Ron Howes

Ryder change your hook size from No. 10 sneck to No. 8 or even No. 6. I have lost a lot lately for the same reason because I picked up a pack of hooks size 10 by mistake from BCF the other day as I did not have my reading glasses on. When I was using the bigger hooks size 8 a fortnight ago I was losing a lot less fish. There is a lot of big male and female blackfish about now that have come into the harbour to spawn/breed and they are full of row, . Small hooks are not suitable for this size fish. Try the bigger hooks for yourself and see the results. The size 10's are alright for fishing the Georges River or Narabeen Lakes where there is a lot of small chats, and the fish size would be lucky to be 20cm-30cm. Howsy

Read your emails folder on the top of your screen and you will know where the best weed in Sydney is. Howsy.

Great report and there's a few envious frustrated black fishermen out there reading these reports. What I would like to know is what strength and brand of line you are using.? Are you using the No. 8 circle luderick hooks.? How high do you have to lift them and did you drop many with line breaking trying to lift them or were you fishing 3.5kg leader, are you using an alvey side cast blackfish reel and a single piece 10.5 foot or 12 foot blackfishing rod.? How did you keep them alive,? is there a pool on ledge to put fish and swimmer in to keep them alive. I have fished often at the Horseshoe and Blue Hole at behind the oil refinery at Kurnell with bobby corks with similar results, however never with bread. I had a fish today with Poobear this afternoon at the cable crossing in Harbour, however the fish were scarce with only four definite bites and 3 in the swimmer. Two were stud fish all released to catch another day. Poobear may post a pictures if inclined. Howsy

Excellent report, what a cracking session, looks like I'll have to get my beach rod out of mothballs and hit the North Entrance beach gutters again. It will be easy to pick a similar tide, phase of the moon but hard to emulate that torrid south easterly, rain and action created in the gutters by the wind. Slabs of sea mullet seems like the premier bate by your results. Did you jag any tailor or salmon as they are usually present this time of the year.? Howsy

Great report showing the Rip fires on these small drops of 0.8m, the fish are always there but with the big tides they need a push bike to catch the bait. With the slower run the burly stays in the fishing zone resulting in attracting more fish. Also you are really blessed with a wife that likes fishing. Tight lines Howsy

Welcome to the club, the thump, thump of a big darky, the adrenaline rises as the leader gets lighter. Blackfishing is a bit hit and miss but the wait is worth it. Great report as I could feel your enthusiasm. Take note of what part of the tide they bite , the height of the tide, and movement of water from high tide to low. Sometimes the run is so fast the fish need a push bike to catch the bait. This is usually the miss times. I usually excel on tides around 0.8m fall. The short handle net can be easily rectified by extending net handle with a broom stick and a roll of PVC tape. Howsy

Had an early start Sunday morning, arrived with about 2 hours of the run up to high tide, burlied heavily among the close rocks so weed would be washed out close to deep water by ferry wash where I was fishing. The burly attracted a lot of chats around 15-20cm. Then as the tide got near the top the bigger harbour blackfish came in. I started ripping into them when a young 10 year old Lebanese kid Patrick asked me what I was catching. I spent the next hour mentoring him with my rod catching and savouring the art of playing big fish on light line. Then, there he was telling his dad that he has to buy him a blackfish rod and reel and floats for next time they come fishing. I sent Patrick and his dad Joe home with five stud fish that I bled, gutted and scaled for them. They left at around 10.00am as I think Patrick had a soccer game on. Weed is starting to grow in creeks around Sandringham, enough for a handfull of quality baits. I landed another blackfish after they left that measured 43cm, the gut must of weighed half a kg. I packed up around 11 am as the tide started running hard and the fish stopped biting. I filleted this big blackfish and had it steamed in brine and lemon juice in an open pot for 10 minutes for dinner that night.. Their is nothing sweeter, the white flesh was so moist and tasty, enough for me and my wife that night. I have some photos of the fish on my new Telstra phone, but have no software on my computer to download. I don't know if I can send these by email from my phone, any suggestions? Howsy

sydneyfisher12 its Howley Park near Marina at Drummoyne. You may have to park your car a minimum of 500 yards from park as there is bugger all parking there.

