james7 Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 (edited) After a quick and appreciated "Ross Special" (bacon and and egg sandwich), we headed north out of Botany Bay, trolling without any luck, despite the large number of birds everywhere. We stopped off Maroubra and drifted for a while. It was very breezy and we needed a lot of lead on to hold bottom. We moved several times and eventually I managed a few nice flatties, and Syd's mate John caught a big jacket (and you couldn't take the smile off his face either!). Syd wasn't having much luck at all, but did find a big rockcod and one flattie just before stumps. There were also heaps of undersize flatties about. On the way back to the Bay we stopped and watched some dolphins which proved a highlight for John who doesn't get out on the water often. I never get sick of seeing dolphins either. I reckon I scored the points for the day with 5 flathead, which was pleasing after Syd killed me last trip! Anyway, I noticed there was a bit of difference in weight between my two best flatties, one blue-spotted, and one dusky, despite them being the same length. Now I'll see if I can see taste any difference. I also found this little fellow in one of the flatties. I don't think it had been in there very long. Any ideas what it is? Syd's mate John seemed to really enjoy the day out on the water, but it was a shame we had to rush off because his baby daughter was sick. Anyway, it was good to catch up with a few other Raiders face to face, and it's also great to see Jewgaffer again and here's hoping he'll be out after some Jew again very soon. Cheers Peter Edited September 18, 2009 by peterS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewiehaven Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Great catch Peter, The flatties are perfect size and the Rock Cod is a nice bonus- I hear they are good eating??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray R Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Good report Pete and some top shots, some nice fish there and no banjo's for a change, was great to meet you and Syd yesterday, had a ball... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano336 Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Goood mixed bag there.... Looks like a good day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilborris Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 That little thing looks like a gurnard.Nice job on the flatties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Gun Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Great report mate, well done on the mixed bag. Cheers YG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisherman1994 Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Great read mate, looks like it was a good day on the water, that fish looks a little bit like a gurnard or a seargant baker even? Cheers, JB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james7 Posted September 15, 2009 Author Share Posted September 15, 2009 Great catch Peter,The flatties are perfect size and the Rock Cod is a nice bonus- I hear they are good eating??? G'day Anthony. You're right, flatties 45-50cm are just about the perfect size to eat, which is lucky for me because I don't catch many over 50cm! . As for rock cod, I think they're great to eat, but they have to be big enough to get a decent fillet. When Syd caught this one, his mate John got real excited and had talked Syd into letting him take it home before it was even on board! He loves 'em! When I get a rock cod, I usually fry the fillets with a little bit of ginger. Tastes great to me. However, I wouldn't mind trying some other cooking suggestions for rock cod, so if you have any ideas ... Cheers Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodyboarder Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Great catch Peter, The flatties are perfect size and the Rock Cod is a nice bonus- I hear they are good eating??? Yeah I heard them refered to as "poor man lobster"... The only time I've caught one big enough to eat was well before I would have considered eating them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rednet Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 Greats shots, looks like a great day out. Congrats on the catch and feed. When i first started fishing i caught a deep sea perch, it was red and spiky. Wasnt even game enough to touch the thing, quickly released it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 nice catch! i reckon that little thing is a baby rock cale or possibly a sergent baker. pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 (edited) Hi Peter.....Good to catch up with you and Syd after the social..... good work going outside and getting your regular take home flathead as usual .....You would have noticed the golf course site screen near the edge of the grass at Malabar cliff face on the way to Maroubra, were birds working that area Peter? Actually it doesn't matter much if there weren't any birds there at all, larger kingfish hang down deep on the ledges there ..I did a session around there with one of our members, Barker in August the year before last.... Barker and I went down there from the Hacking during a mild north easterly with a run in tide