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Fishing to the south of Sydney


saltrix

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We decided to try the south of the heads instead of our usual Dee Dwy wide and Long Reef trips as we were tyired of pulling in those big flathead and the usual catch.

The sun was coming up as we rounded Dobroyd Point.

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The sea appeared nice and flat.

Tried trolling aound Washaway Beach and the cliffs, but no takers.

Then headed south and trolled around near the gap for 1 good Bonito but went back over and got no more. The sea was very confused and choppy.

Heade towards Wedding Cake Island to check reports of surface fish but stopped at a school of fish chopping the surface. They ignored even the minute plastic lure which the salmon have been taking, but I think they were very small fish any how.

Then tried a flathead drift which sometimes produces reasonable  flathead but the spikeys were thick and I was catching them 2 or 3 at a time, but they were a very small size.

I did manage a Gunard which was a good size, but I do not know how if it will be good eating.

By this time the cop was  getting very hard to put up with.The south side always seems to have a confused sea I think due to the bounce back from the cliffs, so we headed back to the harbour but it was very quite there.

I think we will stick to the North side in future.

 

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Nice report!

 

From my experience (and it may just be pure luck) I've caught plenty of fish off between about La Perouse and Coogee, but bugger all between Bondi and South Head. Not sure what it is, fished out?  

Speaking of which, a few weeks ago we spotted this guy fishing on his own, complete with buckets and other gear all the way down there. Still have NFI how he got there. Guessing he must've been dropped off by a boat (which was nowhere to be seen) as there's no way he could've even abseiled down, but why there of all places?    Looking at google maps it's the ledge at the bottom of the 50m cliffs at the end of Raleigh st Dover Heights.

 

 

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Edited by Smasher
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I have gone South for the last 2 years and this thread motivated me to give North a try yesterday. I bagged out on flatties with a 50cm average in an hour. I have bagged out plenty of times heading south but never that quick and never the consistent size. So north it is for the next few sessions.

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I am glad the post was helpful, I think the reef structure in the north stops the trawlers cleaning the flathead out.

I suppose the pros must make a living, my Dad was a pro fisherman with traps out of Terrigal many years ago.

 

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North it’s much the same depth but you need to fish between the reefs.

Watch your sounder and get to know where the spots are between the reefs or else you will lose a or of gear.

The gravel patches are where the fish are and the reefs funnel the food in. 

The gps and sounders make it much easier to get good catches.

 

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You get flatties north or south, doesnt really matter. Just have to know where they are. Trawlers arnt allowed to trawl east of Sydney. None of the sydney fleet trawl off the beaches, so the pros arnt to blame.

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A charter skipper told me this year that two trawlers do operate sometimes in close off the area south of the Heads. I had also thought that they were restricted to further out from the coast. Apparently not so!

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  • 1 year later...

There is a way down it’s an old  historic fishing spot called the mattings named after matting point nearby but I have heard it called the mattens and maddock..I went down around 25 years ago ..it’s is one crazy as hell path from the park up top..the path is now completely overgrown as I guess no one fishes there anymore. There are two ropes, one spans a small cliff and the second lowest rope  is a couple of hundred feet down to the rocks if I remember right. I just used my drone to check and the ropes are still there along with the metal pully bar thing for hauling gear and fish back up...but they would be so old and worn by now, sitting there for years in the sun and sea spray! It is a really intense trip down a sheer cliff face, not to mention back up , I have heard a good few people died there back in the day. You make one mistake on that route and your falling to your death on the rocks way below ..My uncle tells stories of people hauling huge fish back up there and Fisher men climbing up and down with a kid under one arm and gear in the other making that crazy climb! You can get down there but would you want to lol ...I have drone footage of the spot taken October 2019 if anyone wants it just send me a mail.

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Yeah it is one crazy trek down ...my uncle tells a story of once he saw a guy before the pulley was installed carrying his gear under one arm and a young kid under the other and then climbed down the rope ...that sounds so insane to me! you cant tell from my picture above but that second rope was a long bloody way down like 200 ft or so ...if you look at the third picture in the beginning of this thread you can see how big the drop is from that ledge which is right at the top of that pic...completely crazy but memorable, i made that climb over 20 years ago when i wandered across the path while walking in the park and have always wanted to see it again since...i dont think the new generation of fishermen use this spot anymore as back then the path down was clearly visible from the park  you couldnt miss it!..nowadays its impossible to find even if you are looking for it so no one must go down there anymore...apparently the fishing was really bloody good back in the day  with a few deep water spots ...so it was worth the climb to the hardcore fishermen that would often stay overnight. Apparently it was  also a deadly spot in the wrong weather.

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