Botany Bay 21st September

[suttonscurse]

Hit the Bay at 6:30 Sunday morning and tried the usual spots - Great day on the water but the fish were scarce - ended up with 4 nice Bream (biggest 39cm - looked like an up river bream with a deep bronze colouring) and about a dozen nice whiting. The whiting were taken on the flats off the sailing boat club and were caught on peeled prawn. (the bream came from my secret spot).

A few other boats out but not much talk of any fish being caught.

Cheers: Bill.

[james7]

G'day Bill. Gee, there's no pleasing some people (lol), 'cause I reckon 4 good bream and a dozen nice whiting is a great catch! Considering my average score for the Bay, you did extremely well! But then again, you sound like you know what you're doing (unlike me!)

That bream must have been fun. I have only ever caught a few around 40cm and they fight well alright! And 12 whiting! I can taste those fillets now ... mmmm.

Thanks for the report.

Cheers

Peter

[suttonscurse]

Hi Peter I will pass on a couple of tips which should improve your catch rate dramatically

a) fish as light a line as possible , for bream in the River / Bay 6lb line is sufficient (I use 6lb braid and a 4lb high quality leader)

For bream we normally use a size 4 hook (upgrade to size 2 on a run of big fish aggressively biting) - the whiting are caught on size 6 long shanked hooks

c) source local bait as fresh as possible - take the time to pump some nippers , dig some worms - try to supply the same bait that the fish would be feeding on.

d) keep moving - if you don't get a bite within 20 minutes move 200 - 300 metres until you find the fish.

e) the final tip is to buy a wire basket to grill your bream on the BBQ ( - Like you I prefer whiting fillets gently pan fried) Clean the fish - leave the head on - stuff them with onion and parsley , a sprinkle of oregano and a dash of lemon juice and olive oil - Tres Bon! You will then understand why I am morose with only catching 4 bream

regards Bill

Edited September 22, 2008 by Suttons Curse

[james7]

Thanks for the tips Bill. That BBQ bream sounds delicious! And I reckon the only way to eat whiting is filleted and lighted fried in a bit of butter, with just a touch of salt and pepper.

The main reason I haven't had much luck in the Bay is that I've usually only fished there after coming in from "outside". I haven't really tried fishing the Bay "seriously", targetting bream and whiting for example. Everything you say is correct and good advice. When I was mainly beach fishing (in my pre-boat days), I always advised newcomes to use smaller hooks and lighter lines, and of course fresh bait. Amazing how the catch rate improves.

Cheers

Peter

[Keflapod]

Hey Bill,

looks like we both have something in common - fish for bream /whiting in the bay.

Just curious, were those whiting you got red spot or sand whiting and what size?

I was out Sunday as well - I only got a couple of bream and 3 or 4 banjo sharks (which go back of course).

I use bait only - how about yourself?

The going was very tough. A fish here, one there kind of thing.

I had 17.5 degrees on the sounder - just to cross check with you, what did you register for temp?

Were you on the northern side of the bay or the southern side?

I agree that light line is the best, but when you're on any weed or rocks, light line will get busted up very regularly on the bottom. One small nick in the trace or main line and the fish will break free.

I use 10lb main and 8lb fluorocarbon trace. It gives me pretty good insurance.

Do you find the small bream hooks don't hold, or do they hold OK? The most popular sizes I've always seen is size 1 or 1/0. Anyway I'm happy to compare notes from time to time

[Salmon_Hunter]

Hit the Bay at 6:30 Sunday morning and tried the usual spots - Great day on the water but the fish were scarce - ended up with 4 nice Bream (biggest 39cm - looked like an up river bream with a deep bronze colouring) and about a dozen nice whiting. The whiting were taken on the flats off the sailing boat club and were caught on peeled prawn. (the bream came from my secret spot).

A few other boats out but not much talk of any fish being caught.

Cheers: Bill.

Sounds like a nice day out. Well done.

Just wondering if the Whiting are still the small winter variety, or if they are the fat breeding females?

[suttonscurse]

Hi guys

a) from hard experience the lighter the line the more fish you catch. Be prepared to check the leader regularly and replace if not 100%

buy good quality size 4 hooks and you won't have a problem. The couple of extra dollars in cost over the chain store cheapies is well worth it

c) the whiting were sand whiting in good condition around 29 - 30 cm. As stated we were using eating grade school green peeled prawns - about 3 baits per prawn - don't put too much bait on the size 6 long shank hook and you will acheive better hits - too much bait and they pick at it .

d) we spent the morning moving around from Captain Cook bridge up to Dolls Point / Towra. The bream were caught anchored up , the whiting whilst drifting near the top of the tide.

e) I didn't take too much notice of the water temperature ( apart from when I launched the boat at 6am -the water was reasonably refreshing on my feet) - However it was a great day to be out messing around in a boat.

regards Bill

[love2fish]

Planning a bream and whiting attack on sunday ,but i still think its a touch to early for those specimens,i think flathead across brighton beach is the go according to 2ky fishing reports saturday morning .