Sydney Offshore Amature Day

[wttmrwolf]

Interesting day out on the water yesterday in our 5.2m Haines Hunter. No fish to report but a few stories to tell. Felt a bit like amateurs but it was our first offshore adventure so didn't expect too much on the fish front.

We started at Balmoral at 5:30am to catch some yakka. Boatloads of yakka but they didn't seem to be striking anything with a hook in it (squid, pilly, bread, jig). It was frustrating having hundreds within reach, only got 4 up into the live bait tank. And no, you can't catch yakka with a net

Here are the GPS marks I refer to:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&amp...mp;t=h&z=12

Headed straight out to North Head East. Nothing on the fish finder so onto the next GPS mark. NE 2 nautical miles to The Whale. There appeared to be a 8m gully about 100m wide. Threw in a yakka and soaked some pillies. No bites after 1 hour so onto the next mark.

Sydney FAD -33° 47' 1.30", +151° 22' 42.00"

No sign of the FAD but there seemed to be lots of bait fish and some larger species showing on the sonar.

Got a burley trail going and started drifting pillys into the trail. Also had the yakka's in the water.

We hooked a couple of Snooks and that was it! Lots of dolphins circling so at least there was some signs of life out there.

The real fun was occuring on our boat. The anchor got stuck 3 times and with 100m+ of rope out the back there was too much stretch in the rope to bend the pick anchor easily. The 3rd time we got the anchor stuck we managed to wrap the rope around the prop. Then the motor wouldn't start because of an air lock in the fuel line. A few tense moments and minus 1 anchor we were back underway.

The wind had picked up so it was back to north head to soak some more bait and use up the rest of our burley.

I'll attach the plot from where our anchor got stuck. Its pretty funny to see the course we had to take to get it free.

Couple of quick questions:

Where has the Sydney FAD gone?

Any tips for getting back anchors would be handy?

If there was one tip for catching fish outside what would it be?

Anyway we made if back and lived to tell the tale.

Until next time.

Edited December 10, 2008 by wttmrwolf

[DTROJAN]

gday,

sounds like you are lucky to be back on dry land. getting the rope stuck around the prop while anchored is pretty hairy not to mention dangerous. if conditions were bad we might have seen you on the 6 o clock news... thank god we didnt.

i reckon the anchor is gone for good and pulling it using the boat is an art that you can only improve with practice. a large float or bouy on the anchor rope helps keep it visible and a little further from the prop. in reguards to improving your catch try a drift with a sea anchor (drouge) sounds like it might be the safer option until you get a little more experience with the anchor. cube up over a certain drift go back and drift it again and again cubing it each time. i find it works when the fish are hard to find.

as for the fad... i think they took them out for repairs and dont know if they put em back yet ?

mate be carefull out there thats the main thing.

dont forget to log on with coast guard too, thats important.

hope you get some.

DTROJAN.

[wttmrwolf]

Thanks for all the tips Trojan. We all had a good time and learnt heaps while staying relatively safe (calm offshore conditions yesterday). Its interesting to see how different freeing an anchor can be with lots more rope out in the water. I've never had a problem in shallower water. I'll definately take your advice on the sea anchor until we can get some more practice in.

Happy fishing, thanks again for the feedback.

[dodge]

G'day Mr Wolf

Your report is like De Javu.

Me and a mate have just bought a new Tabs 5.8m runabout.

We too were at Balmoral and struggled to get livies, we too floated around 1km off North Head (for the first time) and found it hard to even stay on the bottom with our baits - let alone get a fish.

Last week we had our anchor stuck just inside north head and the stress levels definatley were heightened whilst trying to get it off!!

Maybe we can hook up some time and head out together, as we are keen to learn more, but there is often saftey in numbers when going offshore!

Good luck and pm me if you are keen to head out some time offshore.

Cheers

Dodge

[PPSGT]

You need to set a lighter trip on your anchor, that will break easily when the anchor is forced the

on the horizontal by the moving over the anchor when it gets stuck.

Your reef anchor should two eyes for connection, one is at the top the other underneath

in the centre of the picks.

Connect your chain to the bottom eye with you shackle

Run the chain along the shaft to the top of the anchor.

Buy some heavy duty cable ties from a marine shop the thicker the better

( or make a clip from very light coat hanger wire )

Connect the chain to the top eye with the cable ties, with a little bit of slack along the shaft.

Now when the anchor gets stuck, you simply motor over the anchor, break the trip and the

anchor comes up backwards

Have a supply of extra cable ties in the boat for when they break.

If the anchor is not stuck you rarely break the cable tie, as you you are pulling it up vertically

and not putting to much strain on the tie.

As soon as it is stuck the horizontal force of you driving over the stuck anchor breaks the trip.

Coat hanger wire works well, but you need to put more force on it to break, but it it

will never come undone. Use the really cheap thin ones from the dry cleaners. Cut a section

loop it around the chain and eye and put a couple of twists in it. You want it to pull apart easily

if it gets snagged

I have had the same reef anchor (touch wood) for 8 years and have snagged it badly many

times and have always got it back. (inc last Thurs at North Head, I've seen the underwater videos

its an anchor graveyard down there)

Hope this helps

Jason