What A Fiasco

[landlubber]

Headed down to Como yesterday with the and the old man in tow.......tried a few spots for about 15 undersize whiting / flathead / snapper (28cm - almost! ) then the wind got up but all and all an OK day.

However, this morning set off on what was to be an absolute fiasco We headed out to Port Hacking putting in at 6am at Swallow Rock, headed outside for a bit of a drift near Middle Ground.....1.5 hrs and the live poddies where not even sniffed at We got jack of that soon so headed up to SW Arm,

buggered around in there for a couple of hours for some undersize snapper and bream. Then headed over to Willarong Point for a drift.....for nothing. Not even a bite ! Then to Mainbar, for more of the same........before going up to the Diversion wall for one small Whiting. What a fiasco, 8 hrs on the water for Zip.

Conclusions (ie. what is to blame)

1. Poddy Mullet, nothing wants to eat them

2. Hummingbird sounder that doesnt work, the thing is an absolute nugget

3. Port Hacking, the whole system is a fished out hoax of a place

4. The Quintrex Sans Souci is a nugget of a boat and is evidently cursed

5. The fact that we (my cousin and i) are both absolute battlers with no clue

I hope you blokes had a better couple of days!!!

Edited November 14, 2005 by landlubber

[Guest Jewel]

By yesterday Im assuming Sunday, first mistake!

Port Hacking gets so much more tricky on a weekend, besides its still not fishing that well yet.

1/ Poddys are pretty hard to beat, but fish arnt always hungry (were you fishing a dropping tide? You should with poddys).

2/ I havnt personally had any good experiences with those sounders, but Im sure many here have.

3/ There are definately fish in "The Port" http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/inde...?showtopic=8570

4/ That is possible, one of the lads has one that we have similar doubts of. We are looking into sacrificeing a goat at the ramp to cure this, Ill let you know how we go!

5/ That too is possible!

However more time spent reading the posts here, followed by time on the water has to help!!

All the best!

[Grantm]

tough day mate, but i agree about the dropping tide especially if your after flatties

[landlubber]

tough day mate, but i agree about the dropping tide especially if your after flatties

Yep, was a dropping tide (after 9 at least)

Still, it beat going to work

[Grantm]

Yep, was a dropping tide (after 9 at least)

Still, it beat going to work

Damn right it beats going to work !

Probably add that for me its really the last of the run out. The flatties turned on for me the day before at about midday when the tide was really low. Before that i thought they had dissapeared.

[Geoff]

Thought I was the only one who could not catch fish in P.H. Normally get down that way every month or so , mainly as an access to places south of the Port.

On most occusions , when heading in , we try various spots & were luckey to loose a bait

There are occusional good reports but compare the number of posts on P.H to other areas like B.B. & the Harbor.

I have a theory which may be way off base but I have tendered to find over the years that systems with shallow entrances that extend for some distance tend to be less productive than those with deep entrances.

Perhaps it has something to do with migration & breading

Geoff

[mottyman]

Yes Indeed, my friend Geoff speaks the truth there.

We normally use the port to "Head to Jibbon Bommie and go South" fishing our way down to Marley under the cliffs then out to the wreck. On the way back in we fish all the likely spots with drop offs etc etc etc. Sometimes, for not so much as touch.

I fished the Hacking River not all that long ago for 3 undersized reddies and assorted rubbish in 6 hours.

However... I don't want to totally right the place off..

I got my first ever Sambo at Lilli Pilli fishing the drop offs around there and my first ever legal solo King in my own tinnie from just inside Jibbon Head.

There are indeed some very impressive fish pulled out of the place and there are some guys on here who do very well on regular occasions (Swoffa I'm looking at you!!).

The Port is a funny place, when it's on it's great. I just don't know what turns it on and off. I suspect there are some very closely held secrets to fishing the whole system. One day, I'll work it out!!!

Cheers,

David.

[robthefisherman]

We usually do ok in PH when we're fishing by boat, south west arm usually sees us go home with a feed, I find if you can get a run in tide just on 1st light or dusk we normally do ok.

Like Geoff and David we normally use it as an access point to fish down to Marley but very rarely will we go home fishless.

I hooked a nice sambo at south west arms about 4 weeks ago although I dropped him at the boat and have pulled some nice flatties to 65cm out of the same spot as well as some stonka bream in gunnamatta bay and most times we'll get a couple of blue swimmers as a bonus.

I think part of the problem with hacko is that the water is really clear and the fish tend to spook easily.

Landbased though I reckon the place sucks bigtime, I never do any good from the shore.

[mark_s]

I reckon the Port is much better on either a week day or when the weather is atrocious. A fished it one day a few years ago on Easter, there was a howling southerly and pouring rain and I was able to anchor in the main channel out the front of Lilli Pilli. I had a great day with fish one after the other (not all legal of course). One a typical weekend you would have boats passing withing 20m of you every 5 seconds at that same spot.

Like the others, I use the Port to access Bate Bay and the areas down off the RNP.

[TailorNut]

Tend to agree with you. Fished the hacking 2 weeks ago for zilch. I mean 20+ throwback undersized snapper over 6 hours.

Tried to get away from them by fishing a number of different spots however they kepted following me around.

At least I was on the water with my boy. Better fishing than at home.

Better luck next time.