Fishing With The Gaffa

[humesy]

G'day,

Wouldn't you know it, school holidays have finally arrived and the weather has turned to sh*te. I was keen anyway and gave jewgaffer a ring, not just for his company but with the intention of returing a torch I have been hanging on to for a while. Hit the water around 2 to source livies while Byron made his way up from down south.

The livie mission was successful and included 1 nice big green eyed beauty and 10 or so delicious bite sized yakkas. The only down side is the proximity to a clothing optional beach which all seem to be inhabited by shifty looking blokes, skulking around looking for some sort of a good time. If there were a couple of young lasses doing the same I wouldn't have a problem with the whole caper. Anyway...will say no more.

Tried the spit for absolutely zip and then met Byron at the appointed place. We motored further up middle harbour and deployed lines for the top of the tide. Just on dark, I went to give the burley pot a good mash when I see kings, on top, at the back of the boat running through the burley trail. This got the blood pumping so lines were hauled to the top with one prime squid strip and 1 baby yakka ready to be smashed. The kings played their little game of tease the fisherman for a good 5 minutes. Nosing the yakka, sniffing the squid, all the while with me in a lather wondering what the hell I have to do. I tried a new strip, doused in squid ink and a sluggo on top to no avail. Last trick was to replace the yakka with a fresh one and throw him into the lions den hoping the panic would cause the fish to strike. Finally my new live fibre rod buckles and the 6500 is singing. It was a short fight (very impressed with the rod) that ended in complication when the fish became entangled in the live bait plumbing. He was netted but I had to reach through and cut the treble loose. Up he came at 67cm with not one but two lines/hooks in his gob. They both looked like k*mart type rigs so I bet a couple of punters are still telling the story of the one that got away.

We settled in for jewie action. Byron opted for Hawkesbury style rigs near the shore while I suspended a juicy squid head and another livie below the boat. The squid head seemed to attract the most attention and after one heavier bounce, I check the line to reveal a failed knot. This is not a good way to impress a fella with as much experience as Byron and I will take myself to the room of mirrors and teach myself the snell all over again mate.

Was pretty quiet after that and there was a distinct lack of pickers. We tried another spot for naught but another eel and a small PJ.

Very pleasant night in the end but it was very quiet after dark. Tailor were noticably absent in all locations.

Byron was keen to stay through to low tide but I had to be up early this morning and didn't get packed away until 2.00am as it was. Will have to be next time.

Cheers all

PS Byron might add a pic for those of you who prefer a visual report. I enjoy writing so if you bothered reading it all, hope it was somewhat informative/entertaining.

Edited April 18, 2008 by humesy

[arpie]

Oooh, that's a long time on the water for not a lot of action - shame the big fellas didn't come out to play! The weather would have been pretty horrible too??

Ywere out there, with your mate, giving it a go! Better luck next time .......

Cheerio

Roberta

[arkedup]

Hi Humsey

shame about the lack of fish and there is nothing worse than winding in to see it was the knot that you tied that gave way. I know the feeling!

1o points to the pair of you for braving the poor weather conditions

once the jewgaffer is out on the water he`d stay out there till the cows come home !

anyway good report and good luck to you both for next time

arked

[bolan]

Humsey, there is no need for pics when you tell a story.

(Unless the "clothing optional " beach was full of lasses!

Great report!

Cheers,

Stumpy

Now, get back to your knots!

[roosterman]

big for braving the elements guys,

i bet byron was the one to get that eel as when i fished with him he was an eel magnet ...him plenty me none

at least you got a feed of king as most are struggling to find em.....

maybe too much fresh upstream eh......

cheers......steve........

[zen801]

Hi Andrew,

Shame the action was slow.

Last night was a top night for fishing. I wanted to hit the beach but had to socialize last night instead.

I was gonna hit LR for a fish tonite but weather looks crap.

Still might brave it around 4pm if weather looks like holding for a bit.

Just want 2 hrs around high tide.

Yeah i know what you mean about the clothing optional beach. I have seen a couple of blokes nude fishing there. Given up on that spot for livies.

My advice to any people fishing the Spit late at night. DONT GET OFF THE BOAT late at night at Middle Harbour Rowers Boat jetty in Pearl Bay.

Cheers mate

Edited April 18, 2008 by zenman

[Kiwi Dan]

My advice to any people fishing the Spit late at night. DONT GET OFF THE BOAT late at night at Middle Harbour Rowers Boat jetty in Pearl Bay.

Cheers mate

i know this is going to sound stupid, and a whole heap of you are going to laugh at me but ive gotta ask.

how come mike?

Edited April 18, 2008 by Kiwi Dan

[jewgaffer]

PS Byron might add a pic for those of you who prefer a visual report. I enjoy writing so if you bothered reading it all, hope it was somewhat informative/entertaining.

....My advice to any people fishing the Spit late at night. DONT GET OFF THE BOAT late at night at Middle Harbour Rowers Boat jetty in Pearl Bay.

Cheers mate

Thanks for that advice Zenman. I had mushy dog droppings all over my brake pedal and accelerator on the drive home. Pretty high class smell, it must have come from a North Shore vitamin fed designer bulldog.

