snatcher Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 (edited) <p>My Australian fishing mentor Ollie had been on the phone the night before saying that the weather was looking favourable for fishing one of his favourite rock marks the next day. As arranged then Ollie picked me up at my daughters apartment at Freshwater and we were parking up "near" the mark for just after sunrise.</p> <p> </p> <p>Now Ollie always goes on these trips well tackle laden so I offered to carry about half of the gear for him. He also asked me to don a spare pair of cleated boots that he had dug out for me. The yomp to the mark really had me well goosed I can tell you - especially wearing those cleated boots !!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>We arrived at the climb down point to the mark when he casually said that the weatherman had got it wrong and that it was too dangerous to fish. Actually I was not too disappointed as the climb down looked very steep,especially with all of the gear we were carrying. While we (me) were having a breather before the one mile yomp back to the car Ollie spotted a Little Penguin swimming in the bay and pointed it out to me. Nice one Ollie,my first Australian penguin. <img class="bbc_emoticon" src="http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/public/style_emoticons/default/sun.gif"title=":sun:" /></p> <p> </p> <p>We then headed off to Little Manly Point Park inside Sydney Harbour itself. This time we only parked about 200yds away from the mark and our fishing platform was a flat stone jetty. This is a picture of the mark and very nice it was too. You can clearly see the shark protected area for swimmers about 100 yds to our right. I had actually been swimming in it with my daughter and grandson just about a week earlier.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <br /> <p>Ollie explained that our main quarry on this occasion would be kingfish but that salmon,bonito,jewfish,stingrays and sharks were possible. With this in mind Ollie crumbed up some bread into the water and had us fishing light rigs with tiny hooks baited with small bits of pilchard. Livebaiting with yellowtail was again the method we would be using. Check out this picture of Ollie after yellowtail.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <br /> <p>To be honest I do not know why I bothered as Ollie had 3 fish in the aerated bucket before I even had a bite.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <br /> <p>We rigged up the heavier rods with 3oz sinkers on a running ledger with livebait on a 4/0 hook. It was then simply a case of casting out,setting back the drag to zero and waiting for some action. Nothing happened for about an hour then Ollie's line started shooting off. Once he struck into the fish all hell broke loose - "its a bronzie" he shouted. His bronze whaler shark then proceeded to give us a fine aerobatic display,what a scrap it gave him for about 10 minutes. Now came the tricky bit of landing and unhooking. Ollie handed the rod to me which I was well happy with. He then scrambled down the rocks to our right and I stayed on the jetty top trying to coax the shark to him. It was not happy and made one more dash for freedom before I could lead it to Ollie below. Ollie just got hold of the leader as the shark bit through the line and away it sped. Due to the mayhem this is the only picture I managed to get of the shark. We estimated it to be about 4 feet long. Nice one Ollie.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>We were down to one livebait in the bucket so we concentrated on catching a few more whilst keeping a close eye on the big rods. Within minutes of catching that shark Ollie had another screaming run and stuck into it.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>It was a salmon this time which gave a great account of itself. Ollie said that his freezer was full of salmon for shark bait so this fish was carefully released.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Ollie then caught a very good bream on his livebait but for some reason I never took a picture of that. Anyway the bream was also returned to the water. At last I had a run on my rod and struck into my very first bonito. They are very mackerel like and fight just as hard. It was not big as bonito go but it was a new species for me so I was well happy. This fish also was returned to fight another day.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>All went quiet for a good while when the water just seemed to explode about 70 yds to our left with baitfish jumping everywhere. We had spinning rods set up for just this occasion so raced down and started hurling metal lures at the spot. No sooner had we cast out then the activity ceased and the predators,whatever they were had moved on.</p> <p> </p> <p>We had just got back to our main rods when Ollie had a run and he struck into a bonito.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>Now this fish was not destined to go back as Ollie decided to livebait with it to see if he could raise a shark on it.</p> <p> </p> <p></p> <p> </p> <p>We gave it another hour with no more action and by this time Ollies livebait had become a deadbait. It was decided to call it a day at this point to which I was quite happy as it was now uncomfortably hot on the exposed jetty where we were fishing.</p> <p> </p> <p>What a great session it had been and what a superb coach I had in Ollie. My next report has me flying over to Western Australia fishing in the Indian Ocean. I hope you are enjoying the series of reports from this pommie bar steward <img class="bbc_emoticon" src="http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/public/style_emoticons/default/sun.gif"title=":sun:" /></p> <p> </p> <p>John</p> Edited March 29, 2015 by snatcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toboggi Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 nice photos and nice catch! i know that spot but never tried fishing there. i would have guessed that spot would get crowded but looks like you guys were alone. Was it a weekday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Great report and a great read. Me and my dad fished there a lot before we had a boat there are plenty of bonito and kings there never seen a short there though Cheers sydneyfisher12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 nice photos and nice catch! i know that spot but never tried fishing there. i would have guessed that spot would get crowded but looks like you guys were alone. Was it a weekday? That was a back in 2012 and I cannot remember if it was a weekday. Recall fishing there a few times last year at a weekend and it was shoulder to shoulder. You are that close to the harbour entrance that anything can turn up. Seen a young lad get bust off by a massive stingray last year. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Knot Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Great report Snatcher - Lots of good info in your reports - keep em coming. Cheers Blood Knot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 I'm really enjoying your reports John and it seems you miss OZ a lot. Btw, that is the cutest bonito I've ever seen! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhoppa Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Snatcher, sounds like you need to set up your caravan on that pier. Always a good read mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest no one Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 When are you going to move here so you can keep the reports coming? Coming from a Scottish lad born and bred... Scotland fishing sucks, Australian fishing is amazing - no brainer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 When are you going to move here so you can keep the reports coming? Coming from a Scottish lad born and bred... Scotland fishing sucks, Australian fishing is amazing - no brainer! tef1on I could really fancy moving to oz if it was not for the fact that I also have family here including a son,daughter in law, two grandsons and another one due Feb 2015 We also love spending the summer at our caravan in Drummore,Mull of Galloway. The fishing there is admitedly not as good as your fishing but still enjoyable. I think I have the best of both worlds mate as every trip to oz for us is a 3 month one. Roll on our next one John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdoweplaythis Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 were you fishing with the livies under a float or only on the bottom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 were you fishing with the livies under a float or only on the bottom? We fished the livebait on the bottom mate Although I did see one angler take a kingie there floatfishing livebait. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number1fisher Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 That's a great section guys. I must say you casting must be pretty good to get it that far. Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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