Brew Posted January 22, 2016 Posted January 22, 2016 G'day Raiders, I was speaking to a mate of mine this morning and he told me there was a massive school of salmon hanging around the heads of Broken Bay so I thought I would jump in the boat and check it out. I got to just past Flint and Steel at around 12pm and I couldn't believe what I was seeing - they were everywhere. From Flint and Steel all the way to West Head and about three quarters over to Lyon Island. I only had my light rods with me so I used my 2/4 kilo braided outfit (I can't remember if it was 2 or 4 as I have two spools) and just trolled a small metal pilchard lure around. Got hit straight away. The salmon are a pretty good size so most of the time it took about 15 mins to get each one in. After getting 4 (3 returned) I snapped the line on my 5th so I needed to re-rig. The swell was a bit sharp so I motored over to Lion Island to a protected spot to re-rig and have lunch. I cut up the salmon and put a few slabs out while I had lunch and got myself a nice 57cm flathead which was put back for another day. After re-rigging I went back to the salmon and strangely they didn't want to touch my new metal lure. It was a basic metal blade. I guess they were eating something close to my first lure. I tried for a while longer and noticed that the fishfinder was showing masses of bait schools with some interesting larger fish around so I changed tactics and put a Halco Laser Pro out the back on a slightly stronger rod and line. Nothing hit and the rain started which flattened the sea so I headed out around Barrenjoey with the Laser Pro still out the back. Once out there I saw hundreds of birds (mostly sitting) but a few looking around so I headed about 2 km off shore and trolled around them for about another half an hour. The rain was starting to come in really heavy so I thought it was time to call it a day so headed back via Valiant Wreck and past a couple of Fairy Penguins (they were out there for a reason). About 200m before Valiant I got hit and after a bit of a fight had a nice Bonito on board. The bonito spat out loads of small bait fish while on board so that's what they are chasing - just like my first lure. As I didn't have any ice and I wanted the Bonito for sashimi I packed up and headed home in the thumping rain. I hope this helps you get onto something this weekend. It's worth getting out there.
thomasbarnabyheaney Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 Gday Brew, I was out in Broken bay on thursday as well.I couldnt believe how much action there was. i was on a sportsrider with a few other mates, dont know if you saw us. we landed a heap of salmon and one kingfish to fellow raider ozcar. we got heaps of strikes. we got more in that hour than we had in the previous 5 hours. i was using a 40lb braid outfit with a halco laser pro red head diver which got good results. See attached pics Tom
PST115hp Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 Thanks for the report Brew. I will go and have a crack on Monday, weather permitting. Cheers Peter
General Zod Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 That's awesome man, what a site to see, you must of had fun on the light gear.
locodave Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 Damn, why didn't i go thursday!! Good stuff guys!
harold Posted January 23, 2016 Posted January 23, 2016 We moved to the basin from smiths creek yesterday morning and noticed a lot of fish on the sounder as we approached Lion Island. Didn't fish as we are in relax mode. Might launch the dinghy today and go and have a look. Good report and sounds like loads of fun.
locodave Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Were the Kings just in the mix of the Salmon?
Brew Posted January 24, 2016 Author Posted January 24, 2016 Howe, you can take a walking trail down to Flint and Steel but it takes a while. About 40 minutes from memory. Steep walk back up so you don't want too many salmon in the bucket!
Howe Posted January 24, 2016 Posted January 24, 2016 Howe, you can take a walking trail down to Flint and Steel but it takes a while. About 40 minutes from memory. Steep walk back up so you don't want too many salmon in the bucket! Haha, if only i can catch a fish . Never caught anything legal .
Howe Posted January 25, 2016 Posted January 25, 2016 Howe, you can take a walking trail down to Flint and Steel but it takes a while. About 40 minutes from memory. Steep walk back up so you don't want too many salmon in the bucket! Any where close to public transport? Cheers.
Brew Posted January 25, 2016 Author Posted January 25, 2016 Any where close to public transport? Cheers.
Brew Posted January 25, 2016 Author Posted January 25, 2016 No unfortunately, it's in the National Park
river_kid Posted January 25, 2016 Posted January 25, 2016 Any one know if they were still there today ?
ahboy Posted January 26, 2016 Posted January 26, 2016 Not sure about today but they weren't there yesterday. Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
fook Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 I went on Monday and couldn't find them . Good luck
river_kid Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 Had a look on tue morn plenty of birds but no salmon
antonywardle Posted January 29, 2016 Posted January 29, 2016 i might have a look tomorrow will report back if I go
antonywardle Posted January 31, 2016 Posted January 31, 2016 Didn't go out in the end. Thought it would be a bit lumpy A mate did and he came back with a pretty good salmon (2.16 Kg cleaned) so I guess that they are out there Not 100% sure where he was but it was on the Lion Island side of a line between Box Head and Barrenjoey. I think he did that because it means you aren't in Open Water
Tickstar Posted February 1, 2016 Posted February 1, 2016 I was out there with a mate yesterday morning just after dawn. As we came towards flint and steel we saw a load of birds working and a massive boil on the southern side of Broken bay in the stretch up to west head. There were a few boats already there casting into it (including two guys fly fishing i think). We stopped for a bit and tried our luck with a spanyid raider and a metal slug but didn't hook-up. The school of baitfish was massive and at one point moved right under our boat, the water was thick with them. We didn't see any of the other boats manage to hook-up either so we continued to west head for some livies. On the way back to the ramp around 10:45 we came around west head and the school was still there but moving further upstream, and this time with a load more boats fishing it, but couldn;t see anyone hooking up. We saw a guy fishing shore based at flint and steel who looked to have caught a nice salmon. We stopped and fished it again but this time my mate had a crack with an old cheap-o chrome slug he had found in his tackle box. It was bigger than the previous lures and rusty, but had some follows from some decent sized tailor and he managed to hook up to a tailor (just legal or just under) for about 5 casts in a row. All fish released as we were both busy in the arvo/evening and wouldn't have been able to cook the tailor fresh. We also saw 4 nice Bonito zip past us while anchored at the pill boxed at west head (which happened to be about 60 seconds after I had reeled in a live yakka as we were going to move on). Not sure if they would have taken a bait that size but I'm dead keen to catch my first bonnie! Trolled a pink squid skirt for a bit also for no takers So still seems to be a fair bit of activity from that large school
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