Left home in the dark and arrived at the Underwater cable crossing at day break Drummoyne today. I had a bucket full of burley scrapped from rocks at Little Bay Malabar. The weed I collected was like wire from rock pools in Bay. The first cast on daybreak had my float laying flat on the surface, I retrieved and I was on, a big harbour blackfish. I continued to land fish all morning till the ferry washed my burly bucket and the 10 fish I had in the swimmer tied to it back into the drink. I lost my yellow burley bucket , but luckily I retrieved my swimmer with fish. I called it quits after this around 11.30 am as I promised my Chinese mate a feed of fish. It was one of those days were every thing goes wrong. My rubber stopper on my first rig slid through eye of float and resulted in many cast being bated without seeing float go down. I took a prawning scoop net for landing the fish and the fine netting caught the float and I had to re-rig after landing a fish. I tied a nylon stopper above rubber stopper and the line broke there when I had a big fish on and I lost my favourite float. One thing I know for sure these harbour blackfish love this wiry greenweed. I lost some big fish trying to lift them on 2kg line, snapping on the knot as my landing net handle was only 0.5 metres long and I could not reach them to swim them in. Sorry no pictures. Howsy

Nice bonding session, poppy is going to be number one. However, this was the age my grandfather used to take me up to Pickering's in his put put inboard clinker on the mouth of the Wonnie for blackfish. If you pop in to my place any time this week I have some prize fresh green weed if you are interested Bruce. Howsy

I have found that the first fish comes before you start burlying. The burly attract the schools of chats from 5cm to around 10 cm and they are around the bait in the hundreds. Sometimes you can jag one after striking out of frustration. I experienced this myself just before the big wet and with the water super clear, at Illawong on the Georges River a few weeks back. Howsy

On last Tuesday 20th March after a big storm late in the afternoon I hit Bluey's beach armed with fresh cunjevoi, sourced from rocks on southern end of beach, hoping to jag some bream in the gutter at the northern end of beach. I was using a running sinker to a swivel with a three foot trace and a long shank flathead hook. The first throw out into the boiling surf resulted in a 40 cm wide mouthed bronzy blackfish. It was nearly pure white and you could just make out the bars. I could not believe my luck, catching a blackfish on such a big hook and in the surf. The next cast resulted in another bronzy, even larger than the last one. I caught another fish just before dark around the kg mark and soon as it got dark the bites stopped. At day break the next day I hit this gutter again, however the blackfish had gone, the easterly wind had flattened the surf. I did manage to land a silver bream around 3/4 kg in 3 hours fishing. From the beach I could see an old timer blackfishing on the rocks in a gutter at he southern end of Bluey's beach. He landed about 12 blackfish in an hour between 35-45 cm and left them biting. I had my blackfishing gear, but no shoes with cleats and my wife was adamant that I was not fishing this spot without the correct gear. She won. I spoke with this chap, his name was Bill Stoop, an 82 years old who fished this spot often and he said it was excellent for drummer and he nearly always bagged out on blackfish. He offered to take me out to some of his top blackfish spots, if and when I was available. On Wednesday I sourced some greenweed in the pond beside the breakwall at Forster. While there a chap walked by with two jewfish around 12 kg that he said he caught on the start of the run out tide. I then fished the breakwall for blackfish at Forster, burlying throughout the run out tide which resulted in half a dozen chats around the 20 cm. and one 30cm sawtail sturgeon that fought like a run away train. I could see big blackfish feeding among the weeds, but they would not bite. Howsy

That fish was too beautiful to eat. I believe an aquarium may have given you a hundred dollars for that fish alive. The fish meat is white and very moist ,looks like it was cooked to perfection. I have caught them in the corner of Yarra Bay at the right near rocks on beach down from the Yarra Bay Sailing Club. I have also jagged them at Kurnell fishing the gutter to the right of the old sewerage outlet on the rising tide late in the afternoon I was using red crabs for bait chasing bream, as years ago this used to be a top bream spot fishing from late afternoon till dark. Howsy

Whiting, I used green weed that I collected from Matraville's Little Bay. My usual huants for green weed in Botany Bay and Kelso Park East Hills have been depleted by the heavy rain. However, As I work in Pomeroy St Homebush I hope to check out the Lakes and cannals behind our depot for bait before the weekend as its a long trip to get out to Matraville. Howsy

