Me Vs Swansea, Round 2

[knight76]

I rocked up on Saturday morning at about 5am and started fishing. I was fishing from a boat dock behind the Swansea RSL.

I was debuting my new bream rod. A shimano rod and reel combo I bought from BCF earlier in the week. The new reel felt infinitely better than the old rod I was using.

Rigged with 4kg mono line all the way to hook.

Nothing much happening early on but as the tide came in the bites came. Soon every cast was getting plenty of bites and then I caught something.

The damn thing looked weird colored, had no scales, had a big weird prong on its head. I had no idea on size or bag limit so I threw it back. It was a leather jacket. Does anyone eat them?

After that, I caught another 4 bream but all were too small. I think the largest was about 18cm.

This was using thawed, servo bought prawns.

So now for question time:

I was using light sinkers and the tide was running in fairly quickly. Should I be using a heavier sinker to get the bait to the bottom faster or be happy to let it float down stream quickly.

Also, as I kept catching under sized fish, are they generally at the bottom and thus my sinker was getting my bait to them, or just my bad luck?

And, what is your tactic when getting bites, do you just let the fish hook itself, do you jag the rod up timing it with a bite to snag em, or wait for them to take it in their mouth and swim for a sec then jag?

Even though I didn't take home a fish, I really enjoyed the fishing. Watching the sun rise over the horizon. Chatting to some locals who strolled up to ask how it was going. Actually catching some fish not like last time lol.

Also, i didn't lose any hooks other than one snag. Where as last weekend, I lost several hooks when I had fish on the line. Which I am putting down to my bad knot tying. But I am tying better knots now.

Anyway, stay safe everyone and happy fishing.

Oh, and the obligatory where I was pic.

Edited April 25, 2009 by knight76

[diver1]

yep, leather jacket are pretty good eating.

[jamesds]

The last few times I'd been hunting for bream in middle harbour there was this fan-bellied leather jacket that kept taking my bait but not getting hooked. The last time I went, I though right - I'm gonna get you out of the water so I can actually get some bream!

So I switched to a small long-shank hook and a small piece of prawn and got him. Wasn't bad eating either! Although you'll need to make sure your fillet knife is sharp - their skin is really tough to get through, but the fish inside is nice.

Watch out for the barb too. I just snipped it off with pliers before I left the spot. On some species of leatherjackets, there are small barbs near the tail too - not sure if they sting or not, so just be careful.

[diver1]

very easy to get skin off , you just make a small nick near the tail with your knife and peel the skin off, once started it comes off very easy , chop head off, gut it and cook him up, one of the most simple fish to prepare and eat.

Edited April 26, 2009 by diver1

[connolly]

very easy to get skin off , you just make a small nick near the tail with your knife and peel the skin off, once started it comes off very easy , chop head off, gut it and cook him up, one of the most simple fish to prepare and eat.

Here's my 2 bobs worth on leatheries.

I reackon they taste great! I often use them as a "standby" around Sydney ie. if nothing else is biting or not so great eating fish are caught I stop in at a channel marker to pick up some "eating fish" ie leatheries.

Cleaning? Make about a 1 to 2cm cut behind the spine and rip head off and guts out in one motion. Skin them as Diver1 says or just get your thumb under the skin and slowly peel it off. I don't worry about filleting them because you can just eat one side then grab the tail and slowly pull the skelleton out hopefully in one go. Oh yeah, If you have to clean very many of them grabbing the skin wears through our skin like sandpaper which can result in red raw hands for a few days.

hooks? longshank no. 8, 10 or even 12.

Lastly they are a pest to offshore fishos because they get in to big schools and bite through traces, main line and even braid. So maybe if we catch heaps in the etuaries then we might help the offshore fishos.

Hope this helps.

Reeltired