Bonnie Mayhem For A While Today

[adkel53]

G'day Raiders,

My regular fishing buddy and I decided to have our first crack at the harbour for some months this morning. We also had fellow Raider, and skipper/co-owner of the game boat Reelmagic, (Dale) on board. Dale fished the harbour and close reefs a lot some years ago and he was keen to have a look around and hopefully hook into some salmon/bonnies/kings on gear a little lighter than he fishes these days.

We left Rose Bay early and caught a dozen yakkas in a fairly short time. Began fishing at about 8.40, downrigging a yakka and trolling three lighter outfits with minnows and a Halco slice to cover various depths. Started near Quarrantine Pt and headed east. We hooked bonnie on a lure as we rounded Nth Head and noticed another couple of boats catching some on the troll. After a few minutes we noticed a commotion an top about 100 metres or so ahead. In came the trolling gear and out came the spins sticks armed with various small metals. As we got closer we could see a very large patch of water being thrashed to a foam. It quickly became evident that we had found some ravenous bonito. Triple hookups were the order of the day for around half an hour as the fish gorged themselves on small baitfish. Eventually they disappeared and things quietened down. We downigged and trolled back to Quarrantine Pt, landing a couple more bonnies, all on a copper coloured Manns 10+.

At this point we headed over to check out The Colours. After dropping a knife jig down for a while without any action we set off trolling/downrigging along the cliffs towards the south and then back again. Managed a few more bonnies, a pike and a "pickhandle", all an the same copper lure. No kings came out to play.

All in all, a superb morning around the heads with great company to share it with. The bonnies are destined for bigger things as skip/swim baits on Reelmagic over the coming months. Hopefully I can be on board when one of them turns into a marlin!! I've had a few trips out with Dale but the big stuff has eluded us on those days. It's time!!

[andrew399]

Sounds good mate! Did you notice if there were any salmon schools around out the heads or anything?

[adkel53]

We were hoping for some salmon (they pull harder than bonnies!! )but did not see any today.

Kel

[spongy]

Sounds good mate! Did you notice if there were any salmon schools around out the heads or anything?

We were out on Saturday around north head and came across a solid school of salmon, spent over an hour trying everything to try and get them to bite. I only got a single hit on a trolled hardbody, but didnt get the treble to stick. Very frustrating to say the least.

I would have much preferred if they were bonnies than salmon. much easier to get them to strike, not to mention they taste a thousand times better.

[andrew399]

Next time try a 6in stickbait unweighted, when Salmon are being fussy these normally tempt them into biting for some reason... Il be out tomorrow morning on the prowl for some salmon so will let you know how i go...

Edited September 27, 2010 by dicko

[bharris]

There all around jibbion bommie couldnt get the lures past them and every livie got smash by them to and they seem alot fatter then the ones we were getting a couple of weeks ago.going to start live baiting with them.