Awesome Day With Blackfish

[rickster]

I seriously have to start thinking that this may well be the one of the best winters for blackys that I can remember. Went out with Steve (slam354) yesterday for hopefully some more blackfish action. We fished a newish spot that I'd actually tried earlier in the year for nil success. I kept believing that there simply must be fish here as there's a bit of structure, kelp in close then dropping into deep water (and probably never fished).

We put some money in the meter to allow about 1 1/2 hours to find them. Started about 7.30am, put in a bit of burley and by the time we had to re-charge the parking meters, we had 21 already in the bag. By this stage my keeper net had gotten pretty full and we had to start using Steve's. Daniel (Woodchop AKA netboy, AKA baitboy) had rang to see how we were going and had joined us within an hour. By the time Daniel arrived Steve and I had over 30 in the keepers. But at last another keeper net!! Unfortunately Daniel couldn't stay too long, but long enough for our tally to hit 50+. Fish just kept biting. We decided to pull up all 3 keepers, take some pics, the boys kept some to take home and we released the rest. Steve and I continued fishing after Daniels departure but by about 3 O'Clock we'd had enough, plus Steve still had some fish to clean. Total tally was 66 in all plus my token Surgeon. I can honestly say that in all my years of fishing the harbour I can not remember blackfish biting so consistently for so long. As far as location, all I can give away is that we could see the bridge from where we were fishing.

[tide'n'knots]

bloody hell rickster thats an awesome haul!

I have tried several spots in the harbour and cant find em.If you dont mind me asking were you east or west of the bridge as every spot I have tried has been west, I am now thinking its time to try east of the bridge.

your the harbour blacky king.

pete.

[rickster]

bloody hell rickster thats an awesome haul!

I have tried several spots in the harbour and cant find em.If you dont mind me asking were you east or west of the bridge as every spot I have tried has been west, I am now thinking its time to try east of the bridge.

your the harbour blacky king.

pete.

Definetely west of the bridge but not all that far. Water will be too clear the further you go east. You need to find some wharf structure with a deep drop off . Yesterday we did have ideal conditions, overcast and a small runout tide but in still water, the tide is not all that important. This particular spot can really only fish three at max. so can't give too much away.

[woodch0p]

Have been waiting for your post today! How was the bite after I packed up? That debris came in thick and spoiled the bit. Was a shame I wasn't there for the start of the hot bite, who knows what the bag could have tallied!(probably not much higher knowing my luck!) A mate of mine filleted the fish I kept for a free reel service so my hands were clean. Rick certainly knows the ropes to the art, and that spot just shows how even though the first couple of attempts produce bugger all that persistence pays off. I actually thought you and steve were pulling my leg when I called to hear 21 in the bag.

Top effort gents!

[rickster]

Have been waiting for your post today! How was the bite after I packed up? That debris came in thick and spoiled the bit. Was a shame I wasn't there for the start of the hot bite, who knows what the bag could have tallied!(probably not much higher knowing my luck!) A mate of mine filleted the fish I kept for a free reel service so my hands were clean. Rick certainly knows the ropes to the art, and that spot just shows how even though the first couple of attempts produce bugger all that persistence pays off. I actually thought you and steve were pulling my leg when I called to hear 21 in the bag.

Top effort gents!

The sh*t in the water seemed to leave about the same time as you - coincidence? I think not. Seriously, we ended up with another ten and left about an hour or so after you. They were still biting pretty well and probably would have kept going as it got later in the day. Good thing you weren't there from the beginning as we would have had to send to Global to buy another couple of keeper nets. You could have earned another nickname though - "SWIMMER BOY"

[Basil D]

Did you leave some for the rest of us

[rickster]

Did you leave some for the rest of us

Most went back to live and fight another day-hopefully next week.

Rick

P.S. Hey Daniel,

I think you're being generous about the supposed "10 lb" Flathead those guys reckon they caught. We saw it too when we were leaving, I reckon lucky to be 3-4 lb at best.

[woodch0p]

Most went back to live and fight another day-hopefully next week.

