Cant chase Kingies so Jewies and Flatties in the Hawkesbury instead

[Pickles]

Been a while since I’ve been able to get out chasing the yellow hoodlums (legal duties, executing a deceased mates estate, coupled with rotten weather), so went with good mate Steve (not a raider - yet) who I’ve  been promising to get out on Kings, but big seas and strong winds have blocked our plans. So we decided to hit Hawkesbury chasing Jewies and flathead. 
We left home base at 4 am and headed for the ramp, what a difference mid-week makes and only one other boat launching and few trailers in the car park.  The water was dirty and lots of flotsam in the water as we headed up stream for calm water. A great feeling to see all the cars heading to work as we were off to go fishing. We filled up with livies and first fish were all little Jewies, but great fun on light gear. Then a stonker flattie of 87cm swallowed a herring and gave a 5 minute tug-o-war on 12lb line. She was not kept - free to breed another day.

The tally for the day was 20 small Jewies (all under 70cm, so none kept of course).

All of the Flatties were legal, but we decided to keep nothing under 40 and came home with 4 only, biggest going 61cm. No point keeping more than you can eat and a good excuse to get out again. 

It was a great day (overcast with a few sunny breaks) and few other boats out on the water.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Pickles
Checked size of fish

[zmk1962]

Top report Pickles and nice feed of flatties there. 
I’m a firm believer in only take what you plan to eat 👍👍👍

cheers Zoran 

[Fab1]

Great report mate.You don't need to justify why you're keeping a fish  as long as it's legal.

  I know the feeling watching others go to work.I'm off today and it felt great watching the neighbours go to work while I'm kicking back.

If I ever had to go back to weekend fishing my boat would be sold in a heartbeat as it simply spoils the fun for me.

Cheers.

[Yowie]

An interesting change Pickles, but something different for a feed.

With the bouncy weather outside, you only have to hold the line and the swell will do the jigging for you. 😂

[Rebel]

Great haul. Well done.

[harold]

what a great story. 

[Welster]

Great report Pickles.   I was one of those at work wishing i was fishing. 

[XD351]

Fantastic haul and great report ! 
Flatties must be everywhere at the moment !

Looks like down river into broken bay has stacks of small tailor and upstream piles of small mulloway- they can be a bit of a pest at times but they are a good indicator that these species are doing ok 🎣

[jenno64]

Nice work pickles, the released flatty was a bonus and you brought home a feed! Were herring the only livies?

[big Neil]

Good to see that you're still enjoying some fishing Bob, despite the poor off-shore conditions. No matter the target species, fishing is good fun. The personal challenge of pitting your wits against the adversary...some days you win, some you don't, either way it's great to be out on the water. Even better when it's not too busy. Did you just bait fish or get to chuck some plastics around? Neil

[masterfisho7]

Some fine fish there well done 

[DaveBM]

Top feed!

If nobody ever ate their catch, fishing would be rather pointless and cruel wouldn’t it?

[GordoRetired]

Sounds like you had a good day.
I ended up making a late decision to head out on Thursday too. Got a bunch of livies, trolled them from North Head to Manly but not a touch. Spent 1 1/2 hours drifting the front of Manly for a heap of Flathead, most just legal but under my preferred 40cm size so threw them back. 2 nice 40+ so they made a nice dinner for the wife and me.
The wind started to pick up around 11.30 so headed inside and anchored over the deep hole by Clifton Gardens. Put down a livie and had a rod in hand with bait. Lots of pickers but nothing to keep. When I pulled up the rod with the Yakka it was gone, I had seen the rod give a good kick but nothing after that so assumed that whatever had hit it had dropped it....

Wonder how long I was fishing with just hooks 🙂

Ended the day trolling a pair of livies around the top of Ski Alley but no hits.
Like you I had a nice quiet boat ramp so none of the madness that was school holidays. Glad that everyone is back to work and leaving my boast ramp quiet, I do love retirement. 🤣 

 

[iconnolly]

Great report.  Hopefully all those little jewies will be left to grow so we have lots of BIG jewies in a few years.

 

[yo_jono]

Great run mate! The Hawke's is hard work at the moment - well from Spencer upstream. Fished 2 days last week, and 2 days this week for about 100 + Soapies, All with there guts full of the freshwater prawns.