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fishythings

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Posts posted by fishythings

    The fish start biting

    in Fishing Reports

    Posted

    It’s been no fishing for quite some times due to the weather and new chore looking after my first grandson, but this morning I had a thought of fishing again and went to the closest spot from my place which is South Coogee.

    Arrived at 6.30am no one was fishing at the spot, which was unusual, cloudy and so windy.

    So first cast with running sinker rig and prawn I got Tarwhine 32 cm.

    Second cast, got snagged as usual at this spot, third cast got snagged again so I changed into float fishing but I got another problem as the float kept moving closer to the ledge due to the Easterly wind.

    No choice and back botom fishing using running sinker.

    Several casts I could not feel any nibble as I got long bow line but when checked the bait was gone, it must have been taken by small fish.

    Around 8.05am something big pulled the line and within a minute I found a big Bream 34cm at the end of the line.

    As the high tide would be at 8.45am so I called it quit.

    Nothing special but at least I got a chance to feel that exciting feeling.

    Andy

    post-8176-0-36932700-1361751698_thumb.jpg

    tasmanian devils good on whiting!

    in Fishing Reports

    Posted

    WOW!! you can strip a Tassie Devil for bait? Sweet!! When next i am in Tasmania i am soooo going to fillet the road kill for bait :devil:

    Ohh and grats on the Whiting :D

    Hi Lung Fai,

    Are you kidding?

    James doesn't mean the real Tasmanian Devil for bait, but a certain shape of fishing lures called tasmanian devil, you can google it up.

    Andy

    Botany Bay - Been away but went Sunday - twas OK, eh?

    in Fishing Reports

    Posted

    I haven 't posted in a long time but when I do, I like to stretch the report into a story and every trip has it's own little story, full of wonder - ie "I wonder why I even bother sometimes" kinda wonder.

    So if you have 5 spare minutes I hope you will be entertained and possibly even glean a fact or two from my account of events.

    I hadn’t wet a line in 6 weeks and my fridge was like old mother hubbard’s proverbial cupboard.

    I had even stooped as low as buying fish.

    Yes I hung my head in shame as I parted with cash for fish so I at least made sure the fish were of a species I couldn’t catch myself.

    Now I know some of you are thinking that I could have bought any fish in the shop because I can’t catch anything…

    Well at least some of you CAN think because some of the guys with whom I crossed swords over the weekend certainly couldn’t…

    I had to fish on idiot Sunday because I couldn’t get my sorry butt organised on Saturday.

    The 6 weeks of laying up due to unimportant famly events, ridiculous no-fishing-allowed holidays and frivolous parties for relatives had left me without any time to perform important fishing activities.

    During that 6 weeks, things got a bit rusty – literally. The brake pads on the starboard forward trailer wheel had rusted against the brake disc. Unbeknownst to me at 5:00am, I revved the car like a dragster but the trailer only moved 300mm forward, to the tune of a screeching trailer tyre.

    I thought I had left the trailer brake on but I never use such complicated contraptions so I was left scratching my head - then again, I can't say that the brain is firing on all 2 cylinders at 5:00am either, coz at that time I'm still dreaming of Jeannie.

    The trailer was being dragged unceremoniously forward, leaving the blackest skidmark on white concrete that I have seen since I was a pimply teenager in my first car. Back in those days, my mates and I would annoy each other by taking our respective car to each others driveway and try our hardest to blacken their driveway with burnout marks – a hard task when we had muscle cars holden camiras and datsun 120y’s......ah the good old days...

    Well back to fixing my seized trailer tyre, I had to squirt about a litre of CRC onto the disk pads and apply a little persuasion with a hammer and bolster - just the thing we like to do for our neighbours in the wee hours. So at 5:15 am I was ready to roll - well the trailer wheels were anyway..

    Now if I could just remember how to reverse the boat - I checked that I was straight but couldn't see properly. The solar powered ramp lights rarely work so I had to get out of the car. As I did the car slowly rolled backwards into the water. First the trailer wouldn't move when I wanted it to, now it moves when I don't want it to!

    Ah yes - the car was still in reverse albeit with the park brake on - well sort of on...I Dive into the car and put it in park - just as well I was alone at the ramp else there would have been a chorus of laughter with me be taking centre stage.

    The river water temp was 25.5 degrees as I peered into the silhouetted water ahead of the boat, in case a floating tree, a small unlit tinny or other debris was in my path after the recent rains. Now the night before, I consulted my historical spreadsheets to tell me where I should fish today. They said to fish the deeper water after rain with smellier baits.