Rick

P.S. Hey Daniel,

I think you're being generous about the supposed "10 lb" Flathead those guys reckon they caught. We saw it too when we were leaving, I reckon lucky to be 3-4 lb at best.

I'm a metric boy! Either way no where near 10lb, and their 'hand demonstration' measurement was off by about an arms length.

PS. It was probably 10lb in scale next to that "legal" snapper..

Haha I still should gain the tag "swimmer boy" as you definetley needed mine! And net boy should be changed to 'net king' as they were swimming into my net to save themselves the embarrassment. Admit it, they're scared s#!tless of my ability hahaha!

Daniel

Edited July 12, 2010 by woodch0p

[Luke K]

Nice one Rickster

[slam354]

Thanks Rick and Daniel for your wonderful company.An enjoyable day was had by all and in my entire blackfishing career I have never experienced phenomenal fishing as such and I exceeded the bag limit and i was more than happy and Rick christened his new rod 37 times I think and I cannot beat him however in the morning session I was close to him but in the arvo he continued.Hey Rick I dont suppose you will be able to repeat this performance next week.How about a small wager?.Rick and myself will always remember this day as Nirvana and I look forward to beating him in the next blackfish outing.Finally Rick suggested that we employ a net boy to net the fish as we all got sick and tired of netting it got to the stage that we could not be bothered netting them so the high poling began.

Cheer Steve

[strafisher]

Hi, excellent fishing but could I ask you where did you catch all them in was it in darling island point landbased? thanks

[keithd6041]

Hey great catch its a good spot dont say to much

[luderick -angler]

Nice Rick, the footpath looks familiar!!!!! Hope you not giving away all the secrets! By the way off up to coromandel and Auckland West coast in October for the blackie runs going to target hem in th mangrove creeks on fly and off the rocks using the traditional method we got a few thumpers in excess of 5lb on 7 weight fly gear on the East Cape last summer in the brackish water crazy thing is they were schooling where we normally chase sea run browns and the ywere actually schooling wit hsome brown trout! Will have to get photos next summer!

[slam354]

In reply to addictive fisher it was not Darling Island landbased.There are plenty of good landbased spots in the harbour that have the potential to produce.It has taken Rick and myself many years to work out all the spots in the harbour through trial and error and if you put the effort and research into place a pattern will emerge and fish will flow freely.Look for structure pylons rock walls drop offs kelp growth and areas out of the main tidal flow and you will be on the mark.I honestly believe we were extremely lucky and the school of fish was thick and present on the day.Also the fact that the water was not clear makes a huge difference.I hope this helps.

Cheers Steve

[prawn*]

nice haul of blackies of the piers there, were there any surgeons around when u were getn the blackies?

[luderick -angler]

Hey Addictive Fisher the combined knowledge of all of us does not hold a candle to what old Russian Joe knew i am just old enough to be privilged to have fished the Chains on Hickson Road with him in the hey day and thats when there wer eat least 8 luderick fishers lined up on the wall there! I was born and bred on harbour luderick and know it well and it takes a lot of working out like Steve says but even so spots I used to take them on the in tide now fish the out tide better! Experiment and try different spots the most unlikely will hold fish. Oh Steve and no sledge to you and Rick re the above comment about old Joe! you ever fish with him, do you remember guys like Des and the twins or Tom the liar?

[slam354]

Hey Addictive Fisher the combined knowledge of all of us does not hold a candle to what old Russian Joe knew i am just old enough to be privilged to have fished the Chains on Hickson Road with him in the hey day and thats when there wer eat least 8 luderick fishers lined up on the wall there! I was born and bred on harbour luderick and know it well and it takes a lot of working out like Steve says but even so spots I used to take them on the in tide now fish the out tide better! Experiment and try different spots the most unlikely will hold fish. Oh Steve and no sledge to you and Rick re the above comment about old Joe! you ever fish with him, do you remember guys like Des and the twins or Tom the liar?

I remember all those blokes and had run into them from time to time and Russian Joe was an institution.Sadly though there are no old luderick men left in the harbour.When i was a kid all the foreshores were full of them and i learnt a grest deal from them.Thanks for your kind comments and perhaps we can organise a fish with all the gang and yourself whe you get back from NZ.P.s Did you fish with a guy called Abby used to fish Bennelong a lot and A guy called Dick used to live in St Marys used to fish all over the harbour.