I ventured down to Oatley Point around 2pm. Very difficult to scramble over slippery rocks to get out on point, required spikes. Tide was about 2hrs into runout, water colour was slightly brown. Put 2 handfulls of burly at base of rock below point, adjusted stopper to about 1.5 metres and threw out into the run, immediately I had a down, Eased back on the rod and all I can feel is thump thump down deep, this fish certainly feels good for a river luderick. I played him out and landed him with my landing net(33cm). Each time I threw out the float rocketed under. The burley had attracted a lot of chats, but nearly every 6 throw out a bigger fish would get to the bait. I was smashed up by big fish that I suspect might have been big bream taking the weed the way they fought. I ended up with 13 fish in swimmer however I must have caught 30 from 18cm to 24 cm range as well. I took a few photos of my catch on my mobile from yesterdays and todays catch and will email them to swordfish to attach to my reports.

Had an RDO on Friday and checked out Little Bay Malabar and the back of the Coast Golf course blackfishing spots. At little bay I found a heap of beautiful green weed. I filled half a bucket and thought this should last me a fortnight if I ease up with the burley. I set the alarm for 5am saturday morning and I was fishing at Woolich at 6 am . The first drift was just as light started hitting over horizon onto water. I poured in three large handfulls of burley around my float and the next thing I saw was my float rocketing under, This fish was big , I played him for 5 minutes and just about had him beat when another fisherman Mark Lui appeared beside me with a three quarter long handled net. This chap had six attempts to land this fish which kept diving when the net was placed in its proximity. The fish finally threw the hook, however I had five minutes of an adrenalin rush. The chap was very apologetic but I was not upset because I'd had the fun. For the next hour I landed 3 more from about 34-36 cms, The fish seemed to be travellers and weren't hanging around even with plenty of burley. For six hours fishing i ended up with 6 in the swimmer and I dropped 4. Had a great day Howsy

If you are looking for green weed, I check out Kelso Park at East Hills last Monday and there was non so I ventured further up Henry Lawson drive and did a left into Deep Water Motor Boat club and found a small creek beside road and car parking area with plenty of weed. Have a good days fishing Howsy.

Lambeth Park wont be any good for blackfish in the coming days till the big fresh has cleared and the salt water returns. I went down and had a fish in the afternoon yesterday and the water was brown and not even a smell after burling heavily.

Lambeth Park has been firing on the last 3 hours of the run out on the far end of the boardwalk fishing wide in the run fishing 8-10 feet deep where the smaller ones dont congregate for months. I have often caught bream on weed in the Woronora at Pickering's near mouth. Last year I fished under Warick Farm road bridge on a King tide and every throw out I caught a bream on weed around 20cm. It was the last 3 hours of a run in tide. I know there was big blackfish there but could not get down to them. This spot must be a bream breeding nursery. Howsy

Talking about floats, the bait shops dont seem to supply a suitable design, either they are to short or they are too boyant and require too much lead, my question to you is where do you source your floats from? When in NZ if you are travelling up to the Bay of Islands check out Kerikeri lagoon beside the old store building just up to the right where the roadbridge crosses over the fresh water stream that flows into saltwater lagoon. The size of the blackfish there was unbelievable(Estimated 4-6kg) feeding on the moss on rocks below stream. When I was there in October 2 years ago I was touring and had no blackfishing gear and it was Sunday afternoon and no fishing shops were open where I would have brought a rod and reel and I was booked to fly out the next day. The locals call them Parore and are considered the undesireable like mullet as their staple diet is snapper as they are so readily available. The professionals dont net them. Also in past years when fishing the coast I used to catch the wide mouth sea blackfish after a big southerly bump, the widemouthed fish on your posted pictures so far displayed have not cropped up, do you often strke them now? When younger I used to holiday at North Stradbroke in Morton Bay and catch these sea blackfish with wide mouth at Amity breakwall where they came in in shoals to breed in August and September. Howsy.

