Central coast rocks

[Vendee]

Hi All,

Been hitting the central coast every weekend to try for drummer but not getting anywhere. Catching mostly sweep and the odd trevally.

Last weekend decided to hit the central coast again and after a really frustrating morning catching only sweep (releasing them).

, threw out all my berley in to the water towards the end of the day and decided to hold around for half an hour.

Tried a new tack with some different prawns and got a Herring Cale first.Talk about scary. Black body with bluish tinge, green ringed eyes and a blue streak on the tail and was having none of it when I tried to remove the hook, so left him in a bucket of water. At the time, I didnt know what it was until someone pointed it out later. This photo does not do justice to this black beauty.

Tried again and immediately hooked on to this fish (initially thought it was a big sweep). I saw a lil red and was like Yay a snapper. Then someone told me its a red morwong. I hadn't carried a net that day so had to bring him up two metres from the water to the rocks. Well having never caught one before didn't know what it was. My mind was still on the H. Cale as I didn't know if it was legal to keep and for some reason it was scaring the heck out of me. Didn't strike me to wonder too much about the Mowie as my phone was dead and it didn't seem big.

Coming home, I checked the records and realized the largest in the bait fish records was 46 cms so came and checked this one and its close to 48 cms. Only slightly bigger. To be honest though, the Sweep of 29 cms which I caught the previous week gave me a bigger fight than this 48 cm mowie.

After that, caught one sweep about 20 cms, threw him back and left.

Almost went in the water myself. Was on a high ledge after the drummer fishos had left. Noticed they had kept their undersized fish in the small pools on the rocks and these guys were dying. Went down on my hands and knees to scoop them out and it was a pain as they kept darting around but managed to catch and throw all back. On the last one as I walking towards the edge, tripped on a slightly higher rock and went stumbling towards the edge and only recovered on the last step, cms away from going 4-5 mtrs down to join the drummers in the wash. Next got whacked by a freak wave over rocks where there had been no water all morning or even after that wave. It hit me up to my waist and I was down on all fours clinging to the rocks ( and I kept on fishing) but from a higher ledge. Hope to try something new this week and will keep you guys posted if I get something worthwhile. Sweep may be easy to catch but the big ones on light tackle (7' Starlo Classix 2-5kg) can be a hard . The red mowie was caught on a cheap Chinese rod and reel combo I bought for 60 for catching drummer, not very sensitive but pretty strong.

I found a good spot to pick cabbage and stringy weed close to each other so will give that a go next week and see if the luderick or drummer prefer that to my woolies prawns.

[Ryder]

Mate be careful, the swell last week was bad news.

Always big bad if there is a surf break at Neilson Park.

That is a good fish. But ..

Let things calm down before you hit it again.

[Vendee]

Thanks Ryder. Checked the forecast and it should be quite calm next week. Am going to go a bit more inland and stick to lakes till I recover all my energy. A whole day on the rocks has me completely drained. Now just need to resist the thrill of rock fishing

[davebrewer]

Good on you for releasing the fish left by the boofheads,and very nice catches.

[Yowie]

Vendee,

It only takes one big wave to send you swimming, and those sort of waves just turn up when least expected. It is not the swimming that is the problem, it is being scraped over the rocks and barnacles that hurt.

You need to keep one eye on fishing, the other eye on the waves.

Good luck.

[sootopia]

ive got a top recipie for cale haha.....

get a rock,

pop it in a pot with the cale,

stew for a few hours, throw away the cale and eat the rock

how do you cook it?

[Vendee]

Thanks Dave.

Yowie, the place I go to normally the waves are easy to see but they hit from two different directions and sometimes my ears provide the first warning. The biggest waves usually break up up but its the freak waves that usually gets through. I always face the sea though.

[Saboo]

...................but they hit from two different directions and sometimes my ears provide the first warning.

Statistic waiting to happen??

Please for your own sake take care, the are no freak waves just variations to conditions. I've had the misfortune of fishing on a very flat day and having a 1 metre plus green wall come barrelling in over the ledge, luckily we saw it coming and we ran up as high as we could, the pools, packs and buckets weren't so lucky!

Well done on releasing the fish form the pools.

Saboo

[Vendee]

Statistic waiting to happen??

Please for your own sake take care, the are no freak waves just variations to conditions. I've had the misfortune of fishing on a very flat day and having a 1 metre plus green wall come barrelling in over the ledge, luckily we saw it coming and we ran up as high as we could, the pools, packs and buckets weren't so lucky!

Well done on releasing the fish form the pools.

Saboo

No. Just someone who has gone there every week for almost 2 months. I see a lot of people get wet even after looking at the waves. Its just one of those spots where your eyes arent enough as the waves break in front. Btw I should mention I dont fish right in the front like the others. I stay a bit in the shelter where technically the waves should have broken up in front but one or two can get in and by the time you see it you're soaked. That should also explain why I am not catching drummer unlike the others standing right out in front.