Rose Bay -8/3/2015

[SgtBundy]

After a fairly grumpy week after being denied a fish last weekend this weekend had an additional challenge - not to spend any money. Took the car to the local station and took the train and bus in as my opal card had free trips on it. Picked rose bay as I figured I could go wading with SPs and I had not been there before.

Got there around 1pm and probably got off the the bus a little early, but checking out the seawall between the marina and seaplane base I thought it looked a chance for flatties so prospected a few places along there. All I got was a flattie about twice the size of the plastic he took, most of my plastics detroyed by toadfish and leatherjackets plus a number of frustrating wind knots.

Had lunch and moved along to the wharf at the boat ramp and tried a few plastics towards the ferry pontoon. After a few casts I saw what looked to be frigate mackeral darting about so changed to a small metal and got a few casts in before some bizare braid tangle under my spool busted the braid as I cast. Bye bye another metal lure. Redid my 3rd leader of the day and moved past the seaplane base where again the toads were pestering my bloodworm SPs.

Got to the bay and waded out a bit and again found toads. Fed up with losing plastics I switched to a small hardbody and waded back towards the sailing club near a dropoff and got onto an short of legal flathead. Sent him back and tried that area for a while. A few casts later a small bustup boiled up about 30m from me so I gave the lure a bit of pepper can cast into it. Instant hits and as I retrieved I got onto something small but with a bit of run. Brought it in to find it was small tailor (about 20cm). Got a few more casts in and hookups for a little fun before yet again my line turned into a tangled mess. Headed back to shore to fix it and then started my way back to the bus.

Tried off the seawall near the park and the lure was scaring up some small fish but nothing hitting. Yet again another tangle, this time it somehow got under the spool and wrapped on the shaft requiring dismantling the spool to undo.

Moved back to the ramp wharf and threw some larger metals on my 10kg rod which I had lugged about for the day but not used yet. Had no hits and facing a 2 hour public transport trip home I called it a day.

Not exactly a great trip but a nice enough day. As I waited for the bus I could see a large bust up in the middle of the harbour. Makes me wonder if land based is worth the effort.

[adamski]

Unlucky man, had very similar experiences at the same spots using the very same techniques- I reckon it's the area rather than your method. That little channel by the sailing club sometimes fires in the last couple of hours of the run out, but seems to have become very weedy over the last couple of times I tried bouncing some plastics off the bottom. I'm tempted to try it again with shallow diving HBs to see if they make a difference. Seen some decent whiting round there at high tide coinciding with early morning, but buggered if I can get them to take any lures I've cast in front of them.

[Ojay Samson]

Damn, I feel ya bud. I was fishing the wharf there couple weeks back... It was a waste of time and effort that day for me to. At least I had the car to get there though. Your situation would definitely put me off fishing from there for good. Ah well, better luck next time.

[mitchie18092]

I've only found it worthwhile fishing on the shallows at rose bay and that drop off opposite the sailing club as you mentioned. Some solid lizards in there and the occasional bust up of tailor/kings/salmon. A late arvo very low tide is when I've had most of my success and I fish it regularly

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SgtBundy]

The lack of car was temporary - I had to pay for a service on it this week which left us short until later this week, so if I was to be allowed to go out I could not get fuel or bait, hence the cheap trip this week. For the 5 hours I wasted on public transport I don't think I will be doing that again for the sort of results I get

By the time I got hits it was just after low tide right around 5:00 when I got that flathead and it did seem to be when there was more activity and those bust ups so that did seem to be the time. There was only so far I could wade and from what I could see it was fairly featureless flats so I wasn't sure it was worth going further out. From google earth it looked to be lots of weed beds but I think on the day it all was just darker sand, except for that gutter next to the sailing club. I suppose you only really find out being there. An older guy had mentioned someone being onto a kingy earlier that day but I wasnt sure of the details.

Most of my issues on the day were down to the wind knots and the amount of time I wasted on them - the reel just seems to have so many ways to catch or tangle it and I really don't think it was laying it on the spool properly. Some times it wound it around the base of the spool (not in it) and sometimes it managed to get under the spool entirely. I don't think I was lacking tension on it that much as the wind was behind me, but I was using some lighter jigheads. it needs a respool at any rate with the amount of loss I had plus being underspooled to begin with (was not sold enough with the reel). Those bastard toadfish didn't help either in destroying another packet of plastics.

Begin teased all weekend by the photos from a kayak fishing get together on lake mac didnt help either

[mitchie18092]

For the most parts the flats are fairly featureless, but up along the drop off are plenty of nipper/worm holes - hence all the bloody rays cruising around - and you would be surprised how far out you can get, on a big tide with the low being 0.2 or 0.3 you can easily get out a few hundred meters with it plateuing at around waist deep. the weed that is so prevelant at that first little section where it drops off disappears fairly quickly. Definitely worth another crack if you get the chance, great learning ground for plastics.

[SgtBundy]

I could see the paddleboarders further out standing up so I knew I could get out there, I just didnt think it was worth it as I couldnt spot anything that looked like the weedbed terrain I like for SPs. Its the sort of ground I like for plastics especially for flathead - had good success with it up at lake tuggerah from a kayak.

Now that I have been there at least I know where to target instead of wandering and prospecting.

[mitchie18092]

Yeah you'd be surprised. The moorings are enough structure in themselves, but I've found 80% of the fish I catch there will be literally on the drop off itself - so it pays to stand maybe 5 meters back and work your plastic all the way to your feet. Z-man minnows in motor oil are my to to for that spot on a 1/8th jighead.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SgtBundy]

Thanks. I might try the Z-mans - I need to restock anyway.

[hucho hucho]

Excuse my question, did you use spinning or overhead reel? Thanks

[SgtBundy]

Spinning - in this case it was a Ecooda Blackhawk 2000 on a Samaki zing 7ft 3-5kg rod. The reel was a second choice, originally wanted a Shimano Symetre 2500 but they were out of stock on the day.

Its been good enough so far but on the weekend a lot of small issues with the reel showed up - joints slim enough for the braid to slip into and get stuck around the the spool and bail arm, if it misses going onto the spool properly then it can wrap around other places, pressed pieces that catch the braid making it hard to get out. Not really sure why its missing the spool - I would have thought with the spool being fairly low on braid it should be forced into there more easily than say a full spool. It might be just not enough tension when its being wound on but jeez it seems awefully sensitive to that, and I dont think the conditions really should have been causing that much of a problem with it.

I am using Sunline super PE 6lb - its a nice fine braid but I guess the 6lb is pretty accurate, its broken pretty easily a few times.