Why Wont Blackfish Take My Weed

[johnd]

Hi,

I have always been a bottem fishing person, drifting in a tinnie and waiting for the rod to bend is my favorite pastime.

But I have always wanted to catch blackfish, so I bought the float, looked in the magazines to tell me how to rig up and bought some green weed.

Well I tried three places where I know other people catch blackfish (peir one under the bridge, near the St George Motorboat Club and even in Gunnamatta Bay, where I have seen them under the wharf), do you know what....nothing touched the baits. I tried variations to the depth I was fishing. I tried different ways of presenting the bait. I fished close in and further out.

The only time I got a 'down" was when the line snagged on kelp.

I don't want to give up but the weed will go rotten in a couple of days so I thought someone might give me some tips.

I want to catch a blackfish before my 60th birthday (6months away).

Any advice?

jd

[Guest]

If you want to catch a blackfish pm me and I will take you to the Georges River at Picnic Point and we will get you that blackfish you want so bad

Cheers Swordfisherman

P.S you can freeze your weed and it will still be ok later on ,I got some weed out of my freezer after 1yr and it was still in good condition when I gave it to my mate to use .

[Guest bluecod]

I want to catch a blackfish before my 60th birthday (6months away).

Any advice?

jd

JD to the site

I've found winter to be the best time of year for blackfish so you're in with a good chance

Use 2 ft of 4 to 6lb fluorocarbon trace, grease [Vaseline] your 8lb main line from the float stopper to the reel, make sure your float has almost neutral bouancy, start with a small hook #8 or #10 [i started with the green coloured chemically sharpened Mustad ones], don't tightly pack your weed onto the hook [the bait should look natural in the water], vary the amount of bait you use, vary the type of bait - either weed or cabbage [best cabbage I've used are streamers that feel thick and rubbery] [weed comes in a variety of colour and texture] find out what sort of weed the fish are on as it will vary greatly - some places will fish only on a rising tide and others on a falling tide - fish the eddies - use burley [mix a handful of very finely chopped bait into a bucket of damp sand and throw that out onto your float each time you cast until you start getting downs and then a handful at regular intervals]. Don't keep a tight line to the float during its drift but then again don't have lots of slack line out either [about 12" of slack line is all you want], keep your rod tip down almost at water level until you strike. If you're getting downs but not hooking up, vary the amount of time between the down and when you strike. Take some time out to watch the successful blokes and try and find a talkative one and if he's doing something that you don't understand, ask him why

Frustrating as all hell when you're starting out but once you get the knack, you rarely go home without a feed. I spent hours just watching the regulars at a north cast breakwall until I gave it a shot myself, then many more hours spent fishing that same wall with the oldtimers [to their amusement] - it all came together for me at a different spot a couple of hundred kilometres away as one of the guns at that location was happy to give me some tips, but the next time I went back to fish with the oldtimers they didn't chuckle anymore as they were flat out keeping up with my catch rate. Jeez it felt good when they almost choked when I was releasing fish they felt were good enough to keep.