That looks like a cracker session with the bream a bonus. Yesterday I tempted fate and fished in that heat unshaded at Clark park on the left hand point. This time I had plenty of berly. The blackfish were on from the first cast. After keeping four in swimmer, I felt woosey from the heat, when bending over and was thinking of giving it away, but kept getting bites and landing fish, so fished for the next hour I caught and release about 10. Around 11.30am I could not stand the heat any more, I photographed four I had in swimmer and released. All I was thinking about was an iced schooner glass filled with that amber liquid from Woolich Pub. There was no way I could bend over to clean these fish as I think I would have passed out. Its always the way when the fish are biting there is always an element to stop you. Today I fished Howie reserve in harbour and landed about eight stud blackfish, these were a feed I promised my family and neigbours. The fish did not have the row and white sperm sacks that were evident 8 days ago when I cleaned them. Tomorrow is another blackfishing session on the agenda. Howsy

I saw you three blokes fishing from the carpark when I arrived. I headed to the left hand point of park and fished inside the pair who were fishing the bottom . It was a big tide and I caught fish on the last hour of the run in and 3 hours of run out. Suspect if I got there earlier and berlied heavier like you chaps as I think I may have missed the best part of tide on your report.. Fishing was slow as I only had a handfull of 2 week old Botany weed and bugger all berly. I landed 5 good fish over 34 cm over a four hours session of fishing dropping three as I did not have a long handled landing net. The fish were full of row and sperm and fought hard, a great session on 2kg line and 1kg trace, plenty of adrenaline. Released all but 2. Howsy

Ben, I fished Illawong on Friday for two good blackfish around 36cm on the last hour half of the run out with 4 fish around 20-24cm. The wind was strong from the North and made fishing hard with a 30ft belly in line. Lambeth Park has good blackfish on bottom of tide but not on the weekend with jetski's, boat noise and boats anchoring with load music going thump thump for the full hour on your spot when you berly heavy and get them biting. I caught two blackfish around 37cm and thought I'm in for a cracking session. These considerates killed them dead. Each time I have gotten fish there is when there has been a lull in boat traffic and no boat noise on the bottom half of the run out tide. Weed was from Pomeroy St Homebush cannal. Howsy

Well I had an RDO on Monday and a specialist Appointment at 12pm at Kogarah and the tide was perfect light breeze for a morning session at Illawong. I arrived at 8.00 am with a bucket of premium weed from North Homebush canal. (Collect at end of Lorrane street of George street Nth Homebush. Need a grappling hook and 10m of rope.) Burlied heavily before I started my first drift, fished a little wider as the water in close was too clear. First down was a cracker. Had trouble lifting him from bottom played him right out for about 5 minutes till I slid him up the rocks and landed him. The tide had only an hour to the bottom and was 1.1m to o.7m, only 0.4m of water flow a perfect slow run out, utopia in blackfishing terms. Every cast was a perfect drift resulting in a blackfish for the following hour and a half, fish ranged from 24cm to 36 cm. I was smashed up on 4 occasions with 2kg line giving way at hook when I tried to lift them off the bottom. I was using french Mustad hooks without the offset in the shaft at eye. I believe I half hitched the greenweed on shaft below eye instead of up the line and this resulted in me losing these fish as I was letting the rod tip do all the work and I was patient in trying to work them into submission. I finished up with about 10 of the larger fish in my swimmer at about 10 am on the change of the tide with the fish still biting when I had to leave. At this spot they will bite for the first hour of the run in with the slow run. I took a photo of catch on my phone and released fish. I have picture of catch on my phone and will ask mrsswordfish to post for me. Hope this encourages a few more of your readers to get out there and get active with your blackfishing gear Howsy

Whiting, I followed your advice on Sunday and tried Kelso Park Board walk on the far end at low tide and boat traffic dying away. My son and I got some quality blackfish around 8 from 32cm - 38 cm and left them biting. Now as my wife had prepared a 3pm barbecue and guess what thats when they started biting. We arrived home at 4pm to a sharp tongue. Earlier in the day we tried under Warick Farm Bridge on last hour of the run in and did not lose a bait. We upped camp and moved to the inlet spit of Chippingnorton lake with tide about to turn and landed a fish around 36cm with the fattest body I have ever seen in a blackfish. Once the tide turned and applying heavy burly for about 3/4 hour with not even a smell we decided to give Kelso a go. Thanks for your tip. Howsy