Mary's Reef

[petro]

Hi All.

I was planning to head out to Merries Reef on Monday morning, having never fished there before. What should I expect there? Snapper, leatherjackets etc. And is drifting the best method to catch these fish there?

Cheers

Edited April 24, 2010 by petro

[petro]

Gdayyyyyy Petro,

Would that be Merries Reef off Cronulla ?? if so Peter S will be able to help you out for sure.

Swordfisherman

Yeah, that's the one, off Cronulla.

My bad with the spelling.

Edited April 24, 2010 by petro

[Michael Hatte]

All i can say mate is that if you wont to fish it go with somebody that knows the area well a few times before you wont to tackle the merries reef system on your own.

Bloody dangerous area, with 3 separate bommies all which break when there is a little swell.

Fairly good fishing to be had though, i perfer to fish the beach side of the reef in around 15-20m of water. Use your sounder to find where the reef meets the sand, drop you pick and burley with chopped pillies. Good reddies on sunrise and sunset,also holds good size trevs at certain times of the year.

If you like your squid fishing head right up into boat harbour in about 2-3m of water and fish over the kelp beds with squid jigs.

Just be careful out there champ and always keep an eye on your sounder, if you have Bottom alarm on sounder set it to 5m just to be on the safe side.

The 3 bommies run straight of the main reef in a line about 600-700m into the middle of the bay.

Good luck hope the info helps..

[petro]

All i can say mate is that if you wont to fish it go with somebody that knows the area well a few times before you wont to tackle the merries reef system on your own.

Bloody dangerous area, with 3 separate bommies all which break when there is a little swell.

Fairly good fishing to be had though, i perfer to fish the beach side of the reef in around 15-20m of water. Use your sounder to find where the reef meets the sand, drop you pick and burley with chopped pillies. Good reddies on sunrise and sunset,also holds good size trevs at certain times of the year.

If you like your squid fishing head right up into boat harbour in about 2-3m of water and fish over the kelp beds with squid jigs.

Just be careful out there champ and always keep an eye on your sounder, if you have Bottom alarm on sounder set it to 5m just to be on the safe side.

The 3 bommies run straight of the main reef in a line about 600-700m into the middle of the bay.

Good luck hope the info helps..

Cheers for the info bloopin.

Yeah, im going out on my mates boat, 17ft fibreglass, but he hasn't fished the area before either.

Unfortunately, his sounder is broken, so that could be an issue.

Is there a FAD there that someone has placed there? My mate said it was a commercial fishing net? I have been past the area a few times and seen two white floats on the surface, but I didn't know what they were.

Thanks

Edited April 24, 2010 by petro

[Michael Hatte]

Cheers for the info bloopin.

Yeah, im going out on my mates boat, 17ft fibreglass, but he hasn't fished the area before either.

Unfortunately, his sounder is broken, so that could be an issue.

Is there a FAD there that someone has placed there? My mate said it was a commercial fishing net? I have been past the area a few times and seen two white floats on the surface, but I didn't know what they were.

Thanks

They are fish traps mate not nets, there are no fads in the area but there is a marker bouy that sits half way between the beach and the actual main reef.

I would not be going anywhere near the place mate if you dont have a sounder and have never been in the area before.

[Geoff]

I would not be going anywhere near the place mate if you dont have a sounder and have never been in the area before.

Agree. It is not the place to be without a depth sounder & even then approach the area with caution.

If I recall correctly , there was an accident out there last year & 1 or 2 on board did not come home

Geoff

[petro]

Thanks for the info guys.

Yeah, I don't think I will be going out there until my mate gets his sounder fixed.

[Michael Hatte]

If you guys are still keen to head out try the back of shark island, to fish it well you will need a sounder but the reef system goes 800m straight out from the main bommie and is around 40-50m across so you can find the reef system easily and safely without a sounder.

200-300m off the back of the bommie is some nice gound

Again mate drop the pick and burley with finely chopped pillies, use a small ball sinker 00 size down to a 1/0 hook and float a pillie fillet down your burley trail. Sould be some good bream and pan size reddies there, prob get swapped but yellowtail and slimes but when you get activity around your boat anything could happen.

Jewfish and kings also move up and down the reef so send a livie out a 1-2m of the bottom and lock the drag up.

Also good squid between shark island and cronulla point, but keep you motor running if you wont to fish it safely.