 1kg, enough for a feed. People fishing had better luck us prawning. A group of people caught a Jewfish 1.4m long. I heard because they are so excited, they shouted to each other its length back & forth, taking turn taking picture with the fish. Then this 2 dudes come along and question the actual length of the fish. It don't look 1.4m to me either. Anyway, they measured it with their own tape and the fish is in fact 1.04m long. It is still a pretty good fish!

Haven't been out for a while due to the bad weather. Got really bored so i brave the Smokey Haze today. Once i am out on the groyne, it is a lot better than i expected. At least no burnt wood smell or i am too busy fishing, i didn't noticed. But i do notice that i was the only one fishing! Windy in the morning according WillyWeather so decide to start late. Pickup some stringy weed at the local creek. Got careless and fell into the creek:( Luckily only got a bit wet but the shoes got mud all over and they smell. Got to Ramsgate beach by 11:30pm but didn't get to start fishing until 12 noon as i need to wash the mud off my shoes and lower pant. It is mid tide toward high and the wind is blowing outward. Lots and Lots of blackfish as there are bites everywhere. It doesn't take long for the float to go down but hookup is not so sure. Anyway, i bag out by 2pm. I knew i had a few about 28cm in the keeper net. i found 3, release them and continue to fish. The second around is a lot slower and hookup rate dropped even further. It takes me 2 hours to catch the next 3. As i was landing the last fish(about 4pm), i saw something big trailing it. The blackfish is 30cm and whatever behind it is 3 time as long. I quickly took out my lure rod and flick out a hardbody lure. After 3 flick, i got a bite right next to my feet but no hookup and nothing after that. I still didn't get a good look at it but i believe they are tailor. Tailor get fire up just after the sun goes down. I wish i can stay until dark but my mum is waiting for my fresh fish for dinner hence i went home at 5pm with a bag full of blackfishes(10). In the next 3 days, good wind condition in the morning. So i may have another blackfish session before going to The Entrance prawning this weekend.

I was there on Sunday night. There weren't that many people, around 10. I was prawning in front of the car park at the end of Hutton Rd. I was going to go on Saturday but it is so windy, i had to change it to Sunday. Hi @blindmullet, where exactly do you do your prawning on Saturday when it is so windy?

Thanks @phil2135, Good to know about the dietary requirement for fishes caught in Botany Bay. Also even better to know as there are no dietary requirement for Luderick(Blackfish) for adult consumption. Cheers, Keith.

Hi @nomispro, Hope this helps: How deep do you set your rig at? Just above the sea floor up to 1 meter. I uses 2 rods in the start and each rod had a 2 hooks float rig. One rod has a bigger float and heavy sinker hence unaffected by the current and can cast further. Whereas the other rod has a very light float, less weight, more sensitive to bites and move(lift) with the current. What this result to is i had 4 bait/weed sitting at FOUR different depth! Do you connect your main line to a swivel and use a trace or is it better just to use a line to line connection? I uses both. I had a diagram of my two hooks rig in my earlier post. Is it also better to use a longer rod (10 or 12ft) or will a 7 ft rod suffice? Long rod has its pros and cons. With long rod, it is easier to steer the fish away from the snags and rock edges but i found it hard to land the fish when your rod is more than twice the length of your landing net. I uses 10ft telescopic rod. Once i steer the fish to the surface, i reduce the length of the rod for the ease of landing the fish with the net. Cheers, Keith.

While we talked, I didn’t pickup all the details. Sorry! I wish I could have giving you more info. Though our friend is no longer a Fishraider member, he still follow our post. Let’s hope he saw your query and give you the details you seek.

Finally find some time and good weather to catch some blackfishes. Since the rock pool area is under renovation, i fish on the far left groyne just past the rock platform. Got there about 7:30am, it is at bottom tides so not expecting any bits soon. Caught my first(37cm) after 30mins, then another(33cm) a bit later. Lots of bits but very small. Went home about 2pm, only 5 keepers (...30cm, 29cm and 28cm), and throw back twice as much as they are around 26cm-27cm mark. Haven't been out for a while and if it won't for the increase in wind speed, i would had stayed longer. During the 1st and 2nd fish caught and just for a brief period, the water sudden boiled up around me. I managed to get my metal lure among the chaos. 3 flicks but no take! The fishes disappeared just as sudden as they appeared. Kingies? Salmons? but definitely not Tailors! Met an ex-fishraider in the car park, learned a few things from him. 1. Botany Bay is polluted with buried metal. 2. Use canola oil(cheap coles brand spray) to protect your reels. 3. Blackfish can be caught at night I may give night blackfishing a try some day....

