Fishing Off Longreef

[James P]

Hi All,

I am planning a fish out at longie this weekend of the boat hopefully friday or maybe sunday and i havent been there before, Just a few quick questions and any help would be really appreciated.

1. How far off Long Reef Headland can you fish because of the no fishing zone i think is around it.

2. What depth should i be looking at for schnapper or kingies, is it mainly reef or is there gravel grounds.

3. Is it safe to launch the boat at the boat ramp around the corner, i thinks its on brownwater or fishermans beach, and if not would the harbour be the best place,

and last of all the best baits , i would be thinking squid yakkas and pilchards.

Thanks in advance guys

[Kingy]

I live at Collaroy and fish there a bit. You can line fish there no worries and the aquatic reserve extends 100m from mean low tide mark from South of Collaroy Rock pools to other side of Long Reef (to the beach I think). That means no collecting shellfish, invertabrates and other things by hand but line fishing is ok from boat or land.

Launching boat from Fishermans beach ramp is o.k if very small swell (preferably with some south swell in it). 4WD is better as ramp can be a little tricky, but if no swell you should be fine (also consider if the swell has built through the day when your coming back in!!)

I've seen Kingies everywhere out there snorkelling, just find a reef peak or dropoff. Snapper at 20m if I remember correctly (don't quote me)

[REKLESS]

Gidday james,

I might suggest that you pick up a map of the area that you are about to fish.There is maps around that were from the survey done when they put down the sewer outlets that show the bottom contours really well,as well as areas that have gravel,hard reef and sand.They are a real shit to navigate off though as the lines are in a UTM metric format that does my head in when I try to convert to degrees,minutes and secounds!!.Saying that I havent even asked whether you have a GPS on board ,let alone what kind of boat you have.I can help with a few marks ,just PM me if you like.

Simon

[James P]

Hey guys thanks heaps for your replies, it is really helpful, my boat is a 15ft 30hp engine, i dont have gps i just rely on the fishfinder, Lets hope for some small swell, Cheers Guys

[bung]

best bet launched in the harbour and do the run around, as i have heard some horror stories about longie boat ramp.

as for reds they will be in close if the water is murky after a decent swell (they'll also be out wide). if there is bugger all current in close go further out til you find a bit more current. you may have to go to the 60m grounds to find current. if the current is racing out wide try closer in.

reds will be anywhere from 10m depth out to the 100m.

[phild]

James just beware fishing the northen side of L.R with any large swell running in the size boat you talk about as it can pitch quite alot. I agree that it can be problamatic launching from the beach but the run from sydney to L.R in your size boat could be a long one use good judgement to decide which option is best for you. lastly if fishing any offshore location make sure you are prepared espically in a smaller size boat as the one you describe. Get longie right and you will have a ball....Good luck

[REKLESS]

Hey guys thanks heaps for your replies, it is really helpful, my boat is a 15ft 30hp engine, i dont have gps i just rely on the fishfinder, Lets hope for some small swell, Cheers Guys

Gidday James,I think that you may want to check out the weather this Weekend and give it a miss.The swell is likely to pick up and I have found that the launch at Longie in a 2m swell can be bloody dangerous due to the heavy surge there.It is very pronounced when the tide is high.

I have done a post before about this ramp and its behaviour .There has been a fisherman killed at this ramp when trying to hold his boat and a heavy wave has pushed his V sea over the top of him.

I might say at this point that there is some very good experienced guys who fish there all the time.Early saturday /sunday mornings is a good time to watch how they do it.Most do not launch conventally.Retreival is a real eye opener,running the boat up the sand and then by using ropes they get the boat in a position to retrieve it safely.