Useless fisho Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Great day out today on a solo session. Checked out a new spot up the lane cove river out of the wind. First drift at 7 20 am with the first fish in the net at 7 32 am. Was getting touches every drift. By 8 am i had dropped one fish and had half my bag limit. By 9 15 am i had my bag limit of ten fish with another 3 fished dropped. Called it quits at 11 am having landed sixteen legal fish two throwbacks and four dropped fish for the session. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 51 minutes ago, Useless fisho said: Great day out today on a solo session. Checked out a new spot up the lane cove river out of the wind. First drift at 7 20 am with the first fish in the net at 7 32 am. Was getting touches every drift. By 8 am i had dropped one fish and had half my bag limit. By 9 15 am i had my bag limit of ten fish with another 3 fished dropped. Called it quits at 11 am having landed sixteen legal fish two throwbacks and four dropped fish for the session. I think you need to change your name mate. Doesn't sound to me like you lack confidence or ability. Great report on what can only be described as a great session. Cheers, bn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 1 minute ago, big Neil said: I think you need to change your name mate. Doesn't sound to me like you lack confidence or ability. Great report on what can only be described as a great session. Cheers, bn Haha totally. Definitely need a name change now lol. Mate, sounds like a top outing! Well done. And always great to find a new back up spot to fish when the wind is up. Ive always suspected Cunninghams Reach...just off Burns Bay Road to be a pretty likely spot for blackies along the drop offs just along the oyster covered rocks there. Theres definitely some huge bream around there and im sure a few blackies too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Forgot to mention. Try the blackfish gut as bream bait too. KoalaBoi put me on the money with that and its been working a treat. Even caught a flattie on it too. Tight lines. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 3 hours ago, Kracka said: Forgot to mention. Try the blackfish gut as bream bait too. KoalaBoi put me on the money with that and its been working a treat. Even caught a flattie on it too. Tight lines. I used to go to Yamba every year for a couple of weeks fishing the legendary middle-wall for Blackies by day and Bream at night. This was before the days of bag limits and there were hundreds of Blackfish caught by fisho's staying in the caravan park(Blue Dolphin) every day, so many in fact, that the caravan park had a 'raft' next to the cleaning tables which you put all the frames, heads etc on and a couple of times a day a park worker would tow the raft out and push them off into the river. First day I was there I saw blokes going through the Blackfish frames on the raft scrounging any gut that was left. Went out the next day and caught a heap (like everybody there)and while carrying the keep-nets to the cleaning tables had blokes run towards me shouting "do you want the gut?- can I have it if you don't want it?" All the non-blackfishing fishermen would race to the cleaning tables every day as someone arrived with Blackfish, hoping to get the gut as it was so highly prized as Bream bait. The more weed in the gut the better. Back in Sydney, Wally McLuckie who fished the base of the Mattens cliffs in the eastern suburbs until well into his eighties, used to insist we all threw our Blackfish waste into the same corner every time we cleaned our fish, out of respect for Wally we all did. He would spend about half an hour at the end of each trip with his trusty 40lb handline and a single 6/0 suicide loaded up with Blackfish gut fishing in this particular corner. Lost count of the times he'd get a Snapper OVER 5kg on the gut and skillfully play it out until floating and then wash it up- (no mean feat with a handline either!) Wally won the Sydney Metro Rock Champion Titles(Veterans) many,many times with huge Snapper, about half of them caught on Blackfish gut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Waza that was a great read. Sounds like he was an absolute legend...handlining large snapper is no easy feat. First time ive heard of em being caught on blackie gut, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 4 minutes ago, Kracka said: Waza that was a great read. Sounds like he was an absolute legend...handlining large snapper is no easy feat. First time ive heard of em being caught on blackie gut, too. Yes he's a legend, climbing 450 foot cliffs at his age was something most people can't even imagine. After having a hernia, his Dr insisted he only carry 7kg in his pack so he used to fillet and skin all his fish, when he got a big Snapper or had whole fish to weigh in comps, we'd carry them for him(he didn't like us doing it but agreed to follow his Dr's orders). The interesting thing re the gut as Snapper bait was that he only ever got really big fish- nothing under about 10lb on the old scale. The biggest one I saw him get weighed 8.5kg cleaned(in a club comp you had to gut and scale and leave head on), but he caught a few he said were bigger than that, making them well over 20lb on the old scale. He won one Syd Metro title with 3 caught from a ledge known as "Magpie" that was roughly 50-60 feet above the water, the 2 largest 5.5kg and 8.5kg(these were weighed with guts in) were caught on gut and the "small one"(his words not mine!) 4kg was caught on a garfish he caught himself at his Batemans Bay holiday house specially for Snapper bait. By-catch on