Thanks for the info.

The water level lower than last year. I almost mistaken high tide for low tide. Still plenty of people doing night fishing.

Prawning season finally started. Drove up to The Entrance with my girl friend to try our luck. It was quite windy(over 40km/hr) on Saturday afternoon but relying on the weathers report claiming it is going to be lower wind ( less than 18km/hr) at night. Lucky the wind forecast is correct. But the high tides time is incorrect(Willyweather) and the run out tides were 3 hrs late hence wasting the 3 hrs chasing shadow. We are there at 8:30pm but the prawn run didn't start until 11:30pm. The prawns are not big but decent size, most are around 9-10cm and some 11-12cm. I won't tell you how much time we put in but we ended up with 3.5kilo worth of prawns. Most are still alive and jumping when we got back to Sydney. Just the little plate of fresh cooked prawns(for breakfast!) alone made this trip worth while.

Most dangerous fishing spot. Try Bass Point, a lot safer and just as many fish. When the wind is blowing the wrong at Hill60, people goes to Bass Point and vice versa. Two main rig people uses, pilchard on float or squid skirt lure on weighted float. Long rod and long cast. When it is in season, it is very crowded.

When the weather is good, i was sick. And when i get better, the weather is bad. I am busy in the weekend so i convince myself to brave the bad weather(willyweather forecasted 90% of shower) in the afternoon. The condition was not ideal on Friday afternoon 11 Oct 2019. It was windy and the wind is blowing the wrong way. It has experienced a high tide in the morning already and the blackfishes would already had their feed. I was at the groyne next to the pool left of Omeros at around 1pm, got my first 31cm blackfish after half a hour. Then i noticed some gov workers starts putting up fences around the pool. I think the council is doing renovation on the rock pool. Anyway, i have to go after my first blackfish otherwise risk of getting fence off. So i try the next groyne further to the left. There are some small bites but not enough to warrant any hookup. Next i know, it is already 4pm and time to go home. Only 1 blackfish in the esky but i am still happy as i get to fish a bit after so so long. I bumped into a fishraider fan at the Tonbridge St. weed ground. I think he said he is from Windsor?! So keen! He ask me to post if i catch any blackfish so i did... Also here is a latest picture of the Tonbridge St. weed ground:

Last 2 sessions, I encounter the school on low tides. Least bites on high tide, my guess is they off somewhere to feed as the high tide gives them easy access to food source. Order from least bites to most bites: Run out from high to mid tide, Run in from mid to high tide, Run out from mid to low tide, Run in from low to mid tide. So the best day is when the daybreak(first light) start with run out mid tide.

Just pickup some string weed at Tonbridge St this morning. There are still plenty left... Cheers.

Very nice catch. It is always a nuisance when the choppers are around when you flick for flatheads with soft plastic.

Top report. Keep up the good work.

Nice catch. Salted Tailor? Any good as the tailor flesh is so soft. Keith.

