Offshore Game Fishing of Sydney

[Scent Blazer Lures]

Scent Blazer Crew

Hey all, the Scent Blazer crew minus Andrew headed out for a Sydney offshore sessionon Wednesday at around 12.30pm. We took a Dolphin newbie, Adam, along for the ride. Andrew was in Port Stephens fishing. Andrew reported the waters off Port Stephens were muddy and no one has been catching anything up there at the moment, so he struck out up there.

We headed North from Sydney heads to the Manly Hydraulics Buoy. The water around the buoy was somewhat greenish but a warm 23.5, so we trolled a couple of small Scent Blazer lures around it hoping to pick up some dolphin fish. We did a few passes and got nothing, sowe continued NE about 10NM towards the shelf looking for blue water.

About 4NM inside the shelf the water got bluer and we started trolling. We continued towards the shelf and the water gradually become even bluer the further out we went. We saw many patches of krill in the water, which is a good sign.

Hooked up on a small Striped Tuna just inside the shelf. We got the newbie Adam to reel it in, his form was terrible and he lost it near the boat.

About 2 miles NE of the Bait Station we spotted a couple of fish traps. We trolled about 40 metres away from them. Unbelievable, the amount of rope they had on their buoys was way too long, it was floating along the surface, we ended up running over it,and it got caught around the legs of the boat. Stopped the boat, got the boat hook out and had to cut the trap off and re-tie it. Really dangerous. If a boat ran over that ropeat speed, it would cause a hell of a lot of damage not to mention risk to people’s lives. If it wereearly morning or late afternoon, you would not even see it. So here is a tip, if you see a trap keep a good distance from it until you can establish where the ropes are and how much excess rope they have floating around.

We hooked a Dolphin fish when we were pulling one of the Scent Blazer lures in. Adam lost that one near the boat as well.

We kept trolling around the trap keeping a good distance from it and we hooked a few small Dolphin fish that Adam lost again. Finally, Adam landed a Dolphin fish, which was lucky because at that stage we were going to throw him overboard. Just kidding Adam.

We spotted another fish trap a bit further out, this time we kept our distance, at least 60 to 70 metres away from it. Guess what? That rope was just as long or longer. We ran over that one as well. We stopped the engines. My first instinct was to cut it off, but we thought we would do the right thing and try to push the rope off the legs with the boat hook. We got it off, but by this stage our teaser cord was caught around one of the prop legs and the lines become tangled in all the chaos of freeing the fish trap. We couldn’t start the boat until the teaser cord was cleared, too risky, andwe couldn’t get it off with the boat hook from the marlin board, so out came the diving mask and we had to jump in to get it off. Lucky the water was warm and there were no sharks.

What a day so far.

After all that we had a break , had a cigarette, a drink and just pondered for half an hour, talking about all shit that had transpired so far. Next time we won’t muck around, we will just cut it off.

Not giving upeasily, we cut off the tangled line, re- rigged, put the trolling lures and teasers back out and started trolling back towards Sydney. Between about 6 and 7pm, we got about five more strikes, a Dolphin Fish and two Striped Tuna all of which Adam pulled in. He was getting better! We lost two bigger fish but we got footage of one of the fish on the troll cam, we willgo over the footage to see what it was.

We got a fair bit of footage on the troll cam at least of fish striking the lures. So we will post that up here over the next few days. We also got some great footage of about 50 small Dolphin Fish swimming behind the trolling camera at various stages of the afternoon when we were reeling in the fish. We’llpost that up here as well.

Despite the dramas we had great day out, we probably would have hooked a lot more Dolphin Fish if we didn’t lose all that time dealing the fish traps ropes, but we still got a few and everyone had a lot of fun.

Anyway, lots of Dolphin Fish and Stripped Tuna along the shelf in bluer water. I am sure there aresomeMarlin in amongst those smaller fish as well. I think over the next few days as the water clearsup even more it will get even better, so get out there if you can.

Happy fishing and be careful around those fish traps.

Peter – SB Lures

P.S. we got all the fish on Scent Blazer Nanos ,Sardine and Green Mackerel colours, we put Pilchards inside the lures for bait.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Scent Blazer Lures

[sam0]

That sounds like a lot of fun, small bites get my heart racing at the moment.

Out of curiosity, how much of an effect does water temp have on catching fish?

[SargeRX8]

That was a good read. Cant understand why the ropes are so long. Lazy people too lazy to adjust to the depth.

Water temps affect all species of fish. Some prefer warmer temps while others seek deeper cooler water.

[smashed crab]

thanks for the report i went out thrusday and picked up some dollies off the traps in closer.

and if anyone does run a trap over could you tie them back up,there is no point cutting them loose cause thats what is attracting the fish and what your trying to fish next to anyway

cheers luke

[SargeRX8]

Are these traps at fixed locations or are they moved?

[bede]

top report, thanks mate.

[Scratchie]

Awesome report!!! I've gotta get me some of them lures. Cheers scratchie!!!

[BillfishMan]

i agree, I like the traps out there as well for holding fish, I think trapping is ok, the restaurants need fish and lobsters

and of course I love picking up dollies around them and watching dollies jump around the surface near the traps, its unreal fun

but i also agree with this post that they should be layed out responsibly, single big bouy and no excess rope floating on the surface

i only got a smallish boat with a single engine, if we were to run over it at speed then that would pretty dangerous for us

I want to catch fish not die trying

good post, been using your lures and have done real well on them, keep up the good work, its good see something innovative and different out there

[Cannon85]

What do the fish trap bouys look like??

just the standard white or like the fad bouys?