Wal's Snapper line included Bream and Tarwhine well over 4lb and Tailor over that size (he considered the Tailor pests!) I used the gut successfully for huge Bream but it took me years to finally catch a Snapper on it(5.5kg)- There was something Wal never let on I reckon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterfisho7 Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Well done looks like you had a great time top report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 1 hour ago, wazatherfisherman said: Yes he's a legend, climbing 450 foot cliffs at his age was something most people can't even imagine. After having a hernia, his Dr insisted he only carry 7kg in his pack so he used to fillet and skin all his fish, when he got a big Snapper or had whole fish to weigh in comps, we'd carry them for him(he didn't like us doing it but agreed to follow his Dr's orders). The interesting thing re the gut as Snapper bait was that he only ever got really big fish- nothing under about 10lb on the old scale. The biggest one I saw him get weighed 8.5kg cleaned(in a club comp you had to gut and scale and leave head on), but he caught a few he said were bigger than that, making them well over 20lb on the old scale. He won one Syd Metro title with 3 caught from a ledge known as "Magpie" that was roughly 50-60 feet above the water, the 2 largest 5.5kg and 8.5kg(these were weighed with guts in) were caught on gut and the "small one"(his words not mine!) 4kg was caught on a garfish he caught himself at his Batemans Bay holiday house specially for Snapper bait. By-catch on Wal's Snapper line included Bream and Tarwhine well over 4lb and Tailor over that size (he considered the Tailor pests!) I used the gut successfully for huge Bream but it took me years to finally catch a Snapper on it(5.5kg)- There was something Wal never let on I reckon! Thats incredible. Good on him, sounds like nothing can stop him. A true fisho and very nice of you guys to help him out with his catch. Inspires me to go after some Reds now. Never caught one over a half a kilo lol. Must be a bit of an art to tackling reds like that i reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 39 minutes ago, Kracka said: Thats incredible. Good on him, sounds like nothing can stop him. A true fisho and very nice of you guys to help him out with his catch. Inspires me to go after some Reds now. Never caught one over a half a kilo lol. Must be a bit of an art to tackling reds like that i reckon. What I did learn from Wally was that those really big Reds come right into the edge of the rocks all the time and the way to fish for them is with large baits and no lead. He only used Blackfish gut or Garfish that he trolled for out of his canoe in Batemans Bay. He never used pilly's for them, saying they didn't hold up for long enough in the turbulent wash area and also attracted too many pickers. The 'corner' where he hand-lined them was a spot that 99% of people would have walked straight past, in fact we used to fish one spot only 15 metres north and another about the same to the south and in years fishing that close to "the" spot only caught about 8 or 9 big ones(that I can think of) between 7 of us. I got 1 on gut and 1 on a Garfish in "the" spot, but caught a heap of port jacksons and other vermin species while trying. We used to get a fair few smaller ones- 1 to 3 kg using fresh caught Bonito strips about 100 metres further along the platform, throwing wide with a sinker, but I never saw even 1 big one get caught from this less reefy location. I can give you a spot in the National Park where you'll have a good chance of a decent(1 kg +) one if you're interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Yeah pillies dont do very well in the washes. Even salted ones tend to get picked off pretty quickly. Its amazing to think that you can catch such big Reds so close into the rocks. As you mentioned...itd be the reefy spots that they favour. That sounds great waza. Maybe PM the National Park spot if youre happy to share. Currently ive been getting ones around Long Reef casting wide with salted bonito strips or pillies. Even though most are legal i put em back into the drink so they can get to that big size one day...hopefully. itd be noce to land a big red one day. Theyre definitely on my target list...right next to that 20kg jewie haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 The National Park spot is fairly well known amongst rock fisho's but not often fished as it fishes best in bad weather. The best time(the only time we used to go there) is after a BIG southerly has blown for at least 2 days. The bigger the sea and swell the better- you just need the wind to ease off, or have it coming from the Southwest as then it's behind you. The spot is easily found- go through the Park and take the Wattamolla turn off, park in the top(most southerly) car park. There is a large fire-trail with a barricade to prevent vehicular access, follow it as it goes S/East. It becomes the walking trail to Curracurrang and is part of the coast walk that stretches from Otford/Bulgo to Bundeena. It's a really well defined track, which for the most-part is in sight of the ocean and leads to Curracurrang Bay. It will take you roughly 20-25 minutes walk. When you get to the Bay, the track goes down and crosses the creek, immediately across the creek a couple of smaller tracks branch to the left towards the sea. They are fairly well used as they lead to a few other fishing spots including "The Gulf"- a well known haunt of large Kingfish(bugger of a spot to land a big one from though). You basically take the one closest to the edge and follow