Finally got everything sorted out and got the whole day to fish. That's what i thought! Got to Ramsgate beach by 7am and pickup some string weed on the way at Tonbridge St. There ain't that much weed as i had anticipated but i still easily collected enough for one session. Not enough for burley but if i am lucky, there should be some weed at the rock. Must be my lucky day, though high tides but the tides are not that high hence i manage to collected so short weed for burley without getting my feet wet. Sometime i feels like the burleying is a formality but it is worth a try if there is no bites. Anyway, today i fish on the groyne next to the pool left of Omeros. One, intuition told me there are fishes there and second, someone already there. I don't mind some company. A regular fisho after both blackfish and travelly. He got 3 rods out but no fish yet. And he is nice enough to pack one rod to give me some room to fish next to him. I decide not to use the burley yet worrying it may take away his fish. Second cast, my first blackfish. Then 5 minutes later, another blackfish. Again another 5 minutes later, yet another blackfish. I am a bit worry then but luckily our friend also hookup his first blackfish. Nothing worst than someone comes alone later than you but starts catching all the fish and you still got no bite! I think he is after trevally and since there is no bite, he packed up and went not too long after. That's when the fun began - i found a school of blackfish or they found me. Bites after bites. As soon i put the blackfish into the keeper net, the other rod would goes off. Oh... i now using 2 rods since i got the whole groyne to myself. I haven't had so much fun for a while. Then disaster strikes as one of the line snap off. And the float was cut loose and started to float away from me. I was so obsess with getting the float back, i forgot to fish. I got my float back but lost the school of fish:( But then the fishes are still biting, just not as frequent. There are lots of small one which i released though legal therefore i didn't bag out until 10:30am. All around 31-32cm. I fished a bit more for fun until my weed ran out. Lots of people from my badminton sport club has been asking for fresh blackfish! So i am going back tomorrow morning for another session.

Hi Pauls, Very nice catch. I am collecting notes on blackfish. Can you provide a bit more information on the blackfish. Bait used, rig used, time of the day, tide level in or out, weather condition and wind speed and direction, or any other interesting things? Cheers. Keith.

Yes. I saw them pull out a legal size trevally while i am still there. The trevally comes in school, the trick is to attracted them toward you and then keep them around. It is good fun pulling them out one after another within a short span of time. And they fight a lot harder than blackfish as well but blackfish tastes a lot better though.

Meant to go on the 11th September but got busy(lazy). As i was planning my belated trip, i saw a message from @eladamrine and said he fished on the 11th and on the groyne i recommended but no bite. Haha, i not going to that groyne anymore, at least for a while. Anyway, i arrived at Ramsgate beach at about 9am - late night, i just couldn't get up at 6am. It is already high tide so all the weed are covered by the water up to thigh deep. Getting my shoes and feet wet is one thing but not my ****. I got 2 backup plan. One, see if there is any weed in the local waterway as it is already spring and two, fish with the weed i collected on the 5th September until low tide. I was lucky, some weed had starting growing in the local waterway and there are just enough for this trip. In a week or 2 's time, there should enough weed for everyone! At first, i try the groyne on the far left of the rock platform. A few bites here and there but no hookup. It is high tide so not expecting much. By 12 noon, i changed to another groyne next to the Omeros and collecting more weed for burleying where i met @eladamrine as we invited each other to fish together. @eladamrine did okay as he caught his very first blackfish after 2 failed attempts to land them. First attempt, the line snapped off and second, the hook came off half way. I think he will became an expert in no time if not one already. Anyway, here are my result for today: 32cm, 42cm., 33cm, 35cm and 33cm. Also, the trevallies are back. All three groynes around me are occupied with trevally fishermen before dawn. And here is the location of the waterway where i get my weed and PLEASE take only what you need. X marked the spot. There should also be weed in the waterway next to the 16ft Sailing Club(not checked). Kelso Park also if you lived near East Hill(not checked).

Use uni-knot and leave a shot tag end(3-4mm). Braid the string weed 1-2 time above the tag end, then braid the rest onto the hook. Cover as much of the hook as possible except barb and point. Enough weed to cover the hook but at the same time, small enough so the blackfish can suck in both weed & hook in one go. No bite may mean not enough weed or no fish. Failed hookup may mean too much weed or the weed failed to cover the whole of the hook. Hope this help.

String weed work best here. Someone once told me string weed is for the river or estuary and cabbage weed is better for open ocean rock. Since it is moving water, burleying may and may not help. It may attract the fish toward you, it may also pull the fish away from you depends on the current flow. I found fishing with friends is best as their weeds in the water acts as burley. Wind and current flow direction effect how you fish. Direction going out is best if you want to relax. On the contrary, if you fish against the current and direction, you will be forever busy casting out or risk snag the seaweed and rock at the groyne. Hence wind direction and current flow play a big part at where you cast your float\weed. Sometime you had to cast everywhere(near, far, left and right) to find the fish. If your weed get taken in certain spot, keep casting to that same spot will almost guarantee a hookup eventually. Further hookup may meant you had found a school of fish otherwise you had already caught the lone fish:( If a certain groyne yield good return , stick to that groyen.