steeevooo Posted January 6, 2020 Share Posted January 6, 2020 (edited) Hey folks! With my planned trip south now postponed due to the fires down there, planning a weekend of fishing around home instead. Pittwater and the harbour etc. Keen to try out some new spots and have heard West Reef and East Reef mentioned a few times. Wondering if anyone has some advice on fishing these with a 15ft runabout. I've read that in certain conditions they can be dangerous, so will obviously avoid the area if there is swell etc. but anything else in particular to watch out for? Looking at charts it seems like some parts of the reefs are quite shallow. Also any other suggestions for reefs to try which are near Pittwater would be amazing. So far I've tried the Valiant wreck, seemed to only be home to loads of large yellowtail. Also tried a few of the reefs not far off Barrenjoey headland, but they seem very small, or we may have missed the mark with the GPS coordinates we were using. Any advice would be super appreciated Slowly gaining confidence going out past the heads but keen to stay within a few miles of shore for the time being. Edited January 6, 2020 by steeevooo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 what are you after? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steeevooo Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 16 minutes ago, PaddyT said: what are you after? Snapper would be great, a species I haven't really targeted in the past. Lately have mostly been chasing kings, keen to mix it up though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squ!rt Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Last month i went out to the Valiant and all we caught was snapper, only yakkas we could get were in near lion island, There is a nice little spot further off the valiant, will have to find the co-ords on the gps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steeevooo Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 2 minutes ago, Squ!rt said: Last month i went out to the Valiant and all we caught was snapper, only yakkas we could get were in near lion island, There is a nice little spot further off the valiant, will have to find the co-ords on the gps. Funny how different each of our experiences can be hey! Hehe we just got hammered by big fat yakkas, it was also around a month ago. We were using pillies and fresh squid, fishing the bottom up to around halfway up the water column. Were the snapper you caught of decent size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squ!rt Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 30 minutes ago, steeevooo said: Funny how different each of our experiences can be hey! Hehe we just got hammered by big fat yakkas, it was also around a month ago. We were using pillies and fresh squid, fishing the bottom up to around halfway up the water column. Were the snapper you caught of decent size? Nah mate i reckon i caught the same lil dude about 8 times or his cousin or brother hahah, f.all yakka, the spot for snapper is a bit further up almost inline with boxhead, about 25-28m of water, just before west reef. some good snapper grounds in there, just before you hit the reef where it goes down to 20 oddm of water, roughly: 33* 33.452' S - 151* 22.214' E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steeevooo Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 Thanks mate! Yep I can see a mark near there on Navionics, just towards the bottom of West Reef. It does also have a warning about potential heavy swells, so a case of picking days and being careful I guess. Will give it a try when I get a chance and let you know how I go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 better places up that way for snaps IMHO and much better times of the year to target them than now- my best results around the Hawkes reefs always came in late winter through spring and i used to spend a s!@t load of time chasing reds! those reefs are shallow and get a hell of a lot of boat traffic at this time of the year, look for reef/gravel in 35-50m of water and seee how you go . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steeevooo Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 13 hours ago, PaddyT said: better places up that way for snaps IMHO and much better times of the year to target them than now- my best results around the Hawkes reefs always came in late winter through spring and i used to spend a s!@t load of time chasing reds! those reefs are shallow and get a hell of a lot of boat traffic at this time of the year, look for reef/gravel in 35-50m of water and seee how you go . Cheers Paddy, will keep it in mind. Good point about time of year! I think this weekend we'll do a bit of exploring, will try West Reef if conditions permit, and I probably also give Trawleys, Boultons, and Reggie's reefs a try. Again depending on conditions and time. Most online mentions I've read about these reefs tend to be from 10-20 years ago. Curious how they fish these days. One way to find out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antonywardle Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 If you are wanting to bottom bash for flathead, just keep heading out until you are in 50 metres and then drop a paternoster to the bottom and drift around. good luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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