Tbft

[Lightweight]

Thought i would make a report from the weekend Trailer Boat Fishing Tournament held at Port Stephens over the WE of 18,19,20 of March.

I have never been in a fishing tournament of any sort before, so entering this i was very unsure of what to expect, i have a few friends who have been going in it for a few years and have enjoyed it from day one. They have never had a great deal of success, but enjoyed the atmosphere anyway.

Matt.P and I headed up to PS on the Thursday night for the meet and greet and to get my boat officially registered. The weather looked bad, but being the general optimist i thought it may pass and things would come good (even though the forecasters had predicted a very ordinary weekend)

We arrived at d'Albora Marina about 6pm and ten minutes after we signed in, it pissed down. That set the trend for the next three days... We headed back to our accommodation just around the corner after a few pints of Guinness to help keep up the Paddy's day tradition. From that point on that night it rained, and rained very heavy, i knew that the fishing was going to be at best... Poor.

I awoke in the morning after a 65mm downpour over night to head out and test the waters. I had never fished the Port from my boat, and didn't really have a great idea of what to expect or where to go. I just used some instinct and tried to match the spots to what i know works locally for the Bream and Lizards. We headed to Soldiers Point and up Tilligerry Ck, didn't catch a fish... Things where looking bad. We fished the rest of the day around the upper reaches and into North Arm Cove and off the back of the Boondaba (sp) for 1 - 20cm squire all day! We tried all sorts of SP's, fresh prawns and anything we could throw into the water for no luck... Just one of those days. When we got back to the ramp with the other 500 boats, the same story was every where...

Tomorrow had to bring the fish gods out and show some sign of improvement.

After a rather biggish night . And a fair bit more rain we headed off to the first of the Lucky door prize give-aways and bbq lunch. I have never seen so much fishing gear given away. There was at least 40k worth of rods, reels, and accessories drawn out. I managed to pick up a nice Lowrance H2O waterproof GPS

I put the boat in the water again at three for an afternoon session trying to land a Jewie after throwing some plastic around the banks looking for Bream... Finally i landed a few fish! During the afternoon we caught a bag of squire (none bigger than 30cm) 4 small sharks, and a bag of Squid. Nothing to put on the board though... That was the highlight of our fishing tournament, certainly nothing to brag about.

I headed off to the final draw to see if i could win something else and to see what and who had landed the biggest of the target species. The biggest bream went just under two Kilos, with 2nd and 3rd not far behind. The biggest Lizard was around the 2.5Kg mark and the Snapper where around the 9Kg mark. The winning boat for Tag and Release had 3 bills, and 2nd had 1. The biggest Jewie went 17.5Kg and the rest of the species i cannot remember... the bottom line was the fishing overall was not good! So that made most of the 1300 contenders happy that they where not alone.

All in all i had a good WE, but the fishing for me was shite! I enjoyed the atmosphere and testing out my new Stradic/Powershot, and landed my first shark in my boat.

I think i will be back next year, a little more committed and prepared.

LW

[cajun]

And some are pretty competent fishos - eh Cajun.  Can someone tell me anything different ???

37999[/snapback]

Competent?

Nope - I cant. - I've never done well there. I few reasonable flathead from the banks, a couple of whiting, and a lot of shovelnoses.

Nice place though - when it doesn't

Cheers

Ken

[djmac]

i think its more the point of that because outside fishing you can do well and you dont need to go far and its do-able from a trailerboat, that most people dont travel up there to fish inside

there would be fish there, but no one bothers to except the locals.

i did however used to catch huge bream off the rocks next to the ramp at soldiers point when i was little.

badluck in the comp mate. its a good start to realise how it all works in a comp now you can go back next year with ur experience and with more organisation you will be ready for round 2!!

[Guest madsmc]

Bad luck there LW but at least you ended up winning something

I should have given you the hotspots book before I went on holidays. Oh well, you'll have to do some more research for next year.

What did you get the squid on? Did you throw them in for a jew bait?

madsmc (Shane Carroll)

[Lightweight]

Hi Shane,

The squid where all caught on the fluro pink SureCatch Squid jigs, they worked a treat just before sunset in the weed beds near the breakwall, i am assuming they are around a fair bit.

As for the Squid as live Jewi bait, that is what is was trying, but the bloody Shovelnoses and Port Jackson sharks had better ideas and where taking the live squid almost straight away.

How did you go up the coast?? Any reports or should i just chech the Blog?

LW

[tyrone07]

Hey pedro we went up there and the squid fishing is awesome. Wish i had my tinney would of concentrated inside its a nice area. We were after l.b.g so nxt time im going 2 give the estuary a go.

[dacobra]

LW - bit of a disappointment last weekend but give it a go next year, hopefully the weather will be kinder to you. It's raining now as I write this!!!!

Pedro - I live here at PS and my front door is 60 metres from the edge of the estuary. I can't be bothered going outside, so fish inside the port from a tinny that I hand trailer down to the water. I must be doing something right as I put plenty of decent fish back and keep sufficient to feed the family. It did take me a couple of years to get the hang of things though. Mostly target bream, lizards and jew.

[Lightweight]

Thanks dacobra,

I think i will be back next year for sure, i enjoyed my time even if there was pretty bad weather and i caught stuff all. I learnt a lot and won a marine GPS, so no complaints here. It was a well organised and put together event with many prizes to be won for those that put the effort in and new the hotspots.

LW

[Guest madsmc]

LW, that's a bummer. I didn't get much fishing time on the trip north, mostly looked around trying to find the spots I'd heard about. I think I'm better prepared for a longer trip next time though.

Had a good session on Monday afternoon though. The full story is on the Newcastle fishing blog. Was hoping to go for a fish today or tomorrow before the easter hordes but the weather isn't cooperating.

There is a lot of discoloured runoff water around the harbour entrance so it might be worth a trip out on the stones one evening if this weather gets better. Have to get down to the jetty at Spears Point and pick up a few mullet. Saw a few guys out in the afternoon on Monday using live and cut mullet for jews so it might be worth a shot.

madsmc (Shane Carroll)