First Downrigger Run In Syd Harbour

[roosterman]

Hi Guys,

Well the much anticipated first session with the new downriggers was on sunday morning...

hit the spit for squid around midnight sat night and got plenty to do us and also half dozen yakkas...

had an issue with boat motor and finnaly got her going.... thought it was battery power but was running rough..mmmm...

headed over to lighted area of spit and started some basic things.... worked out to be a failing fuel tank fitting restricting fuel lucky i had 2nd tank....... anyway off to get a few mor squid then as light started headed out to quarantine ...

when i got there saw the buoy was still missing (anyone know eta of it returning) lucky i marked it last year on gps... well there was plenty of fish on sounder and i proceded to do a trial run making a gps track and checking depths along nth head to the outa point.. there was a few nice bait balls so was really looking foreward on the return.. about 3/4 the way along there was a very very big sounding about midwater along in 20mtrs of water,there was one boat not far away and a couple other nearer the point,hope they got into some of em...i called them for salmon but only guessing as i was told there was heaps day before... well after we got to the point it was time to get to action and got a squid on the dr but was having problems and line tangled as there was a 2mtr se swell rolling... got rig back in and after about 5 min trying to undoo decided to cut braid and rety a bimini...ooooooh that funny feeling started to hit the gut... so we headed for calmer waters inside... did a few laps around the wedding cake with not alot showing on sounder ,a few small balls of yakkas.... done a troll down to neilson park then tried a couple other markers for zip.... only used one dr but was good practice... decided to soak a few baits at sow and pigs as me and my mate were still a little worse for wear but not much happening there either.was about half dozen others that didnt look like much better.... around 10 we headed into mh and set a yakka this time and trolled the edge of the marina about 5mtres down in 7 to 10 mtres water.. not much showing there either. we were both pretty knackered so headed back to roseville stopping at some morings to practice but was very quiet....

the water was like coffee from spit up river.temps ranged from 19 to 20.5..

all in all it was a good practice run with a good lesson learnt............

crawl before you walk otherwise you might crash face first... was a mistake to get out there in rollin swell trying to use dr without doingso in calm water ....

i will hopefully take my 2 little boys out for another practice run in pittwater next weekend after swimming lessons running some squid strips around the moorings.... hope others did better but weather was a cracker and my mate had a ball catching liveys.....

cheers...steve...

Edited November 12, 2007 by roosterman

[sanger]

Hey roosterman!!!! That sounds like a good start to the down rigging!!!!! Sure no fish but at least you didnt hang a weight up on the rocks and loose it!!!!! There have been some big schools of slimies around north head the last few weeks so you might have come across them too. You will start to realized pretty quickly as well that when there are kings around your sounder has a very different look to it, It gets big arcs on it rather than the thick blobs of bait schools although sometimes you will get both!

Pittwater sounds like a great idea to have a crack at next because as you said its easier to use a downrigger on flat water and i think that pittwater seems to flush out more of the murky water with middle harbour taking a few extra days and tides to get rid of it..... Not that there arent fish there still but we have always had more luck with clear water when chasing kings not the coffee stuff!!!! Give the moured boats on the east side of pittwater a good going through and i wouldnt set your bomb to much bellow 15 foot because although most of the mourings are in about 30 foot of water all through pittwatter the wrecks that are the key to fishing in there come up to about 20-17 foot of water!!! But as you did the other day good to do a recky run first in a new area!!!!

Good luck with the no2 session mate!!! the 1st fish wont be far away im sure!!!!

[gretsch]

Is the Quarrantine Buoy gone?? I haven't been out there for a while..

[netic]

Well done...getting out there and practicing is everything....im sure you will do very good this summer

[sparkles]

Lads,

I just bought a new scotty on the weekend.

It has about a 1and 1/2 boom, but I completely forgot about a hand rail that runns up the back of the transom and 3 feet from the stern of the boat on both sides.

I am just thinking of putting it diagonally out the back, or even straight out the back.

otherwise I need to mount it on something over a few inches high to get it over the hand rail and off to the side.

Anybody got a suggestion as to the pro's and cons of mounting it. I'm nervous about going out the back.

it's a stacer 525 2005 model.

better luck next time roosterman, a good recce is essential apparently if you want to keep your lead.

