Port Hacking

[monch]

Hi guys, would just like to make a 2-day report on the hacking. Get ready for a wall of words, I like to describe my day so that pros can get the details and analyse / make suggestions and also so other newbies like me can learn from them. Sorry for the people that get bored easily.. i will try and make it as interesting as possible (there are a few pictures )

I went down to my local haunt late yesterday arvo (5pm) and threw around plastics to no avail. There was also a little bit of wind which made things slightly difficult and there didn't seem to be much action around. After an hour or so it got dark and people started to leave, i then took out my squid jig and started prospecting the usual areas. The wind had died down to near non-existent but there was still some tidal movement. I got 1 rogue small squid early on and after not much action was planning to leave. However, the last couple left and i had the wharf all to myself so decided to stay abit longer.

I had noticed a school of tiny squid (the size of my yo-zuri 1.8 jig) around in the shallow weedbeds (1-2m) and tried to jig them up. They were shy and would occasionally attack the jig but their tentacles were too small to be jagged by the squid jig. I figured there should be some bigger ones around out of sight so cast out further and worked the jig across the shallows in between the lighted and shadowy areas. This worked a treat and i managed to hook a heavy weight but it didn't react in the usual squiddy-way of hitting the reverse button. Keeping the tension on and slowly reeling in, i began to think i might have tangled in some really heavy floating weed but when it came to the light, i could see that it was a massive arrow . We locked eyes and it went beserk and started shooting backwards in strong and long bursts, taking line off me. After some careful manouevering i slowly grabbed the leader and hoisted it up onto the wharf. Judging by the 30cm length of the cork handle on my rod, it would probably have a 35cm hood... yay another PB It was so big that i couldn't put the lid on my small bucket.

I quickly threw the jig back out to the previous spot and continued the fairly aggressive jigging motion (japanese squidding style ) that got the arrow previously. Not long later i manage 2 largish calamari around 22-25cm hood length (2 more PBs) and a medium sized one. Happy with the haul of the night i went home for dinner.

Had some pics of the other squid but they are blurry as i was eager to cast the jig back in the water and my hand was shaky . Also there were some fairly large splashes everywhere and i thought there might have been some bream or even jewies around but couldn't see anything and my other lures were untouched. Afterwards i met a bloke who said some of the splashes were from longtom or garfish but i didn't get a good look.

The next morning i arrived at the wharf at 7am (later than i wanted) and proceeded to cast plastics and blades. Got a hit on the blade but failed to hookup. Tried again and BANG finally i'm onto a reasonable fish (for my standards anyway). Ended up to be a 20cm+ snapper (another PB but still not legal)... back in it went. Burleyed up with bread and sent some unweighted bait down on a baitjig and managed to get a 25cm (approx) blackie. Too close to legal for comfort, back in it went, still happy with the PB tho.

Went quiet for a while then up comes a yakka... FINALLY! A few more tiny trevally and yakkas later i see some slimies but failed to get their interest. Suddenly me and another bloke spotted a large white fish swimming slowly along the bath nets. Holy moly! it must have been 60cm and was shaped like a blackie but was bright white! (Albino blackie lol?) Very sure it wasn't a ray, had a large flat tail, don't think it was a jewie cause it was white... not silver. Any ideas?

My friends arrived at the wharf later and by then the sun was well and truly up and the fish went off the bite. Eventually we spot some garfish which i called for longtom because they weren't even slightly interested in any bread. My friend was playing around with a blade and suddenly gets a hit and brings up a garfish!.... on a blade?!?! I start running out of bread trying to burley up and gain the attention of the gars but not much interest. I then put on a bit of squid and try for some more yakkas before i see a SWARM of gars... i saw 30+ but there must have been over 50 in that school... and they were following my squid bait.. no bites tho. I try again and start reeling in slowly and holy moly i hook another one! ....on squid?!?! Another gar falls victim to the blade again (once again mouth hooked, no fluke) and by now i am well and truly confused on whether they are garfish or not because i have never heard of garfish attacking lures or eating anything other than bread... but after checking pictures on the net, i'm pretty sure they are garfish. While they were alive, they were more green on top and had a red spot on the lower jaw of the beak.

Ended up getting 4 garfish and losing quite a few more from the hook not setting and also right at the wharf. Kept the garfish cause i've heard that whilst small, are good to eat. They smell kinda funny tho...quite a pungent smell that i can't describe . Any good recipes you guys can offer?

Edit: OMG just did a word count and at 1000 words this is an ESSAY!

Edited May 17, 2009 by monch

[zephi]

Nice interesting read.

Good to hear you're having some success at Port Hacking.

I went on that windy Saturday with no luck at all... I'm never gonna fish a windy day like that again lol.

I've never seen any slimies or gars around where I fish... Mostly trevs and the rare yakka.

Don't know what that white fish is....

But I've seen a wobbegong shark swim right up to that net. It was over a metre in length:1yikes:.

It was swimming in 2 foot of water.

[squid hunter]

cracker arrow squid there mate

regards

Squid Hunter

[jahajo]

Very nice inkers!!

[A.dawg]

Sounds like a nice day nice pb

I was also at the hacking today caught 1 baby squid and 12 garfish dropping 20x as much they just dont hook on probly its very frustrating

[Ray R]

G'day Monch, well that was a good read, some cracker inkers, eat one part and use the other for fresh jewie bait, and yes those little gardys do smell a bit different but they are a tasty morsel, congrats on your other captures as well..

Cheers...

[tide'n'knots]

mate that was a very interesting read! garfish are very yummy. the way I cook them is lay them on their back and open the gut cavity and roll a rolling pin down them squashing them out flat, then simply peel the backbone and stomach bones out in one piece and you end up with a nice flat piece of fish. dip them in egg roll them in breadcrumb and fry them in olive oil - delicious!!!!!

Pete.

[zephi]

kinda off-topic,but what is the best way to target these garfish?

What bait would you use to actually catch these?

Do you only target them when they are there? or do you burley them in? (what is a good burley)...

Sorry about these questions, I'm still very new to fishing around Port Hacking.

mate that was a very interesting read! garfish are very yummy. the way I cook them is lay them on their back and open the gut cavity and roll a rolling pin down them squashing them out flat, then simply peel the backbone and stomach bones out in one piece and you end up with a nice flat piece of fish. dip them in egg roll them in breadcrumb and fry them in olive oil - delicious!!!!!

Pete.

They sound so easy to prepare and cook, I had always assumed they would be full of bones like whitings.

[WANNAFISH]

Good report there mate. Garfish are good for live bait.

[monch]

kinda off-topic,but what is the best way to target these garfish?

What bait would you use to actually catch these?

Do you only target them when they are there? or do you burley them in? (what is a good burley)...

I had always thought that they eat bread and maybe small pieces of peeled prawns but i only caught mine on small squid pieces which really threw me off.

Burley i've heard bread or bran etc works. I also heard that the bait has to be close to the surface since they hang around the surface to midwater area.

I would also be interested in some ideas on how others catch them and whether squid is a common bait used to catch them (or was mine just a freak capture).