mangonui

We had an early start Sunday morning arriving at Cooks river ramp at 5.30am,headed out the heads in near perfect condition ,got to the first fad at around 6.30am and set the lures out running 5x 24 kg,I knew the fish were in close because two weeks before only having set the last rod before approaching the Botany close Fad the short riggergot smashed by a good sized Black which I had on for about 20mins before he shook the hooks,we trolled for another hour past the close fad to the plonk holes then starting heading out towards the wide fad when my brother called fish up on the shot gun,the fished hooked up briefly before dropping it so i sped the the boat upa bit and bang he was on again,the fish came to the boat in about 10 mins and being a small fish we decided to put the gaff in and take home for dinner,we quickly got the lures back in the water when another bigger stripe right in front of the boat started free jumping,we counted 8 times he was clear of the water,apart from a few striped tuna,which seem to be massive at the moment we had another 1 fish up at the lures and another seen free jumping the water temp got up to 26.9 which is as warm as i ever seen it,this is the hottest bite ive seen off sydney in a while.

Looks like mayor island in the background ,Ive fished there in 90mtrs of water and caught hapuka! Great spot

Thanks for the advice mate i might look into that model as well i would rather spend more on something that will last in the long run,although i would have thought the 700 miya epoch would be more than powerful enough considering the amount of line holds?

I cant believe it that is the same model as mine! It worked fine till yesterday,did you look at getting the motor replaced,Im a bit apprehensive about spending over a thousand dollars on someting thats going to do the same thing.

Went to Browns this morning and picked more gemmies, The last 3 trips this week have been the same. They are plagueing out there at the moment and we cant keep baits down long enough for the blue eye, Our trip came to a dissapointing end when my electric reel started smoking and seized

It is a boat ramp?

HI mate, Im looking at heading out thursday or Friday weather permitting,I went out last wednesday and didnt turn a reel although when trolling over Browns I did have a huge school of sauries breaking the surface and 2 big yellow sickles screaming through them right through my lures so there are some positives signs. Water temp was a bit warm at Browns still betwenn 22.4 & 22.6 . There was a cool break of about 21.5 abot 2 mile east of the shelf where there was a lot of flying fish and albatross and dolphins so look close before you go to wide. Good luck.

Definitely a gurnard, As penguin said I was the same ,back in NZ they were a welcome bycatch when we were snapper fishing as they are definitely one of the best table fish in the sea,they generally like the colder water of the west coast of nz and can grow up to 80cm in length and usually live over mud or sandy areas and are quite partial to shellfish . Im yet to catch one in australia though and am surprised they are even here as the one pictured is identical to what we caught in NZ. Well done.

Thanks Slinky much appreciated!

hi there, just wondering if someone could give me some idea of the cheapest place around Sydney to get blocks of pilchards for cubing? Any information would be greatly appreciated !

I havent heard anything and would be very surprised if anybody got out there during the week due to the monstrous seas,I would love to see a photo.

I agree, 20 knot SW with 14 ft waves which is forcasted is not the ideal conditions to be cubing or pulling lures in any trailer boat,Im itching to get out there at the moment but unfortunately it doesnt look good for the next few days

Scroll to the top of the page and look under the Bom oceanography tab.

Planning on heading offshore this weekend to browns as the weather looks like it might be coming right does any one know what the temp is like now or if the fin have moved in closer than where they were a fortnight ago as the last reports I heard was that were out towards Heatons Hill about a fortnight ago?

I think with the constant change of the weather and bi polar water temp its going to remain hit and miss until it settles ,this seems to be a typical Sydney summer in which we have`nt had for some time,the dolphin fish should be running thick by now but seem to be non existent beacuse of the water temp,hopefully it will come right soon!

Hi mate, We launched from Cooks river at about 4.30 am and headed for the botany bay FAD near the peak and got there at about 5.15 am conditions were a bit sloppy, set a spread of lures about 1 km before the FAD all we got was a couple of small kingis ,temp was 20.8 degrees so we head NE towards the the shelf where the temp only got up to 21.5,we got there trolled the Shelf for 3 hours for nothing,The warm water everyone seems to be talking abouit must be very wide?