about three quarters of the way up in the middle of the afternoon.........there are ledges about 80 to 200 metres out from where you see the site screen stand, and this time of year usually has hoodlum size kingfish and also the peak's schools come in during north easterllies and run in tides.....finished up with several kingfish that day and it was interesting to note that the schools didn't arrive in the bay until much later in the spring....that area has held good size kingfish all year round in the past.....trolling weighted squid is the go or better still using downriggers around the ledges in slow wide spriral trolls a couple of metres over the ledges going off your sounder ....that area and wide of yellow rock and off Coogee thru to Lurline Bay cliffs used to work all year round, same circumstances best- nor easterlys and run in tides brought the baitfish in close...Lurline cliff face and yellow rock were often blanketted with yellow tail..... BTW Pete Had my two cannon downriggers installed on the Savage by Geoff on Saturday so I'm one track minded at the moment and keen to go out downrigging left, right and centre, even thinking about downrigging for blackfish ....everything else is looking real good except that kingfish are denied entry at my place..... Cheers jewgaffer Edited September 16, 2009 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorms Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Hi Peter.....Good to catch up with you and Syd after the social..... good work going outside and getting your regular take home flathead as usual .....You would have noticed the golf course site screen near the edge of the grass at Malabar cliff face on the way to Maroubra, were birds working that area Peter? Actually it doesn't matter much if there weren't any birds there at all, larger kingfish hang down deep on the ledges there ..I did a session around there with one of our members, Barker in August the year before last.... Barker and I went down there from the Hacking during a mild north easterly with a run in tide about three quarters of the way up in the middle of the afternoon.........there are ledges about 80 to 200 metres out from where you see the site screen stand, and this time of year usually has hoodlum size kingfish and also the peak's schools come in during north easterllies and run in tides.....finished up with several kingfish that day and it was interesting to note that the schools didn't arrive in the bay until much later in the spring....that area has held good size kingfish all year round in the past.....trolling weighted squid is the go or better still using downriggers around the ledges in slow wide spriral trolls a couple of metres over the ledges going off your sounder ....that area and wide of yellow rock and off Coogee thru to Lurline Bay cliffs used to work all year round, same circumstances best- nor easterlys and run in tides brought the baitfish in close...Lurline cliff face and yellow rock were often blanketted with yellow tail..... BTW Pete Had my two cannon downriggers installed on the Savage by Geoff on Saturday so I'm one track minded at the moment and keen to go out downrigging left, right and centre, even thinking about downrigging for blackfish ....everything else is looking real good except that kingfish are denied entry at my place..... Cheers jewgaffer Hey Jewgaffer, You looked into the dual downrigger thing? Ive bought 2 for my boat, thought i keep getting told they will get tangled up. I thought with the baits at 2 different depths and lenghts from the boat, you shouldnt have a problem. Im still going to fit both of them, but any tips you've heard? cheers Gorms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 (edited) Hi Gorms you can either angle your two downriggers at 45 degrees out from the side gunnels near the corners of the stern or if there is a need to mount them square off the stern , mount them as far apart as you can..... just make sure that the boom is long enough for the cables to clear the motor and keep your eyes on whichever cable gets pulled in towards the motor during sharp turns until you get used to them..... if you rig a factory made line release clip and cable directly off the back of the bomb, i.e pointing away from the boat, that's fine but you can make up your own line release clips by making up an appropriate length of heavy mono or stiff leader material and have a swivel and a snap at both ends.....doing this will allow you and your friends to use more rods on the one downrigger and have your baits at varying depths...that way helps you to find out where the fish are holding after a strike.... In this instance, work out your various depths before you let the bomb down and vary the unweighted casting distance or the amount of line you let out so that you can stagger the distance to position the bait that's on each rod that you add and so that you can run the baits at various depths..... you can let the shallowest bait out 50 metres or more if you like so that it's well behind the wake of your boat while trolling slowly......the main lines of the other rods can be secured to each snap swivel using an elastic band---simply determine the depth where you want each bait to be after you drop or cast it out and quickly