zmk1962 Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Hey Raiders, With the motor now fixed and purring like a big cat, I mustered a crew for Sunday - we decided to revisit the Hawkesbury / Barrenjoey area to put to rest the last trip where we had an engine down. 530am stopped at a servo on the way only to discover 5 fully tricked speedboats all topping up - quick chat to one of the guys and yes they were off to Parsley Bay for the bridge to bridge. SHIT! I had been distracted with the motor and keeping an eye on the weather and had completely forgotten this race was on - Parsley Bay would be an absolute dogs breakfast of trailers and boaters jostling to launch and park. Sure enough one of my crew was already at the ramp and calling us to abort. Back in the car, we did a quick replan and decided to meet up and launch at Apple Tree Bay. Found Apple Tree Bay empty - only 5 trailers already parked there, no queue so it was a quick launch and off we went. The 22km run to the heads gave us plenty of time to confirm the motor issues were behind us. Some stats from the Merc 200HP EFI pushing the Haines 635L : 3400rpm 40km/h, 4000rpm, 55km/h, 5000rpm 70km/h. 730am Started the troll from Westhead around Barrenjoey to Bilgola. Water 20.1C. I had previously found the Bangalley Head to Bilgola Head section to be very productive. Lots of bait balls but nothing was coming up. Changed lures no takers. Trolled through to change of tide (around 940am) and then called stumps on trolling. We hit several reefs/wrecks as we made our way back up towards Broken Bay. Got to Trawleys (30m) and still nothing in the ice box - although plenty of small reef fish and undersized flatties. Made a decision to head east and try the marked wrecks in the deeper water. 40m - one keeper flatties landed but still lots of pickers. 50m - another keeper. Ended up about 10km out in 60m - bam we found them. Flatties to 60cm. (Surface water temp 18.1C). There were two trawlers doing the round about another 2km out. We ducked out there once they had left for zip. 2-300pm -Trolled back to Barrenjoey for zip. But all in all a great day on the water and ended with 21keeper flatties and smiles all around. Cheers Zoran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 Great report Zoran. I like the way you include the good with the bad stuff. Fishing is like that! Nice feed of quality table fish to share around too. Good job and glad that your motor is going well.bn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 A good feed of nice sized flatties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Great work Zoran and friends!! Some very tasty fillets there!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lagos Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Great catch and nice report Zoran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 2 hours ago, Lagos said: Great catch and nice report Zoran Thanks for taking the photo at the ramp !!! Cheers Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bros Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Love the report mate Good to come home with a feed Is it actually 22kms from Apple tree bay to the heads? seems much less than that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 Sure is ! How long it seems is a function of speeeeeed! cheers Zoran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JA1990 Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Trolling the heads can be hard if your lure isn't where the fish are. I usually find tailor hang around on the white wash at the surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted November 23, 2017 Author Share Posted November 23, 2017 Yup agree. We trolled through the whitewash and under the scum lines. Could see the bait balls and some bigger arches below them - but they just were not coming up. We didn't bring the downrigger so couldn't troll lures at depth. When I had seen this scenario previously the downrigger + live bait paid off. But we also didn't catch any live bait on the way out due to the delayed start. So somedays you just gotta make do with what you've got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 Sounds like a great day out zoran 22km is a long run to the headlands !! Good thing u were on a ROCKETSHIP haha nice feed of flathead too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bros Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 23 hours ago, zmk1962 said: Sure is ! How long it seems is a function of speeeeeed! cheers Zoran It seems so much shorter than that whenever I go out, Maybe time goes so fast on the water and I dont even realise. Just out of curiosity, what app is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted November 23, 2017 Author Share Posted November 23, 2017 Good mates,nice scenery, bit of speed - it all makes it seem shorter - but the fuel tank and gps don’t lie !!! Screen shot is from Navionics on my iPhone. I also run it on my mini iPad in a waterproof case as my on boat navigation and have dedicated my Eagle combo to the sonar scan functions until it dies. I’ve posted on this set up previously. Cheers Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvbigfish Posted November 24, 2017 Share Posted November 24, 2017 Unlucky with the trolling but cant beat a food feed of flatty , great report m8. I'm heading out that way tomorrow to troll some livies down deep , hopefully those big arches are still around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted November 24, 2017 Author Share Posted November 24, 2017 Awesome ! ... best of luck. I love live bait downrigging but if you're doing it in close to the headlands it needs a crew that knows what to do and how to handle the gear... I'm still training mine and unfortunately I tend to be at the helm on the tighter trolls. We had the second feed of flattie fillets tonight (from the last trip) and they were just delish ...and I'll be out chasing flatties again tomorrow accompanied by my dear missus, my buddy and his wife - plan is launch Parsley Bay and head east off Barrenjoey until we find them. I will be carrying the trolling gear just in case.... so if you are getting smashed and need help managing the school --- my call sign is BARRYCUDA on VHF16 ! Cheers Zoran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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