it along the top, you will be up about 10-12 metres above where the creek empties into the bay. If you look on google maps at Curracurrang Gully south of Wattamolla you'll see where the creek becomes a distinct "V" shaped bay, as the bay widens, if you follow the southern side, it curves even further south forming a smaller semi-circular bay. Looking at the map, the spot you're after is the point of the V and the start of the semi circle. There is a nice safe high spot about 12 metres above the water, right at the mouth of the V. You can fish below here, but it's easier to fish off the top as you can easily cast to the visible sand patch- this is the spot to cast at. If you go there in daylight and have a look first you'll see the spot to aim at, however if you want to catch a red it is best fished after dark, as they seem to come into the bay in darkness and go off the bite when dawn breaks. The rig is basic- you need about 10-12 kg line and a decent rod capable of winching a decent sized fish up- we all use Alvey reels and 11 kg line. A 60-90 gm ball sinker above a swivel and about 40 cm of 9-10 kg leader down to a 5/0 suicide(Mustad "Big Red pattern are o.k)- bait is Bonito, Striped Tuna or Garfish. You cast out and sit down holding your rod- they absolutely "slam" the bait at this spot and are easily hooked. If you get a big one and have a cliff gaff they work well here, if not you can walk the fish either way and wash them up, but my advice is if they are under 3 kg to winch them up. Other fish caught off the top are large Bream, Tarwhine and occasional Tailor and Salmon. When the sea has been(or is) rough, heaps of cunje gets washed into the semi-circular bay and this attracts large numbers of Rock Blackfish,Silver Drummer and Luderick, which can be caught by using a booby cork and prawn, crab or cunje bait. The spot isn't wave-washed and is safe in big southerly seas. As I stated earlier, it's the place to go when the weather is really bad and there are usually reds there in foul weather. Most of the fish are in the 1 to 2.5 kg range, but I know of quite a few caught there much larger than that. Don't bother going there in calm conditions as the fish simply aren't there. Once you've been there in daylight to get a feel for the spot, we've found that getting there and starting fishing a couple of hours before light is the most productive, no matter what the tide. Good luck if you decide to give it a go, if you go and fish there a couple of times you'll break your reddie drought. Cheers Waza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 Wow. Thanks so much for that Waza, i appreciate it a lot. Very detailed. Im really keen to give it a go. Who knows...might use up some sick leave the coming weeks to scout it at least hehe. I understand the Reds will come up only in rough seas. Same as Long Reef they tend to come in closer to the bommies. Fingers crossed, hopefully ill get to report some success ? ill keep a close eye on the swell forecasts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 16, 2018 Share Posted June 16, 2018 You don't need rock plates if you fish off the top ledge but if you are going down below or in the semi-circular bay you'll need them. When the seas are calm, if you're feeling energetic and want to see some huge kingfish, the "Gulf" at South Curracurrang is worth having a look at also. There are always bait fish present and usually squid and pike in the gulf, in turn attracting some un-landable sized kingfish(well over 30 kg)-you often see them cruising around, going right up in the gulf itself. I've caught heaps of kings off the rocks on live bait and a lot of smaller ones on lures and I got "destroyed" there heaps of times without ever landing a decent one at the gulf. It is a low swell spot only and the most kings there from late October. Also good spinning for Bonito and smaller pelagics. Rock plates needed and it's another 20 min walk around the rocks from reddie spot. It's easily visible on google maps just look for the big gutter going well into the cliff face 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Learn something every day - thanks for the tip guys I’ll give it a go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 1 hour ago, flatheadluke said: Learn something every day - thanks for the tip guys I’ll give it a go The Luderick, Reds or Kingy's?!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Using luderick gut for bait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 3 minutes ago, flatheadluke said: Using luderick gut for bait It's the intestinal tract you use, the more weed in it the better! Good for many varieties of fish. Don't know how well it goes after being frozen, but is excellent when used fresh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 On 6/17/2018 at 2:48 AM, wazatherfisherman said: You don't need rock plates if you fish off the top ledge but if you are going down below or in the semi-circular bay you'll need them. When the seas are calm, if you're feeling energetic and want to see some huge kingfish, the "Gulf" at South Curracurrang is worth having a look at also. There are always bait fish present and usually squid and pike in the gulf, in turn attracting some un-landable sized kingfish(well over 30 kg)-you often see them cruising around, going right up in the gulf itself. I've caught heaps of kings off the rocks on live bait and a lot of smaller ones on lures and I got "destroyed" there heaps of times without ever landing a decent one at the gulf. It is a low swell spot only and the most kings there from late October. Also good spinning for Bonito and smaller pelagics. Rock plates needed and