Manly Beach

[FishermanSteve]

After a great session shark fishing on Saturday 7th at Manly Beach I thought I would head there again Saturday just gone. Another good reason was that my father is over from England and he loves fishing. Twenty minutes after setting up I go to get my head torch from the UTE, while there I get a frantic call from my mother to get back on the beach. I thought great first shark of the night. My dad was playing a monster really well. But after observing the way it was playing I knew it wasnt a shark. He finally beached it and was what I think is a banjo ray. Still he was happy as was his first catch down under. 

Unfortunately the sharks didn't come out to play that night. That being said we suspect PomPom was on to one but the hook pulled.  We settled for a mixed bag of rays, tailor and salmon. One wobbegong shark but they are not your stereotype looking shark so was not counted. It was a fun night. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by FishermanSteve

[big Neil]

Great to have the opportunity to fish with your folks. Especially great for your Dad as I doubt he'd have many sessions like that back in the UK. Hope you get to do it again Steve. Cheers, bn

[Jay88]

Hi Steve, nice pictures and glad you and your father had fun! Mate, I was wanting to get into beach fishing, and I was wanting to try out Manly or Coogee. However, still working on my cast and the ability to identify gutters.

Would you be able to share some tips in these areas mentioned above? I usually fish estuaries. And I have been inactive for couple of years, so this is my first post after 2 years. Cheers mate.

 

[WhiteBait]

Gutters run parallel to the shoreline -- simply, the deep water quite close to shore.  If you can walk out a distance on a beach -- like where they swim between the flags  at Manly -- then there are no gutters there and it's pretty useless to fish in spots like that.  The real trick is to fish on a known beach-fishing spot, and the gutters will run all along the beach, so you don't have to look for them at all.  Ironically the beaches where people often drown -- like with a gutter close to the shore and a shore dump are the best fishing beaches.

The waves on any beach will break when they hit a sand bar in fairly shallow water.  Ideally, you pick a spot where the waves are breaking out about 30 metres from the shore -- that spot has to have a deep water (doesn't have to be too deep) gutter between the outlying sand bar and the shore.  And the best spots are where the white-water rolls all the way into the shore (even over the gutter).  Fish like this cover and the breaking and rolling surf stirs up all their natural feed.

I would forget about acquiring great casting skills.  Just lob into the gutter -- big bream and whiting, and even tailor are often close to the shore in a nice gutter.  I know a girl who has just started beach fishing. She can't really cast at all, she just lobs into the close-by gutter and often catches more fish than her husband. 

Edited April 24, 2018 by WhiteBait

[big Neil]

On 4/23/2018 at 12:21 PM, Jay88 said:

Hi Steve, nice pictures and glad you and your father had fun! Mate, I was wanting to get into beach fishing, and I was wanting to try out Manly or Coogee. However, still working on my cast and the ability to identify gutters.

Would you be able to share some tips in these areas mentioned above? I usually fish estuaries. And I have been inactive for couple of years, so this is my first post after 2 years. Cheers mate.

 

Hi Jay88. As White Bait points out mate...the best advice that I could give you would be to gather your beach rod and bait and head to your beach of choice. As explained the gutters are areas of deeper water. When water comes in to a beach it will encounter shallow AND deep spots. Where it's shallow the water is forced upwards (A WAVE) and where it's deeper, a gap in the waves. These are usually quite close to a normal tide mark and are best seen from above the beach, or back from it. So head down there mate and you'll soon learn where they are and start to catch fish. Good luck mate. bn

[FishermanSteve]

On 23/04/2018 at 12:21 PM, Jay88 said:

Hi Steve, nice pictures and glad you and your father had fun! Mate, I was wanting to get into beach fishing, and I was wanting to try out Manly or Coogee. However, still working on my cast and the ability to identify gutters.

Would you be able to share some tips in these areas mentioned above? I usually fish estuaries. And I have been inactive for couple of years, so this is my first post after 2 years. Cheers mate.

 

As above, great information from those guys.  With casting, fortunately at Manly the gutters are as close as 10m in front of you,  North Steyne end normal has great gutters forming a lot of the time. They do shift so it's good to stop and observe for 10minutes before you start fishing  

[Jewhunter]

2nd pic is a shovelnose shark. Beautiful critters. Glad you released what you caught.

[masterfisho7]

Used to surf there as a kid have never fished there well done 

9 hours ago, Jewhunter said:

2nd pic is a shovelnose shark. Beautiful critters. Glad you released what you caught.