A Lively Day Session Off Cronulla Monday 25/5/10

[jewgaffer]

Hi Raiders,

After having a Hawkesbury session with Geoff in my Savage side console last week, my friend Jim Bowers and I were invited to have a session in Geoff's big Webster Tri Hull for a change before Jim goes back home to Ballina... The location was either to be off Cronulla or along the National Park cliffs, however it was agreed that the timing of the session was to coincide with a change day after a cycle of long periods of southerly influence .... When we got back to Geoff's on Thursday after dropping my boat off at Huett Marine to have my 35hp motor upgraded to 60hp, Geoff put a barbecue on and when the subject came up, it didn't take long for Geoff to go inside and come back out with a complete colour print out of the weather and the conditions for the following week... we all agreed with enthusiasm on going out very early on Monday morning as it was obvious from a consensus of forecasts that the wind was going to change back to a north westlerly direction around mid morning on Monday and we also had the benefit of a steady barometer reading which managed to fall back nicely into the high area just above 1016 millibars with a low front on the way, the arrival of which has now brought the barometer right down to 1006mb and the pressure still falling as I write.. Thus there was a good chance that the fish would liven right up ahead of the low front and a consequentual shut down which no doubt you have all experienced at some stage or other as far as coastal and estuary species are concerned, once a low front has established itself and settles in..

Report:-

Jim and I met up with Geoff at Swallow Rock boat ramp just as the first signs of day break began to lighten up the sky... We had a nice run out into Bate Bay with Geoff strategically navigating around the markers until we reached Cronulla and then gave the Yamaha a bit of throttle until we arrived at Shark Island bait grounds..

We dropped quite a lot of burley on the north western side of Shark Island but found no bait fish there whatsoever and then decided to head towards Osbourne Shoals and stay in that area for a while rather than chuck a u turn and fish along the National Park Cliffs as far as say Stanwell hang gliders... Jim had a look around on the way and decided to see if he could remember an old line up for a spot in Bate Bay where he used to fish for snapper quite a few years back and, with the benefit of Geoff's sounder and Jim's approximate line ups we managed to find the actual spot.

From the moment we anchored and dispersed our first lot of burley we had kingfish feeding everwhere around the back of the boat, and our first five hook ups were undersize versions.. in no time we had thrown back around twenty kingfish some of which were double and tripple hook ups until I hooked up a take home at 70cms, followed by a legal from Geoff and another legal from Jim this time using a 5" storm shad cast wide of the pack after having lots of hits on gulps but several without hook up and over ten good size fish were lost during the action.... I stuck to using my two hook 4/0 rigs on breakneck drag and left the rods alone rod and preferred to roll a cigarette during all the rod bending that was going on and must admit that I didn't manage to lose a decent run of any description...

Total fish caught on the day = 49 ...the action thruought the session can only be descibed as fast and furious in that the bite never stopped and despite the number of non hook ups due to striking too early which is definately not necessary by any means when using bait, the kingfish remained at the back of the boat thruought a whole session at this particular reef which reminds me of a reef off Maroubra where kingfish can be caught 24/7 in a good year regardless of season.

Take home size fish caught:- =

Kingfish

Amberjack

Bonito + Watson's Leaping Bonito

Sweep

Snapper

Tarwhine

Butchers Pr wrasse

Beach bream (yellow fin)

Sydney trevally

Plus a couple of Black Northern Trevally of which one was around 35cms and the other black was a good 40cms and this speaks highly of the standard of fishing in Sydney at the moment and in fact over the last eighteen months or so which I believe is the result of a good turn around in conditions in our part of the Pacific..

The water temperature remained steady at a good 22 degrees at best in Bate Bay and due to the north westerly influence held at 21 degrees in the river when we got back to Gray's Point which was around four o'clock in the afternoon...

The good thing Raiders there was not a single sign of a leather jacket anywere near this particular reef which is a great little reef that Jimmy got hold of years ago and I can't wait to do a night session there, that's for sure

EDIT - Another little thing I should mention Raiders is that when I got off at Swallow Rock Wharf while Geoff and Jim retrieved the Webster, a nice style of chap in his late forties I'd say who is new to fishing arrived to practice casting flies using a 9W saltwater fly fishing outfit and an expensive one too made by Rods N' Reels.. Apparently he has a friend who's right into fly fishing and he practices regularly after work.

Anyway when we were tidying up the boat in the middle of the river between the wharf and the mangroves in about ten foot of water which incidently was so clean that we could see all the way to the bottom the only thing around the bait we were discarding were trevally fry, and apart from the trevally fry the river in that section was noticably devoid of fish...While he was talking to me a small red bream surfaced out of nowhere and grabbed hold of the fly a good 30 seconds or so after he paused the fly to talk....So raiders don't be afraid to plonk a fly in the water as anything natural like that doesn't really go unnoticed and I think saltwater fly fishing will really take off over here in the future...

A big thank you from Jim and myself to my good friend Geoff for his hospitality, good company and natural friendliness and Raiders if you're ever looking for a good outside boat that handles our estuaries in a breeze take a look at these Webster Twin Fishers..