Here is my part of the Middle Harbour report and a few pics.

Andrew and his Kingfish.

Hi Everyone.

Andrew Humesy and I had another jewfish session last night, this time in Middle Harbour. We started the session around sundown. The top of the tide was around 7pm and the jew didn't come on for Humesy and myself by midnight when Andrew had to leave. We ran into kingfish during the dark of the night instead.

Being the type of night it was, our plan was to continually burley and attract anything we could to the boat and hopefully get the interest of jew.

It was very dark when kingfish appeared, and it wasn't far from the top of the tide. We hadn't given much thought to Kingfish but you can always expect a show from hardy kingfish and trevally up there for that matter when other fish have shutdown. Andrew noticed the school of Kingfish near the surface getting into the burley trail right at the back of the boat.

The burley was nicely weighted with ground up heads and fish frames, with other ingredients just floating around in the next to zero current in the area of the jew baits. We had rods out with livies, large whiting and tailor fillets from my previous session, and smaller size yellowtail and fresh squid which Andrew had gathered as well, including a large live green eye squid.

Andrew hit the middle of the Kingfish school with near everything available, including a garfish shaped soft plastic, whole squid and couldn't get a looker until he swam a tiny live yellowtail and netted a kingfish that went 67cm.

I reckon smidgeons of bait or tiny pieces of prawn pieces might well have got a lot more of those kingfish.

The school took off as soon as the first one was netted after the kingish tangled the top of the net with the live bait tank plumbing. Before all the commotion of the netted kingfish smacking its tail at the back of the boat, it looked like some of the other kingfish were trying to have a bit of fun swimming into Andrew's net as well.

Apart from that I scored two georgeous looking harbour eels and a Port Jackson shark that had a smirk on its face like something out of the goon show.

There were no other fish down deep whatsover apart from a hardy trevally, a little under legal that Andrew latched on to at sunset.

Unfortunately we had to make it a short session, and up anchor at midnight. We were unable to stay on to fish the bottom of the tide and the early am run in.

Around 11.OO pm the southerly wind changed to a mild westerly, steadying and improving the normal overnight temperature. With a change like that from the southerly over recent days and a swing back to the south again forecast, it looked promising for a midnight till dawn run in session on the jew.

Bad luck we couldn't stay on I suppose, the jew can just suddenly come out of nowhere.

Between 10pm and midnight we didn't get a proper hit despite the fact that we had attractive baits including, fresh squid heads and the one big live squid. We were fishing in the drop offs and in the 75 feet itself.

Contrary to the forecast, the south westerly turned to a square on westerly just before midnight.

As we were bringing the rods in, the conditions became very calm and the night was no longer cold, in fact it was becoming very fishy looking for jew especially with nothing else around except for the usual shutdown freaks in the pics.

In Middle Harbour, for reasons of suitabilty and longer frequency, the particular area has been proved to be fairly reliable.

No doubt the fresh stocks couldn't be bothered making the trip over the harbour to hunt food already in cover and shutdown mode, and naturally staying in areas away from all predators.

Cheers

jewgaffer

Tell you what Stumpy if you're looking for a partner in your tree removal business, one of the odd looking birds in the car park looked like he could fell a tree without using a chainsaw, if that helps.

Edited April 18, 2008 by jewgaffer

[humesy]

Cheers for the photo Byron. Well done for coaxing that cheesy smile out of me but please tell me to close my legs next time. Nobody wants to see that!

I enjoyed the session but it was a shame I couldn't show you the bounties of Middle Harbour. Happens a lot when I take friends out actually. I am quite a legend when nobody is watching! Sorry again we couldn't stay. I needed a 2 hr sleep today to catch up as it was. Arked is spot on when he says the cows will come home before you will be happy to pack away the rods. I wish I could survive on as lttle sleep as you.

Steve, you are right, I came 2nd in the eel catching comp and lets just say if we were playing pool, it would have been a pantsing.

Mike, there are some nice gutters from where I look out from at the moment. Rug up and get out there.

Stumpy, glad you enjoyed the report but i am sure there are way better websites for that type of photo.

Conditions were quite ok the whole night. Won't last too long though before the thermals come out again.

cheers

[jewgaffer]

..........I enjoyed the session but it was a shame I couldn't show you the bounties of Middle Harbour. Happens a lot when I take friends out actually......

cheers

.........

Hey Andrew Happens a lot alright that's for sure. Those landmines and booby traps along the walkway from inbred Middle Harbour bull mastifs and alsasians are all over my carpet and pedals and it's still so bad that my own dogs need to go into quarantine and on top of that they won't stop barking at my car.

jewgaffer

Next time two tide 14 hours minimum session you lead the way back to the car with a high powered torch and a walkway scraper.

[plankton]

i know this is going to sound stupid, and a whole heap of you are going to laugh at me but ive gotta ask.

how come mike?

Wait till Mike tells you about this one... had me laughing. The Nudie beach was a whole lot scarier when the military was operating and the scariest looking navy seal type looking dudes would be walking around!

[Braidbuster]

Good Report Guys !