Australia day fishing

[saltrix]

I was surprised to find parking spaces and no one on the ramp at Tunks Park today at 5.45 am, but with a forecast of 10 to 15 knots and heavy rain perhaps we were the odd ones out, but it looked fairly good coming out of Middle Harbour.

Tried a troll around Washaway beach but no takers despite a lot of fish showing on the sounder.

Then headed to Old Man's Hat where there was a bit of surface action and we both hooked up to Watson's Leaping bonito using small 5cm plastic lures but lost both fish at the boat.

Tried to troll around North Head but it was very rough.

Then headed out to DY wide and after Manly the seas eased but it was still a bit windy and rough, but the wind and rain finally eased and the sun came out while we continued to catch some nice flathead and mowies, although we needed a very large sinker to hold bottom.

There was a nice mix of bluespot and marbled flathead.

Saw the flypast and activities on the way home.

[GoingFishing]

Great work mate there's some great table fish there. I've never caught marble flathead do they taste the same as blue spot or dusky?

[Ryder]

Nice work

As for Tunks......

I would have thought every man and his dog would be out today.

[Yowie]

Great work mate there's some great table fish there. I've never caught marble flathead do they taste the same as blue spot or dusky?

Marble are closer to blue spot than dusky. Duskies have slightly drier and chunkier flesh than ocean flatties (blue spot, tigers and marbled)

[Yowie]

I was surprised to find parking spaces and no one on the ramp at Tunks Park today at 5.45 am, but with a forecast of 10 to 15 knots and heavy rain perhaps we were the odd ones out, but it looked fairly good coming out of Middle Harbour.

heads.jpg

Tried a troll around Washaway beach but no takers despite a lot of fish showing on the sounder.

Then headed to Old Man's Hat where there was a bit of surface action and we both hooked up to Watson's Leaping bonito using small 5cm plastic lures but lost both fish at the boat.

Tried to troll around North Head but it was very rough.

Then headed out to DY wide and after Manly the seas eased but it was still a bit windy and rough, but the wind and rain finally eased and the sun came out while we continued to catch some nice flathead and mowies, although we needed a very large sinker to hold bottom.

fish.jpg

There was a nice mix of bluespot and marbled flathead.

Saw the flypast and activities on the way home.

A nice bag of flatties, some look a reasonable size.

[NaClH2OK9]

Nice report. Bad luck on the Watson's. But great job on a good feed.

[Brooker435]

nice haul, surprised that the ramp was quiet aswell.. ohh well that would have made your day even better..

Regards,

Nathan

Sent from my GT-I9507 using Tapatalk

[Smasher]

Nice work!

We got to Rose Bay wharf just before 5am and was surprised to see only 1 other boat at the ramp and 3 trailers in the carpark. Picked up half a dozen yakkas then went out the heads. Yep, she was pretty gnarly at that time of the morning. Saw about 10 or more boats clustered around at Colours? Or the artificial? (I can never quite tell which one they're at from a distance) so rather than join in the herd we headed up Northwards. Picked up a rat, and keepers a morwong & a samsonfish in half a days fishing.

Returned to the ramp and again, only one other boat getting collected at the ramp (carpark was full of trailers however). I've had to wait there for half an hour on days like yesterday. I guess people are still away on holidays. Wish they'd stay there!

Edited January 27, 2016 by Smasher

[fragmeister]

Nice catch of flathead!

As for the Australia Day absence of boats - I usually take the boat out and deliver all the supplies to a family gathering on one of the smaller beaches in Rose Bay and it always surprises me how few boats you see at the ramp... maybe everyone is thinking its going to be crazy so no one ends up going?

[Kupo]

Nice catch OP!

I went down to Lake Illawarra with my cousin for Australia day for some land based fishing. The place was packed. Reached the Tallawalla power station side of the lake around 11am and the carpark was full, a lot of boat trailers and only 1 parking spot left for us.

Didn't have much luck on that side - only a few bites and one hook up from a small flatty.

Went over to the lake entrance around 1:30pm and it was even more crowded over there.. the shore line had a person fishing every 5-10m. We hit up the sand flats with soft plastics but didn't catch anything. Tried a few hardbodies and live bait too.. For some reason the fish just weren't interested. Spoke to a few other anglers (quite a few from Syd) and no one had caught anything worth keeping...

So I'm guessing a lot of people head out and away from the city on Australia day?