stormy Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 Got back from Forster last Friday night and was disappointed by the overall lack of fish up there. Only got one blackfish and one big salmon. The spawning run should be underway in Botany Bay and Port Hacking, so I picked up Whispering Jack this morning and trekked out to the coast, near Wattamolla for a couple of hours on the stones. The tide was low and the swell rising, but it was fishable. John landed the first fish and another mate Rick turned up to land the second one. My luck followed me down from the north coast it seemed. I hooked a very solid fish, only to have it bust off at my feet. John had three or four in the net and I was still zero. Started getting a few more downs as the tide rose and started to get a few nice fish in the low 40's. Solid males ready for spawning. We decided to call it quits just before lunch and the tally was 8 landed and one released for me, six for John and three for Rick, so it was a not to bad in the end. We all dropped several fish and had a couple of bust offs each as well. Glorious day out there until the NE wind picked up. Looking forward to next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hawkesbass Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 not a bad effort got a few fish with royce and paul on sunday from the bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pomey_git Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Nice! Any tips and pointers for a noive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 Yes, but you would need to move out of Canberra I did post some contributions to Roberta's informative tutorial on Blackfishing on the chat page. Can do a lot worse than to start there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macman Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Hi Stormy, Interesting to see your comments about the spawning run. I thought the run was much earlier in the year, but I caught 8 yesterday and every single one was a male in full spawning mode. Mine were generally a smaller run of fish though. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkm1667 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Hi Stormy, Interesting to see your comments about the spawning run. I thought the run was much earlier in the year, but I caught 8 yesterday and every single one was a male in full spawning mode. Mine were generally a smaller run of fish though. Matt Gyday matt In cleaning blackfish is it important to get the black lining of your fish straight away when cleaning or could you wait to you get home around a hour or so.I know they have to be kept in a swim net until bleeding not sure on the lining though. Been trying to cast the old steelite down the back paddock,funny as, deadset got no idea. I think ill be grabbing the 475b. cheers john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Matt, about the same as last year. Went today and landed 11 fish between three of us. Five for me, the largest which went 43cm. All big fish and firm, muscular specimens. When I picked them up, they all had a big spurt of milt. Excited to see me!!!????? Not bad for a couple of hours, but should improve a lot in the next few weeks if all goes as expected. Had a 1m plus kingy come and have a look around, in 5ft of water, at my feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luderick59 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Matt, about the same as last year. Went today and landed 11 fish between three of us. Five for me, the largest which went 43cm. All big fish and firm, muscular specimens. When I picked them up, they all had a big spurt of milt. Excited to see me!!!????? Not bad for a couple of hours, but should improve a lot in the next few weeks if all goes as expected. Had a 1m plus kingy come and have a look around, in 5ft of water, at my feet. plenty of big fish up at mona vale at the moment some fish 47cms lost bigger fish i estimate around 50cms ihave never noticed a taste difference by not cleaning the black lining out as long as the fish are skinned and filleted within 24hrs peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nosquid Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Great Fish Guys, I only wish I could get out more and join you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkm1667 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 thx peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macman Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Hi John, Keep persisting with the Steelite, I would be happy to meet up with you some time and give you some tips, I presume you are the John I have been corresponding with by email. Everyone talks about the lining in the gut as being an issue, its really only an issue if you leave the guts in the fish and leave them for a long time. If you bleed and gut the fish before you take them home , then fillet and skin at home, you don't need to worry about it. Nice work on the fish BTW Stormy. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkm1667 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Hi John, Keep persisting with the Steelite, I would be happy to meet up with you some time and give you some tips, I presume you are the John I have been corresponding with by email. Everyone talks about the lining in the gut as being an issue, its really only an issue if you leave the guts in the fish and leave them for a long time. If you bleed and gut the fish before you take them home , then fillet and skin at home, you don't need to worry about it. Nice work on the fish BTW Stormy. Matt That would be good matt as i need a few tips about fishing for blackfish. My rig atm is 4" alvey side cast and a 8' fly rod with a+_+_) float (cheap n nasty). I have caught a few on it,top fun as its super lite. Went to huntleys point (gladesville)today put in 4 hrs, the last of the run in and the 1st 2 hrs of the run out for 1 bloody down and missed it,come away with a donut had a shocker but it was still good just to have a go.....cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted November 21, 2012 Author Share Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) Had another great session yesterday. I only fish for 2-3 hours and yesterdays water was the best I have seen for a few years at this spot in the RNP. Swell was up but not dangerous. Watched the water for half an hour before casting in. Downs were mostly on the timid side but some really smashed the bait, whipping the float under. All fish landed were males again, but some had obviously spawned. Big, solid fish with few under 40cms. I ended up with 10 in the bag and more than that number dropped. My two mates got 2 apiece and nice fish to boot. A bunch of "fishos" came down to the ledge armed with an arsenal of rods and gear. Probably the same crew who showed up when Luderick Angler was fishing here a couple of weeks back. They came and stood within a couple of feet of one of the locals, who gave them an earful to no avail. They were using big bobby corks, big hooks and huge clumps of cabbage. No-one was inclined to show them the ropes, due to the attitude and the probability that they would bring more of their friends and denude the place of cabbage, cunji and everything else. They also leave all their food wrappers, bait, tangled line etc all over the rocks. Anyway, enough whining. Had a great morning, caught good fish and left them biting. No-one else landed a fish in the 45mins I spent cleaning my catch. Guess they wanted bite size food instead of dinner plate sized baits Edited November 21, 2012 by stormy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkm1667 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 nailed em stormy, well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macman Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 (edited) nailed em stormy, well done Nice Stormy which rod and reel Looks like the Avon Royal 3 Edited November 22, 2012 by macman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted November 22, 2012 Author Share Posted November 22, 2012 Yes Avon Royal Mk3 and Pacific Composites Ocean Blackfish rod. Have been using the Royal Mkll for the past 42 yrs, so decided to retire it for a while and started to use the bigger reel, lately. Royce now owns the Sportex 662 which I bought with the reel back in '70. That little reel has caught a lot of fish and still spins freely to this day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macman Posted November 22, 2012 Share Posted November 22, 2012 Yes Avon Royal Mk3 and Pacific Composites Ocean Blackfish rod. Have been using the Royal Mkll for the past 42 yrs, so decided to retire it for a while and started to use the bigger reel, lately. Royce now owns the Sportex 662 which I bought with the reel back in '70. That little reel has caught a lot of fish and still spins freely to this day. Nice, very similar set-up to what I use most of the time, although I use the Okuma as the first option these days. I have an Avon MK3 in beautiful condition but the spindle/bush is knackered. Good luck with the fishing they are in prime shape down your way. I'm off to Yamba for the weekend but sadly no fishing Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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