worst pittwater report ever

[Kaktis]

OK, so with minimal time to spare, which is very rarely at prime fishing time, I’ve been doing it pretty tough, but have had a couple of outings to have a crack anyway, just to get out if nothing else.

Have taken my 3 year old boy to chase some undersized pinkies (purely to all but guarantee some hookups) and he (we) had a blast!

A fish a cast on each outing, and in fact they were so thick each time, there was no time to build up any anticipation and he got over it after number 5 or 6!

All hooked in the jaw, quick pat, and back they all went.

MY success rate on the other hand has been woeful…

I’ve yet to hit the beaches this autumn, but if my estuary performances are anything to go by, I may take up knitting and canasta & stay indoors instead.

Found a tidy little jetty that I hit up in the afternoon earlier this week, and there were bloody fish EVERYWHERE!

Schools of tailor on patrol, luderick getting their freak on in the weed-beds, bream cruising around too I think… also a decent-sized flatty just chilling out amongst the weeds… all this I could see from where I was standing, & I was salivating as realized I had a rod in my possession, but you think I could tempt any one of them? BAH!

Actually, that’s not true, I got a very solid run on a 10g twisty, must’ve been one of those big tailor, stripped off about 20 metres in short order, but the treble fell out about halfway back before I could ID… also got 2 little pinkies on a blade… & a squid even followed my ‘no-name’ black hard-body right up to the surface, which I thought was odd, but that was IT.

I all but stood on my flipping head for Mr Flatty, throwing every SP, blade and hardbody in my possession at him, but he just wasn’t having a bar of it.

Was dead calm… no wind, water like glass, so maybe he saw me flip him off & was teaching me a lesson, who knows.

Donut.

Decided to head back a couple of nights later to soak some baits for an hour or 2.

Had high expectations given what I’d seen previously, and the fact that it was just before high tide, but apart from an unexpected octopus taking a servo squid, I had not one touch.

The octopus fell off too, may I add, which is just as well, because I’ve heard you have to beat the s**t out of them and I wasn’t feeling particularly violent that night.

There was some serious phosphorescence in the water too, which I’d heard, and had experienced first hand previously, made for tough fishing...

As I was packing up, I chucked the remaining bait I had into the drink, as is my custom, and when I looked down into the water, with the aid of a torch, to see what was eating it if anything, there was not a single multi-celled organism down there.

No bruiser blackfish or tailor, no bream, no bloody pickers even… could just see my servo squid, & a lone pillie, lying undisturbed on the bottom… it was absolutely barren…

I didn’t know whether that should make me feel better or worse, so I thought about something else & left with my second donut in a week.

Never targeted them before, but think I might take a shot at those blackfish in the coming weeks.

(Welcome any tips, particularly on bait gathering, as I've never gone looking for weed and don't even know what it looks like!)

[tasksta]

Mate we have all been there, however I think your bad luck was worthwhile just for our entertainment on your report! Great read, very funny.

I reckon some chicken could have assisted the bite.....

[The Poacher]

Plenty of fish on the beaches! Pittwater is reportedly netted and so can be hard work at times. However, plenty of salmon and tailor plus the odd flathead on the beaches.

THe Poacher

[Twinfisher 4.9]

yes, Pittwater is heavily targeted by the pro netters so if you go after they have been through, it is very tough. We have been trying for some time to buy back the licences for Broken Bay and Pittwater but no luck as yet. This is a real shame as it was, and can be again, a great fishery. We had hoped that the change of Government in NSW may have assisted, but they have been of little assistance to date. Duncan Gay is the minister responsible, so please drop him an email, we all need to help with this and replicate the success in other parts of NSW where the licences have been bought back.

[josamill]

I agree it's time to look to the beaches. Had a great session at Palm Beach last week. Mid/late afternoon, excellent gutter, 5 tailor......4 of them very solid beasts. 2 on surf poppers, 2 on metal halcos, and one smaller one on a ganged pillie. A second rod with blood worms caught 6 flathead, but.........they were all tiny.

Beach fishing from April - June is great.....often calm seas, gentle westerlies, good gutters and just great to be there. Anyone checked out the gutter in the middle of Newport Beach?? From the headland, it looks amazing......may give it a go this week.