dhype Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 (edited) Hey raiders Been going to the Hawkesbury system for the past few weekends and have had it tough (donuts anyone?).... nothing much to report on for many hours of hard fishing.. as a result: the fridge was devoid of all things fishy. No bait, no squid, no eating fish.. nothing. Is there actually any fish in the Hawkesbury system apart from stink salmon? Was even thinking of doing the unimaginable and PAY for bait/squid/eating fish.....mmmmmm....stuff that! Plan was to hit Botany to restock! Late start as I missed the alarm, did not got on the water 8:00am... went for a squid and managed jack all - 4 x tiny squid only good for bait. We wanted to try some new squid ground near Port Hacking so up came the minn kota and we trolled south botany heads on the way there and all the reports of Bonito numbers are true, stacks showing on the sounder as we went pass. Arrived at the Hacking and spent the next hour squidding for sh1t!! hahaha.. what a waste of time + fuel! The westerly wind was making it very difficult. Went back to the school of bonnies and it was easy picking, double hookups the norm every pass with our rapala and halco lures. In amongst the bonnies were some of the biggest and fattest slimy mackerals i have every seen - as big as the bonnies themselves and they were hitting the big trolled minnows! We had a few hours of fun on light spin gear and left them bitting... Anyway, the fridge full of bait now but not much else! Guess i will need to head out again next weekend to catch fish you can actually EAT to make the happy.... tough life! Hope everyone had better luck... see you on water! Trung Edited August 5, 2012 by dhype Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewdreamer Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Buddy, don't forget that, done right, Bonito is some of the best eating you can get. Google Tetsuya's grilled bonito and you will be a convert forever! Cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Buddy, don't forget that, done right, Bonito is some of the best eating you can get. Google Tetsuya's grilled bonito and you will be a convert forever! Cheers Chris Trust Chris been nagging me to try his recipe for ages which I still haven't done I'm just too lazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aussie007 Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 the bay and port hacking usually fish better than the hawkesbury i havent been out there in a few months but 2-3 months ago we were catching around 30 flatties with some flounder,bonito,salmon,tailor,bream and the odd little pinky all out in between the heads drifting if u have navionics theres a shallow reef right around 5m u stop on the reef drops lines and drift once u come off the reef u will be on tight lines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sydangler Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I've got to the point where I'm struggling to get squid to but I've found harris farm gets in some good calamari from time to time looks really fresh and its has save a few sessions for me on kings and Jews. On the other hand if the sounder is alive and ur getting bonnies and slimies you should try putting one out while ur Trolling big kings love bonnies and u would be amazed at how small a king will try and eat a massive slimie. I've seen 30cm slimies smashed by 60cm kings. I agree the hawkesbury can be very slow fishing. I'm yet to have. Good sessions there or pull a good fish. But keep trying and you might find your 30kg+ Jew. Good luck next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Buddy, don't forget that, done right, Bonito is some of the best eating you can get. Google Tetsuya's grilled bonito and you will be a convert forever! Cheers Chris I'm keen to try that recipe. But had a quick google and couldn't find it. Would you be able to help us out with a link? Cheers Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroll Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 That's quite a haul there mate. Well done. Cheers Erroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzeenees Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 (edited) Slimys are good to eat. Check this out http://fishinginsoutheastaustralia.com/2011/08/22/not-just-for-kids-and-brits-advanced-slimy-mackerel-fishing-techniques/ But I haven't tried them yet! Oh - I see I've been promoted to a whiting. Perhaps next I'll be a slimy mackerel? Edited August 6, 2012 by Benzeenees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belligero Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Nice stock pile! A lot of my friends refuse to bother with the hawks now and they say it's been over fished by the pro's and what ever else. Hopefully it picks back up over time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhype Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Nice stock pile! A lot of my friends refuse to bother with the hawks now and they say it's been over fished by the pro's and what ever else. Hopefully it picks back up over time! There looks to be heaps of fishy water around the hawkesbury area but we were surprised how dead the waters were... we never saw a single bream, whiting, yakka or ever pufferfish in all te spots we drifted around in - one would expect to see a few fish in around the flats in Cowan Creek and around Patonga... saw and caught jackshit. It could be due to the winter season and cool 14 degree water or maybe as stated above due to the commercial fishing. Who knows... Botany Bay fishes better for me as I can get fish just about every trip and all year round.... might give the hawkesbury a few more goes during summer before I give up in that area.... a shame really as it is a very nice environment to fish in. Trung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aussie007 Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 There looks to be heaps of fishy water around the hawkesbury area but we were surprised how dead the waters were... we never saw a single bream, whiting, yakka or ever pufferfish in all te spots we drifted around in - one would expect to see a few fish in around the flats in Cowan Creek and around Patonga... saw and caught jackshit. It could be due to the winter season and cool 14 degree water or maybe as stated above due to the commercial fishing. Who knows... Botany Bay fishes better for me as I can get fish just about every trip and all year round.... might give the hawkesbury a few more goes during summer before I give up in that area.... a shame really as it is a very nice environment to fish in. Trung Trung we use to fish the hawkesbury a few times a week mostly thru the night for good 12 hours at a time the fishing was moderate than it just went to crap all we would catch is catch fish we gave up on the hawkesbury for many years and only recently returned to fish more down river where the heads are also where the brown water meets the green water is where we found all the fish holding this was our last trip about 3 months ago (to cold to go fishing now ) we went around 5-6 times over a few weeks and caught around 30-40 fish each trip releasing a fair few fish u can see the back ground of just inside the heads where we were no matter where we drifted there were fish on our last trip we also trolled around north head for bonnies they were small but fun (i was talking in the pic telling my cousin how to use a phone camera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Still a good session mate Whack a fillet off that slimie and send it out for a jewie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhype Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 Trung we use to fish the hawkesbury a few times a week mostly thru the night for good 12 hours at a time the fishing was moderate than it just went to crap all we would catch is catch fish we gave up on the hawkesbury for many years and only recently returned to fish more down river where the heads are also where the brown water meets the green water is where we found all the fish holding this was our last trip about 3 months ago (to cold to go fishing now ) we went around 5-6 times over a few weeks and caught around 30-40 fish each trip releasing a fair few fish u can see the back ground of just inside the heads where we were no matter where we drifted there were fish on our last trip we also trolled around north head for bonnies they were small but fun (i was talking in the pic telling my cousin how to use a phone camera Hey Gazza 30 - 40 fish per session is a very good day out in any waterway! You must know the water very well in that area.You fish baits or lures? The last time we headed out there were massive schools of salmon near Juno Point to Patonga... the salmon so plentyful and aggressive at one stage when they started rushing the baitfish the salmon school actually created a small tsunami! no joke - it was an unreal sight! We did catch a few with plastics and it was good fun on 3lb gear.. however salmon is not something I can bring home to feed the family with (if i did they would disown me!! ) Cheers Trung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Aussie007 Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Hey Gazza 30 - 40 fish per session is a very good day out in any waterway! You must know the water very well in that area.You fish baits or lures? The last time we headed out there were massive schools of salmon near Juno Point to Patonga... the salmon so plentyful and aggressive at one stage when they started rushing the baitfish the salmon school actually created a small tsunami! no joke - it was an unreal sight! We did catch a few with plastics and it was good fun on 3lb gear.. however salmon is not something I can bring home to feed the family with (if i did they would disown me!! ) Cheers Trung Trung just go drift around the heads any where in the middle around 6-7m of water holds alot of flatties and flounder the most fish that were caught were flatties we drifted using chicken breast i have a pic of our last catch of what we took home but my pic doesnt look great fish gutted with scissors and a blunt knife all we had on hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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