Botany bay landbased

[Guest hawkesbass]

After being in contact with royce during the week a blackfish session was organised for today the plan was to be at royces by 4 30am but after a big night at the speedway i slept through the alarm and was woken by royce calling me at 5am so up i get and at royces place at 5 30am after quick introductions to royce and paul we set off a little bit later than we planned royce showed me a few spots to go around the bay first while we looked for a good spot to fish once we decided were to fish we collected our bait and rigged up first fish landed went to royce a nice blackfish to 35cms then i got a hookup and landed a blackfish off the same size we both rebaited and cast out again to get a double hookup with both fish landed together and around the same size as previous fish landed after these hook ups paul joined us on the ledge as he was fishing another ledge next fish landed went to paul with this fish in the high 30s range then the wind picked up earlier than expected making our drifts a little bit quicker next hook up went to royce which was a pig that got him into the ledge and won its freedom then paul and i got a double hook up aswell wich resulted in me dropping my fish in the high 30s to low 40 cm range and paul landing his in the high 30cm range then royce got another hook up and landed another nice high 30s fish after about three hours we decided to move to more a sheltered bay we kept eleven blackfish from the first ledge and would have dropped the same amount again to pulled hooks and bite offs when we arrived at the other spot we decided to catch and release any blackfish we caught after putting out burley we started fishing and the bites were consistant for the next two hours with us hooking up to another 8 fish between the three of us these fish were all in the high 30 to low 40 cm range left the ledge at 3 30 to go back to royces to clean the fish and chat thank you royce and paul for a top day out and sharing your wealth of knowledge it is greatly appreciated

Cheers trevor

[luderick -angler]

Thanks for the company lads top day as always in trying and less than favourable conditions! But hey when the effort goes in! Only dissapointment for the day was the stupidity of fellow anglers as we were packing up and leaving spot one for the next we warned some fellows not to venture out onto the ledge as the swell was building quickly what does he do go out there! No cleats1 blatantly asking to get barrelled at least if not go in the drink! These guys should have realised a regular and co are packing up and going...why? Anyway I could go on but won't.....oh and I'm sure ddaniel may be kicking himself a little!

Cheers again lads!

[Spooooled]

solid catches there

[Guest hawkesbass]

Yep those guys were idiots for staying even after having there bucket and tackle box washed away by a wave some people you cant educate those guys would all be candidates for the darwin awards in the near future

[luderick -angler]

Yep those guys were idiots for staying even after having there bucket and tackle box washed away by a wave some people you cant educate those guys would all be candidates for the darwin awards in the near future

[PRED-ATOR]

well done on the catch fellas some nice looking blackies there. are they good on the tooth? looks like a fish u need to bleed quickly?

[Guest hawkesbass]

Once caught they are kept in a keepers net alive untill the end of the day then bled and cleaned they go good on the plate to improve the qaulity of any fish it is a good idea to bleed all your catch before cleaning it improves the qaulity of the flesh

[Pongrass18ft]

Great session fellas and nice feed for the table.

It makes me hungry looking at those photo,s , will be giving it a go soon.

[J Hooked]

Top catch guys!

Unfortunately no common sense people are everywhere.

[scrubby53]

Yeh it was a top session with you & Royce & we bagged some nice fish between us.

Shame the conditions deteriorated so bad on the rocks that we had to leave. Thats

where Royce's experience comes into play. He knows the area & when he says it's

getting to dangerous to fish you heed his advice & go. Looking forward when the

3 of us can get together again & get into them blackies.

Paul

[Guest hawkesbass]

Thanks for making it a enjoyable day looking forward until the next session

[stormy]

Great session, boys. I went out on Monday to a location inside and the swells/surges were humping over the ledge but not dangerous. As the tide came in though, they came in regularity and got bigger. A few rolled in thigh deep, so we packed up and called it a day. Would have been far too dangerous on exposed ocean rocks. Only landed two fish in water which looked perfect. Oh well, next time!!

I like your pics of freshly landed blackfish - they don't look as nice when they go dark and blotchy afterwards. I always bleed, fillet and skin mine down on the rocks and pack the fillets in a ziploc bag in a bit of ice slurry in a small esky. Keeps the flesh in pristine condition and tastes so much better.