    For those of you that find it hard to extract important info from fishing reports, this is important (well from my experience anyways). Fresh water floats over saltwater because it is less dense. The shallow areas will have more fresh water than salt and I find the fish will move into deeper water to get cleaner salt water. I didn't say clean, but cleaner water.

    I stopped the boat in 4.0m of water and I didn't get the second rod out when the first went off. Over the next 90 minutes I kept 8 bream from 28cm to 35cm and released another dozen just legals but the moral of the story is that the fish were there. I was getting ready to move spots when one of the rods bent over slightly and line slowly trickled off the baitrunner. I gave it some line and struck.

    I felt good weight and a couple of headshakes. I thought it would be a big banjo or shovelnose as I have caught more than my fair share. It went for a bit of a run and as I pulled it in, it stayed deep. Definately a banjo so I gave it a bit of stick. In the discoloured water I couldn't see deeper than half a metre and the low light didn't help either. I also realised that the fish had wrapped up another rod and the braids were wrapped. I called out Stupid Banjo, just the way Homer Simpson would have. The fish came to the surface and I nearly fell over. It thrashed it's head side to side. With catlike reflexes I gave the big lizard some slack so her teeth don't cut the 6lb trace. Miraculously the fish was still attached.

    I fumbled for the toy net I use and tried to net her from the tail end. She just swims away and takes more line. Meanwhile I can hear another rod screaming behind me – sorry that one will have to wait. The lizard is slowly coaxed back to the net but the tangled other rod is preventing me from turning her head toward the net – crap –what to do – rod in one hand, net in another and I need another two hands to cut the braid on the other rod. I'm stuck between a rod and a hard fish.

    I then had to invent a new netting angle that involved some kind of over-the-top backhand reverse slanted approach angle with some topspin to try to net her from the head. After a few failed attempts, I replaced the topspin with a slicing action and she swam into the net. I quickly realised that a lot of her tail was out of the net but I gave the heave-ho and hauled her on board....

    I gave myself a high five (not a pretty sight as I nearly went overboard) and put her on the brag mat. She went 75cm and a PB for me. Last legal flattie I caught was years ago as I don't target them but my 6 year old daughter has been pestering me for flathead. She ignores my bream and whiting, pushing them aside to see if I got any flatties. Well this time I'm gonna scare her with this croc !

    I put her in the esky (the fish, not the daughter) with the bream as another boat drifted by. The other boat was a good 10m from me and promptly picked up two of my lines with their lines and outboard leg....

    I attempted to tell them how intelligent they were but my expletives vocabulary had suddenly gone offline – I was too happy about my capture to say anything negative...It was a weird feeling....I moved onto the next spot with a smile and waved to the offending boat as if they just did me a favour - man I was losing it....

    Moving further downcurrent, I moved about 500m and redeployed. The bream were here as well but these fish were a bit bigger and fewer throwbacks. I stayed there for a while but I was itching to know if there were in fact any fish in the shallows, so I moved into 1m of water.

    No sooner had I deployed the 3rd rod when yet another fruitcake drifted by me a good 8m away. He nearly picked up my anchor rope but did manage to snare two of my lines...After our lines were again detangled, I realised that I was still smiling from the flattie earlier on...I thought to myself, "This smiling will have to stop – people will thing I'm the Joker from Batman or something....actually more like fatman really..." but the point was, there were no bites in the shallows – the fish were in the deeper water...so back to the deeps I went.

    I noticed the wind shifted to the south and a change was expected. The VHF radio began to chatter about the expected southerly to be due at midday but I knew it was due before that in the bay. As the wind gathered strength, the fishing slowed down and the boats all made a bee-line to the ramps. I stayed until midday in the rough but the fish had shut down – unusual – they usually pick up.

    The tally was 17 bream, 3 whiting and that big flattie. I was sure it had Trung's name on it somewhere. It was a satisfying ride home as the bow threw spray over the windshield. I had finally caught a decent flattie for my daughter. Back at the ramp the usual MENSA convention was in full swing and I had to wait until each members deliberations had completed before I could retrieve my boat. No matter. If I have enough patience to wait for a stupid fish to bite, I can have enough patience for an even stupider boatie to finish using the boat ramp.

    When I finally got home and the daughter asked "Daddy did you get me a flat-head?". I replied with a certain tone of voice, kinda like Elvis says "a-ha baby – yeah". When she went over to the killbox, and she looked inside, she let out a little scream – half in terror, half in surprise, and half in excitement. Little kids always give you three halves don't they ?

    Well after 36 questions about the fish and how I caught it, I'm now convinced that she will be my decky in future, not my 11 year old son....Genetics is a funny thing...

    Tony

    PS - Some piccies of the action and the food aftermath...

