Port Stephens- Very quick morning flick

[Scratchie]

Gday raiders, 

Just a quick report from this morning. As I think this is the only weekend left for 6 months without sport, I just had to get out there. Took out the 2nd eldest and his mate. Got on the water at 530, loaded up with bait and hit our mark by 630. Flicked the area for about an hour. The boys got a few pennies that were returned and I managed a decent fella and a pannie. Changed locations to see some birds working bait schools and trolled a livie through it, bang it goes off! Hoping it was a longtail but eventually brought in a legal kingy! Then we decided to keep at it, trolling baits and the boys ended up with two each. Two more legal but we had enough so returned. I must say there were heaps of boats. I hate fishing weekends. None of them realised we were working schools, should have been obvious! Anyway, did that for an hour and headed home. Back at the ramp 8:45 before this southerly blows up! 
 

Another beautiful morning in Port Stephens. 
 

cheers scratchie!!! 
 

[Rebel]

Well done. Great Haul as usual.

[61 crusher]

Got to grab any opportunity you can mate, great photo & bag for a quick couple of hours 👍

While having a chat to RayR about your Darwin trip amongst other things the southerly hit us dead on 8am

Edited March 13, 2020 by 61 crusher
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[Blackfish]

Good stuff Scratchie, another attractive haul.

Edited March 14, 2020 by Blackfish

[Bolts1]

Nice report Scratchie and great result for a couple of hours on the water

[Yowie]

Good work again Scratchie, with bonus kingies. The southerly hit southern Sydney at 6am.

[Scratchie]

5 hours ago, Rebel said:

Well done. Great Haul as usual.

Cheers mate

4 hours ago, 61 crusher said:

Got to grab any opportunity you can mate, great photo & bag for a quick couple of hours 👍

While having a chat to RayR about your Darwin trip amongst other things the southerly hit us dead on 8am

Cheers Dieter. Just had to get out before that southerly. The weather sites were right for a change! Haha Good to hear Ray is still hitting those ledges on the central coast. Next time tell him I said “Hi”. Champion bloke! 

2 hours ago, Blackfish said:

Goos stuff Scratchie, another attractive haul.

Thanks mate! Good fun. 

40 minutes ago, Bolts1 said:

Nice report Scratchie and great result for a couple of hours on the water

Gotta take what you can get! 👍

3 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Good work again Scratchie, with bonus kingies. The southerly hit southern Sydney at 6am.

Thanks yowie! Had one eye on the line and the other on the weather! 

[Berleyguts]

Great stuff, @Scratchie! Tell me you didn’t go to Broughton and you fished out the front to get back by 8:45... I tell my wife I can’t get back in until around 2!

[kingie chaser]

6 hours ago, Scratchie said:

I hate fishing weekends. None of them realised we were working schools, should have been obvious! Anyway, did that for an hour and headed home. Back at the ramp 8:45 before this southerly blows up! 

Another beautiful morning in Port Stephens. 

cheers scratchie!!! 

Short & sweet, Im with you on the weekend thing, to many people with little etiquette.

Nice plate of sashimi & bbq fish coming up for Saturday dinner & Sunday lunch.

Nice  

9 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

Great stuff, @Scratchie! Tell me you didn’t go to Broughton and you fished out the front to get back by 8:45... I tell my wife I can’t get back in until around 2!

Baz, if the misses isn't home just don't tell her you've gone!

You could be out there & back before she even realizes 😁

[Scratchie]

31 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

Great stuff, @Scratchie! Tell me you didn’t go to Broughton and you fished out the front to get back by 8:45... I tell my wife I can’t get back in until around 2!

Cheers Baz. Yes mate Broughton it was. Launched 530 Bait until 6 Broughton 630 Lines up 820 Ramp 845. 👍

14 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

Short & sweet, Im with you on the weekend thing, to many people with little etiquette.

Nice plate of sashimi & bbq fish coming up for Saturday dinner & Sunday lunch.

Nice  

Baz, if the misses isn't home just don't tell her you've gone!

You could be out there & back before she even realizes 😁

Sashimi was delicious 😋 forgot to take photo as I was to busy eating. Dinner tonight of fish and chips. My sons mate has never eaten fresh fish! Lol 😝 I was thinking of feeding him an I & J fillet but I’ve never bought them 🤣🤣

[Pickles]

Nice mornings (non) work. I know what you mean about weekends.