Arch

[sparkles]

Just did a proper search and think I am sorted.

sparks

[jewgaffer]

Good going Steve getting the downriggers ready for action so quick. As fishlexic says Pittwater is the shot.

For the excercise of getting used to them, I'd stay away from the moorings and troll in long slow runs in a straight line, not the catherine wheel round up effect, but starting where you're sure of cable clearance and I'd just about cover and slow troll the whole area longwise, keeping the Pongrass in straight lines. In the early morning I'd make the first run out from the wharf and go all the way around the corner just outside the protuding headland rocks. That's the way I'm doing some warm current thinking at the moment, like a lounge chair specialist but I do have the time with a bronchial bug again.

By the way that bloke who had your new scotty swivels for peanuts is getting some 30 inch cannon booms for me, so I'm very pleased with him, I've emailed him, must have a contact in Asia for yankee stuff it seems. We've gotta pay double that for imported stuff to cigar smoking middlemen over here, ay

Hi sparkles you can buy hi quality yankee Tommy Marine s/s rod holder units made in China now and are exactly the same as the yankee ones under a different brand name. They go on the rails and are adjustable to 360 degrees by using an Allen key and cost about $38.00 each. They also give you extra height for your downriggers by using a longer s/s male into the rod holder for mounting the downrgger base plate onto a plate welded to the rod holder insert .

I have 10 of those rod holders mounted on s/s rails on my mustang. I am going to mount a male rod holder insert into two of the rod holders with a plate welded onto the top, with bolt holes drilled to suit the Cannon downrigger base plates. I'm having a member make up two male rod holder inserts to fit my two cannons outwards from the sides of the rear gunnels and I am very grateful with that.

Better not to drill holes if you can avoid it and better not to mount them off the stern to keep the stern space clear .

Cheers

jewgaffer

[oldsalty]

Hi roosterman,

I think i saw u out there. I was the guy in the hornet with his mum who asked if "ya getting any?" u replied, " its very quiet", U were downrigging at the start of the morings heading for the spit, i think i had a white singlet on, was about 9 or 10 am. Things definately were quiet that day! Thats quite a mission getting out there at midnight, impressive.

I know what u mean with the downrigger, oneday i was trolling around the point just past quarantine and was playing with my phone and heading for the shore without knowing it, as i got closer to the shore the bomb got snagged and nearly ripped the unit off the gunnel. After afew manouvres i realised i was snagged good and could see a nice set looming up as there was a fair swell that day that was approaching to propel me into the rocks as i was allready nearly on the shore. I scambled, found some scissors, cut the wire and floored it out of there, Phew! Thank god i found those scissors.Lost a bomb but kept a boat!

[roosterman]

Thanks for the replies guys,

fishlexic i was thinking of clairville moorings, scotland island or palmy headland but would have to be very flat as my 5yr old wont like it with swell... those wrecks you mentioned... do you now gps or land marks for these... i know theres one called restaraunt somewhere ?????? thats good for kings.... i could always go and follow pete le blanc to the kingy spots .... pm me if you want to keep spot x,y,z for the chosen few as for those soundings,the one midway along was massive ball but towards quarantine looked like some bigger arches amongst /around balls .....

ceph the bouy was taken away for winter maintanance..... hope it gets back soon.... there was plenty good soundings there still....

hi netic... yeh the practice was good even though we were a little under the weather so to speak but a great day had.... ended up taking a dozen squid home for a couple of dinners so was not a total loss table wise....

sparkles you could mount your dr with swivel mounts that will raise them a bit and allow you to swivel when needed to berth boat at wharf etc...... or jewgaffers ideas sounds good too

hi jewgaffer, i think if i can scout out these wrecks and mark them for reference the trip will be worthwhile and experience of pulling dr in/out will be good... any fish will be a bonus ...

i wont be too serious as i will only have squid strips and maybe catch a couple yakkas as time will be tight with my boys on board as juniour deckies..... looking foreward to that as much as fishing......

im glad that guy was able to sort you out... seems like a good guy and $$$ cannot be beet eh.......

i may give you a buz tomorrow....... cheers steve.....

Edited November 13, 2007 by roosterman