snatcher Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 (edited) This little session had me fishing Little Manly Point Park again and this time my fishing companion was Steve Pope. Steve Pope is a quite famous barbel angler back in the UK and does guided trips. Do a google search and you can find his website. My daughter just happened to mention that her friends dad was also a keen angler and he and his wife were also having a 3 month holiday in Sydney. We met up initially in the Wharf Bar,Manly,and hit it off straight away. The language barrier proved a bit problematic at times and he struggled with my Geordie accent. Also the fact that Steve was a bit "corned beef" did not help either. I did have him saying "wheyaye maan" before I left Australia though !!!! My daughter dropped me off at the mark first and by the time Steve arrived I was already set up,ledgering squid on a running rig. Steve had bought a spinning outfit when he arrived in Australia but it was a bit lighter than mine. He also set up similar to me,ledgering squid on the bottom. Check out Steve looking pretty relaxed in this picture. After about an hour or so with no bites forthcoming I decided to try deadbaiting with yellowtail. First off I had to catch one which proved very difficult. I crumbed some bread into the water to try and attract some Once some yellowtail were near the surface I lowered down a tiny bit of squid on the smallest hook I could find. I really did struggle for ages with loads of missed bites and a few dropped fish. All of my cursing seemed to amuse Steve very much. Eventually my bait was taken by a larger fish which I carefully managed to lift up the harbour wall. It was a wrasse and positively identified later as a red banded wrasse. After a quick picture it was returned to the water to fight another day. Another new species for me on this trip so I was made up. After a great deal of persistance I did eventually manage to get my yellowtail for my deadbaiting attempt. I was wishing that I had asked Ollie if he had a heavier rod and reel that I could borrow but I had not and it proved to be a mistake. I cast out the deadbait about 25 yds into fairly deep water,set the drag on my fixed spool to zero,as had been advised by Ollie, and settled back and waited. Steve was persisting with the squid but was having no luck. The yellowtail had been out for about half an hour untouched and I was just thinking of packing in when the spool slowly started turning. I carefully picked up my rod,opened up the bale arm briefly whilst I tightened up the drag then struck into the fish. The fish felt very big and to be honest did nothing much for a minute or so. Steve grabbed the camera and took this shot. I am quite certain that the fish,whatever it was, did not know it was hooked. After this initial period of relative dormacy it woke up and shot off at speed towards the middle of the harbour. Steve managed to get this last shot before it bust me off. It stayed near the bottom as it sped off so I may have been cut off on the reef. As to what it was I will never know,there are plenty of candidates in Sydney Harbour though. Some of the possibilities include - shark,large ray,grouper,jewfish,kingfish. Back in 2008 I had caught a few large GT's on this outfit out on the Barrier Reef but this fish appeared to be more powerful than that. After this incident we decided to pack up as we both had other plans for the rest of the day. One promise I did make myself though was to invest in some heavier gear. My next report sees me fishing at Noosa Heads John Edited May 7, 2015 by snatcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhoppa Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Ahh. A classic 'one that got away' story. At least you have photographic proof! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Were you fishing the yellowtail (yakka) on the bottom if so it probably wasn't a kingfish because they usually feed on the top or mid water but still could of been a Jew, Ray or shark if you were fishing bottom I'd say it was a ray but it could of been anything. I recon it busted you off on one of the moorings in front of you looking at the angle of the line Anyway still great to be hooked up but I hate loosing big fish Cheers sydneyfisher12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nbdshroom Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Well done, you are still knocking off new species. Never caught a wrasse like that one before. No idea on what that big fish that dusted you could have been but probably a ray or a shark. I don't think a king would 'sit' there after it's meal, they seem to always be making a beeline somewhere whether toward structure or the horizon. A jew would also wake up pretty quickly after the hook set if it didn't know it was on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted November 24, 2014 Author Share Posted November 24, 2014 Were you fishing the yellowtail (yakka) on the bottom if so it probably wasn't a kingfish because they usually feed on the top or mid water but still could of been a Jew, Ray or shark if you were fishing bottom I'd say it was a ray but it could of been anything. I recon it busted you off on one of the moorings in front of you looking at the angle of the line Anyway still great to be hooked up but I hate loosing big fish Cheers sydneyfisher12 YesI was fishing the yakka on the bottom sydneyfisher12. When it woke up it certainly raced off until it bust me up John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Sounds like a classic Ray hookup. Take a bait, move off, sit on the bottom no matter what you do, then for no particular reason just decide to swim away to somewhere more interesting... complete with your rig and as much line as you are unlucky enough to lose. I hooked one in Kiama harbor once that 'ran' (more like an unstoppable meander) 300m of line off my 6.5" Alvey before I finally gave in to the inevitable and locked up to bust him off... that wasn't easy either with that much mono in the water. Cheers, Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaClH2OK9 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 " more like an unstoppable meander" Funny as! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 Sounds like a classic Ray hookup. Take a bait, move off, sit on the bottom no matter what you do, then for no particular reason just decide to swim away to somewhere more interesting... complete with your rig and as much line as you are unlucky enough to lose. I hooked one in Kiama harbor once that 'ran' (more like an unstoppable meander) 300m of line off my 6.5" Alvey before I finally gave in to the inevitable and locked up to bust him off... that wasn't easy either with that much mono in the water. Cheers, Slinky Aye Slinky you could well be right about a big ray. Have caught some big common skate here in the UK,my biggest being 182lb so I know the power of them. Mind you when I fish for them here i have a rod with an 80lb test curve and 120lb braid. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 Sounds like a classic Ray hookup. Take a bait, move off, sit on the bottom no matter what you do, then for no particular reason just decide to swim away to somewhere more interesting... complete with your rig and as much line as you are unlucky enough to lose. I hooked one in Kiama harbor once that 'ran' (more like an unstoppable meander) 300m of line off my 6.5" Alvey before I finally gave in to the inevitable and locked up to bust him off... that wasn't easy either with that much mono in the water. Cheers, Slinky Kiama harbour must be a happy hunting ground for rays. When I was young fella the old man used to take me and two of my three brothers fishing ay Kiama and every week we would hook up on something unstoppable... it bust u off week after week until one day an a 60lb rig the old man got it to the surface and the ray looked about 8 ft across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 'Also the fact that Steve was a bit "corned beef" did not help either" A bit corned beef... you've got me there John ... rhyming slang for chief? am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snatcher Posted November 26, 2014 Author Share Posted November 26, 2014 'Also the fact that Steve was a bit "corned beef" did not help either" A bit corned beef... you've got me there John ... rhyming slang for chief? am I missing something? Sorry about that - just copied and pasted one of my Ozzie fishing reports straight from a UK forum. "Corned Beef" is Cockney rhyming slang for deaf (deef) I did post up a report on fishing for common skate in the summer on here. They take some getting to the boat in 400' of water. Will add a couple of pics for those who missed my original report. How big do the rays go to around Sydney Harbour ? They put a fair bend into an 80lb test curve rod !!!! Rows and rows of tough grinding teeth My biggest common so far 182 lbs - it took about an hour to get to the top. I look totally goosed !!! Returning the fish John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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