mark_s

Jeez it must have been pretty messy out wide but I assume you were in seomthing mroe seaworthy than my 14ftr. Atleast you got a feed of fish. I am planning to try again tomorrow.

A quick report. Had marked out today as a big fishing day but the fish just didn't play ball. Had good quality bait and got good size (Small) yakkas easily but no sign of kings at all down on the north side of jibbon headland. Was very quite and all the boats around me looked the same. Also I have never seen so many yakkas there swimming under my boat and there didn't look to be anything harrasing them. Was there too much bait around? Nevertheless, my anchor enjoyed that spot and chose to stay there. Swell and wind were too much for my to poke my head around and try down off the park. Moved back up to Dolans were I burleyed up a good school of tailor with a couple of bonnies thrown in. Ended up keeping one for the table but let the rest go. Ended up letting all of my yakkas go, they enjoyed their stressfree swimms at Jibbon and Dolans.

Heh mate, I past you as you were heading back in near Jibbon point. I was flying solo and we trolled past each other. I finished up with a handful of bonnies and two rats. Alsmost has the whole coastline line to myself which is strange given it was so calm.

Thaks for the responses guys - I was pretty dirty at having to cut my fishing expediton short given I get very few leave passes to wet a line these days. MC Fishin - do you know of ahnywhere in the shire/local that will replace a broken rod runner? (I am in the Woolooware region) thanks

A short session today before I was advised to return to shore due to the tsunami warning. Landed one 60cm rat on the last of the run in. Was difficult fishing conditions with the wind and current wanting to pushing in opposite directions. Apoligies for the poor pic, was taken on my phone.

Nice catch there. The bonitos were very thick of the RNP on the weekend. I brought home 3 to eat but let 6 more go before I stopped fishing for them. I fillet , skin and cut out the blood line for bonito and they are great eating.

Thanks guys, the flounder was pretty fat, they are good eating too!

pic added

snuck out for a quick fish this morning. Its been a long time between drinks - having two kids in close succession and moving house takes away all your fishing time. Anyway I brought home a 30cm snapper and a very good flounder [pic time come]. I dropped a bigger snapper which I estimated to be atleast 1.5 times as big as the 30cms one. Did all my fishing in burraneer bay in about 9ms of water. Burly was the key. Had my fishing done and was home by 10.30am. Saw penlty of bream boats (looked like a comp) but didn't see any of them having any success. MS

I can recommend the Mooloolabah pick anchor. I use it for my Quintrex 420 on both sand and reef bottoms. It hold on reef, but not so well that it gets stuck. The weight of it (plus the 2m or so of chain) is enough to hold me on most sand bottoms. Only prob is that they are hard to find - the only place that I know that sells them is the Chanderly in Coffs Harbour. I can give you more info if interested. I never anchor in anymore than 30m, so I have about 100m of rope. BTW - I awlays have a spare anchor ready to go as well as I had to cut one off once.

I have been on a charter (out of Kiama) that was more your traditional operation. We (a group of about 10) spent about 4 hours drifting aimlessly around the ocean (both over reef and sand) using sinkers the weight of bricks. You couldn't even feel when you had a fish on - you just had to wind up every few mins or so and see if there was anything on the end of the line. Our main catch was sweep. The deckie wouldn't let us throw them back over board, proclaiming they were "great eating". I through all of mine back much to her disgust. We also had to do everything ourselves - in fact the deckie was fishing for her own dinner whilst the captain sat in the cabin eating oysters. It was hardly memorable but I guess the saving grace was that it was only about $50 a head. Although thats very pricey for a handful of sweep though. I thought their was some valid points in his response to you, maybe its worth talking to him about what sort of fish he normally gets using his methods & spots as that seems to be your main issue with your trip out with him.

Chris I thought they might have been salmon at first and while I didn't get a good look they were jumping like mullet and they looked like mullet from a distance. Happy to be corrected if anyone has a positive ID? Here is the pic

I haven’t been out much this summer, been distracted by a whole load of things so I hadn’t full-filled my aim of nabbing my first Sydney king over summer. I decided to have one last shot at it yesterday. I fished gentlemens hours yesterday so I didn’t get to the bait grounds until 8ish. I found no yakkas and the few pike around couldn’t be enticed onto my hook. I moved to another area closer to the heads to try and again for yakkas. I managed to get a couple but whilst there a massive school of fish passed by. The water was black with them and they get jumping clear of the water. I think they were mullet on their spawning run. I couldn’t tempt them with a bait but I noticed a guy on shore trying to jag them – he managed to gut jag three big specimens. Is jagging allowed? Anyway, whilst there I noticed a school of garies go past so I decided to put a yakka down and see what happened. The answer is nothing and as Moly point was so busy I decided to head a little further around near one of the headlands. Anchored up on a nice drop off and put the livie out on the king rod and drifted baits on my bream rod. I had anchored in bad spot and I was copping a bit of a battering from the swell so I decided to go. Of course the anchor was stuck then and it took me about 0.5 an hour to get it free. At this stage I had been fishing for about 3 hours and had a couple of yakkas to show for it. I headed back into the bay and saw that Moly point was much quieter now. I anchored up and put a livie out again. I also put out a peeled prawn on my bream rod and floated it down the burly trail. Whilst sitting there I noticed that there was the occasional fish jumping right up again the container wall (Mullet again I think) and I was contemplating how to try and catch one when my bream rod (which was in free spool right then) went for a short run. It was pretty unexciting and I was thinking trevally, so I grabbed the line with my hand to see if the fish still had hold of the bait. After feeling the weight at the other end I sprung into action. So did the fish. My bream rod has 6kgs line and a crappy little reel. It was bent almost in half and it was impossible to turn the reel even though the drag was set pretty low). The fish made a run for the wall but I managed to steer him back, so then he went towards bare island and then back again. I have no idea how long the fight went on for but the fish had many runs before I got him to the surface. The rod and reel kept feeling like they were about to give but they hung in there. At first sighting I called it for a sting ray, which was a stupid call as it looked nothing like a ray but the fish took off again quickly when he saw the boat. At the second sighting I knew it was a king and for the first time I got really excited. He made one last run for the wall before I got him to the surface and this time I was able to net him. 64cms of King fish in the boat, my first Sydney King. I was extremely pumped and was sitting there basking in my own glory when the Waterways came over for a safety gear check. I am still smiling now – pics to be posted tonight. Me 1 Kings 0

