King slayer Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 (edited) Hi all, I decided to take a protest pubic holiday today, so me and a mate (Brett) went for a rock fish at north head. The initial target was snapper, since the rough waters had just calmed. Brett ended up with one under size fairly soon after sunrise, but that was it. I tried targeting kings but we had no livies and poppers were not doing it, nor were stick baits. We made the call to climb out of there, find some livies and try a likely spot a few beaches north where we have seen some big kings lately. Got 8 yakkas and headed off around 12 ish via Bretts place for a few tinnies. A couple of whoppers were following Bretts popper in one spot so we threw our livies out there. After some waiting my rod goes off and I spot a rat king on the end. I would normally curse at this but I have never managed a king off the rocks, having only tried a few times, so I was pretty excited. What came next was far more exciting though....The Rat was followed to the surface, not three meters from the rocks by a school of what can only be descibed as Hoodlums! A few over a meter at least and there were 10-12 of these. Some how the smallest one had taken my bait..typical.. Anyhow I kept him in the water for a bit but Brett had no luck on the followers. As I was getting ready to throw the fish back after landing him (my first off the rocks, a proud moment ), he jumped out of my hands into a crevice! While trying to save him, Brett calls out WATCH OUT! and I scrambled up high as a big wave rolled up, freeing the fish, and also my rod and reel into the drink! I threw out the popper and luckily managed to hook it back in, but that wasn't the end of the trouble........The same wave had knocked all our gear of the rocks and was floating in a rock pool behind! We could only laugh. As I retrieved my bag with phone etc all soaked and picked my jig heads etc out of the bottom of the pool I found some other peoples tackle there too! so it looks like we're not the only idiots . Oh yeah and we caught a longtom, about 50cm, not by hook, he got his beak caught in my braid! Another guy set up there ten minutes later and before we had time to warn him, his gear was floating too. It was then time to give up as the livies were gone and the kingies still being aloof. Next time those fish will have live squid in their face and lets see the hoodlums resist that ay! Cheers Raiders Edited April 27, 2009 by King slayer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregr2 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 (edited) Sounds like an interesting day... at least your all safe and able to laugh about it. Had a similar loss of gear couple of years back except my big white bucket spewed its contents including car keys, wallet, phone, smokes and tackle over a rock ledge into the drink. Can laugh now but was not real funny at the time. Edited April 27, 2009 by moonset Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tan the fisherman Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Nice report mate - Shame you didnt hook up to one of those kingies Always watch the surf and be aware of where you mate is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humesy Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Fine effort dave. The swell came up very sharply today at about 11.00. Good on you for taking the day off. How unaustralian was it that we (most of us) had to work today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King slayer Posted April 27, 2009 Author Share Posted April 27, 2009 Sounds like a stupid day to be off the rocks mate. You should check the weather and sea conditions and then sit there on a higher ledge and watch the ledge u plan to fish for atleast 30 mins b4 setting up there. When u do its always advisable to set up ur gear well away from water level and nearby rock ledges. Always keep ur eyes on the sea and keep an eye out for intertidal rocks and ledges... These tend to be the slipperiest (is that even such a word?). Never turn ur back on the sea in any case! I was planning to call brett today but got caught up at work. Great to hear u guys walked away with a story to tell. Never under estimate mother nature. That story could have been very different. Glad u guys are ok, shame about the kings! They can be the best fishing experience, and sumtimes the most frustrating! Better luck next time Musty Hi Musty, Swell prediction was much smaller than what came up, and it was calm and flat all day till then. Still, we are a little green and still have lessons to learn. We are generally quite safety conscious and one of us will watch the water if the other can't etc. Don't want to end up like those guys the other day.... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen801 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Hi dave, Geez mate you certainly put some time in on the fishing. I had a bad experience rock fishing early in my career and have given it a miss since. Glad you hooked up to a first and that in the end you didnt get hurt. Shame about the phone man thats a pain in the proverbial. I am going out wednesday night and try and pick up some low tide squid and then see if any jew can be caught brfore freezing solid. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooklineandsinker Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 Hi all, I decided to take a protest pubic holiday today, so me and a mate (Brett) went for a rock fish at north head. The initial target was snapper, since the rough waters had just calmed. Brett ended up with one under size fairly soon after sunrise, but that was it. I tried targeting kings but we had no livies and poppers were not doing it, nor were stick baits. We made the call to climb out of there, find some livies and try a likely spot a few beaches north where we have seen some big kings lately. Got 8 yakkas and headed off around 12 ish via Bretts place for a few tinnies. A couple of whoppers were following Bretts popper in one spot so we threw our livies out there. After some waiting my rod goes off and I spot a rat king on the end. I would normally curse at this but I have never managed a king off the rocks, having only tried a few times, so I was pretty excited. What came next was far more exciting though....The Rat was followed to the surface, not three meters from the rocks by a school of what can only be descibed as Hoodlums! A few over a meter at least and there were 10-12 of these. Some how the smallest one had taken my bait..typical.. Anyhow I kept him in the water for a bit but Brett had no luck on the followers. As I was getting ready to throw the fish back after landing him (my first off the rocks, a proud moment ), he jumped out of my hands into a crevice! While trying to save him, Brett calls out WATCH OUT! and I scrambled up high as a big wave rolled up, freeing the fish, and also my rod and reel into the drink! I threw out the popper and luckily managed to hook it back in, but that wasn't the end of the trouble........The same wave had knocked all our gear of the rocks and was floating in a rock pool behind! We could only laugh. As I retrieved my bag with phone etc all soaked and picked my jig heads etc out of the bottom of the pool I found some other peoples tackle there too! so it looks like we're not the only idiots . Oh yeah and we caught a longtom, about 50cm, not by hook, he got his beak caught in my braid! Another guy set up there ten minutes later and before we had time to warn him, his gear was floating too. It was then time to give up as the livies were gone and the kingies still being aloof. Next time those fish will have live squid in their face and lets see the hoodlums resist that ay! Cheers Raiders sounds like a great day off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 The rocks always manage to surprise even the most experienced rock fishos and the tinnies should be for afters on the rocks boys...at least there werte two of you!....glad you're OK and as they say..... 'what doesn't kill you willl only make you stronger (smarter)'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 Interesting little protest day Dave... After all that and only a few fish to show, I can picture you and Brett now sitting back high and dry in decks chairs having a well prepared jewfish session with rod holders and gum boots on for casting purposes on one of the northern beaches up there.....Besides the nice hose down and back pedal you and Brett were subject to on the northern suburbs rocks, I am quite surprised there wasn't any mention of spray on your polaroids.... Sea spray on your glasses on some of the more affluant northern beaches can develop into a total disaster when fishing up there at night and can even effect the quality of your catch and in my experience can even result in driving into MacDonalds after a successful night and finding a big pile of dog droppings on your break pedal just as the cashier passes you the hot frys and big macs. Cheers jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckytom Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Good report mate, Rocks always give us a hard time, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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