Sunday Afternoon at the Hump

[duckegg]

Boys,

Bit of an update since my last report.

I can confirm that the fish busting up from Marley south were predominantly stripies (if Sunday was any indication). The story goes as follows:

Fathers day right, i can do whatever i damn well want right. Anyway after taking the 7 year old handbreak for a quick spin, threw her off, sorry i meant to say i dropped her off at the dock and started heading south.

4-5 kms north of the hump, bit of a current line and gannets so decided to troll a white feather a long way back. Got a hit fairly quickly and the young fella boated a stripe of about 1.5kg. Sweet...snapper bait!!!

Put the feather back out and 5 mins later another hit this time by a much better fish. With the spool quickly looking rather sparse cranked up the drag and started getting some line back. 5 mins later had a nice stripe of 4-5 kgs boatside. Gus grabs the net and says 'what do i do?'...I say 'just make your first shot your best shot and dont miss'. Anyway he has his shot, eveything goes to poop and we lose the lure and i lose my sh@1. Meanwhile Gus is trying to keep a straight face.

Anyway we get down to the hump, have a quick drift. Wind light and from the west and could get to the bottom with a 1/4 ounce snapper lead. Anchor on the north western corner and proceed to burley and buerley and burley. Fished one floater, one floater with a small bean and an octojig on a patternoster with a strip of stripie. 2.5 hours later doughnuts.

Pulled the pick and had a quick drift on the western side to see what else was there. Whilst there were lots of pickers also alot more action with a just legal pinkie which i released and a nannigai which also went back.

I have now spent a lot of time down there with very little to show for it. If anyone has any tips that they would like to share with the Cronulla crew, please feel free. I must warn you though i cant guarantee it will be kept schtumm cause most of the raiders appear to live in Cronulla. Haha

Johno

[piratin]

Hi Mate

we fished down their yesterday, water temperature was just 16.7 and water was green. We have caught some solid reds at the hump and fished yesterday targeting the tide change at 9.30am. We struggled yest only catching 3 reds. The other factor is that you need current runnin down hill. Yest and I presume sunday afternoon their was no current. Current seems to stir the fish up and make the system work - it tends to shut down with no current. No run equals no fun.

Not sure but if you read some of my past posts I have provided a fair bit of information about the hump area.

I am no expert these are just my observations. Can add their is a heap of flat head in 30 - 50 metres.

[duckegg]

Hi Mate

we fished down their yesterday, water temperature was just 16.7 and water was green. We have caught some solid reds at the hump and fished yesterday targeting the tide change at 9.30am. We struggled yest only catching 3 reds. The other factor is that you need current runnin down hill. Yest and I presume sunday afternoon their was no current. Current seems to stir the fish up and make the system work - it tends to shut down with no current. No run equals no fun.

Not sure but if you read some of my past posts I have provided a fair bit of information about the hump area.

I am no expert these are just my observations. Can add their is a heap of flat head in 30 - 50 metres.

Thanks Bud

Will definitely take this advice on board. Current was pretty slow. Never been able to get a 1/4 ounce snapper lead to the bottom before. By down hill i presume you mean south yeah? When you fish down there do you focus on the main hump or do you have your own 'honey holes'? ie am i better off finding my own haunts? Does the moon phase seem to have an impact down there?

ps will search your previous posts.

Johno

[frankp]

I can agree with Piratin and the suggestion of currents being very important. We fished for a couple of just legal size fish on sunday and the current was dead with the back of the boat was facing in a westerly direction.

We then fished Monday and up until 3pm had caught nothing facing west again until the current changed and we were facing " downhill" (North to South), did things change after that. We ended up with 7 snapper to 3.5kg and a big mowie.

Edited September 4, 2012 by frankp

[duckegg]

I can agree with Piratin and the suggestion of currents being very important. We fished for a couple of just legal size fish on sunday and the current was dead with the back of the boat was facing in a westerly direction.

We then fished Monday and up until 3pm had caught nothing facing west again until the current changed and we were facing " downhill" (North to South), did things change after that. We ended up with 7 snapper to 3.5kg and a big mowie.

Frank was that you in in the blue boat fishing approx. 300m south of me? I was fishing the main hump from about 2.30pm onwards?

Johno

[piratin]

In response to your questions we fish out the back of the hump - south east. Water depth anywhere from 45 - 75 metres. We believe that the gravel beds out the back of the hump is where the reds just move around and graze. Moon phase yes perhaps the lead up to the new moon is the go. But we do fish tides - a tide change is the go either early morning or late afternoon and we like the water to be blue, clean rather than green and cold.

If you anchor wind needs to be from the north and current running down hill. No current dont bother dropping the anchor. You need to be patient. Let them find your trial. Use floaters with a ball sinker depending on the current. I am not a fan of the snapper lead. Big baits for big reds. Big fillets of fresh slimey and whole fresh pilchards, squid heads etc

As i said this is what we have found and what works for us. Not sure what others think, only to happy to try and assist others.

[duckegg]

In response to your questions we fish out the back of the hump - south east. Water depth anywhere from 45 - 75 metres. We believe that the gravel beds out the back of the hump is where the reds just move around and graze. Moon phase yes perhaps the lead up to the new moon is the go. But we do fish tides - a tide change is the go either early morning or late afternoon and we like the water to be blue, clean rather than green and cold.

If you anchor wind needs to be from the north and current running down hill. No current dont bother dropping the anchor. You need to be patient. Let them find your trial. Use floaters with a ball sinker depending on the current. I am not a fan of the snapper lead. Big baits for big reds. Big fillets of fresh slimey and whole fresh pilchards, squid heads etc

As i said this is what we have found and what works for us. Not sure what others think, only to happy to try and assist others.

Piratin

Thank you very much mate, appreciate the advice. I will just keep putting in the time and persisting. I am going to try and get down there again on Sunday as the wind appears to be dropping. That is assuming i can early exit a brunch with some friends. If i can reciprocate in any way let me know.

Johno

[frankp]

Frank was that you in in the blue boat fishing approx. 300m south of me? I was fishing the main hump from about 2.30pm onwards?

Johno

No Johno we were fishing out of a trophy a couple of km's away. Good luck, there is nothing like a big snapper smashing a floater.

Edited September 5, 2012 by frankp

[duckegg]

No Johno we were fishing out of a trophy a couple of km's away. Good luck, there is nothing like a big snapper smashing a floater.

Yellow one by any chance? Im in a white 25ft Boston

[frankp]

It's a green trophy, I did see a boat in the distance but couldn't make anything out of it.