First Rockfishing Experience.

[david88]

My friend had been telling me about a fishing ledge on the central coast that he had been introduced too recently and invited me to come out on sunday morning. I had many questions regarding the safety of this ledge as i had no cleats but with the swell and wind very low i decided late saturday night to go.

At first my concerns of fishing from the rocks were confirmed as we began the treck through the darkness over mossy rocks and knee deep water however when we arrived at the ledge (03:00am) i felt a lot more comfortable as it was covered in grippy barnacles.

the guys we were fishing with were oldschool and ganged pilchards with a sinker running to hooks proved to be a killer on the tailor. throughout the nigth i learnt many lessons on how to cast a 12ft rod, how to retrieve without getting snagged and how to watch for big waves.

Watching the locals pull in tailor after tailor became annoying until i finally hooked onto a big greenback, cheers all around when it was landed.

shark, rays and tailor were all that were caught until the sun started coming up and the salmon came on the bite.

My friend noticed a large school of yakkas hanging around the rocks so to the confusion of the several locals that now occupied the ledge we began focussing on these.

the guys we were fishing with gave us pleny of stick about catching such 'little fish' but they were about to eat their words once they saw how effective live yakkas were as bait. over the next few hours several large salmon were landed and many requests were made for us to catch them livies.

At around 8:00 my massive live yakka goes off, then the line becomes weightless, i decide to leave it out just incase my yakka is still attached and sure enough it is. line screams from my reel and i go to tighten the drag only to realise that i had forgotten to loosen it from before so i settle into a game of tug and war with plenty of screaming runs.

by now many people on the ledge have gathered around me and are calling it for a big kingy as its stripping drag off my spheros in big bursts. eventually the fish begins to tire and i know iv won the fight, as i start to lift the big fish out of the water excitement turns to laughter as we all learn that my kingy is actually a big salmon hooked cleanly through the tail. The salmon does prove to be my PB weighing 3kg after being blooded and measuring aprox 80cm long and as thick as my thigh.

all thats left to do before we begin the long drive home is gut the fish and have a nice swim.

its safe to say that i will be purchasing a 12ft rod, some cleats and be back on the rocks again in the near future.

[rkhosid]

My friend had been telling me about a fishing ledge on the central coast that he had been introduced too recently and invited me to come out on sunday morning. I had many questions regarding the safety of this ledge as i had no cleats but with the swell and wind very low i decided late saturday night to go.

At first my concerns of fishing from the rocks were confirmed as we began the treck through the darkness over mossy rocks and knee deep water however when we arrived at the ledge (03:00am) i felt a lot more comfortable as it was covered in grippy barnacles.

the guys we were fishing with were oldschool and ganged pilchards with a sinker running to hooks proved to be a killer on the tailor. throughout the nigth i learnt many lessons on how to cast a 12ft rod, how to retrieve without getting snagged and how to watch for big waves.

Watching the locals pull in tailor after tailor became annoying until i finally hooked onto a big greenback, cheers all around when it was landed.

shark, rays and tailor were all that were caught until the sun started coming up and the salmon came on the bite.

My friend noticed a large school of yakkas hanging around the rocks so to the confusion of the several locals that now occupied the ledge we began focussing on these.

the guys we were fishing with gave us pleny of stick about catching such 'little fish' but they were about to eat their words once they saw how effective live yakkas were as bait. over the next few hours several large salmon were landed and many requests were made for us to catch them livies.

At around 8:00 my massive live yakka goes off, then the line becomes weightless, i decide to leave it out just incase my yakka is still attached and sure enough it is. line screams from my reel and i go to tighten the drag only to realise that i had forgotten to loosen it from before so i settle into a game of tug and war with plenty of screaming runs.

by now many people on the ledge have gathered around me and are calling it for a big kingy as its stripping drag off my spheros in big bursts. eventually the fish begins to tire and i know iv won the fight, as i start to lift the big fish out of the water excitement turns to laughter as we all learn that my kingy is actually a big salmon hooked cleanly through the tail. The salmon does prove to be my PB weighing 3kg after being blooded and measuring aprox 80cm long and as thick as my thigh.

all thats left to do before we begin the long drive home is gut the fish and have a nice swim.

its safe to say that i will be purchasing a 12ft rod, some cleats and be back on the rocks again in the near future.

Well done mate! and as always nothing beats live bait. Next time a kingie

[david88]

Hope so mate.

Does anyone have any advice on how to rig yakkas for kings off the rocks and where to position them? I tried floating one on the day but there was too much weed in the water. if floating what is a good length to keep them from the float and what rig to use? Cheers guys

[fanatic]

Thats a nice read there mate...a true fishing adventure!!

Myself, i would have been very reluctant to go rockfishing...especially at night (it sounds like you had to track to the spot aswell)

They threw you straightr into the deep end

Top effort on catching some nice salmons...80cm is i think the biggest i've heard of posted on fishraider

[anthony1]

Hi david88

nice day on the stones.

If you want to fish live yakkas the best way is to pin him just in front of the top fin not to deep or you will kill him, keep the hook above the lateral line. It really doesn't have to be deep.

Don't use any weight and fix your float at about 10feet. This way the bait free swims.

fixing the float stops the bait from being pulled right up to the float.

If you hook a king you'll know about it, you won't be playing it because it will pull like a train and head for structure and it's all over before you know it.

Good luck and hope you get into some kings

Make sure you get some proper footwear.

Tight lines

Anthony

[david88]

thanks for the reply mate. hopefully next time there wont be so much weed in the water so i can float a yakka however i hear its not the best spot for kings... or maybe ill have to prove that wrong. Also what strength mono is best for fishing from the bricks? i have a spool of 40lb braid but i hear thats pretty bad to use off the rocks because of nicking etc.

in regards to footware are those metal cleats screwed into some shoes sufficient?

[johnv]

Great report there a pleasure to read, sounds like u had a great time well done

cheers john

[anthony1]

G'day david

Those cleats will do the trick.

I'm not a fan of braid

as for what line class to use anything from 10kg to 24kg

I use 10kg mono with a wind on leader of 60ld

this will account for 90% of your fish.

I've caught kings to bluefin on this combo but am going to up my line class

to 15kg because i've been drilled by real big kings once to many times this season.

Tight lines

Anthony