cogo44

Fished Long Reef Wide today for a very humble result. The smoke haze meant that we did not sight the coastline for the whole day. The light fluky winds made it hard to get a decent drift. It was only at 2.00pm that the wind picked up somewhat to get us covering ground. We expected a good catch with the dark of the moon and smooth seas. Nothing is ever predictable when fishing!

Spiky flathead are definitely a different species to undersized flathead. They are the gun bait for the other bigger species of flathead.

It sure doesn't get much better than flathead and prawns in the Lucky Country!

We found plenty of flathead off Long Reef and Dee Why on Sunday. On the way back to the Heads, we then encountered a sweepathon around The Whale. The current was kind and the jackets were elsewhere making for a great day's fishing.

Very similar experience off the stink pipe south of The Heads. Flathead,whiting, snapper, morwong were on the chew. The current and wind velocity were kind to us and made for a great day of winter fishing.

I use Gamakatsu Shiner hooks or Mustad Big Mouth hooks on the bottom dropper. Size 3/0 or 4/0 gets them in the corner of the mouth.

We found the current so strong up at Long Reef that holding bottom was very problematic. The fish were around but they had to be quick to get our baits. Flatties and morwong were predominant.

Ah yes!! The Queens of Bonnet Bay are awaiting!!

Seven of us landed 95 jackets off Long Reef on Sunday and lost 37 sinkers in the process. They were following lines up to the surface and gave us liitle chance to catch anything else. They really did spoil a lovely day on the water. I reckon we'll give fishing a miss until the reports are leatherjacket free.

Just the normal paternoster rig and holding the bottom. Old fashioned but if you know the good marks it's very effective.

Nine of us drifted around Long Reef and then to Dee Why bagging 83 fish including 50 good sized flathead. The cobalt blue water beyond 60 metres was brilliant, the swell was gentle, the water temperature was over 24 degrees, the wind was not more than 10 knots for much of the day and the overcast day held off any rain until we returned to the murky waters of the harbour. Only the current picking up from around midday, a few jackets and the occasional toad fish marred an otherwisw brilliant day. We also witnessed the biggest pod of dolphins who circled our boat for a brief period. When the conditions are favourable Sydney can turn on some great fishing.

Whiting were also continually picking at baits inshore on Sunday off Sydney. Those with smaller hooks boated a few but those with larger hooks grabbed the bigger model flatties that love to hang around for a feed of whiting. Perhaps next time at least we could put one small hook on top of the leader.

The winter flathead were certainly biting south of The Heads on Sunday . Despite some grief from the jackets, six of us boated 46 flathead, 31 jackets, 4 morwong, 4 gurnard, 3 snapper and a few odds and sods including a bream in 60 metres of water. The bream was a first for us out there! Fishing at the dark of the moon we find is usually productive if the sea conditions are OK as they were on Sunday. Whales going by and dolphins putting on a display made for a great day out. All this and close to a major city!

We caught a few of these two weeks ago in 60 metres offshore from The Heads. A Chinese person on board called them Red Big Eyes and they are apopular eating fish in Hong Kong. We had never seen them before off Sydney.

It was 24+ in a raging current off Sydney Heads on Sunday. We fished with our backs to the wind all day and could not hold bottom for very long. We searched for lower temperatures closer in and when it got down to 22, the current was manageable. However, hordes of spikies and whiting were the main beneficeries.

We fished straight out from the Heads and then very slowly drifted south. Unlike previous outings there were no mutton birds, seals or jackets to frustrate us. However, we had the smallest catch for at least two years despite the apparently good conditions. The highlight of the day was when a mother and baby whale surfaced near us and played around for a while. Another highlight was when one bloke on board finally caught a fish twenty minutes before lines up. This spared us all the sight of his traditional pants down that is performed by anyone who fails to get a weigher. All on board are heterosexual!

The bloody jackets have been pretty much ever present for the lsast five years! You do get some respite from them but we had our worst day's fishing for years two weekends ago when the jackets were literally waiting under the boat to attack the jigs on the way down. I suspect that they will be around for some time to come. I have heard they don't like it when the water gets too cold but I have seen scant evidence of this.

We went out on Sunday and were plagued by the jackets for the entire day. Thirty sinkers were lost by seven fishos. We did reduce their numbers by 50 but this was the proverbial drop in the ocean. One green toad was also in the mix! The highlight of the day was five good sized pigfish that came on board.

You have to know the marks. I don't keep them but our skipper has them on his GPS. There are quite a few spots known as Long Reef Wide. One good one by sight is to line up the street running down the northern side of the Collaroy Cinema and fish in about 65 metres of water. If the jackets aren't around you can often do well in this area. However, ares further south are also good on the drift.

We did reasonably well at Long Reef Wide on Saturday catching flatties on the sand and plate sized snapper and nannygai on the reef sections. However, we threw back heaps of undersized snapper amongst the weighers. A great day on the water!

Yep! Lots of throwback flatties off the Heads and south. Usually at this time of year we do well on big flatties. Most unusual! Also the north easterlies kicked in far earlier and harder than predicted.

Wait a minute! I 've always prawned at Sussex Inlet around the time of the new moon (ie dark) not the full moon when its too bright and the prawns are less likely to run because the predators can see them more easily. Can someone confirm that over these years that I am prawning at the correct moon phase? We have certainly enjoyed good catches at the new moon (not full moon).

The best depths to fish in at Rosa Wide are 60 to 70 metres. But it's a big area so you need to mark your catches on your GPS so you can try those more productive areas on future trips. Because we have fished this area for about 20 years we have a good idea of where the likely spots are located. Of course there are never any certainties in fishing. We also try to go out when the solunar charts are looking good especially around the full and new moons.