Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Hi Guys and Gals, Went for a quick fish this morning off the rocks at Botany Bay National Park but I could only get there a couple of hours into the run out tide. The gates generally open sometime between 6am and 7am I think, and I was a bit slow waking up so I didn't arrive until just after 7am. It was raining on the drive in, but by the time I arrived the sun was out and it looked great. Grabbed the Alvey and backpack and walked across the rocks to my favorite spot. I knew it was a very low low-tide and not too much swell about so I decided to catch some crabs and try them out as well as prawns I'd picked up on the way in, and a bit of Cunje. I soaked some stale bread with some tuna oil and weed, and bits of crushed up crab legs for burly and threw some out while I was rigging the Alvey. First cast with prawn and I landed a nice bream, about 32cm. Lunch! Now to try and catch dinner! For the next half hour it was quiet - small nibbles but no real hits. I was alternating between crabs, cunje and prawn, and then I got a really big hit on a small crab. It was pulling very hard but didn't feel like a drummer - thought it could have been another bream but bigger. When I saw color I immediately thought bream - and it was huge! But when I got it up on the rocks it was actually a Tarwhine. The biggest Tarwhine I'd ever caught by far - I measured it at a touch under 36cm. He was really fat and wide too. I stayed for another hour - and in that time all I managed to bring up was an eel - which I thought was a snag at first until he decided to let go of his grip and I reeled it up. The poor guy was all tangled in the line and choking himself - It took me about five minutes to cut all the line away from him while I had him in a rock pool so I could let him go! Glad to say he swam away ok! Getting more and more used to the Alvey now - think the transition from little threadlines is almost done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbdshroom Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Looks like a moray eel? I caught one of those things once off the rocks at Cronulla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Looks like a moray eel? I caught one of those things once off the rocks at Cronulla I was pretty sure it was a moray as soon as I saw it. Not sure exactly which type of moray - there are hundreds of types I think.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Those eels will bite, so be careful cutting off the line. A nice tarwhine to go with the bream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eholdn Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Good read, what alvey set up you using mousse? something timeless about alvey pics. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 That bigger fish is a nice tarwhine.....well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Those eels will bite, so be careful cutting off the line. A nice tarwhine to go with the bream. Yeah I didn't want to get my fingers too close! But he was pretty tangled and would have died if I hadn't cut away the coils of mono. All good though - I kept my fingertips and he got to swim away! Good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Good read, what alvey set up you using mousse? something timeless about alvey pics. cheers Hi eholdn, Its a 13ft 6” ROD6500 Alvey 2 peice, and a 650A5. Just new to Alveys mate, but it's already won me over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 That bigger fish is a nice tarwhine.....well done! Thanks Rob. It's definitely the biggest I've caught so I was pleased. Only 36cm but it was really wide and fat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlRak Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Hi eholdn, Its a 13ft 6” ROD6500 Alvey 2 peice, and a 650A5. Just new to Alveys mate, but it's already won me over. Hi Mousse, Nice report and some nice fish. Just curious as to what you see as the benefits of using the above tackle? Not a criticism at all. Can understand if you're chasing pigs, groper etc but for bream? Reason I'm so curious is that early in the year I decided to take my blackfish set-up (10' Wilson Shorelline and Alvey 475B) with me camping to use off the rocks (both float and bottom fishing) up the coast and found myself going back to a 7'Catana/2500 Sienna combo after a couple of days. It was my first plastics combo but has since been turned into a light bait combo. No argument that the Alvey and glass rod are close to indestructible and make landing a fish easier but don't you find the little threadline so much more sensitive, light, effortless etc? Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 (edited) Hi Mousse, Nice report and some nice fish. Just curious as to what you see as the benefits of using the above tackle? Not a criticism at all. Can understand if you're chasing pigs, groper etc but for bream? Reason I'm so curious is that early in the year I decided to take my blackfish set-up (10' Wilson Shorelline and Alvey 475B) with me camping to use off the rocks (both float and bottom fishing) up the coast and found myself going back to a 7'Catana/2500 Sienna combo after a couple of days. It was my first plastics combo but has since been turned into a light bait combo. No argument that the Alvey and glass rod are close to indestructible and make landing a fish easier but don't you find the little threadline so much more sensitive, light, effortless etc? Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers Carl Hi Carl, That's exactly what I am targeting - Pigs and groper...hence the baits of Crab Cunje and Prawn. Yesterday I didn't have any luck with either of those and the Bream and Tarwhine were are by-catch. I used to use a similar setup to you - a 10 foot Catana and a 2500 Stradic. I found a couple of things - one is that I kept getting busted off by drummer any bigger than around 30cm, and the length of the rod restricted me from exploring some deeper ledges I'd had my eye on. I definitely found that I had more hits on the lighter gear - but even though I've not landed a truck full of fish yet with the Alvey (still only my third use) I have seen straight away that the fish I have landed are bigger than what I used to get. I had a lot of enjoyment with the Shimano - I just wanted to tackle some beefier fish. Edited February 20, 2013 by Mousse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 wow huge tarwhine! ive never seen them that big. do they pull harder than bream? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 wow huge tarwhine! ive never seen them that big. do they pull harder than bream? From my experience bream pull harder. But I was a bit over-gunned to be fair - all the other bream I've caught before around that size have been on much lighter gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysondanielgraham Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 That is a green moray eel I pretty sure. Can you eat them I think I remember reading somewhere that you can eat them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 I'm not sure if you can eat them jaysondanielgraham - and if I'm not 100% sure about a size limit or eating quality it goes back. When I get home I'll look it up online or check out this forum to find out more about what I've caught then I'll know more for next time. If it's something I haven't caught before, or it looks nice then after a quick photo or two I let them swim away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdanger Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) I'm not sure if you can eat them jaysondanielgraham - and if I'm not 100% sure about a size limit or eating quality it goes back. When I get home I'll look it up online or check out this forum to find out more about what I've caught then I'll know more for next time. If it's something I haven't caught before, or it looks nice then after a quick photo or two I let them swim away. Google tells me they're edible. Apparently very nice flesh, but difficult to skin. I had a moray come out of a crevice down at Jervis Bay while cleaning squid. I tried to lure him back up to get a look using the fresh squid tube, only for the bastard to snatch it and run. Mates nearly killed me, but we got it back eventually (it floated up back up--no way I'd be sticking my fingers down some hole for a bit of calamari). Back to edibility, never tried them myself but would give them a go. [edit] - cutting up a moray eel Edited February 21, 2013 by jdanger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 haha jdanger guess he got a better look at your squid than you did of him! Thanks for posting the Vid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FISHARK Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Well done Mousse that is a real nice tarwhine and as for the eel you will be suprised how white thier meat is looks good but cant help with the taste part !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Well done Mousse that is a real nice tarwhine and as for the eel you will be suprised how white thier meat is looks good but cant help with the taste part !!! It did look very white in the video that jdanger posted. I've eaten eel (Unagi?) plenty of times at Japanese restaurants but I've no idea what type of eel that would be - fresh or salt water... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacksmurf Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Nice catch for a couple of hours work!!! I hate catching eels, they ruin your line and are a bugger to get off the hook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 I'm starting to wonder if a good deal of snags I'm getting could be bigger eels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishythings Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I'm starting to wonder if a good deal of snags I'm getting could be bigger eels... The eels are oily, but if you know how to do with them to become unagi they are nice. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewdreamer Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Lovely Tarwhine mate, thats a fish to be proud of! What the FR record for Tarwhine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mousse Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 Thanks mate...I think its way off any records. ..im sure any records would be way over 40cm for sure.... Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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