[61 crusher]

1 hour ago, Scratchie said:

The weather sites were right for a change! Haha Good to hear Ray is still hitting those ledges on the central coast. Next time tell him I said “Hi”. Champion bloke! 

Yeah it’s nice when they get it right, I went for a quick flick & watch the sunrise with coffee in hand & stayed well away from the ledge, the car park was half full  & such a big crowd You’d think they were queuing up for free dunny paper 😂 Ray came down with a coffee & a beau peep 👀 I see him a fair bit so I’ll Pass that on, he’s a real character 

[Scratchie]

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

Nice mornings (non) work. I know what you mean about weekends.

I take Monday’s off for a reason 👍👍👍

[rickmarlin62]

I shoulda gone broughton  swr was crap

[Scratchie]

19 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

I shoulda gone broughton  swr was crap

SWR is always a hit or miss affair. Broughton is usually a hit! 👍

[big Neil]

Gotta get up to PS one day...seems like there's always fish around. bn

[wcurrall]

@rickmarlin62 and @big Neil Broughton is great but have had plenty of blanks there myself, don’t underestimate how easy @Scratchie makes it look I reckon he could catch snapper in a bathtub 😂

[JonD]

Oh those red things are such a tease!!!

[Scratchie]

14 minutes ago, JonD said:

Oh those red things are such a tease!!!

Haha! Well get yourself up here Jon and I’m sure I could cure that itch! 

[Scratchie]

21 minutes ago, wcurrall said:

@rickmarlin62 and @big Neil Broughton is great but have had plenty of blanks there myself, don’t underestimate how easy @Scratchie makes it look I reckon he could catch snapper in a bathtub 😂

Haha thanks mate! 
But seriously, the key to fishing Broughton is when to stay and when to move. I fish all the same areas as everyone else and they are all well known. I just know what to look for in those areas that show me they have the ability on the day to produce! 

[Bolts1]

Think that might be the key Scratchie.. think I might be wasting to much time when we would be better off hitting a new spot.. will take a fair few trips to work out when a spot isnt firing.. so easy to say “one more drift” lol

[Scratchie]

9 minutes ago, Bolts1 said:

Think that might be the key Scratchie.. think I might be wasting to much time when we would be better off hitting a new spot.. will take a fair few trips to work out when a spot isnt firing.. so easy to say “one more drift” lol

As I’ve tried to explain in the snapper article I wrote, sometimes taking that one more drift is the key. (A little wider, a little closer, maybe a little longer). The real key is the presence of bait and NOT driving over your drift. Then the other variables of current, tide, wind, moon phase, setup and lure etc etc come into play! So if you can line all them up, you should be more successful. “Just keep casting”

[rickmarlin62]

Wcurrall   very rare for me to blank at broughton   my previous posts vouch for that    last year i had reds up to 94cm  and  worst trip i still bagged out and was dissapointed largest was 72cm    swr was just somethin different   sometimes it works sometimes not   ive been slayin reds at broughton for 40yrs and know it like back of my hand    jeff gets lots of reds and is great fisho  and he an i talk quite often  he has the luxury of livin at the bay  i wish i could get there more  anyway  il be up there soon  stay tuned

[Scratchie]

@wcurrall 100% what @rickmarlin62 says! He kills it up there too! Although he fishes a different method, he still knows what to look for. We often communicate on conditions, spots and what’s working! I’d just wish he’d leave my snapper alone! Haha 😂 

[wcurrall]

25 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Wcurrall   very rare for me to blank at broughton   my previous posts vouch for that    last year i had reds up to 94cm  and  worst trip i still bagged out and was dissapointed largest was 72cm    swr was just somethin different   sometimes it works sometimes not   ive been slayin reds at broughton for 40yrs and know it like back of my hand    jeff gets lots of reds and is great fisho  and he an i talk quite often  he has the luxury of livin at the bay  i wish i could get there more  anyway  il be up there soon  stay tuned

Haha yes mate I understand you fish there a lot also well, wasn’t having a dig, was just reiterating that a lot of people head here seeing these kinds of posts from the guys with years of experience thinking you can just throw the boat in and get these kinds of fish by bottom bashing with pillies, yet it takes a lot of hard work and time invested to get the kind of consistent results seen here. Have only fished Broughton seriously for a couple of years and am starting to get the hang of it but still have a fair way to go. Hopefully with another 35 or so years experience I can start getting some numbers like you guys 😉 appreciate seeing all the reports it definitely gives us all motivation to keep improving