Hey there mate, I grew up in a small fishing town 4 hours north of Auckland in a little place called Mangonui,When I was young i would walk down to the local wharf which was about 5minutes from where i lived and catch kingfish to 70 pound of the wharf along with John dory in the winter, Kahawai ,snapper and occasionally the odd bronze whaler. Mangonui is situated About 45mins north of the bay of Islands and has some excellent local charters that will most definitly get you into some good fish wether you want to target big snapper and monster kingfish In doubtless Bay or there is a couple of boats there that do trips to the 3 kings Islands which is 50 km`s north of Cape reinga which is the top of the North Island if you are really serious about catching some big fish,The marlin a running up there now and a day on the Middlesex banks will blow your mind.I personnaly think theres two places to fish in nz , And that is White Island out of Whakatane and the 3 kings in the far north If you want to catch that fish of a life time but anywhere along the east coast from the Bay of islands to the top of the north island you can even do landbased fishing which should produce some good kingis this time of the year , P.s take your 24 kilo if you plan on doing that,good luck and im green with envy mate. p.p.s Ive added a photo of a mornings fishing in doubtless bay about 10 mins from the boat ramp,this photo was taken about 6 years ago now but it the quality of fishing has`nt changed.

Thanks for setting me straight on that I think I might keep them for slab baits when Im back there next weekend. I got a couple of snapper as well so at least i wont go hungry.

today we went for a snapper fish down off stanwell park at the hump in addition to a good days snapper fishing we caught these massive whiting while strayling our pilchards in 40 mtrs of water,a welcome bycatch. These fish are a common catch at the moment down there for some reason.

Myself my wife and dog have been travelling to Airlie now every year now for the last 4 years , we stay up there for about 6 weeks at time we take up the boat ,camping gear and kitchen sink and stay at the seabreeze caravan park at cannonvale which is only 500mtrs from able point marina,we have got to know a few of the locals up there and have got some really good gps marks for the area llike Roseric shoals and many others. when we were up there 2months ago we caugh GTs to 50 ponud at double cones, spanish mackeral,coral trout sweetlip almost daily,this time of the year the barra are quiet but come december you can catch them off the rockwall at Able point marina,I have seen them caught there over a metre long . The Peter Faust dam which is about 40 mins drive inland from Airlie holdes some massive barra but they are no good to eat because there freshwater, but for the novice or beginner a good place to catch there first one . I cant wait to get back up there next year. Vaughn.

The best way to use them as live bait is to just hook them through the nasal passage with a 7/0 suicide , the hook up rate is probaly half but in my opinion there is no better livebait for kingfish ,i have caught kingis back in NZ over 60 pound with them and the odd big snapper as well,they generally dont last more than about 10-15 mins in the water before they are dead but in my experience they usually get smashed before then anyway. Well done getting onto some I havent caught any since I have been fishing here in the last 10 years.

We are heading out there tommorow to ,I guess it will be just a case of out there and seeing if it has dropped overnight,the reports seemed to vary from fish everywhere to not much happining I would hope that the weather gods shine some calm seas on us tommorow so that a few boats can get out and get amongst it. Fingers crossed.

Hey mate, Well im unfortunate to say that I was one of the ones that didnt catch anything out there Sunday not to say that I wasnt due to the the lack of hook ups . First hook up ,just within one mile of browns at around 10am when a striped marlin steamed through all my lures and grabbed a six inch tuna lure that had only 100kilo trace It stayed on for a few minutes before finally wearing through the trace on me, although for a couple of other surrounding boats it was certainly a good show watching it tail walk around the boat. Second hook up ,YFT on exactly the smae spot only to have it spit the hooks after 25mins . Any way I had nothing after 2 more hours from trolling and deciced to call it day ,any how it was more than a top day due the condtions and seeing that Marlin jump only to fight another day. Cheers Vaughn.

Hi there mate, Your 5.6 mtr quintex is more than ample to go to browns just make sure you do all research regarding weather ,saftey equipment, and obviously ,make sure you have enouh fuel on board,I also have a Quintrex that size and was out there sunday and I hooked a marlin on right on the top of browns only to have the trace wear through .I probaly only get out there a few times a year compared to the bigger boats but when I do I usually get on to good fish.Sunday was a perfect day for boats like ourselves 5 - 8 knot Sw winds 1mtr seas and little to no swell ,the thing is I studied the wether leading up to that day and the day after, to minimise chances of it blowing up. I carry on board epirb, vhf ,flares spare fuel ,dual deep cycle batteries,spare fuses plugs and all the neccesary tools to replace anythng if need be.I also get my outboard checked 6 montlhy although I have a brand new etec Evinrude now so I am confident with it. If your not confident in anything about going out there my advice is dont go, there are plenty of charters that are running now for Yellowfin and you can gennerally guarantee getting onto the fish with those boys as they are out there most days. Best Regards,and good luck!