Long way to drive.....

[roostaman]

Living in Orange, the opportunity for saltwater expeditions are limited, so with forecasts looking good and recent reports promising (kings crop up regularly!!) I decided to hook up the boat and put the wee fella in the car for the 4 hour run down from the tablelands.

We left the boat ramp about 09:30 on Sunday, beeline for North Head where we dropped out a blade, a +6m hard body and a popper for a run along the inside head all the way out and around to Fairy Bower and then back then across the harbour mouth to South Head - for not a single strike. We were hoping for a few bonito, salmon, tailor or even a rat king but after almost 2 hours of trolling and the only sea life we saw was a MONSTER humpback breaching just off North Head.

Ran hard for the half hour run out to Long Reef Wide - crashing into a few swells as I learned the hard way that trimming the outboard can make a BIG difference to the comfort of the ride.....changed the rig on all three rods, put one down with prawn, another with squid and the last with mullet.

Wee fella pulled up a long red thing, pretty looking, but as I had no idea what it was it went back. ID please?? Dad tells me it's a wrasse and could be eaten?:


No sooner than the bugger was aboard than the wee fella turned green and burleyed....so we packed up and back inside. At least the run back was more comfortable as I worked out how to stop crashing down off the top of the swell. One stop for an hour or so near the entrance to Bantry Bay for not a single bite and I decided I'd had enough.

It was a glorious morning outside - especially for a hayseed and his son:

but geeeeeez that's a long drive to come home for a chicken dinner instead of fish....

Happy to take pointers for my next trip?

[Ray R]

Good report mate and welcome to the site, that little orange beasty is a Sargeant Baker (female), not really a sort after table fish,glad you enjoyed your time out there..

[roostaman]

Good report mate and welcome to the site, that little orange beasty is a Sargeant Baker (female), not really a sort after table fish,glad you enjoyed your time out there..

Cheers Ray...will keep a weather eye on what's going on, but what with kids sport, collecting firewood and myriad other domestic chores, getting back to Sydney Harbour may be a little ways off.....

Thanks for the ID - I'm glad I sent her back where she came from....

[The Poacher]

Unfortunately thats fishing Roostaman. Some days are diamonds... Best of luck next time. Generally, the trolling you were doing is more consistent from January through to May in my opinion (am sure some guys will disagree).

Cheers,

The Poacher.

[Scratchie]

That's a shame you didn't take home a feed! Definitely a long drive for zeros. If it makes you feel better, I drove from the fishing Mecca port stephens to chase trout on Sunday! I walked for about 15kms, casted probably 600 times and didn't catch a thing! I had chicken for dinner too! Lol.

Cheers scratchie!!!