hold an elastic band parallel to the line and make three or four wraps around the line with one of the loops, place the unturned loop thru the turned loop, tighten up, and clip the end of the resultant loop to the swivel snap on the rig you made, then slowly release the bomb so that it takes the lowest bait down to the depth you've chosen... Use say 100lb mono to keep the line stiff in between the swivel snaps that are attached to the loop of the elastic band which you've attached to the main line of each rod...... Hope this helps. Cheers jewgaffer Edited September 17, 2009 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorms Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Hi Gorms you can either angle your two downriggers at 45 degrees out from the side gunnels near the corners of the stern or if there is a need to mount them square off the stern , mount them as far apart as you can..... just make sure that the boom is long enough for the cables to clear the motor and keep your eyes on whichever cable gets pulled in towards the motor during sharp turns until you get used to them..... if you rig a factory made line release clip and cable directly off the back of the bomb, i.e pointing away from the boat, that's fine but you can make up your own line release clips by making up an appropriate length of heavy mono or stiff leader material and have a swivel and a snap at both ends.....doing this will allow you and your friends to use more rods on the one downrigger and have your baits at varying depths...that way helps you to find out where the fish are holding after a strike.... In this instance, work out your various depths before you let the bomb down and vary the unweighted casting distance or the amount of line you let out so that you can stagger the distance to position the bait that's on each rod that you add and so that you can run the baits at various depths..... you can let the shallowest bait out 50 metres or more if you like so that it's well behind the wake of your boat while trolling slowly......the main lines of the other rods can be secured to each snap swivel using an elastic band---simply determine the depth where you want each bait to be after you drop or cast it out and quickly hold an elastic band parallel to the line and make three or four wraps around the line with one of the loops, place the unturned loop thru the turned loop, tighten up, and clip the end of the resultant loop to the swivel snap on the rig you made, then slowly release the bomb so that it takes the lowest bait down to the depth you've chosen... Use say 100lb mono to keep the line stiff in between the swivel snaps that are attached to the loop of the elastic band which you've attached to the main line of each rod...... Hope this helps. Cheers jewgaffer mate sounds good. I might stick to a rod each rigger but will take on board the positioning. If your running the scotty 1050, do you, or anyone reading have total faith in the rod holders attached? Are they in risk of loosing your rod and reel on hook up? Thanks again for your post Cheers Gorms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewgaffer Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 (edited) .....If your running the scotty 1050, do you, or anyone reading have total faith in the rod holders attached?... Cheers Gorms I only use the rod holder supplied with my Cannon downriggers for temporary rod storage and while baiting up and clipping the line on etc, and place the rod in the closest rod holder in the boat when I'm actually fishing.....It's a good idea to use lanyards to secure your rods and your downriggers as well and some people go as far as using a sacrificial bomb in case the bomb get's snagged..... Cheers jewgaffer Edited September 17, 2009 by jewgaffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Nice session Peter. I'll have to give the Rock Cod a go... the one's I've been catching up here on the Gold Coast seem to be a bit bigger on average than the ones I used to catch around Sydney but I've always just put them back. Might need armored gloves for cleaning them though Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saltrix Posted September 18, 2009 Share Posted September 18, 2009 (edited) Your "Dusky Flathead" I think is a Marbled Flathead. The dusky usually has only a couple of bars but this can vary vastly, whereas the marbled has 7 bands consistanly. The marbled flathead also has a thin white border on the caudal, anal and ventral fins. It is also a bit stockier and generally caught on the offshore reefs and gravel. The dusky is more common in the estuaries although there is some overlap. The caudal or tail fin is the decider as the dusky's is dark on the botom half and spotted on the top half, while on the marbled it is more uniform with the white rim. There is a different legal size for dusky (36cm) and as far as I can see there is no legal size for the marbled, the rules only mention dusky (36cm) , sand, and tiger (33cm), although the bag limit (20) includes all flathead. Reference Sea Fishes of Southern Australia Hutchins/Swainston page 46. Any comments on these ideas? Edited September 18, 2009 by saltrix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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