Sydney Harbour 5th December 2014

[fragmeister]

Hi Raiders,

Planned to do targeted Kingie session so bought some fresh squid from the fish shop in case the squid were hard to find. Prepped the boat Thursday evening after work and packed the boat ready for the morning.

Actually went to bed early (10:30) but I was woken 30 minutes later by the storm. Just as I was fully awake the most enormous bolt hit and the dog (who is now pretty deaf) started freaking out, whining and panting like she was going to have a coronary. I ended up lying on the lounge for the next 2 you hours while she ( a kelpie cross) lay at my feet panting until the storm disappeared.

Anyway the upshot of all this is I didn't get much sleep and forgot my phone so there are no pics of the trip... not that there was much take.

Got to clifton gardens and there was already colour in the sky so I gave up on the live squid and caught some yakkas. They were all over the place and very easy to catch... ravenous in fact so I had a dozen in the tank in just as many minutes.

I went for a quick look at all of the likely markers but they showed nothing . On the way between the Wedding Cakes and the markers off Rose Bay saw a lot of bird activity in 3 or 4 patches right in the middle of the harbour perhaps 200 meters west of a line drawn between the two wedding cakes. I cast a small SP at them an hooked up straight away on a tailor of about a kilo. That was fun so I did it again and again with tailor hitting the SP as it hit the surface.

This was pretty much the easiest solo fishing I have every had. The school was moving at the same rate as my drift so I didn't have to reposition the boat and even when they disappeared from the surface I just let the SP sink and 3 or four fish would follow it up on a fast retrieve and smash it close to the surface. I wish I had more hands so I could have spent a little time with the Go Pro and filming this underwater.

I then dragged out the fly rod and put a little whitebait fly on and very first cast I was was stripping the line back in I was completely unaware of the wake of one of those big harbour ferries was approaching me side on. This caught me off balance and I fell on the side of the boat. Now worries I though ... minor inconvenience! However, when I took a look at the fly rod I saw some how in the fall ( caught on the rocket launcher i suspect) it had been broken about 2 feet from the end of the tip. Not happy!

After 40 minutes of so chasing tailor which was a whole lot of fun in warm, windless, calm conditions, I headed out to North Head and looked for kings on the sounder. Couldn't see any any arches so I decided to anchor and drop down some baits and wait for passing schools. Dropped a single livey and whole small dead squid and a big squid strip between about 10 and 15 meters.

At this stage( about 9am) the tide had turned and was running out and the water temp was 21 degres ( it was 24 Degrees at Gladesville bridge at 5am). A few minutes I was joined by one of the fishing tour guides and he anchored not far away. Many of the Harbour Spots I know are because I have been fishing with this guide and we cross paths all through most Fridays when he is checking the same spots as me. I figured I would stay anchored there as long as he did but it surprised me when he was there for nearly two hours.

I went back to the wedding cakes and saw a few arches but they didn't look like Kings but I tossed in a live yakka anyway. No sooner had it hit the water and it was smashed on the surface... but no hook up. Brought it back in and it was just a head. My guess is it was a tailor agin but probably a better class of fish than I had been catching earlier.

A few minutes later the tour guide turns up, we exchanged bad luck storied for the day and he drops a live squid down but after a couple of minutes he disappeared to check out the other markers.

All in all I had a good day except no kings, a busted fly rod and I was knackered... which is why this report is a little late.

I guess the trip indicates that there are a lot of baitfish in the harbour and the tailor are pretty active the moment.

Cheers

Jim

[Guest no one]

You seem to be having a lot of bad luck recently Jim! You'll have a good day soon enough! Atleast you found the tailor on the bite!

[NaClH2OK9]

Nice write up Jim. Bad luck on the broken rod. It's tough keeping everything going at once when boating solo.

[fragmeister]

You seem to be having a lot of bad luck recently Jim! You'll have a good day soon enough! Atleast you found the tailor on the bite!

Yes,

I guess I am spending a lot of time chasing Kings inside the harbour a little earlier than I normally would and just not finding them.

It will happen.. fishing is about patience as we all know.

Cheers

Jim

[fragmeister]

Nice write up Jim. Bad luck on the broken rod. It's tough keeping everything going at once when boating solo.

Thanks,

Not all bad news though because the missus was wondering what to buy me for xmas... not any more!

Cheers

Jim

[Ryder]

With the recent rain the squid will be a bit harder to get.

The kings will show up in numbers, just a matter of time.

But it's like kids waiting for Christmas. Haha

Sorry about the rod, a similar thing happened to mine. I offered it to repair sydneyfisher12 s rod.

Maybe we should have a Repairs and Spares section.

[fragmeister]

With the recent rain the squid will be a bit harder to get.

The kings will show up in numbers, just a matter of time.

But it's like kids waiting for Christmas. Haha

Sorry about the rod, a similar thing happened to mine. I offered it to repair sydneyfisher12 s rod.

Maybe we should have a Repairs and Spares section.

Like kids waiting for christmas... lol

You are so right there. My wife can't remember that feeling the night before christmas as a kid... but I get it every summer as the kings come on.

Cheers

Jim