ginko Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Raiders, hit the south end of Palmie this morning, hoping to avoid too many surfers. The swell was still about 4-5 ft from the south, but there were some decent rips still in the protected south end of the beach,and no surfers until well past sunrise. Just before dawn, the salmon came on the chew. I landed the smaller of this pair in the dark, then a smaller model (went back) and then missed about 3 or 4 solid hits. It seemed that the three #3 ganged hooks were not finding their mark, so I upsized to three #4's and bang, next cast I was onto a solid fish. Exciting in the big surf, especially at the beach. When I cleaned the bigger fish shown below (~65cm), its stomach contained none other than one of my earlier pillies, complete with the three tear marks from where it was pulled off the #3 hooks. Low tide was at 8:30, and the fish went off the bite about an hour before, so I headed home at 9, with two salmon for the makings of salmon miso soup and salmon yellow curry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Good on ya mate, a nice mornings fishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bashful Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 Nice fish mate! Thanks for the report. I like your cooking ideas more though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginko Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 I forgot to say that I went out Friday morning too, and fished at the little beach just on the north side of long reef, by the boat ramp. It was really rainy, windy, and there was a massive swell up, so the sheltered spot was required. There are alot of rocks there, and a few holes. I caught a black rock cod first up, and he went back in, and then out came a red rock cod. Carefully, I whacked that one with a big gum tree branch until I was 100% sure it was dead. The red rock cod, covered with venomous spines, are super-tough characters, and very hard to kill. Even when I was sure it was dead, I only picked it up by the tail, and cut off the spiky head and the dorsal and anal fins with my scissors. There is one hell of a spike in the anal fin that runs through the fish all the way to the spine, and I'd guess that would be the worst to get stuck with. Once those were gone, I cleaned and scaled the fish without worry. The red rock cod are lovely on the plate: white flesh, no bones and a good yield even from moderate-sized fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Have you ever tried going around the barrenjoeys head around the mountain to fish? Went there last week and just turned around and came back..... didn't even get to put my rods together... Had like 30 TICKS on me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaktis Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Have you ever tried going around the barrenjoeys head around the mountain to fish? Went there last week and just turned around and came back..... didn't even get to put my rods together... Had like 30 TICKS on me.... How come? Too many hopefuls, or conditions no good? Didn't get a single tick when I went a while back, and that was in prime tick season! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshot15 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I forgot to say that I went out Friday morning too, and fished at the little beach just on the north side of long reef, by the boat ramp. It was really rainy, windy, and there was a massive swell up, so the sheltered spot was required. There are alot of rocks there, and a few holes. I caught a black rock cod first up, and he went back in, and then out came a red rock cod. Carefully, I whacked that one with a big gum tree branch until I was 100% sure it was dead. The red rock cod, covered with venomous spines, are super-tough characters, and very hard to kill. Even when I was sure it was dead, I only picked it up by the tail, and cut off the spiky head and the dorsal and anal fins with my scissors. There is one hell of a spike in the anal fin that runs through the fish all the way to the spine, and I'd guess that would be the worst to get stuck with. Once those were gone, I cleaned and scaled the fish without worry. The red rock cod are lovely on the plate: white flesh, no bones and a good yield even from moderate-sized fish. I seen a diver there a few weeks back get a nasty spike in the hand from a red rock cod when he went to clearn it he was in a world of hurt.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshot15 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Have you ever tried going around the barrenjoeys head around the mountain to fish? Went there last week and just turned around and came back..... didn't even get to put my rods together... Had like 30 TICKS on me.... I have walked around from the western side.. well its more of a climb. We walked during low tide on the return the tide had come in and that required us to do a bit of rock climbing to get back which was an effort with rods and a back pack that weighs about 20kgs.... No trouble with ticks though... No fish either.. I probably wouldn't go back after my experience.. there are too many other great ledges to fish that are half the hassle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwood1980 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 What that's no fair.... i went to the left hand side where you have to walk through the bushes. The calm area, anyone been there? Ticks and more ticks there..... never going there again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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