it's another 20 min walk around the rocks from reddie spot. It's easily visible on google maps just look for the big gutter going well into the cliff face Sound like heaven Hopefully will get a chance to head that way soon. I'm pretty keen for it. Honestly...id be lucky (and happy) to land a small kingie with my luck. Nailed on a popper around Forty Baskets one morning some time last year as I saw them busting up some baitfish close to shore. Mustn't have hooked him properly. Another time I was up around Roseville bridge (not sure if it was a jewie or a king...maybe even a shark) there was a lot of surface action...chucked a live tailor out under a balloon...15lb stripped to the bones Gave up on kingies after that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 4 minutes ago, Kracka said: Sound like heaven Hopefully will get a chance to head that way soon. I'm pretty keen for it. Honestly...id be lucky (and happy) to land a small kingie with my luck. Nailed on a popper around Forty Baskets one morning some time last year as I saw them busting up some baitfish close to shore. Mustn't have hooked him properly. Another time I was up around Roseville bridge (not sure if it was a jewie or a king...maybe even a shark) there was a lot of surface action...chucked a live tailor out under a balloon...15lb stripped to the bones Gave up on kingies after that... I'm not suggesting going for a kingy at the gulf- they are usually just too damn big! It's worth going there on Westerly flat days in October just to see one. After repeatedly getting busted up by them(at this spot) One of my mates and I came up with a way (we thought) that we'd be able to land one of the gulf kings- we both used 25kg outfits and tied both lines to a solid ring, then a single leader and 2x 10/0 seamaster hooks (about $7 each hook) put a 1kg live pike under a white bobby cork set 2 metres deep only a couple of metres out from the ledge in the front of the gulf. What happened next was comical to all who watched. One of the usual giant green monsters 'ambled' over and did a lap around the pike which came to the surface and tried to "play dead"- the kingy wasn't fooled and did a second slow, close lap of the floating Pike before inhaling it right on the surface less than 3 metres from where we stood- cool instant hook-up! WRONG!! Bloody thing tore off towards the reef out front (about 50 metres out) and nearly pulled both of us in! We were both experienced LBG addicts and have caught them up to 20 kg, but experience counted for nothing and the fish took the expensive hooks, plus left about 30 metres of shredded line, and left us both shaking and stunned, It was an embarrassing moment in my fishing life, as all the other LBG guys were in stitches and we felt like 1st- timers. Not long after this happened we went out in the boat and sounded around out the front of the gulf- there are heaps of boulders and pointy looking hard reef everywhere. After discovering this, LBG at the gulf was off the menu, though we still spun there and caught heaps of squid-it's a great spot for them also. A word of warning if you go to the area- North Curracurrang point is another good and popular spot that is reasonably high out of the water with 'enticing' looking southerly ledges and an eastern front that sits both high and well out seawards. There is an "Angel ring" there (unless removed by vandals) as it is an extremely nasty spot to get out from should you go in and we have seen giant waves crash over the whole point (from our Snapper spot- which is always safe) The last Snapper trip, I had to call Water Police who patched me in to Westpac helicopter, when a fisherman was washed off Nth and to cut a long story short, sadly drowned. Better off giving Nth Curra a miss, regardless of what others may say- just my opinion. Go in the day, check the Snapper spot and semi-circular bay to familiarise the spot, then go for the walk to the gulf for a look and maybe a squid fish. As a matter of interest there is also a really beaut swimming hole about 50 metres up the creek at Curracurrang also, though sometimes in summer the area has litter from people too lazy to carry it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kracka Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Wow never knew kingies could get that big ? the hulk of kingfish... Thata unfortunate about the other fisho. Always pays to be safe and never risk it. The conditions can change at the drop of a hat. Ill definitely scope the snapper spot out before fishing it. And avoid those nasty ledges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wazatherfisherman Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 4 hours ago, Kracka said: Wow never knew kingies could get that big ? the hulk of kingfish... Thata unfortunate about the other fisho. Always pays to be safe and never risk it. The conditions can change at the drop of a hat. Ill definitely scope the snapper spot out before fishing it. And avoid those nasty ledges. The Snapper spot is pretty safe as it's high and well back in the bay, a long way from the ocean front. It isn't a very big spot as there's bush around the perimeter of it, but can fish 3 or 4 guys. Yes the kingfish that lurk around the gulf are the biggest ones I've seen anywhere, as a fisherman, it's worth going there on flat days just to see one. October is the month to see the giants and a large pike caught on site the way to get "smoked" just leave it 1-2 metres deep inside the entrance and they will usually take it within sight, which is always exciting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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