Cheers STEVE

[woodch0p]

nice haul of blackies of the piers there, were there any surgeons around when u were getn the blackies?

Rick scored a surgeon and I believe I had a bust of from one. Rick also got hit hard by an unknown which went like the clappers, but never saw any colours so no idea, but he didn't think it was a blackie or a surgeon...who knows?!

Hey steve why do you guys need to hire a net boy? If there's money in it I would have showed up earlier ..maybe. But then again with a bite like that even net boy would have needed a net boy! I think next weekend you and rick will need a backup keeper or two. I have bloody work next weekend, so hopefully they keep biting like they in a fortnight. Contemplating going out tomorrow if I feel the backlog of reels needing service can be pushed out one more day.

[czy0058]

Nice catch. You must have lots of fun. Congratulations!

[slam354]

Hey Daniel i have to work next weekend to so I Will be having serious withdrawal symptoms but will be available the following weekend.Hopefully we will have a sesh then.That float you gave me is tops perhaps you can make a slightly heavier version to take just a touch more lead that would be good.

Cheers steve

[luderick -angler]

Steve remember Abby very well lived at Newtown and later Dulwich Hill used to meet up with him on the 423 first one into the Quay rhen on a ferry wit hhim and Dad remeber the Kanagara and Koolene, used to give Dick me left over bait, Dad knew most of the lads and fished the great spots like th graving yard in Athol Bay the Tuna Wharf and toilets on the Eastern side of the Quay the Nielsen Park ferry wharf in the days th Manly ferry called there! the old Zoo wharf and probably the two greatest spots in the harbour in the 1980's kirribilli wharf before it sank for the third time an Musgrave street! You wanted fish thick then Musgrave was the spot Dad took 300 fish in a month there in the late 70's but my all time favourite spot that always gave fish but there was a secret to it was Joes rock in the Domain!

And yes will definately hook up for a fish when I get back.

p.S nice Trudex for the discerning on online shop Australia right now along with an awesome Allocks centrepin bette than Avon royal!

Regards to Rick for us tell him i hope he is well

royce.

[woodch0p]

Hey Daniel i have to work next weekend to so I Will be having serious withdrawal symptoms but will be available the following weekend.Hopefully we will have a sesh then.That float you gave me is tops perhaps you can make a slightly heavier version to take just a touch more lead that would be good.

Cheers steve

Yeah like I said on the weekend the balsa I had was thinner then the stuff rick uses, I will get some of the thicker stuff and make some up for you and rick to try. But the colours I use are pretty visable which was my main test of those floats.

We will definetly try tee something up for the following weekend.

Daniel

[arpie]

Amazing session there, Rickster!! I sourced a small amount of weed today & will take it out with me next time I go .... along with the cabbage I got the other day! Fingers crossed I get a few for the table.

It is SO much fun when they are 'on', eh??

CHeerio

Roberta

[Ron Howes]

Nice Rick, the footpath looks familiar!!!!! Hope you not giving away all the secrets! By the way off up to coromandel and Auckland West coast in October for the blackie runs going to target hem in th mangrove creeks on fly and off the rocks using the traditional method we got a few thumpers in excess of 5lb on 7 weight fly gear on the East Cape last summer in the brackish water crazy thing is they were schooling where we normally chase sea run browns and the ywere actually schooling wit hsome brown trout! Will have to get photos next summer!

Luderwick angler I travelled in late March early April to the Bay of Islands NZ and while there we travelled up to Kerri Kerri to an old bluestone warehouse beside a lagoon where the the fresh water runs into the salt.

I stood on the edge of a stone road bridge in awe, There was a school of the biggest blackfish I have ever seen, some were nearly a metre long, alas I had no fishing gear and could not find any local weed. I have said to my wife, I will have to go back there and take some weed and 20kg fire line next time.

[Smitty]

Rick my friend............YOU DA MAAAAAN!!