The Poacher Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Hi Raiders, Some weeks ago, I was lamenting on this forum that my mojo was gone. I was, by all accounts, the only bloke within 200km of Sydney who wasnt catching 95cm kings every 2nd day. I had definantly caught my share in previous years, but my confidence was gone. So on my annual trip to South West Rocks I was determined to get it back. Actually, the mojo returned the day before the trip when I took an old friend down to Wamberal Beach. I hadnt really wanted to fish, but he had taken my many times over the years, and as he was on holidays up on the Central Coast, I thought I should play guide. To cut a long story short, I got a tailor that would have been every bit of 3 kilos that took me 10 minutes to land. Then the big trip started. Day #1 straight up to Grassy Head with the flotilla of other vessells chasing spotted mackeral. If you have never seen this before, picture 40 to 60 boats ( true - I counted them) fishing the one area. Admittedly its a big reef, but very very busy. Anyway, started burleying and just dropped a pillie over to have a bait in the water while I jigged up some slimmies. Apparently, the slimmies had been impossible to find at the regular bait grounds. Anyway, 10 minutes into the trip and my floating pillie goes off - 6 kg of prime spottie soon and the boat, and I was feeling pretty good. Re-bait, and then drop the bait jig down, and next drop get 3 slimmies. My mojo was really BACK NOW. First slimmie out lasted 10 minutes. I saw a commotion and then I could see the spottie chasing him in circles. This caused a huge commotion on the surface and was just incredible to watch. He eventually got it down, and I came up tight. Spot #2 hits the deck. How cool is this I am thinking. This is what brings me back here year after year. After that, the slimmies had a life expectancy of about 30 seconds. If we managed to jig one, out it would go, the a huge boil, followed by a long run on 15pound braid. You could go a lot lighter if there werent so many boats around. The surface action was awesome. Finished the day with 7 spots, plus dropped another 4, which isnt uncommon on them - they can be hard to pin. Anyway, day #2 we couldnt catch any slimmies at all, and we only got 4 fish. So we went down to Fish Rock. Live yakkas dropped down deep on a promising show of fish, resulted in a very solid fish taking serious line on 15kg line. We were hoping for a big king, but we got the worlds fattest mack tuna. Another one like it on the next bait called for a change of plan. So I thought I would spin up a little bonito as they were busting up. First cast on a metal, got hit, and the fish takes me well into the old braid sitting under my new 130 yards of new stuff. Bit of a chase in the boat turned up another big mack tuna - probably close to 9kgs. Day #3 was a but worse weather wise, and despite our best efforts could catch a damn slimmie to save ourselves. We saw some boats get a few. SO there you have it, another fantastic trip at SWR. Again, other boats caught spanish mackeral and we didnt hit any. If you have any secrets for me on how to get a spanish in NSW, please send me help. Whilst my mojo is back, it didnt extend as far as my first spaniard. Cheers, The Poacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogtooth Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 (edited) Hi poacher , The place can surely become a carpark on the nortern reefs , soory to hear that you diidnt get a Spanish.... well done on the spotties... Check your PMs Cheers Dogtooth..... John... Edited March 30, 2010 by dogtooth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olitay Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Hey Poacher, i remember being at Grassy about 5 years ago and it was JAM PACKED, over 40 odd boats and all of us were catching spanish and spotted mac! magic place SWR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poacher Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Thanks Dogtooth - and yes Billy D, if you can time your trip right, it is certainly champagne fishing. Generally, considering the number of boats, everyone is polite. The fish do spread out over a pretty big reef complex, so there isnt really competition for the "one" hot spot. Eveyone seems to get there share. The bar has been pretty good too, as you can cut right just after the wall ends and avoid a lot of the more dangerous water. Cheers, The Poacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poacher Posted March 31, 2010 Author Share Posted March 31, 2010 Hi Dog tooth, Couldnt find anything in my PMs, The Poacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony1 Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Yeah Good to hear you got some nice fish Sure does feel good. See you when you get back Anth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
searabbit Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 G'day Poacher i just got back myself from swr (last weekend) & we were prob one of those 50 odd boats you fished with. we got 4 spotties to 4kg walking livies & dropped about 8. there were plenty of dollies at the fad as well, prob because all the boats were at grassy. and we got a 5kg mac tuna at fish rock. so a very similar trip mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Nice work, Poacher. Prime Spotty Mackerel fillets... YUM! Glad you found your mojo for your trip, sounds like you had a blast. I've always avoided the 'mackerel madness' up here but maybe the boat traffic is worth braving. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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