Northen beaches pelagics from the rocks

[macbook]

Hi All 

used to fish from the rocks a lot on the south coast chasing bream, drummer and grouper but i have never tried it up here in Sydney. Just wondering if anyone can point me in a general direction to where i could target pelagics or drummer from the rocks on the Northen Beaches. would love to catch a bonnie or king from the stones. Also is it to late in the season to be targeting pelagics from the stones?

cheers in advance 

Mac

[wazatherfisherman]

South Whale is a great spinning spot for Kings and Bonnies and in October some huge Pigs lurk in the washes there. The "ovens" about 400 mtr's further southeast good live-baiting spot but I don't know what access is like these days. Used to go to end of Rayner Rd and go down through vacant block between houses, but there's probably someone on here that would know new route down

[scottyboy]

Like waza said, south whale is the go.The ovens can't be reached these days unless you know a homeowner on rayner drive and are a good rockclimber.That been said many a good northern bluefin,10kg kingy and even marlin were caught  from both ledges back in the day.You just need to dedicate time to find what works best for each species you ate targeting. I haven't fished northern sydney ledges for over 12 year's  now but a rising tide into evening always worked for me. Best of luck mate all comes down to time on the rocks. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers Scotty 

[macbook]

19 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

South Whale is a great spinning spot for Kings and Bonnies and in October some huge Pigs lurk in the washes there. The "ovens" about 400 mtr's further southeast good live-baiting spot but I don't know what access is like these days. Used to go to end of Rayner Rd and go down through vacant block between houses, but there's probably someone on here that would know new route down

cheers wazatherfisherman is the ledge at south whale the one near the ocean pool or futher down?

 

[macbook]

18 hours ago, scottyboy said:

Like waza said, south whale is the go.The ovens can't be reached these days unless you know a homeowner on rayner drive and are a good rockclimber.That been said many a good northern bluefin,10kg kingy and even marlin were caught  from both ledges back in the day.You just need to dedicate time to find what works best for each species you ate targeting. I haven't fished northern sydney ledges for over 12 year's  now but a rising tide into evening always worked for me. Best of luck mate all comes down to time on the rocks. Let us know how you get on.

Cheers Scotty 

cheers mate will let u no how i go 

[wazatherfisherman]

G'day again Macbook, like Scottyboy I haven't fished there for more than 12y rs either, but 'back in the day' the ovens produced heaps of big tuna ,kings and gamefish for live-bait anglers by day plus Big Mulloway and a lot of big sharks live-baiting of a night,  There must still be a way down as when trolling past in the boat a couple of years ago, there were about 10 guys fishing there. However, this was primarily a live-bait spot and South Whale more favoured by spin fisho's. It is a fair walk around from the ocean pool. The easy access used to be from the same then vacant lot in Rayner Rd then down an easy 10 metre rope assisted climb, pretty much the same as the ovens. If you take the long walk around to South Whale don't go in any sort of a sea as it's a low platform and rock plates are also essential. An interesting by-catch of the area(although cursed by the live-baiter's) are really large Long Tom's  which were often encountered when fishing there. Luderick are also regularly taken at South Whale and it produces giant Pigs(Black Drummer) during their spawning season around late September til end of October. Hope you find an easier route there and good luck. Like Scottyboy said let us know how you go

[wazatherfisherman]

G'day again Macbook, if you look on google maps at Rayner Rd South Whale Beach and go to satellite image, the spot I know as South Whale is marked Devils Cauldron and Careel Head. The "Ovens" is directly below to the right at the very end of the Road 

[Jewhunter]

Please be very careful fishing the Ovens or Sth Whale. It's claimed many lives over the years. I lost a mate there myself years ago.

[wazatherfisherman]

Really sorry to hear you lost a mate there. I lost several mates fishing the Mattens at Dover Heights and had a near death accident there myself. I stopped going there for safety reasons. Even when conditions are favourable, ALL Sydney rock platforms are really dangerous, no matter what your experience level

[macbook]

16 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

G'day again Macbook, like Scottyboy I haven't fished there for more than 12y rs either, but 'back in the day' the ovens produced heaps of big tuna ,kings and gamefish for live-bait anglers by day plus Big Mulloway and a lot of big sharks live-baiting of a night,  There must still be a way down as when trolling past in the boat a couple of years ago, there were about 10 guys fishing there. However, this was primarily a live-bait spot and South Whale more favoured by spin fisho's. It is a fair walk around from the ocean pool. The easy access used to be from the same then vacant lot in Rayner Rd then down an easy 10 metre rope assisted climb, pretty much the same as the ovens. If you take the long walk around to South Whale don't go in any sort of a sea as it's a low platform and rock plates are also essential. An interesting by-catch of the area(although cursed by the live-baiter's) are really large Long Tom's  which were often encountered when fishing there. Luderick are also regularly taken at South Whale and it produces giant Pigs(Black Drummer) during their spawning season around late September til end of October. Hope you find an easier route there and good luck. Like Scottyboy said let us know how you go

thanks heaps mate much appreciated 

[PaddyT]

Drummer- everywhere on the Nthn Beaches, take a drive with a street directory and basically pick a wash, other than the Ovens which has been mentioned ad nauseum above try, Bluefish, Harbord, Curlie, North Whale , Avalon Hole in the wall , Sth Palm and Barranjoey- all place ive caught pigs

Pelagics- Baranjoey, Nth Whale, Nth Curlie, Nth Head and Bluefish

 

Good luck

[Jewhunter]

20 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Really sorry to hear you lost a mate there. I lost several mates fishing the Mattens at Dover Heights and had a near death accident there myself. I stopped going there for safety reasons. Even when conditions are favourable, ALL Sydney rock platforms are really dangerous, no matter what your experience level

Too true mate. It's a horrible thing that can happen to anyone. Sorry to hear about your mates as well, & glad to hear you made it through. I fished Whale, Bluefish & Yellow Rock when I was younger & I'm not sure if it was luck, good management, or both, that didn't see me go in at some stage!

[wazatherfisherman]

Thanks mate,I mainly fished the Mattens and played a small part in developing the spot at the Lighthouse(below Macquarie)but the climb there was terrifying to say the least. For the most part the Mattens was the safest once you'd got to the bottom and the guys that died didn't fall off the rope climbs,they fell from the goat track over 200 ft up, simply tripping or mis-negotiating a step. I copped a fractured skull but not from falling(story is in "most painful fishing things") and every other guy who fished there had at least 1 "close call" including things like having climbing ropes cut while we were at the bottom. Two incidents on the same day finally stopped me going there after 22 yrs. A pigeon that had been nesting unseen in a crevice, flew out between my face  and the cliff and I was about 60 ft up on the flat wall- got me so off-guard I spun around backwards,ending up wrong way around on the cliff. I had to 'slide' down about 8 feet to turn around and rope burned both hands. Earlier in the day the four of us there had stopped for a quick feed and on walking back out in single file from our under-cliff lunch spot, a blue tongue lizard fell from the cliff and landed between myself and the guy six foot in front of me. It splattered all over us and spread over a fair area. We all laughed at the time that it would have been a lousy thing to have on your headstone "Here lies Warren, killed by a blue tongued lizard" but that followed by the pigeon the same day was enough for me.