Aardvarking Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 On Sunday I went out on a fishing trip with one of my friends to the spit west reserve. He has always been more of a deep sea fisher, and never believed me when I told him about the fish I would catch in very shallow water down the south coast in Erowal Bay. I thought it would be a good opportunity to show him how the water doesn't need to be more than 25m deep for good fishing (what he genuinely believed beforehand). Unfortunately the day turned out to be a total bust, and I have no idea why. We arrived at the crack of dawn at 6.30am, my favourite time to fish, and we set up a few weightless lines, some with prawns and some with pilchards. The bait was all fresh as possible, as I bought it from the fish markets the night before. While we waited for those lines to go off we went up and down the shore lines using some blade lures, which is what I've always had success with. The first cast I threw in with the blade was genuinely the most eventful thing that happened all day. Half way through reeling the lure in it suddenly felt a bit heavier. I had assumed I had just caught some seaweed, so I pulled it straight in to take it off. Turns out it was actually the worlds smallest leatherjacket, which for whatever reason decided to go for a lure the size of it's head. After that first "fish" we got absolutely nothing, except for one blackfish which snapped my line. I botched the uni-knot connecting the leader to my braid, because my hands were so freezing I could barely move my fingers. I managed to lose 3 lures due to snags, and just got more frustrated throughout the day. We were there from 6.30-11am and apart from those two fish, we didn't get a single bite. I really can't understand what went wrong. I was at a good spot, at the right time of day, with some nice fresh bait and with plenty of lines out. I know it can't always turn out perfectly, but I just had such a good feeling about that day beforehand. I think I have some weird curse on me. Every time I go out and properly plan a fishing trip I catch nothing, but whenever I turn up at a wharf somewhere I get tons. The last truly successful fishing trip I had was off a wharf I found accidentally when I made a wrong turn at an intersection, and my past 3 trips I have planned and gotten excited about out have been utter failures. Maybe I should start trying to be more impulsive... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I enjoyed reading your very articulate post mate. Certainly portrayed your frustration, but that's fishing, eh? Persistence overrides failure, provided you do your best. Persist and you will succeed. Cheers, BN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ojay Samson Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Good read, as Neil already mentioned, thats fishing... If its any consolation my past 2 sessions out (yesterday and the day before) had all been for zilch, travelled to rose bay throwing lures for not even a touch between the times of 11am- 3pm. The day before i went to parsley bay for also zilch from 1230pm-330pm, then moved to rozelle bay for a fish from 415pm- 6pm for nothing. This was all land based btw and all these locations were new for me, bit of a mission to travel so i rarely am in this side of sydney and to think all i wanted was something to touch the line for a bit of catch and release fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdoweplaythis Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 A few points: -When I first started fishing it took me many many sessions and many many hours before I caught my first legal fish - two whiting in Narra lake. Was the happiest person in the world. I was ready to throw down the rod and call it a day many times over. It's taken me years to get to a point where I am semi-consistent at catching. -It's mid winter. It's the slowest and most challenging time of year -You read fishing reports here of people having massive success. What you rarely see is when those peoples' trips end in a bust - which I guarantee you they do -Sometimes despite your best preparation, anticipation and rubbing of your lucky charms you will not succeed. It is the nature of this game, unfortunately. Frustration, excitement, disappointment, elation. Yep -that's fishing! FYI if you are fishing in saltwater ideally your bait should never have been in contact with fresh water (ice included). Try quality frozen pilchards and hawkesbury prawns.... And burley. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aardvarking Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 12 minutes ago, Howdoweplaythis said: FYI if you are fishing in saltwater ideally your bait should never have been in contact with fresh water (ice included). Try quality frozen pilchards and hawkesbury prawns.... And burley. Thanks for the tip. I have always gotten my bait from the fish markets or coles, but maybe I should start going to bait shops instead. I was burleying up with some bread crusts I soaked in Tuna oil the night before, because I had a bottle of it lying around and thought I would try it out. Does that make a good burley? I guess for me the frustrating thing is not being able to go out in the boat anymore. I always had so much success in the boat, and have never been able to replicate it with land based fishing. If I was starting from scratch I wouldn't mind having some off days, but to go from catching tons of fish in a boat to barely any just gets tiring. I'll definitely keep at it, but maybe I should wait until the water gets a bit warmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARC H Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 mate i dont know your way much but cant you get tailor and salmon in the harbour chucking plastics and metals around i thought they were a good winter option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaxland Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Good story but imagine the feeling the guy has who paid hundreds for a charter only to not turn a