Bye for now from myself, Geoff, and Jim aka the "Grumpy Old men" lol as seen in the eyes of Outfisher in his reply to our Hawkesbury session

Cheers

jewgaffer

Here are some photos of our takes homes and a few other pics that were taken during what can only be referred back to as an extremely lively session in general which sorrowfully from my point of view had to end around 3pm.

Edited May 25, 2010 by jewgaffer

[jenno64]

That's a sensational day in anyone's book. Some fine table fish and I bet the banter was good all day too!

[prawn*]

well done mate top session there good to see a few kings still around

[czy0058]

Nice catch.

[Jewhunter]

Well done fellas.

Great to see some old mates hook up for a fish & get stuck into them.

Nice mixed bag there Byron.

Cheers,

Grant.

[Basil D]

Nice catch Guys and you Braved the weather, you cant teach old school and that shows in you devotion to fishing.

Byron, I dont see you smiling often, looks like you had a great trip

[johnny doi]

onya byron & crew,sounds like an action packed session with some great fish for the table.good to see you back out on the water consistantly byron.

cheers johnny.

Edited May 25, 2010 by fisher doi

[Penguin]

Great bag of fish there Byron, you guys did well

cheers

[Michael Hatte]

Top effort boys!!!!

Gotta love fishing Bate bay... How were you fishing, were you floating baits down the burley trail?

[james7]

Great mixed bag there Byron! Well done to you, Geoff and Jim.

The "three amigos", or is it the "three grumpy old men", make quite a team!

Snapper, kings, trevs - a tasty feed there alright.

What bait were you using? What proved most successful on the kings?

Another great report Byron. Terrific read and good pictures.

Cheers

Peter

[rickb]

Good on you Byron,glad to see you out again.

You and the boys really cleaned up.

Just SHOWS to go YAH,the old blokes always bring home a feed.

Cheers Rick.

[FISHARK]

Well done Gents looks like you guys had your hands full thru the day ?

Edited May 26, 2010 by FISHARK

[BarCrusher]

Awesome Day and out and a good haul.

Cant wait to get out

[nautica]

I think I seen you out there mate I was in a green and white half cab

[quaddy]

Mr Jewgaffer,

I thought it was you. The knowledge you imparted on fishing in our little chat made me fully aware I was speaking with someone special. I now wish I had introduced myself properly and shook your hand (on a rethink perhaps not ha ha. An in joke between Byron an me)....Just to wet your lips a young bloke by the name of Simon keeps pulling up in his car, pulling out a large Jew, says gday, cleans it and goes. Last week he brought down a 24 kilo sucker to clean. Claims he gets them out of the Port and he is land based. Some serious stalking may be on the agender. Hope you stay healthy Byron and remember mate you dont feel a thing when the reel begins to sing.

regards

Q

[checch]

That is an awesome session guys, cant ask for much more than that. I see you have a Fish Rule sticker on the side of your boat measuring up a snapper, reminds me of when I was measuring up a huge dolly and te bugger jumped out of my hand and swum away haha. has anyone ever lost an good fish this way?

[edman]

Nice haul of fish guys, JG you looked stoked with that King.

Is that your PB or is it just like putting another log on the fire Yeer Hah.

Cheers

[tide'n'knots]

that is a terrific mixed bag there boys - good to see you out on the water doing what you do best byron - talking! eerr I mean fishing!

pete.

[jewgaffer]

Good on you Quaddy you should have piped up..I think I know this Simon there's only room for two up the front and from there it's Indian file with only opportunities for squidders at the sides and they do well on both fronts on the wildest of nights if that rings a bell..give us a call quaddy 0413210048

Cheers

Byron

[bergo]

good job byron good to see you back out on the water, and not just out but cleaning up to. Good job mate. Cheers bergo

[slinkymalinky]

Cracker of a session, Byron. Great to see you and the boys getting amongst them. Great work

Just goes to show that some of those 'forgotten marks' are worth rediscovering.

Cheers, Slinky

[Geoff]

Top effort boys!!!!

Gotta love fishing Bate bay... How were you fishing, were you floating baits down the burley trail?

We had the pick down , running a burley trail with floating baits & bottom bashing. Overall , the result was about 50 / 50 however , the larger fish were caught on the floating baits.

Geoff

[Geoff]

What bait were you using? What proved most successful on the kings?

Cheers

Peter

Peter. We had the normal mix , pillies , squid , prawns & Bonnie fillits. The kings were on the bite so they hit just about any thing we threw at them.

Geoff

[jewgaffer]

Peter. We had the normal mix , pillies , squid , prawns & Bonnie fillits. The kings were on the bite so they hit just about any thing we threw at them.

Geoff

Peter I might add that we ran a couple of live Watson's Flying Bonito well back from the kingfish boil up on my big Daiwa 600 overhead and the new Fin Nor 950 for over three hours and never got a touch, but like we talked about before you have to be in it to win it and who's not to say that a sudden burst of hot water might come thru on the day bringing in species with it that meerely regard the likes of bonito and striped tuna as baitfish....

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Mercer007]

Fantastic mixed bag guys.

Wish I had of been there with you.

Good to see some Kingys still around.

Cheers