    I would be the world's worst photographer but the point was I made a fish soup from the flathead frame (Greek style) and fried up the rest of the skinned, filleted and deboned fish that fed us all and had enough for mum and dad's lunch the next day...A decent flattie goes a long way...

    ..having trouble with uploading some piccies - might have to do the rest in the morning...

    I always love reading your fishing report; Ah no, it was a novel.

    Andy

    what species please?

    in The Aquarium

    Posted

    can someone tell me what this is called please?

    Some type of cod or groper?

    My bro caught it in the bay last week.

    The wind was blowing a bit to hard and it was getting rough so we headed in.

    Right near the foreshaw rd ramp there was heaps of tailor busting up the surface so we decided to stop and have a quick go at them.

    They were a bit of fun on light gear and HB's.

    There seems to be a few species in that area, small stuff but we caught bream, reds, sweep, tailor and the thing pictured.

    On and around the ramp theres heaps of blackfish and some monster mullet, shame its no fishing.

    642732982_o.jpg

    That is a Wirrah

    Andy

    First time fishing from a boat, Port Hacking

    in Catch Brag Board

    Posted

    As the title says, it was my first time out on a boat fishing. My girlfriend bought us two spots on a fishing charter that was touring port hacking, I managed to get myself a Maori Wrasse & another silvery looking thing, the name eludes me right now. Woops! Also while trolling from spot to spot a Kingfish & Bonito were hooked. Woulda been great to get a pic and claim it !

    While I was stoked at getting the two fish, it didn't seem like I did anything other than drop a hook into the ocean and wait for a bite. The captain just took us to where the fish were and we all went at it.

    Congratulations Phil, that's the Wrasse your girl friend likes most.

    Andy

    Adopt a learner - Phil / Eastern suburbs

    in Adopt a Learner

    Posted

    My girlfriend and I are looking to meet some other fisherfolk, hopefully some that wouldn't mind showing us a technique or two. More than happy to chip in for bait/fuel/etc, throw some beers and some pleasant conversation in as well. We mainly fish around the eastern suburbs but we have a car and are happy to drive.

    Hi Phil,

    PM sent,

    Andy

    Wind :/

    in Fishing Chat

    Posted

    was feeling pretty keen for a fish but after seeing the forecast on wind think il have to give it a miss. Doesnt seem very bad at home though hhhhhh.

    Me too, but I just checked the seabreeze Little Bay the wind and gust are flat.

    My first SQUID

    in Fishing Reports

    Posted

    Research done by Tokyo University on behalf of Asahi Beer Co. Ltd has proven that drinking beer while squdding results in a 73.8% increased haul.

    But when you get drunk the squid will pull you out into the water, ha ha

    Fishing in Indonesia

    in Fishing Chat

    Posted

    Lastly, I will be flying Garuda, does anyone know if I can take fishing reels on the plane in my carry on luggage?

    Hi Ben,

    You'd better try to get the information about it from the Garuda office on Hunter street Sydney.

    Let me know how you went and good luck.

    Andy

    Big Pigs in the Suds

    in Fishing Reports

    Posted

    Hi mate, it is interesting and your theory does make sense, but to find such a spot like yours is not that easy. Good on you mate in such a bad weather you still catch some big fish.Looking forward to the pictures.

    Cheers,Andy

    Black Drummer/Rock Blackfish

    in Fishing Reports

    Posted

    Haven't been fishing for quite sometime due to the bad weather and flat sea, but this morning looked promising, so I went to my favourite spot and started fishing from 7.30 am as the high tide would be at 9.00am.

    For half an hour fishing I could feel a lot of enquiries from small fishes only, so I changed my location and dropped my tackle closer to the cliff ledge. In a minute I could feel something big pulling out the line and trying to go deeper and closer to the ledge. At that stage I was pretty sure that a big drummer was on the other side of my line so I tried to hold him from pulling the line by tightening the drag and used my floppy rod as a cushion to tire him out for a few minutes until he didn't pull the line as frequent and strong as before and then I pumped and wound my Blackfish tackle until some stage that I felt the fish kept kicking but didn't pull the line which meant it was lifted from the water. But now I couldn't crank my reel as it was too big for my reel to do it and I could not get closer to the ledge for safety reason. So I asked a fisho fishing next to me to pull the line for me while I was winding the reel and in a few second I managed to lift this beautiful Rock tank off the cliff. That is a friend for, thanks mate.

    It was worth fishing in freezing Winter morning to warm my body up and bring home something nice for diner.

    I quit at 8.35am as I had something to do.

    Cheers,

    Andy

    post-8176-067891500 1342752344_thumb.jpg

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