reel. I love the part chance plays in fishing and if you have a line in the water you have a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anf Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Next outing make sure there is no Full Moon....Rule No.1 when planning you next trip.... You will notice the difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aardvarking Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 25 minutes ago, anf said: Next outing make sure there is no Full Moon....Rule No.1 when planning you next trip.... You will notice the difference! I always thought the fishing was good the day before and the day after a full moon? Wasn't Sunday the day after a full moon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARC H Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 2 hours ago, anf said: Next outing make sure there is no Full Moon....Rule No.1 when planning you next trip.... You will notice the difference! 2 hours ago, Aardvarking said: I always thought the fishing was good the day before and the day after a full moon? Wasn't Sunday the day after a full moon? is this really true?? in my opinion location and technique matters ALOT more then these and will fish whenever i get the chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aardvarking Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 15 minutes ago, ARC H said: is this really true?? in my opinion location and technique matters ALOT more then these and will fish whenever i get the chance I don't really know, it's just something my dad told me when I was growing up, so I've been conditioned to believe it. I think it was something about how fish generally lay their eggs on full moons, so they are hungry the day before and after. It could be absolute baloney, but imo there's no harm in using that logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARC H Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 12 hours ago, Aardvarking said: I don't really know, it's just something my dad told me when I was growing up, so I've been conditioned to believe it. I think it was something about how fish generally lay their eggs on full moons, so they are hungry the day before and after. It could be absolute baloney, but imo there's no harm in using that logic. yeah ok may be true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anf Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 On 12/07/2017 at 7:57 PM, Aardvarking said: I always thought the fishing was good the day before and the day after a full moon? Wasn't Sunday the day after a full moon? The currents are so strong a week leading up and afterwards it puts the fish of the bite for that period of time. If there's surface action chase it!..lol. Keep trying it again around the full moon and you'll get the idea. Tight lines and good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regan Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reel' em in Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 On 12/07/2017 at 10:39 AM, Howdoweplaythis said: A few points: -When I first started fishing it took me many many sessions and many many hours before I caught my first legal fish - two whiting in Narra lake. Was the happiest person in the world. I was ready to throw down the rod and call it a day many times over. It's taken me years to get to a point where I am semi-consistent at catching. -It's mid winter. It's the slowest and most challenging time of year -You read fishing reports here of people having massive success. What you rarely see is when those peoples' trips end in a bust - which I guarantee you they do -Sometimes despite your best preparation, anticipation and rubbing of your lucky charms you will not succeed. It is the nature of this game, unfortunately. Frustration, excitement, disappointment, elation. Yep -that's fishing! FYI if you are fishing in saltwater ideally your bait should never have been in contact with fresh water (ice included). Try quality frozen pilchards and hawkesbury prawns.... And burley. Good luck Those are the words of a true fisherman, I also went out yesterday with live nippers and fresh squid and only managed one 32cm Snapper and a whole lot of under size fish that went straight back in to live another day, so all I can say is keep trying new spots and better luck next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aardvarking Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 Update: Even though last time didn't turn out great, I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. I went to the Spit Bridge again today, determined not to let the fish win. It was a great day of fishing, I got there at 9:30 and finished up at 4:30. It has occurred to me now that I went 7 hours without food or water, I was having so much fun fishing I didn't even realise. It started off pretty slowly. I was getting no bites with pilchards or prawns, but was getting a good amount of action with squid. I got an undersize flathead and a good sized trevally before I ran out of squid, but still had plenty of prawns and pillies left. I've never had much success with squid so I didn't buy much, but maybe I underestimated it as a bait. I had a bit of a lull after that, getting two bites in an hour, but then I started getting non stop fish. From 11 to 2 I caught 23 fish, most of them being decent sized. A lot of them were trevally, but I also got a plethora of leatherjacket, some small snapper and a few bream. The best fish I caught were a 43cm flounder and a 47cm leather jacket, the only two fish I took home. I could have taken more, but I was only going to take what I needed me and my mum's dinner, and I hate the taste of trevally. In retrospect I think that it might have been a mistake to arrive so early the first trip. I love to be fishing when the sun rises, but in July it might be too cold for fish to be biting at 6am. I definitely did way better the second time, so it looks like I might have had the right idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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