Woke up this morning and it looked like a perfect day so decided to head out for a run. ITs been a long time between drinks. By the time I got the boat and to the ramp the wind had started up, but I thought I would keep going anyway. Decided to try and stick to the sourthen edges to avoid the worst of the wind. I was greated with chocolate brown water all the way out till the oil wharf, plus a decent swell rolling in through the heads. I anchored at watts reef to suss out the conditions and try for a livie. No livies about, but I realised the wind was almost pure west so I headed over to the container wall for some protection. I fished the bottom and floated some baits down for 1 30cm bream (see pic). Fished off over around Towra trying for a flatty on plastics but they didn't want to play today. Decided to head home when the wind started picking up again from the South.

Re specific areas, I have found squid in the past around bare island (be careful of the bombie though). Also found them across the other side at Watts reef area. Yowie bay also supposedly has them but I have never got them there. I find I get small ones during the day and thumpers at night. A good shore based spot at night is at La Perouse down in front of Danny's seafood restuarant. The street light hits the water there. Cheers

The Bandit!! A great read as usual, please keep them coming for another 12 or so weeks please! Go the tahs - I will be happy if we come back from SA with more than 2 points.

Thats a beautiful looking boat Captain Pug. I have boat envy even if its not running right now!

Martin Today's paper recommends eating 150gms or less of fish from the harbour per calender month.

Yabbie serviced my boat and they get a big thumbs up from me

I reckon the Port is much better on either a week day or when the weather is atrocious. A fished it one day a few years ago on Easter, there was a howling southerly and pouring rain and I was able to anchor in the main channel out the front of Lilli Pilli. I had a great day with fish one after the other (not all legal of course). One a typical weekend you would have boats passing withing 20m of you every 5 seconds at that same spot. Like the others, I use the Port to access Bate Bay and the areas down off the RNP.

Sounds like a great day out Kevvie - a bag of flatties and a coouple of jewies is a great catch and would exceed the total amount of fish I have caught in botany bay in the last year or so. Martin - there are some good reports coming out of the bay, but plenty of people (such as myself) fish it for nothing. I put in a long day last weekend and had nothing of substance to report. Also I didn't see a single decent fish taken by any of the boats I saw fishing around me on the day. Frankly, I think there are a few people like Kevvie (& Kilkila) who know how to fish the bay. The rest of us are learning the hard way, whats that saying, 10% of fisherman catch 90% of fish!

Congrats on the great catch I fished the Georges on Sat as well. Started around Como bridge. Moved to a quick drop at Jewfish point, then for a few drifts at Towra and finished by fishing the deep hole at Captain Cooks bridge on the first of the run out. Baits were a mixture of fresh prawns, pillies and live worms. I fished the bottom and drifted baits down the current in a burly trail. All I got to show for my efforts were a few undersize tailor at CC bridge, biggest was about 25cms. Plenty of other boats around me were pretty quiet as well, I didn't see a decent fish landed. Guess you have to be at the right place at the right time etc. Anyway ws still nice to be out on the water.

Weiry Sorry, I don't want to be to specific re exact locations. I will say it was South of Maroubra beach though. Gibbofisho Yep I know 2 per day per licenced person. My 3 were spread over two days so its all above board, although as I said I only kept one of the 3 anyway.

Had a feeling it would be a tough weekend fishing wise (for some reason most long weekends are!) so decided to go snorkelling to see what was around. Ended up locating and capturing three crays, unfortunately I dropped two (which is unheard of), once because my own boat hit me on the head and the other time because I had my camera in my other hand. Not many pics as I dumped the camera after is cost me a cray. Was a reasonable amount of bait fish around. A largeish school of garfish in the Maroubra area and schools of pike down in the shire. I suspect the pelagics won't be far away. BTW the second photo is of a small cuttlefish, maybe 20cm long.

Your vehicle will probably have a maximum towing limit for a trailor with and without brakes. If you exceed these limits you will find that your insurance doesn't cover you if you have an accident etc. I would call Suzuki and ask them if I were you.